Who do you say I am?

Who do you say I am?

“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.  
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  
Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.”
                                                                                                   Matthew 16:13-20

Here Jesus asks Peter point blank “who do you say I am?” to which Peter replies, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God.”
Jesus notes that this was revealed to him by God.
I think when it comes down to it even today we need a revelation of God with respect to Jesus.
We can intellectually say there is a God and Jesus was a good and godly teacher. But when it comes to the divinity of Jesus that is something God must reveal to those who are truly seeking after him.
We must be truly looking for the Saviour.
Many men and women look at the Bible and the New Testament with and eye to pointing out it’s perceived errors. Many more simply dismiss the Bible as nothing more than a good or bad read.
These people generally don’t believe God exists. Therefore there is no need for a Messiah or Saviour.
These people for the most part, will never, following that train of thought, find the truth out about Jesus.
We first and foremost need to have faith there was a God. Peter did. He realized there was a God and like many Jews of his day was probably looking for a Messiah.
The writer of Hebrews states,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” 
                                                                                 Hebrews 11:16.
When we exercise faith and accept there is a God, then God can and will reveal things to us.
Until that moment, the moment the true seeker of truth exercises faith saying there is a God nothing can really happen.
For his faith Jesus said to Peter
“I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Peter went on to become a leader in the church, and as history as proven, no matter what as come against the church nothing has overcome it.
It is stronger today than it has ever been.
There is on other thing here that should be noted.  
“Then he (Jesus)  warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.”
 This warning was for their time. The time of the disciples.
Many Jews back then were looking for a conquering Messiah. Jesus was the suffering messiah mentioned in Isaiah 53.
Jesus did not want an uprising against Rome that was not his mission on the earth. He never spoke against Rome.
His mission was to reconcile mankind to God. Therefore to accomplish this he couldn’t afford his disciples or followers inciting an uprising against Rome. Thus he told them to not tell people he was the Messiah.
We know today he is the Messiah the Saviour of the world and it is a message we as Christians proclaim openly.
It is a message we want the whole world to hear.
Who do you think Jesus is?
Think about it.