Chapter 16

Verses 1-12, confusion.

Verses 1-4, confusion wrought by religion.

Verse 1 — the unholy alliance. The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.” Whenever the Pharisees and the Sadducees get together they must have a common enemy whom they seek to destroy. In the Sanhedrin there were four groups, two of them were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Each group are religionists but they have a different criterion. The Sadducees used rationalism as their criterion and the Pharisees used legalism and tradition. They represent two parts of the nationalist party. The Sadducees were the aristocrats of the land and the Pharisees were the religious zealots. The Pharisees believed in the supernatural; the Sadducees did not believe in anything that they could not see. But there were Sadducees and Pharisees both found in the Sanhedrin. The Sadducees did not believe in angels or resurrection; the Pharisees believed both in angels and in resurrection. And while they were opposed to each other they were willing to bury their differences long enough to try to eliminate the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have the unholy alliance.

The word “tempting” in this verse is literally, testing. It is the Greek word peirazw, which means to test with the purpose of discovering something. In this case they were testing for the purpose of discovering evil. The word “tempting” means they were looking Him over carefully, hoping to find a flaw, something wrong. Jesus faced a tremendous amount of this because He was perfect and He was a threat to the Sanhedrin, and consequently they are seeking to neutralise Him and they are watching Him very carefully, seeking to find a flaw. In order to help them find a flaw they desired that He would show them a sign. Remember that a sign is a miraculous deed from heaven to prove that Jesus is truly God and the Messiah. Jesus had been performing many miracles and they now had the temerity to ask for a sign. They want a sign of Messiahship and yet that is all that Jesus has been doing now for about a year and a half. So obviously they are not interested in Jesus as Messiah because when they asked the question He had already fulfilled all of the concepts connected with a sign. So when they ask for a sign they reveal negative volition. They indicate the fact that they have already rejected Him and they have already rejected the criterion which portrays Him — the Old Testament scriptures. They are now getting together to try to trip Him up, to try to get Him to expose Himself in a way in which they can discredit Him by asking the question, Show us a sign.

Remember that the signs have to do with miracles and extra-natural phenomena. The principle is: when these miracles of Jesus and the other things which He performed in an extra-natural way are rejected, then Jesus gives them something which is stronger than miracles. He gives them a sign which is greater than any miracle or any supernatural phenomena of any type. He gives them doctrine. The principle is that one ounce of doctrine is more powerful than all of the miracles that have ever been performed since the beginning of time. The power which is demonstrated through miracles is absolutely nothing compared to the power of Bible doctrine.

Verses 2,3 — the indictment of the unholy alliance.

Verse 2 — “He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say [they always say this], fair weather: for the sky is red.” The Greek says the sky is fiery red, a bright sunset. The principle is quite obvious. The scribes and the Pharisees customarily foretold weather. The unholy alliance, the Pharisees and the Sadducees wanted a sign from heaven, so Jesus now directs their attention toward heaven. In the evening the Pharisees and the Sadducees were customarily looking at the sky, and as they did they would predict the weather. But they could not look into the Word of God and predict the coming of Messiah even though all of the signs of Messiah had been fulfilled. So this is quite an obvious indictment. If the Pharisees and the Sadducees could look into the sky and predict the weather then they should be able to look into the Word of God and tell that Jesus is Messiah. In other words, He is facing them for the first time with the issue of authority, and sooner or later everyone must establish for himself an authority or criterion for his life. What is a greater criterion than the sky? The Word of God. The Pharisees are dogmatic about their observation of the sky, which is not always reliable. The sky is not the best criterion for predicting weather, yet it is their criterion. Much more the Bible ought to be their authority on Messiah. Jesus has been showing them signs for eighteen months but all of the miracles in the world cannot break down negative volition, and the fact that they want a sign is negative volition. In one ounce of doctrine there is enough power to break it down.

The Bible is the authority for all bona fide signs regarding Messiah and if the Bible had been the criterion for the Pharisees and the Sadducees, instead of religious traditions on the one hand and rationalism on the other, they would have correlated these miracles with Messiahship and would have believed in Jesus Christ. So the Lord Jesus Christ is indicting them for their criterion failure.

