Upon This Rock

Jesus asked His disciples, "whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 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." (Matt 16:13-19)

There are three things here that can all be called the rock:
1 Jesus Christ - He is referred to as the rock many times and it is Him and His divinity about whom the question was asked and the conversation was based.
2 Revelation - It was revelation that Jesus emphasized as the means that brought about this knowledge. This teaches of the need for personal revelation and the need for revelation from the living authorities who hold the keys of the kingdom.
3 Peter - Christ says to and about Peter, "upon this rock I will build my church." This is future tense and immediately follows it up with another future tense action: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." These two are inseparably connected. The keys of the kingdom of heaven that were eventually given to Peter made him Christ's authority on the earth. He was to be the rock on earth who must use the rock of revelation to communicate with the Rock of Christ to run the church. He who holds the keys of the kingdom on earth is the third rock. It was through Peter and the keys that he held that the church was built in the old days and, through the restoration of those keys through him directly, in these days.

We must each be subject to the three rocks - Jesus Christ, personal revelation, and the living head of the church with the keys of the kingdom.