And when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is?
And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
He saith unto them, But who say ye that I am?
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart.
And He was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became white as the light.
And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him.
And Peter answered, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, I will make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
While he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.
And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, save Jesus only.
And on the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour.
And he became hungry, and desired to eat: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance;
And he beholdeth the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth:
Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things of the earth and birds of the heaven.
And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat.
But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean.
And a voice came unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.
And this was done thrice: and straightway the vessel was received up into heaven.
Now while Peter was much perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men that were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood before the gate,
And called and asked whether Simon, who was surnamed Peter, were lodging there.
And while Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.
But arise, and get thee down, and go with them, nothing doubting: for I have sent them.
Dear Lord, we do praise and thank Thee that tonight we can gather together unto Thy name. We believe that Thou art in our midst.
We ask, Lord, that Thou wilt open Thy Word to our hearts. Through Thy Word, may we see Thee, and may we see what is upon Thy heart.
We do want to give ourselves to Thee this night. May Thou be glorified. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.
I do thank the Lord for the privilege of coming to you, dear brothers and sisters. I waited upon the Lord for this time, and I felt led to share with you this matter of vision.
We remember, in the book of Proverbs, it is said:
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.
Or, in other versions, it is said, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
If there is no vision, the people will cast off all restraint. They will all be scattered, all be disintegrated, and even they will perish. So that shows how important this matter of vision is.
Now, by vision, we do not mean something that you see with your physical eyes. By vision, we mean there is something you see in your spirit.
The Spirit of God will reveal the very mind of God to your spirit. The Spirit of God will reveal the mystery of God to your spirit. Then, in your spirit, you see something.
You see something of reality. You see something that is eternal. You see something that is extremely essential. And that is what the Bible means by vision.
Or, to put it another way, God reveals what is in His heart to you. And when God so reveals, you see it deep down in your spirit.
That will give us not only an understanding of God and of His purpose; it will also give us the power to follow. It will also unite us together as one.
So it is extremely important that God’s people should have vision.
For our time together, we would like to mention the vision God gave to three apostles: the vision that God gave to Peter, the vision that God gave to Paul, and the vision that God gave to John.
We believe that the visions given to these three apostles form the outline, or the framework, of our faith. What God has shown them is what God desires us to see.
They are recorded in the Word of God. This shows that God means that every one of us who reads the Word shall see the same thing as they saw.
As a matter of fact, these visions are one. What God revealed to Peter is the foundation. What God revealed to Paul is the superstructure of the building that is built upon the foundation. And what God gave to John is the consummation.
We remember when Peter was called by our Lord Jesus, he was casting nets. So you find that the ministry of Peter is the ministry of casting nets, to bring in materials.
We remember that Paul’s profession was tentmaking. So he would take what Peter had brought in and build it into a tent, a tabernacle, the house of God.
We also remember that when John was called, he was mending the nets. So the ministry of John is for recovery—for the recovery of what has been damaged, to recover it back to the original purpose of God.
These visions actually are one.
Now, for our time tonight, we will focus on the vision of Peter. That is, we want to see the foundation.
When our Lord was in the borders of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” I believe you are familiar with the story.
They tried to tell the Lord everything that was good. They said, “Some say You are John the Baptist come to life. Others say You are Elijah. Others say You are a great prophet. Some others say You are Jeremiah because You are a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And some people just say, ‘Well, You are one of the prophets.’”
But our Lord Jesus turned to His twelve disciples. He said, “Now, that is what people say about Me. But who do you say that I am?”
And you remember Simon Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Our Lord Jesus said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, because this is not something given to you by man. It is My heavenly Father Who has revealed this to you.”
When you look at the Lord Jesus, all you can see is that here is a Man full of grace and truth. That is the best that you can see of Him, unless you are revealed from heaven.
You cannot see that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, except by the revelation of the heavenly Father. You see that He is the Anointed One. He is the One sent by God with a special mission.
He was sent by God to fulfil the work of redemption. That is His mission, His work. And so far as His Person is concerned, He is the Son of the living God.
