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Matthew 16:13-20
In Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus brings the question to His disciples of, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”, and more importantly, the question of, “But who do you say that I am?”
The Apostle Peter gave the correct answer in Matthew 16:16 as he declares, “…You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
In Matthew 16:17-19, Jesus gives His blessing to Peter and declares that Peter will be the overseer of the church to come during the post-resurrection and post-ascension of Jesus. Jesus knew that someone would be needed to lead His disciples, and He is preparing Peter for that role. Peter will later fall but will be reinstated by Christ Himself (Matthew 26:69-75; John 21:15-19). The “rock” as Jesus describes in Matthew 16:18 is the spiritual dedication of the faith of Peter in Jesus as the Christ (Matthew 16:16) and is reflective of the individual decision of Peter and his faith in Christ Jesus; a decision that we all must make individually.
This is an example and promise of the importance of choosing for ourselves who Jesus is.
There are two promises that we need to realize and understand through this Bible teaching: (1) That our faith in Jesus as the Christ is an individual decision that we all must make. We cannot be saved because someone else wants us to be – it is a personal decision made through the spiritual work of God in each of our lives. (2) In believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, as Peter declared in Matthew 16:16 (NKJV), we are still prone to fall, but Jesus is there to pick us up, forgive us, and help us get back to where it is that God wants us to be. The question left is this: “Who do you think that Jesus is?”
Dear LORD,
Please help us to see that as we put our faith in You as the Christ, the Son of the living God, that we are not perfect as You are, but that through Christ Jesus we are wrapped in forgiveness through our faith in Him, that as we may fall, You are always with us to forgive and heal us as we put and keep our faith in You that You may do wonderful things through our lives to bring glory to You – in Christ! In Jesus name I pray, amen.