Who Is Jesus?

Matthew 16: Turning Point (3)

Pray Psalm 138.1-3.
I will praise You with my whole heart;
Before the gods I will sing praises to You.
I will worship toward Your holy temple,
And praise Your name
For Your lovingkindness and Your truth;
For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
In the day when I cried out, You answered me,
And made me bold with strength in my soul.

Sing Psalm 138.1, 2.
Regent Square: Angels from the Realms of Glory
I will give You thanks and praise You, God of gods, with all my heart. 
I will bow before Your temple, grateful praise to You impart. 
For Your Name and for Your glory, You have magnified Your Word!

Read Matthew 16.1-17; meditate on verses 13-17.
How did Peter know who Jesus is? How do you?

Prepare.
1. What were people saying about Jesus?

2. What did Peter say? How was he able to say that?

Meditate.
In Jesus’ day, many people were talking about Him, and opinions were circulating concerning His identity. Jesus questioned His disciples on the matter (v. 15).

Jesus colored the answer He was seeking by referring to Himself as the “Son of Man” in His question to the disciples. This would certainly have cued up passages from Daniel and Ezekiel, suggesting how they should answer. They had already acknowledged Him as the “Son of God” (Matt. 14.33). But here, Jesus sought to bring them to more clarity on the matter.

So Jesus asked the disciples about their understanding of His identity. Peter spoke for them all in saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The disciples at this point knew Jesus to be Son of Man and Son of God. This does not mean they understood this mystery perfectly, or that they were ready to put their full weight down on this conviction. But they were correct in seeing Jesus as He was revealing Himself, and as He intended to be known.

Peter was “blessed” in so confessing (v. 17). But this understanding of Jesus is not something he had arrived at by his own cleverness or reason. God the Father had revealed Jesus’ identity to Peter. Unless God Himself teaches us about Jesus, leads and enables us to know Him as Son of Man and Son of God and the Messiah, we will never have anything other than, at most, a high regard for Him. And we will not know the blessings of God until Peter’s confession is our confession as well.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Jesus very sweetly gave His disciples a little lag time to gather their thoughts.
First He asked them, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, AM?” (Matt. 16.13).

Some of us can sort out our thoughts by talking with others about them.
Jesus understands this process and allowed His disciples that luxury.
So they came up with multiple answers to Jesus’ first question:
“Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Matt. 16.14).

As an aside, clearly the people were familiar enough with the Scriptures of the Old Testament to come up with these names. But in their familiarity, they were unable to, or had no desire to, see Jesus as the fulfillment of all those promises rendered by Elijah, Jeremiah, Moses, Isaiah, David, and the rest of the authors of those prophecies. And still, it remains the same. Some just cannot or will not accept the already arrived Messiah.

But then Jesus hones His eyes upon His disciples—those twelve men chosen to usher in Kingdom living here and now—the harbingers and bringers of the Church on earth.

“But Who do you say that I AM?” (Matt. 16.15).

And here we praise and admire impetuous Peter. He dashed, jumped, and blurted the Truth!
“You are The Christ, The Son of The Living God” (Matt. 16.16).

You are The One that Moses spoke about:
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren…
And the LORD said to me: 
‘I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, 
and will put My words in His mouth, 
and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 
And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, 
which He speaks in My Name, 
I will require it of him” (Deut. 18.15, 18, 19).

And that is exactly Who Peter said Jesus was. And Peter was right.

As it turns out, the question Jesus posed is the ultimate question of life:
Who do you say that I AM?

And then when you decide Who He is:
What are you going to do with Him?

Will you live for Him? Follow Him? Serve Him? Honor and glorify Him?

Blessed are you when you respond correctly, because the Father has given you the right answer (Matt. 16.17).
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, 
He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (Jn. 14.26).

The Truth is in the Word, and the Truth is the Word. 
The Scriptures are indeed, “living and powerful” (Heb. 4.12).
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; 
and these are they which testify of Me” (Jn. 5.39).

Who is Jesus? Sharing the living Word of God—the Bible—with others is a very good way 
to ready their hearts for the Father’s Big Reveal.

Reflect.
1. Have you ever asked someone, “Who do you say that Jesus is?”? Could you ask someone today?

2. Why might this question be a good one to start a Gospel conversation?

3. When did you first answer that question like Peter did? Have you thanked the Lord for whoever asked it?

Note that He is not asking them their own opinion. Rather, He asks the opinion of the people. Why? In order to contrast the opinion of the people with the disciples answer to the question “But who do you say that I am?” In this way, by the manner of His inquiry, they might be drawn gradually to a more sublime notion and not fall into the same common view as that of the multitude. John Chrysostom (344-407), The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 54.1

Pray Psalm 138.3-8.
Call upon the Lord for strength to serve Him today, and to be His witness in every area of your life.

Sing Psalm 138.3-8.
Regent Square: Angels from the Realms of Glory
On the day I called You answered, made me bold within my soul;
when I walk in troubled places, You revive and make me whole. 
For Your hand will gently shield me, and my fearsome foes control. 

All the kings of earth will praise You when Your words of truth they hear; 
of Your ways, of Your great glory, gladly they will shout and cheer. 
For the proud shall not approach You, yet You hold the lowly dear. 

Your Right Hand will save and keep me; all I need You will supply. 
For Your love is everlasting, reaching from beyond the sky. 
You will not forsake or leave me; You will save me when I cry.

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

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Other columns of interest: This week: Our Read Moore podcast continues our readings from the book, The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart. Our Crosfigell teaching letter is pursuing a series on the spiritual poetry of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column begins a study of the role of reason in the life of faith. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.