When Jesus rebukes Peter (Matthew 16), what's it all about?

First Jesus commends Peter for identifying that he is the Messiah,
and then in the next breath almost, condemns him for acting as Satan's mouthpiece.


Any thoughts anyone?

What strikes me looking at this now, is that Peter was rather impressed by (and possibly in awe of) the old Religious structure.
We seem to see this at other times in Peter's life.

In Matt 16 the reason why he doesn't want Jesus to die is not because he loves Jesus, but because he loves his country, his people, and the Religious Authorities.

Because he has realized just who Jesus is, it then appalls him to think that his own countrymen, and the religious authorities in particular, are going to kill him.

This is 'savouring the things of men.'
Likewise at the crucifixion, Peter is terrified of the religious authorities, and doesn't want to tarred by them for being associated with Jesus.
We see it again in John 21, where Jesus repeatedly asks Peter if he loves Jesus more than 'these'.
I.e. more than his fellow men. His brothers in the flesh, the Jews.

When Jesus rebukes Peter (Matthew 16), what's it all about?

First Jesus commends Peter for identifying that he is the Messiah,
and then in the next breath almost, condemns him for acting as Satan's mouthpiece.


Any thoughts anyone?



my thoughts:

When i am in the Spirit of God (walking after the Spirit),..........i speak Godly things, because the Holy Spirit influences and controls me to speak the Word of God.

When i am in the flesh, satan influences me to speak fleshly (satanic) things.

Just like, Peter is not satan...........but Jesus called Peter satan...........satan was influencing Peter to say anti-God (satanic) things.


in the Trib, the a/c will speak whatever satan wants..........because the a/c is a man, indwelt and possessed by satan.
the a/c is a demoniac...........there's a demoniac in the 4 gospels, and Jesus cast the demon out of the demoniac.


the serpent in the garden of Eden spoke the words of satan

BABYLON THE GREAT (rev 17) speaks blasphemies, because she is filled with demons, filthy spirits.



Lord Jesus Christ.........we Praise Your Name. Please help us to walk after the Holy Spirit in thought, word, and deed.
Amen

Marcus...I've seen this happen in the church with the best of believers...Where they are afraid to stand against certain issues for fear of being black balled or looked down on.

When we start thinking we are bold and will stand no matter what...We are sorely tested...as was Peter.

I've watched God give signs over and over again to a particular precious brother in the lord and watched them back down when it comes to incorporating the knowledge into their ministry. I feel sorry for them. I don't know the answer except when you first jump the creek you wobble as you dig your heals in...But eventually like Peter you get your balance and are willing to go forward in even at the loss of everything you once falsely held dear.

So true Miki.

Remember too, when Jesus was in the Garden praying, and he cried out to our Father in Heaven, if it be possible take this cup away from me.
Could he then of been thinking just like Peter...he loved his disciples, and he knew what they would suffer, would be persecuted for Jesus' names sake, just as he would suffer for the world sins...
but overcame the World...through the Resurrection.
He loved the Father and the Father loves him, he loves us and we should also love him and our felllowman.
In his compassion he layed down his life for us all and so that God be glorified, in HIM and to us he gave his only begotten son....Eternal Life....the Blessed Hope and Rest.
But he has to surrender all for our Father's will, put into the enemies hands for the sins of the World, to overcome death through his love and grace a free gift... and give to us the Kingdom of God to come and will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

It is also interesting to note, how the spirit moves in threes...as like the trinity...He came back to the disciples 3 times and asked, can you not pray with me for one hour...?
Just as so in this hour...Can we not pray for Israel.

The three watches......telling Peter three times....telling us all to return to our first love.

Yes Miki........the visual idea you bring is genius.

Now transfer that to Peter walking on water.

Incredible faith , followed by doubt.
'Can this really be true?'

Yes Wnalone, the threes also mean something.
But I'm not sure what!
Do you know?

