“Faith Journeys with God in the Land”-Part 31

This episode was recorded at the “Grotto” area of Caesarea Philippi. This was a very pagan city located in northern Israel. Cities like this would not have been visited or even entered by Jews at all because of the gentile and ritual activity occurring in these places. However, Matthew 16 does tell us that it was in the “region” of Caesarea Philippi where Jesus asked His disciples a most important question. In fact, we can almost call it the “final exam” question since, from here, Jesus and His disciples would travel to Jerusalem one final time.

The question was a straight-forward one: “Who do you say I am?” It’s Peter who replies, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16). After hearing this response by Peter, Jesus says, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.”

I think it’s good for us to hear Jesus’ words again, for they contain a implied but sometimes missed meaning. While the reference to the “Gates of Hades” could be a reference to the Temple of Augustus and the belief that the Roman gods surfaced from the “underworld” below this Temple, a more important observation is that in the religious Jewish world, the term “Gates of Hades” was a “code word” for Gentile cities. Could it be that Jesus was implying this in His statement to the disciples - that not even the gates of Gentile cities could hold back or withstand the powerful forward advancement of God’s kingdom? And this is what Peter would personally be part of and see in Caesarea (another city with a. Similar name on the Mediterranean coastline, see Acts 10).

In your faith walk with God, don’t ever doubt the powerful of the Good News. It can still penetrate our own harden hearts as well as those around us. However, the question Jesus asked His disciples is a good one for us to consider as well. Perhaps we can more easily say that Jesus is our Savior, but can we say that He is also our Lord? There is a big difference between the two. As we make Him our Lord, there is no stopping His kingdom (that resides within us) to advance in and through us in remarkable and life-changing ways!

Видео “Faith Journeys with God in the Land”-Part 31 канала John DeLancey