Tag Archives: Caesarea Philippi

6 BY THE WAY…CONTEXT MATTERS

Christian Life, ,

It’s amazing what we can make the Bible say when we pull a text out of context. I’ve written about some of these things before but let me highlight some of them again to illustrate what I mean. 

My first observation relates to Jesus’ trip with His disciples to Caesarea Philippi. Granted, the average reader may not understand the background to this region or the significance of what Jesus said to them there…so here goes!

Caesarea Philippi and its surrounds, a region in the north of Israel at the foot of Mount Hermon and near the source of the Jordan River, was the centre both of Caesar worship and the worship of the pagan god, Pan, right there in the land of Israel. 

“Caesarea Philippi is an ancient site at the base of Mount Hermon in northern Israel, famous for a massive natural spring that feeds the Jordan River. In the New Testament, it is the backdrop for Jesus’ conversation with Peter where he made his famous declaration about building his church. 

History and Geography

  • Located about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.
  • Known originally as Paneas for the Greek god Pan, whose shrine sat by a cave once viewed as a gateway to the underworld.
  • Renamed Caesarea Philippi by Herod Philip to honor Caesar and himself.
  • Filled with pagan temples, including shrines to Zeus and Augustus. 

Biblical Significance

  • Recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.
  • The setting where Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?”
  • The location of Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ.
  • The site of Jesus’ promise: “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”.(Source: Google AI)

Why did Jesus take His disciples to the site of such disgusting and depraved human behaviour? He wanted to make a very important point. 

At the base of the huge rock near the city was a temple to Pan. Statues of Pan and other gods, worshiped by pagans, were placed in niches carved into the rock. A grotto a the base of this massive rock face was the source  of a major spring that fed the Jordan river…which pagans called “the gate of hell” because they believed that it was the gateway to the netherworld. 

In sight of the sexual orgies of pagan worship carried out in this region, Jesus asked His disciples…

…“Who do you say I am?””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

At that moment, the disciples were forced to make the distinction between what they were seeing and what they were learning about the rabbi they were following. As usual, Peter responded on their behalf…

“Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There is huge significance in Peter’s reply because, in his words, he got it right but, in his understanding, he got it wrong. (This will be my next observation). 

Jesus’ question and His reply to Peter’s answer give us the clue to His purpose for taking them there. It was a “hands on” lesson about who He was and what His mission was to accomplish. Against the backdrop of pagan debauchery, and in the very places where this behaviour was visibly practised, He would build His church. On this rock! Which rock? 

Could it be that Jesus meant…not Peter, as so many believe and nor even Peter’s confession…that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of  God…but on the very rock, and  places like this all over the world where idolatry was the religion of the people, Jesus would establish His rule and His kingdom in the hearts of those who were once pagans like these in places like these. 

Take Ephesus as a case in point. Ephesus was the centre of the worship of Diana…Artemis…another fertility goddess with all its disgusting behaviour.  After Paul had  preached the gospel there, something amazing happened…

“While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus….Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God….God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭19‬:‭1‬, ‭8‬, ‭11‬-‭12‬, ‭17‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This is exactly what Jesus meant when He said, “On this rock I will build my church…!” On the very sites where pagan worship happened, His truth would transform lives and become places where His body, the church, would live and grow, and be His witnesses. 

Jesus’ question to His disciples was the crux of their relationship with Him. The realisation of who He really was…and especially after His death and resurrection…would be the driving force of their mission to tell the world that Jesus is Lord. They had to see the power of who he was against the backdrop of the worst of pagan idolatry…and be convinced that it was His yoke…His yoke? His yoke…

“In Jewish culture of that time, a teacher’s “yoke” meant his specific interpretation of God’s law and how to live it out.” Google AI 

…that would change hearts and transform lives …from false beliefs and pagan idolatry to humble believers and followers of Jesus. 

WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?

Christian Life, ,

WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:13-16

Caesarea Philippi, Israel’s “red light” district – the centre of Pan-worship, the goat-god whose devotees practised public sexual orgies with goats, and the temple built by Herod the Great to Caesar Augustus – was a place of terrible human wickedness to which no self-respecting rabbi would ever take his disciples…but Jesus did!

Against this backdrop, He asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, and we think, “Yeah, Peter! Good answer.” Jesus applauded him for his insight but, in the next breath, rebuked him for his utter misunderstanding of who this Christ, Son of the living God, really was. Peter got the confession right but the content of that confession dead wrong.

