CHAPTER 16

(A.D. 32)

JESUS REBUKES THE PHARISEES

¹The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came (proclaims the joining of these two groups who were normally antagonistic to each other), and tempting desired Him that He would show them a sign from Heaven (they wanted Him to call fire down from Heaven, as did Elijah; but they would not accept the recent feeding of the thousands with seven loaves and a few fish).

²He answered and said unto them (His answer to them shows the hostility of the natural heart), When it is evening, you say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.

³And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky; but can you not discern the signs of the times?

⁴A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign (regrettably, this characterizes this present generation as well); and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonah (Jesus was sent from Heaven, but they would not accept Him; He was the greatest sign of all). And He left them, and departed (He departed both physically and spiritually).

⁵And when His Disciples were come to the other side (from the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, to the northeastern shore), they had forgotten to take bread.

THE LEAVEN

⁶Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven (false doctrine) of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

⁷And they reasoned among themselves (shows an appalling lack of Scriptural and Spiritual knowledge), saying, It is because we have taken no bread.

⁸Which when Jesus perceived, He said unto them (the Holy Spirit told Him what they were reasoning), O you of little faith (Faith in Christ and the Cross is the one necessary ingredient), why reason you among yourselves, because you have brought no bread?

⁹Do you not yet understand (the insensibility of the Disciples to the Lords Actions and to His Teaching, is a humiliating proof of the darkness of mans heart to moral realities), neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?

¹⁰Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up?

¹¹How is it that you do not understand that I spoke it not to you concerning bread (bread that one can eat), that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? (Is meant to censure their want of spiritual discernment.)

¹²Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

PETERS CONFESSION

¹³When Jesus came into the coasts (borders) of Caesarea Philippi (about thirty miles north of the Sea of Galilee), He asked His Disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? (The third form of unbelief manifested itself in popular indifference, indolence, or mere curiosity respecting the Messiah Himself. Upon the answer to this all-important question, hinges the Salvation of man.)

¹⁴And they said, Some say that You are John the Baptist: some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the Prophets (this form of unbelief manifests itself in the frivolity of the natural heart).

¹⁵He said unto them, But whom say you that I am? (Addressed personally to the Twelve.)

¹⁶And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God (the Great Confession).

¹⁷And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona (Peter is the son of Jonah, as Jesus is the Son of God): for flesh and blood have not revealed it unto you (mere human ingenuity), but My Father Who is in Heaven (all Spiritual knowledge must be by Revelation).

¹⁸And I say also unto you, That you are Peter (the Lord changed his name from Simon to Peter, which means a fragment of a rock), and upon this rock (immovable mass; Jesus is the Living Rock on which the Redeemed as living stones are built; for other foundation can no man lay [I Cor. 3:11]) I will build My Church (the Church belongs to Christ, and He is the Head [Col. 1:18]); and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it (the power of death caused by sin, shall not prevail against it, which victory was won at the Cross [Vss. 21, 24]).

¹⁹And I will give unto you (you refers to all Believers) the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (refers to symbols of authority, the privilege of preaching or proclaiming the Gospel, which is the privilege of every Believer): and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven (Christ has given the authority and power to every Believer to bind Satan and his minions of darkness, and to do so by using the Name of Jesus [Mk. 16:17-18; Lk. 10:19]): and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven (looses the Power of God according to the usage of the Name of Jesus; this is the authority of the Believer).

²⁰Then charged He (Commanded)His Disciples that they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ (the Name as used here, is a proclamation of Messiahship; by this time, it is painfully obvious that Israel has rejected her Messiah and, therefore, any further proclamation is pointless!).

JESUS FORETELLS HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION

²¹From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His Disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the Elders and Chief Priests and Scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day (His sufferings, and the glories that should follow are always associated in Scripture [I Pet. 1:11; 4:13]; the Cross was ever His destination, the very reason He came; the Resurrection was never in doubt).

²²Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him (Peter chides Jesus for speaking of suffering and death; regrettably, many Preachers continue to do the same, as they reject the Cross), saying, Be it far from You, Lord: this shall not be unto You (at that time Peter, nor any of the Disciples, understood the Cross as it regarded its necessity).

²³But He turned, and said unto Peter (respects strong action; would be the sternest of rebukes), Get thee behind Me, Satan (Jesus used nearly the same words in rebuking Peter, and the other Disciples that He had used to the Devil, and His temptation [4:10]; all denial of the Cross in any form, is of Satan): you are an offence unto Me (speaks directly to Peter, because he is now being used by Satan): for you savor not the things that be of God, but those that be of men (if its not the Cross, then its of men, which means it is of Satan).

²⁴Then said Jesus unto His Disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself (not asceticism, but rather the denial of ones own strength and ability), and take up his cross (the benefits of the Cross, what Jesus did there [Col. 2:14-15]), and follow Me (if Christ is not followed by the means of the Cross, He cannot be followed at all).

²⁵For whosoever will save his life shall lose it (tries to live his life outside of Christ and the Cross; it can only be lived in Christ through the Cross): and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it (lose his life to Christ, which means to give his life to Christ, which can only be done through the Cross; he then finds newness of life [Rom. 6:3-5]).

²⁶For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Christ refers here to gain and loss.) or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Nothing is more important than the soul, because it is eternal.)

²⁷For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of His Father with His Angels (while the Son must suffer, nevertheless, Glory will follow; He speaks here of the Second Coming); and then He shall reward every man according to his works (every man refers first of all to the Saints and the Judgment Seat of Christ, where rewards will be handed out, and to the unredeemed at the Great White Throne Judgment, where eternal damnation will be meted out [Rev. 20:11-15]).

²⁸Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom (refers to the Transfiguration of Christ, which would take place in a few hours, and would be observed by Peter, James, and John).