Theme Scripture

Matthew 16:13-19

The Lesson

You will recall from Part One that in this scripture, Jesus asks his disciples “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man am?” And they responded, “some say John the Baptist, some Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets”. Jesus then asks His disciples “But who do you say that I am?” Then Simon Peter answered and said “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” and Jesus answered and said to him “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Also I say to you, that you are Peter, and on his rock I will build my Church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosened in Heaven”.

For a lot of Christians, everything ends when the Church service ends; we don’t touch the Bible or do any serious prayers until the next service. Just as your physical being grows as you feed it, so does your spirit being when you feed on the Word. 

When you read the theme scripture you realise that Jesus asked the disciples “who do men say that I am?” and immediately the Bible records that THEY (all of them, not just one – it was a chorus) responded – oh some say you are John, some say you are the reincarnated Elijah, etc. But when Jesus asked them, “but who do you say that I am” the Bible records that only Peter (this time it didn’t say they) said You are the Christ the son of the living God. 

They were all close to Jesus; eating with Him and with Him when he performed miracles; but clearly someone had done their due diligence – Peter had!

He had gone and done his homework; he had read the prophecies about the Messiah; he had rightly discerned the power behind the miracles, etc and through this his eyes had been open and he had come to his own conclusion – You are the Christ the Son of the Living God! 

And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father who is in Heaven”. What has the Father revealed to you about the Son?

Who do you say that I am? God is telling us that what matters to Him is who you say He is and the onus is on you to find out. God will not consider the fact that the wrong doctrine you have held on to came from your Pastor – what matters to Him is what YOU have learnt about Him – what have you found out about Him through the scriptures – how has he revealed Himself to You through dreams – are you stirring up the spiritual gifts available to you to have deeper encounters with Him?

Your response to the question “who do you say that I am” will provoke a certain response from the Master. In Peter’s case Jesus responded “and I also say to you that you are Peter”! Jesus is saying, tell me who I am and I will tell you who you are! When you know who Jesus is, you get to find out who you are and what your purpose is! He said to Peter, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it…”. So when you get the revelation of who Jesus is, you get the blueprint for your life and the devil cannot toy with that destiny – the devil will try but by knowing who Jesus is, you will know that the devil cannot prevail. 

The devil is toying with so many Christians because they do not know who they are or who they claim to be serving. With Peter’s confession, what Jesus was saying was, well done Peter – you have spoken well; so now let me tell you who you are! (because frankly if you do not know someone, you do not value what they say to you). And Jesus said; “you are Peter and you are the rock on which I will build my Church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it”. And Jesus did not stop there; he went on to say “and I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven. 

So with revelation comes spiritual authority – the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Your confession of who the Christ is will determine whether what you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven and whether whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven. So if you are binding and not getting results, check your confession. Are you binding in the name of the Jesus you know as the Son of the Living God, or the Jesus your Pastor knows; or the Jesus someone told you about? Who do you say I am? The answer to this question will determine the answer you receive from the Master. 

It is time for us Christians to begin to get to know Jesus for ourselves and not through what others are saying. It is time to develop the appetite for the Word – the Word that brings us light and opens our eyes to the revelation of who Jesus is. 

1 John 1:1 reads, “ in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God”. Jesus is the Word and if you do not know the Word, you cannot possibly know Jesus. There is a place for believing in Jesus as a result of someone’s testimony or preaching, but there is also another dimension where you find out who God is for yourself – that is when you boldly declare; You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God! Because you know and because you have experienced God for yourself! 

Prayer

Thank you Lord Jesus for your Word. I make a commitment to you today, that I will feed on your Word so that I may know you and thereby know your purpose for my life. Give me the grace to seek you and in my search may I find you to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God, in Jesus name, AMEN!