The Beginning Of The End – Part 1
Matthew 16:21-28
The first two section of our study of this 16th Chapter of Matthew focused on two ideas: that the expectations we have of God and of others will inevitably lead to disappointment and discontentment if we do not have biblical, God-given expectations filtered through the lens of the sinfulness of mankind – including ourselves; and, one day we will all have to answer the question about Jesus Christ, “But, who do you say that I am?”
If you knew that your time on earth was short, how would that change the way you lived? Today we are going to embark on a study into the beginning of the end for Jesus here on earth. This study will take us a number of weeks, and it will take us across a little wider coverage of the book before us.
Keep in mind that the chapter and verse divisions in the Bible were not added until the 13th through the 16th centuries. The chapter divisions we have in our modern translations today were developed by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury. Langton put the modern chapter divisions into place sometime around 1227. The Wycliffe English Bible of 1382 was the first Bible to use this chapter pattern. Every translation of the Bible since that time has maintained the practice for continuity.
The Hebrew Old Testament was first divided into numbered verses by a Jewish rabbi named Isaac Nathan in 1448. Robert Estienne (also known as Stephanus) was the first one to divide the New Testament into standard numbered verses. This he did in 1551. The first English New Testament to use the verse divisions was a 1557 translation by William Whittingham. Beginning with the Geneva Bible in 1560, the chapter and verse divisions employed by Stephanus have been accepted into nearly all the English Bible versions.
All of this I mention here because, if we were to look at Matthew 16:1-17:23 without this “versification”, we would find a flow and a continuity of thought and message that we miss because of the divisions we are so accustomed to and that we find so helpful.
Let’s read the entire text of Matthew 16:1-17:23 without pause and talk about what stands out to us.
Okay, what do we see as the key points of this text? As I went through this myself, there were a couple of things that stood out. See if you agree.
The first thing that stood out to me was that Jesus changes His tack. What I mean by that is, up to this point He seems to have been focusing on establishing the fact that He is the long-awaited Messiah. His teaching, His miracles, His ministry, even His conversation with the religious leaders, all seem to be targeted on making it clear to everyone who can understand that the kingdom of heaven is no longer some far off and distant concept, but is right now in their midst.
At this point, however, Jesus makes several very specific references to the fact that, not only is He going to suffer at the hands of the religious leaders of their people, be killed, and then be raised on the third day. We see this in 16:21; 17:22-23. There is also a reference to what the post-resurrection Christ will be like in 16:27-28. These references, coupled with the Transfiguration account of Matthew 17:1-8, makes it clear that there is a definite change in theme and focus. We will discuss these different sections more over the following studies, but let’s return to our overview.
Okay, so what other things do we notice? Let’s look first at the interchange between Jesus and Peter, recorded for us in Matthew 16:21-23. There is quite a bit here. First we see that Jesus is very clearly telling His disciples that the end is coming and what that is going to look like. Now, if we had been there, imagine what our own reaction would have been.
Here we are following the One we trust is the promised Messiah, the Anointed One of God. Everything He has done and said over the last three years has made that clear. And, we were there when Peter made the proclamation, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16).
So, what are we now to make of His statements that He is going to be not only rejected by those of our faith we have always been taught to follow and obey, but that those same leaders are going to kill our Messiah. How can this be? Isn’t the Messiah going to come and take over the nation Israel? Isn’t the Messiah going to restore Israel to her rightful place as the leading nation among the nations? Isn’t the Messiah going to rule from the throne of His forefather, King David? How can He possibly be put to death by the chief priest, the Sanhedrin and the Scribes?
Good old Peter! Count on Peter to put into words what the rest of us are thinking – especially when it’s something that seems like a dumb statement or a stupid question.
Peter, recently commended and exalted by Jesus before the rest of the disciples, now takes Jesus aside and rebukes Him. Wait – did I say, “rebukes Him”? How would Peter dare to do that if He believes Jesus to be the Christ?
Oh, I see – Peter, you have a lot of stuff going on inside of you right now, don’t you?
You love Jesus so much that you cannot bear the thought of God allowing such a thing to happen to Him, don’t you? You just cannot believe that everything you have always understood to be true about the Messiah isn’t true after all, can you?
