This lesson appears in the book: The Holy Land Companion Guide Biblical Sermons & Lessons to guide you through the Holy Land and Egypt. By: Pastor and Christian Author Jessica Linhart available @ Amazon.com: Jessica Linhart: books, biography, latest update
Peter’s Confession of Christ
(Mar 8:27–30; Luke 9:18–20 )
Mat 16:13 – When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I am?
Jesus and His disciples traveled together 25 miles north of Galilee. By this time the disciples would have been very tired, ready to sit down, and listen to Jesus. They made it to the district of Caesarea Philippi. This is not two towns, it is only one. The town surrounds the bottom of Mount Hermon. This mountain was known for the worship of bail and a Greek god known as Pan. However, this land was saturated in the warship nature and man.
The Greek god pan lived in the mountains. He was the god of the shepherds. He was known for looking like a beast. He watches over the flocks, the forests, the mountains, and all the wild things theirin. In addition, Pan was thought to have chased virgin maidens.
Mar 8:27 – And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?
Caesarea Philippi region grew in the amount of Gentiles that took up residence there. By time Jesus travelled there with the disciple Caesarea Philippi’s main population was the genealogy of the gentiles. In addition, some historians claim that Jesus took his disciples there to escape the city of Galilee. Perhaps, this, isolation caused the focus to be more on what Jesus had to teach. It was less distractions for the disciples.
Sometimes, we lose our focus on God, and we have to reconnect with Him. We are to be led by the spirit and walk by the spirit at all times. Will are called to be sanctified and set apart for the use of God. Sometimes we must escape from our own situation and environment to reestablish that connection between ourselves and our Savior. Sometimes, we just have to turn off the TV, the radio, and put down the cell phone!
We can only speculate why Jesus went to Caesarea Philippi. It’s interesting that this city meets at the Jordan river and the water actually flows out of a cave. In the Bible his reasons and motives aren’t clear. Mini Bible scholars say that more people were aware of who Jesus was and more people were aware of his miracles; therefore, more tension was building up and Sadducees. and they sought to kill him. So, he fled to the mountains!
Let us now get into the lesson.
As a teacher, I taught my students to ask questions, because questioning causes the individual to rethink and to test the theories of man. Asking questions has the ability to challenge our thoughts and the actions of others. For example, when we are reading the Bible, asking questions, improves our comprehension. Questioning allows us to examine what is being said from different angles. Thus, improving our understanding of what is written.
We all know that the people who were alive during Jesus is time error called him, Rabbi. That word means distinguished teacher. Jesus was a distinguished teacher. For example, Jesus, the religious leaders, because he asked sophisticated questions. He asked them sophisticated questions to make people think and to test the theories of men.
The Holy Spirit has just been pouring out, spiritual nuggets the las t few weeks, and this week is no different. I’ll challenge you go back and read all four gospels, because you can add up how many questions Jesus asked. Sometime ago, the Holy Spirit had me count how many questions Jesus asked in the gospels. I highlighted 300 different questions. So, in my little mind: I know there are 52 weeks in a year. Therefore, Jesus gives us two a week. This means he wants us to study to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15).
Now, the Holy Spirit leads us to Luke 2: 46-47 “After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.”
This is the account of Jesus, answering questions and asking questions in the temple. Here Jesus was 12 years old, and the people were just amazed at his wisdom.
The wisdom of God will always surpass our understanding, because scripture tells us, his ways are higher than our ways are higher than our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
We are now in the 16th chapter of Matthew. If you started at verse one and read through Matthew, there are exactly 19 questions. Let me give you a few examples of what the Holy Spirit gave for us today.
QUESTIONS FROM MATTHEW CHAPTERS 1-11
(In the YouTube video I only mention the highlighted questions Jesus asked)
- If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? (Matthew 5:46)
- If you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? (Matthew 5:47)
- Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:27)
- Why do you worry about clothes? (Matthew 6:28)
- Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? (Matthew 7:3)
- Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? (Matthew 7:16)
- Why are you so afraid? (Matthew 8:26)
- Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? (Matthew 9:4)
- Which is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? (Matthew 9:5)
- How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? (Matthew 9:15)
- Do you believe that I am able to do this? (Matthew 9:28)
- What did you go out into the desert to see? (Matthew 11:7)
- To what can I compare this generation? (Matthew 11:16)
QUESTIONS FROM MATTHEW CHAPTERS 12-19
- If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? (Matthew 12:11)
- How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? (Matthew 12:29)
- You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? (Matthew 12:34)
- Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? (Matthew 12:48)
- Why did you doubt? (Matthew 14:31)
- Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? (Matthew 15:3)
- How many loaves do you have? (Matthew 15:34)
- Do you still not understand? (Matthew 16:9)
- Who do people say the Son of Man is? (Matthew 16:13)
- Who do you say I am? (Matthew 16:15)
- What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? (Matthew 16:26)
- What can a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16)
So we see, Jesus, asked several questions just in the first 16 chapters of Matthew!
