Introduction
‘In those days, there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. So, Jesus called his disciples and said to them, ‘I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days, and they have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come from a great distance.’ His disciples answered him, ‘Where can someone get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy these people?’ He asked them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ They replied, ‘Seven.’ Then he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. After he took the seven loaves and gave thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples to serve. So, they served the crowd. They also had a few small fish. After giving thanks for these, he told them to serve these as well. Everyone ate and was satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. There were about four thousand who ate. Then he dismissed them. Immediately he got into a boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.’ Mark 8:1-10
Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
The miracle of feeding the four-thousand we read about here, does have a few similarities with the feeding of the five-thousand, Matthew 14:13-21 / Mark 6:30-44 / Luke 9:10-17 / John 6:1-15. They are similar in terms of Jesus multiplying loaves and fish, a multitude is fed, the disciples are sceptical, and they collect leftovers. However, there are some differences, the crowds are of different sizes, the disciples speak first in the first miracle, but Jesus does in the second, they occur in discrete locations, they follow different events, the numbers of loaves and fish differ.
Huge crowds were constantly following Jesus and notice that it was Jesus who sees the needs of the people, not the disciples, Mark 8:1 / Matthew 15:32. Notice here that Jesus didn’t just take of their physical ailments, Matthew 9:36, He also cares about their physical necessities.
It appears that everyone was so amazed about all those being healed, Mark 7:31-32, that they forgot to eat for three days, Mark 8:2 / Mathew 15:32. Jesus really showed compassion for the people and was obviously concerned about their physical welfare and didn’t want to send them away, Matthew 15:32.
Jesus didn’t want to send them home hungry for fear they would faint during the trip, Mark 8:3 / Matthew 15:32. On this occasion, they were in a remote place, a wilderness area, Mark 8:4 / Matthew 15:29. The disciples then state the obvious, as far as they were concerned, they are in the middle of nowhere with no way of getting enough food to feed all these people, Mark 8:4 / Matthew 15:33.
The ‘remote place’ or ‘wilderness’ doesn’t mean barren land, it simply means the place where wild animals roam. The disciples recognised this, and so Jesus asked for a food inventory, there were seven loaves and a few small fish, Mark 8:5 / Matthew 15:34. The reason Jesus asked them this question was simply to prepare their minds for what is about to happen miraculously. The One who created all things, Colossians 1:16 / Matthew 14:15-20 / Matthew 16:8-13, is certainly more than capable of feeding thousands of people.
The numbers of baskets differ, the baskets themselves are different and finally, Jesus spends one day with the five-thousand, but three with the four-thousand. Jesus, Himself removes any doubt by referring to them as two different miracles. Jesus directed the multitude to sit down, Mark 8:6 / Matthew 15:35, and then he took the bread and fish and gave thanks to God for them, Mark 8:7 / Matthew 15:36. He gave them to His disciples who then served the people, Mark 8:7 / Mathew 15:36.
Miraculously, the supply didn’t dwindle, the people were all fed and satisfied, Mark 8:8 / Matthew 15:37. Each loaf generated a large basketful of leftovers, Matthew 15:37 / Mark 8:8. The word ‘basket’ here is a different word from the word used earlier in Mark 6:43, for the feeding of the five-thousand, in Mark 6, it’s the word ‘kophinos’ which means small basket. But here the word for basket is ‘spuris’ which means a hamper, a larger basket. This is the same word used in Acts 9:25, to describe the basket in which Paul was lowered in from the city.
Besides feeding four-thousand men, not counting the women and children, Mark 8:9 / Matthew 15:38, the food just kept on coming out of nowhere. Jesus’ power couldn’t be disputed. Can we imagine the amount of food this took to feed four-thousand men, not counting the women and children? Only the Bread of Life could do such a thing, John 6:35. Once everyone had their fill of food, Jesus sent them away and went to the vicinity of Magadan Dalmanutha, Mark 8:10 / Matthew 15:39, by boat.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘As for the sceptic’s contention that Mark and Matthew’s accounts are contradictory, the explanation is simple’.
1. Christ might easily have gone to both places. The only possibility of finding a contradiction would have to lie in the discovery that one of the gospels had said he did NOT go to one or the other of the two places and, of course, no such statement exists.
2. It is far more likely that the village, so small as to have been lost to history, actually had two names, Dalmanutha and Magadan!
The Demand For A Sign
‘The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.’ Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.’ Mark 8:11-13
Although the Pharisees and Sadducees disagreed with one another in their beliefs, that is, the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, or the afterlife, Matthew 22:23 / Acts 23:8, they came together to test Jesus. Despite much evidence of Jesus’ power and authority, the Pharisees and the Sadducees challenged Him to show a sign from heaven, Matthew 16:1. Mark only mentions the Pharisees, Mark 8:11.
Jesus refused their request. They were simply blind to all evidence and no sign would ever be enough to convince them. Notice Jesus ‘sighed deeply’, Mark 8:12, this means He was dismayed at the attitude of the Pharisees. They were simply blind to all the evidence and no sign would ever be enough to convince them, Mark 8:12.
In Matthew 16:2-4, we see that Jesus tries to reason with both groups by speaking about the well-known fact, that they had the ability to give a forecast of weather conditions based upon the appearance of the skies and clouds, Matthew 16:2-3. Both groups could easily look to the heavens and see the signs in the sky and make a determination as to what would happen with the weather.
