Peter's wonderful revelation of Jesus being the Christ, the Son of the Living God was somewhat short-lived. As Jesus began sharing His future persecution and death on the cross, Peter used his natural thinking, as all of us would under the circumstances, and was understandably confused. In a moment of pride, Peter turned to Jesus and rebuked Him. Jesus, in turn, spoke back to Peter and rebuked Satan, claiming that he had in mind the things of man and NOT of God.
Satanic thinking always desires righteousness with God based on MAN's WORKS and not on GOD's WORK. God's righteousness comes from Jesus' final and complete work on the cross!
At that moment, Peter was speaking from his natural thinking and not from his newfound spiritual revelation. Because he wasn't yet born again, he had no true revelation of the coming spiritual kingdom, and so Jesus' death and resurrection made no sense to him. The natural mind cannot understand the things of God, because God is spirit and requires spiritual revelation.
The plans of God are always better than anything we could plan for our own natural lives. At the time Peter rebuked Jesus, the cross sounded like the worst plan in the world! But the reality is that it was the BEST plan in the world! It would establish the church and bring forth a multitude of born-again children of God filled with His Holy Spirit!
To be part of this wonderful spiritual kingdom, all of us must lay down our earthly dreams and desires and live the life the Heavenly Father has planned for us. When we "lose our lives" and take up our cross to follow Jesus, we FIND our spiritual lives. The spiritual life is what matters, for it will live on forever!
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