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Jesus, who many of us know to be the Savior of the world is more than just a Savior. Jesus, we say He is king, we say He is Lord. But Jesus is more than just being Lord and King. Jesus Christ, who do you say that I am? That is the question He is posing to you and I. In Mathew 16:13-20, the Bible says:
“When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 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. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.”
When Jesus raised this all important question; and this question is such that the understanding of it will transform us, the ignorance of it will leave us the way we are. In Matthew 16 verse 13 to 20, Jesus was having a conversation with His disciples here. He said “Who do men say that I am?” He started by asking them a general question, He started by throwing it to them, ‘those that do not have a relationship with me, those that do not know me the way you do, those that have not accepted me as their Lord and Savior, those that have not accepted me as their teacher, those that have not accepted me, who do they say that I am?’
And they started responding “They say that you are John the Baptist, some even say that you are Elijah, some even say that you are Jeremiah, some say you are one of the prophets” And Jesus was not angry about that because people can say all that they can, He is not concerned about what people say. Then He left that question and asked them, this question in verse 15, He said to them “They have said all that they have said but who do you say that I am? You that have been walking with me? You that profess me, you that talk about me, that witness me, what is your understanding of me? What is your revelation of me?”
And you will see that there was a pause in that verse. I am sure the other disciples were saying all manner of things but the one that was important, the person that hit the point was Simon Peter because until we know who Jesus is, we don’t know who we are. Until the revelation of Jesus dawns in our spirit, we cannot discover who we are. Jesus knows that people can say all that they want to say. If the people don’t have revelation of me, it’s okay. But you that have been walking with me, you that are my disciples, you that are my followers. You that will take after me. You that will start doing the things that I am doing and greater works. You have to have a revelation of who I am because if you don’t know me, you can’t become all that I want you to be.
Listen to Podcast: Jesus Christ: Who Do You Say That I Am
And it is the same question that Jesus is putting to us. But you are my child, my servant, a son of God, who do you say that I am? What’s your revelation of Jesus? What understanding do you have about Jesus? Who is Jesus to you? Because who you see Jesus to be is what Jesus will become to you. What you see Jesus as is what He will become. The image of Jesus that you see is the image of Jesus that you will be transformed into. The image of Jesus that you have will be what will be your goal, what you want to attain. And Jesus is asking us, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ What is the image of me that you have? Do you have an image of Jesus? With just body, without legs and hands and head, what is the identity of Jesus that you have been revealed to?
I remember when I was in secondary school, and they will give us an image; maybe apple or anything, then they will tell us to open our drawing books and tell us to draw what we see and you will be amazed at what people will draw. Some people’s apple will turn to orange, some people’s apple will turn to strawberry because what they are seeing is what they are supposed to draw right? They are limited not just by what they see but their understanding of what they see. The same way God has given us the image of Jesus but what are we saying. He said “we will all come to the fullness of the stature of Christ.” Until Jesus is formed in us. You will have Jesus to the degree of the image of Him that you have.
In verse 16, Simon Peter answered and said “You are the Christ, you are not one of the prophets, you are not John the Baptist, you are the Christ, you are the Anointed One. The Son of the living God. You are the express image of the invisible God. You are the chosen one. You are the Christ. The one that has been anointed without measure.” And Jesus answered and said to him “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.” What is Jesus saying “you cannot know me with flesh and blood, you can’t confer with flesh and blood to receive the revelation of your Christ, the revelation of your Christ cannot be known through flesh and blood.” Because Christ is spiritual, flesh and blood cannot reveal Christ to you. That’s why the Bible says no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father which is in heaven” you have divinely received this.
After Simon Peter said to Jesus, this is who you are. So Jesus said to him in verse 18 “And I also say to you, because you have come to understand who I am, you have received the revelation of Christ, you will receive the revelation of Peter. Out of my fullness you will receive the grace to see who you are, the grace to see who God has made you. The correct picture of yourself, you will see it in me because you have seen me as I am, I also say to you “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Until we receive who Jesus is, Jesus Christ in the fullness of His glory, we cannot receive who we are. Colossians 3:3-4, It says: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
It speaks about how our life is hid in Christ. So until you gain Christ, you can’t gain your life because your life is hidden with Christ. That spiritual life, your future, your destiny, your spiritual destiny is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life appears, then you also will appear. Have you being carrying the image of Jesus? Have you found Christ? Until we find Christ, we don’t find who we are. Until the revelation of Christ was revealed to Peter, we didn’t know who Peter was.
1 John 3:2, It says: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” Until we see Him as He is, until He is revealed there is nothing to be revealed in us. Paul did not become Paul the Apostle until Christ was revealed to him. When Jesus is revealed, our fullness is revealed. See what the Scriptures says in John 16:12- 15. It says:
“I have still many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them or to take them upon you or to grasp them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future]. 14 He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is Mine. That is what I meant when I said that He [the Spirit] will take the things that are Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you. (AMP)
Until Christ is revealed, we do not receive our own portion of Christ. It is like trying to arrange a puzzle, you cannot do that without seeing the full image. So Jesus is the full image of the puzzle. When we now have it, we now fit in all the puzzles we have. Our leadership destiny is in Christ. Before this time, In Matthew chapter 16, Peter was an ordinary fisherman, he did not know what he was supposed to do in life. Peter was myopic because Christ had not been revealed to him. But when Christ was revealed to him, he also received his leadership destiny. “You are Peter and upon this rock, I shall build my church” Until you receive him, you cannot receive the fullness of Christ. 1 John 4:17, it says “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”
Is your own Christ the Christ that died? Is your own the Christ the one that resurrected? Or is your own Christ the glorified Christ, the one seated at the right hand of God, making intercessions for us? So you must have a proper perception of who Christ is. “As He is so are we in this world” not as He was. Because the revelation of Jesus gives us the walking identity of life. Jesus Christ is our working definition of life because “as He is so are we in this world.” Romans 8:34 says “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”
He is not just the Jesus that died but there is a furthermore about His life that you must connect with. He gives us working definition of our lives. Christ out of His fullness, has given us gifts of His fullness. Not anything we worked for but what we have received by a revelation of Him. Peter received freely his leadership destiny just by getting a revelation of who Jesus is. Jesus is asking us today, who do you say that I am? What revelation do you have of me? Have you received my fullness?
How do you receive his fullness? For Peter, Jesus was present but for us, He said in John 16:14 “He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.”
So if you want to know Christ, you will have that revelation in the Spirit. There is a revelation of Christ that is personal to each and every one of us. For Paul, he had his revelation on the road to Damascus. The Christ that was revealed to him was different from the one that was revealed to Peter. All that God has deposited in us cannot find full expression until we have found Christ. What is your understanding of Christ? What has been transmitted to you? That’s why the Bible says “looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith” We must look to no other one but we must look to Christ. All that Peter did later was because Christ had already been revealed in him. Christ wants to be revealed in us because our life is hid with Christ in God. We are co-heirs. Our identity is intertwined in Him.
Stay Blessed!
Source: [Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
