of Matthew for our study tonight before we take the supper, Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16, our focus will be verses 21 to 23, the necessity of Christ's passion. But I want to read the entire chapter, beginning in verse one.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 16
Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked that he would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, when it is evening, you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening. Hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.
A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. And he left them and departed. Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, Take, heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the 5,000 and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the 4,000 and how many large baskets you took up?
How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? And they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, who do men say that I, the son of man am? So they said, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.' Then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.
From that time, Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen to you. 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. 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.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 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? 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.
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. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank You for the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, the comprehensiveness of it. We know that He satisfied all of the obligations, all of the stipulations laid upon Him in that covenant of redemption. We praise You that He set His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem in order to suffer and to die and to be raised again. We know, God, that was not because of His own crimes or His own sins, but it was our sin, our crime. was our wickedness, our lawlessness, for which He died.
And we praise You for that. We praise You that He satisfied the penalty of divine justice. We thank You that He was raised again that third day, that He now sits enthroned at the right hand of the Father. And we look forward to His return again in glory to judge the living and the dead.
Again, please wash us from all sin and impurity, cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and guide us by the Holy Spirit. And we pray in His most blessed name. Amen.
Introduction
Well, from this particular point in Matthew's gospel, the movement is toward the cross, not just theologically, but geographically. So notice in verse 13, they're in Caesarea Philippi, that's kind of in the northern regions there in Galilee. And then we see in verse 21, from that time Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem. We see the movement from Galilee to Jerusalem, and we see the cross casting its shadow over the entirety of the narrative.
Christ came to save his people from their sins. Matthew 1.21 announces that. The manner in which he does that is through his life, through his death, and through his resurrection. He's already hinted, at least informally, that this is, in fact, the case to his immediate disciples.
We'll see that in a few minutes. And here, formally, he announces that he must go. This is a divine necessity. This isn't up for grabs.
This isn't optional. This isn't, you know, plan C if you're so inclined. But he must do what he does in terms of the salvation of his people. So he identifies the specific character of his messianic role, the role that was just confessed by the disciples.
Notice in chapter 16 at verse 15, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Well, that title, that confession, that declaration comes with a lot of Old Testament baggage, as it were. In other words, what we find in the Old Testament tells us or clues us in with reference to the mission of the Son of God.
Now, obviously, Peter didn't see that at this particular point. We'll notice that in a few minutes. As well, the Jews, by and large, didn't see the necessity of a crucified and resurrected Savior. They were looking for political relief.
They were looking for the subjugation of the Roman Empire. They were looking for earthly or geopolitical prestige. They were looking to be restored, in a sense, to what they enjoyed under David and Solomon. They didn't see the emphasis primarily upon the spiritual nature of God's kingdom and the reality that He's come to save His people from their sins.
Interestingly, and we won't get to this tonight, but if you notice in verses 21 to 23, Jesus teaches a very important lesson. He teaches that the cross precedes the crown. And that's not the only place that we find this particular lesson in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross precedes the crown.
In other words, we don't just wander into heaven without some degree of difficulty and hardship. And it's on the heels of that that he then issues this challenge in terms of discipleship in verses 24 to 27. You as disciples must undergo the cross prior to the crown as well. It is not the case that the health, wealth, prosperity, so-called gospel is valid or is legitimate.
No, there is a pattern. There is a paradigm set forth for us by our blessed Savior. Notice in verse 24, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. We cheapen that.
We make it seem as if a cross in our lives is a difficult child. A cross in our life is having to spend a little extra time and, you know, overtime at work. Boy, I'm under such a cross. I'm under such a burden.
People at work don't love me. That's not the cross in view here. And these particular disciples would understand all too well the implications of the statement. You need to be willing to die for Jesus.
You need to be willing to be crucified for Jesus. Now, by and large, He doesn't ask that of any of us. He doesn't specify that that's the only means by which we serve Him. But certainly, there ought to be a willingness on the part of God's people to follow the Savior wherever He bids.
And if that means crucifixion, if that means torture, if that means jail, if that means whatever it means, we follow the Lamb wherever He bids us go. So Christ sets forth the paradigm, and that paradigm is for His people as well. The cross always precedes the crown. As I said, we won't get to that tonight, but I wanted to make sure we did get to it, at least in some small sense.
Declaration of the Divine Plan
So I want to look first at the declaration of the divine plan in verse 21. Secondly, the rejection of the divine plan in verse 22. And then finally, the affirmation of the divine plan in verse 23.
Christ Must Go to Jerusalem
Now notice, in terms of the declaration in verse 21, there's this continual emphasis. So verse 21, from that time, Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem. Again, a geographical shift. We're moving from Galilee down to the city of Jerusalem.
