"And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day."
In today's quote, Jesus was confirmed by Peter to be Christ the promised Messiah.
In verse twenty one Jesus instructed His apostles to tell no one who He really was, "And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing".
I don't know why Jesus wanted His true identity to be kept secret other than that His plan of eternal salvation could not come into full affect until He had completed His divine sacrifice and had returned to the Father in heaven.
Remember, Jesus, John the Baptist, the twelve apostles and the seventy two disciples that He sent out, were to go only to their Jewish brethren and were to teach repentance under Jewish law. They were also to teach that salvation was to soon come to everyone.
They could not teach the full gospel of Jesus Christ, nor could they teach salvation by grace because the neither would be completed until Jesus had finished His ministry, crucified, buried, risen and ascended. In fact, neither the true identity of Jesus nor His doctrine would become widely known until after He had ascended and sent the Holy Ghost to His apostles and His church.~
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