“And the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tempting him asked him to show them a sign from heaven” (ver. 1). This brings out the blindness of these religious leaders. Were there not before their eyes irrefutable proofs as to who was there in their midst? There is much to lead us to believe that what they Wanted was for Him to call down fire from heaven. This was the test given in Elijah's time. The one prophet of Jehovah on Carmel calls for the answer of fire from heaven, and fire comes down, and for the moment the people are subdued. By and by there is to be a false Christ presenting himself as the Jews' Messiah. “Another shall come in his own name,” said our Lord, “and him ye will receive.” He will be a remarkable man, whose presence will be according to Satanic power and every kind of miracle and signs and lying wonders—the devil's great masterpiece. One of his signs will be to call down fire. They were quite blind to the Lord's works of mercy. The man of sin will meet man's mind I have not a doubt there will be something very attractive about him, for in the first book of Samuel, David is the type of the Lord, and Saul of the anti-christ. In the second book of Samuel Absalom typifies him also, and both Absalom and Saul were remarkable men for attracting the natural man—man according to the flesh. There was nothing in Christ to attract the natural man; “When we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him,” says the prophet. The outside covering of the tabernacle would speak of this. But when the eyes are opened He is the altogether lovely
“Only those His glory saw
To whom Thou gavest sight.”
“He came unto his own and his own received him not,” but there were a few who beheld His glory, “glory as of an only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” The Epistle in which He is introduced as the Eternal Life that was with the Father ends with “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John).
The signs of the times were far more distinct than anything in the sky, and yet they were blind to them. And the sign that would remain was the sign of the prophet Jonah—death and resurrection and going to the Gentiles. It is the message of Jonah, not the man himself. In verse 4 they are spoken of as adulterers, etc., because of their idolatry of old, though not now idolaters the house was swept and garnished, the evil spirit having gone out. James, too, in his Epistle speaks of them in the same way in their guilty commerce with the world that had crucified the Lord of glory. Now the Lord leaves them. This is very solemn! Nothing worse could happen to us than to be left to ourselves. “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.” It is Jehovah here, in Heb. 12:8, 68But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. (Hebrews 12:8)
6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (Hebrews 12:6). In Rev. 3:1919As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (Revelation 3:19) it is the Lord Jesus Who says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” But we must never forget that the Lord Jesus is as truly Jehovah as is the Father, and is so addressed by God, as we learn from Heb. 1:1010And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: (Hebrews 1:10)— “To the Son, He saith Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever... And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth” (cp. Psa. 102).
Verse 5 indicates negligence, but still there was no ground for their reasoning how they should get the “bread,” after what they had seen. But still we don't find the Lord working miracles for them. We have seen them rubbing the ears of corn and so providing for themselves. There is “moral” leaven and “doctrinal” leaven, and the general run of Christians is more affected by the moral than by the doctrinal. If we are spiritual the contrary is the case. We find the leaven of evil in 1 Cor. 5:6-86Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:6‑8). There was a lot that was carnal and worldly among the Corinthians; but among the Galatians (chap. 5: 9) there was doctrinal leaven, and the apostle writes far more solemnly to these than to the former. Then again, no one can excuse himself. We have an epistle specially addressed to a lady and her children. It is a very short one, but therein she is told, “If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God-speed, for he that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John). The doctrine of Christ is what God has revealed as to His divinity and His humanity. If any one denies either, do not say “Good morning” to him. Nothing can be plainer than this is. A lady cannot excuse herself and say, ‘I leave that to the brethren.' And the one that comes, even though he may perhaps have been used of God to her conversion, or that of her family, no matter! if he has gone wrong about the person of Christ, love in the truth demands this expression of our conduct to him. We must let nothing come into competition with the Lord Jesus, our great God and Savior, Jehovah's Fellow.
The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees was of a very solemn character. The Pharisees were guilty of adding to His words; the Sadducees of taking from them. The Pharisees were the ritualists of that day, and the Sadducees the rationalists. These people that were ready to tear to pieces others of opposing camps were united in opposing Christ. The Lord, how perfect! Is it not blessed to see how perfect, so patient and so gracious? He tells them of the failure in their faith. How slow they were to gather up His mind. We may say this (though it may seem strange to say it) that if the world understands a Christian there is something wrong with that Christian. No one was so misunderstood as the Lord Jesus.
“Do ye not yet understand?” etc. (ver. 9). The Lord uses the same descriptive words as used in Matthew's record of the narrative. He does not call them simply “baskets” in each case. We have testimony in the word that a basket may be large enough to hold a man. The twelve baskets taken up were hand baskets. The disciples figure more in that miracle.