But there is a theological necessity laid upon the Son of God in terms of the covenant of redemption and even in terms of the city of Jerusalem. What takes place in Jerusalem, according to the Old Testament? What takes place in Jerusalem is sacrifice. What takes place in Jerusalem is the Day of Atonement.
What takes place in the city of Jerusalem is when the just substitutes for the unjust, and the wrath of God is appeased. If you go back to chapter 9, again you see some informal statements concerning his impending death. Notice in Matthew 9, specifically at verse 15. And Jesus said to them, can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them and then they will fast. Now, obviously, Jesus is the one in view here. So he's alluding to and foreshadowing and at least informally announcing the fact that he's going to die. Notice in chapter 10, specifically at verse 38.
Chapter 10, verse 38, and he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Again, another lesson in terms of discipleship, the disciple follows the master. And if the disciple takes up the cross to follow the master, that must imply that the master himself has taken up a cross as well. And then notice in chapter 12, specifically at verses 14 and 15, Notice the Sabbath wars.
That's the context in verses 1 to 8, and then again in verses 9 to 14. Notice how the Sabbath war ends in verse 14. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him. Verse 15, but when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there, not because he was a scaredy-cat, not because he was filled with cowardice, but it was not yet his time.
So he withdrew from there knowing their purpose and intention to destroy him. It's not without great merit that then we see this appeal to a suffering servant passage in the prophet Isaiah. So had the disciples been listening to these informal announcements, perhaps they would not have dropped the ball so severely when Jesus makes the formal announcement in chapter 16 at verse 21. But then notice not only this formal announcement, but again in chapter 17, you can turn there, verses 22 and 23. 22, now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the son of man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men and they will kill him.
And the third day he will be raised up. And they were exceedingly sorrowful. It's an interesting thing. Not that they were exceedingly sorrowful, but they were exceedingly sorrowful even after he had announced that he'd be raised up.
They loved him. They were devoted to him. They didn't want him to be hurt. They didn't want to see him suffer.
They didn't want to see him die. And then again, notice in chapter 20, Chapter 20, specifically at verse 17, now Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the 12 disciples aside on the road and said to them, behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The son of man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and discourage and to crucify. And the third day he will rise again.
It's intriguing that on the heels of this, two disciples then jockey for position in the kingdom of God. Again, brethren, I don't want to pick on the disciples here. I mean, I think they're representative of all of us, but they're just a bit tone-deaf, aren't they? He announces that he must go to Jerusalem, he must suffer at the hands of godless men, he must be delivered up to the Gentiles, and he must be crucified.
So what happens? The mother of Zebedee's sons come and says, hey, can my little precious boys sit on your right hand and on your left when you come in the glory of your kingdom? Do you not hear yourself? He just announced that he's going to die.
And Jesus handles this beautifully. Not that he needs my commendation, not that he needs my approval, but notice the nature of her request. Verse 21, she said to him, grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right hand and the other on the left in your kingdom. Now look at how Jesus responds.
Jesus answered and said, you do not know what you ask. He's going to preach again the message that the cross precedes the crown. You don't just shoot into a position of glory on the right hand and on the left hand of the blessed Savior without some sort of difficulty along the way. That's just the nature of the way it is.
And people have problems with that. Well, why is it? Why is there suffering? Why is there hardship?
Why is there travail? Why is there affliction? Why in the world is there any good in a world that is in defection and rebellion and transgression against God? C.S.
Lewis wrote the book, or wrote the pamphlet, booklet, The Problem of Pain. John Gerstner followed it up with a better question, The Problem of Pleasure. Lewis is saying, you know, trying to deal with the perennial question, why do bad things happen to so-called good people? Gerstner flips it on its head.
Why does anything good ever happen to bad people? We've got the wrong framework. We've got the wrong point of reference. We've got the wrong frame of mind when it comes to these things.
So Jesus says, you do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink? That's a reference to the wrath and the fury and the judgment of God. You can see that in Gethsemane, when Christ prays according to his humanity, that if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
It's the cup of God's wrath. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? Why does he say that? Well, Luke 12 50 specifies for us the words that Tito doesn't mean sprinkling.
He doesn't say I'm going to be sprinkled with a bit of distress. I'm going to be sprinkled with a bit of problems. I'm going to be overwhelmed. I'm going to be immersed.
I am going to be submerged in the wrath and fury of God Most High. You don't know anything about the cup. You don't know anything about the baptism that I'm about to undergo. Your question is wrong-headed.
But then notice, they said to him, we are able. Do you ever do Monday morning quarterback when you read your Bible and say, you know, brothers, you probably shouldn't say that. Or you've been in a situation where you're with somebody that's not as bright as somebody else. And the not as bright as somebody else is challenging the brighter than they.