Verse 3 — “And in the morning, foul weather today: for the sky is fiery red and lowering [cloudy].” They have a fiery red sky but this time there are clouds, so they say “foul weather.” So they make all their predictions by looking at the sky. Jesus does not perform an act of healing or any other miracle to these people because of their negative volition. He needs to focus their attention on the absolute criterion and He doesn’t perform miracles He hits them with the greatest power that exists, He hits them with doctrine. Miracles are impressive but it is doctrine which saves, which gives inner happiness, which provides peace and blessing and production and orientation to the plan of God. All of the miracles in the world are useless.

“O ye hypocrites,” they put on a phoney front, “ye can discern the face of the sky.” The word “discern” means they know how to distinguish or how to examine the sky; “but can ye not the signs of the times?” The signs of the times is a phrase referring to doctrine. The signs of the times are the signs which are given in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc. But they are more interested in what they can see that affects them, like weather, than they are in looking into the Word to find out what counts for eternity.

Verse 4 — “A wicked and adulterous generation.” This is not found in any chapter on how to win friends and influence people! You just don’t call people these kind of things when you are trying to convince them. But Jesus always laid it on the line. Instead of miracles they are going to get criticism. “Wicked” is simply used to designate an unbeliever, it doesn’t mean any kind of wickedness. These two terms are technical and they are not as they appear on the surface. It doesn’t mean some special brand of wickedness, it means simply an unbeliever. They have not done anything about the sin problem and, therefore, salvation. The word “adulterous” doesn’t mean adulterous at all, it means religious. So wicked and adulterous simply means religious unbelievers (There are believers who are religious too).

“seeketh [keep on seeking] after a sign.” In other words, they have rejected the Bible signs, the Bible isn’t their criterion. They are totally divorced from the Word. Jesus takes them back to the only criterion. If you can’t be saved through the Word there is no other way to be saved. There is no greater power than the Word and if the Word won’t do it nothing will.

“and there shall no sign be given unto it” — “be given” is in the future tense, which means not only at this time but from this time on the emphasis is not on miracles, the emphasis is on doctrine; “but” — here is the sign, “the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Notice that after referring them again to the Old Testament doctrine of Jonah and how it relates to the signs, what did He do? He walked out on them — “And he left them, and departed.” The words “he left them” means He walked away physically, but when He walked away physically He also “departed” from them mentally. This is very important. You may walk away from people fuming and you are still thinking about them. He walked away with perfect peace of mind because He had given them the greatest power possible — the Word.

Verse 5 — “And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.” After the feeding of the five thousand how could they ever forget bread? Well, how can you forget Romans 8:28 or Psalm 37:4,5 etc.? The point is, their memories failed them, but if their memories failed them with regard to bread after bread had so definitely been in front of them it is quite obvious that their memories are going to fail in other things. For three years Jesus hammered into their skulls doctrine, doctrine, doctrine, and when it cam to the time to use it at the cross what did they do? They forgot it, with the possible exception of John. This is an illustration of things to come. If after great miracles in connection with bread they forget to take bread obviously they do not have very good memories. Memory is important because it is your criterion; it is what you can remember in your frontal lobe that is your ruler, your norm, your standard. And if the disciples have forgotten bread obviously they have forgotten what they have already learned doctrinally. In other words, they have many mental aberrations.

Now this time Jesus doesn’t tell them to start passing out bread He starts to talk about some other mental aberration.

Verse 6 — “Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” The leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees is false doctrine or false criterion. And as soon as He warns them they get all confused.

Leaven

The word leaven: it is never used for good, it is always used for bad, something that is contrary to God’s Word. There are five kinds of leaven found in the New Testament: the leaven of the Pharisees, mentioned here is religious legalism; the leaven of the Sadducees is religious rationalism; there is the leaven of Herod in Mark 8:15 which is the exploitation of others for one’s benefit, expediency; there is the leaven of the Corinthians, carnality, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:6,7; there is the leaven of the Galatians, which is legalism. In every case leaven is not simply a system of false doctrine but it is a false criterion which produces false doctrine. False doctrine is really the result of having the wrong kind of a criterion.

So Jesus is warning the disciples that they have forgotten bread but there is something worse: the dangers of false doctrine. There is only one criterion and that is the Word.

