Matthew 16:15-17(NKJV) 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Yesterday we began looking at Matthew 16. In this chapter Jesus asks two questions. The first was looking for an opinion concerning what other people thought of Jesus outward life. The answer the disciples gave him was a product of the knowledge that comes to us through our 5 physical senses. This is called sense knowledge or natural knowledge.
This is the kind of knowledge that most of us use every day. It is the knowledge upon which western society is built. Anything that cannot be proven by logic and reason must be discounted as legend, myth or fantasy. However, sense knowledge is limited. It cannot bring us to spiritual conclusions. We will never be able to walk in the spirit if we are limited to sense knowledge. The disciples answers show us this.
What kind of knowledge do we need? What kind of knowledge will “renew our mind” in such a way that we will be what Romans 8:6 calls spiritually minded? I believe the answer is in today’s verses.
Jesus asks his disciples a second question. “Who do you say I am?” In yesterday’s question Jesus uses the term “son of man.” In this second question he does not use that term. He is not asking for a “sense knowledge” opinion. He is asking them what they personally know about him. Not the “son of man” outward him, but the real him. This does not require a simple opinion, it requires a decision. “Who do you say I am?”
At first no one answers. As I read this passage and picture it in my mind, I do not think Peter answered the first question. Now no one is ready to answer the second one. They all suspected who Jesus really was. However to voice that conviction required a real commitment and would mean they were going down a path that could take them through some difficult times. Finally Peter stands up and walks toward Jesus. He looks him in the eye and he utters these words. “You are the Christ (Messiah) the son of the Living God.”
This is a revolutionary statement. The declaration that Jesus is the long awaited Jewish Messiah was very important and significant. However, Peter does not stop there. He also declares that Jesus is the son of God. Israel was one of the only monotheistic nations in the world. Their whole identity was wrapped up in the statement, “Hear oh Israel the Lord thy God is one God.” How can “one God” have a son? Does that not constitute two Gods? We know today that it does not because of the nature of the Godhead, but Peter would not have known that.
Peter is making a statement that could get him killed. He was making a commitment that would separate him from everything he knew to be true. What kind of knowledge could make such a change in Peter? What could cause him to believe something so radical? Jesus gives us the answer.
“Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
What Peter knew he did not know on the basis of “sense knowledge.” Flesh and blood knowledge did not bring Peter to this conclusion. He had a great deal of knowledge about Jesus that had come to him through his senses. Much of that knowledge could have led him to the conclusion that Jesus was the Messiah. He had seen him heal the sick. He had heard him teach things no one else had taught. He had seen miracles of every kind. Nevertheless, Jesus says specifically says that Peter did not come to this conclusion as a result of this kind of knowledge. “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.”
Where did this knowledge come from? What was its nature? Jesus’ “Father who is in Heaven” revealed this knowledge to Peter. It came, not from what he heard or saw, but from God to Peter’s heart. It was a totally different kind of knowledge. We call this knowledge “revealed knowledge” or “revelation knowledge.”
Revelation knowledge takes into account what we know by our senses, but it processes this information through a different channel. It takes what we learn by our senses and sends it through our heart where God begins to “reveal” to us what the truth behind it really is. What does God say the information means? How does his power and wisdom affect it. How does all this change life for me? “Revealed” knowledge is just that. It is knowledge that is shown or revealed to me by God himself.
This kind of knowledge had powerful effect on Peter. It can have a powerful effect on you and I as well. Peter could have concluded by what he saw that Jesus was the Messiah but I am not sure if he could have come to the realization that Jesus was the manifest son of God. Somehow the sense knowledge Peter had of Jesus went to a different level. He did not just come to a logical conclusion. He knew Jesus was the Messiah and the son of God himself. He did not know it just in his head. He knew it in a place where something else besides logic lives. He knew it in the place faith comes from.
All of us have had this experience at one time or another in our Christian walk. We have read a verse of scripture for years, but one day, as we read it, something changes. Maybe we were in a crisis. We may have been under pressure financially and we read Philippians 4:19 that promises God will meet our needs. We read it a thousand times before, but one day it just “drops into our heart” so to speak.
We do not have a greater understanding of what the words say, but something is different. The words are no longer just letters on a page in a book. They are not just quotes from some long ago writer. They become what Jesus called “spirit and life.” They become our words. They become our thoughts. They become the Word of God but made flesh in our life.
At that point the knowledge from the Word, “My God shall supply all my need,” has been revealed to us by God. It is knowledge on a deeper level than just our intellect. Once it has been revealed to us by God, faith is produced and we will never again doubt that truth in our heart. That is how we got saved. Romans 10:17 tells us that the faith for salvation came from the preaching of the Word. It became “saving faith” when God revealed it to us.
How does “revelation knowledge” affect our lives? Come back tomorrow and see!
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