From the day that Jesus asked his disciples who they thought that he was, and Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus began to show His disciples that He MUST go to Jerusalem. Matthew 16:13-16 Jesus explained that he would suffer a great many things at the hands of the scribes, elders and the chief priests - this has to be the “terrible baptism of suffering” He talked about in Luke Chapter 12 - to be condemned by the nation that His father set apart! Luke 12:50 Jesus told them he was going to be killed, but would raise again, on the third day - just as he had promised when the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and asked for a sign from heaven to prove who He was - and Jesus responded “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give is the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Matthew 16:4 While Peter was the disciple who had connected the dots and identified right away that Jesus was the Son of the living God, he was still the stubborn man who had a rock head! Soon after Jesus told his disciples that he would be killed, Peter stepped in and rebuked what he said! “Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” Matthew 16:22 But Jesus turned to Peter and said, “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.” Matthew 16:21-23 You see, Peter was so intent on saving Jesus’s life, that he did not understand, through His death, Jesus came to save the life of men. “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. Mark my words - I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.” Matthew 26:28-29 We have to discern by listening and paying attention to what the Word of God says. We must not take the Father’s Word in vain by only listening to half of what He says. Jesus had told the unbelievers, “the religious leaders” in front of His disciples, which includes Peter, that Jonah the prophet was the sign he would give them from Heaven. If they had been listening with pure and faithful hearts, they would have known that Jonah went into the whale, and three days later came out. They would have understood that Jonah was sent on a mission by God, to save an evil, adulterous generation from destruction and eternal death. And yet, Peter thought that he knew best when he rebuked the words of death that came out of Jesus’s mouth. He did not realize he was acting in opposition. I’m sure Peter thought, like most of us do today, “don’t speak death over your life because Satan can hear what you say.” This is the same response in the days of old, when the prophets spoke words of death that were truly from God himself! The leaders didn’t want to hear about the destruction coming their way. They preferred to focus on living for the NOW, and seizing the day! It’s crazy to think how many of us today, want to live and respond in the same way. Thank God, Jesus knew what He had to do, and did not let anyone stop him from fulfilling the Will of God! I mean...He is the Word of God, is He not? Sometimes we have to stop trying to step in and save the day. Sometimes we just have to get out of God’s way, and trust that God is God and He is doing things His own Way!
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