Title Is Messiahship Really a Secret?
“Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was a Christian” (Matthew 16:20).
Jesus healed the leper and the blind, and did not forget to keep a secret about His power. Now, when Peter confessed that you were “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (verse 16), he warned his disciples not to disclose it to anyone. What is the reason?
First of all, he was concerned that if rumors of healing were spread, you would be viewed as merely a miracle worker. At that time, the Jews were waiting for a political Messiah who would deliver Israel from Roman oppression. Then people must have Jesus as their leader and plan to rebel against Rome, so this was something the Lord did not want at all.
In other words, if people from all over the country flock to cure diseases, they will not be able to preach the gospel of the kingdom and train the disciples properly. It's because your intention for coming to this earth was not simply to give you real happiness. Furthermore, they saw that the Jewish authorities could see them as a person of interest and be monitored, and sometimes your work could be hindered.
However, this is a very correct answer, but in reverse it can be a very wrong answer. Because in reality, everything went as Jesus had feared. Above all, the person who was told not to gossip first volunteered to spread the word. “And their eyes were opened, and Jesus gave a strict warning, “Be careful not to let anyone know.” But they went out and preached the news of Jesus throughout the land” (Matthew 9:30,31).
According to common sense, just like leprosy, blindness, lameness, and demon possession, even with modern medicine, incurable diseases can be completely cured with just one word, how can there be no rumors? Even if the parties stand still, isn't it a good thing for witnesses to blow trumpets all over the town? Furthermore, wouldn't there be no way that Jesus would not have known that it would be so?
In fact, didn't people enthusiastically follow Jesus to make them their king in hopes of overthrowing the Roman Empire? Didn't the Jewish authorities view the Lord not only as a figure of interest, but as their most powerful rival they had never seen before, so they tried to frame me for meddling and sabotage? As a result, Jesus' words of request for secrecy turned out to be an air ticket.
Now, the disciples did not receive miraculous healing, and after realizing that Jesus is the Christ, they confessed, but they are told not to disclose that fact. The more people who hear and learn the gospel, the better it is, but to do that, they tell us not to do this because it is not enough even if we go around spreading rumors about our teacher in the neighborhood. Even if there are no rumors, the rumors have already been spread. In a way, it seems that the Lord, who saw through all that was going to happen, purposely intended to spread the word about you more vigorously and get dramatic reactions from people. In general, if you tell them not to do it, do it more, and if you put a blanket on it, it doesn't buy it?
But who is Jesus? God Himself is Himself. Nothing evil and false can ever come out of the Lord. He is by no means a worldly politician or someone who plans to use tricks. He was omnipotent and omnipotent, and he knew that rumors would spread throughout the world regardless of your commands. Naturally, he expected that he would follow you as the political Messiah. Furthermore, it is impossible to have feared in advance of surveillance, obstruction, and persecution by the Jewish or Roman authorities.
In other words, could nothing in the world obscure His Messiahship or hinder, change, or abandon His work in the slightest? With a pure family, even if people didn't gossip about it and even the Jewish or Roman authorities didn't interfere at all, wouldn't it have been possible to prove who you are and complete the work of redemption? Isn't it absurd to assume that the Lord was even a little worried about your identity because of the circumstances of the world?
Jesus was not at all concerned about the rumors of His Messiahship. Instead, they feared that false rumors about the Messiah would spread after people misunderstood. Of course, he knew in advance that such false rumors would spread. Nevertheless, you wanted to point out that the Messiah view from the human point of view is wrong. If there was no such request, wouldn't it mean that we were ignoring the false expectations of the public?
If the content of human understanding of the Messiah is wrong, it means that we must fully understand the Messiah that God intended. In short, the Messiah's Messiahship can only be proved by the Messiah himself. It is of no use for man to devise ideas, philosophies, beliefs, and doctrines about him, however noble and profound. It means that there is nothing that human beings can do except to record the things that He did, the words He preached, the hardships that He suffered, and the causes of everything that happened, as they are.
“As for the word of life, which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked and touched with our hands, concerning the words of life, which we have seen, and this life has been made manifest. who was and was made manifest to us; and what we have seen and heard, we are also telling you that you may have fellowship with us, our fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. so that we may be filled” (1 John 1:1-4).
In a nutshell, it means that even if you properly understand what is written in the Bible, you can have a relationship with the Lord and you will be filled with joy. And wasn't that record merely what the disciples heard, what they saw with their eyes, and what they touched with their hands? Furthermore, didn't Jesus simply describe the "Word" of life? The power of the Holy Spirit works fully in the words of the Bible (2 Timothy 3:14-17).
But how did Jesus prove himself to be the Messiah? “From that time on, Jesus Christ began to teach His disciples that He must go up to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Matthew 16:21). It was only after Peter's confession that he began to teach about your death. He confessed that he was the Christ, completely ignorant of the meaning and plan of the Master's crucifixion. Until then, Jesus had been judging only by the way he worked miracles, preached the word, and served while fellowshipping with people. However, based on such an understanding, they forbade rumors about the Messiah. On the other hand, since you are going to die on the cross now, after you die, based on that event, you are to spread rumors of the Messiah.
In other words, you will prove yourself to be the Messiah just by dying on the cross and resurrecting on the third day. Before that, great writers like Shakespeare, great philosophers like Kant, no matter how accurately and graciously explain you, it is of no use. All stories about you minus the cross are bullshit. All of your signs, teachings, and works, that is, all the words of the Old and New Testaments, must be interpreted only in connection with the cross.
Therefore, even for the believer, for him to be truly a personal savior, he must be united with his death and resurrection so that his old self must die and be reborn into a new one. It also means that only when we deny ourselves daily, take up our cross and follow Him and walk the narrow and strait road, we can testify to those around us that He is a true believer and His Messiah.
12/28/2009