Who do you say Jesus Is?
To know God and be known by God . . .this should be our pursuit
How can or do you answer this question? In my personal life - I can attest for Jesus’ care, comfort, peace, righteousness, to Him being Savior, Lord, Friend - He's understanding, forgiving - He's my redeemer, teacher, deliver, provider, healer, miracle worker, lover, visionary, encourager - to name a few.
How? By spending time with Him, allowing Him to be a part of my life, even allowing him in those dark areas of my life - the places where I don't care to go and afraid to go at times.
This is the same question that Jesus asked Peter - Who do the crowds say that I am? This is an important question for us to consider. Our knowing Christ can not be based on second hand information - your knowing Christ must be revealed by the primary source, Christ Himself through His word and revelations. Because when life happens and those you thought were your friends, leave you, you have to be able to stand in the comfort of knowing that Christ is there with you, the Christ who have shown himself strong and powerful in your life.
In Matthew 16:13-19 we find:
Then Jesus turned and asked Peter a second question "But who do you say that I am" Peter answered - not well my mom says, my denomination says, my pastor says; no, Peter answered by the revelation that he received from God - you are the Christ, the Son of God. What a powerful revelation – to say with confidence that Christ is the Son of God, meaning that Christ is the mighty savior, healer, redeemer, giver of life, and teacher.
Another intimate example is found in 1 John 1:1:
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life - the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us - that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. - and these things we write to you that your joy may be full."
This is one of my favorite versus in the New Testament. Why? because I can imagine how excited the brothers were to share the living Christ that their hands touched, their eyes saw, and their ears heard to the churches in Asia minor who received this epistle.
Three aspects to consider for this verse:
1. This epistle was a circulated throughout many churches in Asia Minor. The author is speaking to the believers from a personal experience and wants the believers to have fellowship with the Jesus.
2. Man is made up of three just like the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit - Body, Soul and Spirit). This epistle is appealing to the senses: heard, touch, seen, handled (soul - mind, will and emotions). What this epistle tells me is that Jesus wants to connect with us on all levels of our being, including our souls.
3. The word fellowship is a very intimate word - many people just translate it Koinonia and write it off as "just" fellowship - but let me expound on this definition. Literally the word translates participation, or (social) intercourse or pecuniary benefaction. As the believers read this epistle - the words painted a very vivid and intimate picture of a relationship. The relationship that our Jesus desires with us – an intimate relationship that involves our participation.
What type of fellowship are you/do you have with Jesus? Is it the type that the writer of this epistle portrays to the believers in Asia Minor? Is your intimacy level with Jesus to a level where He continues to reveal His character to you? So who do you say He is? If you don't know or if you are not sure on your answers - let's walk down this path together and allow Him to reveal to us individually and corporately who He is.
Paintings by Harry Anderson and JesusArt
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