“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!”

Matthew 16:13-17:9 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible 

Now when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.” ¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” ²⁰ Then He gave the disciples strict orders that they were to tell no one that He was the Christ.

²¹ From that time Jesus began to point out to His disciples that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and to suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised up on the third day. ²² And yet Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You!” ²³ But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s purposes, but men’s.”

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every person according to his deeds.

²⁸ “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

17 Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James, and his brother John, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. ² And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. ³ And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. ⁴ Peter responded and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If You want, I will make three tabernacles here: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁵ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!” ⁶ When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. ⁷ And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” ⁸ And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

⁹ When they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

In today’s text Jesus says: “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every person according to his deeds.”  There are several very important elements to these few verses. There are many people who resist faith in Christ because they mistakenly believe that the Christian life is a life of denial. Our denying of self is not really about what we give up. Our cross is not a cross of suffering and sacrifice. Jesus Himself sacrificed all that was needed for us. When we deny self, it is really selfishness that we deny. Jesus asks the question, “what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul?” The question could be asked in reverse, for what selfish thing would we be willing to forfeit our soul? When we choose to follow Christ, we exchange the twinkling of this uncertain finite time for the certainty of eternity. Jesus says that we will be repaid for our deeds. Psalm 14:1-3 says: The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed detestable acts; There is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of mankind to see if there are any who understand, Who seek God. They have all turned aside, together they are corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. None of us can possibly measure up to God’s standard of righteousness. The outcome will not be good if we are repaid for our deeds. The only deed that can save us from ourselves is to believe and receive what Christ did for us on the cross.

The text says: Now when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Not only do we receive eternal life in Christ, but through receiving the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, we also receive the keys to the kingdom of heaven. With the authority He gives us, we can be those who not only pray the prayer that Jesus taught us, Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, but also we are those who are part of the answer to His prayer. With the power to bind and loose, we are those who bring the realities of heaven to earth.

In the text, God spoke saying: “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!”  We should listen to Jesus. We should: deny ourselves, our selfish desires; take up our cross, and follow Him. After all what could we lose but this little bit of finite time and in exchange we gain eternity. Listening to Jesus and recognizing that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that He is our Lord and our Savior, our Redeemer and the one who restores us, that we are His Church, His Ecclesia, those called and set apart with authority, the authority to bind and loose on earth and in heaven. We should listen to Jesus and be those who hear and respond to His prayer. In and through our lives may: May the gates of hell not stand against us. May Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.