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“And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?” (v27) Caesarea Philippi is located at the northern border of Galilee, by the side of the upper Jordon River. Jesus asked the disciples two questions. The first question is: “Whom do men say that I am?” (v27) The second question is: “But whom say ye that I am?” Why would he suddenly ask the disciples these questions? Which question was he concerned more? Of course, the second one. He was concerned more how well the disciples themselves recognized him. Through these two questions, he was going to find out how much the general public knew him, how much his disciples knew him, and how much the difference was between the view of the public and the view of the disciples who were with him all the time. The second question was a quiz given to the disciples in regard to their knowledge of their Lord.
(the first question)
Let’s look at the first question: “Whom do men say that I am?” The disciples mentioned some Bible characters that they heard of Jesus’ identity in people’s mind, such as John the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah (Matt 16:14). Some who couldn’t name a prophet would just guess that Jesus was “one of the prophets” (v28).
John the Baptist
Why would they guess that Jesus was John the Baptist? When John the Baptist first came out to preach the kingdom of God and baptize people, they made a lot of guesses too. In John 1:9-21, they asked him, “ ‘Who art thou?’ And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Art thou Elijah?’ And he saith, ‘I am not.’ ‘Art thou that prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ ” When John denied all those answers, they kept asking, “Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?” (John 1:22) They were so interested to know his identity because they believed he was a prophet sent by God (Matt 21:26, “for all hold John as a prophet.”).
Now Jesus himself claimed that he was sent by the Father, they were especially interested to know his identity. Unfortunately for Jesus, instead of guessing that he might be Christ, they only took him to be “one of the prophets” (v28) before the coming of Christ, no difference from John the Baptist. Why would he be considered John the Baptist? Did he behave similar to John? Just the opposite! There was dramatic difference between Jesus and John in terms of their daily lives. In Matt 11:18-19, Jesus said that “John came neither eating nor drinking”, yet “the Son of man came eating and drinking”. John always clothed in camel’s hair and preached in wilderness. (Mark 1:4-6) Jesus did not stand out in his clothing and he preached everywhere. Their styles were very different. The most outstanding difference between the two was that Jesus performed a lot of healing miracles. He certainly was more superior and honourable than John.
What is similar between the two is the message they preached (Mark 1:14, “preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God”) and they both baptized (John 3:22, 4:1); plus, they had their own disciples. In regard to Jesus’ baptizing, it is interesting to note that the apostle John added a comment in John 4:2, saying, “Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples”. Why not Jesus baptized but let his disciples baptize? The baptism that his disciples did was the same as John’s baptism—“the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4). Jesus gave the disciples authority to offer such baptism. As for Jesus’ baptism, John himself said, “I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” (Mark 1:8) According to John 20, the resurrected Jesus revealed himself before the disciples and said, “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” (John 20:21-22) That’s the instance in which Jesus baptized the disciples with the Holy Spirit.
There was a man who really thought that Jesus was John the Baptist. It was King Herod. In Mark 6:14, Herod referred to Jesus and said, “That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.” The reason behind this thought was that he was the one who beheaded John.
