Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Divine Necessity and the Satanic Snare: The Antithesis of Two Wisdoms (Matthew 16:21–23)

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The Divine Necessity and the Satanic Snare: The Antithesis of Two Wisdoms (Matthew 16:21–23) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. We are really thrilled you could
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join us for this deep dive into the sources today.
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If you are tuning in, it means you have an appetite for robust
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theology and a desire to see the scriptures clearly.
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Today we are opening up a section of the Gospel of Matthew
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that is, well, it is nothing short of earth shattering.
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It really is. We are looking specifically at
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Matthew 16 verses 21 through 23, right?
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And you probably know the immediate context.
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The apostle Peter has just made his glorious confession at
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Caesarea Philippi. He looks at Jesus and declares
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you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
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It is a massive high point in the narrative.
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But right after that towering confession, we see a startling,
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jarring transition. Jesus begins to convince his
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impending death. Yeah, we have two rigorous
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theological expositions as our source material today.
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Both of these sources detail the absolute necessity of the cross
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and the grave peril of man centered wisdom.
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Our mission for this deep dive is pretty straightforward.
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We want to untack why a crossless Christianity is
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actually a literal satanic snare.
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We're going to look closely at the divine decree behind the
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suffering of Christ, and we are going to evaluate our own
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spiritual pragmatism in the process.
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I am joined by our resident expert here who is going to act
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as our guide to synthesizing the theology and the narrative flow
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of this remarkable text. It is a joy to walk through this
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text with you, our listener, today.
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Let us start with the structure. The research points out that
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Matthew uses surgical precision in how he structures this
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narrative. He places this radical pivot
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right after Peter's highest moment.
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What is fascinating here is the specific phrase Matthew uses to
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introduce this pivot. In the Greek right.
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Yes, in the Greek the phrase is apotote, which translates to
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from that time. We might be tempted to read that
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as a casual chronological marker, perhaps just a simple
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transition to the next scene in the story.
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But our sources are clear that this phrase operates much more
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like a theological stage, like it shifts the entire
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programmatic direction of the earthly ministry of Jesus.
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I want to pause you right there because that is a massive claim.
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When we say it shifts the programmatic direction of His
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ministry, what does that actually look like on the ground
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for the disciples? I mean, up until this point,
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what have they been experiencing day-to-day?
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Well, up until this point, Jesus has been revealed, revealing his
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identity through his words and his miraculous works.
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He has been gathering disciples, healing the sick, and
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demonstrating absolute authority over demons and nature.
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The disciples, naturally, are riding a wave of massive
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expectation. Sure, they are hyped up.
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Absolutely. In their minds they have
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identified the Messiah, so they anticipate a visible triumph.
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They expect Brad public acceptance, the overthrow of
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Roman oppression and the establishment of a visible
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political Kingdom in Israel. So they are expecting a
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conquering political hero. But with that phrase from that
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time, Jesus begins to unveil what the title Messiah actually
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entails in the saving counsel of God.
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He is stripping away those unbiblical expectations and
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substituting them with the harsh, bleeding reality of
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substitutionary atonement. That is precisely what is
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happening. He promises A deliberate,
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intentional March toward a brutal execution.
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The contrast between what the disciples expect and what Jesus
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declares is absolute. It is night and day, and we need
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to consider how easily human beings assume that blessing
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equates to an uninterrupted ascent.
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We have this natural inclination to think that if we possess the
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right doctrine or if we make the right confession, it guarantees
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an easy victorious life without any real suffering.
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That is such a common trap for all of us.
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Think about it. If Matthew had decided to skip
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over this intense dialogue and just went straight from Peter's
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confession to more miracles or to the massive expansion of the
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Kingdom, believers throughout history might think that
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Orthodox words guarantee a painless existence.
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Yeah, you can think of it using an analogy.
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Imagine you are reading an epic novel.
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The protagonist, after chapters and chapters of struggle and
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hiding, is finally recognized and crowned as the rightful
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king. The reader is cheering, thinking
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the story has reached its happy resolution.
