The question of the ages is “Who is Jesus?” The next question is “What answer do individuals give to the first question?” The answer given will determine ones place of abode for eternity and of necessity, it is an important answer. Indeed, the most important answer that anyone will ever be asked to give. 

Jesus said in Luke 19:10: For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. The purpose of his coming to earth is clearly stated. and for the lost to be saved, they had to know who he was and is so the natural question came in Matthew 16:13:  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? Several answers were given by those assembled. In Matthew 16:14-15:  And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. Then in Matthew 16:15: He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?  It made no difference to Jesus what someone else said about him. His question was personal and they were responsible for their own answer about who was standing before them asking them to answer the question.

Peter being a bit more astute answered as recorded in Matthew 16:16: And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then Jesus responded in Matthew 16:17: And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

The confession of Peter is the confession that each person should make and must make if they desire eternal life with Jesus in the new earth and heaven, instead of eternal death in Hell. The majority of the people in the world dispute the need to confess Jesus as did Peter. The majority is blind and can’t see that God sent his son in his likeness so that people could know God and know what he is like.

Philip was one of those people that couldn’t see Jesus or God. In John 14:7-9: If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?  Jesus said that to see and know him was to see and know the father. Philip like so many couldn’t grasp that truth.  

Isaiah said of God’s people in 59:9-13: Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. 8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. 9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. 11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. 12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; 13 In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. That was the condition of  the world then and that is the condition of the world now but there is no excuse for it.

Paul wrote in Romans 1:16-21: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Verse 19- 20 declares that God has shown himself to mankind and as such, man is without an excuse. Yet, having been shown God man continues to live in darkness, groping for the right way, never finding it because of ignoring the truth of Jesus Christ. Jesus said to the Pharisees in John 8:24: I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. When anyone says who Jesus is, they must recognize they are in need of salvation because of sin. The truth of Jesus is followed by the need to obey the gospel message. There is no in between. Jesus said He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. Luke 11:23

When Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was helping round up Christians for persecution in the belief that God was being blasphemed. We read in Acts 9:1-6: And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. 3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. 7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. When Jesus spoke to Paul, Paul immediately called him Lord in recognition of one with higher authority than he. (This is the only time in scripture that Jesus ever told anyone directly who he was in the manner he told Paul.) Paul then asked what he should do and he was told what Jesus would have him do. Paul learned who Jesus was by a direct revelation and it changed Paul’s life forever.

Paul wrote the following in II Corinthians 6:1-2: We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2  (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) Now is the accepted time and today is the day for your salvation.  It all depends on your answer to the question Jesus posed to Peter:  But whom say ye that I am?  Who is Jesus? With your answer to that question followed by immersion baptism, you will decide where you will spend eternity.

© 12-1-2002 DEC

Revised 02-04-2008

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