Confrontation

Jesus Christ is the only, God appointed foundation for the Christian life. How, then, does a person build upon this rock, which is Christ?

How, then, does a person build upon this rock, which is Christ?

Let us turn back again to that dramatic moment, when Christ and Peter stood face-to-face, and Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16).

We have seen that Christ is the rock. But it is not Christ in isolation or abstraction. Peter had a definite personal experience.

There were four successive stages in this experience:

1. A direct, personal confrontation of Peter, by Christ. Christ and Peter stood face-to-face. There was no mediator between them. No other human being played any part at all in the experience.
2. A direct, personal revelation granted to Peter. Jesus said to Peter, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:17). This was not the outcome of natural reasoning or intellectual understanding. It was the outcome of a direct spiritual revelation to Peter, by God the Father Himself.
3. A personal acknowledgement by Peter, of the truth which had been revealed to him.
4. An open and public confession by Peter, of the truth which he acknowledged.

In these four successive stages, we see what it means to build upon the rock. There is nothing abstract, intellectual or theoretical about the whole thing. Each stage involves a definite, individual experience.

The first stage is a direct, personal confrontation of Christ. The second stage is a direct, spiritual revelation of Christ. The third stage is a personal acknowledgement of Christ. The fourth stage is an open and personal confession of Christ.

Through these four experiences, Christ becomes, for each individual believer, the rock upon which his faith is built.