GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 7

Our  book this month  is a continuation of “Chiseled by the Master’s Hand ~ Lessons From the Life of Peter,” by Erwin  Lutzer.  Dr. Lutzer is  Canadian-born and served as Senior Pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years, until his retirement in 2016.   He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Moody Church.  He’s written many books and has radio and internet teaching programs.

THE HIGH COST OF AVOIDING THE CROSS

(Matthew 16:21-18)

CHRIST’S PERSPECTIVE

Like a squall rising in the noonday sun, Christ interrupted His disciples’ joyous mood with a word of warning and a dire prediction about the days ahead:

“Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.” (Matthew 16:20).

Why this command?  We would expect that Christ would encourage them to make Him known far and wide.  But His disciples did not yet have a full understanding of His message; they understood His person, but they were unclear about the work the Messiah had come to do.  They knew that the Messiah was to reign;  they didn’t know that He was to die.  They thought of the crown, but not of the cross.  If they had told what they knew, the wrong message would have spread throughout the land.

Then came the bombshell: 

“From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised upon the third day.”

 Notice the details: 

1.  He must go to Jerusalem, for Jerusalem is the city of sacrifice;
2. He must suffer at the hands of the elders and chief priests, the very ones who were venerated in Israel.  This group of men, known as the Sanhedrin, were the most learned and envied of all the leaders.  Though representing the official religion of the time, they were the most hostile to Christ.
3. He had to die and be raised again.  Previously He had hinted that this would happen, but now it was made perfectly clear.  No other option was under consideration.  Despite the horror that awaited Him, THIS HAD TO BE.

If Christ had been a false messiah bent on staging a messianic coup, He certainly would not have chosen to go to Jerusalem to die.  He would have taken pains to fulfill the popular messianic expectations of the day, namely to stage a revolt against Roman occupation.  The fact that He countered public opinion at almost every point confirms His authenticity.  It clarified the public’s mistaken notions about the coming Kingdom.

Why didn’t the Jews understand Christ’s predictions that the  messiah would first have to suffer, before coming in glory?  Our eyes often see only what we want to see.  The idea of a Messiah ruling in uninterrupted glory was appealing.  The people of the day were more preoccupied with the political bondage of Rome than with the spiritual bondage of their own sin.  Who wants a Messiah who will be humiliated on the cross?  (They had heard for thousands of years that a Savior would come.  Each time they were in captivity, in bondage, or enslaved, they yearned for the Messiah….. the Savior, to free them from oppression.  They didn’t know that the oppressor was their own sin.)

Christ wanted to prepare them for the sorrow that awaited them.  The calendar of events was clear, certain, and uncompromising.  He wanted them to understand that His death was ordained; it was not a terrible tragedy that had caught the Almighty off guard.  Indeed, no matter how excruciating the days ahead, all of this was part of the divine purpose, ordained by Him and His Father before creation.

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John 4:25

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

Daniel 9:25-26

Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.  And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

Micah 5:2

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.

Exodus 3:14

And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

Matthew 28:19-20

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Mark 8:29

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ (the messiah).”

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