One question asked by Jesus, stands as the question of greatest significance, then and now.
“Who do you say I am?”
Luke 9:20
Please pause, and in your mind, and in your heart, and with
your mouth, answer this question.
..................If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
the Lord from heaven, and believe in your heart that God so approved of Him and
His sacrificial death, that He raised Jesus from the dead – then you will be
saved.........Romans 10:9 expanded by J. McKee in accord with the context.
The question “Who is this man?” , has differing implications
in different cultures, and varying overtones in other historical settings. At the
time that the Lord Jesus asked the question , the significant point was – was He
the Messiah of Israel’s hopes, or was He only another prophet like John the
baptiser, or like Elijah?
Today the same
question relates more to the question – was He truely the Son of God,
specifically sent by God and if so is He really alive after being crucified?
Peter as a Jew made the ultimate confession – “You are the
Christ” or in more eastern terminology, “You are the Messiah”. The Messiah had been promised by the prophets
as being God’s son (Psalm 2), God’s shepherd (Zechariah 13), God’s servant
(Isaiah 52,53) , God’s King (Psalm 2) , God’s sovereign (Daniel 7), God’s
saviour (Isaiah 42,45) and more...............
The Jews well knew the high honour that belonged to the long
awaited messiah, and the leadership with the crowd, sadly chose to reject Jesus
– ‘crucify him, we will not have this man to reign over us’ . And so it is to
this day, Jews in general reject His claim to be the Christ, the Messiah.
Also the Koran and its adherents understand that to claim to
be the Son of God, as announced by the angel Gabriel, is give Him honour beyond
a mere man or prophet.
Hinduism is quite willing to include Jesus among the many
gods, but not as the Son of the only
true and living God.
Putting aside these spiritual forces in high places, we
ourselves must answer this question before God – ‘who do you say I am?’
Many today are dying for their faith in Jesus as the Son of
God. Many want to avoid the question.
But you must answer, or rather by your action, you are answering this
eternally significant question.
Religious observance is quite separate to this question.
Intellectual debate must go quiet as you ponder the question of Jesus. Let the Spirit of the living God guide
your thinking today and be blessed as you ‘confess with your mouth the Lord
Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead.’
I would be delighted to receive an email from any who do
confess Him as Lord today
No comments:
Post a Comment