Title: Peter or Satan?
Contents
▒▒ Matthew 16:13~23
Knowing God is different from knowing God. And it will be different for God to know us and for people to know us. The text is in a similar vein. At the height of his popularity, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” The disciples were called “John the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah. And he is said to be one of the prophets.” and answer. Jesus asks the disciples again. “Then who do you say I am?” Peter answers. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus says. “Blessed are you, Simon Bayona. It was not flesh and blood that made this known to you, but the Father in heaven. Simon, from now on you are Peter. On this rock I will build the church. The powers of Hades will not prevail over you. And I will give you the keys to heaven. What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Peter receives great blessings by confessing, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
But the most important thing is verses 21-23. Jesus told his disciples that he would go up to Jerusalem, where he would suffer and suffer persecution, be crucified, and rise again. Then Peter said, “Jesus, this must never happen.” Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan. you are the one who makes me fall You do not think about the things of God, but the things of men.” He rebuked Peter.
Same Peter. Just before, Simon Bar-Jonah is Peter, and that Peter is also the Satan who caused Jesus to fall. We often see these things in the Bible. Judas Iscariot, who was in charge of finances with the trust of Jesus, later sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. When the Apostle Paul was on a mission in Rome, Luke stood on his right and Demas stood on his left. But when difficulties came to Rome, Demas abandoned the apostle Paul and went to Thessalonica. We who worship today can be Peter or Satan. The important thing is that Peter and Satan are only one piece of paper.
When Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?”, people called Jesus John the Baptist. There were no prophets for 450 years from the end of Malachi, the last Bible in the Old Testament, to the appearance of John the Baptist. Then John the Baptist appeared and began to preach in the fields, and many people followed him. At the time of Jesus, the man exalted as a servant of God was John the Baptist. People saw Jesus as Elijah. Elijah is a representative figure in the Old Testament prophets. Elijah is also a legend in Israel who ascended to heaven without seeing death. Finally, people saw Jesus as Jeremiah. Jeremiah was the prophet who prophesied for 40 years during a difficult time in Israel. But the answers of these people compared them to the best, but they did not represent Jesus.
So when do you become Satan? When Jesus said, “I will go up to Jerusalem, and suffer, and die on the cross, and on the third day rise again,” Peter said to Jesus. To be rude means to be scolded. Peter is older than Jesus. They scolded Jesus for his physical age. Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan. Not only do you make me stumble, but you are not thinking about God’s things, but people’s things.” There are two clear reasons why Peter, whose church was to be established, and Peter, who held the keys of the kingdom of heaven, fell into Satan. One is the denial of the cross. The second reason was that he was thinking of his own work, not God's. We too must remember that we can become Satan if we deny our cross and promote our own work rather than God's work.
Let's take a look at ourselves. We don't always live like Peter. Sometimes we live like Satan. Even when these two coexist in us, God does not forsake us but sustains us. Not only that, if you think of Peter, you heard that Jesus was Satan, but Peter did not leave Jesus. I followed Jesus to the end. And it was only later that I realized the truth of Jesus. Because he knew that the cross was the way to save himself, he was able to take up his cross and follow Jesus to the end.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you, Hanshin members, become the rock of faith and Peter who holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
2008-08-31 09:48:49