And you just kind of secretly think you should stop this. It's not going to end well. It is not going to demonstrate your prowess and savvy, but rather it's going to demonstrate just the opposite. So notice these men say, we are able, and again, I'm not picking on these men, brethren.
I'm really not. I mean, I think they're representative of all of God's people. Notice what he says in verse 23. So he said to them, you will indeed drink my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.
In other words, there will be a cross before your crown. James is beheaded in Acts chapter 12 by Herod. And then John is famously exiled on the island of Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of the Lord. Now, Patmos wasn't a retirement place.
It didn't have, you know, several nice, lush, 18-hole golf courses. Patmos was a rock out in the Aegean Sea. It was a place where you sent criminals. So these men would know something of the cup.
They would know something of the baptism unto suffering and death. And notice, but to sit on my right hand, middle of verse 23, and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by my father. Now notice verse 24. This is intriguing.
And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. Why do you think they were greatly displeased with the two brothers? I cannot believe your lack of virtue. I cannot believe your lack of etiquette.
I cannot believe that on the heels of his announcement that he's going to die, you're jockeying for position. No, probably because they themselves wanted to be on the immediate right hand and on the immediate left hand. If these two edge them out, then they're out on the fray. I doubt it was a virtuous contemplation or a virtuous displeasure in these men and their lack of savvy in the situation.
And then notice how Jesus responds. Verse 25, Jesus called them to himself and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you. That's a lesson that needs to be proclaimed in every age of the church.
We're not supposed to have celebrities lead us. We're not supposed to have t-shirts with our favorite guy's face on it. Yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many." This further defines, describes, and declares the nature of the divine necessity laid upon him for him to move into Jerusalem. Now back to chapter 16. Verse 21, from that time Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must. Don't miss the significance of this word.
It highlights the absolute necessity of the mission of Christ. There is divine necessity, a theological necessity involved here. And when it comes to the Lord Christ, he understood that. So he shows to his disciples that he must.
And intriguingly, the various infinitives that follow are passive, which indicates that God is the active agent. The Father is the reason why Jesus must do this. I've mentioned the covenant of redemption. That's the backdrop.
That's the background. That's the pre-temporal, intra-Trinitarian covenant between the persons of the Godhead to save His people from their sins. The Father elects a miserable lot of sinners, gives them to the Son, the Son covenants to the Father that He'll take on our humanity, He'll go into this world, and He will suffer for them, and He will die for them, and He will be raised again for them. So there is this necessity laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
So this word, must, highlights that absolute necessity. And then this word, must, governs each of those following statements. Notice, He must go to Jerusalem. He must suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes.
He must be killed and he must be raised the third day. Now he must go to Jerusalem. Why is that? Because that's where they killed prophets.
It's not only where they sacrificed sacrifices, but that's where they killed prophets. I seem to have tipped my hand this morning relative to some statements about revelation. I don't think it's in our future. I think it happened and it was applicable to the first century situation.
The great city, as I mentioned, was Jerusalem. Those saints under the altar crying out for the vengeance of God in Revelation chapter 6 have specific reference to the conditions that obtained in the first century. The first primary enemy of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ was not the Roman Empire. They were second But the first primary enemy was the unbelieving Jews.
You see it with Jesus. You see it with the apostles. Trace through the book of Acts. The government, the civil government, doesn't get involved until later on.
And they're even unwilling. They just play pass the buck. They don't want to deal with Paul. This isn't our debate.
This isn't our dispute. Some of them even announce as much. This is an intramural religious discussion between these Jews and this subset of Judaism, this Christianity. So when you look at scripture, you'll notice that Jerusalem is both the holy city, but it's also the apostate city.
And so Jesus must go there. Why? Because that's where they kill prophets. You see that in 2 Chronicles.
You see it in Jeremiah 26. You see it as well in Matthew 21. You can turn there. Matthew 21, the parable of the wicked vinedressers.
It's simply the history of Israel and her dealings with God most high. And this is intimately connected to the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 5. He uses the same analogy. He uses the same situation.
He uses the same sort of a thing to illustrate in his time, Isaiah's time, the apostate nature of the people of Israel and the judgment of God that is impending. Well, notice in chapter 21, the Lord Jesus gives us that history of Israel. Verse 33, here another parable. There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it and built a tower.
And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now, when the vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers that they might receive its fruit. Who do you think the servants are? The prophets of God, sent by God to Israel to bring forth the fruit.
Give us the fruit that the landowner, the vineyard owner, has called you to bear. Now notice in verse 34, I'm sorry, verse 35, And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all, he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son.