The disciples were continually squabbling about who would be the greatest in this kingdom Jesus had come to establish. It seems that they were expecting Him to drive out the Roman oppressors and restore the glory of the ancient kingdom of David. Moments before He ascended to the Father, they were still asking, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). They were still desperately clinging to the hope that He would set up David’s kingdom and rule over Israel.

When Jesus began to introduce them to the coming ordeal He was to suffer at the hands of the religious rulers, and the miracle of His resurrection, Peter pounced on Him with a vehement rebuke. How could He talk like that when He was destined to be king of the Jews? It is Peter’s rebuke (according to Matthew 16:22), “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you,” that gives us a clue to his misunderstanding of his confession. He thought that Messiahship meant political rule over a restored Israel where Jesus meant establishing His kingdom in the hearts of people through His death and resurrection.

In the verses that follow, Jesus gave them a clear picture of what He meant by His kingdom, not the glorious kingdom over which David ruled, but an inward kingdom of allegiance to Jesus as Lord, following Him, imitating Him, living a life of submission and loyalty to Him, and denying self in order to serve others. This is the heart of who Jesus is and what He came to do on earth.

But His disciples just didn’t get it. Time and again Jesus caught them arguing over the same issue – who would get the prime minister’s position in His government. James and John were even bold enough to ask Jesus Himself for the highest positions, much to the annoyance of the other disciples.

And what of us today? If Jesus were to ask you and me, “Who do you say I am?” would we be able to answer with the sincerity of full understanding, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”?

WHAT IS A DISCIPLE – WHO IS JESUS?

Christian Life, ,

WHAT IS A DISCIPLE – WHO IS JESUS?

The next question we have to answer is, “Who is this Rabbi we are called to follow?”

It is important that we answer this question accurately because we do not want to give our absolute allegiance to someone who is a fake.

Jesus asked His disciples this question in a very strange place. He took them to Caesarea Philippi, a city and a region in the north of Israel, near the foot of Mount Hermon. Caesarea Philippi was a city named after the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, and Herod Philip. Caesarea had a temple dedicated to the worship of Caesar. In the vicinity was a huge rock face at the base of which there were niches carved into the rock where the statues of Greek gods were placed, and a temple to the goat-god, Pan.

There was also a cave, called “the Gate of Hell” at the bottom of the rock face from which water flowed and joined the snowmelt from Mount Hermon to form the source of the Jordan River. The region was called Banias in honour of the god, Pan. His worshippers believed that the gods retreated into the underworld in winter and returned, in the spring, through the grotto from which the water flowed. They worshipped Pan by holding sexual orgies with goats, to lure the gods from the underworld in the spring.

Imagine Jesus taking His disciples to a place like that! It was there that He asked them, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” What did Peter understand by his response? He believed that Jesus was God’s Messiah, the one who was promised from the moment Adam and Eve fell into sin, whom God would send to deal with the enemies of God’s people and restore to them everything that their enemies had stolen. For Peter and the other disciples this meant that Jesus was the one who would drive out the Romans and re-establish the glory of David’s kingdom under His rule because He was the Son of David. They saw Him as a political deliverer

Jesus immediately corrected their expectation by telling them about His coming death at the hands of the religious leaders, but they refused to listen and understand. For them, it was about getting rid of Rome, not about getting rid of sin and restoring them to fellowship with God as their Father. They missed the prophetic picture of Messiah as the Suffering Servant.

It took the cross and resurrection of Jesus to make them realise that Jesus came to deliver them from a greater enemy than the Romans. He rescued them from their rebellion against God and gave them back their right to be God’s children and members of His family.

They had to learn that Jesus was not there to satisfy their demands and expectations. He was there to put them back into a right relationship with God so that they could once again come under God’s rule and live God’s way.

The good news of Jesus is not about going to heaven when we die. It’s about being obedient to Jesus because He is the Son of God and Lord. We are to obey Him so that we will do God’s will on earth.

It was important for them to understand that the message of God’s love and mercy revealed through His coming and through His death and resurrection was more powerful than the gods whom pagan people worshipped. In places like the environment of Caesarea Philippi where so much wickedness was being practised in the name of religion, Jesus would build His church and not even the demonic world would be able to stand against it.

When we follow Jesus as His disciples, we are following the Son of the living God to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given, who was exalted by the Father to the highest place above all principalities and powers, and who has the name that is above every other name, the name “Lord”. We are to bow to Him and obey Him because of who He is, not because of what He can do for us.  

Jesus Did Not Say That We Must Bind The Devil

Apologetics, , ,

JESUS DID NOT SAY THAT WE MUST BIND THE DEVIL

Oh what a mess we make when we assume that Jesus said what He did not say!