Verse 7 — “And they reasoned among themselves.” Jesus had spoken to them elliptically and the meaning was obscure to them, so they began to discuss this thing among themselves. “They reasoned” is an imperfect tense, linear aktionsart in past time, and it means to ponder, to not understand but to try to figure it out. And they kept on doing it, “saying [kept saying], because we have no bread.” “It is” is not found in the original. And that isn’t why at all, it is because they have no memory. No memory; no criterion. You can talk about the Bible being the Word of God until you are blue in the face but if you don’t remember anything from the Bible you have no criterion. The ruler has to be in your frontal lobe, you have to get doctrine in your frontal lobe. That is the point here. He was not rebuking them for forgetting bread. He is rebuking them because they have no memory, no memory because they have no concentration, because they have no norm, no categories, nothing on which to establish a firm system of doctrine in the frontal lobe. There is no stability which comes from divine viewpoint.

Verse 8 — Now the Lord rebukes them in a more obvious way. “When Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of a little faith.” They still have a little faith. They haven’t progressed since Peter walked on the water. A little faith means they are saved and that is about all you can say for them. The most miserable believers in the world are the people who are just saved and that’s all; no doctrine, no memory, no power of concentration, no ability to assimilate doctrine, no desire to. If you have the desire to you can learn to concentrate and you can learn; “why reason ye among yourselves.” The word “reason” here means to think, and all the thinking in the world is getting them nowhere because they do not remember doctrine. If you do not have doctrine in your frontal lobe you can’t think divine viewpoint. So they are doing a lot of thinking and a lot of pondering and a lot of discussion, but it is meaningless. There is no merit in talking about these things, it is understanding them that counts — “because ye have brought no bread?”

Verse 9 — “Do ye not understand, neither remember.” Here is the key right here. Illustration: Now, how many of you could sit down right now and pass your high school exam in geometry? The point is, once you pass a course, unless you use the information constantly you forget it. They may have learned some of these things but they have forgotten them, or they may not have learned them in the first place and, of course, you can’t remember what you didn’t learn. This explains why Jesus did so much repeating.

“the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?”

Verse 10 — “Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?” This is calling for the application of doctrine which they learned by observing first of all the healing, followed by the miracle of multiplying the food. What is the application? First of all, Jesus manufactured food on the spot. So the procurement of food is no problem, Jesus can manufacture it. But it is something else to have doctrine in the frontal lobe. It is easy to get bread in the stomach; it is difficult to get doctrine in their frontal lobes. The emphasis is on doctrine.

Verse 11 — “How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, but that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees?”

Verse 12 — “Then understood they how he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” — false doctrine.

Verses 13-21, Jesus gives them some new doctrine.

Verse 13 — “When Jesus came to the coasts of Caesarea Philippi.” This was about the only town in the area of Philip the tetrarch. He called it Philip after himself and he called it Caesarea after Caesar. So Caesarea of Philip is the name of the town; “he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?” This is a question of identification. He has identified for them that the doctrine of the scribes and the Pharisees is leaven, evil. Now He asks, Whom do men say that I am?

Verse 14 — “And they said, Some say John the Baptist.” In other words, the herald of the Messiah; “some, Elijah,” because Elijah was to come back, “others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” All three mentioned here are people they believed were coming back. Jeremiah disappeared into Egypt and he died there but they always said they were afraid he was going to come back. So they thought Jesus was someone coming back.

Verse 15 — “He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?” It is easy to say what other people are saying but what do you say. He made it personal. Principle: All doctrine must get personal. It must get personal with you.

Verse 16 — “And Simon Peter answered,” and for once his foot is on the ground instead of in his mouth; “and said, Thou art [keep on being] the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is an amazing thing it its context. The Pharisees and the Sadducees have rejected Him as God, as Messiah, so they have rejected His deity, they have rejected His Messiahship. And Peter comes along and says: “You are Christ [humanity], you are Son of the living God [deity].” And there you have the hypostatic union. Peter had the right answer for a change.