Brethren, this is not tough to figure out who he's talking about. He's talking about his contemporaries. He's talking about these religious leaders. He's talking about Old Covenant Israel.
He is applying to them this analogy to show them their disregard for the living and true God. So the father says he sent his son, they will respect my son. Notice in verse 38, but when the vinedresser saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.
So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. So Jesus must go to Jerusalem because that's where They kill prophets. Luke's gospel, he says as much. Luke 13, 33.
He says, nevertheless, I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following. For it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. See, brethren, as we move our way through John's Gospel, you see that antipathy, that enmity rising, that opposition to our blessed Savior. It culminates when they say, away with him, away with him, crucify him.
They fulfill all that was written concerning them. They do the bidding of God. Even the wrath of man shall praise you, the psalmist says in Psalm 76. But as well, as I mentioned, it is the place of sacrifice.
Matthew Henry marks this connection. He says he must go to Jerusalem, the head city, the holy city, and suffer there. Though he lived most of his time in Galilee, he must die at Jerusalem. There, all the sacrifices were offered.
Therefore, he must die, who is the great sacrifice. So he says, I must go to Jerusalem.
Christ Must Suffer Many Things
But notice, secondly, he must suffer many things. He says, as much to them, he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes. The sufferings of our Lord are manifold. Now, the Bible doesn't get into a long celebration of that vis-a-vis some sort of a passion play like you see in Romanism or on the big screen.
It doesn't celebrate the blood and the gore the way that, say, Mel Gibson does in his movie about Jesus. But with reference to the suffering, the Son of Man knew sorrow. The Son of Man knew suffering. The Son of Man goes into Gethsemane, and his soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death.
Again, this is written in the Old Testament. When we get to Peter's rebuke of the Lord Jesus, Peter is showing his ignorance of the prophetic word. He is demonstrating his lack of understanding in terms of the messianic agenda. He is evidencing that he hasn't grappled with the reality of, say for instance, the 22nd Psalm.
Psalm 22 talks about crucifixion hundreds of years before crucifixion. Psalm 22 is basically a script for what happens in terms of Messiah. The first half is the humiliation, the suffering, and the death. The latter half is the exaltation of the right hand of the Father and the blessings that accrue as a result of what the Son of Man suffered.
You've got Psalm 69, and you see that applied in the gospel narratives, the betrayal of our blessed Savior. You've got as well the prophet Isaiah, the servant songs, and in particular 52 and 53, the suffering servant of Yahweh, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He has no form, no comeliness. When we see him, there's nothing in him that attracts us to him.
He is suffering on behalf of the people of God. Daniel 9, Messiah cut off. Zechariah 9 to 14. And intriguingly, Matthew the theologian invokes these prophets along the way and shows us that everything that was specified and written of Christ has come to pass.
Christ Must Be Killed
Notice thirdly, he must be killed. The Messiah of Israel would be crucified. John Gill said, signifying that he should not die a natural death, but that his life should be taken from him in a cruel and violent manner, without any regard to law or justice. Indeed, that he should be properly murdered.
He says that, and be killed. He's not going to die in His sleep for the salvation of us men. He is rather going to be killed. He's going to be brutalized.
He's going to be treated with absolute contempt, and with absolute disdain, and with absolute hatred. They treat the only holy, harmless, and undefiled man that has ever walked the face of the earth in the most atrocious and vicious way. Now brethren, again, the cross precedes the crown. Peter, according to Fox, Fox's book of martyrs, when it was time for him to be crucified, he had one request.
Crucify me upside down. I am not worthy to go in the same way that my blessed Savior went. The people of God suffer. When you identify with the true and living God, does the world around you say, good for you.
You're one of our bestest friends now. We love and esteem you because you hold fast the truth as it is in Jesus. No, it's just the opposite. You can be disowned, you can be disassociated with, you could lose jobs, you could lose life, you could lose freedom, you could lose liberty, you could lose a whole lot.
Well, again, the cross precedes the crown, and Jesus sets forth that paradigm or that pattern. The means, ultimately, or this is the means, ultimately, by which He would affect our redemption. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And when God comes to deal with our sin, He doesn't deal with a bull or a goat or a heifer.
Rather, He deals with His only begotten Son. The Son of His love, the one who has His nature, comes into this world, takes on our nature, lives for us, dies for us, and is then raised again.
Christ Must Rise the Third Day
So notice that progression. He must go to Jerusalem, he must suffer, he must die, but then he says he must be raised the third day. The Old Testament indicated that he must be raised again from the dead. You see it in that servant song in Isaiah 53.
You've got that. the ignominy, which is an old word meaning the curse and the shame associated with the crucifixion of our Lord. But it ends in exaltation. It ends in triumph. It ends in blessedness.
