Matthew 16:21-17:23

Add to that the huge influence that the cults and “isms” have on the world and there’s a good chance a lot of very important passages of scripture will be misunderstood, misused, and abused.

But thankfully there’s a sure and certain remedy!

It’s in 2 Timothy 2:15,

Be diligent (and the wider meaning of the word in the bible is, study, make effort, be prompt or earnest: – do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour), Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

It’s our hope that by giving place to God’s Word in your life that the resulting understanding and revelation will strengthen and fully equip you to live in this insane world without being conformed or absorbed into it.

 

Today we’re going to see that for the first time the Lord Jesus announces His death and resurrection to His disciples.

It was approximately six months before He was actually crucified. Why did He wait so long to make such an important announcement?

Obviously, His disciples weren’t prepared for it, even at this time, judging from their reaction.

He repeated this fact that He was going to Jerusalem to die five times in the next passages in Matthew 17:12,22,23; Matthew 20:18-19,28.

In spite of this, the disciples didn’t grasp the huge importance of it all until after His resurrection.

We set off today in Matthew 16:21,

From that time Jesus began to show to 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 the third day. 

 

He knows that this now lies before Him.

If the church is ever going to become a reality, He must first complete the work of redemption on the cross and also endure all the suffering that’ll be inflicted upon Him in connection with it.

To undergo all this, he has to go to Jerusalem, but not to take the throne as most of His followers, including the apostles, thought.

He tells the disciples of this suffering and death but that He’ll be raised on the third day. His death is not the end. He wants His disciples to know that.

This is what the Lord Jesus did for you and me.

This is the gospel: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried and was raised again according to scripture.

 

We must know Who He is, and we must know what He did for us.

If we know these two things, and by faith believe, receive them as being truth, we’re saved.

 

This hadn’t ever been revealed before except to Nicodemus at the beginning of our Lord’s ministry in John 3:1-16.

 

Verse 22

Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 

 

But old Peter doesn’t want any part of that.

He’s not about to accept any talk about a suffering Messiah.

To Peter this just can’t be true and there’s no way it’s going to happen! He even rebukes the Lord for talking about it.

What Peter’s saying is, “You are the Messiah; You are the Son of God. You must not, You cannot go to the cross!” The cross was not in the thinking of the apostles at all, as we can see.

In Peter’s mind it’s still all about the establishment of the kingdom right here and right now. In doing this of course, he ignores the problem of sin. He just doesn’t see the big picture that the sin of mankind must be dealt with.

However blessed and honoured Peter was by God the Father’s revelation and the authority granted to him, his hearts still firmly implanted at the human level and as yet he can only see the glory of the physical Messiah ruling over Israel and somehow ousting the Romans from Judea.

 

To verse 23

But He (Jesus) turned and said to Peter, “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.” 

 

It’s satanic for anyone to deny the facts of the gospel which are that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead. It is satanic when a man in the pulpit will deny these truths.

 

Our Lord said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!” Imagine it. Here’s Peter who one moment could say that Jesus was the Son of God, and yet in the next moment let Satan deceive him!

 

The Lord recognises where Peter’s thoughts are coming from that cause him to speak and heartily disagree with the Messiah, God in the flesh, who, as we’ve seen, he already recognised.

Peters used by Satan, who wants to turn him away from the path of obedience and truth. It was possible for Satan to use him for this because Peter’s not thinking of the things of God, but of the things of man. Everything in his mind is this world related and he can’t see outside of that.

How much like us today is this?

The death of Christ in our place is the only thing that can save us, friends.

Later on, Peter wrote this in his epistle, 1 Peter 2 verse 24,

…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed (healed of sin).

See what a huge transformation had taken place in Peter’s mind by then!

 

Verse 24

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 

 

Jesus is still speaking about a time that’s as yet future for His listeners on that day that He spoke. You see He hadn’t gone to the cross yet, but He soon would. It’s after that when this command comes into effect.

Many people interpret this verse as, “Let him deny himself some sort of luxury down here on earth and continue denying it over and over again.”

But what this verse says is “Let him deny himself!”

We already know that the hardest person in the world to deny is yourself.

 

When Jesus called us to deny ourselves and take up our cross he was talking about a one-time act of believing. This wasn’t an ongoing religious behaviour improvement command.

