Matthew 16.  Jesus warned his disciples to stay away from the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  They seemed like experts in the things of God, but they were not privy to a real understanding of what God was doing in the world.  They could not interpret the signs of the times.  They sought miraculous signs from Jesus to prove what he said, but the real revelation was Jesus himself (1-12).

1. Jesus was the awaited Messiah of Israel, the Son of the living God.  Peter made this declaration after God had revealed it to him.  Jesus rewarded his courage to confess that reality by giving him the honor of witnessing the birth of the Christian church.  He would be there when the gospel bore fruit in Jerusalem at Pentecost, in Samaria, and among the Gentiles (with Cornelius). He would serve as a foundation rock for the New Testament church (13-20).
2. But Peter had trouble with the next thing God chose to reveal.  Jesus explained that he would have to go to Jerusalem, suffer and die.  These too were “things of God” that he was revealing.  Jesus rebuked Peter for not accepting the whole of what God revealed (21-23).
3. The next revelation about Jesus is that he is coming again with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge the earth.  For that reason, Jesus challenged his disciples to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him – to death.

LORD, thank you for what we know about you – what you have revealed to us.  Give us the wisdom to walk in the light of this revelation.