But Who Do You Say That I Am?

When Jesus came into the district of Caesrea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 

And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

He said to them, "But who do YOU say that I am?" (Matthew 16: 13-15)

There are 2 questions here. The first one asks the disciples about a term that Jesus often applied to Himself, "Son of Man". It is a messianic term that comes from the 7th chapter of Daniel. Beginning in verse 13 Daniel describes a vision.

I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.

And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, that ALL the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away.

These Jewish disciples must have understood what the term meant but their answer reveals a certain hesitation to believe it. The Jewish people who were flocking to Jesus because of the wonders and miracles and the power of His preaching thought that perhaps Jesus was the return of the great prophet Elijah, taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot but prophesied to come just prior to the revealing of Messiah.

Or perhaps Jesus was the return of another one of their prophets like Jeremiah. It had been hundreds of years since Israel had seen a true prophet with signs and wonders, until the coming in their day of John the Baptist, who had been murdered by Herod. Maybe Jesus was the return of John the Baptist.

Jesus then asks the 2nd question; But who do you say that I am?.

This is the question of the ages.

Today many think of Jesus only as a historical figure, perhaps not even real at that. The most common description I hear is from those outside the Church who proclaim that Jesus was "a great teacher", albeit one of many "great teachers".  A religion formed around his personality and teachings and the myth of the resurrection.

Others believe that Jesus came to start an organized religion. He appointed apostles as the head of a new liturgical priesthood that would replace the Jewish priestly system and which would administer the 7 sacraments that Jesus instituted while on the earth. Peter and his successors would be the leaders of those baptized into this church and that one man would be the visible representation of Jesus in this world.

Still others have only an intellectual belief that Jesus is God. They believe that if they are part of an organized religion, go to church and don't behave any worse than their fellow man that maybe when they die they will go to heaven.

But the prophecy in Daniel says something very interesting. It declares that to the Son of Man was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom that ALL the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him.

When Jesus asks His disciples who they say He is it is Peter who answers; You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. By this statement Peter recognizes that Jesus, who he has been walking and talking and eating with for a couple of years, is truly the One who was spoken of by Daniel.

His verbal statement was more than just an intellectual understanding. Jesus responds by saying;

Blessed are you Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

It was the Father (The Ancient of Days) through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who gave revelation to Peter as to who Jesus truly was - a man, born of a woman, but preexisting as the promised Messiah or Christ before His earthly birth. The Son of Man was also the Son of God.

Jesus then make this statement to Simon Barjona, calling him by a name which represents who he would be in Christ;

I also say to you that you are Peter (the word in Hebrew means a little stone, a pebble), and upon this rock (not Peter as a man but Peter's confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ) I will build my church (the Church would be comprised of all who like Peter believe in Jesus as the Christ, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone), and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

Jesus goes on to say;

I will give you (not exclusively Peter but corporately the Church) the keys of the kingdom of heaven (the same kingdom as given to the Son of Man in Daniel's vision); and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

The kingdom of heaven is all about souls being saved from their sin and rebellion by man's confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah of both Jews and Gentiles, who by His death on the cross paid the price demanded by the Father for that sin and rebellion. The kingdom is also about what we do here on earth through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us.

The most important question that Jesus will ask us will not be how we treated the poor, although that is an important thing to do. It will not be what we did for social justice, or how we managed the resources of the earth, or how religious we were or any other thing we could have done to benefit our fellow man. Those actions should be the result of the moving of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

When Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost and addressed the large crowd gathered it is recorded in Acts 2 that he speaks of the move of the Holy Spirit as prophesied by prophet Joel, the end of which says:

And it shall be that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

He then goes on to quote other scriptures pointing to how Jesus was sent by God and that He was to die and be resurrected and ends with;

Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified.

That day 3000 were added to the Church. Despite persecutions, trials and hardships the Church, those who were saved by calling on the name of the Lord, continued to grow. Society was changed because hearts were reborn and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit who motivated men to do the will of God and to proclaim that Jesus was the one true light of the world.

As a believer, one who confesses Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I present my needs and the needs of my family to God and should represent who God is to my family and to the world. That makes me a priest. I'm not a high priest. That is and can only be Jesus. But as a priest I am also called out to present Jesus to the world and to present the world's needs to the Father through Jesus.

If I were to travel as a representative of the Church, and preach before crowds both great and small, in order to build up the Church and bind those forces that oppose the kingdom and loose those people that are bound by tradition and unbelief and sins and the enemy, I would not present programs or earthly philosophy sprinkled with proof texts. I would not ask for the blessing of Jesus's earthly mother to accomplish what is properly in the realm of the Holy Spirit to do. For real change to happen it must come through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will only move in power when our focus moves away from a man, any man, and towards God. The glory must always be the Lord's.

Peter preached to the crowd that Jesus whom they crucified was Lord and Christ. Peter was the first (although reluctantly) to bring the good news about Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles (and while he was still speaking the Holy Spirit descended and the entire family believed). There is no record that Peter ever presided over the assembly of apostles, or wore vestments or a miter or carried a staff with a crucifix or had a big ring for people to kiss. When the lame beggar asked Peter and John for alms they responded that they didn't have any money but what they did have they would give to him. They then declared that in the name of Jesus that man should stand up and walk. And he did, leaping, shouting and praising God.

That is what the world desperately needs. That power is what the Church desperately needs. The message that Jesus is Lord and Savior and that He is the only way for man to come to the Father is what the UN desperately needs. If I were to travel as a representative of the Church I don't think I would be too popular in the world of celebrity and political correctness. But oh, what an opportunity to declare that Jesus is the Christ!

Who do you say that Jesus is?