Follow Him if you Know who He is!

Mark 8:22-38 

A Blind Man Healed at Bethsaida

22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. 23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.

24 And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."

25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. 26 Then He sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town."

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

27 Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "Who do men say that I am?"

28 So they answered, "John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets."

29 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Peter answered and said to Him, "You are the Christ."

30 Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.

Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection

31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

Take Up the Cross and Follow Him

34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

Who do you say that Jesus is?  That is the question He asked His followers about what others answered and what they said.  It is vital for us to know and confess outwardly (Romans 10:9-10) as well if we are to follow the Lord.  Like the blind man spoken of here, Jesus can give us sight to see the reality of the world around us and we can the. See Him before us as well, “seeing everyone clearly.”  The disciples who followed Jesus answered with what others said about His identity as Elijah the prophet who never died (2 Kings 2:11, Hebrews 11:5-6), while others just assumed He was some other prophet of old.  Elijah made rational sense because we all die once in this life (Hebrews 9:27-28), but Jesus said that was John the Baptist in Matthew 11:11, 14 when asked about it.  The others had already died so it could not have been one of them as we now know.  Peter jumped in with the answer given by God’s Spirit that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ anointed by God as the Prophet we should listen to (Deuteronomy 18:15, Acts 3:22, 26, Hebrews 12:24-25).  It is vital that we un just what this means to define Jesus as the Christ and the one Prophet sent to us.  It means He is God’s Son and the son of Man, both divine and of a nature like ours fused together in a hypostatic union of God and man able to suffer our punishment for sin yet sinlessly perfect as God to not sin and thus be able to sacrifice Him in our place to cover our sin with His blood as no mere animal sacrifice ever could for an eternal salvation from the punishment of sin which we all have earned (Romans 3:23) through Adam (Genesis 2:17, Romans 5:12, 18, 21) and our fallen nature marred by his original sin which every one of us has inherited from birth (Psalm 51:5, 58:3, Romans 5:12).  Only understanding who this Savior is can lead to repentance by faith and receiving Him to deliver us by trusting His word of who He is and what He has done for us to save us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10) for our rebellion against Him and His word from Eden until the present day.  Only the Divine One who covers our sin (Genes 3:7, 21) by taking it upon Himself (Hebrews 9:28, 13:11-12) as the only sinless man can do this.  Jesus then explained the sacrifice He would make in His crucifixion which Peter denied, the one who admitted He was the Messiah.  The Lord then told them to die to themselves and follow Him as their Lord and Savior, losing their lives to find salvation in living for Him as a result.  This is what it really means to bear your cross; it is death to me and living in and for Jesus the Christ our sovereign Lord.  Then we will not be ashamed when He returns because we have believed (John 5:24, Galatians 2:16, Hebrews 4:3, 1 John 4:16)!  This is the true God and eternal life as it is written in 1 John 5:20 so we may know and understand the answer to the question of who we say He is.  Follow Him if you know who He is!