Receiving revelation is not the end of the matter but only the beginning. How do you know if some so-called "revelation" is really from God? One sign is that it will challenge you. If all it does is challenge everyone else except you, then it is probably not from God.
So the disciples, and Peter in particular, had just realised that Jesus was the Messiah. Now Jesus begins to tell them what that really means.
Jesus uses the term "Son of Man", a term used of no-one else in the New Testament. In the Old Testament it is sometimes used just to mean someone is a human being, but in Daniel (Dan 7:13) it is a messianic title. There are several messianic passages in various parts of the Old Testament. However, Jesus focuses on aspects the messiah that probably got overlooked! Namely the fact that Isaiah said that the Messiah would have to suffer. (Similarly some so-called prosperity teachers overlook rather a lot of the New Testament teaching.)
In particular Jesus tells them that the Son of Man must be killed, and then will rise again. He spoke plainly, but Peter rebuked Him. Jesus then rebuked Peter with the famous words "Get behind me Satan". Peter had in mind the things of men, not of God.
There is much to learn here. One is that revelation most certainly does not mean we now know it all. Peter's understanding was still very much lacking. Moreover, our mind's are very easily focused on the things of men, not the things of God. We need to let our minds be led by the Spirit, not by the flesh.
No comments:
Post a Comment