When
Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the
Son of Man is?”
“Well,” they replied, “some say John the
Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other
prophets.”
Then
he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Simon
Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son
of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did
not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are
Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will
build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I
will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in
heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Then he sternly warned
the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
From then
on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for
him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the
hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He
would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.
But Peter took him
aside and began to reprimand him for saying such
things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”
Jesus turned to Peter
and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You
are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
Then Jesus said to his
disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your
own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your
life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save
it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose
your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come
with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according
to their deeds. And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not
die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
~ Bible
Text Reference: Matthew 16:13-28 [Holy
Bible -NLT] taken from https://www.biblegateway.com