Jesus challenged them to do the same thing in relation to the spiritual nature of the miracles He has performed and preaching He has taught. If they can determine the outcome of weather by the signs they see, then why can’t they discern that Jesus is the Lord by the signs that He has performed? John 20:30-31.
The point is that these men know that obvious signs have been given, however, due to the hardness of their hearts they close their eyes to them, Matthew 12:9-12 / Mark 3:5. They don’t close their eyes to the signs in the heavens regarding the weather, yet they ignore the clear signs Jesus has performed.
As their minds were closed to whom Jesus was, they had become a ‘wicked and adulterous generation’, Matthew 16:4. They had separated themselves from God and His will, Jeremiah 3:8-9, they had committed spiritual adultery, Mark 7:6-9 / Matthew 15:8-9. Jesus says the only sign which will be given is the sign of Jonah, Matthew 16:4 / Matthew 12:39-41. Just as Jonah came up from the depths of the sea after being in the fish for three days, so Jesus will rise from the depths of the dead in a resurrected state. Those who refuse repentance and His kingdom after this have nothing to look forward to but the judgment of the inhabitants of Nineveh.
1. The four Gospels reveal that, repeatedly, the Lord Himself declared in unequivocal terms, that He would be put to death and would rise from the dead ‘on the third day’.
2. He first predicted His resurrection early as John 2:19, ‘destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days,’ in a statement which John admits His disciples only later understood, but later He began to speak about it openly, after Peter had declared Him to be ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’, in Matthew 16:16.
Similar statements are recorded in the Gospels, here are but a few, Matthew 17:23 / Matthew 20:19 / Mark 9:31 / Mark 10:34 / Luke 9:22 / Luke 13:32 / Luke 18:33 / Luke 24:7 / Luke 24:21 / Luke 24:46.
3. What Jesus said was evidently accepted without question by both His apostles and the members of the early church, all of whom subsequently believed that what He had predicted had actually come to pass.
Paul states this in 1 Corinthians15:4, ‘raised on the third day’. The New Testament contains nothing to suggest that the Lord made a prediction that failed.
4. Matthew 27:63-64, tells us that, after the burial of the body of Jesus, the leaders of the Jews came to Pilate with a request.
5. On the morning of the third day, the women came to the tomb, and Luke 24:5-8, records that the heavenly messengers who met them even quoted the Lord’s own words, Luke 24:5-8.
Matthew 28:6, says that one of the angels told the women, ‘He is not here, for He is raised, even as He said. Come; see the place where the Lord lay’.
Jesus then left the Pharisees and the Sadducees and went away, Mark 7:13, there was simply no point in casting pearls before pigs, Matthew 7:6. There was no point in trying to teach those whose hearts had become so hard.
The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod
‘The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. ‘Be careful,’ Jesus warned them. ‘Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.’ They discussed this with one another and said, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?’ ‘Twelve,’ they replied. ‘And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?’ They answered, ‘Seven.’ He said to them, ‘Do you still not understand?’ Mark 8:13-21
Then Jesus and His disciples began to cross the sea by boat, Mark 8:13 / Matthew 16:5. The disciples were worried because they had forgotten to take enough bread with them for the trip, Mark 8:14. Matthew tells us they didn’t bring any bread because they forgot, Matthew 16:5, Mark tells us they had one loaf of bread with them, Mark 8:14.
Jesus warned them about the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees, Matthew 16:11, Mark adds Herod, Mark 8:15. They should have known that He could handle problems with insufficient food. His warning wasn’t about the yeast of bread, but about the false teaching and hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and Herod, Matthew 15:1-9 / Mark 7:1-9 / Luke 12:1.
It is the nature of yeast to spread throughout the bread, and so, it would be with the teachings and influence of the Pharisees whose hearts were far from God, Matthew 15:1-9 / Mark 7:1-9. Bad attitudes spread like yeast, and He was worried that the disciples might be contaminated by them. Yeast breaks things up, it doesn’t unite anything, Acts 15:10.
Bell, in his commentary, says the following, concerning, the yeast of the Pharisees, Herod and the Sadducees.
‘The Pharisees teachings to watch for? Legalism. Today we can fall into the same trap of legalism, that is trying to live the Christian life by obeying a set of rules. Christianity isn’t being inhibited by rules, but by being inhabited by a Ruler. The legalistic church is a sad church, No joy, no thrill, no excitement, no victory.’
Herod’s teachings to watch for? Mark 8:15. Worldliness. This is the church where there is no difference in lifestyles of its members and those of the lost world. The Sadducees teachings to watch for? Liberalism. They didn’t believe in the supernatural, in the power of God, in miracles. The spiritual Liberals don’t understand Gods power. Today, Jesus still warns us, ‘Beware of the leaven of Legalism, the leaven of Worldliness, and the leaven of Liberalism.’
What appears like a contradiction is quickly cleared up with The Literal Translation, which reads as follows. ‘And the disciples forgot to take loaves. And they did not have any with them, except one loaf in the boat.’
Immediately, the disciples imagined that He was criticising them for having forgotten the bread, Mark 8:16-17 / Matthew 16:7. Jesus in this small section asked eight questions to help them remember, Mark 8:17-21 / Matthew 16:8-11. Jesus knew what they were saying to each other and rebuked their hard-heartedness, Mark 8:17 / Matthew 16:8.
They forgot what Jesus did earlier, Mark 8:19-20 / Matthew 16:9-10. He had twice produced enough food to feed thousands with abundant leftovers, Mark 8:1-13 / Mark 6:30-44 / Matthew 14:13-21 / Luke 9:10-17 / John 6:1-15 / Matthew 15:32-39.
Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida
‘They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, ‘Do you see anything?’ He looked up and said, ‘I see people; they look like trees walking around.’ Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, ‘Don’t even go into the village.’ Mark 8:22-26
Bethsaida
Jesus comes into the region of Bethsaida, Mark 8:22, this is probably Bethsaida Julius that was north of the Sea of Galilee. It was the native city of Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Philip, its name means ‘house of fish,’ it was here that He encountered a blind man.
Why did Jesus take him outside the village? Mark 8:23. He took this man outside the town to an area where there was no audience. Jesus did this in order not to cause excitement in the city that a healing of this nature would cause, and He probably didn’t want people coming to Him simply just for healing. Jesus sought to accomplish the healing, and at the same time be able to teach the multitudes in the town later, Mark 7:36 / Mark 5:43.
What would this man’s life be like being blind? People with complete blindness often have a difficult time self-navigating outside well-known environments. Travelling or simply walking down a crowded street may pose great difficulty. In the home, large obstacles such as tables and chairs must remain in one location to prevent injury.
Blindness causes considerable social challenges, usually in relation to the activities in which a blind person cannot participate. All too frequently, blindness affects a person’s ability to perform many jobs, which severely limits their employment opportunities. This may not only affect a person’s finances but also their self-esteem. Blindness may also cause difficulties with participating in activities outside of the workplace, such as sports and academics. Many of these social challenges limit a blind person’s ability to meet people, and this only adds to low self-esteem.
Blind people are naturally helpless in many ways, 2 Samuel 5:6 / Isaiah 35:5-6 / Jeremiah 31:7. The appeals to the blind, the lame, and the mute as representative examples of helplessness and subject to exploitation, Deuteronomy 28:29. There are warnings against exploiting them found in Leviticus 19:14 / Deuteronomy 27:18 / Job 29:15.
The Blindness Test
Describe what Jesus looks like! Describe what a Scottish Thistle looks like, without using colours! Describe what a tree looks like without using colours! Imagine how difficult this would be if you’ve never seen these things!
The Healing
Normally, Jesus’ healings were complete and immediate, but this case was different, He applied saliva to the eyes of the blind man, laid His hands on him, and then asked what he saw. The man reported seeing men like trees walking around, Mark 8:23-24. So, Jesus touched his eyes again, and his vision was perfectly restored, Mark 8:25. Despite the fact of there being two stages in the man’s healing, it was nevertheless accomplished almost immediately.
Why didn’t Christ heal this man all at once, like He normally did? Mark 8:23-24. Jesus’ healings were signs, symbols of spiritual truths. In this case, the two-stage healing of the blind man symbolised how men’s understanding, and insight are often healed in two steps.
The disciples, for example, weren’t totally blind, for they understood that Jesus was the Son of God, Mark 8:29. But, on the other hand, they still didn’t perceive Jesus’ complete ability and therefore had defective vision, Mark 8:17-18 / Mark 8:31-33. They needed to be touched again so they could see clearly. Jesus deliberately did this healing this way to encourage the faith of the blind man and to use him as an object lesson.
There’s no other incident in Jesus’ miraculous works like the action of Jesus in this case and the truth is we can’t be certain as to why Jesus healed this man in two steps. It’s interesting in modern times when someone is having eye surgery, after the operation, the doctors put on many layers of bandages but then remove one layer every day, so that their sight will gradually get used to the light again. If they remove them all in one go, it can cause irreversible damage to the eyes, and they may never see again.
Opinions
1. Jesus may have wanted to prepare the way for the following teaching that He must be accepted to be someone more than a prophet. He must be accepted as the Christ and Son of God, Mark 8:27-30.
2. Coffman suggests that the man was healed in stages, probably because his faith was imperfect. Jesus first strengthened his faith by partly healing him, and then, when his faith was adequate, completed the cure.
In this connection, it should be remembered that they were the citizens of Bethsaida who brought this man to Jesus, and that city was noted for its unbelief and rejection of the Lord. Matthew 11:21-22 / Luke 10:13.
3. Jesus’ healings were signs, symbols of spiritual truths. In this case, the two-stage healing of the blind man symbolised how men’s understanding, and insight are often healed in two steps.
The disciples, for example, weren’t totally blind, for they understood that Jesus was the Son of God, Mark 8:29, but, on the other hand, they still didn’t perceive Jesus’ complete ability and therefore had defective vision, Mark 8:17-18 / Mark 8:31-33. They needed to be touched again so they could see clearly. Jesus deliberately did this healing this way to encourage the faith of the blind man and to use him as an object lesson to his disciples.
Why wasn’t he permitted to go back to Bethsaida? Mark 8:26. I believe that Jesus knew that more than enough had already been done for this sinful, unbelieving village and Christ here practised what He preached, regarding the casting of pearls before pigs. Matthew 7:6.
What effect would this miracle have on this man’s life? A good friend of mine told me a story about when a congregation got on a minibus to visit a congregation to support their Gospel meeting, my friend sat next to a woman who was blind, and she asked him to describe what he could see on the journey.
She says, ‘it sounds beautiful, I wish I could see it all’. My friend went on and said to her, when I describe something blue, just think of something cold, and when I describe something warm just think of the colour orange. When they finally got off the bus, my friend noticed a dear sister wearing a blue scarf and said to the blind lady, ‘it’s cold today, what colour scarf is our dear sister wearing?’ To which she replied, ‘it’s blue’. As you can imagine everyone thought a miracle had occurred.
