What Do You Say?

“When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I am?  Matthew 16:13

I am not sure how long at this point that Jesus and His disciples had been together traveling throughout the upper regions of Israel.  Before Jesus called His twelve disciples to come with Him, He had been tempted by Satan to deny His own mission as the Savior of mankind.  Even Satan was aware that God had sent His only Son, Jesus, into the world, not to condemn the world’s inhabitants, but to give them everlasting life (John 3:16-17).  Satan failed, of course, in his mission to stop Christ from carrying out His Father’s will, and Jesus continued on in His work by calling twelve men to walk with Him as He taught and trained them to carry on after He was gone.

Jesus taught the people in His “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7) which broke down God’s commandments into practical, everyday modes by which to live, giving spiritual insight into the letter of the law.  After His sermon, He began to demonstrate the power of God by first healing a leper (Matthew 8:24).  He then healed a Roman centurion’s servant remotely (8:13), and then He healed Peter’s mother-in-law (8:15).  News began to spread about these healings, and many sick and demon-possessed folks were coming to Jesus for healing (8:16).  The crowds became so large that Jesus entered a ship to sail to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  A terrible storm arose, the disciples became very fearful, but Jesus calmed the waters (8:26).  Once He arrived on shore, He healed a demon-possessed man, giving him a normal life once again (8:28-34).  Jesus came to Nazareth, His hometown, and healed a man with palsy (9:1-2).  At this time, the religious leaders began to take note of Jesus’ influence over the people and began to criticize Him (9:10).

Jesus brought to life a young girl (9:25), healed a woman of an issue of blood after she touched the hem of His garment (9:21-22), and healed a man who couldn’t speak (9:32-33).  The Pharisees hated Jesus so much that they accused Him of working by the power of Satan (9:34).  He gave His disciples power to heal and cast out demons (10:1) and instructed them also in how they were to be witnesses for Him.  Jesus spent countless hours teaching His disciples as to His mission and ultimately to their own individual missions of spreading the gospel.  He taught the people in parables, using everyday examples of life to teach spiritual truths.  He healed the daughter of a Gentile woman (15:28) and fed 4,000 families (14:21) and then 5,000 families miraculously each time with an amount of food for one person (15:36).  The disciples saw Him walking on water, and Peter was also allowed to walk on water as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus (14:28-31).

It was after all of these miracles and the teaching of the truths of God that Jesus asked His disciples who folks believed Him to be.  They answered from what they had apparently overheard from others or from conversations with the local townspeople.  They told Jesus that some people believed Him to be John the Baptist, some the prophet Elijah, the prophet Jeremiah, or one of the other Old Testament prophets of God.  I don’t think Jesus was surprised by what the multitudes believed; He was more concerned as to what His disciples believed.  These disciples were going to be responsible for teaching the good news of eternal life, and it was incumbent upon them to have not only a head knowledge, but a heart knowledge that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, who had been long promised to come to bring salvation to all who would believe.  Jesus then asked them who they believed Him to be.  Peter spoke up and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”.  A lot of Jesus’ teachings and miracles displayed had been to the people, not just the disciples.  Why couldn’t the multitudes see what the disciples saw?  Jesus tells us that it wasn’t the teachings or the miracles that convinced the disciples of His true identity, it was the revelation to them by His Father in heaven (16:17).

I’ve heard people describe Jesus as a Teacher, a Prophet, a Baby in a manger, or a miracle Worker.  Some claim He was an African, or a white Anglo-Saxon, and some do not believe Him to have ever existed.  Some see God’s word as a fairy tale with no basis in fact.  Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, born of a virgin, ministered on earth for three plus years, was crucified to pay our sin debt, and whom God raised to life again for our justification are those to whom God has revealed this truth.  However, God will reveal Himself to whomever seeks Him with their whole heart.  God desires that no one perish but that all come to the knowledge of the truth (I Timothy 2:4).  With all of this in mind, what do you say?