Who Do You Say Jesus Is?

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he, his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Matthew 16:13-21

Steps: 3, 11, 12

Jesus had taken the disciples through many experiences and sent them out o witness about Him. When they came back Jesus asked that what people were saying about Him. The disciples gave Him a report. Then He asked them who did they think that He was. Simon said that Jesus was the Son of the Living God – the real Thing. Jesus blessed Simon for this testimony and told him that he understood this thought enough to say it because God the Father in heaven revealed it to Simon; he did not get it because he was so smart. Then He told them that He would build His church on the Rock which was Himself. Since they disciples had advanced as they had Jesus knew it was time to try to get across the truth about Himself that He was going to go to Jerusalem and He would die there, and then be raised back again to life. These were heavy and deep thoughts for His disciples. But they need to hear them to start getting ready for the trial and the death of Jesus. Jesus allowed them to start experiencing these thoughts to prepare them for the tragedy of His death.


Prayer for Today: God we have read many stories in Your Bible since starting this daily devotional. One of the most difficult story is that we have read about You in the Bible but we did not think we would have to decide whether You are real or not, yet recovery demands that we decide whether You are real or not, who You really are, and then what will we do in response to our conclusions. Help us Lord to be honest in our appraisals and help us to be open to the truths about You. Help us to make right decisions and then help us to follow through. Thank You for this opportunity to have a firmer grip on reality than we have ever had before. Thank You for Your love.