I think something like this may have happened with the blind man when he said he saw ‘men like trees walking around’. I’m sure that people would have tried their best to describe something he couldn’t see. Presuming the man was blind from birth, imagine how he can now see colours for the first time, and the beauty of God’s creation. Imagine him seeing his wife and children for the first time if he was married and had children. He wouldn’t have to rely on anyone to take him places, he could work again.
Just like the demon-possessed man who was healed, Luke 8:39, I’m pretty confident that the healed blind man would later be a witness for Jesus in the region. Consider the situation of the blind man, while blind, he saw absolutely nothing. When Jesus first touched him, his vision improved, he saw men, though they looked like trees. To one who had been totally blind, that was fantastic progress, but Jesus could do more, He touched the man again and he began to see perfectly.
Unfortunately, in the spiritual realm, some people, including some Christians, are satisfied with one touch, they see, but not clearly. Many don’t even realise that they need a complete cure, and they have become content to see men like trees walking. Consider, for example, someone whose life has been totally devastated by sin, they hear about Jesus, begin to follow many of His teachings and their life improves.
Sadly, however, the people who are unaware that they lack understanding of Jesus’ words in many areas, and they settle for distorted vision. Let’s check out our own lives, could it be that we still aren’t seeing clearly, and that Jesus could restore our vision perfectly?
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
‘Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, ‘Who do people say I am?’ They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ ‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah.’ Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.’ Mark 8:27-30
Caesarea Philippi
Situated twenty-five miles north of the Sea of Galilee and at the base of Mount Hermon, Caesarea Philippi is the location of one of the largest springs feeding the Jordan River, Mark 8:27 / Matthew 16:13. This abundant water supply has made the area very fertile and attractive for religious worship. Numerous temples were built in this city in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Known as Baal Hermon and Baal Gad in the Old Testament period, this site later was named Panias after the Greek god Pan who was worshipped here.
There is no record of Jesus entering the city, but the great confession and the transfiguration both occurred in the vicinity of the city, Mark 9:2-8 / Luke 9:28-36 / Matthew 17:1-8, then known as Caesarea Philippi. But it was no accident that Jesus took His disciples to a place called Caesarea Philippi. Jesus deliberately chooses to take them to Caesarea Philippi because He knew he would get that much-needed quality time alone with His disciples.
But Jesus took them to Caesarea Philippi for another reason. When you went up the hills of Caesarea Philippi, there was not only beautiful views, but there were the ancient Syrian temples which were used to worship Baal. But not only were the Syrian gods worshiped there, there was also a cavern nearby that was said to have been the birthplace of the Greek god Pan, the god of nature.
But that’s not all that Jesus and the disciples could see up on the hills. Another huge temple would have stood there in Jesus’ day, built out of white marble by Herod the Great and dedicated to the worship of Augustus Caesar. In other words, Caesarea Philippi was like a one stop shopping supermarket for religion. It was a cross-section of the religious claims of Jesus’ day.
Jesus stood in this place which was literally crowded with temples dedicated to the worship of Syrian, Greek, and Roman gods and He asked His disciples, who they believed Him to be. I believe Jesus deliberately set Himself against the background of the world’s religions in all their history and splendour and demanded to be compared with them and to have the verdict given in His favour.
In other words, with this setting as a backdrop, Jesus forced His disciples to wrestle with vital questions like, ‘Who is the real God?’ ‘Who is worthy of adoration and worship?’ I can imagine Jesus saying, ‘Listen, look around at the magnificence of all these temples, to all these ‘gods’ and then look at Me. Who is right? Who is the truth, Me or the ‘gods’ of one of these temples?
Do you see the importance of this moment? Coming here helped force the disciples to deal with this issue, an issue they needed to deal with. All the things Jesus had said and done over the past two and a half years had been in preparation for this moment. We could say that this question Jesus posed at Caesarea Philippi was in effect, the disciples’ final exam, an exam that consisted of only one question, ‘who do you say I am?’ which we will get to in a moment.
Jesus asked what the public thought about Him, Mark 8:27 / Luke 9:18 / Matthew 16:13, but He’s not asking this question because He doesn’t know the answer. Jesus knew the answer to this question, He knew what people were saying about Him. But He wanted the twelve to think carefully about those popular perceptions as a way of building a foundation for their own conclusions.
When Jesus asked this first question, He didn’t ask it to find out how He stood in the public opinion polls. No, it was a probing question designed to determine the extent to which His students had discovered the true nature of His ministry and His message. I believe there would have been a moment of pause when Jesus asked them, ‘who do the people say I am?’ Mark 8:27 / Luke 9:18 / Matthew 16:13. I can imagine the disciples thinking to themselves, ‘well, we all know what the people are thinking and it’s not all good.’
Remember Jesus had been called a wine-drunkard, a glutton, a blasphemer, a false prophet and even a mad man working for the devil. So, I can imagine them thinking very carefully before they answer this question. The disciples didn’t share any of these negative reviews with Jesus and so they exercised some sensitivity and only told Him the compliments which people were paying Him.
The disciples reported varying opinions, including John the Baptist, Elijah, etc, Mark 8:28 / Luke 9:19 / Matthew 16:14. One disciple pointed out that many believed Jesus was John the Baptist reincarnated, Mark 8:27-30 / Luke 9:19 / Matthew 16:14. They believed that John had come back from the grave to continue his ministry of announcing the Messiah, while criticising the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, Matthew 14:1-3.
