Prophecy of His Death and Resurrection (3)

[Matthew 16:21-23]

This is the passage from Matthew 16:21-23:
“From that time on, Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised on the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’ But Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’”

Here, “from that time” refers to when Simon Peter, by revelation from God the Father in heaven, made the confession of faith: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (verse 16), for which Jesus gave him much praise. After hearing Peter’s confession of faith, Jesus said, “On this rock (Peter’s confession) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (verses 18-19).

Also, the place called “Jerusalem” (verse 21) is the location appointed by God:
(1) In the time of Abraham, it was Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:2, 3, 9; 2 Chronicles 3:1),
(2) In the time of David, it was Araunah’s threshing floor (2 Samuel 24:16),
(3) In the time of Solomon, it was the site where the temple of the Lord was built, the Mount Moriah of Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 3:1).

We too should praise and worship God in the place He has appointed.

The “elders, chief priests, and scribes” mentioned in Matthew 16:21 were the members who made up the Sanhedrin council. At that time, the Sanhedrin was the highest governing body of the Jews and exercised tremendous authority—including even the power to execute people. Jesus foretold that when He went up to Jerusalem, He would suffer many hardships at their hands, be killed, and also rise again on the third day.

Furthermore, Matthew 16:21 says that Jesus “began to show His disciples” this, and the phrase “began to show” means that He spoke about it “openly” (Mark 8:32). Before this—that is, before Peter’s confession of faith, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v.16)—Jesus did not speak openly about His death and resurrection but spoke about them privately or in parables.

For example, Matthew 9:14-15 states:
“At that time, the disciples of John came to Jesus and asked, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’”

Although this response does not explicitly prophesy Jesus’ public death, the phrase “when the bridegroom will be taken away” implies His death.

John 2:18-22 says:
“The Jews then responded to Jesus, ‘What sign do you show us to do these things?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking about the temple of His body. After He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.”

When the Passover was approaching, Jesus went up to Jerusalem and saw people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and money changers sitting inside the temple. He made a whip out of cords and drove all of them out of the temple, poured out the money of the changers, and overturned their tables, thus cleansing the temple (vv. 13-16). At that time, the Jews asked Jesus, “What sign do you show us for doing this?” (v.18), and Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (v.21). Here, “temple” refers to Jesus’ body, “destroy this temple” prophesies His death, and “in three days I will raise it up” prophesies His resurrection.

However, even Jesus’ disciples did not understand this at the time, but after Jesus died and rose again, they remembered His words and believed the Scriptures and Jesus’ words (v.22).

Thus, before Peter’s confession of faith, Jesus spoke of His death and resurrection only in parables (privately), but after Peter’s confession, He spoke openly (publicly).

At that time, Peter grabbed Jesus and protested, saying,
“Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you” (Matthew 16:22).

When Jesus spoke only in parables, His disciples did not understand the prophecy of His death and resurrection, but when He spoke openly, they understood its meaning. That is why Peter grabbed Jesus and protested: “Lord, this must never happen” (v.22, Contemporary Bible).

Then Jesus turned and rebuked Peter:
“Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns” (v.23).

What a cunning temptation from Satan! This temptation was not only given to Apostle Peter but also ensnared other disciples. How do we know this? Because in Mark 8:33, it says:
“Jesus turned and looked at His disciples and rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’”

In Mark 8:33 it says Jesus turned and looked at all the disciples and rebuked Peter, while in Matthew 16:23 it says Jesus turned to Peter and rebuked him. This indicates that the other disciples had the same mindset as Peter, so Jesus, seeing them as well, rebuked Peter as their representative.

How about us today? Aren’t we, like Jesus’ disciples, often tempted by Satan? Don’t we, like them, sometimes fall into Satan’s temptation by “thinking about human matters rather than God’s matters”? (Matt 16:23; Mark 8:33) The Apostle Peter and the other disciples thought about human matters and tried to stop Jesus, insisting that His death must never happen (Matt 16:22, Contemporary Korean Bible). This is exactly the purpose of Satan’s temptation. Satan, believing that according to the Bible Christ dying for our sins (1 Cor 15:3) must never happen, tempted Jesus three times even while He was hanging on the cross:

First temptation: (Luke 23:35) “The people stood watching, and the rulers mocked him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God.’”
Second temptation: (vv. 36-37) “The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.’”
Third temptation: (v. 39) “One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!’”

The core of these three temptations from Satan is that Jesus should save Himself and not die on the cross. In other words, Satan never wanted Jesus to bear our sins and die on the cross as a substitute. Therefore, Satan used the “rulers” (v.35), the “soldiers” (vv.36-37), and one of the “criminals crucified” (v.39) to tempt Jesus three times to ‘save Himself.’

Satan’s cunning temptation makes us focus only on Jesus’ death and not on His resurrection. In other words, Satan tempts us by omitting the part of Jesus’ prophecy where He said He “must suffer many things, be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matt 16:21), emphasizing only the suffering and death Jesus would endure. Especially when our loved ones die, Satan comes to tempt us so that we grieve like hopeless unbelievers (1 Thess 5:13).

To not fall into Satan’s temptation and to win this spiritual battle, we must stand firmly on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must firmly establish our faith in the truth that, according to the Bible, Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day (1 Cor 15:3-4). This is because the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom 1:16).

Jesus fulfilled this prophecy by dying and rising on the third day. Therefore, even if we suffer greatly, we must resist and overcome Satan’s temptation with the assurance and hope of resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 says:
“The resurrection of the dead is like this: What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”

Just as Jesus was resurrected with a glorious body, we too will be resurrected with glorious bodies. With this firm faith, we must fight and triumph over Satan’s temptations. And we must diligently preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.