If I knew you only by your reputation, would I recognize you? No pictures or videos, just words of description. How could you be identified?
Now, take your mindset backward 2,000 years. Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matthew 16:13 NKJV). Jesus’s favorite description of himself, which he used over eighty times in the gospels, was the “Son of Man.”
The disciples answer Jesus by saying the people thought he was one of the previous giants of the faith: Elijah, John the Baptist, or Jeremiah. Elijah was one of the miracle workers of the Old Testament. Jeremiah remained faithful while announcing doom in Israel. John the Baptist of a miraculous birth (his parents were not of childbearing age) proclaims the message of repentance for conversion.
Scripture then records the second question Jesus asked the disciples. Jesus looked straight into their faces and asked, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15 NKJV). Like most of the time, it was Peter who spoke up. You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God (16:16).
The Lord questioned the Twelve, and it’s the same question that He will ask 21st-century believers. “Who am I to you?” Our reply is eternity revealing. Guess what? God revealed to you that Jesus redeems. Jesus gives eternal life to all who ask Him. You’ll spend eternity with God, walk more streets of gold, maybe sing in a heavenly choir, and walk by the river of life. Those are part of our divine benefits.
But, what are we going to do now to increase Heaven’s population? Has that thought ever rushed through your mind? How did you answer yourself? Every believer has the responsibility to tell others about Jesus. Not only that, but we are to back up our words with prayer. If we would take that endeavor seriously, our world would be a better place. And Heaven will be preparing a new place for new residents. Because we know Jesus is the only way to Heaven.