Another disciple shared the fact that many people believed Jesus was Elijah, Mark 8:28 / Luke 9:19 / Matthew 16:14, considered by some Jews to be the supreme Old Testament prophet, Mark 6:15 / Matthew 17:10 / 2 Kings 1:1-12. The Book of Malachi, Malachi 4:5, says, ‘See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.’ And so, some thought this Jesus was Elijah, fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi. And even today, in modern Jewish Passover celebrations, there is an empty chair reserved at the table for Elijah, in the hope of his one day coming to announce the Messiah’s arrival.
Another disciple shared that some people said Jesus was Jeremiah, but why would they think He was Jeremiah? Matthew 16:14. They held this opinion because according to 2 Maccabees legend, Jeremiah had taken the Ark of the covenant and the altar of incense out of the temple and hidden them both somewhere on Mount Nebo in order to preserve them from desecration and destruction by the Babylonians. Some Jews thought that before the Messiah returned to establish His kingdom, Jeremiah would return to earth and restore the Ark and the altar to their proper places in the temple.
So, the people who said these things were paying Jesus wonderful compliments by comparing Him to some of the greatest prophets and teachers God had ever sent. They were giving Jesus high praise but not enough high praise because in their minds, none of these three prophets were the Messiah.
Nothing has changed today concerning who Jesus is. A lot of people still speak highly of Jesus, but they don’t recognise His Deity and His Lordship. Most people in our day will admit that Jesus was a great teacher, but they won’t concede that He was the Christ, the Son of God, the only Way to Heaven. Some admit He was a prophet and an ‘admirable Jew’ but not as the Son of God. So, the opinion of the multitudes of Jesus’ day, isn’t that different from the opinion of many people today.
In Jesus’ day, the people thought that John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah were just a few of the Messiah’s forerunners who had come back to life with God-given miraculous powers. They thought that Jesus was great but not great enough.
At first glance, it looks like the disciples hadn’t realised who Jesus was. Maybe when they mentioned John the Baptist, Elijah, or Jeremiah, they thought that Jesus was going to say, ‘yes’ to one of those suggestions, and say, ‘your right.’ But Jesus must have answered without saying a word, and I can imagine there would have been an uncomfortable silence before Jesus spoke again. This isn’t about the multitudes’ opinion anymore, this is a personal question. These twelve men were more qualified than anyone else to answer the question. Unlike the multitudes, they had been with Jesus twenty-four seven for two and a half years.
They had heard Him teach, they had seen all His miracles, they were the star witnesses of Jesus’ life up until that point. Over the past two and a half years, at times He had shocked them, at times He thrilled them, at other times, He filled them with awe and wonder. The time had come for them to confess their opinion as to what kind of man He was. It was time for them to take a personal stand. Jesus looked each of His students in the eye and asked this all-important final-exam question.
And I think that when He did, while the other disciples were still processing the question like scared schoolboys, Peter spoke up and answered the question. Peter boldly responded, ‘you are the Messiah,’ Mark 8:29 / Luke 9:20 / Matthew 16:15-16. Matthew adds the words, ‘the Son of the living God’, Matthew 16:16. It was a brilliant insight.
And when He said this, I imagine a glow of pride would have showed on Jesus’ face. I can imagine Jesus saying, ‘yes! correct! you got it right Peter!’ Peter moved to the head of the class and got it right that day, he said the right thing, at the right time! He gave the correct answer because he confidently expressed two foundational Christian truths.
1. He identified Jesus as the Messiah, Mark 8:29 / Luke 9:20 / Matthew 16:15-16, the One Who was to reign forever on the throne of His great ancestor David.
2. And even more important, Peter identified Jesus as divine, the ‘Son of the living God!’ Matthew 16:16.
Literally his words can be translated like this, ‘You are THE Christ, THE Son of THE God, THE living One!’ When Jesus calmed the stormy seas of Galilee in Matthew 8, the disciples proclaim, ‘what kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!’ Matthew 8:27. When Jesus walked upon the waters of the Sea of Galilee the disciples proclaim, ‘truly you are the Son of God’, Matthew 14:33.
Now, Peter proclaims the deity of Christ. Jesus tells Simon, son of Jonah, John 1:42 / John 21:15-17, that he is blessed, Matthew 16:17. The word ‘blessed’ in Greek is the word, ‘makarios’, which is used in the beatitudes at Matthew 5:3-10, and it means happy.
How did Peter know that Jesus was the Christ? God revealed it to Him, Matthew 16:17. Peter had witnessed all the Lord’s miracles and heard His teaching and preaching, John 3:2 / John 5:36 / John 10:37-38 / John 14:11 / John 20:30-31. When anyone proclaims deity and then backs that claim up with sure miracles there is no denying it, Matthew 15:21-28. Peter and the apostles believed that he was the Christ due to divine revelation.
After stating that Jesus was the ‘Christ, the Son of the living God’, Matthew 17:17 / Matthew 14:33 / John 6:69 / John 11:27. Jesus now responds to Peter’s confession by saying that ‘upon this rock, I will build my church’, Matthew 16:18. Peter’s name, ‘Petros’ is a Greek word that is masculine in gender, the word means a stone or rock, John 1:42. The gender of this Greek word, ‘petra’ is feminine, and so, doesn’t refer to Peter whose name is masculine.
