Christmas message—2004

Matthew 16:13-20
"When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"
So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ."

Two penetrating questions!
"Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"...and, "Who do you say that I am?" These questions were asked as Jesus was nearing the end of His earthly ministry. His time was short; His days in the flesh were numbered.
The problem was--were there any who, when He was gone from the flesh, would carry on His work, the labor of His kingdom?
Obviously that was a crucial problem. To put it bluntly, it involved the very survival of the Christian faith! If there were none who had grasped the truth, or even glimpsed it, then all His work was undone; if there were some few who realized the truth, His work was safe. So Jesus was determined to put all to the test and to ask His followers who they believed Him to be. It is of the most dramatic interest to see where Jesus chose to ask these questions. There can have been few areas with more religious associations than Caesarea Philippi.
A beautiful site on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, Caesarea Philippi was

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located about twenty-five miles north of Bethsaida on the slopes of Mount Hermon. The city lay in the territory ruled by Philip (Herod Antipas' brother, mentioned in Luke 3:1). The influence of Greek and Roman culture was everywhere. The city was primarily non-Jewish, known for its worship of Greek gods and its temples devoted to the ancient god Pan.
Also, the area was scattered with temples of the ancient Syrian Baal worship. Thomson in THE LAND OF THE BOOK enumerates no fewer than fourteen such temples in the near neighborhood.
Here then indeed is a dramatic picture and setting for Jesus to ask these two penetrating questions as to His identity. Here is a homeless, penniless Galilean carpenter, with twelve very ordinary men around Him. At the moment the orthodox people of His day are actually plotting and planning to eliminate and to destroy Him as a dangerous heretic. He stands in an area littered with the temples of the Syrian gods; in a place where the ancient Greek gods looked down; in a place where the history of Israel crowded in upon the minds of men; where the white marble splendour of the home of Caesar-worship dominated the landscape and compelled the eye. And there--of all places--this amazing carpenter stands, and asks men who they believe Him to be, and expects the answer, The Son of God!
It is as if Jesus deliberately set Himself against the background of the world's religions in all their history and their splendor, and demanded to be compared with them, and to have the verdict given in His favor!
There are few scenes where Jesus' consciousness of His own divinity shines out with a more dazzling light.
So then at Caesarea Philippi Jesus determined to demand a verdict from His disciples. He must know before He sets out for Jerusalem and for the Cross if anyone has even dimly grasped who and what He is. He did not ask the question directly; He led up to it. He began by asking what people were saying about Him, and who they took Him to be.
Some said that He was John the Baptist.
Herod Antipas was not the only man who felt that John the Baptist was so great a figure that it might well be that he had come back from the dead.
Others said that He was Elijah. In doing so, they were saying two things about Jesus. They were saying that He was as great as the greatest of the prophets, for Elijah had always been looked on as the summit and the peak and the prince of the prophetic line.

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They were also saying that Jesus was the forerunner of the Messiah. (Malachi 4:5). Some said that Jesus was Jeremiah. Jeremiah had a curious place in the expectations of the people of Israel. It was believed that before the people went into exile, Jeremiah had taken the ark and the altar of incense out of the Temple, and had hidden them away in a lonely cave on Mount Nebo, and that, before the coming of the Messiah, he would return and produce them, and the glory of God would come to the people again.
When the people identified Jesus with Elijah and with Jeremiah they were, according to their lights, paying Him a great compliment and setting Him in a high place, for Jeremiah and Elijah were none other than the expected forerunners of the Anointed One of God. When they arrived the Kingdom of God was very near!
WHO DO MEN SAY THAT I, THE SON OF MAN, AM?
Luke writes concerning Jesus:
"Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him (Jesus) to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons." And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him, according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:
"Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel."
Simeon called Jesus...the Consolation of Israel...the Lord's Christ...our salvation.
John the Baptist declares Jesus to be the Lamb of God. "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God,

