Who Do You Say That I Am?

Matthew 16:13-17

We come this morning to a key passage in the Gospel of Matthew. In a sense, this passage is what so much of the Gospel has been leading to. It’s the passage that sets in motion all the events in the rest of the Gospel. Matthew began his Gospel by telling us that he was writing “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1). As we have shown, Matthew presents Jesus as the Christ, the promised Messiah who is Savior, Lord, and King. Everything in Matthew’s narrative confirms that Jesus is the Christ. From His genealogy, His birth, His baptism, His temptation by the devil, His miracles, His teaching, His authority over disease, demons, and even death, and His fulfillment of prophecy—everything has pointed to Jesus as the Christ. But up to this point in Matthew’s narrative, no one has said it out loud.