32"Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
The message in this text seems short and simple: if you confess Jesus before men, He will confess you before God.
What is interesting about this text are the choices of some of the words He used. He starts with "therefore", implying this is a continuation of what was just being discussed. I believe the emphasis on the previous text is for those who face fears in spreading the gospel. Jesus said to not fear the demons as they are not that powerful. He said to not fear man for man cannot harm your soul. He said to not fear failure because God will help you succeed. Therefore your fears have been addressed, and you should be able to confess Jesus before men. In fact, if you look beyond your fears to the benefits, you will see that there is good reason to confess Jesus, for He will then confess you before God. But if in your fear you deny Jesus to avoid consequences before men, Jesus will also deny you before God.
I was surprised at the use of the word "confess". Why didn't He use the word "proclaim"? In my dictionary, proclaim is defined as to announce officially and publicly. That is what I would have expected He wanted His disciples to be doing. Instead he used the word confess. In my dictionary, confess is defined as to disclose or acknowledge ones misdeed or fault, or to concede the truth or validity of. Confess implies an admission of knowing within yourself what is right and what is wrong, an acknowledgment of discovery of truth. You may have been wrong before, but are now on the path of truth. The word confess emphasizes what you really believe within yourself, proclaim emphasizes how you express it. I don't think Jesus' intention when delivering this message was to tell people to go out and proclaim the gospel, though that is certainly good to do too, but to tell people to come to an understanding in their hearts what they believe about Jesus first and then to confess it.
But Jesus also said to confess it before men. Sure, you may feel good about yourself if you feel you know Jesus and have faith in Him, but if confronted on it before men, do you confess it or deny it? Again, I don't think Jesus' intention here was to say everyone is supposed to go out confessing Jesus before men at every opportunity, though there is nothing wrong with that, but that you will confess Jesus rather than deny Jesus when confronted by men. Is this "therefore" still in continuation of what Jesus said in Matthew 10:18: "You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles"? He didn't say "you may be" brought before men as a testimony, but "you will be". So it will happen. And when it does happen, will you confess Jesus or deny him?
The flip side of this is: will Jesus be brought before God as a testimony for me? Will Jesus confess me or deny me? We are all sinners. Jesus is our salvation. We need Him to confess us before God. The least we could do is to also confess Him before men.