“Flesh and Blood has not revealed it unto you”…..

Matthew 16: 15-20: (KJV)   “He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 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. 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. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. ”

Let’s look carefully for a moment what at the profound understanding that this passages shares with us from the bible.  First, we see that this was asked of Peter by Jesus.  Peter a man who had forsaken all to come follow Jesus when he was told “come follow me”.  A man that had been walking with this Jesus after having done so… and yet Jesus is asking him “but who do YOU say that I am”.

We see that Peter responds and what it is that the bible states was Peter’s response.  Then we see that Jesus said “flesh and blood” has not revealed it unto you… that the Father in heaven had done so and that it would be upon this “foundation/rock” that Jesus would build his church that the gates of hell would not prevail against.

So before we move further to see that Jesus told His disciples not to tell anyone who He was… that it was to be revealed to them by the Father… let’s look for a moment at this passage of “flesh and blood” has not revealed it and consider what profound understanding Jesus is sharing here with His disciples.

Have you ever asked yourself where it is that you first heard about God or Jesus?  Was it from “flesh and blood” or was it something that God revealed to you directly?  See this is what Jesus was referring to that was to be the “foundation” or “rock upon which he would build His church that the gates of hell would not prevail against”…. that “foundation” was having God Himself reveal who Christ is…. and for people to come to that understanding from God… not through “flesh and blood”….

If we refer to other passages recorded to have been said by Jesus… they align with this very point being shared with Peter and the reason that we see Jesus telling His disciples that they were NOT to tell anyone else who He was.

Jesus is recorded to have said …….Matthew 11: 27:  “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and [he] to whomsoever the Son will reveal [him].”

So we can see, that according to Jesus it was always to be God Himself that was to reveal who He was, NOT FLESH AND BLOOD…. and yet we can also see that the disciples of Jesus, according to the bible, were told that they were NOT to tell anyone who He was…. and when they were later sent out by Jesus they were given instruction to “teach others to observe whatsoever I have commanded ye”…. not tell people who He was, who God was, etc.

It was in the beginning when man hearkened to the voice of another that was not God, about things pertaining to what God knew, what God would have man to do… that issues between man and God began.  Jesus is shown to have come to reveal that which had been hidden from the foundation of the world… which was that “man was to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”…. not flesh and blood…. and yet where is it that most of us first heard of God, Jesus, the bible… what we are to do… who we are… what it is that we must do to be pleasing to God… our relationship with God, or the lack of it?  Has any of that come to us from the mouth of God…. or “flesh and blood”?

It is through the hearkening to the voice of another is the way in which one takes on “flesh” .. we take on the views, wisdom, understanding, knowledge of those that are “flesh and blood”… and it is also this same “flesh” that must therefore be crucified… for as Paul is recorded to have come to an understanding of…and said to those in Corinth in 1 Cor. 15: 50: .. “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Jesus told his followers… ” the kingdom of God is within you.”… “you cannot serve two masters”… so we can’t be going by what “flesh and blood” has revealed to us and shared with us about God, Jesus or the bible…… it is to come from the kingdom of God that is within….