Kingdom Authority
Devotions:
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar–jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And 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.” Matthew 16:17-19 KJV
“And I tell you, you are Peter [Greek, Petros –a large piece of rock], and on this rock [Greek, petra –a huge rock like Gibraltar] I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (the powers of the infernal region) shall not overpower it [or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it]. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven. [Isa. 22:22.]”
Matthew 16:18-19 AMPC
It is important for us to know which rock Jesus would build His church. Jesus said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against this church. If we have the wrong rock then we are helpless against the gates of hell in our own lives and the lives of others. The word, "Peter" means a small stone but Jesus said that on the boulder He would build His church, not pebble. The Boulder which Jesus is building upon is the revelation of Christ. Christ has already defeated the enemy. What we need is the revelation of Christ, Christ in us the hope of glory. We have the Victor inside of us and do not have to put up with the onslaught of the enemy.
The gates of hell prevailing is not a defensive posture of the church but and offensive one. We the ones attacking the kingdom of darkness on the earth to bring many to the light. Our commission is to take the message of salvation and the kingdom of God to all the dark places of the earth and win the souls of men to salvation.
The keys to the kingdom is whatever we see as valid in heaven we can loose it here on earth and whatever we see as illegitimate and not allowed in heaven we can bind it here on earth. We have the authority to bring heaven to earth based on the work that Jesus did on the cross.