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Foreshadowing of the Cross
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back the veil that hid the future. “From that time Jesus began to
show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many
things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,
and be raised again the third day.”
The disciples listened, speechless with grief and amazement.
Christ had accepted Peter’s acknowledgment of Him as the Son of
God, and now His words pointing to His suffering and death seemed
incomprehensible. Peter could not keep silent. He took hold of his
Master, as if to draw Him back from His approaching doom: “Far
be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
Peter loved his Lord, but Jesus did not praise him for the desire
to shield Him from suffering. Peter’s words were not a help and
comfort to Jesus in the great test ahead of Him. They were not in
harmony with God’s plan of grace toward a lost world nor with the
lesson of self-sacrifice that Jesus had come to teach by His own
example. The impression Peter’s words would make was directly
opposed to the one that Christ wanted to make on the minds of His
followers, and the Savior was moved to speak one of the sternest
rebukes that ever fell from His lips: “Get behind Me, Satan! You are
an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but
the things of men.”
Satan Was Trying to Get at Christ
Satan was trying to discourage Jesus and turn Him from His
mission, and Peter was the one speaking the temptation! The prince
of evil, the author of the thought, was behind Peter’s impulsive
appeal. Satan had offered Christ the rulership of the world, if He
would only forsake the path of humiliation and sacrifice. Now he was
trying to fasten Peter’s gaze on earthly glory, so that he would not
see the cross. Through Peter, he was again pressing the temptation
on Jesus.
But the Savior did not respond to the temptation. His thought
was for His disciple. Satan had come between Peter and his Master.
Christ spoke to the one trying to separate Peter from his Redeemer:
“Get behind Me, Satan!” “Let Me come face to face with Peter, so
that I may reveal to him the mystery of My love.”