“Beware of the leaven” etc. (ver. 11), means Be wary of them. It is a danger signal. W. K. once said in prayer, “Lord, save us from the evil that looks fair.” Evil that comes in all its ugliness is not so dangerous, but it is that which looks fair that deceives. The Corinthian saints were responsible to purge out the leaven in their midst, but things had got so awfully bad when 2 Tim. 2 was written, that where the evil could not be purged out, one is responsible to purge oneself out—not out of the “house” for that would be to give up the profession of Christianity, but into a corner, as it were, with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. God had reserved to Himself seven thousand in Elijah's day, and there will always be some that are true.
Ver. 13: Caesarea Philippi was the extreme north of Palestine. It was an important city, but it is its position that gives its significance here. It was on the confines of Israel, and the Lord was going to bring out His church, here revealed for the first time; and the church is not confined to Israel. As the rejected One of Israel, He now tells us that He will build a previously unheard of thing, “His church.” And this began at Pentecost. It is not composed of Jews only, but of Jews and Gentiles, baptized into one body by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
Ver. 16: He is Son of God as born into the world, in Psa. 2, as the Messiah or Anointed, and if He is denied His rights as Messiah you get His higher glories as Son of man in Psa. 8. And it is just so here. He is rejected as Messiah, and He is on the borders of the Gentile world and He reveals Himself as the Rock, the church's one and sure foundation.
“Who do men say that I the Son of man am?” The disciples would have opportunities of listening to the remarks of the crowd. Some said, John the Baptist, others Elijah, or Jeremiah. Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet and the Lord was pre-eminently the “man of sorrows.” “He says to them, But who say ye that I am?” Ever ready Peter answers, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Christ, the Anointed. Messiah in the O.T. and Christ in the N.T. both mean “Anointed.” He was the true Anointed One, whether as Prophet, Priest, or King. Aaron was anointed as priest by Moses, David as king by Samuel, and Elisha as prophet by Elijah. Christ was the Anointed on earth, but in resurrection He is made both Lord and Christ. “Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” A living Christ on earth is for the Jew; a risen Christ in heaven is for the Christian, and this is far higher. He is not “our” King. He is the King of glory—that is supported by the word of God. And that which they put on the cross is perfectly true, He is “The King of the Jews;” He is “The King of Israel,” He is “The King of the nations,” yea, “King of the whole earth,” —all to be manifested in His times by Him “who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” When that day comes, “The Word of God” is Himself revealed as “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” We may, and delight to, speak of Him as indeed the King, King of kings, and Lord of Lords, but scripture does not present Him to us as “our” King. “King of saints” in Rev. 15:33And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. (Revelation 15:3) should be, as is well known, “King of the nations,” or Gentiles. Compare Jer. 10:77Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. (Jeremiah 10:7), from which the quotation is taken.
Peter's confession is very important. In the corresponding portion in Luke, we do not get “Son of the living God,” nor do we get any mention of the church.
It is very striking that in the early chapters of the Acts, the prominent figure is Peter, and though he is used here to witness of Christ as the Son of God, yet he never speaks of Him as such in the Acts. In Acts 4 the word “child” should there be translated “servant.” When Paul, however, is converted, “straightway he preached Jesus in the synagogue, that he is The Son of God,” and it is he who brings out the truth of the church. The church existed from Pentecost, but the doctrine of it was not made known then, but later, for to Paul was revealed the mystery that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and a joint body and fellow-partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel, though it does say, God “added together the saved” (Acts 2:4747Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (Acts 2:47)), and this was “the church” (Acts 5:1111And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. (Acts 5:11)) or “assembly.” The literal meaning of the word “ecclesia” is “called out ones.” It may be used of “the assembly in the wilderness” (Acts 7:3838This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: (Acts 7:38)) or of others (Acts 19:32, 39, 4132Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together. (Acts 19:32)
39But if ye inquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. (Acts 19:39)
41And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly. (Acts 19:41)), but in every other occurrence of the word in the N.T. it is rightly “the church.” We are “called out ones,” and have been drawn to the Son, and “this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day,” —to be displayed in glory by and by. If you see Jesus as the Son, you see how everything hangs on His adorable person. When we are manifested in glory, and the same glory with Christ, then the world will know that the Father loves us as He loves the Son. “He shall come be glorified in his saints and to be wondered at in all them that believed.” They will see us in the same glory! It was in order that the world might know that He loved the Father, that the Lord went to the cross (John 14:3131But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. (John 14:31)). The knowledge that Peter had was not acquired in a natural way. “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee” means that it was something received by the grace of God. Wherever the Father's name is mentioned it is in connection with grace; and here it is the Father acting in the sovereignty of His own grace—not at all intuitively in Peter.
