Jesus is going to die

 —Matthew 16:21–23

The church is built on the redemptive suffering of the Messiah. It is not an ethnic body, nor a political entity, nor a moralistic association, but a fellowship of the redeemed. Its lifestyle is correlated with Jesus’ identity as the “crucified God,” a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks (1 Cor. 1:23). And its vitality will be in the fellowship of the risen Lord. Jesus followed the announcement that He will build His own assembly, His church, with the prediction of His death at Jerusalem and of His Resurrection. He had not shared this before, but Matthew says emphatically “from that time on” He kept interpreting it and preparing the disciples for His death and Resurrection (v. 21).

Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him. For Peter this prediction didn’t fit his confession of Christ as God’s Son. How could God permit such a thing to happen? Peter’s words, no doubt well meant, caused Jesus to hear again the words of the tempter in the wilderness. His rebuke of Peter was in that light, for He addressed him as Satan, saying, “Get behind me, for you are an offense,” a rock out of place! Peter was now a stumbling stone rather than a building stone. These words of Peter’s were from human reasoning and not from God.

¹

The faith is not a set of rules it is a honoring of Jesus who died and rose for our sins. We do not follow rules we adore.

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

²⁷ For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. ²⁸ Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

—Matthew 16:24–28

Jesus calls His disciples to be suffering servants among men. The lifestyle of the new people of God, the church, is to be correlated with Christ in His suffering. The disciple is called to be a servant, to bear the identity of the Cross in living for Christ and His kingdom. Peter wrote later of our taking the “death route” saying, “He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God” (1 Pet. 4:2, kjv). And Paul writes of our break with the old man, a break as decisive as death, and of the old man’s being replaced by a new man (Col. 3:9–10). This break from the old life he calls the crucifixion of the old man. As we read in Romans 6:6, “Our old man is crucified by identification with Him, so that the sin-nature may be devitalized” (my translation). These references deal with the nature of the inner transformation wrought by the grace of Christ. But in this passage Jesus was expressing the nature of His calling to discipleship.

Discipleship, in the sphere of conduct, means saying no to the sinful ego; it means being prepared to suffer in the company of Christ; it means giving up selfish ambition and, in so doing, finding one’s true self in the fellowship of Christ (vv. 24–25).

Discipleship, as in verse 24, can be expressed in three points: (1) making up one’s mind; (2) giving up one’s autonomy; and (3) taking up one’s identity. An outline for the whole section includes four elements for discipleship: (1) partnership with Christ, v. 24; (2) priorities from the Person of Christ, v. 25; (3) perspectives from the judgment of Christ, v. 26; and (4) practices in the will of Christ, v. 27. Rather than to say, “He is happiest who possesses most,” Jesus teaches that “He is happiest who is himself possessed by Christ.”

This section closes with Jesus’ assurance for His disciples. The kingdom is sure, and some of those hearing Him would live to see the Son of Man come in His kingdom. This reference may have been to the disciples in anticipation of His Resurrection and the new age of His kingdom—a statement excluding Judas. This is the more likely interpretation rather than to see this as a reference to the Parousia. There is the suggestion that He is alluding to the Transfiguration, in which the glory of His kingly identity was revealed, and that to only three of the disciples. But whichever was meant, the word was a deliberate note of assurance that His cause was not to end with the predicted Passion, but to reach its goal in the Resurrection.²

JESUS ANNOUNCES HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION

For the first time the Lord Jesus announces to His disciples His death and resurrection. The time was approximately six months before He was actually crucified. Why did He wait so long to make such an important announcement? Obviously, His disciples were not prepared for it, even at this time, judging from their reaction. He repeated five times the fact that He was going to Jerusalem to die (Matt. 17:12; 17:22–23; 20:18–19; 20:28). In spite of this intensive instruction, the disciples failed to grasp the significance of it all until after His resurrection.

From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day [Matt. 16:21].

This is what the Lord Jesus did for you and me. This is the gospel: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried and raised again. You must know who He is. You must know what He did for you. If you know these two things, and by faith believe and receive them, you are saved. This had never been revealed before except to Nicodemus at the beginning of our Lord’s ministry in John 3:1–16.

Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee [Matt. 16:22].

