LEARNING DAILY

 

Matthew 16:13, When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

 

I am not sure I have recovered from the day we went to see “the region of Caesarea Philippi”. Take out your Bible and read Matthew 16:13-20; if you don’t, I might lose you. There is so much teaching in these verses, so much I have missed by not studying the history and significance behind a region. I am going to break down the teaching here into two parts because of space allowed for each page of the blog. You do not want to miss tomorrow!

 

I have written on the two questions Jesus asked His disciples before. They may be great questions for each of us to consider again as we face the issues of these last days. He asked them, “Who do men say that I , the Son of Man, am?”. And the question each of us must answer, “Who do you say that I am?”.

 

When answering the first question, the disciples gave answers others thought – John the Baptist (thought to be a fanatic), Elijah (thought to be a powerful teacher), or one of the prophets (from the notes in the DJSB). I am not certain that most people’s thoughts about Jesus have changed today. People may realize He was an historical figure. There are those who believe He was a good teacher or even a prophet. Few believe He was the Son of God. I wonder if many think about Him at all except to ridicule Believer’s beliefs and attempt to remove any forms of worship and symbols relating to God’s Word. Freedom of speech and freedom to worship Jesus Christ are certainly being attacked today.

 

The more important question that must be answered is, “Who do you say that I am?”. It is a question every person must consider and answer. Every person must decide who Jesus is to them; the answer determines if one walks on the broad way or on the narrow way to eternity. Peter understood that Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus told us a very important truth. Jesus is revealed to us as Savior through the Holy Spirit. How we each respond to the Holy Spirit is the most important response we will ever make. To respond “yes” places us on the narrow road to eternal life in God’s kingdom.

 

There has been misunderstanding placed on the statement Jesus made about Peter. When He told Peter that He would build His church on “this rock” He was stating that He would build His church on the truth of his and the other disciples' statement that He “was the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Jesus used a play on words here when He called him Peter; the Greek word for Peter is Petros, meaning small stone. When He said, “upon this rock” He used the Greek word Petra which means a massive rock and that is what the church would be built on; the church would be built on Peter’s the statement about who Jesus is.

 

The question for each of us today is to affirm who Jesus is to you. Take a moment to be with Him and tell Him who is to you. I doubt He gets tired of you telling Him!

 

I cannot wait to write about what we learned about Caesarea Philippi!

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.