Heavenly Father, I thank You for this day, for Your Love 
for us, for another opportunity to met together in Your 
name and study Your Word. I praise You , I worship You, 
I love You Lord.Father Bless us Your children, give us 
new insight into Your Word, into Who You are. May our 
hearts be open to receive Your Word this night.In Jesus’
Holy Name, I bind you, satan and rebuke any attempts at 
disruption, confusion, any attempt at taking our focus from 
our Lord and Savior. you are powerless satan, so be gone 
in the Name of Jesus Christ Our Risen Lord and Savior! 
Thank You Jesus!! Blessed Be Your Holy Wondeful Name!!
Holy Spirit take control. Teach us, guide us , direct our 
thoughts on the Holy Word of God. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.


Last week in our  discussion we learned why Peter named Jesus 
the Christ, in verse 16 of Matthew16. We discovered that Christ 
means the Anointed One, the Messiah. The meaning of His name then,
Jesus Christ,  means ...the Savior,  our salvation, who is the 
Anointed One, the Messiah. Set apart, consecrated as holy by God 
for a purpose.
And that purpose was stated before Jesus’ birth by the prophet
Isaiah in Isaiah 61:1-2  and stated by Jesus Himself in Nazareth
in Luke 4:18-21 when He stood in the temple and read: 18 "The Spirit 
of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good 
news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives 
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are
oppressed,19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."20 And he 
closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; 
and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he 
began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in 
your hearing."

There was some question last week as to what a prophet was and what 
prophecy is...so to clarify...a prophet is one who speaks for God, 
by divine inspiriation and not of his/her own knowledge.The prophecy 
is the foretelling of what is to come. 2Peter 1:20-21 tells us...  
“No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own 
interpretation. For prophecy never had it’s origin in the will of man, 
but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Simon Peter did not call Jesus ..the Christ because of his own 
knowledge and relationship with Jesus, but was blessed by God to 
proclaim Jesus as the Anointed One, the Messiah. Now in  Matthew 16:17,
Jesus replied to Simon Peter after Simon Peter had said Jesus was  
“the Christ, the Son of the Living God”...
17"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to 
you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”  Telling us that Simon Peter 
was divinely inspired by God to proclaim Jesus as the Christ.
Jesus went on to say in verse18; “ And I tell you, you are Peter, 
and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall
not prevail against it.”
In Matt.11:27, Jesus said, “All things have been delivered to me by my
Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows
the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
So the Son; Jesus, chose to reveal Himself and who He was to Peter. 
Let’s take a closer look at this concept . Throughout the Bible, God 
has revealed Himself to His chosen people....
In John 1:17-18 we are told : For the law was given through Moses; 
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.18 No one has ever seen God;
the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

Hmmm....no one has ever seen God....and here is Jesus, standing right 
there next to Peter...

God spoke to Moses in Exodus 33:20  saying... "He said, "you cannot see
my face; for man shall not see me and live."...

...(hmm....r u beginning to ponder?? )...

21 And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall 
stand upon the rock;.22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in 
a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have 
passed by;23 then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; 
but my face shall not be seen."

In Exodus3:2-6 when Moses first encountered God... God revealed Himself
in the burning bush. Of course Moses was curious and wanted to see...
but was told not to come near...and God spoke to Moses saying...
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of
the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet 
it was not consumed.3 And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this 
great sight, why the bush is not burnt."4 When the LORD saw that he 
turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!"
And he said, "Here am I."5 Then he said, "Do not come near; put off 
your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is
holy ground."6 And He said, "I am the God of your father, the God of 
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his 
face, for he was afraid to look at God.

God has however revealed Himself in the physical to His chosen people 
such as Jacob, and Joshua ...let’s take a look at their stories....

In Genesis 32 as Jacob was travelling to his brother Essau... we learn 
that Jacob was alone one night, as he had sent the others on before him.
During that night, Jacob wrestled with a Man.24 And Jacob was left 
alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.
25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched 
the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob's thigh was put out of joint as he
wrestled with him.26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking.
"But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me."29 Then
Jacob asked him, "Tell me, I pray, your name." But he said, "Why is it 
that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him.

Jacob wouldn’t give up the fight even after his hip had been dislocated,
until he was blessed, so in verse 28 we  learn...28 Then He said, "Your
name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven 
with God and with men, and have prevailed."

30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, (meaning the face of 
God) saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is 
preserved." 

.....God revealed Himself to Jacob as a man....

In Joshua 5:13 we see....  As Joshua was preparing for the battle at 
Jericho,  a Man with a drawn sword stood before him and told Joshua
He was the Commander of the Lord’s army.
13he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood before
him with his drawn sword in his hand; and Joshua went to him and said 
to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?"14 And he said, "No; 
but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." 
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and said to 
Him, "What does my Lord bid his servant?"15 And the commander of the 
LORD's army said to Joshua, "Put off your shoes from your feet; for the
place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so.”  As a result of 
Joshua’s obedience, Joshua led Israel on to victory over Jericho...
...those walls came a tumblin’ down!!

Once again, we see that God chose to reveal himself as a man.....
...hmmm.....Are you with me on this??? ...a Man encountered Jacob, 
and Joshua and Peter....

Now let’s go back to Exodus 3 with the conversation between Moses and
God....in Exodus 3:13, Moses is concerned and says...13 Then Moses said
to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of
your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' 
what shall I say to them?"14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he
said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
15 God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The LORD,
the God of your fathers, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and 
the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': this is my name for ever, and 
thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

The accounts we have just listened to are from the old testament...now 
take a look at what we learn in the new testament...by the way...
testament means covenant...


In Mark12: 26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in 
the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him,
'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?
 
Luke20:37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the 
passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and
the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.38 Now he is not God of the dead,
but of the living; for all live to him."

Confirmation of Exodus 3...in the new testament...Acts 7:30-35
30"Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the 
wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.31 When Moses
saw it he wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to look, the voice
of the Lord came,32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham 
and of Isaac and of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.
33 And the Lord said to him, 'Take off the shoes from your feet, for 
the place where you are standing is holy ground.34 I have surely seen 
the ill-treatment of my people that are in Egypt and heard their 
groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will 
send you to Egypt.'35 "This Moses whom they refused, saying, 'Who made
you a ruler and a judge?' God sent as both ruler and deliverer by the 
hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush.

John 8:24, 28...24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for you 
will die in your sins unless you believe that I am He."25 They said to
him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "Even what I have told you from
the beginning”
......hmm....from the beginning....
 
26 I have much to say about you and much to judge; but he who sent me
is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him."27 They
did not understand that he spoke to them of the Father.28 So Jesus said,
"When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am 
He, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the 
Father taught me.29 And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me
alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him."30 As he spoke thus, 
many believed in him. 31Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed 
in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples,32 and
you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."


John 8:58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before 
Abraham was, I am."

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Rev.1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and 
who was and who is to come, the Almighty.


Rev.4:8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, 
are full of eyes all round and within, and day and night they never 
cease to sing, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was
and is and is to come!"




Sooooo...”Who do you say that I am?”...
...or I should  say...
...Who do you say that He is??  
He revealed Himself to Peter....Jacob...Joshua....


He IS...  the Great I Am!! ...The same I Am that Moses spoke to!! 
Remember that in verse 15 of Exodus 3, God said...‘The Lord , the God
of your fathers, of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
has sent me to you': this is my name forever, and thus I am to be 
remembered throughout all generations. And in Matthew 16:18 He says 
it again to Peter!!