Matthew 16:21, commentary and pictures

From that time on he began to teach openly what had been held back until they were ready, that he must go to Jerusalem to be rejected and tried for his life, suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, be killed on the cross, and be raised again the third day as surely as he would die.
This path was not defeat or accident but the necessary work he had foreseen before taking humanity and entered willingly, when angels could have delivered him, to bear the sins of the world and pay the ransom without which none could be saved.
His kingdom was not an earthly reign on David's throne to break the Roman yoke with worldly honor, but a spiritual and heavenly kingdom reached through shame and the cross.
The disciples, looking for temporal triumph, could not receive it, and Peter spoke for them all in refusing it and rebuking him, through whom Satan as tempter savored the things of men, until Jesus discerned the adversary and put him behind him because the sacrifice had to be fulfilled.
His death and rising fulfilled prophecy, and remembering his plain warning could have sustained faith and spared grief, as his followers too must give up hope of worldly honor and willingly bear shame and the cross for his name.

Setting and Wording

From that time forth marks the point when He began plainly and openly telling 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 the third day. Until then He had held back the details of His suffering and death, and the disclosure came only when the disciples were ready to hear it after recognizing Him as the Christ, though they did not yet grasp its meaning. It came immediately after Peter's acknowledgment of Him as the Son of the living God was accepted as inspired from above, with the promise of a kingdom so firm that the gates of hell should not prevail against it.

He must go to Jerusalem to be formally rejected, tried for His life, insulted by the scribes and Pharisees, and tormented to death. The words pained the disciples so that He could go no farther, for they reasoned He was far out of the reach of Herod and Caiaphas with nothing to fear from the hatred of the Jews or the power of the Romans, and could not see why He must give Himself up to death in Jerusalem among His bitterest enemies. Their perplexity was greater because this was spoken immediately after the confession and the promise of the kingdom.

He must suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, going up to Jerusalem to be mocked and crucified, facing humiliation and cruel treatment. He voluntarily opened their minds to His future humiliation and shameful death at the hands of His persecutors, where He would live as a humble, homeless wanderer and die as a malefactor. That death was torment on the shameful cross, the most painful death inflicted only on those most deeply dyed with crime and given only to the worst criminals. He must be killed and crucified in Jerusalem at the hands of His persecutors and wicked men, the chief priests and scribes.

He must be raised again the third day, having carefully told beforehand that He would suffer, be crucified, and rise again on the third day. The promise of rising again was as certain to be fulfilled as the events of His suffering and death. His prediction therefore included the resurrection, so His death was not a reason for hopelessness.

Necessity and Purpose

Suffering, rejection, death, and rising after three days were necessary parts of his mission, not defeat and not an obstacle to earthly victory. He was preparing his disciples for the trial of faith that would come through betrayal, trial, and crucifixion, including rejection by the elders, chief priests, and scribes. The disciples resisted because they expected a Messiah who would win temporal victory over Rome, and Peter's objection voiced human expectations rather than God's purpose. That resistance turned the disciples from the lesson and was rebuked as expressing human rather than divine concerns under Satan's influence to turn him from that purpose.

He knew the path to Calvary before taking humanity upon himself, foreseeing its anguish, insults, and privations, yet willingly chose that path to save the lost and do God's will. He went voluntarily to meet the foretold fate of humiliation, cruel treatment, and death in Jerusalem, and his death was no accident. He was not trapped and not unable to escape, for angels could have delivered him and he knew he could ask the Father to send them. He faced what he knew he must suffer, be killed, and rise again, willingly enduring it as sacrifice.

Though facing profound sorrow and shame, he was moved to endure the cross by the joy of its outcome. The sins of the world would weigh upon his innocent soul, and his life would win the world back to loyalty to God. He accepted suffering and death at the hands of wicked people to carry out the plan of salvation and pay the ransom for humanity. This sacrifice was appointed from the foundation of the earth and must be offered, else no son or daughter of Adam could be saved.

His kingdom was not temporal and earthly but spiritual and heavenly, contrary to the Jewish expectation that Christ would reign as a temporal prince on David's throne and break the Roman yoke. Shame and the cross awaited him rather than worldly honor and a throne and worldly reign. His teaching that his kingdom was not of this world conflicted with hopes for an earthly kingdom and a more aggressive course. His first advent as suffering and rejection was clearly foretold in Isaiah 53, while descriptions belonging to his glorious second coming had been falsely applied to his first advent.

He knew the purpose and gravity of his work and began telling what was coming upon him so they might be prepared for the future. He wanted them to understand its importance and the responsibilities they would bear in continuing it after he left them. He was beginning preparation for suffering and death at the hands of his enemies, followed by rising again. They would witness his agony and crucifixion and then face the world without his visible presence, exposed to hatred and unbelief, so he prepared them for these trials.

Disciples' Misunderstanding and Despair

The disciples clung to the expectation that He would reign prosperously on David's throne, deliver Israel from bondage to Rome, and receive royal honors, and they wanted a more aggressive course toward that end. That unyielding hope for an earthly kingdom discouraged Judas, whose desire for temporal triumph was contradicted by teaching that the kingdom was not of this world.

They had been misled because priests and scribes falsely applied to His first advent the descriptions belonging to His glorious second coming, speaking the very suggestions of Satan, while His first advent as suffering and rejection was clearly foretold in Isaiah 53. Those who received the words of their teachers instead of the words of God were thus led to look for a Messiah of an altogether different type and to refuse Him when He came.

