Peter had seen the revelation of Christ, and the Lord Jesus appraised him well. But in the following verse, the Lord Jesus said, "And I also say unto thee..." (v. 18). Peter had just received the first fifty percent of the revelation. The revelation He had seen was utterly right, but it came short. Peter had seen who Christ was—that was wonderful, but it was not sufficient. You must underline the little word "also" in the beginning of verse 18—it is tremendously significant. In using this word the Lord Jesus, in effect, was saying unto Peter, "What you have seen is absolutely correct, but it is just fifty percent, just the first half; you still need the second half." Then Jesus proceeded to speak to Peter about the church. The first half of God's divine revelation is Christ, and the second half is the church. The first half is the Head, and the second half is the Body.
If you would see a person, and his head only is unveiled, your revelation is not perfect. You must not only see the head, but also the body, to see the person in his entirety. Yes, you may have seen Christ—that is wonderful. But you must realize that God's purpose not only involves the Head, but also His Body. You have seen Christ, but for God's purpose you must also see the church. So the Lord Jesus said, "And I also say unto thee..." You must underline, circle, and color the little word "also."
In all these years since we have seen something of the church, we cannot avoid telling others what we have seen. Because of this, we are accused of speaking too much about the church. Some dear friends say that they are for Christ. As long as they have Christ, say they, that is sufficient. They are always speaking about the Head. We too have seen the Head, but we have also seen the Body. We tell people that the Head is indeed important, the Head is precious, the Head is wonderful. But if you have only a head without a body, what kind of person is that? If we have only Christ without the church, what is that? Suppose that when we meet together the head of one of the brothers comes floating into the meeting hall. We would probably all flee in terror. The head needs the body. Oh, how much Christ needs the church! The problem is that people have talked much about the Head, but have neglected the Body. Some indeed have not only neglected the Body, but even opposed the Body and would stop others from speaking of it. So we must not only point others to the Head, but also to the Body. It is not only Christ, Christ, Christ, but also the church, the church, the church.
In other words, the Lord Jesus was saying to Peter, "It is wonderful that you have seen Christ, but you must see something more. And I say also unto you that I will build my church on what you have seen. You are Peter, a stone. I will build you with others as my church upon this rock. Henceforth you are no more an individualistic individual; you are just a stone built into the house, a member built into the Body. I will build my church—that means that I will build you as a stone with all the others as the church. This is the basis upon which I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. You, Simon, are not worthy to have the keys. No, you are not qualified; but as a stone in the building, a member in the Body, you are positioned to have the keys of the kingdom of heaven." The revelation we must have is firstly of Christ, and secondly of the church.
It is indeed sad today that in Christianity so many refer to Matthew 16, but they always speak of Christ, not the church. We must see something of Christ and the church. The great mystery of God is Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:32). This is the revelation.