Feed my sheep
Feed my sheep
Feed my sheep

The flesh has lots of power even to doubt. Jesus sweat blood overcoming it's grip. That's why God's understanding sent him to do it for us. Some people think we will emerge into something more than the 'emerging church' We will in fact do greater works than Jesus did. I see it sporadically. We want the world to see it don't we. So the emerging church tries to give the world the image they think they need to see. Oh my goodness...but in reality the world wants to see us emerge in power...Like at pentecost..The world is seeking a sign.

All I can pray to do is Rest in HIM...his understanding is past finding out...he can RAISE UP and also TEAR DOWN.
I never want to go to that place of feeling so overconfident that I think I am beyond the chastising of our LORD and Savior.
He works best in our weakness.
PRAISE HIM, PRAISE HIM in the STORM
when our own families, our own brothers and sisters come against us.
All for his purpose and his will. Amen

May the LORD Bless you and keep you, and be graceous to you, in your rising up and in you lying down..
REST IN HIM, the ALPHA AND THE OMEGA.

Resting in him is good. We also can take authority over the enemy in our own household through prayer and if necessary fasting. This doesn't have to be blatant and obvious but is done behind the scenes with the humility you've mentioned. Singing is a GREAT weapon! The weapons of our warefare aren't carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. (That doesn't mean by the way, that the Lord might not call some to pick up the literal sword) He does work best in weakness. Then we aren't always trying to step ahead of him.

I think you nailed it..... Peter like most of Israel were not looking for a suffering servant... but a King. One that would come in a rescue them physically from the Roman Rule. The Spirit had just revealed to Peter that Christ was this Promised one, the Son of the Living God/ yet just as Dennis pointed out the flesh took over. The flesh that did not want the Son of the Living God to die because He had come to rescue them physically. Yet Christ plan did not include this.

Jesus tells the disciples in verse 20 not to tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. I think this was why... because they just did not fully understand at the time what His entire plan consisted of. They did not understand that He was not there to take over the Roman's by force.

You also see Satan in the wilderness tempting the Lord without dying/ cast yourself down.... he shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up. He just used Peter this time to speak it.

Dennis I agree that it is that constant battle of the Spirit and the Flesh.

I do find it interesting that the 3rd letter of the Hebrew alphabet is gimel... it is also used for the number 3.
it seems to be the symbol of kindenss and culmination.

Gimel is a form of the word gamol, meaning 'to nourish until completely ripe', or 'to bring to maturity'.
I did find Bullinger's study of the three very interesting....

http://philologos.org/__eb-nis/three.htm

Your Friend in Christ,
Val
Messiahiscoming

Good one Val..

I think he told him 3 times because he denied him three times...It must of stung..

Thanks for the replies, and thanks for the link on Gimel Val.


I want to explore some things about Peter, because they point to the things which we look into seriously.

It is not easy because it is not expressed directly in Scripture.

For instance, do you notice that all the trouble within the early Church filters out of Jerusalem and through Antioch?

The Nicolaitans, who were infiltrators of the early Church, and probably what we nowadays know as Illuminati,
(see Jerry Golden Report)
http://www.thegoldenreport.com/asp/jerrysn...p?a=817&z=2

were so-called because of their association with Nicolas one of the 7 deacons.

Nicolas was a 'proselyte of Antioch.'

That means he learnt his 'Christianity' so-called in Antioch.

Paul also confronted Peter about being a turncoat in Antioch.

From reading Acts, it becomes clear that people who were Anti-Church came
out of Jerusalem and first into Antioch.

Antioch is in Syria.
The AntiChrist is also often called 'the Assyrian'.

