Matthew 16

16:16, 17 "Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.' "

Peter's confession comes as a relief as Jesus has been trying to explain to these disciples the magnitude of what was going on. But more interesting is the source of Peter's confession. Peter didn't figure this out because he was a really smart guy, it was revealed to him by God the Father.

I find this encouraging from the standpoint of us who believe in Christ having never met Him face to face. I've heard people say something like "well, it would be so much easier to have faith if I were living in Jesus' time". Really? Because it didn't come easy to a lot of people who had followed Christ almost His entire time here on earth. And what is shown in this passage is that it didn't matter anyway. Peter didn't believe Jesus was the Christ because he was looking Jesus in the face, Peter believe because God revealed it to him! That is so exciting because while we don't have Jesus in the flesh to "strengthen" our faith, we do have the same God the Father revealing the same truth in His word! So no more excuses! Peter didn't have any advantage over us, because he was a regular ol' sinner just like us, and had the same revelation that we had resulting in a drawing near to the savior. He just got to hear the words that we read today; which is fine with me... I'm a visual learner anyway.

Lord, thank You for revealing Yourself in Your Son. You are a wise and gracious God. Help me to never lose appreciation for the gift of Jesus Christ.