When Jesus and the Apostles were in the area of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked them who men were saying He was. He also asked them who they thought He was. Peter, being moved upon by the Spirit declared, "Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Peter had received revelation from God, teaching and witnessing to him that Jesus was, indeed, the Messiah, the very Son of God. Jesus goes on, stating Peter's name then saying that He would build His church upon "this rock." Because the word petros has meaning relating to rock, many Christians interpret this passage (Matthew 16:13-20) to mean that Christ would build His church upon Peter. That was not what Jesus meant. He would build His church upon the rock of REVELATION. God would reveal His truths to man by communicating from the heavens through the Holy Ghost, as He did to Peter.

Peter was promised that he would receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and that "whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Peter would become the president of the Church and would be given the keys of the Priesthood. He would be given the authority to perform sacred "sealing" ordinances that would be binding on earth, and in the heavens, as well. Peter, James, and John served as the First Presidency of the Church in their time (in that sense, the responsibility of the Church was upon Peter's shoulders). That same Priesthood authority, with those same binding keys, functions in Christ's Church here on earth today under the direction of today's First Presidency.