THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION POSED

Scripture:  Matthew 16:15  "Whom do you say that I am?"

When this question was posed to Peter, he immediately knew the answer.  Some thought that Jesus was John the Baptist or Elijah who had come back from the dead.  Others believed that Jesus was Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.  But Peter knew the truth.  Jesus told Peter that this revelation did not come to him by flesh and blood.  Instead, the Father in Heaven had revealed to Peter that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. 

Before His earthly birth, Jesus sat at the right hand of the Father in Heaven and now He sits there again as our intercessor.  Jesus was with the Father when the world was framed and man was created.  He witnessed Lucifer's rebellion when Lucifer declared that he would be like the most high God.  Jesus, then, watched as God cast Lucifer out of Heaven along with one third of the angels.

Jesus Christ was the baby who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger (Luke 2:12).  He was the One that the angels herald and the shepherds came to worship.  A few years later, He was the Christ child that the wise men who journeyed from the East came to honor.  They recognized Him as the King of the Jews and offered Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  At the age of twelve, Jesus was the young boy who stunned those in the temple with his knowledge and understanding of the scriptures.  He was the obedient son who returned home with His earthly mother and father even though He knew that He was called to do the business of His Heavenly Father.  At the wedding feast in Canaan, He was the respectful son who changed the water into wine in obedience to His mother’s request even though He declared that He was performing this miracle before His appointed time.

Jesus was the multiplier of the fish and bread to the hungry thousands who had followed Him into the desert to hear His teaching.  He was the healer of the blind, deaf, and diseased and He was the deliverer of those who were oppressed and held in demonic bondage.  Jesus was the compassionate Messiah to the woman at the well who was living with a man that was not her husband.  He was the forgiving Lord to the woman who was caught in the sin of adultery.  Jesus was life to Lazarus and the others who had died as He miraculously raised them from the dead.  He was the miracle worker who taught His disciples about faith.  Jesus showed them that it is possible to walk on water and calm the raging seas with just a simple command.  He spoke to His disciples of vision.  Jesus first told them to go out into the deep waters to fish for their provisions, and then later, He told them to go to the entire world to preach the gospel and be fishers of men.  The last thing the Apostle John wrote in his book were these words, "Jesus also did many other things.  If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written" (John 21:25 - NLT).

We see Jesus in all of these various aspects of His life but we must individually decide who He is to us.  Our decision will make an eternal difference in our life.  There is only one way to Heaven's promise and that is in believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, that He sacrificed His life on the cross of Calvary, and that He rose from the dead on the third day.  The entire gospel rests upon these truths and the most important question that you will have to answer is the same question that Jesus asked of Peter.  "Whom do you say that Jesus is?" +++