Matthew 16:21 reads, “Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far [actually the Greek is pity thyself] from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.”
Up to this point Peter did not hear anything Christ said. He still placed his hope on being liberated from Rome, not rescued from sin and eternal damnation. He only saw the temporal, the here and now not the eternal ramifications of Christ going to the cross, and Jesus rebuked him in verse 23,
“But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan:”
Jesus knew Satan was influencing Peter. Satan did not want Jesus to go to the cross to provide redemption for anyone seeking it. Satan failed in the earlier part of Jesus’ ministry when He went into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. Satan failed in changing Jesus’ mind, and now Satan is using Peter as the mouthpiece to see if there was any hope in changing Jesus’ mind, because He was now obviously attached to these men. They were His disciples, and maybe they could have an emotional influence on Jesus to change His mind. Satan knew what he was doing and is no fool. But if you think about it, he is the ultimate fool thinking that he could topple Jesus Christ. Think about it!
“Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me [You are offensive]: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”
Peter was looking after the things of this world that would affect him and maybe the close few people such as family members or friends and how their lives would become better if Rome were ousted and removed from Israel. He did not see the big picture of why Jesus had to go to the cross and rescue a world from damnation.
What follows in verse 24 is the tough part, get ready!
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
Let me read you something:
“Jesus went on to teach His disciples that not only did He have to go to the cross, but in a sense, they had to go to the cross too, dying to themselves and to their own plans. This was so important to Jesus that He repeated it again and again in His teaching, almost as often as He spoke about the necessity of His personal suffering. He never suggested that His followers could die for sin either their own or another’s sins, as He would do [Me dying on a cross does not save anyone; Jesus, on the other hand, does.], but He insisted that following Him meant self-denial, suffering, rejection and perhaps even physical death.”
“The way of the cross is not only for Jesus but for us. We do not like this kind of teaching. [That is an understatement.] Prosperity, yes; victory, double yes!”
Many would say to a suffering death and the cross, “boo-o-o-o. Now you have me turned off.” That is not for me.
“We do not like those things, yet there is no genuine Christianity without them. Self-seeking is the opposite of self-denial and the problem with self-seeking is that it has been the essence of sin from the beginning. Self-seeking is what caused the fall of Satan. I will abase myself in order that those I love might be lifted from sin to glory. As a result, God promised that Jesus Christ would be exalted. He would be given that name which is above every name so that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Self-seekers will be brought to low, deny-yourself Christians with Christ will be exalted by Christ in due season.
“Taking up the cross: not only are we to say no to self, we are also to say yes to God, which is what taking up our cross involves. Some refer to cross bearing as if it means [and I have touched on this before] enduring what is inevitable, but that is not the case at all. Several kinds of things we cannot avoid such as a physical handicap, a deficient academic background, a drunken husband. . .and the list goes on and on. People sometimes refer to such inevitable limitations as ‘my cross’ but they are not crosses. Real crosses involve the will. It involves saying yes to something difficult for Jesus’ sake.”
There are plenty of scriptures dealing with our afflictions, trials, and tribulations that encourages and gives hope and tells us where to place our confidence when dealing with those things, but this verse in Matthew is not one of them. Spiritual warfare is real my friend but, in the end, we will be exalted. To be continued…
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