Mat 16:28 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord immediately connects to His rejection teaching for His disciples. He presents to them what it costs to follow Him. Following him costs someone everything. Whoever wants to follow Him must set himself and all his own interests completely aside. Then he must be prepared to suffer the reproach of the world. This is the meaning of “take up his cross”. Both one and the other are presented by the Lord as a choice to His disciples. Whoever wants to follow Him will have to meet these two conditions. Only when he does this he can follow Him. No one is forced to do it, but if someone wants to, that is the cost. Whoever wants to live for this life and thus keep his life, will not keep it in the end, but certainly lose it. If, on the other hand, someone surrenders his life to Him, he will find the true life that is only found and enjoyed in His company. What the Lord says here is always true, there is no escape: whoever wants to save his life will lose it; whoever loses his life for His sake will find it. The Lord gives a consideration to make the choice easy. He wants that they and we think about it. Imagine that we win the whole world. How long can we enjoy it? At most a hundred years and then only very limited. For example, we may have an abundance of delicious food and jewelry, but our stomach has a limited capacity and our body can only wear a very limited number of pieces of jewelry. After all, there is death and eternity. When the soul is forfeited, eternal torment follows the short earthly pleasure. The soul of a human being is the most precious possession he has. If he loses it forever, there is no means of exchange that frees him from eternal pain. The Lord points out with these words the importance of the soul. People should be concerned about this and not about the temporary pleasure of the world. The Lord Jesus places the importance of the soul in the light of His imminent coming as the Son of Man to reward everyone according to his works. And He will not come alone, but His angels will accompany Him while He is surrounded by the glory of His Father. Everything radiates majesty and splendor. Anyone who passes this by, and does not already bow in faith for the future majesty, is hurting his soul. After these serious words, He has an encouragement for some of His disciples. These turn out to be Peter and James and John. They will see the Son of Man coming into His kingdom with their own eyes before they die. They will see it soon, for with these words the Lord is referring to the scene we have in the next section, the transfiguration on the mountain. What they will see there will encourage them to do their service for Him, no matter how great the opposition.

‏ Matthew 16:28

Following a Rejected Christ

The Lord immediately connects to His rejection teaching for His disciples. He presents to them what it costs to follow Him. Following him costs someone everything. Whoever wants to follow Him must set himself and all his own interests completely aside. Then he must be prepared to suffer the reproach of the world. This is the meaning of “take up his cross”. Both one and the other are presented by the Lord as a choice to His disciples. Whoever wants to follow Him will have to meet these two conditions. Only when he does this he can follow Him. No one is forced to do it, but if someone wants to, that is the cost.

Whoever wants to live for this life and thus keep his life, will not keep it in the end, but certainly lose it. If, on the other hand, someone surrenders his life to Him, he will find the true life that is only found and enjoyed in His company. What the Lord says here is always true, there is no escape: whoever wants to save his life will lose it; whoever loses his life for His sake will find it.

The Lord gives a consideration to make the choice easy. He wants that they and we think about it. Imagine that we win the whole world. How long can we enjoy it? At most a hundred years and then only very limited. For example, we may have an abundance of delicious food and jewelry, but our stomach has a limited capacity and our body can only wear a very limited number of pieces of jewelry. After all, there is death and eternity. When the soul is forfeited, eternal torment follows the short earthly pleasure.

The soul of a human being is the most precious possession he has. If he loses it forever, there is no means of exchange that frees him from eternal pain. The Lord points out with these words the importance of the soul. People should be concerned about this and not about the temporary pleasure of the world.

The Lord Jesus places the importance of the soul in the light of His imminent coming as the Son of Man to reward everyone according to his works. And He will not come alone, but His angels will accompany Him while He is surrounded by the glory of His Father. Everything radiates majesty and splendor. Anyone who passes this by, and does not already bow in faith for the future majesty, is hurting his soul.

After these serious words, He has an encouragement for some of His disciples. These turn out to be Peter and James and John. They will see the Son of Man coming into His kingdom with their own eyes before they die. They will see it soon, for with these words the Lord is referring to the scene we have in the next section, the transfiguration on the mountain. What they will see there will encourage them to do their service for Him, no matter how great the opposition.