He was on a mission to teach His disciples a valuable lesson.  He took them to Caesarea Philippi – to us only a name on an ancient map. But what did it mean to Jesus and His disciples?

It was Israel’s “red light district”, a no-go place for respectable and orthodox Jews. It was both a city built in honour of Caesar which had in it a temple dedicated to the worship of Caesar, and a region where there was the site of pagan worship of the worst kind.

A huge rocky cliff had niches carved into the base in which the images of pagan gods were placed for worship, the most prominent being the goat-god Pan, and a pagan temple. There was a grotto at the base of the cliff from which a spring flowed, joining the snow melt from Mount Hermon to form the source of the Jordan River.

Pagan worshippers believed that evil spirits used the cave as their portal through which they retreated into the underworld in the winter and returned in the spring. Their worshippers would entice them out by having sexual intercourse with goats. This cave entrance was known as “the gate of hell”.

It was there, in sight of these depraved and disgusting goings-on that Jesus asked His disciples the question, “Who do you say that I am?” The disciples’ response was crucial. If they acknowledged Jesus only to a prophet or a great teacher, as did many others, they would have missed the significance of His identity, and would have had no clue about the purpose of His visit to the region.

Their mission as His disciples hung on their understanding of who He was. If they saw Him as no more than another rabbi, what He came to do would have evaporated like a vapour because He depended on them to continue His work when He left them, based on the conviction that He was indeed the Son of God.

Jesus was elated when Peter, as spokesman for the group, assured Him that they recognised Him to be the Messiah, the Son of God, even though Peter did not understand the full implication of his confession at that moment. It was on the strength of his confession, and in the environment of the worst of human depravity that Jesus commissioned them to bind His yoke on those who were destroying themselves by their ungodly lives because of the yoke of paganism that they had embraced.

. . . On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matt. 16: 18-19)

We must interpret Jesus’ commission in the culture and religion of the Jews, not from our western imposition on the text. What did it mean to “bind and loose” in the context of Judaism in Jesus’ day?

In His extended explanation of the character and behaviour of kingdom citizens (called “the Sermon on the Mount”) Jesus made it clear that His purpose was not to set aside the Torah but to fulfil it by living it out according to God’s intention so that His disciples would understand and do as He did. The foundation of the Torah was the character of God, expressed in His mercy – the weightiest part of His character. It was His intention that, in all their dealings with one another as God’s covenant people, they would treat one another with mercy.

The ancient rabbis with sh’mikah, those who were acknowledged to have the authority to make pronouncements on God’s intention regarding the details of His instructions, i.e., the Torah, had missed the point and piled rules upon rules governing their behaviour until the people were burdened with impossible expectations on how to “keep” or live a Torah-compliant life.

Jesus declared that He had the authority to dispense with all the rigmarole of His predecessors and take His people back to God’s original intention – mercy and compassion because these were the weightiest or most important aspects of God’s nature (see Exodus 33: 18-34: 7).

It was this yoke – the mercy and compassion of the Father – that would set people free from all other yokes, including the yoke of both paganism and Pharisaism, that would change people from the inside. At the very spot where the disciples witnessed what pagan beliefs led to – “on this rock” – Jesus declared that He would build His church – the visible representative of His kingdom, and nothing, not even the false beliefs about demons and hades, would be able to resist.

At that very spot where the disciples were witnessing the behaviour of idol-worshippers, Jesus gave His commission and the authority to “bind” His yoke on people and “loose” them from all other yokes which ensnared and enslaved them. No amount of useless “binding” the devil or demons can do what Jesus does in the hearts of people when they embrace the truth of who He is and allow Him to rule in their hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The city of Ephesus was a case in point. When Paul and his companions went to Ephesus, it was a city in the grip of Diana-worship, the many-breasted goddess of fertility who was worshipped by people interacting sexually with her temple prostitutes. After Paul had preached the gospel in that city, many Diana-devotees embraced the truth, brought their demonic paraphernalia and burnt it in the middle of the city.

So powerful was the yoke of Jesus that Diana lost her influence and had to be “defended” by the silversmiths led by Demetrius because they had lost their business making and selling “Diana”-relics. Their protest caused a riot in the city which almost cost Paul his life.

There is no evidence in Luke’s record of “Jericho” marches or prayer walks; of discerning of spirits or “pulling down” altars or strongholds; of “binding” demons and “loosing” the Holy Spirit or whatever people “loose” by their “spiritual warfare”! It was repentance (changing their minds), following Jesus and obeying the truth that set them free from the power of Satan.