The rock here is the fact that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God. The rock or foundation that the church will be built upon will be the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, 1 Corinthians 3:11 / Ephesians 2:20. Note that Jesus said, ‘I will build my church’, Matthew 16:18, indicating that it had not been built or established at the point of this conversation. This is the first mention of the word ‘church’, which is ‘ekklesia’ in the New Testament. The Greek word means an assembly of the citizens regularly summoned, to call an assembly.
When the Lord’s church was built Jesus said that ‘the gates of Hades will not overcome it,’ Matthew 16:18 / Daniel 2:44 / Daniel 7:13-14. The gates of ancient cities were the most vulnerable part of the city and so, when a city was attacked by an enemy, the enemy attacked the gates. If the gates fell, the city fell. The word ‘gates’ became a metaphor meaning power or strength. Hades is actually hell, Luke 16:22-23 / Matthew 13:41-43 / Matthew 25:41.
There is power in sin and that is death, Genesis 2:17 / 1 Corinthians 15:55-56. This power, however, couldn’t hold Jesus when He was resurrected from the dead, Revelation 1:18 / Revelation 6:8 / Revelation 20:13-15. When Jesus rose from the grave, he went on to establish His church that all others may have power over sin and death through His blood sacrifice.
The Lord proclaims to Peter, ‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven’, Matthew 16:19. The word ‘keys’ is the Greek word, ‘kleis’ which means that which serves for closing, a bar or bolt. Notice that Jesus says ‘keys’ not key. Peter used one of those keys to open up the way to heaven to the Jews in Acts 2, and He used the other key to open up the way to heaven for the Gentiles in Acts 10.
Keys are sometimes used as a metaphor which refers to privilege or authority, Luke 11:52 / Isaiah 22:22 / Revelation 1:18 / Revelation 3:7 / Revelation 9:1. The word ‘bind’ means to bind, tie, to put in bonds and the word, ‘loosed’ means to loosen, unbind, unfasten, Matthew 16:19.
In other words, the apostles would be given the Gospel message of repentance and forgiveness of sins through the blood sacrifice of Jesus. Those who received this message would be loosed from the bondage of sin, yet those who rejected the message and would not repent remained bound in chains to their sin and destined for an eternity of torment. The ‘keys’ given to Peter and the apostles are clearly the Gospel message.
Jesus tells His disciples not to tell anyone at this time that He was the Christ, Mark 8:30 / Luke 9:21 / Matthew 16:20 / Matthew 8:4 / Matthew 17:9, because it was not His time to die yet, John 10:17-18. Jesus still had much work to do, therefore, He didn’t want any unnecessary hindrance from those who tried to kill Him. This event took place around two and a half years into Jesus’ earthly ministry, which meant the cross was around six months away.
Jesus Predicts His Death
‘He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’ Mark 8:31-33
Jesus teaching to His disciples up to this point was mainly about His identity but in Mark 8:31, Jesus’ teaching ministry changes. He now focuses on His upcoming death, burial and resurrection, Mark 8:31 / Matthew 16:12 / Luke 9:22 / Luke 18:31-33 / Luke 23:46 / Luke 24:46 / Matthew 16:21 / Matthew 17:22.
After Peter’s great confession, Jesus now turns His face to Jerusalem, and He goes on to warn His disciples about how He was going to be rejected and crucified, Matthew 17:9 / Matthew 17:12 / Matthew 17:22-23 / Matthew 20:18-19 / Matthew 27:63. Jesus wanted to prepare His disciples for the tragedy that was nearing. He warned them that He would be betrayed into men’s hands and be killed but encouraged them by announcing that three days later He would rise again, Mark 8:31 / Matthew 16:12 / Luke 9:22.
The disciples didn’t understand, why? Because the concept of an afterlife was foreign to them, It was Jesus who brought life and immortality to light, 2 Timothy 1:10. Mark tells us later that they were afraid to ask Him about it, Mark 9:32. Why were they afraid to ask Him about it? They didn’t understand the purpose of Christ’s death and when Jesus spoke of His death, the subject didn’t bring them any comfort, John 16:6 / John 19:30.
It’s obvious that Peter was horrified. He couldn’t imagine the Lord being killed and so, he began to correct Jesus telling Him that this would never happen! Mark 8:31-37 / Luke 9:22-25. ‘Peter took him aside’, Mark 8:32 / Matthew 16:22, means Peter literally grabbed Jesus, trying to protect Him. Then Jesus sternly rebuked Peter, Mark 8:33 / Matthew 16:23.
It’s interesting to note that Jesus doesn’t rebuke Peter but Satan, it’s obvious that Satan was trying to use Peter to distract Jesus from His mission, Genesis 3:15 / 1 John 3:8. Peter was tempting Jesus not to suffer. Temptations are often strongest when they come through people, we are close to. So, Jesus flatly rejected Peter’s advice. Isn’t it strange that one-minute Peter proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ, the next, he was calling Jesus aside to inform Him that He was mistaken! If Jesus was truly the Christ, Peter had no business arguing with Him, nor do we.
The Way Of The Cross
‘Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’ Mark 8:34-38
After speaking about His own future sufferings, Christ now informs the disciples of their upcoming suffering, Mark 8:31 / Luke 9:23 / Matthew 16:12. Jesus plainly explained what was required to become His disciple.
Over the year I’ve seen many Christians fall away for a variety of reasons. Many churches in their eagerness to ‘make disciples’ have baptised people, without first sitting down with someone to explain what is involved in becoming a Christian, and then the church wonders how people don’t stay faithful for very long!
