You Are The Messiah

Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” 15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” 20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. (Matthew 16:13–20 NLT)

There’s so much in these eight verses I’m not even going to try to address it all: Peter’s declaration, Peter the rock, I will build my church, hell will not conquer, keys of the Kingdom, as on earth, so in heaven, and more…!

So this: Jesus asked, “Who do people say I am?” The answers were mostly long-dead prophets reincarnated (resurrected?) as Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?” Peter quickly responded, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”  The other answers were guesswork and theories, Peter’s answer was a revelation from God!

And this: “My Father in heaven has revealed this to you.” Peter received revelation by God’s Spirit, not by looking at miracles and signs and making a calculated guess. Faith is as true as fact, even truer, but faith is not fact. Faith is not figuring things out. I have a concern about too much reliance on apologetics, the process of trying to convince people of the truth of the Gospel by careful reasoning. There’s a place for it, but apologetics alone is more likely to bring people to knowledge than faith.

And this: There comes a time for every person to take a stand and make a declaration of what he or she believes. There comes a time to receive revelation, to believe the revelation God gives, and to declare that belief in faith. I believe that when Peter made his declaration that day the Kingdom of Heaven surged forward.

Prayer:

Father, Please give us revelation of truth and faith to declare it. For the Kingdom’s sake.