In essence Peter said, “You are the Messiah; You are the Son of God. You must not, You cannot go to the cross!” The cross was not in the thinking of the apostles at all, as you can see.

But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men [Matt. 16:23].

It is satanic for anyone to deny the facts of the gospel which are that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead. It is satanic when a man in the pulpit will deny these truths. The substitutionary death of Christ is the only thing that can save us, my friend. Later on Peter wrote this: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Pet. 2:24). My, what a transformation had taken place in the mind of Peter!

Our Lord said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Imagine this: Here is Peter by whom the Spirit of God could say that Jesus was the Son of God, and yet he could in the next moment let Satan deceive him!

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me [Matt. 16:24].

Many people interpret this verse, “Let him deny himself ice cream” or “Let him deny himself some luxury down here.” What this verse says is “Let him deny himself!” You already know that the hardest person in the world to deny is yourself. To deny myself dessert is hard enough, but to deny myself is difficult indeed. To deny myself is to put self out of the picture and to put Christ in the place of self.

“And take up his cross, and follow me.” We are not to take up Christ’s Cross but our own cross. There is a cross for you and a cross for me—that is, if we are going to follow Him.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works [Matt. 16:25–27].

The person who will not assume the risks involved in becoming a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ will, in the long run, lose his life eternally. The opposite is also true. At Christ’s second coming all accounts will be settled and everyone will receive his proper rewards.

Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom [Matt. 16:28].

This verse belongs with chapter 17 because the account of the transfiguration of Jesus explains what He meant when He made this statement³

Serving Faith—Following Christ (Matt. 16:21–28)

Having declared His person, Jesus now declared His work; for the two must go together. He would go to Jerusalem, suffer and die, and be raised from the dead. This was His first clear statement of His death, though He had hinted at this before (Matt. 12:39–40; 16:4; John 2:19; 3:14; 6:51). “And He was stating the matter plainly” (Mark 8:32, nasb).

Peter’s response to this shocking statement certainly represented the feelings of the rest of the disciples: “Pity Thyself, Lord! This shall never happen to Thee!” Jesus turned His back on Peter and said, “Get behind Me, adversary! You are a stumbling block to Me!” (literal translation) Peter the “stone” who had just been blessed (Matt. 16:18) became Peter the stumbling block who was not a blessing to Jesus!

What was Peter’s mistake? He was thinking like a man, for most men want to escape suffering and death. He did not have God’s mind in the matter. Where do we find the mind of God? In the Word of God. Until Peter was filled with the Spirit, he had a tendency to argue with God’s Word. Peter had enough faith to confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but he did not have the faith to believe that it was right for Jesus to suffer and die. Of course, Satan agreed with Peter’s words, for he used the same approach to tempt Jesus in the wilderness (Matt. 4:8–10).

Today the cross is an accepted symbol of love and sacrifice. But in that day the cross was a horrible means of capital punishment. The Romans would not mention the cross in polite society. In fact, no Roman citizen could be crucified; this terrible death was reserved for their enemies. Jesus had not yet specifically stated that He would be crucified (He did this in Matt. 20:17–19). But His words that follow emphasize the cross.

He presented to the disciples two approaches to life:

deny yourself	live for yourself
take up your cross	ignore the cross
follow Christ	follow the world
lose your life for His sake	save your life for your own sake
forsake the world	gain the world
keep your soul	lose your soul
share His reward and glory	lose His reward and glory

To deny self does not mean to deny things. It means to give yourself wholly to Christ and share in His shame and death. Paul described this in Romans 12:1–2 and Philippians 3:7–10, as well as in Galatians 2:20. To take up a cross does not mean to carry burdens or have problems. (I once met a lady who told me her asthma was the cross she had to bear!) To take up the cross means to identify with Christ in His rejection, shame, suffering, and death.

