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A Revelation of God
by Fergus Davar Hello people, I write after quite a break again but with a message, an extract from last Sunday's word. Let's take a look at Mark 8:27-30. Mark 8:27-30 27 Then Jesus and his disciples went away to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Tell me, who do people say I am?" 28 "Some say that you are John the Baptist," they answered; "others say that you are Elijah, while others say that you are one of the prophets." 29 "What about you?" he asked them. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Messiah." 30 Then Jesus ordered them, "Do not tell anyone about me." From the above passage we see that even during Jesus' time people were not clear on who Jesus really is, we see here that words that identify Jesus merely as a prophet no matter how great or small, leave Jesus unfazed because they are coming from people who don't know Him. Let us first dwell on the word "Messiah" and what it means in it entirety. Messiah means: anointed, anointed one. You will notice it is anointed one and not anointed ones, there is no plural. The reason Jesus asks His disciples not to tell anyone at that time, is because he did not want to jeopardize until completion of His Father mission of Salvation by Jesus sacrifice for the Jewish people and the world. Messiah also has Biblical reference to the following below. a) of the Messiah, Messianic prince b) of the king of Israel c) of the high priest of Israel Coming back, let us see what acknowledgement of Jesus, comes from The Father, which is pleasing to God. Matthew 16:13-20 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."17 And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ. The Son of Man reference to Jesus above shows the humility of the Son God and this is declared in the book of Philippians in the New Testament. Philippians 2:5-7 ..Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Hebrew 2:9-10 9 But we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, so that through God's grace he should die for everyone. We see him now crowned with glory and honour because of the death he suffered. 10 It was only right that God, who creates and preserves all things, should make Jesus perfect through suffering, in order to bring many children to share his glory. For Jesus is the one who leads them to salvation. You can see in Mat 16:16-17 that knowing Jesus personally as one who has been consecrated to save you (Jesus mean Jehovah saves and Christ means Messiah i.e. anointed one) and who has the power of God is divine knowledge and this comes only from God to God's people, even the desire to know Jesus comes from the Father, I'd rather say the Father draws His people to His Son to be saved (John 6:44). John 6:44 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me; and I will raise him to life on the last day. From Mat 16:18 I'd like to tell you that from this knowledge the Apostle Simon gets the name Peter which means rock, meaning not a stone which is small enough to throw but a rock big enough to be the foundation of something. Now we must understand that just as a book is not worth it without its content, in the same way Simon was called Peter because of the revelation he had of Jesus and it was this revelation that made salvation as secure and unshakeable as a rock, a rock which would be a revelation of Jesus in the life of every Christian that would ensure the believers salvation even if he stood at the mouth/gates of hell/hades. A revelation which would be the believers key to heaven, where the lives a believer would transform would be saved and those who a believer may loose heaven may loose. You therefore see that knowing Messiah Jesus in the likeness of God (Son is like His Father) is the key to Salvation not only for you but to also those who interact with you. Let us see Matthew 16:21-23 21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." 23 But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." We see from the above that accepting Jesus for who He is, is also to accept His death on the cross for you and this is also part of the divine revelation of Jesus, which stands against many theories out there in the world that deny His death on the cross. The divine revelation however has advanced so much that they already at the gates (false theories) of Satan's house and in Jesus the revelation says to these gates/false theories, get behind me, you are a hindrance . Just as taking pictures does not make you a photographer, in the same way, having a spiritual following does not make you a prophet. Biblically, prophets were under the influence of the Holy Spirit through which they saw the plight of the people and so also the destruction coming and warned the people of the same, when disaster would strike and even after things had reduced to rubble, the prophets would see Israel build her self up. A prophet's job was looking out and never ownership over God's people, I say this because a prophet would purely translate what God's intentions for His people were and he'd never have his own set of recommendations or rules for people because no one can add to God for He does not leave anything out. Biblically prophets were known as watchmen for God's people (Micah 7:4). Micah 7:4 Even the best and most honest of them are as worthless as weeds. The day has come when God will punish the people, as he warned them through their watchmen, the prophets. Now they are in confusion. Jesus is different here, He is doing more that just looking out, He has a mission, a mission to rescue God's people from sin, and just as the Old Testament prophets put pen to material to keep record of the works of an unrevealed God (Psalms 77:14,15,20) , in the same way the followers of Jesus in the New Testament, put pen to material to keep record of God's works revealed in the Father Son and Spirit (Colossians 1:20). Psalms 77:14, 15, 20 (Old Testament) 14 You are the God who works miracles; you showed your might among the nations. 15 By your power you saved your people, the descendants of Jacob and of Joseph. .. 20 You led your people like a shepherd, with Moses and Aaron in charge. Romans 8:7-11 (New Testament) 7 And so people become enemies of God when they are controlled by their human nature; for they do not obey God's law, and in fact they cannot obey it. 8 Those who obey their human nature cannot please God. 9 But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to if, in fact, God's Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin. 11 If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you. I'd like to also stress on the goodness and uniqueness of God. To stress on this, I'd like to quote. Matthew 20:25-28 25 So Jesus called them all together and said, "You know that the rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have complete authority. 26 This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest; 27 and if one of you wants to be first, he must be your slave 28 like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people." Jesus here is actually declaring His humility in verse 27 and 28, He says if one of you wants to be first, "He" must be your slave, here Jesus is making reference to Himself, the Bible says Jesus even being the Son of God is not ashamed to call Christians His brothers (Heb 2:11) so you see here that even though He is our God, He considers Himself as one among us Son of Man. This should not be misunderstood as Jesus wanting to be a slave because He wants to be first but the understanding is that Jesus was slave because He was already first from time immemorial. For this reason he washed His disciple's feet (John 13:3-9) and it is in this He made reference that the least in the kingdom of heaven was greater than the greatest man of God or prophet John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11) that ever lived. As per the above Scripture Jesus referring to Himself as the least in the kingdom of God implied His greatness was like that of His Father in heaven (John 5:19-23). Heb 2:11 11 He purifies people from their sins, and both he and those who are made pure all have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his family. John 13:3-9 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him complete power; he knew that he had come from God and was going to God. 4 So he rose from the table, took off his outer garment, and tied a towel round his waist. 5 Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel round his waist. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Are you going to wash my feet, Lord?" 7 Jesus answered him, "You do not understand now what I am doing, but you will understand later." 8 Peter declared, "Never at any time will you wash my feet!" "If I do not wash your feet," Jesus answered, "you will no longer be my disciple." 9 Simon Peter answered, "Lord, do not wash only my feet, then! Wash my hands and head, too!" Matthew 11:11 11 I assure you that John the Baptist is greater than anyone who has ever lived. But the one who is least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John. John 5:21-23 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Note: Judgment given by God to His Son in John 5:21, is in reference that God's judgment for all people's sin was all upon Jesus on the cross and this is the way Jesus came to serve (not be served) and give His life as a ransom for many (Mat 20:28 above) and this revelation makes man honour God the Son as much as he honours the God the Father. Cheers! By Fergus Davar (Saved by HIS grace), just a pen in His Hand. Psalms 144:1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |