Viewpoint Brief Bible Study #49 |
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JESUS calls US to be |
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The Christian religion is the worship and service of Jesus Christ. It’s not Mary we worship, but her Son. We worship neither saints, angels, a law code, nor even God’s Spirit. It’s JESUS who is to be honored. The Bible is our guide. |
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(Perhaps the finest Christian orator of this century
in the Stone-Campbell fellowship was Carl Ketcherside, of St Louis.
His pioneering messages may have made possible
the popularity of some who in later days are following
in his footsteps in promoting unity in Christ.)
In the 1950's Church of Christ pioneers in Christian unity were Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett. Others preceded them. Many of us follow, including those who have sacrificially published IMAGE Magazine for the past 12 years (with publication suspended following the May-June 1997 issue) and those who publish WINESKINS -- a journal about Christ and His explosive gospel.Many of us have sought for peace within the body of Christ. More now do than in some years in the past. All who seek peace are to be commended. Carl for some years seemed to be the voice most heard who called on us to love Jesus and serve Him in unity with all others who also loved Him. His article below was reprinted from his Mission Messenger publication. I included it in a Forum-7 publication in March 1973, and want you to be able to read it also --
-----------------------------WHO IS JESUS? by Carl Ketcherside, now in glory with Him...
It was Simon Peter who first answered the greatest question ever proposed to sinful man, and who set the stage for a theological controversy which has echoed through the centuries. Circumstances surrounding this occasion are filled with consuming interest for all who are caught up in love for the One who then asked this question, and Who still requires a personal reply from each of us.
The physical environment in which Jesus chose to propound the question was an extraordinarily appropriate setting. The district of Caesarea-Philippi was about twenty-five miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee, and about four miles from the site of Dan, northernmost city of the ancient tribal inheritance. When Jesus walked there with his apostles that day, the area was populated heavily with non-Jews. Many rival cultures and religions strove for recognition and support.
This region's mountains and valleys were sites of ancient altars and ruined temples which had been devoted to the Baals of Syria and Phoenicia. These were fertility gods, sometimes grim and implacable to their devotees; sometimes smiling and beneficent.
Worship of these gods was by the release of sexual passions in harvest festival orgies. Since whatever men employ in their liturgies will be counterfeited for a price, the green hills and forest glades near Caesarea-Philippi became the haunt of cult prostitutes, both male and female.
Near here also was a towering hill -- a steep rock wall into which a famous cavern opened that was thought by many to have been the birthplace of Pan, god of flocks, fields, and forests for the pagans. Pan's playing upon the reeds (the shepherd's pipe) was supposed to strike a frenzy of sudden fear into the hearts of all who heard. We still call such groundless fright PANic.
Pan was pictured as an animal-like figure with horns, a crooked nose, a tail, and goat's feet. In medieval times Pan became the prototype of the devil in the minds of the superstitious. It's interesting to note that the city of Caesarea-Philippi was originally named PANeus.
In this area then, Greek influence blended with the more primitive paganism which had flourished where that day Jesus and his disciples walked, and where Jesus called for answer to his question.
But this history of the area is not yet all. The cave we mentioned provided entry to a great subterranean lake, out of which flowed a spring which became the principal headwater of the Jordan River which was hallowed by the Jews because of its importance in their national life. Thus, as well as that of the Greek and pagan, the Jewish influence was felt in the region.
Of even greater significance was the political status of the city. When Herod the Great, mixed Jew and Idumean, was granted control of Palestine by Rome's Caesar, Herod included Paneas as one of the cities where his Works Project Administration (many in the U.S. have heard of Roosevelt's WPA in our day) engaged in an urban beautification program. Here Herod built a great temple of gleaming white marble dedicated to worship of the Emperor.
Later, his son who then ruled over the region, Philip the tetrarch, remodeled that temple and carried out a slum clearance project. The city's name was then changed to Caesarea, "City of Caesar," and because the area already had one city so named, he added his own name to that of Caesar to make it Caesarea-Philippi.
Thus in this locale, Roman interests were joined with pagan, Greek, and Jewish. This cosmopolitical site was selected by Jesus as appropriate setting for Him to ask this question of eternal significance.
