BIBLE
DIGEST - Number 87 November
1998
THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE CHURCH
WHAT GOD REVEALED TO PETER
By Allon Maxwell
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Matthew 16:13-17 (Jesus)
asked his disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of Man
is"? And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah,
and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. “He said to them, "But who
do you say that I am"? Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God." THE CLAIM This passage is
NOT a Trinitarian theological statement! Rather it is a claim that Jesus is the
man who fulfils specific Old Testament promises and prophecies,
dating back to the Garden of Eden. Matthew gives us
three specific identifying marks from the Old Testament, which we need to examine,
in order to rightly understand the Gospel claims about who Jesus is. All three
were well known to the Jews of Jesus' day. They were built in to the "prophetic
expectations" of the time. The Old Testament promises and prophecies, and
the Gospel stories of the life of Jesus, contain the PROOF that Jesus is THE ONE
who is entitled to make these claims about himself. (Luke 24:27, John
20:31) They have been recorded by Matthew so that God can use them
to reveal to us the same truth that Peter discovered. They are the foundation
on which our own FAITH in Jesus MUST be built. 1. "Son of
Man" This is Jesus' own
"favourite" description of himself, taken from the Old Testament, and
repeated often in the Gospels. By applying it to himself he is making specific
claims about himself. It is a well-known Messianic title and is
intended to direct us to the Old Testament prophecies which use it. In passing, it also
teaches us one VERY important thing about the clear distinction between Jesus
and God. We learn that "God is not a man ..... or a son of man".
(Numbers 23:19) Therefore when
Jesus calls himself "Son of Man", he is saying to us very clearly, that
although He is truly the Son of God, he is NOT God! Perhaps the most
significant use of this title referring to Jesus, is in Psalm 8:4-5 and Hebrews 2:5-10: "What is man that thou art mindful of him,
or the son of man that thou carest for
him?" Hebrews confirms
for us that Jesus is THE son of man, of whom this Psalm speaks. The "Creation
Promise" of dominion over all the earth. (Genesis
1:28) is for Jesus and those who belong to Him. (Galatians 3:29) Another important
reference to Jesus as "Son of Man",
is in Psalm 80:17. There we learn
that the "Son of Man" is to be identified with "the man of God's
right hand". Note carefully that "God", in this Psalm, is the LORD
GOD of hosts. (Psalm 80:4 and Psalm 80:19) The "Son of Man" is someone
else who has been "made strong". Of course we quickly make the connection
from there to Psalm 110:1. There, again,
Jesus is identified as the HUMAN Messiah, who currently sits at the right of God.
(See BIBLE DIGEST 86) A third important
reference is in Daniel 7:13.
This is a prophecy of the future Kingdom of God on Earth. In the vision, Jesus
(one
like the son of man) is presented before the "Ancient of
Days" (God) and given everlasting dominion
over a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. These references
all confirm for us that the "son of man" is not God, but Son of God.
In EVERY place where this title is used of Jesus in the Old Testament, the "Son
of Man" is ALWAYS someone else apart from God. 2. "Christ"
(ANOINTED one, Messiah) The title "Christ"
is also taken from the Old Testament. There it more often appears as "anointed".
It translates the Hebrew word "Messiah". (Which is the same as the Greek
word "Christ.") It tells us of the future role that Jesus is to play
in the Kingdom of God on Earth. One of the most
important places where this word appears is in Psalm
2:2. There David speaks prophetically of Jesus, as the LORD's
anointed. (Hebrew - Messiah) This "Messiah"
was prophesied by David, to be God's future king, who will reign in Zion. (Psalm 2:6) Another reference
to the Messiah is in Daniel 9:26.
In this passage, the time of the appearance of the Messiah, and the fact of his
sacrificial death, are clearly prophesied. The Messiah spoken of here, was not
to be the immortal God in disguise! He was to be a mortal man, who could truly
die for our sins. 3. SON OF THE LIVING
GOD The “Messiah”
of Psalm 2 was also to be God's son.
(Psalm2:7) It is this Psalm to which Peter referred,
when he identified Jesus as both "the Christ, the son of the Living God". It is also applied
to Jesus by Peter again in Acts 4:25-27,
by Paul in Acts 13:33, and by the writer to the Hebrews
in chapters Hebrews 1:5 and Hebrews 5:5. Another passage
which uses different words to describe Jesus as "son of man", "Messiah",
and "son of God", is found in 2 Samuel 7:11-16.
Here again we confirm the humanity of Jesus as a descendant of David (Son of Man)
future king (Messiah) and Son of God ..... not God, but someone else quite distinct
from God. THE IMPORTANCE OF
THIS IDENTITY Jesus told Peter
that this threefold TRUTH about himself is THE ROCK on which the Church is built.
THE TRUTH about Jesus is that:
The Gospel
of the Kingdom of God stands or falls on the truth of those claims. And
it was to the truth of those claims by Jesus, that God gave his own witness, by
raising Him from the dead. By that act of power, God has declared that Jesus is
the Son of God (Romans 1:1-4)
That truth is the guarantee that our own frail humanity can be swallowed up in
the same victory over sin and death. (1 Corinthians 15:12-14,
1 Corinthians 15:54-58) WHAT PETER PREACHED
LATER (Remember this is
what God had revealed to Peter! This is THE GOSPEL preached by Peter!) "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus
the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders
and signs which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves
know-- this man, delivered up by the predetermined plan
and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross ..... and put him
to death ..... and God raised him up again ..... since it was impossible for him
to be held in its power ..... Therefore let all the house of Israel know
for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ."
(Acts 2:22-36,
NASB) CONCLUSION Matthew
16:13-17 does not say at all that Jesus is God-the-son! The words used there,
are "SON OF MAN", "CHRIST" and "SON OF GOD". They
mean something quite different. The use of those
titles from the Old Testament, confirms to us that Jesus is a MAN ..... not God.
They confirm to us that Jesus is the King to whom we must surrender the rule over
our lives. Most important of all, they identify Him as THE HUMAN SON OF GOD who
has authority to speak and act for His Father. That
truth is the essential foundation on which the Church is built! And it contains
"Good News" for all of us. It gives us assurance that where the Man
Christ Jesus has gone before, other men may follow Him to the same eternal inheritance
in the kingdom of God. (Revelation 3:21) "Let
each man take care how he builds upon the foundation."
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