How many times did Jesus only Take up His cross? One time.

How many times did Jesus deny himself? One time. It wasn’t an ongoing activity.

Where did Jesus take up His cross?

When He went to Calvary and died for our sins. The Scriptures tell us that just as Jesus died, we too died with him. The old us was buried with Christ. We were crucified with Him. And we’re now a new creation.

 

So, Jesus is saying that after His death, burial, and resurrection we’re to be saved by denying our self, that old identity, that old self that’s in Adam with the sin nature that was passed to us from Adam.

How do we do that?

Well, taking up our cross is symbolic of us putting our faith in Jesus and symbolically being crucified with him.

After we’ve believed we’re saved and then we can celebrate baptism where we’re dunked in water as an outward picture of what’s happened inwardly, we’ve been crucified with Christ. Our old self has died and been buried, which going down under the water symbolises. Then, we’re lifted out of the water, as a symbol of us being risen with Christ to new life.

 

So, when Jesus talks about us taking up our cross, he’s talking symbolically about following him to be crucified, then buried with him and raised again. This is a one-time action for Christians, for believers. It’s a call for faith.

 

Now to verses 25 to 27,

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 

For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 

 

Whoever wants to hold on to this current life and just follow after what feels good, just be part of this world and its system and enjoy it to the max and rejects Christ and what He’s done to redeem us to eternal life, will lose that life.

But whoever is willing to reject this life and all its pleasures and comforts but reaches out to Christ for that which is far above these temporary things of the world, that person will find and enjoy an immortal and eternal life, free from all sorrow and affliction, and instead is full of endless joys and pleasures.

At Christ’s second coming all accounts will be settled and everyone will receive his proper rewards and it’ll be a wonderful day for those who’s faith in Christ and His finished work have made them righteous and clean, but it’ll be a truly terrible day for those who’ve rejected that righteousness.

 

Verse 28

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

 

Assuredly I say to you! This is a strong declaration by the Lord and He declares it to be a certain truth, which we can rely on fully.

Some standing here means his disciples and some of the audience before Him, would not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.

Notice that they will still taste death, just not till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. So, we know this is only a short time off and not His coming in the last day to set up His earthly physical Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven.

At this point there is a division between many bible scholars. Many think this is referring to the transfiguration of Christ which immediately follows this verse while many others think Jesus is referring to the appearance of the spiritual aspect of His Kingdom that will be a reality after his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension to heaven and when the Holy Spirit is poured down and the Gospel’s preached all over the world.

To me, either or both seem to fit.

Some would live to see mighty signs and wonders beyond anything possible that comes from our material world.

 

We’re now moving to the 17^th chapter of Matthew where we’ll see the Transfiguration; the demon–possessed boy and the faithless disciples and Jesus paying the temple taxes by performing a miracle.

 

Now before we look at this amazing event, The Transfiguration of Jesus, we should again say that for those who reject God, who don’t believe He even exists, let alone His power and majesty, this passage of scripture will appear as nothing but fantasy.

1 Corinthians 2:14 explains the impossibility of natural man to know or understand the things of God.

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

For the world, “seeing is believing”. “I’ll believe it when I see it. But for the Christian, “believing is seeing”, I see it because I believe it.” That’s what faith is. The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

 

Matthew 17:1-2

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 

 

Jesus didn’t invite all the disciples, only these three. Maybe Jesus did this to prevent the account of this amazing miracle being told of before the time was right. As verse 9 puts it,

…Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”

In both Matthew and Mark this event happened 6 days after Matthew 16 verse 28, but Luke counts the day that Jesus preached as well as also the day the transfiguration took place, making 8 days.

No one knows which mountain it was because it’s not told to us. Some say Mt tabor, some, Mt Hermon, and others Mt Miron.

 

The word transfigured means a change in form but not just a change in outward appearance. Jesus was still fully recognisable. He became so bright in appearance that He was difficult to look at, like looking at the sun.

It was more of an inner change which was outwardly visible.

The light from within Him shone out from Him and through His clothes, turning them white as the intense light shone through the material.

 

This transfiguration wasn’t really the miracle. It was more the temporary stopping of another one. The real miracle was that Jesus, most of the time, could keep from displaying this glory.

