In Spiritual Formation (aka Adult Sunday School) this week, we discussed Matthew 16:13-20.
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
To dig deeper into the passage, I reached for my handy study Bible given to me by a friend of mine. One verse stuck out to me in my reading.
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
I want to share with you what it says in my study Bible: “People do not come to faith in Jesus Christ by scrutiny or searching, but by the the Father’s revelation of the Son to them. (see John 6:65).”
John 6:65 says, “He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
God draws us. Not the other way around. Don’t you love when one scripture leads to another, then another, opening a door to great wisdom and understanding of God’s Word?
I found this cool link: https://www.gotquestions.org/drawn-salvation.html
It explains everything way better than I can. God draws us. Can you believe it? We don’t go to the Father without his drawing. We don’t go to the faith without him “dragging” us there. I don’t get it yet, but I will pray and God will reveal it to me.
I thought about waiting to post this until I did “get it.” But, will I ever really get it? Will all the revelations of Christ come to me in one fail swoop one day, and I will know and understand everything there is to know and understand?
No.
I don’t think so any way. There’s too much to learn. So, today, we start this journey together. This journey of God leading us, drawing us and dragging us to our salvation. What do you think about this link and the scriptures? Let’s start a conversation and spread the Good News to those who wish to read it and understand.
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