I believe before anyone becomes a Christians there should be some element of teaching about what they are getting themselves into, Mark 8:34-38 / Luke 9:23-26 / Matthew 16:24-27 / Luke 9:57-62. Jesus said that you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him, Mark 8:34 / Luke 9:23 / Matthew 16:24. These requirements are demanding, a person doesn’t naturally deny himself, rather, he usually does what he wants.
Death to self is painful, but that is exactly the meaning of taking up one’s cross. The cross was an instrument of death, to take it up would be to die to oneself and one’s own desires in order to serve Christ.
1. Give up.
First, Jesus tells us that we must deny ourselves, Mark 8:34 / Luke 9:23 / Matthew 16:24. I’ve spoken to many people over the years, and many have been honest enough to say, ‘they would become a Christian but there are certain things they simply cannot give up’.
Now I understand that denying ourselves goes against everything the world says. We see something we like, and we go ahead and buy it. We do sinful things we enjoy, and we keep doing those sinful things we enjoy. A person doesn’t naturally want to deny themselves anything. That’s why going on a diet is so difficult for some. That’s why giving up alcohol and drugs is so hard to do.
When it comes to giving things up, we shouldn’t think Jesus is just speaking about denying ourselves things like coffee and cakes.
And we shouldn’t think He is speaking about locking ourselves away in some kind of monastery for twenty years.
The word deny, literally means to deny utterly and so, Jesus is speaking about a total surrender of self. We often think we know what is best for us, we often think which direction our lives need to go in, Proverbs 14:12.
But we really need to allow Jesus to drive our lives in the direction He wants us to go. That’s what denying ourselves means, it means we let go of our lives and trust that God knows best, Isaiah 55:8. Trust that God knows which direction our lives are to go.
When you speak to some people and mention the words, ‘give up’, they often think that this means that they can’t enjoy life anymore. Yes, self-denial isn’t easy, but it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy life.
In fact, the opposite is true, Jesus not only came to give us life, but He came so that we can live it to the full, John 10:10. In other words, He wants us to enjoy all the experiences of life, He wants us to get everything good out of life.
Giving up certain things doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy life anymore, nor does it mean we must follow a bunch of manmade rules and regulations. It means we’re continually trying to live our lives for Christ, instead of living our lives for ourselves. Denying ourselves isn’t a one-time act, denying ourselves is a continual action. It’s a total continual surrender of my will for His will.
2. Take Up.
The second requirement to be a disciple of Jesus is taking up our cross daily, Mark 8:34 / Luke 9:23 / Matthew 16:24. Just as we are to continue to deny ourselves throughout our Christian lives, we must also continually take up our cross.
In the religious world today, the cross has become a piece of jewellery that people wear around their necks. It’s become a lucky charm which people hold in their hands when times get tough. If we were around in the days of Jesus, you would know exactly what taking up your cross meant.
You would have witnessed a condemned criminal being forced to carry the very heavy wooden cross through the streets of Jerusalem as they made their way to the place where they would be crucified. Before entering Jerusalem, if you were a visitor, you would have seen criminals who had been crucified hanging on crosses on both sides of the road.
Carrying our cross daily means, we trust in God regardless of what’s happening in our lives daily. Anyone who ever says, ‘Become a Christian and your life will be nothing but one blessing after another’ has told you a lie, 2 Timothy 3:12.
Anyone who ever says, ‘Become a Christian and your life will be free from trials and burdens’ has told you a lie. The Lord doesn’t promise if we follow Him our lives will be free from difficulties. He promises us when times get tough, He will take us by our hand and walk through those dark times with us, Psalm 23:4.
Jesus didn’t come to die on the cross so that He could bring an end to human suffering. We only have to look around in the world we’re living in to understand that’s not the case. He came as a man and filled that pain and suffering with His eternal presence. In the darkest moments of our life, or even the everyday struggles and temptations we face, Jesus is with us.
Just as Christ was crucified and gave Himself up for us, we too must crucify ourselves and give ourselves up to Him, Galatians 2:20. Just as He willingly took up His cross for us, we must willingly take up our cross for Him. The cross symbolises pain, suffering and death and Jesus says if we want to become His disciples, then we too must be willing to die to self and go through pain and suffering for His sake.
3. Keep Up.
The third requirement to be a disciple of Jesus is to follow Him, Mark 8:34 / Luke 9:23 / Matthew 16:24. When it comes to denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily and following Jesus, the first person that came to mind was Simon from Cyrene.
When Simon was forced to carry Jesus’ cross, he had to keep up with Jesus, he more or less followed in the steps of Jesus to Golgotha, Matthew 27:32. I can imagine him thinking to himself, ‘I’m glad I’m not walking in His shoes’. But as Christians, we should be very glad that we’re walking in His shoes.
Imagine if were Simon, Andrew James, or John. Imagine you’re going about your daily business of fishing, when all of a sudden from nowhere, this man named Jesus calls you to follow Him, Matthew 4:18-22. I’m sure you, just like these disciples had no idea how much those two words changed their lives forever. Jesus asked them to leave their boats, their livelihood, their friends and family and their very lives.
Everything they had ever known, everything they were used to was about to be left behind because they decided to follow Jesus. Think about it! They left the safety and comfort of their own homes for danger, uncertainty, and persecution. That’s what following Jesus means, it means to continually follow Him wherever He goes, even if that means to death.
Keeping up with Jesus means we live as He lived, we think as He thinks, we love as He loves, and we treat others as He treated others, 1 John 2:6. It means we become fishers of men, we get out of our comfort zones to reach lost souls with the Gospel of Jesus. Jesus isn’t demanding much from His followers, He’s demanding all from His followers.
