He [Jesus] 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. - Matthew 16:13-17
People heard about Jesus and many saw Him - but what did they think they were seeing? Most people think about Jesus - Who is both God and man - as just a man. They see Him or think about Him from a natural - human point of view. The reason is that they are incapable of understanding spiritual truth on their own. If they could, they would surely tremble.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. - 1 Corinthians 1:18
God thoughts are not our thoughts. When Jesus asked the question, their response was in the context of what those who were not spiritual understood of what was spiritual. Their only frame of reference was of other people. Everyone they named was a human being a son of Adam. But when Peter answered Jesus, it was with spiritual understanding. The nation of Israel has long been looking for a Messiah.
They believed that the Messiah would be a direct descendant of King David, which is a crucial aspect of Jewish messianic expectations. He would gather the Jewish people from the diaspora, rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, and restore Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. The coming of the Messiah was and is associated with a time of universal peace, where nations will no longer engage in war, and there will be a heightened moral and spiritual awareness among humanity. The Messiah is expected to be a human leader, not a divine figure, who will fulfill specific prophecies and bring about significant changes in the world.
But Peter understood that Jesus was the Messiah and was divine - the Son of God - a mystery that was unknown until Jesus walked the earth. Jesus told the disciples that "flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Knowing about Jesus' divine nature was revealed by God - it could not be deciphered by Biblical scholars. When Jesus met with Nicodemus - a religious teacher - He essentially told Nicodemus that he was trying to understand spiritual truth from a worldly perspective and that Nicodemus had to be born again spiritually.
There is much talk about the Charlie Kirk memorial in Arizona. But a day after the memorial, the intensity in the press has died down - predictably. Old news. Many people talked about the spiritual context of the event - where Jesus - not Charlie - was being lifted up. The secular media was largely silent about that. Not news worthy to a secular society. That is the way of things in a world that rejects God. The god of this world will not allow the promotion of the God of heaven. Why would the press promote something that it believes is patently false? Some might say that everything does not have spiritual context - but I would argue that it does. God - who is spiritual - is sovereign over all.
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. - 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
So who you say that Jesus is? If you agree with Peter - it should be more than informational it should be transformational. Is it? Was It?
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