A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. (v.4)

Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (v.17-19)

All humans are made for the glory of God. The elect people are saved by grace of God and glorify Him as His adopted children. The reprobate people rebel against God and will be punished for eternity, and thus, their eternal death becomes a proof of God’s faithfulness and righteousness. Whether a man is a saint or a reprobate, he cannot change his destiny. He cannot save himself. He cannot make himself go to hell. This is not because he becomes righteous by himself, but grace of God does not let His elect people fall. In regard to the visible church, all who have received the ceremonial baptism are included in the Kingdom. But because they do not receive the Holy Spirit, and thus, neither know God nor believe in Him, they become thrown out of the Kingdom. The irony is that these false Christians claim that they have the Holy Spirit in them and believe in God, but never repent of their sins. All saints believe that God has determined everything before the time began.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:16)

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,before you were born I set you apart;I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)

If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people. (Revelation 13:10)

If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’ (Jeremiah 15:2)

Everyone chosen by God receives the Holy Spirit at God’s appointed time. One may receive the Holy Spirit at 5 years old. One may receive Him at 90. We just do not know, and it should not be our main focus.

In the Book of Jonah, I consider Jonah’s prayer the most important. It is because his prayer is the prayer of Christ after death.

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish, and he said,

I called out of my distress to the LORD,

And He answered me.

I called for help from the depth of Sheol;

You heard my voice.

“For You threw me into the deep,

Into the heart of the seas,

And the current flowed around me.

All Your breakers and waves passed over me.

“So I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight.

Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’

“Water encompassed me to the point of death.

The deep flowed around me,

Seaweed was wrapped around my head.

“I descended to the base of the mountains.

The earth with its bars was around me forever,

But You have brought up my life from the pit, LORD my God.

“While I was fainting away,

I remembered the LORD,

And my prayer came to You,

Into Your holy temple.

“Those who are followers of worthless idols

Abandon their faithfulness,

But I will sacrifice to You

With a voice of thanksgiving.

That which I have vowed I will pay.

Salvation is from the LORD.” (Jonah 2:1-9)

Christ became one of us so that we would be like Him by uniting with Him.

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8)

It was not that Christ had to meet some conditions to be saved. Christ knew the Father and His plans. And He was not afraid of becoming a man and dying at the cross for the Kingdom because He knew that the Father would save Him. He knew exactly why He had to become a man. It is meaningless to analyze this passage in terms of the two natures of Christ. Christ as a man and Christ as the Son of God are the same. The two natures do not contradict. The Son of God has faith in the Father and the Son of Man has faith in the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable. If someone says the Spirit is evil and deceiving like the devil, he/she breaks all foundations of the Kingdom. The Spirit maintains the relationships among the Father, the Son, and saints. Therefore, those churches who speak falsely about the Spirit will be condemned severely at the end.

In regard to the keys of the Kingdom given to Peter, one must not think that the authority was given to a man. It is still Christ who holds the keys.

and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. (Revelation 1:8)

…He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens… (Revelation 3:7)

The keys are given to saints on the earth. Not that saints have the power separate from God but saints minister on the earth by having the Spirit of God. Christ exercises the power within us. All saints are like Christ. Christ tells Peter that his confession is not from men but from God. Only the Spirit can give such knowledge of God and make us confess our faith in Him. Therefore, saints are blessed by God not because of our works but by His grace.

Therefore, we do not get swayed by someone saying, “Look here is the Christ”.

And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ’; or, ‘Look, there He is’; do not believe it; for false christs and false prophets will arise, and will provide signs and wonders, in order to mislead, if possible, the elect. But beware; I have told you everything in advance. (Mark 13:21-23)

All saints are like Christ. We do not magnify ourselves before the world. We share His sufferings.

but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice and be overjoyed (1 Peter 4:13)

and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:17)