01- 23- 11 MI DAILY DEVOTION (Matthew 16:13-25)
PETER, THE WOUNDED SOLDIER OF GOD
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? 14- And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15- He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16- And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 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. 18- And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Peter declared the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can talk about Peter weaknesses and sins. We can talk about his denial of our Lord and how he lived in carnality and worldly things. Sometimes people would just look at your fault, mistakes, sins, your downfall and negative things in you and just overlooked the good things in you. (I Peter 3:18) “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:” Let’s look at the positive things that happened to Peter. Peter was a wounded soldier who was restored by the Lord in His grace. What do you do when your brother fails? What do you do when your brother is wounded? We must learn to minister to our wounded soldier. We must learn to encourage our wounded brothers and sisters. The Lord did not condemn Peter when he sinned and failed.
When you do things for God, people sometimes will always have something to say either positive or negative. People sometimes will just look on the negative side. Peter failed the Lord, But God restored him. Now, let’s focus our attention on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is one of the positive sides of Peter when he declared Jesus’ Deity. It means that Peter declared the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God and God Himself. We must be aware of the false teaching about Christ and His Deity, because this is very important and major doctrine in the Bible. The Jews recognized Jesus as an individual who did something significant for the people, but they don’t accept His Lordship and as the coming Messiah. They don’t accept Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God and the second Person of the Holy Trinity. Most of the religious groups that are not Christians, they have the same belief. They don’t believe in the Lord Jesus Christ except He was a plain man.
(Philippians 2: 5- 10) 5- “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6- Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:7- But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8- And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9- “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10- That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;”