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But then, on the very next page, the author reveals that wearing
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the crown requires the king to submit to a lethal, agonizing
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sacrifice. It jolts the reader.
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Exactly. Wait, I mean it is spot on.
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That is what Matthew does here. Jesus doesn't just predict a
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tragic future, he declares A theological mandate.
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Our sources note that Jesus begins to show his disciples a
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very specific fourfold sequence of events.
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Yes, that fourfold sequence is essential to grasp.
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Jesus says he must go to Jerusalem, He must suffer many
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things from the elders, chief priests and scribes.
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He must be killed, and he must be raised on the third day.
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The absolute pivot of this entire text is found in the
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Greek verb day, which translates to.
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It is necessary. The sources spend a significant
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amount of time unpacking this tiny, massive word, don't they?
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They do. This is not a situation where
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Jesus is saying it is highly probable that I will be killed
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or I might run into some trouble.
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This is an ontological necessity dictated by the divine decree.
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Hold on, before we go further. You use the phrase ontological
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necessity and divine decree. If someone is listening to this
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while driving to work or washing dishes, they might need a
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translation for those terms. What do those theological
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concepts actually mean in plain English?
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We aren't just saying Jesus had to run in with bad luck.
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That is a great clarification to make.
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When we say ontological necessity, we mean that this
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event is baked into the very fabric of reality, and the
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nature of who God is is not a tragic accident.
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It is not a sudden reaction to political hostility catching God
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off guard. And when we mentioned the divine
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decree, we are talking about the eternal sovereign Council of
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God. If we connect this to the
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broader framework of Reformed theology, we see direct ties to
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the Westminster Confession of Faith, specifically chapter 3 of
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God's Eternal Decree and chapter 5 of Providence.
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God ordains the end, which is the salvation of the elect, and
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He also ordains the precise means to achieve that end, which
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is the brutal suffering of the Son of God.
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Let me push back on that for a second, just to represent the
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natural skepticism you might have if you're hearing this for
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the first time. If God decreed the exact means
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of this suffering from eternity past, does that mean the guys
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who killed Jesus, the scribes, the priests, the elders were
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just robots playing a part? Are they actually guilty of a
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crime if God planned it all along?
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That is the crucial tension the sources address head on.
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This text completely rejects fatalism.
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Fatalism says human choices do not matter, that we are all just
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puppets. But Scripture teaches that the
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human agents are acting entirely out of their own wicked desires,
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and therefore they are held fully culpable for their
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actions. But it also rejects the opposite
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error, right? Yes, the text also rejects open
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theism. Open theism is the idea that God
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is just reacting to human choices as they happen, making
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up a backup plan on the fly. God is governing the very
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wickedness of those men to accomplish His eternal decree of
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salvation. So the perpetrators are fully
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guilty, yet God's sovereign plan is accomplished precisely
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through their actions. Does that make sense?
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Let us look closer at that word. Must we love concepts like
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probably or hopefully or ideally in our modern vocabulary?
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We like leaving ourselves and out.
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We certainly do. But think about a medical
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scenario. When a specialized surgeon looks
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at a patient and says you must have this invasive surgery to
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live, it implies that absolutely no other option exists.
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Diet will not fix it. Medication will not fix it.
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Only the scalpel will save the patient.
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That is a sobering reality. In the same way, for sinners to
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live, the mediator must die. There is no alternative path to
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glory. And the sources point out the
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specific location he mentions is highly significant too.
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He says he must go to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the covenant city.
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It is the absolute center of the worship life of Israel.
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For centuries, the shadows of the atonement, the blood of
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bulls and goats, the incense, the priestly mediation have been
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acted out right there. Going to Jerusalem means the
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Messiah is stepping into the theological center to fulfill
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all that sacrificial. Logic and the action Jesus
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describes is unambiguous. The Greek word apoc, 10th NI
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means to be killed. We are not talking about a
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metaphorical death or a symbolic dying to self.
