The Lord will send a deliverer and there will no longer be
gloom for the one in anguish. If you
think back to the Beatitudes you will find that the ones who receive are those
who are in the poor in spirit, those in mourning, etc. That is another of saying, those in
anguish. If your portion is the world,
you will miss the joy of Jesus. If,
however, you see the world for what it is, you will receive Him with
gladness. In His self-declaration of His
ministry in the synagogue in Luke 4, see if you can find those who prosper
among those Jesus says He is bringing good news. The one who is coming will come as a child
and the government will be upon his shoulders.
For this reason, the Jews missed Him then and miss Him now. Jesus did not take the government on His
shoulders, He is not visibly seated on David's throne. We know that what John saw in the Revelation,
however, is no less real for not being visible to the eyes of all. He needs to have the government of your life
on His shoulders that you might laud Him as "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
It all begins there.
Peter is afraid. He
is afraid that this isn't going well and that by identifying with Jesus, or
having others identify him with Jesus, he may find himself in Jesus'
shoes. There is a risk to Peter by being
Galileean and speaking in that dialect, even if they don't know for sure he is
one of the disciples. His origins give
him away. All he can do is deny Jesus to
save his own skin and yet, ultimately, that is the way to lose your life. At this point, though, Peter doesn't know
about the resurrection, he only knows about death. He believes in the resurrection from the dead
and he has seen Lazarus brought back from the dead but if Jesus dies what hope
is there? What could the council have
made of Jesus' statement, "But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated
at the right hand of the power of God"?
They are the ones in power, the ones who will decide His fate. What can He mean by this declaration?
Peter believes that his own death will not long tarry as
Jesus made known to him. What we know of
this is that Jesus told the manner of Peter's death (Truly, truly, I say to
you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you
wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will
dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to
show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) - John
21.18-19) Peter says that he will make
every effort to that after his death they will be able to recall what he has
taught. What he is referring to is
writing these things down. Jesus
promised more than this. He promised to
be with His disciples to the end of the age.
They don't continue to the end of the age so the promise extends through
them to their disciples to us and those we disciple. Peter's claim is to be an eye witness to what
he teaches. He is not myth-making, these
things happened in space and time and they confirmed the prophecies of
old. We have prophecy as well, the
prophecy of Jesus concerning what will be and the prophecy of the
Revelation. We can rest in these things.
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