JUNE 03 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#18 “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

JUNE 03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#18  “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord and Savior, our Redeemer and Friend, let us always magnify Your Holy Name. The Precious Name of Jesus, the Name we call on for comfort in times of crisis, the Name of the Author of our Salvation, the Name above all names — JESUS! Lord, teach me to praise Your Name all ways and always, that my lips may be in continuous worship towards the Prince of Peace, that my heart will embrace the Suffering Servant who died for all my iniquities, that my filthy rags the world has clothed me in can be made robes of Shining Righteousness through the Washing of the Blood of Jesus Christ ——— Divine, Holy Blood shed for ALL the sins of ALL men, ONCE and for ALL! Praise, Glory, and Honor to Jesus, Sweet JESUS! From the Alpha to the Omega, God IS!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus uses this Question to bring into focus a simple but everlasting TRUTH of GOD and that is that God was God before time was time, the TRUTH being that God created Time and that at the end of Time, God will be sitting on His Throne (the same throne He was sitting on when He created Time)! When we realize that our boundaries are both “Space” and “Time” and are therefore “finite”, we can appreciate the Infinitude of God who existed before He Created “Space and Time” for our existence! That being said, we are still faced with the highly personal Question and the fact that we will have to stand and answer directly to God the Father as to “who” we believe Jesus is — and we will have to accept that it is God that we have to answer to and our chances of getting away with giving the “wrong” answer will be impossible! Standing outside time, we will have to admit we are out of time, and facing God Himself we will have to concede that God is TRUTH, and that the only acceptable answer to the God of Truth is the TRUTH of who Jesus IS!!! Therefore we should search every source available while we still have “time” and make every effort within our “finite” resources to know what God Himself says about Jesus, who Jesus was as He lived among us, what was written by those that witnessed the works of Jesus as He walked the earth and performed the Task that God the Father gave Him to accomplish with His earthly ministry, and then we must search our own soul for the “understanding” that God Himself has promised to put into our hearts if we seek Him. We can read the Words that Jesus spoke of Himself and the Father,  “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”  (John 5:24) That seems like a pretty good answer to me, to go ahead and believe “now” and when we die (death is literally running out of “time”) we will not have to face judgement!  Then again, Jesus is always going that “extra mile” to give us the “understanding” we need so that we can indeed give the “right answer” and this case and this Question is the perfect example of Jesus making sure we KNOW the right answer as we read the answer that Peter gave Jesus immediately after Jesus asked the “Question” to His disciples: “Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You [Jesus] are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16) Then Jesus goes that “extra mile” in confirming that Peter has given the correct answer, “Jesus answered [Peter] and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood (other men) has not revealed this [TRUTH] to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17) So there you have the CORRECT ANSWER as given by God Himself whom Jesus Himself referred to as “My Father in heaven”, and Jesus gave Peter passing marks by declaring Peter to be “Blessed” for having learned the TRUTH from God Himself. Can you think of anything better than for the Teacher to tell you are going to be tested and then not only does the Teacher give you the “Question” but as soon as you have the “Question” then the Teacher gives you the “Answer”?!?! And also to insure your success that you have no chance to forget the correct answer, you are tested and graded immediately?  God is GOOD ALL THE TIME!!  God has PROMISED that He will never give us a “test” that He doesn’t first make sure we know the “answer”!! Now that is GOOD NEWS unless of course that you are one of those that knows of a better way to spend eternity than in fellowship with God the Creator?!?!