Elijah
People also suspected that Jesus might be the prophet Elijah. II Kings 2:11 recorded, “behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both (Elijah and Elisha) asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” This is how Elijah departed the world miraculously. How would the Jewish people know that Elijah would come back? The Old Testament indeed has prophesied the return of the prophet Elijah, and ended the O.T. with this prophesy, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” (Mal 4:5-6)
There are a few places where Jesus referred to John the Baptist as the coming Elijah. In Matt 17:10-12, the disciples asked Jesus, “ ‘Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come?’ And Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.’ ” In Matthew 11, Jesus talked about John the Baptist before the public and said, “For this is he, of whom it is written (Mal 3:1), ‘Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee’…And if ye will receive it, this is Elijah, which was for to come.” (Matt 11:10,14) Luke 1 recorded that when the priest Zachariah burned incense in the temple, an angel suddenly appeared to him and said, “Fear not, Zachariah: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John…And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:13,17)
It is interesting that when Jesus was on the cross, people still thought that Elijah might have the power to come and save Jesus. Mark 15 described this scene, “at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which is, being interpreted, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, ‘Behold, he calleth Elijah.’ And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, ‘Let alone; let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’ ” (Mark 15:34-36)
Elijah did perform some miracles when he was on earth. It is he who by prayer caused the rain to stop falling for two years in the entire land of Israel. (I Kings 17:1, 18:1) By prayer, he caused fire to send down fire to burn the altar he built on Mount Carmel. (I Kings 18:38) Again by prayer, he caused rain to fall again. (I Kings 18:45) Hence, the Jews in Jesus’ days still honoured Elijah as the only great prophet alive and expected him to return some day. It is also very interesting to find in the next chapter (Mark 9) that the true prophet Elijah really returned and appeared together with Moses when Jesus was transfigured. He even spoke with Jesus. (Mark 9:4)
Jeremiah
Why would people figure Jesus as Jeremiah? What’s common between them? It is really very odd to me that they gathered him to be the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah is famous for his tears. He always wept for the Israelites and kept calling them to repent, or their whole country (Judah) would be destroyed like the northern Israel and the inhabitants would be captured to another country (Babylon) for 70 years. (II Chron 36:17-21) For this reason, he is called the weeping prophet, and in fact he saw with his naked eyes the fall of Jerusalem and the capture of his people by the Babylonians. (Jer 39:1-2, 9)
There is a similar scene in which Jesus prophesied the desolation of Jerusalem. In Matt 23:37-38, Jesus “mourned” over Jerusalem and cried, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” History tells us that the city of Jerusalem was totally destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Roman soldiers.
That prophet
In John 1:21, the Jews asked John the Baptist, “ ‘Art thou Elijah?’ And he saith, ‘I am not.’ ‘Art thou that prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ ” Who is “that prophet” they were talking about? Before departing the world, Moses has once said in Deut 18:15, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.” He continued, “And the Lord said unto me, ‘…I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.’ ” (Deut 18:17-18) After Moses died, another writer wrote the ending of Deuteronomy as such: “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” Who wrote this ending and put such comment? Perhaps it was Joshua. Anyway, at the time of his writing, he has not seen any prophet comparable to Moses. Maybe it is this Prophet that the Jews were speaking of when they guessed the identity of John.
The fact of the matter is, Jesus himself has revealed to the people that the Prophet that was said in Deut 18 was him. In John 5, Jesus said he had many witnesses who could testify that he was Christ the son of God, including Moses, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.” (John 5:46) Peter in Acts 3 also proved that the Prophet mentioned in Deut 18 was precisely Jesus. At that time, Peter was standing in the Solomon porch of the temple and witnessed the resurrection of Jesus before the Jews, “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, ‘A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people’…Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” (Acts 3:22-23,26)
So, there were different guesses concerning Jesus among the Jews. But this was not what Jesus was interested to know. He was only interested to know whether the disciples thought of him just like the common people did. So he immediately asked them the second question.
(the second question)
The second question is: “But whom say ye that I am?” Peter gave him the right answer that many people missed recognizing, “Thou art the Christ.” (v29) Matt 16:13 gives us a more perfect answer, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Was the multitude really unable to guess that Jesus was the Christ? There were already many witnesses who have identified him as the coming Messiah:
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John the Baptist witnessed him when baptizing him (John 1:34).
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At the same time, the Heavenly Father witnessed from heaven, saying, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11)
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Even the evil spirits witnessed the Son of God: “I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.” (Mark 1:24) Mark 3:11 says, “And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, ‘Thou art the Son of God.’ ” The unclean spirit by name of Legion in Gadarene cried with a loud voice when he saw Jesus, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?” (Mark 5:7)
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Even many people have seen miracles done to them, such as those in the miracles of feeding the 5,000 and 4,000.
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In John 4, the Samaritan woman by the well of Jacob testified, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?” (John 4:29) The people of her village heard Jesus’ preaching and testified, “Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” (John 4:42)
Even Jesus himself has declared many times that he was sent by God the Father. In John 5:24-25, he said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life…Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.” Jesus claimed in John 5 that he had many witnesses: John the Baptist (v33), his miracles (v36), the Father (v37), the Scripture (v39), and even Moses (v46, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.”) (Still remember Deut 18 where Moses spoke of a Prophet coming after him?).
