Ministering to the People.................................................. 73

are still visible. Interestingly enough, because of the popular belief then that the cave represented the power of death, was near the place of the gods, and was the crossing to the a erlife, it was referred to commonly as the “Gates of Hades.” Historians explain that those who died there were o en buried with coinage so that they could a ord to be ferried to the life to come.

Caesarea Philippi is approximately twenty- ve miles north of the Sea of Galilee. On a tour bus, this trip is not easy. One can only imagine how di cult it must have been by foot and how long the trip must have taken. Yet it is to this location, and I believe intentionally so, that Jesus took his disciples to ask, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (v. 13). Why would he choose this out-of-the-way and somewhat di cult-to-reach location to ask this question? Perhaps there are several reasons, but ultimately the setting suggests this was the perfect location to teach the disciples a profound truth about the power of the gospel and a gospel calling.

So what does it look like to answer God’s call? How can we know that we are answering God’s call?

e Context Is the Service of the Gospel (vv. 21–23)

In verse 16 and in answer to Jesus’s question, Peter made an accurate profession about the one whom he was following: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In response, Jesus made perhaps an even more profound statement: “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (v. 18). More than a little debate has resulted in church history over the meaning of the designation “this rock.”3 However,

3 e most likely possibilities for what Jesus meant by the designation “this rock” fall into three categories. e rst possibility is Peter himself,