In this talk, we’ll look at Peter’s confession of Christ.
We’ll briefly remind people of the story so far:
- God created us to thrive in a healthy and whole relationship with Him, with each other, with ourselves and with creation. We rejected God and choose our own way and as a result, all four relationships are broken - and we cannot fix it.
- God chose a nation - Israel - through whom he would initiate His rescue plan which would lead to Jesus coming.
- Despite rescuing this nation from Egyptian slavery, caring for them in 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, rescuing them from enemy attacks by raising up Judges, and giving them the opportunity to have their own King (even though God longed to be their king), the Israelites kept drifting from God and doing things their way.
- The Jewish people ended up in exile in Babylonia for 70 years. But eventually - because of the faithful love of God - a remnant returned and Jerusalem was rebuilt.
- There followed a period of 400 years of silence. God is not speaking. The Jewish people are back in their homeland but are now oppressed by the brutal Roman regime. They’re longing for their Jewish Messiah to come and rescue them, as promised and prophesied over the centuries leading to this point.
Peter receives a revelation of who Jesus is. Jesus is where the story has been pointing all along. His very name means God save us. Deliver us. His is the true Messiah, the Christ - the hope of the world. The saviour. The one who can put the wrong things right. And more than that, he's actually God. Fully God, fully human. Come to rescue us. What does Jesus say this truth means for Peter personally? And what does it, therefore, mean for the rest of us?
Key Scriptures: Matthew 16:13-19
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