Lessons of Jesus
Chapter 12: You are the Christ

Previous Chapter: When the disciples reached the other side


Under the title "Lessons of Jesus" we are studying, how our Lord transformed His disciples into His own children, and in this chapter we will see how disciples acknowledged him as "Son of God", the disciples did not acknowledge him just by seeing his miracles work but by his Holiness.

When the Lord took his disciples to the town where he grew up, those who knew the Lord seeing his ministry marveled and said, wasn't he a carpenter? Not the Son of Mary? when disciples heard of it, there is one thing imprinted in their hearts, that is Jesus is an ordinary person just like us - 3.Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us? So they were offended at Him. 4.But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house - Mark 6:3-4


Later, when the Lord sent his disciples to the ministry, the people spoke of the Lord as Elijah or one of the Old Testament prophets, and the disciples did not deny it or tried to correct them, because the disciples also looked Jesus Christ as on ordinary man with some spiritual gift - 14.Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had become well known. And he said, “John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.” 15.Others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets.” 16.But when Herod heard, he said, “This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!”

This is because the Lord only performed miracles similar to those of the Old Testament prophets, for example the Lord calmed the raging sea, but Moses divided the Red Sea in two, and the people who saw Moses dividing the Red Sea in two, did not say Moses was a Son of God, because the people knew well about Moses' parents and his birth - 21.Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22.So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left - Exodus 14:21-22

Another great miracle performed by the Lord was touching and healing a leper. Elisha, a prophet of the Old Testament, had performed this very same miracle; yet, Naaman the leper who was healed at that time, did not look at Elisha and declare, "You are the Son of God" - 14.So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 15.Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant - 2 Kings 5:14-15

When the Lord fed five thousand people with 5 loaves of bread, the disciples took 12 baskets full of leftover bread, but the similar miracle was performed by the Old Testament prophet Elisha, feeding one hundred people with twenty loaves and ears of grain, and after everyone had eaten, there was even some left over - 42.A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said. 43.“How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked. But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” 44.Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord - 2 Kings 4:42-44

The Lord raised to life the daughter of Jairus, a synagogue leader; the Old Testament prophet Elisha had performed this very same miracle - 32.When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. 33.He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34.Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. 35.Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes - 2 Kings 4:32-35

In this way, all the miracles done by the Lord, somehow it was already done by Old Testament prophets, so the people called Jesus as Elijah or one of the Old Testament prophets.

And in that situation, the Lord did not ask His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"; had He asked, the disciples, too, would have identified the Lord as Elijah or as one of the prophets.

Who do you say that I am?

At the time of famine, and for about three and a half years, Elijah performed the miracle at the house of Zarephath's widow, everyday miracle has to happened for them to survive, if one day the miracle did not happened, the oven would not light up in that widow's house. In such a situation, Zarephad's widow did not testify to Elijah, "You are the son of God", and finally, Elijah raised the widow's son alive, and even then the widow did not testify to Elijah that "You are the son of God" - 22.And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the boy returned to him and he revived. 23.Elijah then took the boy and brought him down from the upstairs room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” 24.Then the woman said to Elijah, Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth - 1 Kings 17:22-24

That's because, a person may appear to be a good person, it could be a servant of God, but if he stays with us for just a few days, his human nature will be exposed, only bitterness regarding him will remain, even if we see a dream about him, we will not say that he is from Heaven.

If the miracles is more than enough to prove that Jesus is Son of God, the mainline synagogue that was originally built by King solomon would have not issued such an order - for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue - John 9:22

But the Lord remained with His disciples for some years, lived a life of witness, and then received the declaration, "You are the Christ", that is, the Son of God - 29.He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.” 30.Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him - Mark 8:29-30

In general, the son of the King or President will use his fine clothes, wealth and authority to demonstrate his identity to the people, but Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of the God, took the form of a poor man, when the world testifies that he is the son of Joseph and Mary, lived a holy life and proved that he is the Son of God.

That is what happened on the cross as well, when the earthquake erupted there were two thieves also in the cross, but Jesus Christ alone received the testimony that Son of God - When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, Surely he was the Son of God - Matthew 27:54


You must not listen to the words of that prophet

On one occasion, during a public event, the Prime Minister of Israel spoke for several hours, covering everything from the history of the Old Testament era to the nation's modern day era, mineral, wealth and invented technologies, yet he was unable to utter a single word regarding Jesus Christ, that's because, they had been taught, if anyone preaches the novel doctrines, contrary to the Old Testament scriptures,  and even if he perform signs and miracles they should not accept him as Messiah - 1.If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2.and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3.you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul - Deuteronomy 13:1-3

Given in this context, how did Peter say that the Lord is the Son of God? It's because of His sinless life, and unless you are sinless, you cannot ask Pharisees and scribes who had come from Jerusalem, "How is it that you give in to sinful lusts, and wash your private parts?" Peter knew that only Jesus Christ, the Holy One, was worthy to pose such a question. Peter did not declare, "You are the Christ," merely by observing the Lord's garments or outward demeanor; nor did he declare, "You are the Christ," simply by witnessing the signs and miracles the Lord performed. Rather, it was by observing the Lord's holy life that he declared, "You are the Christ" - 8.For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do - Mark 7:8

Some say

 
At the beginning of His ministry, if the Lord had asked His disciples, "Who do people say that I am?", they would have first boasted about Herod, then they would have happily said, "King Herod himself calling you as John the Baptizer", and not only that, they would have acknowledged what people were saying about Him "You are the one of the Old Testament Prophets". So, the Lord did not ask anything to his disciples - 14.King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.” 15.Others said, “He is Elijah.” And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.” 16.But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!” - Mark 6:14-16

But now to the disciples who saw the Lord's sinless life, his power and majesty, the wind and the sea obeying him, the Herod became nothing to them, so instead of saying, "King Herod himself calling you as John the Baptizer" they said, "Some calling you as John the Baptist." Thus, for these disciples who had truly grasped the Lord's majesty, all the worldly greatness of this world had faded into utter insignificance - 27.Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets - Mark 8:27-28  

With this the disciples also completing their second year acadamy.

Next Chapter: O faithless generation