They could not comprehend or welcome His opening of denial and rejection and condemnation and death, hearing it as defeat and disappointment of their hoped temporal victory. The thought that the Son of God should be so treated was a great shock to Peter, whose whole being rose up against it, and it grieved them over His ignominious fate as a humble, homeless wanderer dying as a malefactor. For six gloomy days they sorrowed and doubted and hoped and feared, doubting how the Son of God could suffer such cruelty, comforting themselves that some unforeseen event might avert it, and even tempted to take Him by force to safety.

Though warned repeatedly, and after many warnings against hopes of temporal aggrandizement, they did not take in what He said. Amid the joy of the triumphal entry they forgot His sorrowful words about suffering and death and still imagined royal honors and a prosperous reign instead of anticipating the cross.

When He died their hopes collapsed as though He had not warned them, leaving them surprised and unprepared. His death seemed to destroy their hopes and left them hopeless, bitterly disappointed, and in despair, because expectation of deliverance from Roman rule had made them unable to accept the thought of His shameful death. Sorrow overwhelmed them so that they could not recall His prediction, and the women's faith in Him as the promised Messiah perished with Him, though their love for Him and awareness of their need of His presence were then stronger than ever.

They did not take in or believe what the promised rising meant, and His words about rising left them perplexed. Believing that promise and searching the Scriptures would have spared them much grief and given comfort and hope, but failure to remember it left them sorrowful. John believed He had risen because he remembered these words, even though they did not understand the Old Testament scriptures that taught Christ would rise from the dead, while the chief priests and Pharisees remembered His saying that He would rise after three days.

Peter's Protest and Rebuke

Peter would not receive the announcement that suffering and death lay ahead, and taking Jesus aside he rebuked him and denied that such things would come upon him, declaring that they should not happen to him. His whole being rose in opposition to the thought that the Son of God should be so treated, coming as a great shock immediately after his inspired acknowledgment of Jesus as the Son of God. In this he voiced what all twelve felt, for their reluctance to share his suffering made them unwilling to grasp or welcome the warning, and his resistance turned the disciples away from the lesson. He feared that such an event would bring the church to nothing, clinging instead to the expectation that God would raise Jesus to a temporal throne as ruler over Israel to deliver them from bondage.

Satan stood between Peter and his Saviour and spoke through Peter as tempter, filling him with doubts and unbelief. Peter could not conceive that the Son of God could be put to death, and Satan exploited that failure to understand by suggesting that God's Son could not die and prompting him presumptuously to contradict Jesus. In this Peter savored the things of men instead of the things of God, expressing human rather than divine concerns under Satan's influence.

Peter forgot himself and did not realize Satan was influencing him, but Jesus discerned the real adversary behind the protest. He put Satan behind him with the words Get thee behind me, Satan, and solemnly rebuked Peter's unbelief and opposition to God's purpose. The rebuke was necessary because the prophecy of the sacrifice of the Son of God had to be fulfilled through voluntary humiliation and death as part of God's plan, not a fate to be averted.

Disputing with Christ and resisting his teaching in this way places a person as an instrument of Satan. Even then Jesus already saw Peter's coming denial of him in the judgment hall and his repentance afterward when he would weep in an agony of tears. After that conversion Peter could safely be charged to feed God's sheep and lambs and to help the most tempted and tried disciple.

Fulfillment and Call to Follow

His voluntary humiliation and shameful death at the hands of his persecutors in Jerusalem, where he would live as a humble, homeless wanderer and die as a malefactor, belonged to God's plan of redemption and fulfilled prophecy about the sacrifice of the Son of God, not a fate to be averted. Before that trial he prayed for strength to bear his afflictions and for grace to help his disciples endure the humiliation and death ahead. He also prayed that they would witness a clear manifestation of his divinity, so they would know in their coming distress that he was the Son of God and would not lose faith.

His rising from the dead fulfilled his prediction that he would rise, and he would also ascend to heaven. The religious leaders tried to hide its fulfillment and keep people from knowing it by bribing the Roman guards to claim the disciples had stolen his body.

He had told his disciples beforehand that he would suffer, die, and rise again, including that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, be killed, and rise again on the third day, so his death was not a reason for hopelessness. Remembering these words could have helped them understand his anguish and suffering, sustain their faith and hope during his trial and crucifixion, and give them comfort and strength to keep faith. Believing his words and searching the Scriptures would have spared them much grief and given them comfort and hope, but they were unprepared because they had not watched and prayed and had relied on their own strength.

The verse illustrates that plainly revealed truth and clearly given prophetic warnings do not prepare people if they fail to keep them in mind, understand them, hold them fast, and take them to heart. Because they expected him to deliver them from Roman rule and free them from bondage, they could not accept the thought of his shameful suffering and death, forgot the warning, and when the trial came they were unprepared and their hopes collapsed as though he had not warned them. So too the events surrounding the close of probation and preparation for the time of trouble are plainly revealed, yet many ignore them and are left unready when they do not understand or hold fast to them, while Satan works to remove impressions that could make them wise to salvation and lead them to salvation.

He taught that his mission was not to establish a worldly reign with earthly honor and a throne, for shame and the cross awaited him. His followers too must be crucified to the world, give up its hopes of honor and pleasure, bear the cross, and willingly endure shame, reproach, and humiliation for his name to gain salvation.

From that time he began preparing his disciples for the suffering and death he must face, when he would be handed over to his enemies, suffer, and be killed, and afterward rise again. They would witness his agony and crucifixion, then face the world without his visible presence, exposed to hatred and unbelief, so he prepared them for these trials and for the responsibilities of continuing after he left them.