We have been taught that we should mimic Jesus. We do this because we want to be Christlike. So, we should ask ourselves questions.
In Matthew 16:13 Jesus asks the most serious question of all questions!
Who do men say that I am? But who do you say that I am?
The Holy Spirit is still asking people this today. Who do you think that I am?
We have to know who Jesus is; so, that we can accept his sacrifice and confess our sins. The seriousness of this question is life and death.
The book of Mark informs the audience that Jesus and his disciples were Chaplin from village, preaching the gospel. This is a unique place to visit when you’re in the holy land. It’s awesome to know that Jesus walked the very split steps. It’s excellent for spiritual growth Rings the pages of the Bible alive.
So, after visiting these villages, Jesus goes to Paris, and he report returns to the 12 disciples. Did he ask the end of the most serious question: who does men say that I am? This question causes the men to think, and to make a comparison. They are comparing and contrasting to what me and think about Jesus. This is precisely why we ask questions to test the facts!
In a nutshell, we are witnessing that men’s opinions don’t hold true to God ‘s revelation! It Doesn’t matter what man says, or thinks, but it’s all about Christ! It matters what God declares and this is what Jesus points out in this scripture.
In verse 13 Jesus is asking a question: what is the popular view of me? Who do the people think that I am? Today, the Holy Spirit wants us to know these questions, because the great commission is for us to go out and spread the gospel. we are called to help humanity. Answer those two questions correctly.
The question actually exposes the unbelief of the sinner. Their reply or answer reveals what is in their heart. Jesus.
According to Luke 9: 7-8 Jesus already new what was in the hearts of the people. He told the disciples that the rumors were as follows:
7 When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee,[c] heard about everything Jesus was doing, he was puzzled. Some were saying that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead. 8 Others thought Jesus was Elijah or one of the other prophets risen from the dead.
9 “I beheaded John,” Herod said, “so who is this man about whom I hear such stories?” And he kept trying to see him.
False doctrine and false opinions were already circulating at the time of Jesus and he needed for his disciples to educate the people. Today, there is a lot of false doctrine being taught and believed.
The popular opinion was that Jesus was one of those men in the scripture! God was concerned about the popular opinion affecting the disciples. The goal of false doctrine is always to diminish that Jesus is the Messiah. The devil does not want him to be for us to know that Jesus is the Messiah, because then we are not under grace, but we are under the law. If we are under the law then we are under the task masker master, and we are in debt. If we are in debt; then we are not free.
Thus, the Holy Spirit is still concerned about how false doctrine affects you and I, today. Some of the false doctrine sounds like the following:
- Jesus is God’s first creation.
- Jesus was just another prophet of God.
- Some people have told me: that Jesus is divine, but he is not God in the flesh. In the flesh.
- Jesus was just another teacher or philosopher called by God bring message, but he is not the son of man.
- Some have said that Jesus is the spirit brother Lucifer.
- Others will say: that Jesus was a descended master.
Now, you’ll find this in common conversations in America today. This is Scary! Not knowing God, not knowing Jesus, and not having the Holy Ghost will cause a soul to burn in Hell!
The Holy Spirit, right now, is telling me that some people have turned off this message! And he asked me to have you renew your focus! He says that you might be questioning, “Pastor, why are we studying this?” We know who the son of God is. Scripture tells us that in the last day there will be a falling away from church (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3) and turn and he asked me to have you renew your focus. Therefore, we are having this falling away because society and the world believe in popular opinion. For example, God put a man in my path this week. I invited him to church. He told me he did not have to go to church, because we were having church right now. So, here’s the response: the Holy Ghost wants us to use: Matthew 18:20 when two or three are gathered, I will be in the mist! This does not mean you’re having a church service. This does not mean you are in the assembly. This means you are having fellowship with one another. It is a false opinion to think fellowship replaces Church!.
In Caesarea Philippi, there are 14 temples of Baal. At least one to king Caesar, and behind Jesus was a cave. In the cave, or out from the cave was where Pan was said derived from. According to the myth of the Greeks Pan was said to have received life from the cave and he rules over nature.
Then, from this setting Jesus begins to teach the following to his disciples:
Matthew 16: 13-15
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
In other words according to verse 13, Jesus is saying what is the current talk about me? What is it saying about me? Do you also see shows on TV movies? And do you have friends who say things?, That I am?? we need to tell them more than Jesus was born, he was a good person, he was crucified, and dad.
We need to teach them what the Bible says about to Jesus, because when Christians know what the scripture says they are against deception. They become rooted and grounded in the word. When we’re rooted and grounded in the word, and we don’t sway from one opinion to the other.
Let’s go through some key Bible verses about the person and mission of the fully divine and human redeemer of mankind, Jesus Christ. -Because we need to be able to explain to the lost who Jesus is!
