Bind

"Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," Matthew 16:19.

Who's talking here? The Son of man. (I.e., Jesus. The Christ. The Son of the living God.) Who's he talking to? To Peter. (I.e., To Simon bar-Jonah. To Peter confessing Jesus' identity.) What has Jesus said to Peter? He's said that he, Jesus, will give to him, Peter, keys that bind or release requirements into the kingdom of God. He's said that what Peter requires will be required in the sky, what Peter releases will be released in the sky. So. Did Peter bind anything or release anything? Yes. Well. What did he bind? He bound baptism's requirement into Christ. What did he loose? He loosed circumcision's requirement. When? When he preached Christ on Pentecost and commanded all Jews to repent and to be baptized in the name of Jesus. And. When he preached Christ to the Gentiles and commanded them to baptism, and released them from circumcision's requirement. Binding this, loosing that. Sky kingdom.

When we meet with a brother or sister today, we remember God's washing away of our every sin. And, together, we give thanks to Jesus whose death opened heaven's gates to us!