Wednesday, April 8, 2009

MITN XVI, Verses 13 - 20

13. Now when Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He called His disciples together and pointedly asked them, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

14. And they answered, “Well, some say that You are the reincarnation of John the Baptist, or even that of Elijah; and others believe that you are Jeremiah of old, miraculously appearing in this present time, or that You are a modern manifestation of one of the other prophets.”

15. With no surprise at their answers, or response to their observations, He pressed them further, asking, “But who do you, yourselves, say that I am?”

16. Simon Peter, almost always the first one of them to speak up, replied, “I say that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”

17. Then Jesus answered him, “You are truly blessed, Simon, Son of Jonah, because flesh and blood, or natural, human reasoning, has not revealed this to you. You have gained this insight through tapping into the perspective and paradigm of My Father Who is in the heavenly dimension.

18. And since My Father has revealed to you Who I really am, I'm going to reveal to you who you really are. So I tell you, your name is now Peter/Rock, or as the Greeks say, ‘Petros’ (the masculine form of the word ‘Petra’). In other words, others may see you merely as a rolling stone, but you are cut from The Rock, or the ‘PETRA’, nonetheless; and it’s on this Rock…this massive formation like the Rock of Gibraltar…that I will build My Church! Yes, My Church will be built on a mammoth, unshakable, and unmovable revelation of the I AM, from which you have spoken…and the gates of death, and of everything else from the dark side of the unseen realm (or ‘Hades’, as the Greeks call it in their mythology), shall not be able to overpower it, or be strong enough to hold out against the magnitude of it!”

19. And through this revelation, I will give people like you the very Keys of the Kingdom of/from the heavens. So with this power to unlock or lock up heaven on earth, as it were, whatever you declare to be improper and unlawful in this dimension, must be what is already declared improper and unlawful in the heavenly realm. In the same way, whatever you declare to be lawful on earth must be the standard norm in the heavenly realm. You can actually bind or loose…forbid or permit…lock or unlock…with the authority that comes from these revelation-keys!

20. Then He strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that He was Jesus, the Christ, so that each individual would have to know Him by their own revelation, as well, and not by means of hearing it from “flesh and blood”.

17 comments:

Northern Light said...

OH to be Simon Peter......not only the one to usually be first to speak up (teacher's pet..ha)..BUT...to be right on!

That he was blessed and given so much praise by the Lord, and praised for what he knew from the FATHER....oh my gosh.

I so wanna be like that! Speak up first, be rightin my perception of the situation & please the Lord!

Peace,
Northern Light

Erik said...

Amen Bishop !

Mammoth, Unshakeable, Unmovable Revelation that has stood freely and openly forever.

We have the keys , and declare the beauty and excellence and all lawfulness in this dimension, as the realm of heaven reflects the permission we have already declared in this realm with full, complete, and transcendent authority. It is so.

We All know God through each our own revelation, that is seen by each of us in all of us. Spoken through each by God’s insight, ALL included.

Anonymous said...

Erik,
And God knows us, through His revelation, too. Now that's a goose bumper.

Amalia said...

Bishop,
rich rich rich.......and, as usual, I am also blown away by the photo.

Izumi/JOY said...

First, the pic: Is it the manifestation of Hebrews 11:1?

Now faith?

Visible, is substance and portions; evidence on this side of the mountain. But, imagine the expanse to the other side. And consider what's below the surface.

A shadow on the mountain resembles an index finger pointing up. Some figures reached the summit, while more traverse the terrain at the right knuckle and down to the wrist.

Love, bless Your seismic seekers and summits and sacraments and shepherds and Sherpas and such.

Brenda said...

...and those words bring light to a dark confused world.

Anonymous said...

Short comment- this translation is excellent in my opinion. I'll come back later.
Anonymous in N GA

Izumi/JOY said...

In verse 13, I appreciate that Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man.

Everything He did and said had a purpose. Maybe He was gauging the appropriate hour; earthly dialogue corresponding to heaven's script.

In verse 15, I appreciate how He pressed the disciples further. (it often seemed the opposite)

I like the transitions: Son of Man, Son of the living God and son of Jonah.

The son of Jonah part made me laugh, a little. In the natural, he was a fisherman. I'm wondering if this was a double entendre, too. (remember, Jesus just told the Pharisees & Sadducees that the only sign they'd receive was the sign of Jonah)

Wouldn't it have been a cool way of saying, that since He is the Rock, then, Peter would be Petros - an extension of Himself.

Peter walked on water. (son of the living God)

He was the only one charged to find money (currency, medium of exchange or a particular form of denomination) in the mouth of a fish to pay a tax (a burdensome charge, obligation, duty or demand). (son of Jonah)

Like the Lord, Peter would one day stretch out his hands & others would dress & lead him where he didn't want to go. (son of Man)

I love that the gates of death and everything else from the unseen realm will never be able to overpower the mammoth, unshakeable, and unmoveable revelation of the I AM!

