Matthew 16:20-23

Matthew 16:20-23
This text is a turning point in the ministry of Jesus. Up to this time He had said little about His purpose of going to the cross. Now is the time to prepare His inner circle for the day for which He had come.
Jesus began this discussion by confirming in their minds that He was indeed the Christ, the Son of God. Of this, the apostles were sure. That settled, Jesus now must show them that the Christ must suffer. This was completely opposite of what they expected. The Jewish tradition was that the Christ would come and establish Himself upon the earth as a king subduing the nations under Him. They had no understanding that the Christ would sacrifice His life in order to draw the nations to Him in a spiritual kingdom.Notice the detail with which Jesus tells of His upcoming death. Only one who was truly the Son of God could have been so specific. He explained who would cause this suffering and that on the third day He would arise. Think of this: if anyone other than Jesus had made such a prediction, we would say he was crazy. An imposter, an ordinary man, would not make such a prediction. Jesus not only foretells His own death and resurrection, He accomplishes exactly what He said He would do.

Peter, the one who just moments before had proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ and the Son of God, immediately took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him. Ah, it is one thing to confess Jesus to be the Christ, it is something else to live by that understanding when the course of events is turning against your own expectations. Jesus therefore turns and rebukes Peter. At that moment he was being used by the devil to turn Jesus away from His appointed purpose. Peter had set his mind on his own desires instead of the desires of God. Indeed, this is the greatest lesson we can learn. Our lives are not our own and need not follow a course that we desire. We must live with the understanding that this is His life to use as He wills. We are to submit so that our lives are used to glorify Him.
Berry Kercheville