“Jesus is the Christ (Messiah)” is the main theme of all four Gospels. John, the author of the Gospel of John, concludes in John 20:30-31, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
Not that the people failed to link Jesus with Christ. It is their hardened heart that refused to accept this truth. His countrymen refused to accept this truth while wondering upon his miracles: “From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.” (Mark 6:2-3) They simply could not accept that a human-born Jesus could become the Son of God. Some Jews even wanted to kill him. Why? John 5:18 gives the answer: “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.” ‘Making oneself equal with God’ has himself committed the sin of blasphemy, according to the Jewish law.
Among the disciples, only Peter boldly confessed that Jesus was the Christ. Peter and the rest of the disciples had more chances to experience and witness the power and authority of Jesus than anyone else. Now only Peter dared to confess that Jesus was the Christ. No wonder Jesus was about to entrust him with the unprecedented task of establishing the church.
As for Peter himself, he was first led to Jesus by his brother Andrew, and Andrew introduced Jesus to him, “We have found the Messiah (which is being interpreted, the Christ).” (John 1:41) Simon Peter witnessed his wife’s mother being cured by Jesus from a great fever in a very unique way—rebuking the fever. (Luke 4:38-39; Mark 1:31) Then many sick and demon-possessed people came to her house for healing. Even devils came out at that time and cried, “Thou art Christ the Son of God.” (Luke 4:41) We have also discussed before that Peter had an unforgettable experience with Jesus when Jesus was on his ship. After catching a full net of fish, he “fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me; for I am a sinful man. O Lord.’ For he was astonished…at the draught of the fishes…” (Luke 5:8-9) After Jesus quieted the storm by rebuking the winds and the sea, the disciples marveled, saying, “What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him!” (Mark 4:41) Seeing that Jesus walked on the sea in the fourth watch of the night (Mark 6:48), Peter requested to imitate Jesus and tasted walking on the sea for a little while. (Matt 14:28-29) Peter was certainly more aggressive and straightforward than the other disciples. After Jesus brought Peter back on the ship, the wind and waves immediately ceased. The disciples were all amazed and “worshipped him, saying, ‘Of a truth thou art the Son of God.’ ” (Matt 14:33) By this time, Peter has accumulated certain faith in Jesus. Hence, it is understandable that only Peter dared to say outrightly, “Thou art the Christ.”
(a great mission)
After Peter has finished answering the second question, Jesus “charged them that they should tell no man of him.” (v20) (Matt 16:20, “Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.”) Before Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone about his identity, Matthew inserted a very important passage (Matt 16:17-19) about Jesus’ response to Peter’s answer. When studying the name ‘Peter’ in the article of ‘The twelve disciples”, we have discussed that the “rock” upon which the church is built does not refer to Peter (literally meaning ‘stone’) but Christ himself who is the foundation of the church. Now in Matt 16:17-19, Jesus was talking of Peter’s mission in future. In fact, Jesus was assigning Peter a great mission here. Why would he announce such an important mission to Peter at this time? What was the implication for that? Jesus was officially announcing that he was going to pass the mission of building the church to Peter, because he was going to foretell them of his passion: “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” (Matt 16:21)
Do we recognize that we have a mission like Peter’s as soon as we confess that Jesus is the Christ? Some of the followers of Jesus are entrusted the task of building the church. Others are given the task to assist them in building the church and expanding the kingdom of God. Again, the Great Commission in Matt 28 is for all the disciples, not just Peter or the church leaders. Peter led the other apostles to establish the first church and to catch men like catching fishes. Our Lord Jesus has indeed given the keys of the kingdom of heaven to each of his followers. With these keys of the gospel, we can bind or loose the souls in heaven, depending on how they respond to the gospel and if they accept the Lord as their personal savior by faith. After all, each and every Christian has the obligation to witness that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt 16:16).