Donald said...

It's good and I like it.

Northern Light said...

Hey Mikie, he likes it~

Ah.......I couldn't resist. It just came to my mind as I read it, Donald!

Good to hear from you, thought you were on your way up to MI on that scooter and stuck in the SNOW..haven't seen you around much, it seems. HAHA

Peace,
Northern Light

Unknown said...

Izumi/Joy @7:57am...
It think it was your question on "the manifestation" that prompted me to go to these thoughts...

Jesus has been fishing for ears that hear for quite some time...[and recently for minds that remember, but anyway...] and here he checks again and finds the red-sky-in-the-morning warning that His Father is revealing who He really is.

Totally aware that "the church" has existed since the foundation of the world, He is taking its temperature..."what is manifesting?" "where is the Father?" "what is He doing?"...I don't do anything that I don't see the Father doing, say anything that I don't hear the Father say.

He has read the signs and now starts to see that the Father is building the church so He can too.

I like v. 18's "from which you have spoken..." and followed by the explanation that "you now have the keys"...YES! Amalia, rich, indeed!

And the explanation of v.20, for the ones who gave up all...mmm-mmm. Better than chocolate!
The Secret [that is not so secret][if you are truly salty, that is]begins!

Northern Light said...

Looking forward to LifeSkills in about 16 mins.....

Last week computer issues, tonight please work.......and THEN I just notice the word ver for this post "hasto"... WOW

My computer just "has to" connect tonight. How right on is that ?

Peace,
NL

Donald said...

I've had alot of great things going on lately and haven't had time to sit long enough to do much writing, NL.

Bishop, I read verses 13-20 shortly before service tonight. The way you expounded on verse 20 really made so much sense. I had never even considered it from that angle before.

I am really sated with what I heard tonight and need to just meditate for awhile on it.

Later

Northern Light said...

Hey Donald... good to hear good things are abounding there !

Bishop,
Can I just say DITTO about these LifeSkills Wednesday nights ? I'm running out of words, I enjoy them so much AND get a word. Double Blessing.

BESIDES the fact that my computer decided to act fine and then freeze right when you were talking about appreciating the Catholic members who "cross" themselves at offertory time......I would do that, and proudly so. It IS alot of what we were taught and if it meant something real to you and a part of a prayer or a connection, then it just naturally happens. I can speak to that.

After hearing the word "appreciate" it, I lost connection for about 4 mins, so I will catch those moments you might have talked a bit on about other things from someone else who streamed in.

Anyway...good food to chew for the next several days 'til we meet again!

Peace,
Northern Light

Anonymous said...

I love how your version of these verses brings us to focus on the power, purpose and necessity of "revelation directly from God" I especially like your clarification of the original words in verse 18.

It was a confirmation of some conclusions I have come to in a study I have been writing on The Word of God and and it's relative meaning to the "who, when, where," rule. Your Teaching tonight also was a confirmation of the same ideas I have been writing about. some that would not set well with the immature or overly religious.

Really, if you dont get your own revelation of a truth, you dont really get it....

Grace and Peace,
Dennis

Anonymous said...

Ironic, you said "Jesus spoke Aramaic,the bible was written in Greek, then translated to Latin, then from Latin to English" something like that. Anyway, I said the same thing to someone this week when we were discussing this study I am doing. She was quite surprised to hear that so I said the same thing you really have to hear God by revelation. I added, "don't get me wrong, all these things are good, the bible, sermons, teaching, and reading other books; but I think God wants to be more personal than that. That's why we must have direct, personal revelation from God to really "know Him", what He is like and who He really is. And if someone must have scripture, there is a lot of it that backs up this concept. God cannot be contained between two leather covers. Or completely revealed with paper and ink - as I once thought. Such an effort to "find God" through these things alone is futile. God is a Spirit and those that worship Him must Worship Him in Spirit which is true worship. In the book of Hebrews, I believe in the eighth chapter, God says of the New Covenant, "I will be their God.....and they will all know Me"
God did not say "I will be their book" Now He works from and in our heart and spirit, not from our shelf.

Grace and Peace,
Dennis

Izumi/JOY said...

Avatar, your aside ["and recently, for minds that remember, but anyway..."] made me cringe a little. But, I kinda justified my reaction by focusing on John 21:25.

Your allusion to verse 20 is intriguing. Cocoa means, "food of the gods..." Hmm...Greek to me...

Yes, that's what I meant about wondering if Jesus was reading the conditions of the physical realm. Did they match heaven's blueprint?

P. Dennis - great line! ("Now He works from and in our heart and spirit, not from our shelf.")