The same with Daniel's 70 weeks. The same with Psalm 16. The Apostle Peter invokes Psalm 16 to prove the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So again, what Jesus says here, it's scripted.
He's not making things up. He's not suggesting anything that hasn't obtained or hasn't been in the daily readings that these men had undergone. So you get the point that these brothers had been instructed. These brothers had the information.
These brothers had known, but they really didn't peer down and know of a truth, the nature of the Messiah.
Rejection of the Divine Plan
So that brings us then, secondly, to the rejection of the divine plan. Notice the objector, then Peter. You kind of expect this from Peter. Peter has always struck me as a ready, fire, aim kind of a guy.
You know, you're supposed to ready, aim, fire. That's typically the way you shoot, but some people ready, fire, and then aim. Peter's got an impetuosity about him, but as well, Peter is the spokesman for the other apostles. Matthew indicates that as we move through, or as you move through Matthew's gospel, Peter is the one that vocalizes or speaks, for the most part, not every single time, but for the most part, he's the spokesman of the 12.
So
Peter's Rebuke of Christ
notice what Peter does here. And let's just remember that Peter had just been pronounced blessed by our Lord. So go back in the context to verse 15. He said to them, but who do you say that I am?
Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you Simon Barjona. It's an intriguing passage. You go from blessed are you Simon Barjona to get behind me, Satan?
There's a quick shift here in terms of the script. It's pretty amazing. And we'll look at that in just a moment. But Peter takes him aside and began to rebuke him saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen to you.
There's a degree of respect there. He takes them aside. Perhaps he learned what I learned growing up and having jobs. Praise in public and reprove in private.
Don't praise bad performance or don't rebuke bad performance in front of everybody. Take them aside and rebuke them privately. Not that this was bad performance, just an analogy. He takes them aside.
And then notice, he basically says, God be merciful, or literally, far be it from you, Lord. And it's a strong negative. This shall not happen to you. France says the strong negative, translated by never, conveys that it is not just undesirable, but unthinkable.
So he's not just saying, I don't want you to do this. He's saying, it's unthinkable that you would do this. You're Jesus. You're the son of God.
You're the one that the prophets have talked about. Your arrival is upon us and we are esteeming you. And the fact that you suggest you're gonna go suffer, you're gonna go die, you're gonna go be raised again. No, it's not gonna happen, Lord.
Perhaps he thought he had one up here. He had been pronounced blessed. Perhaps now this gave him a bit of insight into the scheme here, and he wants to register his disapproval. Now, Jesus, we love you, we've come to esteem you, but this is crazy talk.
You're not going to Jerusalem. And again, brethren, on one hand, you get it, right? I mean, if you love somebody, you don't want to hear them say, yeah, I'm going to go to Jerusalem, because there I'm going to suffer, and I'm going to die. You'd probably be inclined to say, no, we don't want you to do that.
Remember when Agabus takes Paul's belt and then binds his own hands, and then he says, the owner of this belt, according to the Holy Spirit, is going to be bound in Jerusalem? He's going to suffer in Jerusalem? What do Paul's companions do? Do they say, oh, that's great.
That's awesome. Isn't that wonderful? No, they weep. They're sad.
They're grieved over that. They love Paul. They don't want him to go to Jerusalem and be bound. They don't want him to go to Jerusalem and be hurt.
So when Peter says this, far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen to you, it demonstrates or underscores the love that he had for Jesus. I'm not knocking that. I think it's admirable. I think it's glorious.
I think it is wonderful. But as well, it shows the understanding he had of the Messiah. And his understanding of the Messiah was not altogether rounded out. Remember this morning in the Psalm, Psalm 45, when it says that Jesus rides prosperously in truth, humility, and righteousness.
We understand truth, don't we? The Messiah advances his kingdom and his cause through truth. We understand righteousness, don't we? The Messiah is going to govern his kingdom in righteousness.
But humility? That's not something you typically long for in a civil leader. If it is, you will never get it. You get just the opposite.
You get sanctimony and virtue signaling all in proud arrogance. But why humility? He rides prosperously in truth, humility, and righteousness. Well, I think the humility points to something that we see throughout the Old Testament.
Christ is going to have absolute dominion, empire, and power. Christ is going to shatter the nations with a rod of iron. But Christ is going to be the servant of the Lord. Christ is going to have the state of humiliation where He assumes our humanity, where He is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
When He says that the foxes have their holes and the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. We're going to see, or we see rather played out, this state of humiliation wherein Christ assumes the humanity, or assumes our humanity, and he's treated poorly. He's treated with disrespect. So it's not necessarily the perfection or the virtue, though I think that's involved, but it's that state of humiliation.
