and King of Israel. Fleeting manifestations of
evanescent hope that He might prove to be the looked-for Prophet, like
unto Moses, had not been lacking; but all such incipient conceptions had
been neutralized by the hostile activity of the Pharisees and their
kind. To them it was a matter of supreme though evil determination to
maintain in the minds of the people the thought of a yet future, not a
present, Messiah.

With deep solemnity, and as a soul-searching test for which the Twelve
had been in unconscious preparation through many months of close and
privileged companionship with their Lord, Jesus asked of them: "But whom
say ye that I am?" Answering for all, but more particularly testifying
as to his own conviction, Peter, with all the fervor of his soul, voiced
the great confession: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
This was no avowal of mere belief, no expression of a result at which he
had arrived by mental process, no solution of a problem laboriously
worked out, no verdict based on the weighing of evidence; he spoke in
the sure knowledge that knows no question and from which doubt and
reservation are as far removed as is the sky from the ground.

"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona:
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven." Peter's knowledge, which was also that of his brethren,
was of a kind apart from all that man may find out for himself; it was a
divine bestowal, in comparison with which human wisdom is foolishness
and the treasure of earth but dross, Addressing Himself further to the
first of the apostles, Jesus continued: "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."

Through direct revelation from God Peter knew that Jesus was the Christ;
and upon revelation, as a rock of secure foundation, the Church of
Christ was to be built.[766] Though torrents should fall, floods roll,
winds rage, and all beat together upon that structure, it would not,
could not, fall, for it was founded upon a rock;[767] and even the
powers of hell would be impotent to prevail against it. By revelation
alone could or can the Church of Jesus Christ