February 18, 2016
Revelation Knowledge
Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father
in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human
being.
Matthew 16:17
Peter’s confession of faith is
one of my favorite passages in the Gospels. (Matthew 16:13-20) Jesus, ever the
teacher, engages the disciples in a dialog about the populist perception of him,
and his ministry. Peter’s answer is the perfect model of Saint Paul’s
imperative that the followers of Jesus are to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7 NRSV). The
disciples noted that the popular perception was that Jesus was like John the
Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. Then Jesus challenged
them with, “But who do you say I am?” Simon
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Whoa! Where did that come from? I
suspect Peter, and all the disciples were stunned at what came out of Peter’s
mouth. They needed Jesus to help them grasp the significance of Peter’s declaration:
“. . . my Father in heaven has revealed
this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.” Actually,
Peter’s declaration is a summary of all that had been revealed about Jesus thus
far in Matthew’s Gospel, but this was the first time all the truth about Jesus
was put together in one cohesive affirmation.
Peter’s confession is not only a
model of walking by faith, not sight, it is also a model of Jesus’ promise for
the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives: “But
when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy
Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have
told you.” (John 14:26).
Jesus concludes this teaching
episode with his own declaration: Peter has revealed the rock upon which he
will build his church and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. What’s
the rock? Most commentators of this passage say it is Peter’s confession of
faith that is the foundation of the church. Maybe. Certainly Peter’s confession
is an integral part of the church’s foundation. However, for me, the central
core of our faith is God’s revelation knowledge: “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has
revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.” I
believe what has enabled the church to remain faithful to her mission for two
millennia is the proactive voice of the Holy Spirit leading faithful disciples
to live out Peter’s confession in a fallen world.
We are not alone. God is with us.
Carry on!
Sē’lah
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(Selah is a word that appears in the
Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my
correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about
these things.)
These
meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his
way of life. The meditations are
published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/
and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may
subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by
subscription.
Publications by Alex M. Knight:
·
Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New
Testament and Psalms has been
published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.
·
The second
edition of First Think – Then Pray
is available on Amazon Kindle.
·
Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus
Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.
Unless
otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible.
New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House
Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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