It's worthy of note that the question was not asked in or near Jerusalem, the religious center of Judaism, God's voice in the world of that day. Nor was it asked along the shores of Galilee's center of commerce in the land of the Jews. Instead, Jesus waited until he stood near the foot of Isbel Shrik, the Prince's Mount, a lofty branch of the Lebanon range which formed the boundary between Palestine and Syria. Here, at a spot where many of the world's cultures met, on the very threshold of "the nations," and at the back door of "the land of the people," He posed this question whose answer would affect the destiny of all the world, "Who do men say... Who do YOU say that I am?"
As Jesus spoke that day, He knew His time on earth was nearly done. He needed men to carry on His mission -- men who understood His purpose and identity. Or His life on earth had been in vain. And so he asked. Had His apostles understood? Did they yet know Him? Was the lesson yet learned? It was exam time.
He first asked them about the public reaction. Answers varied, of course. This furnishes a good example of the difference between men's opinions and God's truth. Only the one to whom God revealed the truth had the correct answer.
It's often easier for men to adopt error than for us to accept truth. Some thought Jesus was one of the prophets come back to earth. To believe that Jesus was one of the named men, except Elijah, would have necessitated believing in the resurrection of those who had long before that time died. They guessed that resurrection WAS possible. Yet many of these very people couldn't believe later when confronted with the true fact that JESUS had risen from the dead!
These names with which the people identified Jesus stand as an indirect proof of the powerful impact of His preaching and works. John the Baptist had exercised such a tremendous influence that all Jerusalem and Judea and the region round about Jordan "were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins."
During his days of preaching, many mused in their hearts whether or not JOHN THE BAPTIST was not himself the Messiah (Luke 3:15). Now, John was dead. Some thought perhaps the real Messiah was John returned from the dead. Such are the vagaries of human thought.
When Herod Antipas, who had John beheaded in the prison at Machaerus, heard about the wonders being performed by Jesus, his stricken conscience immediately jumped to the conclusion his victim had come back to haunt him. It's obvious that others also felt that the slain reformer had returned to continue his work of turning the hearts of fathers and children back toward each other.
Some said that Jesus was ELIJAH. In doing so, they paid him great tribute, for the scribes placed Elijah at the very top of the prophetic roster. Elijah was the great restorationist who was to come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Even Jesus declared, "Elijah shall truly come first and restore all things." Elijah was the prophet of zeal and of miracles, and the fact that people thought of Jesus and Elijah in the same connection demonstrates their feeling about Jesus. He was greatly respected.
Others argued that Jesus was JEREMIAH. It was widely believed that Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet, would also come back to earth before Messiah came. This prophet was living at the time when the Chaldeans sacked Jerusalem and carried its people into exile. Many Jews believed that before the city succumbed, Jeremiah had spirited away the ark of the covenant to hide it across Jordan in a cave in Mount Nebo. It was confidently expected that before Messiah came, Jeremiah would precede Him and restore those stone tablets which contained the commandments of God.
So the people confused Jesus with those whom they regarded as forerunners of the Messiah. Seeing He was not raising an army with which to free them, as they felt sure Messiah would do, they could not accept Him as Messiah himself. Yet they tried to account for His mighty miracles and His arresting teaching about God and the Kingdom of God. So they suggested that He must be a forerunner of the Messiah.
Many of our ideas about the Lord's second coming may be no nearer the fact than these not-quite-correct opinions of that earlier day.
The world is always attempting to fit Jesus into traditional patterns. We seek to pour Him into usual molds, to fit Him into human categories. But we fail to make Him only human, for He is also God. In spite of the passing of twenty centuries, there are still some who say that Jesus was one of the prophets, but only a great prophet.
We today can see that the greatest prophets of all ages pale into insignificance beside Him who is Lord of all. Peter's answer from God still rings true, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God."
We who believe WITH Peter should be equally eager to let the entire world know this truth. Jesus IS the Christ, the unique Son of the Living God. Our words and lives should reflect this fact.
Brief Bible Study #49 from Ray Downen. To go back to Viewpoint's first page, click < here. Or here to go on to Viewpoint Study 50. For Ray's concluding remarks, click HERE.
