Scripture: Matthew 16:1–20
“…
no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”
Matthew
16:4b
Observation: When reading this passage I caught something
interesting in the text. Here Jesus says
the only sign given to them would be the son of Jonah and later He refers to
Peter as “the son of Jonah”.
Coincidence? I did a little
digging. Matthew, as we know, is the gospel
written by a Jew to Jews about a Jew. In
other places Peter is referred to as the son of John. Why call him son of Jonah here?
It is a play on words. Yeshua was trying to make a point here. In one place I read today they put it this
way, “When Jesus says to Simon son of John - Bar-Jonah, Jesus is calling him a
son of faith.” When Yeshua asked Peter, “Who
do you say I am?” Peter responded, “You
are the Messiah.” Not everyone knew or
proclaimed Him to be the Messiah, but Peter did. Peter had great faith. Peter believed without a sign, unlike the Pharisees.
The people of the Bible watched with
faithful hearts for the coming of the Messiah, the Son of Man, and their
salvation. They waited with faith trusting
in the promises of Scripture. Sometimes
when we are waiting on His promises to be fulfilled it can be hard. Sometimes we lose sight of the promises, but
we need to keep believing, keep hoping and keep on having faith.
Yeshua promised that one day
(hopefully soon) He will return. We look
around at the world in the condition it is in now and we wonder when that
promise might be fulfilled. May we have
the faith of Peter knowing whom we have believed in and knowing He is faithful
to do as He has said.
Application: Be the sons and daughters of faith. Remember the same Peter who Jesus praises for
making this confession of faith also had his moments of faithlessness (He
denied Christ in the moments before the crucifixion), but Peter learned to pick
up his cross and follow Jesus. Peter grew in faith and was forgiven
often by Jesus.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for examples like
Peter! Peter was human like we are. At times he demonstrated great faith and at
other times he had a great need for forgiveness. I pray that we would live more on the side of
faith than needing forgiveness, but when we do need your forgiveness may we be
quick to ask for it. May we remember
today WHO you are and WHAT You have promised so that our faith would be
strengthened today. Through Christ our
Messiah I pray, Amen & Amen.
Quoting
Peter in Acts 4:12:
"There
is salvation in no one else,
for
there is no other name under heaven
given
among men by which we must be saved.”
Let’s go deeper: In the beginning of the passage Jesus,
Yeshua, referred to the sky and how the Pharisees look to the sky for a
prediction. Lutheran Pastor Ted Giese put
it this way, “If life is like a sailing expedition and the sky is red and dangerous as you raise your sail in the
morning, the LORD wants you to put your trust in His promises and sail on,
trust that He will bring you through the storm into the safe port at the end of
the day. Some days you think to
yourself, "I am a tempest in a tea cup turned in on myself"
and some days, "I feel like a tea cup at the bottom of the sea - lost,
chipped and covered in deep darkness." If this is you remember ‘[The
LORD] made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, [He] keeps faith
forever;’ Even if you ‘dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, [the LORD is
there].’ Peter's confession of faith in
Christ Jesus is a prophecy in and of itself that hits at the heart of what
Jesus was going to do, it hits at the heart of what the Son of Man is all about:
That He will suffer and die, and be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth. Your future resurrection from
death is wrapped up in His resurrection.
The waves of the storms of life will not wash the Rock of your salvation
away. Red sky at night, red sky in morning makes no difference, your sign in
the sky, your sign in heaven, your sign in life is Christ Jesus.”
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