Bible Reading: Judges 9; Acts 13; Jeremiah 22; Mark 8
Mark 8:31-33 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
The word translated 'savourest' means to desire; think about or to set your affection on. What do you set your affection on? As we study the life of the apostle Peter we see that he had a habit of speaking up and saying what was on his mind. On this occasion, Jesus had just told his disciples that he was on his way to the cross and the resurrection. This was too much for Peter and he actually rebuked Jesus for saying this! (Sounds like Peter had a little 'word of faith' about him and was instructing Jesus not to speak a 'negative confession'!) Jesus immediately rebuked Peter and he actually called him Satan!
Anything that got in the way of Jesus fulfilling his mission would have been Satanic. Peter proved that he was not thinking about the things of God but the things of man. Have you ever had to rebuke Jesus? When he says one of those things you just have a hard time with and you are sure he is mistaken have you ever thought in your mind, "Lord, that can't be right!" Here are a few:
Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 13:30 And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.
John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Luke 9:23-24 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
We can't rebuke Jesus! When we hear his word and think he is wrong, it just shows us how dull of hearing we really are. Anything that gets in the way of the mission of Jesus is rebuked by him for two reasons:
- It is the things of man and not the things of God.
- It is Satanic in origin.
Are you standing in the way of the mission of Jesus or are you hearing his word and walking in faith with him in the harvest field?
In Christ,
Rody
