When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I
the Son of man am ?
And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist:
some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the
prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I
am?
MATTHEW 16:13-15
Jesus asked the disciples two questions. “Whom do men
say that I am?” And then, “Whom do you say that I am?” I believe
that these two questions will be asked of you as you read this
book. Jesus wanted to know who His disciples thought He was,
and now He wants to know who you think He is.
Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon
this rock [of revelation] I will build my church; and the
gates of hell will not prevail against it.
MATTHEW 16:16-18 (INSERT MINE)
I want you to notice something. Peter saw something that
day. His eyes were opened and he saw who Jesus really was. As
we step into this new millennium, what the world needs more
than anything is to see Jesus clearly. Unfortunately, most people
see Jesus through the eyes of religion and tradition.
When we went to Disney World to see their Christmas
production one year, we saw people put out their cigarettes and
stand there with tears rolling down their cheeks, singing about
the babe who was born in Bethlehem. Everybody can get tearful
about a baby. If you keep Him as a baby, you don’t have to
accept Him as the Lord of your life.
Jesus is born at Christmas and He dies at Easter. At
Easter, Jesus is on the cross. The world again stands with tears
rolling down their cheeks, this time about the fact that Jesus
died. But you know what? They still don’t make Him their
Lord. To be born again and make heaven their home, they have
to invite the risen Lord Jesus to come and make His home on
the inside of them. They have to see, and believe, that the tomb
is empty.
The world says that Jesus was just a good man. Some
say He was a prophet in a long line of prophets. Others say He
was an eccentric. Some say He was a martyr. And others say He
was a fairy tale. Children are raised to believe in the tooth
fairy; the Easter bunny; Santa Claus, and Jesus Christ. We’ve
put Jesus in there with the fairy tales, and when children eventually
find out the fairy tales are not real, they start to wonder
about Jesus too.
But Jesus is not a fairy tale; He’s a living reality.
What is very interesting is that every year is marked on
the calendar as the year of our Lord. 2000 AD. Anno Domini —
AD — is Latin for “year of our Lord.” You don’t see it written
down as “Year of Buddha 2000,” or “2000 Mohammed,” or
“2000 Confucius.” One man split the time of a whole planet,
and His name is Jesus. It’s more than just coincidence.
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