True Discipleship
True discipleship is all about eternal life, to know God and the one whom He send, Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 8:11-17 Indeed this is what the LORD told me quite forcefully. He warned me not to act like these people: “Do not say, Conspiracy, every time these people say the word. Don’t be afraid of what scares them; don’t be terrified. You must recognize the authority of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. He is the one you must respect; he is the one you must fear. He will become a sanctuary, but a stone that makes a person trip, and a rock that makes one stumble – to the two houses of Israel. He will become a trap and a snare to the residents of Jerusalem. Many will stumble over the stone and the rock, and will fall and be seriously injured, and will be ensnared and captured.” Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, seal the official record of God’s instructions and give it to my followers”.
The Word that Isaiah received is a prophetic Word concerning the coming of Jesus the Messiah, but God said that the mentioned Word (prophetic) will be concealed and only to be revealed to His followers (disciples). Jesus is the Word that became flesh, and as the Son of the Living God came to reveal the Father to us. John 14:7 “If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him”.
Consider the meaning of to know, in the mentioned passage :
1. to know (in a concrete manner, and not merely from a personal perspective or experience).
2. (emphatically) to absolutely know, to know without exception.
3. (by ancient Hebraic euphemism) to have intimate knowledge. If anything is revealed it is no more concealed, and it becomes known, that is to have intimate knowledge (knowledge revealed through intimate relationship).
Jesus who walked with His disciples asked His disciples “who do you say I AM” and Peter answered Him that He is the Son of the Living God, Jesus said in Matthew 16:17 …. “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven! Jesus called Peter (Simon son of Jonah) blessed because the truth he received was revealed, from God as in a relationship to our Father. In like manner during Jesus’s discussion with Nicodemus, Jesus told Nicodemus in John3:3 …. “unless a person is born(to be regenerated) from above, he cannot see(personally know) the kingdom of God.”
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus continued to explain the blessedness of the revealed truth and in what manner it will impact all of us who will receive it “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”. All of us are very familiar with the apparent wordplay Jesus used in the above pasage. However only if Jesus spoke in Greek could He be referring to Peter (as petros as rock) and rock (as petra a solid rock). The problem with the mentioned word play, is that Peter did not speak Greek! Therefore I believe the wordplay is incorrect, even though the interpretation is the same. The Hebrew perspective can however help us understand the Lord’s approach to discipleship, the true meaning of being born from above and eternal life. The Hebrew word “Peter” and “Pitrah” is translated as first-born or open. It is from the word “patar” which means to free or let out. So in essence it can be translated that Simon is the first born from above to let out the revealed truth concerning Jesus as the Son of the Living God, and that all of us will assemble based on the mentioned revealed truth.
As already mentioned, when Jesus said unto Phillip “If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him”. The mentioned “to know Him” is a reference that Jesus used in John 17:3 to explain eternal life. This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ. To understand eternal life we must first understand that the revealed truth about God is not made know through flesh and blood but through the Spirit of the Living God. In Acts 1:8 Jesus said that we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us to be a witness unto Jesus. To understand eternal life and a true discipleship we must understand that to be a witness is to die to ourself. The word witness is translated from the Greek word μάρτυς martus (mar’-tïs), and relate to witness through laying down our life for we do not live but Christ lives in us and our lives must reveal Christ in us to people around us. We must be regenerated as we receive the revealed truth, and lay down our lives for Christ through baptism. Only then can we be taught to obey the Word of God as we get to know God and His Son Yeshua. Eternal life is not an inheritance it is a gift, that we received in Christ Jesus. We don’t wait for it we must receive it as we fix our eyes upon Yeshua (Jesus), for if you know Him (Yeshua), you know the Father, and to know the Father and His Son is to have eternal life.