Confess and Follow The Christ Revealed!

Matthew 16:13-28

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

13 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?"

14 So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

17 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. 18 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. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection

21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"

23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

Take Up the Cross and Follow Him

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

The message of the gospel of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ is to confess who He is and follow Him in faith to repentance from our dead works (Hebrews 9:14) and sin to trust His work on the cross for salvation from certain judgment (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8).  Peter answered as God gave Him the understanding to admit (confess) the truth that Jesus was the Christ, the Anointed Son of God come in flesh (John 1:14).  He was only able to say this as truth by the enabling understanding of the Holy Spirit of God revealed to him by the Heavenly Father, just as He enables all to confess who He has chosen and calls as lost sheep out of the darkness of this world marred by sin.  This confession of who Christ Jesus is has given him and the children of God who are collectively the Church, His body, the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  This solid foundation of the Rock is who we stand upon with absolute conviction and confidence until His return.  This new life given to we dead ones (Ephesians 2:8) by this confession by faith through repentance is the only foundation (1 Corinthians 3:10-11 , Ephesians 2:20-22) to build on, not any institution made by the hands of man apart from it.  Not even the gates of hell can destroy this invisible church comprised of all whom He calls to Himself (John 6:44, 65, 1 Peter 2:5).  Just as Jesus had his temple torn down and He raised it after three days, so our own promised resurrection in Him will surely come and we will stand at last before His face (Job 19:25-27, Revelation 22:3-4)!  Even the devil and hell itself is no match for the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is made by God’s hand.  Of course, since Peter was fallible flesh as we are, he faltered in faith and wanted Jesus not to suffer as He had to for us and was corrected on the spot.  Such denial of the necessity of suffering to purchase our salvation was a denial of faith and of God’s will and working!  That ignorant statement was inspired by Satan, not by God’s Holy Spirit.  We also must beware of our own stumbling and keep the promises of God in Christ constantly in view of our mind’s eye to avoid this pitfall.  Jesus then pointed out the cost of discipleship.  All of us who He calls to follow must die to ourselves on that cross as we bear it with Him because we are in Him.  This denial of self is life in Him through our death to our desires and what we live for.  There is no gain in gathering what we desire in place of all of heaven given to us to yearn and live for instead.  We only find true life worth living in Christ, life that continues eternally from now till the end of time and beyond.  Would we exchange anything we could have here for that?  I think not.  That was the comparison our Lord gave to His disciples and so to us as those following after in their footsteps after our common Lord and Savior.  What we can expect then as we follow faithfully is reward for our labors in the gospel and our resulting good works prepared for us to walk out in life (Ephesians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 3:14-15).  Those not giving up their lives to be transformed are utterly incapable to do these things and will taste death after dying in the end (Romans 6:9-11, Revelation 21:7-8).  May all who read these things confess and repent to follow Him above all else, and may we who have believed and received Him by faith through repentance (John 1:12) stand firmly upon that rock of unshakable confession (Hebrews 12:28) that Jesus Christ is the only Lord and Savior forever because of His work (John 6:29, Titus 3:5) alone.  Confess and follow the Christ revealed!