I will give you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you may bind on earth will be the thing bound in the heavens, and whatever you may loose on earth will be the thing loosed in the heavens.’”​—Matthew 16:16-19.

7, 8. (a) What did the apostles mistakenly think the kingdom of the Messiah was to be? (b) To whom were the “keys” of the kingdom of the heavens to be given, but upon whom was the congregation to be built?

⁷ When Jesus spoke to his apostles about the kingdom, they thought of a kingdom based upon the government that would have its capital at Jerusalem, where King David had ruled. They expected Jesus as the Messiah to set up his government at Jerusalem, as a successor to King David. As an evidence that this was their idea, they said to Jesus after his resurrection from the dead: “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” (Acts 1:6) For the time being, before the festival day of Pentecost of 33 C.E., they did not understand that the kingdom of the risen Christ was to be a superhuman one ruling over far more than the earthly nation of Israel. That being the case, it was quite in order for Jesus, after Peter’s confession of him as the Christ, to bring up the subject of “the kingdom of the heavens.”

⁸ The “keys” thereof he was giving to Peter. (Matthew 16:19)