Let me try and illustrate why it is so important to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Jesus. When you look around you, you may see many other Christians carrying their crosses. This is you as a Christian and your life is going really well.
Suddenly, life throws some challenges at you, and you ask God to lighten your load. And so, God hears your request and removes some of your burdens. Once again, life is great, and you are happily living a Christian life with less weight to carry. You notice that other Christians appear to be struggling to carry their crosses, but they just carry on regardless. But once again, your life becomes burdensome and once again you ask God to remove some of those burdens to make your cross smaller.
And once again, God hears your request and removes some of your burdens. Life is great again, and the cross you are carrying is much lighter and easier to carry. While others are struggling to carry their crosses, yours is much easier to carry. Then when your life is almost over, you come across a problem. You notice that others don’t have the same problem because they are using their crosses to get to the other side.
You try to do the same thing, but your cross is simply too short, it can’t read the other side. While the others have long gone, you are left on your own, hopeless and helpless. The point is, if want to make it to heaven, we must deny ourselves as Christ did, take up our cross as Christ did and follow the example of Jesus.
Remember when Jesus was in the garden? He starts praying to the Father and His sweat becomes like drops of blood. Jesus knew what was coming up, He knew He was going to be arrested, put on trial, and then be crucified. He knew He was going to be one of those who were hung on the side of the road.
Jesus knows that it is the Father’s will that He dies on the cross, but He wilfully accepts this because of His perfect submission to God’s will and His love for you and me, Matthew 26:39. He knows that what He is about to go through will be painful, He knows how much He will suffer, but He also knows He must go through all of this if He wants to return to the His Father in heaven.
Becoming a Christian isn’t an easy decision, Acts 14:22, but it will certainly be the best and most important decision you ever made in your life. If you’re not a Christian today, you might be wondering, is it all worth it? Well instead of focusing on the things you need to give up, maybe you should think more about the things you gain.
Paul says whatever we might have to suffer here on earth, even as we deny ourselves, that those things are not worth even comparing to the eternal glory that awaits us, Romans 8:18. In Jesus, though we deny ourselves, we have all that we could ever hope for, Romans 8:32. Let me encourage you to ‘Give Up, Take Up And Keep Up’.
If you’re not a Christian today then you need to ask yourself, how much value do you place on your soul? There is no profit in gaining the entire world, only to lose one’s soul in the transaction, Mark 8:35-36 / Luke 9:24-25 / Matthew 16:25-26 / Luke 12:20-21. It’s worth everything to submit to God’s stringent requirements for discipleship.
Jesus highlighted the requirements for being a disciple because it’s so easy to imagine that you are a follower of Jesus when, in fact, you aren’t. Discipleship isn’t mere church membership or moral living, it’s total devotion to Jesus Christ. It’s to die to self and live 100% for the Lord. Am I really Jesus’ disciple? Romans 6:16-17.
The confession that Jesus demands isn’t a simple statement with our mouths that Jesus is the Christ and Son of God. It’s a confession that we make with our whole life that is totally committed to Him, Galatians 2:20.
Everyone who would seek to be a disciple of Jesus must commit himself to follow Jesus above all things of this world, Matthew 6:24 / Matthew 10:32-33 / Romans 1:16. Becoming a follower of Christ means you will receive persecution of some kind, 2 Timothy 3:12 / 1 Peter 2:21 / 1 Peter 4:16.
Jesus says, that if we are ashamed of him here, he will be ashamed of us there, Mark 8:38 / Luke 9:26. Jesus also said that He, the Son of Man is going to come, in His Father’s glory, with His angels and reward people according to what they have done, Mark 8:38 / Matthew 16:27 / Romans 2:6 / Romans 14:12 / 2 Corinthians 5:10 / Ephesians 6:8. This is obviously speaking about the final judgment.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He will come in glory the glory of his Father the majesty with which God is accustomed to appearing, and which befits God. He will be attended by angels. He will judge all people. The word ‘reward’ means recompense. He will deal with them according to their character. The righteous he will reward in heaven with glory and happiness. The wicked he will send to hell, as a reward or recompense for their evil works. This fact, that he will come to judgment, he gives as a reason why we should be willing to deny ourselves and follow him. Even though it should be now attended with contempt and suffering, then he will reward his followers for all their shame and sorrow, and receive them to his kingdom. He adds Mark 8:38, that if we are ashamed of him here, he will be ashamed of us there. That is, if we reject and disown him here, he will reject and disown us there.’
Some of Jesus’ immediate disciples would be alive when the kingdom reign of Jesus would be manifested from heaven, Mark 9:1 / Luke 9:27 / Matthew 16:28 / Acts 7:54-56. After His resurrection, Jesus would ascend to the throne of David in heaven, Daniel 2:44 / Daniel 7:13-14 / Luke 1:31-33. He would sit down at the right hand of the Father and rule over all things, Ephesians 1:20-22 / Philippians 2:8-11 / 1 Peter 3:22.
It was a spiritual kingdom in the sense that men responded on earth in their hearts to the fact that He was Lord and Christ, Acts 2:36-37. The manifestation of Jesus’ reign in heaven was made known by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Luke 24:49 / Acts 2:1-4 / Acts 1:8 / Acts 2:1-4. The presence of the kingdom’s reign in heaven would be manifested on earth by the obedience of men and women who submitted to His reign.