Across time God has changed people’s names. We see in the Old Testament Him renaming Abram to Abraham, Sarai becoming Sarah, and Jacob’s name changing to Israel. So why, when Jesus first laid eyes on Simon, did He call him by a new name? The answer is in Matthew 16:18, when at the end of His Ministry, Jesus said to Simon, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Over the course of those three years following Jesus, Simon had changed from a fickle loudmouth and impulsive at times fool…(even to the point of denying he even knew Jesus)… to being radically transformed at the Resurrection. For it was through this tremendous spiritual growth Simon became his namesake – Cephas or Peter which means Rock. It was then, that this Rock of a man took charge of the frightened and faltering group of Believers and started to fearlessly preach the Gospel Message.
Safetypinlove 