glory to GOD FOR TRUTH Amen ! But go with me now into that long ago when Jesus walked the dusty roads with His disciples. He had asked the twelve who they thought He was. Peter promptly answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!" And Jesus said to him, "Peter, flesh and blood did not reveal this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven." In other words, "This understanding didn’t come from your fleshly mind. You didn’t think this up by yourself. This is not the result of your own reasoning. This came into your spirit from my Father." So remarkable was this revelation to Peter that the Lord said to him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona!" So here we have an instance of the Father working in Peter, imparting His thoughts and understanding to him. Only minutes later Jesus began to introduce to Peter the subject of His coming suffering and death. The possibility of the death of their beloved Lord was a prospect so foreign to the thinking of the disciples that they were not prepared to comprehend His presentation of this unspeakable fate. Was He not the Messiah? Was He not the Son of God? Did He not come to establish a great kingdom? Were not they, His disciples, to reign with Him in that kingdom? With these questions in mind this talk of death was unthinkable and unacceptable! Then Peter, who had just been pronounced blessed, took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Be it far from Thee, Lord: for this shall not be unto Thee!" Ah, when Jesus mentioned the cross and dying, Peter began to rebuke Him. Where did he find the senseless courage that would dare to rebuke the Lord? The answer was disturbingly evident — far, far too clear to be a comfort to any of us! The Lord Himself gives us the answer, for, He turned and said to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan! Thou art an offense unto me; for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." What a shocking way to talk to the great apostle Peter, the one possessing the revelation of Christ’s identity, the one called blessed, the one to whom the Lord had just given the keys to the kingdom of heaven! Atrocious to say to this man of deep revelation and keen spiritual perception, "Thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men!" Indeed, "Get thee behind me, S-A-T-A-N!" How unthinkable!
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 16:25:04 +0000
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