The great Charles Spurgeon wrote,

“For Christ to be glorious was almost a less matter than for him to restrain or hide his glory. It is forever his glory that he concealed his glory; and that, though he was rich, for our sakes he became poor.”

It was His face that shone as the sun.

He wasn’t transformed into another being with another body; it was His own face that shone.

Charles Spurgeon hit the nail on the head again when he described it like this,

“Another thing which we may learn from our Lord Jesus Christ having shown himself to his apostles thus robed in brightness is, that we are scarcely aware of the glory of which the human body is capable.”

 

Now to Matthew 17-3

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 

 

Moses was the representative of the Law, and Elijah was the representative of the prophets.

Moses had died, and Elijah had departed from this world in a chariot of fire. Luke tells us they were discussing Jesus’ coming death in Jerusalem.

Luk 9:30-31,

And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 

The Law and the prophets bore testimony to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

These two Old Testament fellows appeared and spoke with the transfigured Jesus.

Moses lived about 1400 years before and Elijah about 900 years before; yet here they were alive and in some sort of resurrected, glorified state.

They appeared because they represent the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah). In other words, the sum of what was revealed in the Old Testament came to meet with Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration. This whole event is as rich in symbolism as it is in its physical nature.

The Transfiguration doesn’t prove, or try to prove, the deity of Christ. Instead, it displays the humanity of Christ. The Gospel of John doesn’t include the Transfiguration like the other three Gospels because that Gospel displays the deity of Christ.

The transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ not only shows the proof of His humanity but the hope of humanity.

The Man who we see glorified here, or transfigured, is the kind of person that you and I’ll be someday if we’re a child of God.

We see that in 1 John 3:2,

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

 

Now to Matthew 17:4

Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 

 

Simon Peter was always there ready to stand up and say out loud what was on his mind.

He generally got up to say something, and usually it was the wrong thing. Until the Day of Pentecost that is.

Here though, it’s the wrong this again.

He was attempting to place Moses and Elijah on the same plane with the Lord Jesus.

Luke’s account explains it by stating, “… not knowing what he said.” That’s Luke 9:33.

Peter’s thinking is still implanted in the idea that Jesus was coming to set up His Kingdom now at this moment.

God Himself interrupts him, as we’ll see.

 

To verse 5

While he (Peter) was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” 

 

This is God the Father’s testimony to Jesus, the Son.

in matters of revelation. What Moses, Elijah and the prophets had to say was wonderful. The writer to the Hebrews says this in Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2,

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. 

See, Jesus is the final authority.

The Son is the One who came to earth as the final revelation of God to man.

God the Father speaks.

This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him! 

Even these words come from Prophecy of old. In Psalm 2:7, the Father says to the Son: “You are my Son” and in Isaiah 42:1 the Father says to the Son that He is One in whom My soul delights.

 

The Lord Jesus is the only One who’s ever been well pleasing to God. And you and I’ll never get into God’s presence until we’re IN Christ by faith.

When we believe and trust in Christ as our Savior, then we’re placed in the body of believers. Christ is the only One in whom God’s been pleased, and we’re accepted when we’re IN Him, in the Beloved.

 

Verses 6 to 8 now

And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. 

But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” 

When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. 

 

They didn’t fall on their faces when they saw Jesus transfigured, or when His face shone like the sun and His clothes became as white as the light, nor when Moses and Elijah appeared with Him spoke with Jesus. It wasn’t even when the cloud of glory appeared and overshadowed them. They fell on their faces and were greatly afraid when they heard the voice from heaven.

 

Notice the context. Jesus just revealed His coming humiliation and sufferings to these men.

It makes perfect sense that they receive another divine testimony to Jesus’ status as the Son of God at this time and this testimony will stay with them for the time they’re on earth.

 

When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

How important it is that their entire focus was forced on Jesus again. The cloud was gone; Moses and Elijah had disappeared, but Jesus is still there urging them, as usual, not to be afraid.

 

Verse 9

Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”

 

Why wait until the Resurrection to tell it, and why shouldn’t all these things be told at that time?

Because it’s part of the gospel story and the story’s not yet complete as it soon would be.

This event further shows who Jesus is. He’s the perfect Lamb of God. He’s been tested for three years, by this time and now He’s on the way to the Cross to die for the sins of the world.

