Bible CharactersTalmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt)
Religion
Bible Characters
Talmage, T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt)
Bible -- Biography
“And Jesus answered and said unto him: ‘Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona;
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in Heaven.’”
See! Jesus blessed Peter right there, and I have yet to find the first
man and the first woman who are willing to confess Christ who will not
say that God has blessed their souls after they have confessed Him.
Now, let me call your attention to another scene in the life of Peter.
He got to be a sort of a--well, I may say a sort of “high church” man.
He belonged to the “high church.” He was a sort of Ritualist. He had got
this idea that Christ was the same as any other saint; that He was to be
put on a level with some of the rest of the saints. He did not make any
distinction.
In the ninth chapter of Luke we find that Jesus took His disciples and
went up into a mountain to pray. We begin at the twenty-eighth verse:
“And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, He took Peter
and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
“And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His
raiment was white and glistering.
“And, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias.
“Who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He should
accomplish at Jerusalem.
“But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep; and when
they were awake, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him.
“And it came to pass, as they departed from Him, Peter said unto
Jesus: ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three
tabernacles--one for Thee and one for Moses and one for Elias’--not
knowing what he said.”
Peter wanted to put Jesus on a level with Moses and Elias. To be sure,
Moses was a mighty man. He went into the mountain and took the law from
the Lord God of Heaven, and Elias was a representative of the prophets
and a mighty man; but when Peter wanted to put them on a level with the
God-man--with Jesus--what took place? Why, there came a cloud which
over-shadowed them. God caught them right away. God would not have them
placing Moses and Elias on a level with His Son. He is above the angels
of Heaven; and we find over here, in the last chapter of the Bible,
and in almost the last verse in it, that John was guilty of the same
thing--of worshiping angels. It says over here, in the twenty-second
chapter and eighth verse of Revelations:
“And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and
seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed
me these things.
“Then saith he unto me: ‘See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow servant,
and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of
this book. Worship God.’”
Now, if Jesus was not the God-man--if He was not God in the flesh--then
you and I are guilty of idolatry; we are breaking the first command:
“Thou shalt have no other God before Me.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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