Jayamsih..! Welcome to today’s devotion!
Acceptance of Representations
16:17-19
- “Who do you say that I am?”
“You are the Christ.”
“Apostle, this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. Peter, upon this rock, which is Christ, (1 Corinthians 10:4, 1 Peter 2:6), I will build my church. And to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of God.”
Peter went out with the keys that could open the kingdom. The keys represent the revelation about Jesus Christ that comes from the Word of God. The keys were given to an apostle, and we get those keys from continuing in apostolic teaching. Jesus could have said, “Continue in the teaching of God,” but God wants to emphasize the importance of the people He has appointed by grace. He calls it the teaching of the apostles, but it is the teaching of God.
Many people live in a self-employed state. They do not want to continue in the teachings of the apostles. They want to be all by themselves, so that no one tells them anything. Then they would not have to face the reality of personal cooperative administration and a personal cross. Instead of taking life directly from the head, by administration – that they may be humbled in the sight of God, they live in secret pride who appoint themselves in the place of others, as Satan did where he lost his place in heaven. Without authority and without power they live in discomfort that can bind, and be loosened by the grace given by what is devoted to authority.
Today’s Reading: Psalms 76-78