So perhaps Peter, musing on the 45th Psalm, sought truth and righteousness. He muses on the second Psalm, shattering them with a rod of iron. He muses on Psalm 110. Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
Well, brethren, we know that the path to that glory and exaltation is through the cross, right? They missed that in the first century. That's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, the Jews, they request a sign. You see it in this very passage.
Jesus upbraids the Pharisees and the Sadducees because they want signs. The Jews seek after signs, Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 1. The Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach what? Christ and him crucified.
To the Jews, a stumbling block, an offense. Same word that Jesus uses in verse 23, a scandal. So Simon Peter goes from being the chief confessor to now trying to block up the means by which the church is going to be built. So Riles says,
Spiritual Ignorance in True Disciples
there may be much spiritual ignorance even in a true disciple of Christ. So we're not treating Peter here as a reprobate. We're not suggesting that Peter's godless or that he's damned to hell for this sort of brief interruption in terms of the agenda. But I think Ryle's right, brethren.
And I think that that ought to temper the way that we deal with one another. There may be much spiritual ignorance even in a true disciple of Christ. Now that doesn't mean we have to point all of that out. That doesn't mean we have to say, there, see, you're not as bright as you ought to be.
Hopefully it gives us a good dose of humility and charity as we live in this present evil age, knowing that our fellows may not be the brightest bulbs in the chandelier on particular articles of the faith. Matthew 11, 2 and 3, we see John the Baptist struggling with the messianic agenda, not the identification of Jesus as the Messiah, but as far as the Baptist is concerned, if he is in fact the Messiah, which John believed, why am I in jail? John sees that Jesus is out there doing glorious and wondrous things. Well, certainly he can bust me out of this jail that I'm in for not having committed any crime.
So even John the Baptist has a perplexity there in Matthew's gospel in chapter 11. I've already alluded to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, the Jews seek signs, the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ and Him crucified. But as well, look at 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 8. The apostle summarizes this well.
And he does it, I think, in a very charitable way. 1 Corinthians 2, it gives them, as it were, the benefit of the doubt. Had they known he was the Lord of glory, I'd like to think they wouldn't have nailed him to a tree. They obviously didn't know that He was the Lord of Glory. That's why they did nail Him to a tree.
Notice in verse 8, which none of the rulers of this age knew. Well, back to verse 7. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory. which none of the rulers of this age knew. For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." They would not have crucified.
If they had known who he was, again, benefit of the doubt, I'd like to think they wouldn't have put him up on a tree. But then notice as well the statement here. I don't want to leave this passage without admiring the turn of phrase. They crucified the Lord of glory.
How do you possibly put that sentence together without the hypostatic union? How do you possibly put that sentence together without what Cyril would later identify as the communication of idioms? How do you talk about crucifying the Lord of Glory? Well, you do so based on the nature of the Redeemer, based on the person, rather, of the Redeemer, one person, two natures.
You crucified the Lord of glory. You put to a miserable death the one who is, in fact, the Lord of glory. So Peter objects, and that brings, thirdly, and finally, the affirmation of the divine plan.
Affirmation of the Divine Plan
So Peter says in verse nine, far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen to you. Jesus doesn't ignore him. Jesus doesn't just let this slide. Jesus doesn't say, well, you know, he's just a bit of an ignorant fellow.
Hopefully he'll learn once we go through the rest of the gospel narrative and I do my thing, then he'll see. It'll be crystal clear. No. Jesus wants to nip this in the bud.
This is godless thinking. This is satanic thinking. This is trying to block up the progress of God Most High, the plan and purpose of God Most High. Notice what he says in verse 23.
He turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me, a scandal, a stumbling block to me, for you're not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. So the nature of the rebuke is a sharp one. Get behind me, Satan.
Again, he goes from, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven, to get behind me, Satan. Can you imagine the look on Peter's face? Huh? What?
I don't know what just hit me here. This is quite the move or quite the shift in terms of the particular narrative. J.C. Ryle says, the error that drew from so loving a Savior such a stern rebuke to such a true disciple must have been a mighty error indeed.
Brethren, as we've moved our way through John's gospel in the recurring emphasis on Jesus' identity with the Father, the Father sent me, I am the one sent. Jesus certainly calls them children of the devil. I don't want to diminish that in John 8, 44. But I haven't seen yet where he tells these Jews, get behind me, Satan.
Now, they're challenging him at the level of nature. They're challenging him at the level of divinity. He's claiming the man to be God. He makes himself equal with God.
He doesn't rebuke them, not that he doesn't rebuke them, but he doesn't rebuke them in this manner, the way he does with Simon Peter. This isn't according to the humanity thing. This is a covenant of redemption thing. This is the surety of a better covenant thing.