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We are talking about historical, physical Roman execution.
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To understand why this specific bloody path was the only
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available option, the research shifts our discussion to the
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overarching covenantal storyline of Scripture.
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The cross must happen because the entire scriptural narrative
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from Genesis onward demands A substitutionary sacrifice to
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satisfy the holy justice of God. This moment in Matthew 16 is the
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fulfillment of the very first Gospel promise, what theologians
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call the proto evangelium. For the listener who might be
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unfamiliar with that term, the proto evangelium simply means
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the first gospel. It is found in Genesis 3.15,
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right after the fall of humanity.
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God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the head
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of the serpent, but that victory would come at a massive cost.
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the Super would bruise his heel. The victory over sin and death
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comes exclusively through wounding.
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I love how we can trace that covenant to law in New York all
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the way through the Old Testament.
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Let us walk the listener through a few of those major touch
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points. After Genesis 3, where does this
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requirement for a sacrifice show up next in a major way?
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You see it vividly in The Abrahamic promise in Genesis 22.
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God tests Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac on
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Mount Moriah. Abraham takes his son up the
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mountain, binding him to the wood.
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But what happens at the very last second?
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God himself provides the substitute, the ram caught in
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the thicket. A literal substitute taking the
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place of the sun. Yes, that historical event
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teaches the people of God early on that God requires A
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sacrifice, but God himself will provide the Lamb to take the
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place of the center. And then you move forward in
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history to the Exodus and the nation of Israel.
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You have the Passover event. The Israelites are delivered
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from the wrath of God sweeping through Egypt not by their own
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moral goodness, but exclusively through the blood of a spotless
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lamb painted on their doorposts. Deliverance from Wrath comes
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entirely through blood. And after they leave Egypt, they
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receive the entire Levitical system.
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The sources spend time on the Day of Atonement.
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Can you break down the mechanics of what actually happened on
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that day and how it maps onto Jesus?
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The Day of Atonement found in Leviticus 16 is a stunning
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picture of what Jesus is predicting in Matthew 16.
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On that day, the high priest would take two goats.
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The first goat was slaughtered and his blood was brought into
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the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the holy place,
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showing that sin requires death to satisfy justice.
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But then the high priest would lay his hands on the head of the
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second goat, the live goat, and confess all the iniquities of
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the people over it. This is the scapegoat, right?
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Yes, the high priest is symbolically transferring the
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guilt of the nation onto the animal.
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Then that goat is LED away into the barren wilderness, carrying
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the sins of the people away from the presence of God.
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Jesus fulfills both of these roles simultaneously.
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He's the sacrifice whose blood enters the heavenly holy place
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to satisfy justice, and he's the scapegoat who carries our sins
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completely away. That is a staggering
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realization, and the prophets intensify this necessity even
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further as history progresses. Our sources highlight Psalm 22,
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which gives us a vivid, agonizing portrait of the
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righteous sufferer whose hands and feet are pierced.
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Then you have Isaiah 53, which speaks of the suffering Servant
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who is crushed for our iniquities, who bears our
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griefs, and upon whom the chastisement that brought us
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peace was laid. Jesus is the absolute
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convergence of all that priestly necessity and all that prophetic
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promise. This convergence reveals the
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magnificent harmony of God's attributes.
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Psalm 85.10 gives us that beautiful image where mercy and
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truth meet together, where righteousness and peace kiss
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each other. If God simply overlooks sin
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without punishing it, He denies his own truth and his own
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justice. He ceases to be a holy judge.
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But if you punish his sinners without any provision of mercy,
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that his promises of grace collapse entirely.
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The cross is the singular point in time and space where the
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unyielding justice of God is completely satisfied and the
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infinite grace of God is freely dispensed.
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It is substitutionary atonement in its purest form.
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You can look at the sacrifices of the Old Testament like a
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centuries long rehearsal for a grand play.
