Matthew 16:13-16
"When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that you are John the Baptist; (isn’t that amazing?) some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. (they say everything but the right thing) He said to them, But who say you that I am? (and now look at Peter’s answer.) Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, (the Messiah, the Anointed One, the King, see.) the Son of the living God."
Remember what we have in Hebrews? Hebrews over and over refers to the Living God. Well, that’s what Peter knew that Jesus was. He was the Living God! That’s Peter’s confession of faith. But how did he know this? Its by way of what Jesus says next that tells us. Alright, now look at the next verse.
Matthew 16:17a
"And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you…." In other words, Peter, you didn’t come to all this conclusion of who I am because of what people said. You didn’t suddenly realize that I am the Messiah because of what your Mama said, nor did you suddenly realize that I am the Messiah because of what one of the priests said. So how did Peter know? The same way a believer understands and receives salvation today.
Matthew 16:17b "…for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
Now, of course, we know that the Father in this case operates through the Spirit, and so when Jesus was walking the shore of Galilee and He says, "Come and follow me," what prompted Peter and the others to drop their nets and follow the Lord? Well, the Holy Spirit, of course, and they suddenly realized that this was the promised Messiah. And so they believed the good news of the Kingdom, because the King was in their midst. Now is that so hard to comprehend? And that was the good news. Yes and No! Israel now had the King. Yes! And the Kingdom was just over the horizon. But, what did Israel do with it? They rejected it in unbelief, and what did they cry? "Crucify Him. We’ll not have this man to rule over us." Israel as a nation had NO revelation or vision of who Jesus was, they were in darkness held in bondage by their unbelief. But and this is a big BUT had they not the Gentiles Gospel may not have been played out as it has. Here's why, Jesus as Messiah is the closing of all the promises made to Him. He's the visible part of the unseen portion of all the covenants and promises, even the Law as the “everlasting.” The Hebrew word used in the Old Testament means are you ready for this? It means: concealed, the vanishing point, a goal, a bright object or distance traveled towards. This was the mystery opened to Paul which the old Prophets saw as a thing in the distance and were not allowed to speak of it. Daniel was told to close the book and to seal it until the day it would be opened by its author. So it doesn't mean what the Israelites were lead to believe nor as many of our day believe. The Messiah was the end of the old who would bring in the promised New Covenant based on Better promises and that promise is Salvation into the Endless Life by way of sacrifice and death. This Gospels message.
You see how clearly that shows what had been presented to them? How could they scream, "We’ll not have this man to rule over us," if they didn’t understand that was the concept of His offer. But, they did. They knew that He was offering Himself as the King. They knew He was offering a Kingdom. And then they had the audacity to say what? "We have no King but Caesar." What a travesty, what a pity, what another example of abject unbelief.
But, listen don’t blame Israel. They’re no worse or any better than all the rest of us, and we’ll show you why in just a little bite in Acts chapter 20 verse 24. Now, of course, Acts is transitional and so we move from Peter and the eleven as the major players in the early chapters and then after we get past Acts chapters 10 and 11, then the Apostle Paul fills the rest of the Book of Acts. Now here we are. The Apostle Paul is on his way back to Jerusalem for the last time and he’s meeting with the Ephesian elders and they’re having a tearful goodbye. But look what he says concerning his own ministry in Acts 20:24.
Acts 20:24
"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, (like I said this is a final goodbye to the Ephesian elders.) and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel (of the Kingdom? I want all your heads shaking! No way, is that what it says!! But rather testify what?) the Gospel of the Grace of God." Do you see it and do you get it? Now Paul's Gospel is not that of the material or earthy things as Moses's and the priesthood of Aaron's was but of the workings of God in His Grace through those who have heard His voice and have responded with a Yes Lord.
And listen! The twain can never meet! We can never bring this Gospel of the Grace of God into the Gospel of the Kingdom or vice versa, as they are two totally different concepts. Same God! The same Christ! But on the one hand it’s the Ministery of the circumcision fulfilling the promises made to the fathers. In a material or earthy realm. The Gospel of the Grace of God is going not just to the Hebrew but to the whole world. Offering what? Salvation to any and everyone that will just simply believe, as we see in I Corinthians 15:1-4, and Romans 10:9-10. When we believe we are instantly empowered to be receptive and through this new receptive nature we become heirs of God and joint-heirs or co-heirs with Christ Jesus. We're now in Christ and all from here on out is a working of the Spirit of our new Father as we've changed headship from that of Satan to that of God as it was in the beginning. We are now under the rule of a New Covenant as promised through the prophet Jeremiah which he tells us is now an Everlasting Covenant and though not called such is a Covenant of Grace which we'll see shortly. Jeremiah even tells us that we'll all know Him (31:34) so there'll be NO excuse for not accepting Him.
Alright, now turn with us to Romans chapter 3, and verse 9, and we’ll continue with this that Israel is now no worse nor no better than the rest of us. When we lay the blame of some of these things on Israel in their Old Testament economy, that’s not to put the Hebrew down. It’s just simply to teach us that what they experienced is a tremendous lesson for the rest of us. And here’s the reason in Romans chapter 3. Here Paul has been building God’s case against the whole human race. Against the gross immoral people, in chapter 1. In the grossly moral people in chapter 2 and in the grossly religious people in the first part of chapter 3. And the conclusion is what? Verse 9.
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