There may be but little difference between Rock and Stone. It was almost like saying, I am the Rock, and you are a piece of the rock. Of this glorious Person here confessed, we read, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.” “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid... but let every man see how he buildeth thereon.” But here the Lord is the builder, and all is absolutely divine. Although the Lord says, “my church,” the usual expression is “the church of God,” not “the church of Christ.” Of course, this expression is equal to it “my church” the Father's gift to the Son. You see your own security infinitely better if you are not occupied with yourself. “Gates of hades"! There is a life (the living God, and each stone a living stone) that death can never touch, Satan can never reach, and judgment never say anything to life in resurrection.
Ver. 19: Peter used the keys of the kingdom to admit the Jews in Acts 2, and the Gentiles in Acts 10 But the Lord never gave Peter the keys of “heaven,” nor the keys of the church. The church spoken of here is perfect, but in the kingdom there are tares as well as wheat, bad fish as well as good. The kingdom of heaven only commenced when Christ died and went to heaven. It is now existent in mystery; by and by he will purge out of it all that do iniquity. At present no one may root them out, and we have to fall back on “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, “The Lord knoweth them that are His.”
It does not say “the key,” but “keys,” as will be seen by the cases above quoted in Acts; and the sin of Ananias and Sapphira was bound on them by Peter, while the Gentiles of Caesarea under Cornelius' roof fulfilled the other side. “Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” God dealt with Ananias and Sapphira in this world. Theirs was “a sin unto death.” There is not only the grace of God which takes us up in our ruin, for eternal glory, but there is also God's government, and we must not confound the two. David's sin was put away—that was grace; but the sword never departed from his house-this was government. So also we have the same truth in 1 Cor. 11:30-3230For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:30‑32). We must go on day by day seeking to please the Lord, to be able to say with Paul, “I do exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense towards God, and toward men.” This is our blessed place, and due responsibility.
We don't get any reference to the church in Luke's account, and so we see how that comes out in relation to the Son of God. It is very seldom that the Lord gives Himself away. Nevertheless, He does to the blind man in John 9, and to the woman also at the well of Sychar. The closing verses (21-28) of our chapter divides this Gospel into two parts. They had learned He was the Christ and rejected as such; here He is the Son of man. He is the only One called “The Son of man” in Scripture. Ezekiel and others were addressed as “son of man,” but never with the article. No one calls the Lord so, but He very often speaks of Himself as such. The thing is to believe on Him as Son of God.
The Lord had said there were blind leaders of the blind, and here were the religious leaders of whom the Lord must suffer many things (ver. 21).
Is it fair to gather from what follows that Peter presumed on what the Lord had told him above? It shows indeed what poor things we are! Peter was a blessed man, but the Lord having made that communication to him, does he not seem to have presumed upon it? It does not actually say anything here about making atonement, but everything man did to Him was reversed by God. If they slew Him, God raised Him up. It is the same spirit witnessed in the garden when Peter cut off Malchus' ear; Peter would have stood between the Lord and His death. It is a lesson for us in several ways. He savored not the things that be of God, but those that be of man. How quickly we get this after that wonderful confession! The Lord does not say to him, “Get thee hence as He did to Satan in the wilderness. The moral glory of that comes out here, every word in its place. I suppose it indicates that Satan was using Peter. The meaning of Satan is “adversary.” In the wilderness he tried the Lord to the utmost extent by his subtlety, and he was defeated by the Savior's obedience and dependence. So Satan left Him, but in the end he came back, and sought to overwhelm the Lord by terrors. It is based upon the work of the cross that it is done, but Satan will be bruised under our feet shortly. He knows it because it is so written. There is a saying among leading teachers that the first in order of revelation is the last in order of fulfillment. And the first announcement made in Gen. 3 that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head takes us on to its final fulfillment when he is cast into the lake of fire. It shows that we have need to be on our guard. The Lord could detect Satan at once. On the ground of human reasoning, all Peter said was right, but we must beware of philosophy and what springs from the human mind. It was kindness on Peter's part, but—how was sin to be met, and our sins put away, if the Lord did not die? Paul desired for the Colossians when they were in danger of being led away by philosophy that they might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Here is Peter. He would like an easy path for his Master, but the Lord shows it was not an easy path for Him, and it will not be for those who follow Him. And this can only be in the power of God; we cannot do it in natural strength. We are very weak, but He is able to keep us even from stumbling. There must be the denial of self. But that is very different from advertised self-denial. It is the disciple who has to take up his cross, not the Lord's cross: He bore that alone. But each one of us has a cross, and it is a miserable unhappy thing if we do not take it up. But if we take it up we shall find that He will bear the heaviest end. We are not told to drag it along, but to take it up. If a thing looks perplexing and we don't know what to do, we may question whether our eye is single. But I think in times of difficulty, if it is made quite clear to us what we are doing is to please the Lord alone, it clears things marvelously. “Do I now seek to please men or God?” said the apostle. I have but One to please. How blessed!