But suffering always leads to glory. This is why Jesus ended this short sermon with a reference to His glorious kingdom (Matt. 16:28). This statement would be fulfilled within a week on the Mount of Transfiguration, described in the next chapter

Jesus sums up this series of instructions by saying, ‘For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it’ (16:25). This is not an invitation to literal martyrdom, but a statement that the only way to find life in its fulness is to lose it and give it away to God. The principle is that as we give our lives away to Jesus Christ, he gives his life away to us. Paul wrote, ‘We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body’ (2 Cor. 4:10–11). It is our willingness to die that gives place to real life. Until we have learned to die we do not have the resources to live. The phrase has been coined, ‘The secret of a changed life is in discovering it is an exchanged life.’ The Christian life is something far more profound than Jesus Christ changing us, it is Jesus Christ replacing us with himself, so that, ‘I no longer live, but Christ lives in me’ (Gal. 2:20). We can never know the fulness of his life in us without the corresponding losing of our own lives to him.

Jim Eliot, martyred in his late twenties with four colleagues as they attempted contact with a remote tribe in the Ecuadorian jungle, wrote in his diary, ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.’ We cannot keep our lives anyway. Jesus went on to say, ‘What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his life? Or what can a man give in exchange for his life?’ (16:26). Our inability to keep and control our lives is one of the indisputable facts of life, and there is therefore little more sensible and sane than to recognise this fact, deny ourselves, take up our cross, follow him, and lose the life we can never keep, in an unqualified surrender to Christ. The great thing is that in reality this is not losing life at all, it is finding life. When we are fully available to him, he is fully available to us, and we are equipped to live in the strength of his indwelling fulness.

If Peter was to go on living his life, his way, with his agenda, he was free to do so. God would not twist his arm, hold a gun to his head and force true discipleship. The Lord Jesus Christ is a shepherd not a sheep dog. We are not hemmed in and driven, but follow out of love and implicit trust in him. If Peter chose to go down his own path there may be all kinds of measured successes as far as he is concerned, but he would end with empty hands. Having kept his life he would lose it, and everything else with it. But if he would lose his life, jettison his own agenda and give himself away to Jesus Christ, this life might deal him some rough blows, he might even die on a Roman cross as is traditionally believed, but he will have found life in its true fulness, not only filled with God himself, but one that will never end. This is some exchange! It is the terms of true discipleship, and the grounds on which all that is truly of value is determined.⁴

Jesus quickly showed Peter the seriousness of his error by rebuking him: But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (v. 23). I want to look closely at several points in this sharp rebuke.

First, Jesus said, “Get behind Me.” He was saying, in essence: “Get out of My way! Don’t stand in front of Me to resist Me!” Jesus was a Man on a mission and did not want to be hindered. It is interesting that when we are called to do a duty that may put us in harm’s way or expose us to affliction or suffering, those who are strongest in their urging for us not to do it very often are the people who love us the most. Our loved ones and best friends often counsel us to be careful and to look out for our own skins. That can make it very difficult to be obedient to the call of God on our lives. At this point, Jesus was no different. When He announced that it was His destiny to go to Jerusalem to die, it was His closest friends who wanted to stand in His way. But Jesus refused to hear their entreaties.

Second, Jesus called Peter “Satan.” The one Jesus had so recently called “the rock” He now equated with the Evil One. Why did He choose this epithet? I believe we find the answer when we recall Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, when Jesus came under the unrestrained assault of the devil day after day. The main temptation of Satan’s attack on Him during that time was to be a Savior without suffering. Satan suggested that Jesus should go the triumphal route. He dared Jesus to turn stones into bread. He tempted Him to throw Himself down from the temple so angels would catch Him. He offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world without an ounce of pain if He would only bow down and worship the prince of darkness. Satan was willing to give Jesus anything—as long as He did not take the way of suffering that led to the cross. Jesus, however, refused all Satan’s offers. Finally, Satan departed from Him “until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13b). That time came when Peter stood up to oppose Jesus’ plan to go to Jerusalem, suggesting, just as Satan had in the wilderness, that Jesus should avoid pain and suffering. Peter was opposing Jesus’ divine mission just as the devil had. It is little wonder, then, that Jesus called Peter “Satan.”

Third, Jesus said Peter was “an offense.” The Greek word used here is skandalon. Originally, this word referred to a part of a trap to which bait was attached, but in the New Testament it typically carries a broader meaning, referring metaphorically to something that causes a hindrance. Jesus was rebuking Peter for being a hindrance to His mission, for offering Him a tantalizing way out of His deadly mission that would prove to be a trap.