This is the means by which he comes to save us from our sins. If he takes Peter's counsel, if he listens to Peter's rebuke, if he does not go to Jerusalem, if he does not suffer at the hands of godless men, if he does not die and be raised again the third day, then we're all dead in our trespasses and sins.
Error on Christ's Death Is Fatal
Ryle goes on to make that statement. He says, error on many points is only a skin disease. Error about Christ's death is a disease at the heart. You cannot be wrong here.
You can be wrong in some heads of theology. You can be wrong in some articles of religion. But you cannot be wrong on the death of Christ. You cannot be wrong on substitutionary curse bearing.
You cannot be wrong on atonement. You cannot be wrong on behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Those are sufficiently clear doctrines revealed by God. Now, intriguingly, Jesus uses this language with the devil himself in Matthew chapter 4, verses 8 to 10.
He rebukes the actual devil, and there the particular temptation. The Son of God was promised universal dominion. The devil says it can be his right now if he bows before Satan and rejects the plan of God. In other words, he can receive the crown without the cross.
So he says, get behind me, Satan. He rebukes the devil. Now, when we come back to Matthew 16, he's not actually identifying Peter as the devil. He's not looking through Peter at the devil.
He is using a very stern and strong rebuke to show the necessity laid upon him by the Father for us men and for our salvation. He is declaring his resolution. He's declaring his resoluteness, rather. In Luke's gospel, it says that he was steadfast, or he set his face steadfast to go to Jerusalem.
I like the old King James. He set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem. That invokes the servant song of Isaiah. He does this, again, because this is the plan and the means by which he saves us from our sins.
So the Lord does not look through Peter to the devil behind him. The Lord does not actually identify Peter as the devil. The Lord rather does rebuke him for objecting to the divine plan. In other words, anything that would throw Jesus off the mission, anything that would throw Jesus off the divine necessity that he must suffer, that he must die, and that he must be raised again is satanic in its origin.
It is absolutely devilish. It is contrary to the plan and purpose of God Frantz says the same Peter who had just spoken what God had revealed to him, verse 17, is now speaking for Satan. Just as the third temptation in chapter 4, 8, and 9 had been to achieve worldly power by accommodating himself to Satan rather than attacking him, so now Peter's vision of Messiahship represents the easier way to power and authority. He says, the gains without the pains.
And that was never the plan, never the purpose of God Almighty. That first announcement in the garden, that first statement concerning the gospel, we have a deliverer, a man born of a woman, and a man born of a woman that would affect salvation for his people. He would affect the crushing of the serpent through his own suffering and through his own death. So from the outset, the very first announcement of gospel salvation, We see the suffering and the death of the Messiah.
Now notice, Jesus says, get behind me, Satan, you are an offense to me, for you're not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. Peter was pronounced a rock when he confessed the truth about Christ. Now he is called a stumbling block when he tries to block up the truth about Christ. He goes from essentially being a good rock to a bad rock.
He goes from being a spokesman of the father to a spokesman of the devil. Davies and Allison make the observation, Peter, up against what Paul called the stumbling block of the cross, himself has become a stumbling block, an obstacle tempting Jesus to leave the path that goes through Gethsemane and Golgotha. It makes sense, right? No suffering for you.
No hardship or affliction for you. You're the Son of God. That means regal power and glory. It means victory.
It means the subjugation of all peoples under you. Peter could recite Psalm 45 in terms of the majesty of the Messiah and his conquering power, but it's that humility bit that he missed. It's that humility bit that the unbelieving Jews in the first century missed. It is that humility bit that the health, wealth, and prosperity teachers miss.
They don't see that the cross precedes the crown. They want Jesus to go from Jerusalem straight to heaven while bypassing Gethsemane and Golgotha. And then in terms of the rejection of the divine plan, Peter could not conceive the necessity of a suffering Messiah. He was not alone in the first century.
He's not alone in the 21st century. There are those who can't see it. They don't understand. They don't realize.
Why do you Christians follow this Jesus? Why do you celebrate his death? That seems a bit macabre. That seems a bit odd.
That seems a bit grisly. Well, we know without that death, there's no salvation. Without that death, there's no forgiveness. Without that blood, there There's no remission.
That's why we celebrate it. That's why we sing of it. That's why we remember it in a special way with actual emblems and symbols that he gives us. Eat this bread, drink this cup.
Why? Because you remember the broken body of our Savior and the shed blood of the Savior. Again, outside the church, that seems a bit bizarre. Did you know that in the early church, the Christians were accused of being cannibals?
