Lesson 17 – The King’s Identity Displayed
Read Matthew 17 – www.bible.com/bible/59/mat.17 

We see Jesus showing people clearly who He was in this chapter. The first incident is where He showed 3 of His disciples His true glory. He had taken them up on a mountain where He often went to talk with His Father in Heaven – and this time they were allowed to watch as His glory began to pour from Him as pure light. This fulfills the promise in Matthew 16:28 that some disciples would not die before they saw the Jesus in His kingdom body. But I ask you to notice that He did not include all His disciples in this. It was His choice who saw, but it didn’t mean the others were somehow out of His favor. He chooses what of Himself He reveals to us – just because someone else has seen something special about Him doesn’t mean those who did not see are not loved equally. However, we notice later how these 3 men became leaders of the early church.

Jesus’ next display of His identity was to cast out a demon from a boy, something the disciples had tried to do but couldn’t. He showed everyone His power over evil of the strongest kind, an evil that can’t be won by humans, only by God Himself. His assurance in verse 20 that they will also be given this power, however, is a reminder that it is God’s power working in them, not their own power, enabling them to do these mighty works of faith.


The next incident in this chapter is an unlikely display of Jesus’ identity – He foretold again the event of His coming death, but this time He also included His resurrection. He displayed His ultimate victory over the greatest enemy of all – death.

The last incident in this chapter, verses 24-27, also seems to be an unlikely display of Jesus’ identity. The leaders who had listened to Jesus for all these months saying He had authority over the Sabbath, over the religious rites they’d all grown up with, now asked if Jesus paid taxes. They wondered if Jesus would hold Himself above human authority, whether civil or religious. Jesus’ answer is one we need to learn from. He first told Peter that God’s kingdom does not have to answer to any human authority; His kingdom is the highest authority of all, and all those who belong to this kingdom will never need to pay tolls to anyone else out of obligation or force. Yet, Jesus provided the money for those taxes for both Himself and Peter. In this action He showed His acceptance for this time of His duty to the governmental authorities to whom taxes were owed. He temporarily and willingly submitted His eternal authority to the authority of civilian and religious leadership. We see this restated in Romans 13 – all governmental authority is granted them by the hand of God for the purpose of keeping justice and peace.