“The Eternal Question”

(Matthew 16:13-20)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

January 5, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 16:13-20

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on 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 will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he gave the disciples orders to tell no one that he was the Messiah.

Introductory Comments:

Here we are, back in the book of Matthew, and I’m so glad to be back. I love preaching verse by verse through the Bible. 

Today, we are covering my favorite passage in the book of Matthew, Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ. 

As we prepare to study this beautiful passage, let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to speak to us through His Word. 

(prayer)

Let’s remember the context of what’s going on in the book of Matthew. Jesus has been ministering and performing miracles all throughout the region. However, the Pharisees and the Sadducees don’t think very much of Jesus. They don’t like Him at all!

Jesus just told His followers to beware of the Sadducees and Pharisees and their teaching. He knows what they think of Him. In this passage, Jesus is going to ask what others think of Him. 

He and His disciples are in the region of Caesarea Philippi. This region was north of Galilee and was full of worship of false gods including the Greek god Pan. In fact, there was a temple outside a cave devoted to this false god. I’ve been there and saw the spot.

It’s in the midst of the disdain of the Jewish religious leaders, in the midst of this pagan region that Jesus asks these crucial questions. 

Let’s dive into this passage. 

First, we will see . . .

I. The general question (13-14). [on screen]

Jesus is gathered with His disciples and He knows that people have said things about Him. He surely already knows what people have said about Him, but He purposely initiates this conversation with His disciples. 

He asks them this general question concerning who others think He is.

Look at verses 13 and 14. 

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

The disciples responded to Jesus’ question regarding who others thought that He was. 

The people apparently thought that Jesus was one of the former Jewish prophets. They named three very famous prophets who may have come back from the dead: Elijah, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist. They even say others think He might be a different prophet. 

One might wonder why people thought Jesus was one of these prophets. Well, these men were monumental figures in the history of Judaism who did special things during their time of ministry. Jesus was obviously doing some very special works, so the people thought maybe one of these guys had come back.

Remember, not everyone knew all the details about Jesus. Some were going off of what they heard from others, or perhaps one glimpse of Jesus that they had.

The people knew something was special about Jesus, but they did not know how special He was. 

The disciples knew Jesus in a deeper way, which is why Jesus asked another question. 

That’s our next point:

II. The pressing question (15).