But notice something. He is one jump ahead of the rest of the disciples but as soon as he gave the right answer Jesus complimented him with a piece of doctrine and Peter got so big-headed that he immediately he got out of line. This is a warning to all new believers. Just because you know a little doctrine it doesn’t mean that you can start telling the Lord what to do, or other people. A little doctrine becomes dangerous until a little doctrine becomes more doctrine. A little doctrine is a foundation so you can build a house on it — more doctrine. It is not a status symbol and it should not be a source of pride but it should be a source of thirst for more doctrine.

Verse 17 — Peter is correct. “And Jesus answered and said unto him. Blessed art thou,” he is blessed because he has a little doctrine, “Simon Bar-jona [ Bar-jona is his Aramaic name, Son of Jonas]: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” Why does Jesus mention the Father here? Because the Father is the source of all divine viewpoint, He is the author of the plan. The plan calls for understanding it, therefore, He is the source of doctrine as well as the source of the plan.

Verse 18 — the prophecy. “And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter [Petroj].” Up until this time his name has been Simon, son of Jonas. Now it is Petroj. Petroj is a chip out of a rock, a piece of stone that fell off the mountain but it is not the mountain. (The Aramaic for Peter is Cephas); “and upon this rock.” The word “rock” is petra. Although these words are close together they are entirely different. These are two Greek words, one is the mountain and one is a part or piece of the mountain. In effect Jesus is saying: “You are chip and on this mountain.” Who is the mountain? Christ, the Son of the living God. On the God-Man the Church is built; “and on this rock [the God-Man] I will build [future tense] my church.” The Church is not in existence as yet, not until the day of Pentecost. When the Church starts Peter is going to be in union with Christ and that is Petroj. The rock [Christ] is petra. The difference is in the suffix of the words. The oj means it is taken from a — Petroj is taken from petra, so he is simply in the rock, he is a piece of the rock but he is not the rock. The reason these words have the same root is because one word came from the other. Christ is the mountain and there is a sense in which each one of us is petroj in that we are in union with Christ, therefore we are part of the mountain, but we are just a chip. And let me tell you that the Church was never founded upon an unstable cluck like Peter, or any other human being. The Church was founded on the God-Man, Jesus Christ. And, by the way, the Church was not founded upon deity, it was founded on the hypostatic union.

And once you are in the top circle — Petra, union with Christ, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” There is eternal security.

Verse 19 — the keys to the kingdom. “And I will give” — future tense. This future tense goes with the future tense “I will build” in verse 18. “I will build; I will give,” the future tense modifies the other future tense. They are fulfilled at the same time. So the keys of the kingdom were past out for the first time on the day of Pentecost in 30 AD; “unto thee [all of you].” This is not singular but plural, so it wasn’t just Peter is was all the disciples, except Judas; “the keys of the kingdom.” What are the keys of the kingdom? This is the prerogative of witnessing for Jesus Christ. The word “key” is used, the key unlocks the door.

Note: John 20:22 — “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit:” He gave them the Holy Spirit under the Old Testament system. This means they can do some witnessing until the day of Pentecost. The Church Age was not to begin for another ten days.

Verse 23 — “Whose soever sins ye remit.” We know that we don’t go around remitting anyone’s sins, all sins were paid for by the blood of Christ. But this means to declare the gospel about remission of sins. And when you declare the gospel and there is a response: “whose sins ye remit,” declaration of the gospel; “they are remitted,” response to the gospel. “They are remitted is perfect tense, they are remitted in the past with the result that they are remitted forever.

“and whose soever sins ye retain” — you are able to declare for those who reject Christ that they are condemned; “they are retained” — this must go with John 3:18.

The keys to the kingdom is the prerogative, the ability to witness for Jesus Christ. When you witness for Jesus Christ and they respond you can say to them on the authority of the Word of God, “your sins are remitted,” perfect tense, which means not only remission but eternal security. But if they reject then you have the right to say, “You are condemned, your sins are retained” .So this is an amplification of the keys.

Back to Matthew 16:19 — “whatsoever,” third class condition; “thou shalt bind on earth.” Binding on earth is decisions made for Christ. In other words, you have the right to tell anyone who believes in Christ that the decision is binding, they have eternal life; “shall be bound in heaven.” In other words, God will back it up. This is the same Greek structure as in John 20:23.

