Read Matthew 17 at Bible Gateway.
The two chapters of Mat 16 and 17 contain numerous larger, smaller, and overlapping chiastic structures. Here is a very interesting one:
Mat 16:13-17:27
1a) Mat 16:13-16, Who Jesus is;
1) Mat 16:13-14, Who men say He is: John the Baptist, Elijah, or prophets;
2) Mat 16:15-16, Who He is: the Messiah, Son of the living God;
1b) Mat 16:17-19, On the rock of Messiah I will build My chuch + Hades shall not prevail against it;
1c) Mat 16:20, He commanded His disciples to tell no one that He was Yeshua the Messiah;
1d) Mat 16:21-26, Peter rebukes Jesus + Jesus rebukes Satan (central axis);
central axis) Mat 16:27-17:3, The glory of the Son of Man in His kingdom;
2d) Mat 17:4-8, Peter opens his big mouth and is rebuked by the heavenly Father;
2c) Mat 17:9-13, He commanded them to tell the vision to no one until He was raised from the dead;
2b) Mat 17:14-21, Jesus casts out a demon from an epileptic (disciples could not because of unbelief);
2a) Mat 17:22-27, Who Jesus is;
1) Mat 17:22-23, Who men say He is: He will be betrayed by men and killed;
2) Mat 17:24-27, Who He is: Temple tax not applicable to sons.
Today I could not get away from the contrast of the b pairs. First, Mat 16:17-19: On the rock of the revelation of who is the Son of Man, Jesus will build His ekklesia. When the ekklesia knows who Jesus is, the gates of Hell will not be able to withstand them. By faith in that name, the ekklesia will be given keys of the kingdom of heaven. Keys open gates. Hmmm. Those things that the ekklesia binds on earth will be bound in heaven, and those things that the ekklesia looses on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Now, the 2b pair, Mat 17:14-21, is the contrast to that. A boy tormented by a strong demon is brought to the disciples, while Jesus is up on the mountain being transfigured. These are the nine disciples who did not go up with Him. They are unable to cast it out, even though Jesus had previously given them authority over demons, to cast them out. The gates of Hell are prevailing against the disciples.
Jesus revealed to them that they could not cast it out because of their unbelief. They did not have faith in His name, in who He is. If they did have faith, whatever they bound on earth would be bound in heaven, and whatever they loosed on earth would be loosed in heaven. If they did have faith, they could move mountains from here to there, and nothing would be impossible for them.
Why is knowing who Jesus is so important? Because the authority is not in me. I do not have authority to cast out demons or move mountains. The authority is in Jesus, because of who He is. He is the Son of the Living God. When I am a man who is also under authority, then I can say to my servant, Do this, and he does it, and Come here, and he comes, and Go there, and he goes (Mat 8:5-13). They are not obeying me — they are obeying the authority behind me. When I know that, that gives me faith, that what I say will be obeyed, whether by demons or by mountains.
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