Who Is Jesus? Series

preacher, a poor carpenter’s son, is “THE Christ” (the one and only). “Christos”- “anointed”.

Luke records Peter as saying, “You are the Christ of God” (Luke 9:20). And Matthew writes, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). I’m sure the apostles had conferred with themselves many times, “Is He the Christ? Could He really be God’s Son?”

3. But this time it’s not SPECULATION, but a REALITY that for 2½ years these men have been in

the PRESENCE of the “THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”

COMMENT:

Sadly, there are those today whom have CONFESSED Jesus as the Christ, but still haven’t fully grasped the impact of that CONFESSION. They CONFESS Jesus as the Christ, and continue to go about their daily lives as it nothing is DIFFERENT—nothing CHANGES. I don’t know how many times over the years in my MINISTRY that I have heard that CONFESSION made before BAPTIZING them into Christ, and never saw them again.

4. Confessing Jesus as the Christ meant something to these men. Every one of the apostles, with the exception of Judas, PAID a great SACRIFICE for their FAITH in Jesus as the Christ.

B. Notice v. 30- “Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about Him.”

1. This is a common theme throughout Mark, although we really haven’t talked much about it.

a. It’s not that Jesus doesn’t want anyone to KNOW that He is the Christ, but the time is not RIGHT.

COMMENT:

“We saw the FRENZY that took place when the man HEALED of LEPROSY went and TOLD everyone, even after Jesus WARNED him not to. Because of the massive crowds of people

coming to Jesus for HEALING, He couldn’t enter a town openly anymore”- Mark 1:43-45.

b. Here, Jesus warns the disciples not to tell anyone about Him because they still don’t know the

FULL MESSAGE.

COMMENT:

Jesus didn’t want MIRACLES spread around because the FULL MESSAGE is not that He was a MIRACLE WORKER. And to simply PRONOUNCE Jesus as “the Christ” is not the FULL MESSAGE, either—it’s MISSING the GOSPEL.

2. The disciples have come to the point where they know the MAN, but they do not know the PLAN.

III. WHO DOES JESUS SAY HE IS? (vv. 31-33)

A. No one can fully comprehend who Jesus is until we understand WHY He came to this earth and

WHAT He came to do.

1. After Peter’s confession that “Jesus is the Christ” I can picture the APOSTLES standing around nodding their heads in AGREEMENT, “Yea. That’s right! You’re the Christ. You’re the Son

of God. You’re the One that all of Israel has been waiting for.”

a. Although they have now come to the point where they whole-heartedly BELIEVE that Jesus is the promised Messiah, their UNDERSTANDING of what Christ was sent by God to DO is

completely WRONG.

b. The nation of Israel had been looking for the Messiah to come and sit on the literal THRONE of David and be a STRONG and GLORIOUS earthly KING who would DELIVER them from

their Roman OPPRESSORS and form once again a great and independent Jewish KINGDOM.

COMMENT:

The very reason that Herod the Great tried to KILL Jesus as a baby, after being told by the Magi that “the King of the Jews” was born, is because he and all of Israel believed that the very purpose for the Messiah’s coming was to physically RULE over Israel and DEFEAT their ENEMIES. King Herod did not want Jesus to one day take his THRONE.