You see, God required a sacrificial lamb without spot or blemish, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the only One who qualified and as such was the only One Who could die a substitutionary death for mankind. He was sinless, without spot or blemish. In His perfect humanity He was transfigured. He’s the hope of mankind.

The hope of mankind is not in science or education or politics. They’re all letting us down badly today because they simply can’t solve the problem of sin. Friends, the hope of the world is only in Jesus Christ. Be sure you know Him; He’s our only hope.

 

Verse 10 now

And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 

 

Their question is something like this, “Jesus, we know that Elijah comes first before the Messiah. We know You are the Messiah, yet we just saw Elijah, and so it seems that he came after You.”

Now look at The Lord’s remarkable answer in verse 11

Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. 

 

Jesus reassured the disciples that yes, Elijah would come first. But the first coming of Jesus did not bring the great and dreadful day of the LORD. That’s now future, after the day of the Gentiles, The Age of grace.

Verse 12

But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise, the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.” 

 

This is the second time the Lord Jesus mentions His approaching crucifixion.

The disciples had just seen a preview of Christ’s coming in power and glory, but His forerunner had not appeared.

Malachi had prophesied that Elijah must come prior to Messiah’s coming.

Malachi 4:5

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 

The disciples asked Jesus about this.

See, they obviously knew the prophesy and didn’t doubt the truth of it.

Jesus agreed with them that yes, for sure, Elijah had to come first, but He explained to them that Elijah had already come.

Obviously He was referring to John the Baptist. Now, John was not Elijah. We see this in John 1 verse 21,

And they asked him (John the Baptist), “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

But John the Baptist had come “in the spirit and power of Elijah”. We see this in Luke 1 verse 17 as the angel speaks to Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, the soon to be parents of John the Baptist.

He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS TO THE CHILDREN,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

 

Here’s the thing, and again, we as humans must accept that we simply cannot know the wonders of God’s ability.

Had Israel accepted John and his message, he would’ve fulfilled the role prophesied of Elijah. He would have been Elijah!

John the Baptist fulfilled the prediction of the messenger to come, as recorded in Malachi 3:1, but the question is, “If Israel had accepted Christ at His first coming, would He have established the kingdom immediately, and would John the Baptist have been Elijah?” The answer is yes. How can that possibly be?

We don’t know.

But the nation did not recognise John’s critical mission, and treated him badly, eventually murdering him. John’s death was a preview of what they’d do to Jesus.

They rejected the forerunner, and they’d also reject the King.

 

When Jesus explained this, the disciples realised He was referring to John the Baptist as verse 13 tells us,

Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

 

There’s every reason to believe that before Christ’s Second coming, a prophet will arise to prepare Israel for the coming King. Whether it’ll be Elijah personally or someone with a similar ministry to John the Baptist it’s almost impossible to say.

 

Now to Matthew 17:14-16. Here we have a Kingdom–of–Heaven situation, as it is in today’s world.

Where does the church fit into it?

We’re at the foot of the mountain where the other disciples, the ones who were not with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, are in trouble and we read,

And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 

“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 

So, I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 

 

This could be the worst case which had been brought to Jesus. The disciples had tried to help but couldn’t.

 

Verse 17,

Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 

Jesus is the Great Physician. We take our case directly to Him, my friends.

Verse18 and 21,

And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” Mat

So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 

 

These disciples privately ask the Lord for an explanation as to why they couldn’t cast this thing out.

His answer was straightforward: unbelief. “Nothing will be impossible for you”. That is, nothing that’s according to the will of God for you. It was God’s will that this boy be delivered from demon possession. Why couldn’t the disciples deliver him? Because they didn’t have the faith.

Verse 21,

However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” This verse is not in the better manuscripts, but it fits the context of an especially difficult problem.

 

Now in verses 22 to 23, the Lord reminds His disciples for the third time that He would die and be raised again from the dead,

Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful. 

 

The first time Jesus mentioned His coming death was when they were in Caesarea Philippi. Now He’s in Galilee, on His way to Jerusalem, and He mentions it again.

All the disciples can do is to feel sorry.

Until next time my friends when we’ll finish up Matthew chapter 17 with the incident of the payment of the temple tax and another miracle, may God richly bless you and keep you focused on His grace.