He is not just a man—a great man, a great prophet. He is the Son of God. He is the Word incarnated, the Son of the living God.
Now, this needs revelation, because without such revelation, we will never be able to see Jesus as such.
We remember Paul said, “It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.” Now, we do thank the Lord that it does please God to reveal His Son not only to us, but in us.
I believe, brothers and sisters, that by the grace of God, we all have received that revelation, because without that revelation we cannot be believers.
That revelation is the foundation.
The Lord said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Now, the word Peter means “a stone.” The Lord is playing with words. The Lord said, “You are a stone.”
Brothers and sisters, before we received this revelation of our Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, what were we? We were just dust. But when that revelation is given to us, something happens in us.
God has done a work in us. He has transformed us from dust into stones. That transformation comes by revelation.
So the Lord said, “You are a stone. I will build My church upon this rock.”
Now, a rock is a massive stone. Peter is just a small stone, but that rock is a massive stone. That rock is the foundation.
That rock is not Peter. You cannot build upon a little stone. You can only build on a massive rock.
That rock is Peter’s confession—his confession based upon the revelation from above.
So we can see very clearly that the rock speaks of our Lord Jesus. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that confession is the foundation.
Peter, being a stone, will be built upon that foundation. Even though people today misunderstand and think that the rock is Peter, Peter understood very well.
If you turn to 1 Peter 2, he said Christ is the living Stone. And as we come to Christ, we all become living stones, built together into a spiritual house.
So you find that this rock is our Lord Jesus. There is no other foundation that can be laid other than our Lord Jesus. We, as Peters, as little stones, will be built up together upon Christ Jesus.
“The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Here, actually, you find two things.
First, you find that the Father Who is in heaven reveals His Son to Peter. After Peter received that revelation of the Son, then the Son revealed to Peter the church.
The Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” Without a revelation of Jesus as the Son of God, as the Christ, there will be no revelation of the church.
People can talk about the church, but they think of the church as a physical building. They will never be able to see what the church really is.
They will not be able to see that the church is a spiritual building built with living stones. It is a spiritual building that no one can build but our Lord Himself.
The Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” This church that He builds is so invincible that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
This is the vision that Peter saw at that time. He saw Christ, and he saw the church.
Then the Lord said, “I will go to Jerusalem. I will be rejected by the priests and the scribes. I will be killed, but on the third day I will rise from the dead.”
When Peter heard about it, he laid his hands on the Lord and perhaps shook the Lord a little bit, saying, “Never, Lord, never.”
Our Lord turned to Peter and said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan, because thou art not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men.”
The Lord said, “Unless you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me, you cannot be My disciples.”
In other words, after the revelation of the Son was given, the Lord began to show how Christ would fulfil His mission. He had to go to the cross.
Because without the cross, He cannot be the Christ. Peter objected. He wanted a crossless Christ, and that is from the enemy.
For our Lord Jesus to be the Christ, He had to go to the cross. The same principle applies to the church.
After the revelation of the church is given, the Lord shows us the way of the church. Without the cross, there can be no church.
Even though we are stones, we are rough stones. Unless there is the working of the cross in our lives, we will not become precious stones. And God will only build with precious stones.
That is why we have to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow the Lord.
But this is very difficult for Peter to understand, and it is very difficult for us to understand: why Christ must suffer before He enters into glory.
Why is it that we, who are saved by grace, have to deny ourselves and take up the cross? It was something that Peter could not comprehend.
That is the reason why, after six days, our Lord Jesus took Peter, John, and James to the mountain. There on the mountain, He was transfigured, and His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as the light.
Now, brothers and sisters, when our Lord was on earth, He Who is God took upon Himself a human body. The glory of God was hidden in that human body.
Never once did He ever reveal that glory. That is the reason why, in John 1:14, it is said:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us
(and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father),
full of grace and truth.
It is only in the parenthesis: “And we beheld His glory.” In other words, it is only by revelation that you are able to see through that Man and see the glory of the Son of God.
Without that revelation, you can only see Him as a Man full of grace and truth.