We can see in various parts of the word how the saint is prepared by communion with God in private for that which is before him.
In the history of David there are three accounts that illustrate faith, hope and love. In Ittai we have “faith,” for he would be with the king wherever he was; in Mephibosheth we have “hope” —unshaven, undressed, he waited for the king's return; in Jonathan we have “love.” I was thinking of Mephibosheth here; he was the follower of a rejected king, and we have to take up the cross and follow Christ. The path of obedience is the path of blessedness. There are paradoxes in scripture which the natural man cannot understand. The Lord was the man of sorrows, yet He was the happiest man that ever trod the earth. He could say “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places.” And so we are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” The natural man cannot understand it, but we know it experimentally. There would be naturally in each of us the tendency to look after our own welfare, just as the young man who had heaps of riches, and whom the Lord told to get rid of all and follow Him. He went away sorrowful. Yet had he obeyed, he would have been a gainer. The opposite of Mark 10 you see in Phil. 3. Here was one who could say, “Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” The righteousness Paul speaks of there is looking forward to glory, being clothed with Christ there. The sufferings and the glory are connected. So here. It was so with the Lord Himself. In Luke 24 He said, “It behooved Christ to suffer and to enter into His glory"; but, Peter 1 tells us that those who wrote the O.T., “testified of the sufferings of Christ, and the glories (plural) that should follow.” “If we suffer,” or “endure” —going along with a rejected Christ enduring whatever comes—we shall also reign with Him. Rom. 8 is plain enough too. How blessed to have grace to lay out one's whole life for Him—time, talent, all given up to Him, having Him and His love so before one as to do it unconsciously, as it were. We want to think of His love to us, not of our devotedness to Him. In connection with this, I was thinking of what Paul says to Timothy, “Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life,” etc. Wonderful! isn't it? That is what grace had produced, not boasting.
“What shall a man be profited if he shall gain the whole world” etc. (ver. 26)? No one has done that, the greatest only had a small portion: That is a striking word in Psa. 49 “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their soul is precious, and must be let alone forever” (for so is the right rendering). None could touch that matter. How it shows the value of the soul!
It is very seldom in the N.T. that you get the salvation of the soul spoken of. In 1 Peter 1 it is definitely stated, “receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls"; and you get it in Hebrews, “them that believed to the saving of the soul.”
The coming or manifestation of the Lord in the glory of His Father (ver. 27), is evidently the time of our reward. You don't get rewards at the coming of the Lord for His saints; that is all of grace. There is no such thing as rewarding some for their faithfulness by taking them away. It is all who have the oil, as in Matt. 25, who go in with Him to the marriage. It is all purest grace. The wicked will be rewarded as well, fox the word reward is used in that sense also. Alexander the coppersmith “the Lord will reward.” If it is a suffering path now He is not unrighteous to forget; everything done to please Him will not be forgotten when He comes to set up His kingdom.
When God told Abram about his seed being afflicted in Egypt four hundred years (Gen. 15.), He said “Afterward they shall come out with great substance.” How would they have got all the things that were used in making the tabernacle, unless they had “had great substance"? They could receive it all from the Lord, and the best thing we can do with what He gives us is to give it back to Him.
Rewards are always connected with the appearing. Paul says, “I have been running and the judge's eye has been on me in the stadium; I have been faithful and he has witnessed all. Nothing now remains but the crowning, and the Judge will give the crown to me, and not to me only, but unto all them also who “love His appearing.” Then has He His rights. It is not His coming for us. It is the same time as Rev. 22:1212And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelation 22:12).
If we die we shall be raised in glory. Thus we shall have our glorified, body before we meet the Lord in the air. You cannot associate grief or regret with a glorified body. We shall acquiesce in all that He does. We must not think that it is what is not right in our path that will alone be manifested, but we shall be manifested, all our being; and it would be a real loss to us were it not so.
“He saw us ruined in the fall
Yet loved us notwithstanding all.”