Jesus died to defeat the devil.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive in Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Col. 2: 13-15)

We have only one response – to stand on the truth of what He had done.

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armour of God so that, when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Eph. 6: 12-13)

God has not instructed us to wage war against the devil and his minions. Jesus did that and overcame him through the cross. We can add nothing to what He has done. He calls us to hold fast to the truth of the gospel and its effects in our lives (put on the whole armour of God), and to declare the good news of forgiveness and freedom in Christ to those who are ensnared by Satan’s yoke of lies in whatever form they are held captive.

Idolatry or even denominational yokes which have added to or removed anything from the yoke of Jesus, hold people in bondage. Only when we believe and embrace the truth of God’s mercy in Christ and the finished work of Jesus on the cross, can we be loosed from the yoke of bondage and set free to worship God in spirit and in truth without fear because perfect love drives out fear.

How much time is wasted in useless so-called “spiritual warfare” praying instead of preaching the gospel to those who have never heard because it is the power of the cross that is able to save and deliver men and women from the devil and his snares! True spiritual warfare is done by telling people the truth and allowing them the opportunity to respond in faith. It is the work of God to set them free.

For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1: 13-14)

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Watch this space. My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, will soon be on the bookshelves.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

 

Who Is He?

Bible Study, , ,

WHO IS HE?

Jesus and His disciples then went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way He asked them, ‘Who do people say I am?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’

‘But what about you?’ He asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah.’ Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about Him (Mark 8: 27-30). S

What an environment for a question like that! Idol worship and sexual orgies with goats were going on all around them. This was Caesarea Philippi, headquarters of the worship of the goat-god, Pan and a host of other gods. In the city itself, Caesar was worshipped as God. “Jesus, why on earth did you bring your disciples here of all places?” This was an evil and disgusting place, abhorrent to a group of Jewish men.

Jesus knew very well what He was doing, so it seems. Rather than shield His disciples from what went on in the real world, He exposed them to it in this instance, for a very good reason. Soon enough He would leave them. His physical presence gone, they would be thrown back on their conviction of His true identity. When they were faced with situations just like this, how would they react? Would they fall apart and make a run for it or would they stand their ground, knowing that they had the backing of the Son of God?

Enough time had passed for them to reach a conviction about who He was. Being with Him day and night, they could not escape the truth that Jesus was no ordinary man. The Pharisees may argue and deny that He was more than a man, but they lived with the glaring truth that He was different.

“What do the people say about me?” He enquired. They had their ear to the ground. They listened to people talk. Jesus Himself must have been aware of the various opinions about Him but He wanted them to verbalise what people were saying. Why? Did they agree or disagree? John the Baptist? Elijah? One of the prophets? Really? Did people really believe that Jesus was a resurrected saint from way back when? What kind of faith was that?

“And you? What do you say?” Of course Jesus was going somewhere with this discussion. “Do you agree with them? Is that all you think of me – some unidentified old bones come back to life?” Did it really matter what they thought of Him?  There at Caesarea Philippi – among the pagans?

Peter’s bold declaration came like a bolt of lightning – a flash of inspiration straight from heaven. How many times had the disciples discussed this very issue among themselves? Every time He did stuff that was beyond their understanding, they were shaken to the core. “Who is this man?” The presence of Jesus there, at that moment – at Caesarea Philippi – obscured every evil thing their eyes had seen as He stood out as pure and holy, untouched and untouchable by the filth of the world. Messiah! That’s who He was!

If He was truly the Messiah, then even the worst of sin that ungodly people could produce would not be able to stand against His purity or His power. This was the conviction they needed to take on the world. Matthew recorded that Jesus’ response to Peter assured them that not even the power of the dark underworld itself would be able to overcome the truth that He was Messiah, the Son of God. He would set up His church in the darkest places on earth and nothing would stop Him.

I wonder how many times the disciples returned to this place and to this incident in their imagination when they were surrounded by pagans and their lives threatened by hostile mobs. “Not even hell’s gates . . .” was the promise that would ring in their ears. How strong and bold they could be because their Master was the supreme overcomer, and they went in His name.

Peter answered the question on behalf of his fellow disciples. No one argued or disagreed with him but it would take much more for Jesus to fine-tune their understanding of the implications of Peter’s confession. At this point they were convinced that He was God’s Messiah but they would need a far deeper understanding to carry them through the hazards and dangers of their mission when He was no longer with them. They had to stake their very lives on who He was.

Have you answered the question, “Who do you say I am?” Your life and your destiny depend on it.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com