“and whatsoever thou shalt loose,” aorist tense. This is referring to another aspect of the keys of the kingdom. “Loose” refers to loosing or releasing the power of God; “on earth shall be loosed in heaven [in the sphere of heaven, or even from heaven],” the home office backs you all the way. So what are these keys? You have the right to go to anyone in the world and declare to them the gospel. When they respond to the gospel it is binding in heaven.

Verse 20 — the interim command. The interim is the time from which Jesus spoke here until all of this breaks forth at the beginning of the Church Age. “Then he charged his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.” The word “charge” means to command, a strict command. Why? Jesus must finish His ministry of signs, He must finish His ministry to Israel, He must speak for Himself, He must present His own credit card, and the keys will not be given out until the day of Pentecost. Therefore they must recognise that Jesus must present Himself. There is another reason too. They are not ready to present Him, they are still a little short on doctrine.

Verse 21 — “From that time began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed.” For eighteen months He will tell them about His death and yet they do not understand it when it occurs; “and be raised again the third day.” They knew all of this and yet the disciples were depressed after the death of Christ, all was over. And yet He taught them. Notice it says, “He began to tell them.” He tells them over and over and over again; “began” is aorist tense, starting at this point, to show present linear aktionsart, He kept on showing them “that he must go.”

Verses 22-28, the panorama of the advents.

Verse 24 — “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.” “If” is a first class condition: if, and it is assumed to be true. “If any man will come” — “if” is a verb and “come” is a verb, and they are in different tenses. The word “will” is the Greek word for desire, “if any man desires to come.” And the word “desire” here is in the present active indicative and it expresses positive volition. But to “come” is an aorist active infinitive, expressing purpose, “if any man wills to come.” Willing to come has to do with entering phase one, he has now entered the plan of God, he did it of his own volition. Christ illustrates the principle of the cross before the crown and at the same time He applies it to His disciples. It is the plan of God the Father for God the Son to go to the cross before He receives the eternal kingdom.

“Let him deny himself.” This deals with rejecting human good. It does not mean aesthetics, it does not mean giving up certain things, it means rejection of human good.

“Let him take up his cross” is the execution of divine good, it has nothing to do with Calvary’s cross.

“Follow me” is the production. It is actually the same thing that you find in Romans chapter 6. When you accept Christ as saviour you enter into union with Christ, He died for our sins but He rejected human good. So first of all, we reject human good. Then at the same time you enter into union with Christ as He is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is the basis, the foundation, for performing divine good — union with Christ. Then you have the bottom circle. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit you produce divine good, and that is what “follow me” means. “Let him deny himself.” You reject what Christ rejected, human good, but since He hasn’t died yet He uses it this way: “take up his cross.” Positional truth is anticipated, in other words, the anticipation of the production of divine good, and “follow me,” actual production.

Verse 25 — “Whosoever will save his life” (that is, entering into phase one) “shall lose it” — step two: you lose your soul — entrance into phase two. You belong to the Lord now. Step three: “whosoever will lose his life.” This means that legalism and energy of the flesh or human good must go. Step four: he finds his life, he bypasses human good, he picks up divine good — production.

One principle that we must remember from Peter’s very fleeting success is that if you are unstable whatever victories you have in the Christian life are going to last all of five minutes. Until you become stabilised through Bible doctrine you can’t make a victory last for very long. This is the story of Peter and the obvious reason for his failure is ignorance of doctrine. Peter, last time, was the one who stood out from all the disciples. It was Peter who said: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The rest of the disciples were reticent, confused, mixed up, and so on, but it was Peter who came through and made the very clear declaration. So for about five minutes Peter was tops. And Jesus indicated that Peter had made a major breakthrough because He said: “Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonas,” etc.

There is no such thing as a believer who has a so-called victorious Christian life just because he does the right thing occasionally. After all, when a clock stops it is still right twice a day! So this doesn’t prove anything. So the principle is: you have to learn Bible doctrine. Without Bible doctrine you just simply cannot have a successful Christian life.