But only once in His lifetime, on the Mount of Transfiguration, He allowed the glory within Him to come out. The glory is not something put on Him; it is the glory that diffuses, or comes out, from within Him.
It is not only the glory of the Son of God, but even the moral glory as the Son of Man. And that is the kingdom.
You remember the Lord said, “Some of you shall see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” So the Mount of Transfiguration is a preview of the coming kingdom.
His kingdom is coming, but here on the Mount of Transfiguration we have a preview of it.
What is the kingdom? What is the kingdom of God? What is the kingdom of Christ?
If we want to put that word more accurately, I remember Brother T. Austin-Sparks said that in the original, the word kingdom, if you want to understand it, really means kingship.
It speaks to us of Christ as the King. He rules over His people. That is what the kingdom really means.
Here you find the glory of the kingdom being revealed. Moses and Elijah appear: Moses representing the law, and Elijah representing the prophets.
Both the law and the prophets speak of the Lord Jesus. They were talking with our Lord Jesus.
What did they talk about? The Bible says they talked about His exodus. They were talking about how the Lord would depart from this earth.
By incarnation, He came to this earth. Now, how would He depart from this earth?
So far as our Lord Jesus was concerned, after He had been on earth for these years, He had already proven that He is the perfect Man. He is the Man of God’s heart.
He is the Man whom God created in the first place in His mind. This is the kind of Man that God created.
But we know that mankind completely failed. So the Son of God came upon this earth to be a Man.
Throughout His life, He lived as a Man. He refused temptation to act as the Son of God. He always stood on the ground of a Man.
He was so perfect. He was the ideal Man of God.
So far as He Himself was concerned, He could very well have departed from this earth from the Mount of Transfiguration.
But instead of doing that, He was willing to remain on earth. He was willing even to come down from the mountain that He might go to Calvary’s cross.
Because if He had departed from the Mount of Transfiguration, in heaven there would only be one Man, and there would be absolutely no hope for any other man.
But because He departed by Calvary’s cross, He takes us with Him. This is how the Lord showed Peter why He must suffer before He entered into glory.
The same thing must be true with Peter and with all of us.
There is a very close relationship between the kingdom and the church.
Our Lord Jesus is not only our Saviour; He is also our King, our Lord. We must not only believe in Him; we must also obey Him.
If we only believe in Him as our Saviour, it is true that by His grace we are saved. But unless we acknowledge and obey Him as our King, as our Lord, the church can never be built.
The kingdom builds the church, and the church brings in the kingdom. We need to see our Lord Jesus as our King, our Lord.
In the kingdom, the Son is supreme.
Peter said, “It is good to be here. Let us build three tabernacles: one for You, Lord; one for Moses; and one for Elijah.”
But while he was still speaking, suddenly the Shekinah glory of God, as a cloud, covered them. They heard a voice: “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I have found My delight. Hear Him.”
They were so frightened. The Lord touched them and said, “Arise.” When they opened their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus.
What is the kingdom of God? In the kingdom of God, the Son is the only One. You cannot put Him on the same footing as Moses or Elijah, however great they are.
In the kingdom, our response, our duty, is to hear Him. If we can see this, then we shall be in His kingdom, and with that the Lord is able to build His church.
The reason why the church is not built as His church today is not just because there is a lack of believers. You may gather lots of believers together, but they will not be built together as His church.
The reason is because we do not submit ourselves to the Lord as our supreme King. When we acknowledge the Lord as our Lord, as our King, in our lives, instead of talking, we learn to hear Him.
Then you find the Lord is able to build us together into the house of God.
But the vision that God gave to Peter continued on. You remember in Acts 10, one day Peter went to the rooftop. It was noonday, and he was hungry, but the family was preparing the meal.
So he went to the rooftop to pray. While he was praying, he was in a trance, and he saw a great sheet tied at four corners descending from heaven.
He saw that within that great sheet there were all kinds of four-footed creatures, creeping things, and birds of the air. Then he heard the voice: “Peter, rise, slay, and eat.”
And you know what Peter said? He said, “Lord, I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”
Then the voice came the second time: “What God has cleansed, do not count as unclean.” This happened three times. Finally, the great sheet rose up again to heaven.