Fourth, Jesus said, “you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Peter was looking at things from a human perspective, assuming that a living Jesus was better than a suffering and dying Jesus. There is a world of difference between the things of God and the things of men. It is our nature, our habit, to focus our attention on the things of this world and give little thought to the things of God. That ought not to be. Christians, of all people, should know better. Our calling is to bring our thoughts into alignment with God’s, to think His thoughts after Him (Rom. 12:1–2).⁵

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1 Augsburger, M. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Matthew (Vol. 24, p. 18). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

2 Augsburger, M. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Matthew (Vol. 24, p. 18). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

3 McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Gospels (Matthew 14-28) (electronic ed., Vol. 35, pp. 49–52). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

4 Price, C. (1998). Matthew: Can Anything Good Come Out of Nazareth? (pp. 218–219). Fearn, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications.

5 Sproul, R. C. (2013). Matthew (pp. 499–500). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

DEVIL YOU LOST

The devil is the only one who should be concerned with being rejected. I will not think like the devil. I am not rejected. I am a loved child of the most high God. Wow, I am and will never be ashamed to tell anyone this. Jesus has set me free. I will not live under any condemnation, shame, or fear any longer. I am not an orphan. I am valuable. I have been purchased. I have been paid for by the purest, most holy blood. Blood that has never been tainted by the world. The enemy wants us to believe life is about mountains and valleys. Luke 3:5 says that Jesus came to level out these . This is awesome. I love you. God loves you, Jesus loves you.THIS The devil is the only one who should be concerned with being rejected. I will not think like the devil. I am not rejected. I am a loved child of the most high God. Wow, I am and will never be ashamed to tell anyone this. Jesus has set me free. I will not live under any condemnation, shame, or fear any longer. I am not an orphan. I am valuable. I have been purchased. I have been paid for by the purest, most holy blood. Blood that has never been tainted by the world. The enemy wants us to believe life is about mountains and valleys. Luke 3:5 says that Jesus came to level out these . This is awesome. I love you. God loves you, Jesus loves you.

JESUS LOVES U

Jesus Loves Me...This I Know

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10] In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:9-11
Since I was a small boy I can remember singing, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Do you know the song? Do you also know for a fact that Jesus loves you? I'm not just asking if you know the information. More than 2 + 2 = 4; more than some impersonal factoid, do you know that Jesus loves you? Have you experienced God's love for you personally?
It's only been more recently in my life that I've known in my heart that God loves me, that He really loves me. I'm a little embarrassed to admit this. I mean, why does a 40-something-year-old man need to know that God loves him? That's for kids, right? How stunned I was to have God meet me in such a powerful, personal way, and immerse me in this idea of His great love for me personally. I came to experience — to know, not just with my head but with my heart, His great love. Here's good news: God loves you, too!

How does God love you? Let's count the ways…
Isaiah 49:16 says He loves you so much that He engraved your name on the palm of His hand.
Matthew 10:30 says He loves you so much that He knows how many hairs are on your head.
Psalm 56:8 says He loves you so much that He saves your tears in a bottle.
Jeremiah 31:3 says He loves you with an everlasting love.
God's love is very personal toward you. It doesn't matter where you've been, it doesn't matter what you've done, it doesn't matter what you've experienced — God loves you. It doesn't matter what you have thought about yourself or what other people may have said about you —God loves you. This is what God says about you! You are honored, you are precious in His eyes (Isaiah 43:4). Isn't that an amazing thing?
Most often when the Bible attempts to express God's love, it makes a beeline for the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross is God's statement of just how much He loves you. When you think of the immensity of God's love, the first thing the Bible often asks us to do is to consider the price that was paid.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
What makes this love so amazing is that it is highlighted against the backdrop of a debt that each one of us owes. At the core of God's being is His holiness. In order for us to have any kind of relationship with Him, we have to find a way for our sins to be forgiven. Problem is, there's nothing we can do to accomplish that — it's too big of a debt. We can't buy God's favor, we can't work for it, we can't ever be good enough to earn it. God's holiness demanded that sin be paid for, and then God's love found a way. I proclaim this great love to you today. God loves you with an everlasting love that words fail to describe. —James MacDonald