According to verse 14 Some people believed Jesus was really reincarnated John the Baptist; others said Elijah; and still others said, Jeremiah.
The people believed that Jesus could have been John the Baptist, because he was a cousin of Jesus and maybe he looked like him. (I don’t know) No really, their claim would have been something like this:
God obviously called John to be a prophet and a forerunner to His Son Jesus, the Christ (Luke 1:17). Consequently, in obedience to God’s call John presented himself to the people as a witness, called by God to be a testimony to the Light. Put differently, John was a light to the people, and Jesus was the Light of the world (see John 1:4-9; cf. 8:12). John’s little light paved the way for the big Light.
When people believed John’s message, they proved the sincerity of their repentance by submitting to his baptism. They then became John’s disciples (see Matthew 9:14; 11:2; Mark 2:18; Luke 5:33; 7:18; John 1:35; 3:25; and 4:1). Therefore, Jesus and John the Baptist both were lights in the world and both had followers.
The people considered Elijah because in the Old Testament he was used by God to perform many miracles. For example, when you read in 1st Kings chapter 17 -21 we witness some of the things he did!
God used Elijah to perform the following Miracles:
- Causing rain to cease in Israel for three and a half years (1 Kings 17:1).
- Being fed by ravens sent by the Lord (1 Kings 17:2-7).
- Multiplying a widow’s grain and oil (1 Kings 17:18-16).
- Raising that widow’s son from the dead (1 Kings 17:17-24).
- Calling fire from heaven atop Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:36-38).
- Causing it to rain again after three and a half years of drought (1 Kings 18:44-46).
- Fasting from food for 40 days while trekking to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8).
- Prophesies that Ahab’s sons would all be destroyed (1 Kings 21:22).
- Calling fire from heaven to destroy 51 soldiers (2 Kings 1:10).
- Calling fire from heaven on another 51 soldiers (2 Kings 1:12).
- Parting of the Jordan River while accompanied by Elisha (2 Kings 2:8).
- Promising that Elisha would receive a double portion of his spirit (2 Kings 2:10).
- Being caught up to heaven with a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11).
Jeremiah is referred to as the weeping prophet because whey he looked over the city in with compassion for Israel. Jeremiah is the second of the Major Prophets. When God had a message for the people, He spoke to them through prophets: men moved by the Holy Spirit to speak God’s words. He was well known to the people as Jesus asked the question: who do men say that I am?
We are influenced by the world around us! God is truth! It is important that we all answer this question: Who do say that I am? – for ourselves.
t is important for us for all of us because when we stand before the Lord we can’t say,
mama knew you
daddy knew you
Or grandma knew.
We have to have a personal relationship with Christ.
So, what’s the response?
You are the Christ
You are the Meshia
You are the son of the living God.
You are Messiah! That’s who you are who you are!
Then Jesus gives the answer in verse 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.
Jesus said Simon, your declaration with certainty is the root of all joy and blessed are you, Simon! We are blessed because our understanding of who Jesus is results in salvation, as well as a life that is blessed by God blessed and filled with joy!
Joy that comes from having a relationship with God.
We have Joy because our names are recorded in the Lambs book of life.
We have Joy because we are just passing through this life.
We have joy that God is on our side and no one can come against us.
We have joy because we are protected from God.
We have joy that God has forgiven us of our sin, and our way does lifted.
We have Joy, because when this jig is up, we are trading up.
This didn’t come through your self effort. This didn’t come through all those classes. This was not received because of water baptism. It didn’t come through any of that. This came through a revelation of the spirit of God. God himself spoke to your heart and said this is true. Now, receive the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 11:27 says the following:
Matthew 11:27 (King James Version) “27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”
God makes it very clear in his word that we do not receive revelation from anything natural or anything found in this world. That’s why it is ironic that Jesus is talking to his disciples from where the Greeks said Pan came from. We can only grasp spiritual truth when it is revealed to us through the Holy Ghost.
Discussion Question for Chapter 4:
- Read Luke 9:18-19. What was Jesus doing when his disciples approached him? What does this show us about the strength of his life and ministry?
- is the main question that Jesus asks his disciples? Why is this question so important?
- What was the question being asked about Jesus in Luke 8:27? Why are people asking these questions? Who do you say Jesus Christ is? Does my daily life rhythms, choices, and behaviors demonstrate that I believe Jesus is the “Christ of God”? If yes, how? If no, what needs to change?
- What has God given me through Christ that enables me to pick up my cross daily?
- What has following Jesus cost me?
- What types of things fill my conversations and schedule, and at what frequency does Jesus appear in either?
- Is there anything in my life that would make Jesus ashamed to call me part of his family? How does Jesus cover even these sins and how does meditating on that promise impact what changes I will ask God to help me make going forward?