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Generation after generation, the priest rehearsed the shedding of
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blood to cover sin. Matthew 16.1 is the breathtaking
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moment when the lead actor finally steps onto the stage and
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announces that he is going to perform the actual historical
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event that all those rehearsals pointed toward.
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But despite the absolute clarity of this divine plan, human
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instinct recoils at it violently.
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We want glory without suffering. We want a crown without a cross.
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And that brings us to Peter's shocking reaction in verse 22.
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Matthew tells us that Peter takes Jesus aside, begins to
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rebuke him. The Greek word for rebuke there
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is epitome. Peter says to Jesus, far be it
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from you Lord, which literally translates to something like
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mercy to you. He follows that up by saying
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this shall never happen to you. Let us analyze Peter's posture
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here. He actually pulls the Creator of
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the universe aside. It is an astonishing display of
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presumption. Peter pulls Jesus away from the
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group, effectively stepping out of the role of submissive
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learner and assuming the role of a peer or even worse, a
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counselor. He genuinely thinks he sees the
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situation more clearly than the Son of God does.
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And that verb epitome out is striking throughout the Gospels.
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It is the same word used to silence streaking demons, is the
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same word Jesus uses to calm the raging storm on the Sea of
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Galilee. It is a word of authoritative
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silencing. Peter is attempting to
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authoritatively silence the divine decree of God.
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He is issuing A veto against the divine must.
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What makes this so insidious is that the catastrophic content of
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his words is masked by a highly compassionate tone.
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Peter genuinely loves Jesus. His affection is real.
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He does not want to see his friend and his master tortured
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and killed. But his love is entirely
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untethered from divine revelation.
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He is operating on human sentiment rather than submitting
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to the Word of God. The exposition we are studying
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makes a fascinating connection here regarding the distinction
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between law and gospel. The author argues that Peter's
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cry, far be it from you Lord, is actually the voice of the
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lawless heart. When I first read that in the
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notes, I had to pause. How is Peter trying to protect
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his friend an example of a lawless heart?
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It is a great question. It is the voice of the lawless
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heart, because it is the human heart wanting a Savior, wanting
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a king, but completely rejecting the necessity of a bloody
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sacrifice to atone for sin. The law of God demands perfect
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obedience or absolute payment for transgression.
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Peter wants the Kingdom to arrive without the payment being
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made. The Gospel indicative The good
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news is Christ's resolute, unflinching March toward the
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wrath of God in order to save us.
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Peter is trying to stop the gospel from happening.
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Notice the selective hearing happening in this exchange, too.
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Jesus clearly laid out a fourfold sequence which ended
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with and be raised on the third day.
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But Peter did not hear the resurrection part.
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He only heard the suffering, the rejection, and the death.
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Human logic simply cannot conceive of ultimate glory
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coming through total humiliation.
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We filter out the parts of God's Word that offend our
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sensibilities. We do that constantly.
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We gravitate toward the promises of vindication and ignore the
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requirements of suffering if we try to picture what Peter's
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doing in a modern context. Imagine a high level political
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advisor working for a presidential candidate.
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That is a helpful way to frame it.
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The candidate announces that he is going to run a campaign based
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entirely on absolute brutal honesty about the dire state of
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the nation, even though it will guarantee he loses certain key
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demographics. The advisor immediately pulls
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the candidate into a backroom and tries to pivot the strategy.
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He says you cannot say these things, it is APR disaster.
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It will ruin the movement. We must avoid this at all costs.
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Peter views the cross as the ultimate public relations
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disaster. He thinks it will destroy the
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messianic movement. He thinks he is offering
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friendly, practical advice to save the campaign, but Jesus
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recognizes the voice hiding behind that advice.
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Jesus sees past the compassionate tone of his friend
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and identifies the true source of this temptation, which leads
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to the harshest, most severe rebuke found anywhere in the
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Gospels. In verse 23, Jesus turns and
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says to Peter, Get behind me, Satan, you are a hindrance to
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me. Jesus then diagnosis the root of
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the problem by saying, For You are not setting your mind on the
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things of God, but on the things of man.