Or, do you consider Jesus’ commendation of you just a little bit ago as giving you a special place and special rights? You think that, since God has revealed a great truth to you that He has not revealed to the others that your “insights” now come directly from Him, don’t you? That’s why you are so bold as to take Jesus to task and talk to Him as sternly as He does to the demons themselves, isn’t it?
Oh, Peter – you poor guy!
Jesus turns and faces Peter, eye-to-eye and toe-to-toe and lets him have it: "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s (16:23)."
Pow! From the rock to the devil in one easy step. Now, there have been a lot of teachings on this verse that try to sweeten Jesus’ words by watering down their meaning and doing all kinds of contortions and maneuverings with the text, but the words are plain enough. Jesus states as clearly as possible that speaking for God when we are really speaking for ourselves is exactly what Satan (that old liar!) does, and we had best keep our mouths shut about things unless we are sure we speak for God.
Let’s make this practical, shall we? Now, this might sting a little – it did me when I saw it. How often have we listened to someone tell us that their circumstances are a mess and that their emotions about it all are just as much a mess, and we turn and give them some reassuring words like, “Oh, I’m sure God will resolve this all pretty quickly. I can’t imagine Him leaving you to suffer like this for very long. He’s got a plan – He’ll work it out. Just keep praying and stay faithful. You have nothing to worry about.”
Ever said that or something like it? I have. Who do we think we are? What if the “plan” that God has is to take that person through deep trouble, painful tribulation so that He can do something far outside the realm of what we can see or imagine – what have we just done? Have we acted as God’s agent? Have we spoken for God out of a real and Spirit-revealed insight, or are we just trying to look wise in our own eyes? Who is it that we are acting like when we do that? Exactly – we are acting like Satan Himself, just like he did when he went to Eve and said, “Did God really say…”
So for people to say that Jesus wasn’t actually calling Peter His adversary (the literal meaning of the word “Satan”), that He wasn’t even really talking to Peter but to Satan who was behind the words that Peter said, is to divorce the meaning of the words in the text from what they actually say.
Peter, for all his well-intentioned desire for this evil that Jesus had said was to happen not to happen, even his good intentions were not only inappropriate but reprehensible besides. Peter’s mind was not set on God’s interests but on the interest of human beings. As much as we desire for nothing bad to happen in the lives of our friends and loved ones, sometimes it is in perfect keeping with the will of God that it be so.
This is a hard truth to swallow, isn’t it? What of this merciful, gracious, loving God that we heard talked about so much? Lest we fall into the same trap as much of what passes for Christian thinking n our world today, we need to remember the whole counsel of God’s Word in this regard.
In John 16:33, Jesus said, “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." In Matthew 5:11-12, He said, "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
In James 1:2, His half-brother tells us to “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.” Why? (Verses3-4): “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
And what does the Apostle Paul say in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15? “Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
Jesus, the One in whose footsteps we follow, petitioned God three times on the night that He was betrayed for God to allow Him to avoid the torture and death that was about to come. Yet, He submitted His will to the will of His Father, knowing that there was no other way for God’s purpose and plan to be fulfilled.
So, whenever we or someone we know faces a terrible ordeal, we must pray and we must petition God for clemency, but we must also submit our wills to the will of God. Sometimes it is fully the will of God that someone passes through the fire. Sometimes it is fully God’s will that terminal illness and debilitating trauma invade a person’s life.
We cannot grasp sometimes how or why God has decreed these things to happen. We can either make our prayers and petitions made known to God and then submit our wills to His, or we can try and conform God to the image we think he should have and fight against His will.
How can we know? Only by doing what Jesus did. Jesus invested long, deep personal times with God. He talked to Him; He listened to Him. He so saturated His mind and His life with the things of God that you couldn’t tell the difference between them. That is why Jesus told Philip in John 14:9, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
We are supposed to invest so much of our energies in following Jesus that we become more and more like Him each and every day. Will we ever be as identical to Him as He was to the Father? Not in this life. But we can cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit in transforming us daily into the image of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:8).
As we draw our tie together to a close for today, open your heart to what God would say to you about where He has you and what He desires for you to do with that. Ask Him for the desire, the strength and anything else that it will take for you to begin investing time in the spiritual disciplines, to begin investing deep, personal, intimate times with Him. And then commit to following where He leads, whatever it takes.
Let’s pray.