Verse 21 — “From that time,” i.e. from the time of the prophecy of the Church. The Church Age is going to be radically different from anything that ever occurred before. For the first time in history born again believers are going to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, never true before except on rare occasions; indwelt by Jesus Christ, which was unheard of in the Old Testament; in union with Christ, which was never true of the Old Testament saints; every believer a priest, for the first time; a completed canon of scripture; a supernatural way of life. In other words, the Church Age was going to be radically different as far as modus operandi of the believer is concerned, and in reality there is no such thing as an ordinary believer in the Church Age. Every believer is in full-time Christian service; every believer has a purpose.

This chapter is saying that it is great up in the mountain and you can stay there but you can’t stay there and be stupid.

“began to shew” means to reveal clearly, so that even Peter can understand! The present tense in the Greek means that He went over and over these things, He repeated them.

“he must” — literally, it is necessary. Jesus began to teach that the divine plan begins with the cross; the cross must come before the crown. The divine plan begins with phase one and there is no function in phase two until one has entered phase one by way of the cross. The reason that Jesus is emphasising this is because only the death of Christ on the cross can accomplish this transformation. There will be no Church without the cross, there will be no body of Christ without the cross, there will be no phase two without the cross. So the cross has to come first and then Jesus Christ will transfer this very poor building material, these disciples, into the stones of the Church. So the emphasis now is that the death of Christ is necessary to start the Church, it is necessary for phase two to exist, and Christ must go to the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself made the decision to go to the cross and He deliberately suffered, He knew it was going to be suffering. Jesus taught this thing over and over and over. Obviously it was important. No cross; no crown, no kingdom. No cross; no salvation. So obviously the cross is the key to everything.

“and be raised again” — aorist passive infinitive. The passive voice says that he didn’t raise Himself, He was raised by the Father and He was raised by the Spirit, both were involved, Acts 2:24; Ephesians 1:20; Romans 6:4; Romans 8:11; 1 Peter 3:18. He received resurrection and he set the pattern for us. We are going to receive a resurrection body too, we are not going to earn it or design it or make it ourselves, we are going to receive it at the Rapture, passive voice.

Verse 22 — “Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” The word “took” is all mixed up as far as the translation here. It is a Greek word which means to admit one to one’s society. In this case the one is Peter. In other words, Peter is now going to admit Jesus to his society! It doesn’t take long to get big-headed, does it! “Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona” and the next thing he can’t even get a hat on! This word “took” is very important.

“and he began to rebuke him” — the word means a mild rebuke of someone of whom you are an equal. Peter who a paragraph ago said, You are God, now admits Jesus to his society and is now speaking to Him as an equal. You just have to be stupid to do a thing like that. We are not the equals of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are in union with Him and He has lifted us up to His standing, to His position. We are in union with Christ because of Him.

“saying” — present active participle, he kept on saying.

“Be it far from thee” — this is a most amazing phrase and this translation isn’t what it means at all. It means, God help you, Lord. And “Lord” is deity!

“this shall not be” — in other words, the cross shall not be. And yet, what did Peter do on the day of Pentecost? He got up and talked about the cross and the resurrection. Obviously Peter doesn’t understand the divine plan even though he has been briefed repeatedly.

Verse 23 — “But he [Jesus] turned.” He whirled right about aggressively; “and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan.” “Get thee behind me” is not Get thee behind me at all. He says, Go away: u(pagh.

Why did Jesus call Peter “Satan”?

1. The absence of doctrine in the frontal lobe plus ignorance of God’s plan causes the believer to represent the Satanic viewpoint. The Satanic viewpoint is generally human good. Human good rejects the blood of Christ, and Satan is the one who suggests human good without regeneration.

2. This is why so many believers advocate human viewpoint solutions to man’s problems.

3. This is why so many preachers emphasise the social gospel rather than the Bible gospel.

4. The issue is good versus good — human good versus divine good. Human good is authored by Satan and human good is the basis by which he seeks to fulfil his personal ambition of creating a perfect environment for man forever. And yet a perfect environment for man forever can only be created by divine good.

The approach of psychology is: man by improving man’s environment can solve man’s problems. And yet the Word of God says, under present conditions where Satan is the ruler of this world, the solution to man’s problems is not an improved environment or even a perfect environment, the solution to man’s problems is personal, individual regeneration.