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Let us look at the first part of that response.
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Get behind me. Jesus is immediately restoring
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the proper grammar of discipleship.
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The disciple follows. The disciple does not lead.
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Peter had stepped out of his designated position to stand in
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front of Jesus and block his path.
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Jesus commands him to get back into the position of a follower.
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And then Jesus uses that staggering word, Satan.
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We should clarify that Jesus is not saying Peter is literally
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demon possessed, correct. Correct.
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He is identifying the origin of Peter's logic.
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Peter is unwittingly acting as a mouthpiece for the enemy.
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Jesus then calls Peter a hindrance.
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The Greek word there is scandal on in extra biblical literature
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of that era. It often referred to the trigger
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stick of an animal trap. Think about the massive irony
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Matthew is highlighting here. Just a few verses earlier, in
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verse 18, Jesus called Peter a rock, associating Him with
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stability and the foundation upon which He will build His
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church. Now, just moments later, Peter
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has become a stone in the road designed to trip the Savior.
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He went from a foundation stone to a stumbling block in the span
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of a 5 minute conversation. The theological sources argue
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that this entire exchange completely refused any notion of
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Petrine supremacy or the idea of an infallible human leader in
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the Church. It absolutely does.
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If we look at this through the lens of the Westminster
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Confession of Faith, specifically chapter 6 on total
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depravity, we see the reality of the human condition.
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Even a regenerated, spirit filled apostle who just received
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divine illumination from the Father can in the very next
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breath become an active agent for the adversary when he relies
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on his own carnal logic instead of the Word of God.
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The corruption of human reason is real, and it constantly pulls
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us away from the revelation of God.
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That brings us to the core diagnosis Jesus gives.
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He points out the antithesis of two competing wisdoms.
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He uses the verb fronis, which deals with the controlling
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framework of the mind, the baseline assumptions that govern
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how we view the world. Jesus exposes the things of man.
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The things of man highly value self preservation.
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They value immediate victory, visible success, comfort and the
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avoidance of shame at all costs. But the things of God operate on
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a completely different framework.
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The things of God demand atonement.
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They demand the absolute satisfaction of divine justice,
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the punishment of sin, and the vindication of God's holiness.
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These two wisdoms are entirely incompatible.
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When you analyze this exchange, you can hear the undeniable echo
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of the wilderness temptation from Matthew chapter 4.
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In the wilderness, Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the
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world if Jesus would simply bow down.
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It was an offer to gain the crown without having to endure
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the cross. Jesus defeated Satan in the
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wilderness, but now Satan returns and he uses the
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affectionate, well meaning voice of a close friend to offer the
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exact same shortcut. That is a terrifying reality,
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isn't it? The most dangerous advice we
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receive in life rarely comes from our declared enemies.
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It almost always comes from people who genuinely love us and
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want what is best for us according to earthly standards.
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A friend will tell you do not work so hard or take the easy
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way out, or you deserve better than this suffering or God
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wouldn't want you to endure this pain.
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It sounds like and compassion. It feels like love.
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But if that advice leads you to bypass the obedience God has
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called you to, it is spiritual sabotage.
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It is the wisdom of man masquerading as divine care.
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And this Satanic logic, this desire to achieve the crown
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while bypassing the cross, did not disappear in the 1st
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century. It is alive and thriving in
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modern church movements today. The sources we are studying make
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a direct application to the polemics and the idols of modern
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religion. This text directly confronts
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several massive theological errors that plagued the Church
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today. Let us look at those modern
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errors because this is where the theology hits the pavement.
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The sources identify the prosperity gospel, pragmatism,
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seeker sensitive models, and therapeutic moralism.
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Let us start with the prosperity gospel.
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This movement literally sells a Kingdom without thorns.
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It equates divine favor strictly with physical ease, financial
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wealth, perfect health, and upward mobility.