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for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him." (John 3:2)
When Jesus ministered in Samaria...
"..many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."
So when the Samaritans had come to Him; they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." (John 4:39-42)
After preaching His great sermon recorded in John 6, stating that He was the Bread of Life, his congregation walked out on Him. "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"
But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (John 6:66-69)
When Jesus was confronting His critics in John 5, they accused Him of being a child of fornication and they also said: "Do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" (John 8:48)
WHO DO MEN SAY THAT I, THE SON OF MAN, AM?
Man, down through the centuries of human history have responded with an answer. In the fourth century A.D. Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria, began to propagate the view that Jesus, though the Son of God, could not be co-eternal with His Father and that He must be regarded as external to the divine essence and only a creature. Arius held that Christ was not true God. Arianism could be classified as the progenitor of modern Unitarianism.
In the fourth century, Apollinaris, bishop of Laodicea in Syria, wrote against Arianism and other heresies. Zealously wishing to maintain the true error of denying Christ’s full humanity, he declared that Christ had a human body but did not posses a human spirit. The complete true proper humanity of Jesus was thus denied.
In the fifth century, Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, taught that Christ was both God and man, but that the Godhead was one Person, the manhood another. Instead of a union of two natures with distinction, Nestorians taught that there were two persons.

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False teachings abound in our present day, taught by cults and groups who call themselves...Christians.
If you ask a follower of the teachings of Christian Science, this would be their answer as to who Jesus Christ is.
"Jesus is the human man and Christ is the divine idea. The virgin mother conceived this idea of God and gave to her ideal the name of Jesus. Jesus was the offspring of Mary’s self-conscious communion with God."
If you ask the followers of the teachings of Jehovah Witnesses, this would be their reply to the question...Who is Jesus Christ?
"Not Jehovah God, he was the first son that Jehovah God brought forth. He is the first creation of God. Michael the archangel is no other than the only-begotten Son of God, now Jesus Christ. At the baptism of Jesus, He was anointed to be the Messiah. He showed His subjection to God by humbling Himself to a most disgraceful death on a torture stake. God raised Christ, not in flesh, but with a spiritual body.
If you should ask the followers of the Mormon religion, this would be their answer as to who Jesus Christ is:
"Among the spirit children of Elohim, the firstborn was and is Jehovah or Jesus Christ, to whom all others are juniors. By obedience and devotion, He attained to the pinnacle of intelligence which ranked Him as a God, even in His pro-existent state. Jesus Christ was the executive in the work of creation, aided by Michael, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Peter, James, John, Joseph Smith, and others.
You will note that in the question Jesus asked concerning the opinion of men, He stated who He was...THE SON OF MAN.
When we go through our New Testament, we find statements that confirm our Christian faith as to the deity of Jesus Christ. Orthodox Christianity claims that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was God in human flesh, a doctrine that is absolutely essential to the historical faith which we hold.
Let’s examine some of the claims of Jesus Christ as to His identity.
In the gospel of John, Jesus refers to Himself as YHWH ("I AM"). The name YHWH, "Yah-weh," was so sacred that devout Jews would not even pronounce it. Yahweh is the I AM of Exodus 3:14, the name that God called Himself--and for the Jews, HE ALONE IS GOD. In John 8:56-59 Jesus claimed to be this I AM: "I tell you the truth...before Abraham was born, I AM." When the Jews heard this claim, they became so outraged that they immediately tried to stone Him.