5. For this reason many sincere do-gooders aid Satan’s cause and obscure the true issue of the cross.

6. Peter is not Satan but Peter represents the Satanic viewpoint when he asks Jesus to by-pass the cross. And this is reproduced in Matthew chapter four where in the great temptation Satan tried to get Jesus to by-pass the cross. He said: “I will give you all the kingdoms of the world if you will fall down and worship me,” and in that bona fide offer [because Satan is the ruler of the world] Satan was trying to get Jesus to by-pass the cross. To Peter, Jesus says: “Thou art an offence unto me.” The word “offence” means a stumbling block. Any believer who is ignorant of doctrine is a stumbling block to God’s plan.

“for thou savourest not.” The word “savourest” in the Greek is the verb to think, and it should be translated, “you do not think the things of God [there is no phrase “that be"] but the things of man” .In other words, You think human viewpoint, not divine viewpoint.

Verse 24 — Jesus is now going to go over it again. Taking up the cross in Matthew chapter ten was the kiss-off to family and others whom you might love when they get in the way of doctrine; separation from the closest ties of life. Now we are going to see it in a different light. The same phrase is used but it has a different background and context. “Then said Jesus unto his disciples.” By this time they are all standing there with their mouths open, they are shocked; “If” [first class condition: and people will do it. And, by the way, the way you do it is knowledge of doctrine] “anyone will come after me.” We have two verbs here: will and come. The word “will” means if anyone desires, and the desire is a present active indicative, keeps on desiring. This is a positive volition statement; to “come after” is an aorist active infinitive. The aorist tense is a point of time; the active voice: you do something yourself in that point of time: believe in Christ.

“After me”

1. “After me” starts us with the cross, so Christ illustrates the principle of the cross before the crown and, at the same time, applies it to His believing disciples.

2. It is the plan of God the Father for God the Son to go to the cross before He receives the crown. In other words, this is the plan of God.

3. Peter has suggested that Jesus Christ ignore the plan of God and follow the Satanic suggestion of Matthew chapter four — by-pass the cross.

4. The principle which is now stated is stated previously in Matthew 10:38 but here it has a different application. Here it has to do with occupation with the person of Christ.

“Let him deny himself” — aorist middle imperative. The aorist tense is the point of time when you are operating under human good. The middle voice: you must do it yourself; imperative mood: this is an order. To deny [disregard] self means the renunciation, the rejection of human good. It must be rejected, it is an order. The only way you can get rid of human good is to be under the control of the Holy Spirit rather than under the control of the old sin nature, and that means 1 John 1:9.

“Take up thy cross” — the execution of divine good. “Take up is an aorist active imperative, it means “pick up", and it doesn’t have anything to do with Calvary’s cross. It refers to Peter’s cross in phase two, and it actually refers to the cross of every believer. The Roman custom of crucifixion was a custom of condemnation and humiliation, a sign of disgrace. And the cross actually indicates the willingness to set aside that which the world counts important — human good, human greatness, operation energy of the flesh — and substitute for it phase two, God’s plan.

In Matthew 10:38 the cross referred to setting aside family and other bona fide relationships in order to serve the Lord in phase two. Here the cross again connotes the same thing for the believer: the believer’s willingness to set aside human talent, energy of the flesh, inherent or acquired ability in the field of human good.

“Follow me” — emphasises operation divine good. It is a present active imperative. Keep on performing divine good is the idea, keep on following me, get into my plan. God’s plan for us is the production of divine good. Stay in my plan.

Verse 25 — the principle of phase two is amplified. Four steps:

Step one: “Whosoever will save his life [soul].” The word “life” isn’t life but soul. Whosoever means anyone can be saved. “Will save” are two verbs: “will” expresses positive volition, whosoever keeps on desiring. And then in a point of time positive volition becomes salvation. The word “save” is aorist tense. This indicates that there is positive volition in a more or less continuous area and then all of a sudden positive volition gets information, and when it does (aorist tense) salvation takes place immediately. So, whosoever will save his soul is actually entrance into phase one.

Step two: “shall lose it” .Step two is losing it and is analogous to picking up your cross. And it is a future tense because this is the logical result of regeneration. You should lose it as a result of regeneration. The future tense is a logical progression. To “lose it” means to make null and void your soul. The soul here refers to the soulish man as the old sin-naturish man. So when you accept Christ as saviour you “lose it.” What do you lose? You lose human good, it is not acceptable in the plan of God.

