Matthew 16:13-17

I want you to notice that people's judgment of Christ was greatly dependent upon their perspective—just like if you are looking at a building from afar. If you look at it from one angle, something of the outline of that building will dominate because of the angle you are looking at it. But you move maybe 90 degrees away and your perspective changes entirely, and so does the shape of the building change a great deal.

People who were "out in the world," who were not being worked with by God's Spirit—what was their perspective of Christ? Looking at it from their angle, they were saying He was John the Baptist, or He is Elijah, or He is Jeremiah. He is one of them. They were way off base. There was some relationship there, but they could not see enough of the details to enable them to positively identify who He was.

On the other hand, the disciples who were following Christ around, listening to His preaching first hand, being able to see Him with their own eyes up close when He explained His preaching to them, they had a different perspective. That perspective was given to them, Jesus said, by the calling of God, by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 16:13-17

Now with this we can understand why Jesus said what He did in John 6:44, that no man can come to the Son except God call him, because a person cannot even tell the true Christ from all of the false ones that are out there without it being given by God because we do not know where to look and it is not physically discerned. It must be given.

Matthew 16:13-17

That means favored! Grace has been given to you, if I can just insert other words. "Grace has been given to you, Simon Bar-Jonah."