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The underlying message of the prosperity gospel is that if you
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are suffering, you lack faith, or you are outside of God's
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favor. That entire theology is a
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direct, undeniable echo of Peter saying far be it from you, Lord.
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It looks at the suffering of the cross and says that cannot be
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the plan. But Jesus sets his face like
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Flint toward Jerusalem specifically to suffer.
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Yes, the prosperity gospel adopts Peter's mindset
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completely. It rebukes the very suffering
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that God ordains. But let.
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Me play devil's advocate here, doesn't God want to bless his
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people? If you are listening to this and
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thinking I just want God to heal my illness or help my finances,
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how do we distinguish between praying for biblical blessing
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and falling into the prosperity gospel trap you are talking
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about? We distinguish it by looking at
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the final goal. Praying for healing or provision
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is entirely biblical. God is good Father who gives
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good gifts. The trap of the prosperity
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gospel is that it makes the gifts the ultimate pursuit, and
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it asserts that suffering is inherently a sign of God's
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displeasure. Biblical Christianity recognizes
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that God often uses intense suffering, deprivation, and
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trials as the very instruments to sanctify us and conform us to
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the image of Christ. The prosperity gospel rejects
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the instrument of suffering entirely.
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That makes perfect sense. Then you have the idol of
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pragmatism and the seeker sensitive movement.
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These models measure the success and faithfulness of a church
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almost entirely by what draws the largest crowds and what
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avoids offending the surrounding culture.
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But the apostle Paul tells us in First Corinthians 1.18 that the
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word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, the
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cross is inherently, unavoidably offensive.
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It tells humanity that they are completely depraved, that their
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works are filthy rags, and that they are under the righteous
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wrath of a holy God. If a church attempts to sanitize
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the blood, if they remove the language of wrath and
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substitutionary atonement to make the service more palatable
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to unregenerate people, they are adopting the same satanic logic
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that Peter displayed. They are trying to build the
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Kingdom without the offense of the cross, but Jesus says you
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cannot. And then we see therapeutic
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moralism. This is the view that treats
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Jesus less like a sovereign Lord and more like a life coach, a
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therapist, or a mascot for our own self esteem.
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It presents to Jesus who just wants you to realize your full
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potential and feel good about yourself.
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But the Westminster Confession in Chapter 11 regarding
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justification teaches us that Jesus is a substitute who
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actively absorbed the infinite crushing wrath of Almighty God
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on behalf of sinners. A life coach does not shed His
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blood to appease divine justice. The sources also touch on the
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modern trend of deconstruction. We see people aggressively
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discarding the doctrines of blood atonement, the exclusivity
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of Christ, and the reality of eternal judgement, but they
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still trying to keep a vague, sentimental admiration for Jesus
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as a moral teacher. But this text in Matthew 16
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proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you cannot separate
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the identity of Christ from his agonizing, bloody mission.
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If you try to invent the crossless Christ, you have
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invented a false religion. A crossless Christ is a damning
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fiction. You can compare a sanitized,
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seeker sensitive gospel to a hospital that refuses to perform
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life saving surgeries because the sight of blood might upset
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the visitors sitting in the waiting.
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Room. It is a dereliction of duty.
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The hospital exists to cure the disease, even if the surgery is
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invasive and bloody. The Church exists to proclaim
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the cure for sin, which is the brutal crucifixion of the Son of
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God. We cannot hide the cure just
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because the world finds it distasteful.
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Jesus refuses to be managed by human public relations
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strategies, and this brings us to a vital part of our deep
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dive. Today we have to move from
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analyzing the broad movements of the modern church and bring this
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theology directly into your daily life.
