Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
If you were to take a microphone with you today and ask each person you meet one simple question, I wonder what you’d hear? What question? The same question we saw Jesus ask His disciples yesterday, as recorded in Matthew 16. “Who do you say Jesus is?” (Matt. 16:15) Ultimately, it’s the most important question any person will ever answer. Why? Because your answer to that question describes your relationship with God at that moment and defines your eternal future!
Yesterday, we looked closely at the response of the disciples and Matthew in particular. Matthew had declared: “You are the Christ, Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matt. 16:16) We have no record, prior to that moment, of anyone making such a clear, correct, factual statement about the true identity of this famous, historical person: JESUS.
Jesus had shocked His disciples by saying to Matthew: “…this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood but by My Father in heaven.” (Matt. 16:17) Jesus made it clear that the only way Matthew could know this profound, truthful identity of Jesus, is if God Himself had communicated this truth about Jesus to Matthew. (Matt. 16:17) Pause. Ponder that! Has God ever communicated a profound truth to you?
Some years later, the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth explaining the role of the Holy Spirit of God in helping people understand spiritual truths. Paul wrote: “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (1 Cor. 2:14) Do you see my friends, that one of the roles of the Holy Spirit of God, in the life of any human being, is helping us understand God’s spiritual truths?
In fact, Paul wrote this to the Corinthian Christians in his second letter to them: “The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel, that displays the glory of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4) It means people who have NOT yet trusted in the truth about Jesus Christ…His incarnation as God in human flesh; His atonement death and resurrection; His ascension back to heaven… those people are living spiritually blinded by the dark kingdom. Their minds are incapable of understanding the Gospel of Jesus or recognizing Jesus as God the Son without the direct, mind opening, intervention of the Holy Spirit of God!
Now when we put those powerful Scripture statements together, we have a clear picture that Matthew had received Holy Spirit revelation about the divine, truthful identity of Jesus Christ, God incarnate! It also means that whenever you or I struggle understanding any spiritual truth, it indicates to us that there is a spiritual battle going on in our mind as the dark kingdom is seeking to prevent us from grasping God’s truth and the Holy Spirit is trying to help us understand God’s truth. The question we must ask ourselves is this: when considering how I pursue, process and prioritize information, am I seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance in discerning God’s truth, or am I feeding my natural human doubt and skepticism about anything related to God and His truth?
While Matthew and the disciples were reeling from this very powerful statement Jesus had made about Matthew receiving truth directly from God, Jesus continued with another statement that has been monumental in the religious world ever since. Jesus said: “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matt. 16:18) Let’s look very carefully, today and tomorrow, at WHAT Jesus said, and WHY He said it, and what the implications are for our world 2000 years later!
Did you notice… Jesus had just addressed Peter by two different names within 1 minute? ‘Simon son of Jonah’ and ‘Peter’. Why? You may be among millions of people who do NOT know why your parents selected the name you have or what your name means. But in Israel, all the way back to the days of Abraham, NAMES were very significant, especially names for boys. Sometimes it was God Himself who chose names for people because that name would be a reflection of the significance of their life. ‘Simon’ was a relatively popular name in first century Israel. In fact, Joseph and Mary named one of their sons Simon. (Mark 6:3)
The name “Simon” meant: ‘he who hears from God’. Parents giving that name to a son obviously hoped he’d be a boy who would receive God given ability to discern when God was speaking to him. Here at Caesarea Philippi Jesus had just declared that Simon had lived up to his name since the truth he proclaimed about Jesus’ identity was given to him by God Himself!
Jesus had called Simon ‘son of Jonah’ or some translations of this verse have ‘Siomon son of John.” As we know, a man in the first century was almost always identified as being the son of his father, thus John or Jonah was Simon’s father and well known in his community.
“Peter” the name Jesus gave Simon when they first met (John 1:42) is actually ‘Cephas’ in Aramaic, the language dialect they spoke in the Galilee region at that time. Both “Peter” and “Cephas” mean ‘stone’ or more accurately ‘chip off the block’. That name is a form of the word “Petros”. That word was specifically used when statues were being carved from large blocks of stone or marble, and the chips which flew from the sculptor’s chisel were called “petros”.
So, what do you surmise was Jesus’ intent in giving Simon the name “Petros” or “Peter” or “Cephas”, when they first met? (John 1:42) What original block was Peter to be a ‘chip’ off of, as he was following Jesus as a disciple? Oh my, do you see the significance of Jesus’ vision for Peter’s future here my friends? Peter, you may recall, became the premier apostle to the Jews while Paul became the primary apostle to the Gentiles! (Galatians 2:7,8) Remember, an apostle was one called by Jesus, trained by Jesus, and sent by Jesus to represent Jesus!
Oh my, I think we need to pause right here and reflect. Simon Peter’s entire life, his identity, his purpose in life, his future all the way to his death were all being redefined by Jesus right here looking out over the crowd at Caesarea Philippi. Now I have a question for all of us hearing my voice. Could Jesus apply the word “petros” to you and me? Are we so closely following Jesus, so deeply digging into God’s Word, that we are becoming like a chip off the divine block, Jesus Himself?
Again the ‘lessons learned’ notes below are very powerful for further reflection and a great worship song that will bless your soul, and I’ll be here very excited to meet with you again tomorrow at Caesarea Philippi, for as you may know what Jesus said next still shakes the world today!
Today’s Scripture: Matt. 16:16-18.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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