Matthew 16:13-20
Who Do You Say I AM
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 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.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Mark 8:27-30
Who Do You Say I AM
27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”
30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
Luke 9:18-20
Who Do You Say I AM
18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”
Jesus ask His Disciples about Who they think He is...Who is Jesus, is a very good question...It is a very, very important question...The question is still as relevant today, as it was when He ask it...But before one answers that question, one has to believe what is written in the four gospels are true...If you don't believe that the gospels are true then one does not have to think anything about Jesus or have any other evidence about Him...The non-believer can just say none of what was written about Him is true, so I do not believe any of those things He said or what He did...Therefore, He becomes less relevant to the non-believer...But when one believes that the four gospels are true or maybe true or partly true, then the question of "Who Jesus is", becomes very relevant...And if the gospels are true, then Jesus, is part of our history, and He is historical, Very Historical...And that means, He came and dwelt with us from Spirit and into flesh...
For the believer, because Jesus is so relevant even today, one must think of Who He is...His teachings today, still cut right to your heart, and makes not only the mind think, but the heart ponder...Jesus was much more than a Teacher of the Disciples and a traveling teacher to other people in Israel...And the answer of "Who do you think I AM?" to each of us makes His question matters profoundly not only in this life, but in our eternal life...
One usually thinks that everyone believes in the Truth...Why believe in anything unless it is true?...But what people believe in may be true or not true...Ravi Zacharias said, “We have a right to believe whatever we want, but not everything we believe is right.” ...
On the matter of believing in Jesus, C. S. Lewis said that we only have three choices when trying to come up with the answer of who we think that He is...This is called the Trilemma (of Jesus)...Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or our LORD...Lewis put it this way in his book Mere Christianity, "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral Teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God...That is the one thing we must not say...A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral Teacher...He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the devil of hell...You must make your choice...Either this Man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse...You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human Teacher...He has not left that open to us...He did not intend to...Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God."...
Jesus to me, is asking His Disciples if they think He is Divine...Is Jesus claiming to be God and the True Son of God?...And if He is then we must fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God...I come to the same conclusion as C. S. Lewis has...I have to accept the view that He was and is God...