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Jesus used the name Yahweh at other times as well: "I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I AM the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins" (John 8:24). Jesus not only claims to be I AM but He also stresses that wrongly identifying who He is will result in eternal death--separation from God forever.
Many are the passages where Jesus refers to Himself as God by way of the various titles that, in the Old Testament, are applied only to God. Note the following:
Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11); the Old Testament declared, "Yahweh is my shepherd." (Psalm 23:1).
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." (John 8:12); the Old Testament proclaimed, "Yahweh shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory" (Isaiah 60:19). Jesus claimed to forgive sins (Mark 2:7), and the Jews reacted with, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Mark 2:7). Jesus then proved His authority by His healing miracle (Mark 2:10-12); however, Jeremiah 31:34 states "that God will forgive."
Jesus claimed to be the giver of life (John 5:21-23); God alone gives life (1 Samuel 2:6); Deuteronomy 32:39).
Jesus said, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:31). The term ONE refers to the essence or nature of His being.
The declarations of deity that Jesus made to the monotheistic Jewish people of His day were self-evident. The Jews knew very well that no mere man should claim the same honor and titles due to God alone. They reacted with violence by trying harder to kill Him because "He [Jesus] was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God" (John 5:18).
Jesus confronted their hearts, saying, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?" The Jews replied, "We are not stoning you for any of these, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God" (John 10). The Jews, the leadership in particular, were outraged when Jesus spoke to them about His true identity.
C. S. Lewis said: "Then comes the real shock. Among the Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God; there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God.

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God, in their language, meant the being outside the world Who made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips."
It is necessary to remind ourselves that, whatever views and verdicts the disciples or the outside world may have formed about the position and personality of Jesus, His own mind, from the very opening of His ministry, was never visited by any shadow of doubt!
He knew Himself to be Messiah. And (this goes ever deeper) He knew Himself to be, in a unique and lonely sense, Son of God. It was that knowledge which lay behind His three great original temptations: apart from it, the wilderness scene would be quite inexplicable. Certainly it was present at His baptism in Jordan. It is sometimes suggested that it was at the baptism that the awareness of Messiahship and Sonship first dawned on Jesus’ soul; but surely it is far more probable that all through the silent Nazareth years the conviction was gradually taking shape. He knew who he was when His parents found Him in the temple at the age of twelve. He informed them that He must be about His Father’s business. What happened in the hour of baptism was not a sudden awakening of Jesus to His own nature and function, but the receiving of power from on high, the setting of a seal by God upon the gradual discovery of years. In any case, it is clear that there never was a time in Jesus’ ministry when He did not know Himself with utter certainty to be Messiah and Son of God.
We come back to the scene of our text in Caesarea Philippi when Jesus now moves the inquiry of His identity to a very personal level...WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?
Observe how He pushed beyond the impersonal discussion to the personal challenge. That was regularly Christ’s way. You can see it in His conversation with the woman at the well--first the general talk, then suddenly the rapier-thrust at her own heart. You can see it in His interview with Pontius Pilate, when the latter was questioning Him about His kingly claims. Suddenly, like an arrow, came the challenge: "Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of Me?" Is this your own verdict, Pilate, or just rumor, that you are retailing at second hand?
Always, sooner or later, Jesus brought the discussion to the personal issue.

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He was not anxious for any second-hand opinions or verdicts by proxy. What He wanted was the straight answer of a person's own experience. WHOM SAY YE THAT I AM?
This question is being forced upon the world today from three sides. HISTORY forces it upon us. This Jesus who 'doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus'--in a far truer sense than Julius Caesar ever did, or Alexander, or Napoleon--whose cause had died a score of deaths down the centuries, only to come alive again each time, more glorious than ever--who can He be? Two thousand years later, He still stands high and mighty and more magnificent than any other person in the history of our world!
The BIBLE forces this question upon every man and women, boy and girl. This carpenter's apprentice who could make claims like 'all things are delivered unto Me of My Father' (Matthew 11:27); this wandering preacher who could bid the whole laboring, heavy-laden world come to Him for rest--Who can He be? I must do something with Jesus! Neutral none of us can be!
CONSCIENCE forces this question upon us all!
The Man whose words still stab us like the Sword of God, whose eyes still haunt us, whose pure, holy image puts us on our honor to live clean--who can He be?
This world has no chance of escaping the question. Paul wrote these words of Christ: "Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, but stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity] so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave in that He became like men and was born a human being.
And after He had appeared, in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!
Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:5-11).
I bow my knee and heart before the Christ and make the confession of Thomas: My Lord and My God.