Intro to Matthew 16:13-17

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/26/2022 10:12 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  Intro to Matthew 16:13-17

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 16:13-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

 

            We have been looking lately about the teaching ministry of Jesus Christ, especially to His disciples and it can be said that this passage represents the climax of Jesus’ teaching ministry.  It is what we can say is in effect, the apostles’ final examination, consisting of but only one question, and this is the ultimate question that every human being alive needs to answer and needs to get right, for the answer a person gives will determine where he or she will live in eternity.  So who is Jesus Christ, as that is the question that He is asking His disciples, and as mentioned this question is the one asked to all people.  Every soul, as it were, will be pinned against the wall of eternity and forced to answer that question.

 

            We have been following our Lord through the book of Matthew for going on three years now and at this point in Matthews gospel Jesus is two and a half years into His ministry and “has been moving to this moment—teaching and re-teaching, affirming and reaffirming, demonstrating and re-demonstrating, building and rebuilding the truth of who He was in order to establish it completely and securely in the minds and hearts of the Twelve.”

 

            In our recent studies of Matthew we have found out that during these last several months of our Lord’s ministry that He has for the most part shunned the crowds and also the Jewish leaders.  There were only a few brief confrontations with the Jewish leaders as we have seen one after the feeding of the 4000 when they came from Jerusalem to talk with Jesus.  We have also learned that at one point the misguided multitudes wanted to make Him their political king, but He had nothing to do with that.  They were only looking for a way out from under Roman bondage.  All of the Jewish leaders, the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees wanted to get rid of Him because He was causing them much trouble in their false religion.

 

            MacArthur concludes this short introduction by writing:  “As He spent more and more time alone with the Twelve, Jesus went more often into Gentile territory and stayed longer.  He withdrew to the fringes of Palestine in order to be free of the misguided and fickle adulation of the multitudes and the growing hostility of the Jewish religious leaders.”

 

            This certainly was done on purpose in order to teach His disciples and now Jesus wants to make sure that the Twelve know exactly who He is, and that is what we will be looking at for the next few days.  8/26/2022 10:32 AM