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| 21. 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. | Jesus suffered and died in Jerusalem by the hand of false “spiritual” leaders |
| 22. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”23. 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.” | Peter was not happy with Jesus’ dying on the cross.
Jesus called Peter’s rejection of His crucifixion the work of Satan. Today many pastors also deny that the Christian must die on the cross in the same way as Jesus. This concern is earthly, sensual and satanic. Salvation requires crucifixion death of each one of us. Christ was not our substitute, He was our partner and helper and leader. |
| 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? | Without the death of the cross, there is no salvation.
Not only Christ’s death, YOURS TOO To deny our self is to lose our soul-life, the natural life (v. 25; Luke 9:24). Three terms in vv. 23-25 are related to one another: mind, himself, and soul-life. Our mind is the expression of our self, and our self is the embodiment of our soul-life. Our soul-life is embodied in and lived out by our self, and our self is expressed through our mind, our thought, our concept, our opinion. When we set our mind not on the things of God but on the things of men, our mind grasps the opportunity to act and express itself. This was what happened with Peter. Hence, the Lord’s subsequent word indicated that Peter had to deny himself, i.e., not save his soul-life but lose it. Losing the soul-life is the reality of denying the self. This is to take up the cross. The cross is not merely a suffering; it is also a killing. It kills and terminates the criminal. Christ first bore the cross and then was crucified. We, His believers, first were crucified with Him and now bear the cross. To us, to bear the cross is to remain under the killing of the death of Christ for the terminating of our self, our natural life, and our old man. In so doing we deny our self that we may follow the Lord. Before the Lord’s crucifixion the disciples followed Him in an outward way. But now, after His resurrection, we follow Him in an inward way. Because in resurrection He has become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) dwelling in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), we follow Him in our spirit (Gal. 5:16-25). |
| 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.” | Rewards of eternal life follows crucifixion |
Matthew 16:21-28 |
