From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Source of Truth About Jesus – Part 1

“Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
                            (Matthew 16:17b)

The teachings and miracles of Jesus, amazing as they were, were not enough by themselves to convince the apostles of their Lord’s rightful identity. In this respect, the disciples were hardly any better, humanly speaking, than the thrill-seeking crowds who heard the same messages and saw the same signs. Human capabilities, represented here by Christ’s expression “flesh and blood,” can’t give us an understanding of divine spiritual truths (1 Corinthians 2:14). God, through the Holy Spirit, must reveal them to us and allow us to understand His Son.

From the gospel narratives we can infer that the Father disclosed His Son primarily through the Son Himself. Nothing suggests that the apostles ever received divine revelation from anyone other than the Lord Jesus. Christ made many astonishing claims about Himself, such as that He came to fulfill the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17) and that in the last days many would call Him Lord (7:22). He also asserted, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51), and, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved” (10:9; 14:6). And along with such teachings, Jesus did numerous amazing miracles (Matthew 4:24; 8:26; John 2:6-11; 11:38-44).

God’s Spirit, through His written Word, still reveals Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to sinners and allows them to confess this to the world and to grow in knowledge of Him (see Romans 8:29; 10:17; 1 Corinthians 15:49).

Ask Yourself:
Why is it so important that God reveals Himself to us, rather than merely leaving us clues that we can piece together on our own? What would be the result of a Christian faith that depended on our ability to figure it out? How can we avoid concluding that we do figure everything out?