The two parts of this title stand out in sharpest contrast with each other, even though they were spoken to the same man by the same Speaker—the Lord Jesus Christ—and are found only six verses apart in the 16th chapter of Matthew.
Simon Peter was pronounced "blessed" after he had given expression to the wondrous truth concerning the Person of the Lord Jesus. The world at large and even the privileged Jewish people did not understand who He was. "He was in the world,... and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." But there was a little band attached to Him—attracted to His Person—although even to them it was only by revelation from the Father that they could see who the glorious One was.
The crowd had speculated as to who He was—a Jeremiah, Elijah, John the Baptist, or one of the prophets. When the Lord asked His disciples who He was, Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," whereupon the Lord calls him "blessed," for he was privileged to receive that revelation from the Father.
Happy Peter! happy disciples! to be able by faith to see in the lowly Jesus, the Christ—God's Anointed—the Son of the living God (v. 16).
O that our hearts may take in more of His beauty, His glory! He will fill the range of our enlarged vision in heaven; may He become increasingly precious to us here—here where He is still despised, and where men restrict His glory to that of a mere man—"one of the prophets."
When we come to the 21st verse, the Lord "began... to show unto His disciples,... that He must... suffer many things... and be killed." This was indeed a blow to them; they saw in Him God's Son and God's King, but were slow to take in His sufferings and death. They looked for Him to take the kingdom and reign, but instead He must first suffer. The sufferings must precede the glory; the cross must come before the crown. It was natural for them to shrink from rejection and suffering for their Lord and Master, for if He was to be rejected and suffer in this world, they must receive the same—"The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord."
Such thoughts provoke Peter to dare to rebuke the Lord and to say, as in one translation, "be favorable to Thee, Lord, this shall in no wise be unto Thee" (v. 22). Blessed Lord! He knew the source of such thoughts; Satan had come to Him before, in the wilderness, to turn Him out of the pathway of dependence and obedience as a man; now he was using a chief Apostle to urge the Lord to shun the path of reproach and suffering. The Lord instantly recognized in Peter's words another effort of Satan, and promptly said to Peter, "Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offense unto Me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." v. 23.
Poor Peter—only shortly -before he was called "blessed"; now he is rebuked as being the instrument in the hands of Satan. Once the receiver of divine revelation as to the Son, he now is the mouthpiece of the enemy. But such is man; he is not to be trusted. It is natural to the human heart to shrink from reproach and suffering, and also to seek honor in and from this world. How easily Peter's mind was on the things that are of men.
And we, who have greater light than Peter had at that time, are so easily influenced by the things that are of men that we shrink from a little reproach for Christ, and seek some of this world's honor or favor. Sometimes we sing:
"Farewell, farewell, poor faithless world,
With all thy boasted store;
We'd not have joy where He had woe-
Be rich where He was poor."
And how easily we drop back from the expressions of our lips!
Sometimes we may be like Peter, when he enjoyed divine revelation, and rejoice in Christ Jesus our Lord; and at other times we may be engrossed with the things "that be of men."
Sadder yet!-we may speak of the glories of the Son of God and encourage others at one time, and at another, if not in the current of God's thoughts, give advice to fellow followers of a rejected Christ that will be the advice of Satan himself. How easily we are influenced by the "things... that be of men," and may be, by act or word, the instrument of evil persuading some young Christian (or older one either) to seek worldly gain, position, honor, or some of the applause of the very world that Christ died to, and died to deliver us from. May we be more careful in our thinking, that it may not be of this world's philosophy—"the things... that be of men"—and may we be on our guard against giving the advice of Satan to a follower of a rejected Christ.
On the other side of this point: may we be careful about receiving such advice. May "the things that be of God" so influence our thinking, that when we receive advice to seek the world's advancement, popularity, wealth, station, or such like, we may discern the voice of the enemy. This should not be construed to mean that an employee may not accept a better position in his work, but even in doing that he should first seek the Lord's guidance and weigh the consequences. One may well ask himself if he can carry out the duties of the better position heartily as to the Lord—whether there would be certain demands which he could not meet with a good conscience. The higher we get in the world, the closer we get to the prince of it. Many who went on happily with the Lord when in humbler stations, have been caught in the world's vortex, when in higher places, to the Lord's dishonor and their loss. We are responsible for our conduct, and must watch against the influence of the world, even though it may come from the lips of one who at another time may have thrilled our hearts as he spoke of heavenly things and the glories of the Son of God.
The Lord follows His word to Peter with a word to all the disciples: "Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it." vv. 24, 25.