LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Entering the Way of the Cross
Matthew 16:21-26.
Immediately after the great revelation at Caesarea Philippi, there came to Peter and the disciples a fundamental teaching. What came before was a fundamental revelation, what comes now is a failure and a fundamental teaching. From here on, in the Lord's ministry, the cross is a central theme. But what was to be the meaning of the cross for the disciples? What was to be their attitude towards the cross? If this matter was not correctly settled, there would be continual problems with men and with circumstances.
They expected something very different for their Master and for themselves. They had desires for prosperity, for success, for political domination. They wanted the kingdom of Israel to be restored to the Jews at that time. They did not yet know the ways of God.
The same is true today. There are many Christians who have aspirations of greatness in this world. They do not have the cross in their thoughts, but prosperity, delight, riches. They want to have a kingdom in this world. They do not know the ways of God. They have remained in the sphere of the flesh, like those multitudes who followed the Lord for the loaves and fishes. They do not know the cross; indeed, they are enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil. 3:18).
The emotional and sentimental Peter could not accept the cross for his Master; therefore he tries to dissuade him. But the Lord answers Peter with unusual force: "Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art a stumbling block unto me: for thou regardest not the things of God, but the things of men".
From that very day, Peter was to learn that to think that way was to side with Satan. Peter had to accept that the cross was at the center of God's will for his Lord. Without the cross there is no Christ. It was not enough that the Lord had performed many miracles, and preached beautiful teachings. He had to go to the cross, and die there.
In the words that follow, the Lord makes it very clear that the way of the cross was also for those who follow Him. "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me: for whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it".
The meaning of the cross is to deny oneself permanently, so that God's will may be done. The cross as a way is not the same as the cross as a work. The work of the cross is exclusive to the Lord, for he alone paid the price of our ransom. The way of the cross, on the other hand, consists in following him along the narrow path of the denial of the desires of the soul.
As we enter the home stretch of the Lord's ministry, the matter of the cross dominates everything. It was time for the disciples to understand and embrace it. However, they were still to experience many failures before living it to the full.