Great lessons that Peter and the disciples learned. What do you ground yourself on?
Good morning, grace and peace in the name of the Lord
Jesus to all who seek him and love his presence. Great are the lessons in the
Word of our God and today once again we want to meditate on the life of Peter
and what he learned in his journey following Jesus Christ.
I like to study the Bible Handbook of Halley it
teaches us many things that give us a clearer picture. If you have this manual,
you will find on page 478 more information on this subject. We will just
mention a few here to help you better understand the issue here. Peter's
confession is also described in Mark 8 and Luke 9. This manual explains that it
was already around three years that when Peter had accepted Jesus as the
Messiah; according to Jo. 1: 41,42. A year later, he he called him
"Lord" according to Luke 5: 8.
Approximately six months after this he called him "the Holy One of
God" = Jo. 6: 68.69. Now after spending two and a half years traveling
with Jesus, he expressed the conviction that Jesus is the Son of the living
God.
Take some time to meditate a little, how long is it
that you follow Jesus, after having accepted him in your heart? What do You
declare about Jesus in the sight of the
people? Or, are you one of those who only believe in it, and live how you think
it's right; although you do not believe it to be necessary to always preach
about God? We have to be very cautious in this, because one thing is to preach,
quite another to let Jesus shine through our lives. And, sure Peter left his
light shine, he was not ashamed to confess what he believed about Jesus; the
master now he followed. In the verse of Mt. 16:18 Jesus answers about this
statement of Peter the following: "For I tell you, you are Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it;"
Upon this rock (v. 18)
The rock on which Jesus would build his church is not Peter; but about the fact
that he confessed that as a human being, that Jesus is the Son of God. The
divinity of Jesus is the foundation on which the church is based, This is the
fundamental creed of Christianity. This is the unmistakable meaning of this
language.
The keys of the
kingdom of heaven . (v.19) The common interpretation of this verse is that
Peter opened the door of salvation to the Jews at Pentecost (Acts 2); and then
to the Gentiles Acts 9-10. He was not given the power to forgive sins, but to
proclaim the conditions of forgiveness. Whatever authority was granted to
Peter, also was granted to the other apostles as Matthew 18:18. and Jo. 20:23.
- And that only in the sense of being able to declare forgiveness through
Christ. All this happened in Caesarea Philippi located in the far north of
Israel, one of the initial tributaries of the Jordan River to Mount Hermon
foothills, 80 km southwest of Damascus was the city that in NT times was called
Caesarea Philippi. (Halley's Biblical handbook pg. 478).
We have much to learn
from the life of Peter and the other disciples that learned as they walked with
Jesus; just like you and I do aswell. We learn in our daily journey. We note
that Peter had a very natural reaction as a human being to what Jesus said to
them in verse 21 .
In Matthew 16: 21-23[1] Jesus Predicts His Death:
“21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go
to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief
priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the
third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
“Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and
said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do
not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
We see clearly that at
this ocasion Peter reacted as a person who thinks with the mind of man. The
revelation he declared before was given by the Holy Spirit; But at this time he
acted as Peter only. We see the love and respect he had for Jesus and as a
friend and teacher who Jesus was, Peter just wanted to protect him from such
suffering and all that he had said he would pass. We do not always think with
the mind of Christ which is given us to us; and this is what happened with
Peter at this ocasion. This is natural, and at a situation like this we need
that Jesus shows us once again the purpose that God has in all this. Peter
learned a profound lesson that day. And you and I learn what from the
experience of Peter?
Why you believe that
Jesus said to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan, who serves me scandal;
because you do not understand the things that are of God, but those that are of
men. "I think it was because Peter allowed Satan to put those thoughts in
his mind, that that do not proceeded from God. Each of us who are followers of
Jesus Christ, we must always ask for discernment if what came into our hearts
to speak was inspired by the Holy Spirit or if it came from another source.
Great lesson to be learned. Glory to God. Jesus has patience in teaching us,
hallelujahs. Glory to God for this.
Antonina.
Missionary
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