Step three: “Whosoever shall lose his soul for my sake [on account of me].” This is setting aside legalism.

Step four: “shall find it” — finding divine good. You discover there is something greater than human good, much greater.

So these four steps say in effect that the dynamics of the Christian life is the power of the Spirit producing divine good, and that there is no dynamics in human good, and anything the unbeliever can do is not the Christian way of life.

Verse 26 — the necessity of the cross. “For what is a man profited [benefited], if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” That is the first question. Jesus is saying in effect that He has to go to the cross, otherwise people could gain the whole world and lose their soul. No soul can be saved unless I go to the cross. “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” is the second question. The only exchange for the human soul has already been provided through God’s plan, the cross. The answer is that he can’t give anything because the price was paid at the cross. Therefore the cross excludes human good. To gain the whole world, to make all that profit, is not enough, it was done in the energy of the flesh. There is no righteousness through the energy of the flesh that is pleasing to God. There is nothing a man can give in exchange for his soul.

Verse 27 is where the seventeenth chapter should begin. This is the transfiguration scene. The transfiguration, both in analogy and in interpretation refers to the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ comes back a second time to establish His eternal reign on the earth. The first 1000 years and/or the Millennium is a time of perfect environment to demonstrate that perfect environment is not the solution to man’s problems. During the Millennium everything will be as perfect as it is possible for God to make it, which is absolute perfection, but in spite of all the perfection which comes with perfect environment man’s problem cannot be solved apart from regeneration or personal relationship with God.

In the transfiguration scene we will see Moses and Elijah there with the Lord Jesus Christ when He is transfigured. Moses and Elijah represent the two heralds of the second advent and they also depict saints returning with the Lord to establish the kingdom. Peter, James and John, by analogy, are a picture of the Jewish remnant alive on the earth at the second advent. There is a phrase in verse one which says, “After six days,” and this is analogous to the first six years of the Tribulation. In verse 15, after the transfiguration, the disciples face the problem of a demon-possessed boy. The demon-possessed boy depicts the earth under the control of Satan during the Tribulation.

So we begin with chapter 16 verse 27. “For the Son of Man” — title of the Lord Jesus Christ with emphasis on His humanity; “shall come in the glory of His Father.” Jesus Christ is speaking about Himself, and He calls Himself the Son of Man to emphasise the fact that when Christ returns to the earth it is His humanity which returns, His deity is omnipresent and therefore always on the earth and in the universe at large, imminent and transcendent; “shall come” is actually two verbs, He is about to come. The verb to be about to do something means He is on the point of doing it or on the point of demonstrating it. In this chapter He will demonstrate the second advent. The verb to come represents here the second advent of Jesus Christ. The present tense here is dramatic, the return of Christ to the earth is a dramatic moment. The infinitive denotes the purpose of Christ to return to the earth. He is going to return “in the sphere of glory,” literally. The second advent of Christ will be as glorious as the first advent of Christ had the factors of humiliation; “with his angels,” or literally, accompanied by His angels, as per Matthew 25:31; Revelation 19:11,14; “he shall reward every man.” This is literally, “each one” — “according to the standard of his works.” The reward based on works at the second advent is nothing more or less than the baptism of fire.

How are they rewarded? “According to their works.” The cross is divine good, the work of God the Son. Those who reject the cross stand on human good as over against divine good, those who believe in Christ. When Christ returns to the earth there are two kinds of people on the earth: those who are believers and those who are unbelievers. Unbelievers can only produce human good and therefore on the basis of human good they are rejected and cast into the burning. The baptism of fire is the concept here.

Verse 28 — Jesus says: “Verily [in truth, i.e. Here is a point of doctrine. It is an idiom] I say unto you, There be some [Peter, James and John] standing here [with the Lord Jesus Christ], who shall not taste death [physical death].” He is saying that there are people standing there who are not going to die “until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” The point is that Jesus Christ is going to show His glory to these three people, Peter, James and John, and He is going to give them a taste or a preview of the second advent. The elapse of time before this occurred was actually six days — chapter 17:1.