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The exposition mandates very specific applications and
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categorizes them brilliantly by focusing on the head, the heart
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and the hands. Let us walk through those
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applications together. As you listen to this, consider
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your own life. We start with the head, which
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deals with belief. The sources state that you must
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believe in the absolute non negotiable necessity of
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substitutionary atonement. The mind must be radically
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renewed by Scripture to see the cross not as a tragic defeat or
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a momentary set back, but as the supreme unassailable wisdom of
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God. We have to train our minds to
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stop adopting the common sense of the world when evaluating
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spiritual realities. If you blush at the idea of
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blood atonement, or if you treat it as an optional secondary
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doctrine, you are agreeing with Peter's veto.
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That renewal of the mind directly impacts the heart,
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which deals with our affections. What do we love and what do we
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fear? The research calls a listener to
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cultivate a holy suspicion of our natural reflexive instinct
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to avoid hardship. We all have that reflex.
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We all want the easy Rd., but we must learn to love the wisdom of
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God far more than we love human approval.
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We must desire the glory of Christ far more than we desire
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our own physical or emotional comfort.
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Peter loved Jesus, but his love was wildly misdirected because
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he loved to save Jesus more than he loved the saving mission of
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Jesus. We have to ask ourselves, do we
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want a king who affirms our earthly plans, or do we want a
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king who commands our repentance?
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When our affections are properly aligned with the things of God,
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we will learn to hate a crossless religion that leads
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directly to the hands which represents our actions and our
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daily obedience. This is the call to practical
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boots on the ground repentance. This means making concrete
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choices. It means you stop altering the
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truth of the gospel just to keep social peace at your workplace
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or at your family gatherings. It means enduring personal,
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agonizing trials without immediately assuming that God
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has abandoned you. The sources tied this
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beautifully to the administration of the Lord's
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Supper, which Reformed theology calls the visible word given to
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the Church. How does the Lord's Supper
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connect to Matthew 16? The Lord's Supper is a tangible
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application of this text. When you sit in the Pew and
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receive the bread in the cup, you're observing the very event
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that Peter tried to prevent. The broken body that Peter said
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should never happen is the very bread of life that sustains your
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soul today. The blood that Peter wanted to
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keep in the Savior's veins is the blood of the new covenant
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poured out for the forgiveness of your sins.
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Every time we partake of the Supper, we are declaring that
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the wisdom of God in the cross is our only hope.
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And for the weary St. listening to this deep dive right now,
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this text offers immense stabilization.
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If the horrific suffering of Christ was meticulously governed
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by the sovereign, loving hand of Providence, then you can be
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absolutely certain that your current trials, your pain, and
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your suffering are also governed by that same wise hand.
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God is not asleep at the wheel during your affliction.
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That is a vital comfort as we consider our actions.
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It is worth asking you to evaluate your own prayer life.
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Think about the prayers you pray on a daily basis.
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Are they entirely focused on asking God to remove every
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single obstacle, every pain, and every discomfort from your path?
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Or do you ask God for the grace to walk through those obstacles
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faithfully, remaining steadfastly behind the Master?
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If we spend all our time praying for a crown without a cross, we
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are praying according to the things of man.
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As we bring this deep dive to a close, let us briefly recap the
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staggering reality of Matthew 16.21 through 23.
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Jesus leaves no room for ambiguity.
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The crown is real. The resurrection is absolutely
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sure. The victory is guaranteed.
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But the divine order established in the eternal counsel of God is
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completely unchangeable. The cross comes first, and then
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the crown. Humiliation precedes exaltation.
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To follow Christ means we do not advise Him, we do not correct
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His mission, and we do not attempt to edit His word.
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We submit to Him and we follow behind Him.
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Even when the path leads to our own crosses, the order cannot be
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reversed. Here is a final thought for you
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to Mull over as you go about your day.
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If Jesus identified the desire to bypass suffering and avoid
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the cross as a literal satanic snare in His own life, we have
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to ask ourselves how much of our daily decision making, which is
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almost entirely aimed at maximizing our comfort and
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avoiding pain, is actually operating on that very same
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worldly logic. Thank you for joining us for
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this deep dive into the sources. Keep your mind set on the things
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of God and we will see you next time on Reformed thinking.