They were accused of being cannibals because they celebrated the Lord's Supper. And this whole idea of eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking his blood suggested something odd. It suggested something contrary to natural reason. So Peter couldn't conceive of that.
As well, Peter did not understand the Old Testament Scriptures concerning the Messiah. The Old Testament prophesied his suffering. The Old Testament prophesied his death. The Old Testament prophesied his resurrection.
Simon Peter doesn't get that. He does, obviously, and this is one of the means by which he does, as Jesus is teaching him, the divine scripture. But as well, Peter had a triumphalistic view of the Messiah. a triumphalistic view of the Messiah. This is something that is a perennial problem in Christianity.
I mentioned health, wealth, and prosperity, but it also goes to mainstream churches as well. Oh, we're children of the king. No bad thing should ever happen to us. Yeah, but the king said bad things are going to happen to you, right?
If the king said in this world you will have tribulation, then guess what? In this world, you're going to have tribulation. When the king's chief apostle to the Gentiles says all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, guess what? There's no bypassing Gethsemane and Golgotha. that we would ever go through Gethsemane and Golgotha.
But the point is, is that we must pass through a veil of tears prior to entrance into the celestial city. That's paradigmatic. That's the way it goes. The last sinner saved is probably the most fortunate sinner on the face of the earth.
Notice I didn't say lucky. Fortunate. Peter tells us, consider the long-suffering of our Lord to be salvation. What does that mean?
It means there's a specific number of sinners needing to be saved before Jesus comes again in glory. What's holding up the plan in terms of Jesus' return? There are sinners to be saved! Imagine being that last sinner, confessing faith in Jesus Christ, and then the Son of God returns.
That sinner doesn't know as much of the pain and affliction and the hardship in terms of the veil of tears that the rest of us go through. So Peter had a triumphalistic view. Spurgeon says, the pith, that means sort of the focus or the center of the error, was that Peter looked at things from the point of view of human honor and success, and not from that grand standpoint in which the glory of God and the salvation of men swallows everything. Peter was operating under that mindset that you see later in chapter 20.
Lord, grant that we may sit on your right and sit on your left. Again, I'm not picking on these disciples. They are new in terms of Messiah's presence. They are new in terms of Messiah's influence.
They're obviously new in terms of some understanding of those Old Testament Scriptures that spoke of the suffering and that spoke of the death. We're not going to chastise them. Jesus does later. He says, if I've been so long with you and you still do not understand, So in the best of men, there's still that remaining, not corruption even, but that ignorance.
Application
Well, in conclusion, we ought to appreciate, in the passage, the commitment of our Lord Jesus Christ. When He says He must do what He does, He is doing that for us men and for our salvation. As well, the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. That confession is made previously in verse 16, and that means consistently with that confession, all the things specified by the Father for that Son of God, who takes on our humanity must obtain.
He must suffer, he must die, he must be raised again. The Lord Jesus Christ carries out the demands placed upon him, even suffering and death on the cross. I had said earlier, you can't get the death of Jesus wrong. You just can't.
You can get eschatology wrong. You can get, you know, baptism wrong. I don't want you to, and you shouldn't, and there's sufficient data so that you shouldn't, but you can go to heaven even if you don't embrace the specific teaching of scripture. But you can't when you don't understand who Jesus is.
Listen to Spurgeon. Now, Spurgeon and guys subsequent to Spurgeon had to deal with people who were denying substitutionary atonement. I mean, it's so commonplace today that to find a church that actually espouses substitutionary atonement is the odd thing. Wow, they actually preach Christ's name crucified in the manner that's specified by God.
That's the odd thing out today. But there was a time when the church, in her better days, really understood the cross. But at the time of Spurgeon and subsequent Machen, you'll see this a lot as well, people were denying those things. People were reneging on the biblical truth concerning the atoning work of Jesus.
Listen to Spurgeon. He says, those who at this date revile the substitutionary sacrifice of our Lord are fonder of the things that be of men than those that be of God. They are allowed in their claim to be great philanthropists, but sound theologians they are not. Humanitarians they may be, but divines they cannot be.
They may be friends of man, but they are not the servants of God. He's lumping them in with this objection, no, far be it from you, Lord. It's not about substitutionary curse-bearing. That's precisely what it's about.
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Brethren, hold that doctrine. Don't let go of that doctrine. Keep it with you wherever you find yourself, because it is that, the doctrine of Christ and Him crucified and resurrected, that stabilizes the people of God, that solidifies the people of God, that enables them to persevere by the grace of God to the celestial city.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for this passage of Scripture and for what it teaches concerning that divine necessity laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of His passion. We thank You that He went to these lengths to save us from our sin, and we rejoice in Your loving kindness to us. And we pray in His most blessed name.
Amen.