Peter wondered about that vision. He pondered over it, and while he was pondering, three men were at the door knocking. They were sent by Cornelius, the Roman centurion.
The voice told him, “Go down and go with them.” Now, that is the story.
What does that vision show us? First, you find that it is a great sheet, tied at four corners.
If it were just a flat sheet, it could not really hold things. But tied at four corners, it becomes a kind of tent—an inverted tent.
This speaks of the church. In the beginning, before it is formed or built, it is just like a great sheet. But it is something that comes down from heaven.
The origin of the church is heaven. The church is a heavenly vessel. It is not something that begins on earth; it comes down from heaven.
Peter is the one who is preparing it. To him, the church is like a great sheet. It is an unfinished work.
But it is not empty at all, because it is filled with all kinds of unclean things.
Now, brothers and sisters, according to the Jewish tradition, following the book of Leviticus, there are clean animals and unclean animals. They were only allowed to eat the clean, but not the unclean animals.
But here, what Peter saw was that in that great sheet all these living things were unclean. So he said, “Well, I just could not slay any of them.”
You know, tradition is so powerful. Even the voice from heaven could not change it. Even three times, he still insisted, “No, Lord.”
What do you mean by eating? Eating in Scripture has a spiritual meaning. It means fellowshipping.
That is why we say when we are at a table, we are not just eating together; we are fellowshipping with one another. The spiritual meaning of eating is fellowshipping.
So the Lord said to Peter, “Fellowship with these unclean things.” They look unclean, but actually they have been changed by the Lord.
“What God has cleansed, do not consider common.”
Is it not true that in the church, if you look at the people, we are all unclean and common? There is no so-called saint in the church, and no one is canonised.
In the eyes of the world, we were all unclean things. But by the grace of God, He has cleansed us. That is why we are in the church.
Because we have all been cleansed, therefore the Lord said, “Fellowship.”
Now, brothers and sisters, if we look at each other in the flesh, we will see each other as unclean and common. We will insist that there can be no fellowship.
We will say that we cannot be defiled by others. But if we see each other in Christ, brothers and sisters, how can we refuse fellowship?
The Jews and the Gentiles had no fellowship with each other. It was wrong for a Jew even to enter into the house of a Gentile.
That was Peter’s problem. He could not enter into the house of a Gentile. He would defile himself, so he refused to do that.
But the Lord showed him that what God has cleansed, let no man consider common.
So, brothers and sisters, let us receive one another as Christ has received us.
In the church of God there is no division. In the church of God, we receive all who are cleansed by the Lord. And that is fellowship.
Here you find, in this third vision, if you may call it, the Lord shows Peter what the church is and what fellowship is.
When you put all these three together—the vision Peter saw at Caesarea Philippi, the vision he saw on the Mount of Transfiguration, and the vision he saw on the rooftop—you find that actually they are just one.
In the first vision, he saw Christ and the church. In the second vision, he saw how Christ is Christ and how the church is to be built. In the third vision, he saw what is the fellowship of the church.
This is the foundation, brothers and sisters.
What is the foundational truth? The foundational truth is seeing Christ: that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God; that He is the Rock; that He is our confession of faith.
It is upon this that we are to be built by Him into a church.
In the foundational truth, we shall also see the place of the cross, because it is through sufferings that God leads to glory.
We shall also see how God has cleansed us. Therefore, we need to receive one another. We need to learn to fellowship with one another.
That is the vision of Peter. May the Lord help us.
Dear heavenly Father, we want to thank Thee, for it pleased Thee to reveal Thy Son in us.
We do praise and thank Thee that Thou hast also revealed to us that Thou wilt build Thy church upon Thyself.
We thank Thee for revealing to us how Thou art going to build it: that we need to really hear Thee and submit ourselves to Thee as our Lord, as our King.
We thank Thee that Thou hast also revealed to us how we are cleansed by Thee; that we are not just alone, but we are together, and we need fellowship with one another.
Lord, we just pray that these will become real to every one of us here. May Thou get what Thou dost desire. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.