WHO IS JESUS TO YOU?

Wednesday 11 June

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?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The most important question you will ever answer in your entire life is who is Jesus? When we read this passage we first see people saying He was a prophet. Nothing could be further from the truth. The prophets were the ones in the Old Testament who were God’s mouthpiece sent with a message about a Messiah who would come to save and deliver His people. Jesus on the other hand, was the materialisation of that very message. They were like the sign that points to the destination and Jesus was the actual destination point.

Jesus is known in Islam and in many eastern religions as a prophet and in new age teachings as one of the ascended masters along with Buddha and Krishna. Knowing him as a prophet however has absolutely no power to save anyone.

So the first question is about the PERCEIVED IDENTITY of Jesus. Watch what happens next. Jesus personalises the question to his disciples about his REAL IDENTITY. He asks the group ‘but who do you say that I AM’. Remember what God said to Moses when he asked for what he should say if Pharaoh wanted to know who sent him? God said, tell them that I AM sent you. That shows us that Jehovah was the pre- incarnate Christ.

Peter received this same revelation by the Spirit when he said you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. in other words, the Messiah. The one we have all been waiting for. Jesus says it was His Father who revealed it to Peter not any man.

Now notice what happens directly after Jesus statement. Jesus then brought a revelation to Simon about himself. It’s important to note that this was a teaching lesson not a name changing exercise, although some continued calling him Peter after hearing Jesus’ words. The name Simon meant ‘reed’ but Jesus called him Peter or ‘Petros’ in the Greek which means stone.

Here is the principle: Peter had a revelation OF who Christ which caused Peter to have a revelation of himself IN Christ even before the resurrection. When you see who Jesus is you see who YOU are in Him. When His true identity is revealed, our true identity in Christ is also revealed.

Next, Jesus after calling Simon the reed Peter the stone says, on this rock I will build my church… now this is no longer Petros but Petra which means the rock the church would be built upon was Christ and not Peter. What is also powerful here is that a stone is made from the same material as a rock. Jesus was foretelling that WE would be made of the same substance as Him! He is God; we are born of God. He is the Word; we are born of the Word. He is Spirit; we are born of the Spirit.

No wonder it is Peter that writes about this phenomena in one of his epistles where he talks about believers in Christ all being ‘living stones built up into a spiritual house’.

What are these stones built upon? The rock Christ Jesus. This is why we have an unshakable foundation by the immovable faith of the Son of God. The last phrase after ‘I will build my church’ is… ‘the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.’ This means death and Hades could not hold Him in the grave. Jesus conquered death and Hades and so did we when we IDENTIFY with Him.

Simply put: Get a revelation of His REAL IDENTITY and you will see your REAL IDENTITY In Him. Now, who do you say that He is?

APPLICATION

Study Jesus’ words and the epistles to gain more revelation of the new creatures in Christ we have now become and walk in the reality of this grace.