I am sketching things, but if anyone wants to fill out the picture, we can develop it.

i understand that Peter is a type, and all of us at one time or another
have dealt with this in our growth. as we understand from scripture,
Peter overcame and was sent out to proclaim the Gospel.

we grow through stages, yes? and Peter is close to my heart as
he seems to be zealous and immature in the beginning, and grows
into his calling to minister unto the Jewish world of the time.

are we not some times called to minister or witness to people that
we are not culturally a part of...the unsaved? do we not want to
build memorials to the Lord, if not in concrete, in our hearts for
past treasures...and forget to look forward. do we not, at times,
look towards bringing the Lord into acclaim by words of elegance
and form of esteem?

we know this from Isaiah 53,

"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed?1

For He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground;
He hath no form nor comliness; and when we shall see Him,
there is no beauty that we should desire Him.2

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not". 3

it says we did this...as did Peter, however, we walk with Him now, as
Peter did and we seek to fulfill what God has called us to, individually
and corporately. having heard he truth, we have asked that the Truth
come into our hearts...the person of Truth is our Lord Jesus Christ.

for those that haven't known Him, i pray that reading this you will
ask Him into your life now, for those that grapple with Peter in His
immaturity(flesh) that you are blessed with insight and direction and
fulfillment into the destiny that God has called you to...and surely
He will bring it to pass.

speaking of Peter...we all struggle with the flesh, how to serve, what
to do, expressions of love, and righteousness, holiness, our part,
His part...worry about acceptance of others, His acceptance, ourselves.
we are always in the refiner's fire, at least I hope I am...

thanks.

blessings,
signet

The Moslems actually believe that Antioch plays a part in the end-times.

But I'm jumping the gun.

----------------------

Oh yes Miki.... it must have no doubt stung. I remember one of my 1st sins after accepting Christ. I remember the stinging and heart wrinching. I remember the weeping and the repeating over and over again in my head as to how I could have acted this way. I pulled around the fast food place and wept and just begged the Lord for His forgiveness. The I could not even get out of the parking lot before I drove back through the drive through and apologized and sought this ladies forgivenss. At the moment that I sinned it almost just seemed so automatic. That flesh had been all that I had ever known. I still struggle with the flesh I am sure I will till I die. The one thing that I have sensed that has changed... is that through the years Praise the Lord there has been some renewing of the mind. Through the Lord He is transforming me... and although I still struggle and always will, I am trying to allow His Spirit to reign.


Simple, I have never ponderd where you are going with the Antioch train of thought. That is really interesting. I would be anxious to hear what you have to say.

Signet.... You are right on target with the stages in a believers life. I have seen in my own life and others as well that zealous spirit as a new convert and baby christian. Goodness .... I have to even admit that after 15 years that I sometimes fall in to this category. I do see your thoughts clearly. Thank you for the good word.


Your Friend in Christ,
Val
Messiahiscoming

Hi Val.
Thanks for the comments.

I started the thread in hope that some people would engage, and just see where it goes.

I was reading Corinthians the other day Val, and by the time I got to the Second letter, it appeared to me that there was a fundamental rift in the early Church that Paul was not saying outright, but which is a simmering tension under the surface.

In Galatians Paul states it explicitly as a face to face confrontation with Peter over Judaizers.

What I'm trying to fathom is the depth and the breadth of the disagreement.



This is a huge subject, and I certainly haven't broken it up into bit-sized pieces.
Sometimes we put up a few words, and then someone responds, and you get an coherent
flow. Trouble with this subject is that its really thorny, and not stated very clearly in the NT, so it is only having read the epistles several times, that I've started to see it.

But the issue is the Law and grace.
And the attempt of subversive elements to bring the Law back into the Church through the side door.

But the Law really is dead to us.
A spirit-filled Christian is dead to the Law.
The discussion will inevitably come back to this, but in an ideal world it shouldn't!
That's not say it can't, just that someone will probably smother the thread with an argument about Law keeping.


What I wanted to talk about is how Peter, having been told by God 3 times to kill and eat non-kosher food could end up at a later date in hock to the Judaizers, and shunning the Gentiles' table.


And from this to ask where Peter really ended up.............and why ........and how this all impacts on us today, in the End-Times.

Not a lot to discuss then!!

Antioch comes in for all sorts of reasons...........the little horn......Antiochus Epiphanies......the seat of the Judaizers.........the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant in Islamic Hadith.......the Battleground of Paul and Peter........the source of Nicolaitanism........





it was all happening in Antioch I tell you!

Oh, by the way, Antioch is situated at the tail of the dead sea rift.