Contents:
• The Pharisees ask for a sign
• The sign of Jonah
• The disciples forget to bring bread
• One like the Son of Man
• You are Peter and on this Rock
• Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven
• On being focused on the things of God
• Deny yourself and take up your cross
• Taste death before seeing the Son of Man coming in His kingdom

Before reading this commentary, I encourage you to first read the text of Matthew chapter sixteen.

Verse 1

The Pharisees baffle me. Jesus has been performing miracle after miracle and they now come to him and ask for a sign from heaven? They of course, don’t want to see a sign, they are searching for a way to accuse him of something.

Verses 2-4

Jesus gives a weather analogy and says “When evening comes, you say, ‘The weather will be fair, for the sky is red.” Today, when we see that the clouds are dark and grey we might say “It looks like it’s going to rain”.

Jesus continues, “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but not the signs of the times.” This is a tremendous rebuke of the Pharisees because they are experts in the law. They’re the ones who have diligently studied the scriptures and were supposed to be able to identify the signs of the times as they pertained to the coming Messiah. But they refuse to do so because they hate Jesus.

Jesus continues, “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” This, of course is referring to the fact that Jesus is going to go into the grave for three days and then come back to life. He is comparing himself to Jonah who was in the belly of a fish for three days and then was vomited onto dry land.

I have heard scoffers accuse the Bible of being a fairy tale when they say, “How could a man survive for three days inside a fish’s stomach?” But therein lies the analogy. We don’t know for sure, but perhaps Jonah died in the fish and was three days later resurrected to life, just as Jesus is going to be dead in the grave for three days and resurrected to life.

We do know that Jonah prayed from inside the fish:

From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God, saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice. For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me. At this, I said, ‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look once more toward Your holy temple.’ The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me; the seaweed wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains, I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God! As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD. My prayer went up to You, to Your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion. But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the LORD!” And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. (Jonah 2:1-10)

Notice that Jonah says “As my life was fading away…” It’s entirely plausible that Jonah had only enough time to pray this prayer and then suffocated and died inside the fish and then was resurrected back to life after the fish vomited him up on the land. The point of all this is to say that Jesus is telling the Pharisees that the only sign they are going to be given is that he will die, be buried for three days and will then be resurrected back to life.

As we’re going to see, however, the Pharisees, are going to attempt to cover up the resurrection miracle by paying soldiers to lie. No matter what, the Pharisees were never going to accept Jesus as their Messiah.

Verses 5-12

When they crossed to the other side, the disciples forgot to take bread. “Watch out!” Jesus told them. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” They discussed this among themselves and concluded, “It is because we did not bring any bread.”

Remember that the disciples are not yet filled with the Holy Spirit. From our Spirit filled position, and having also the benefit of hind-sight, we may tend to view the disciples as being somewhat dumb because they so often fail to understand what Jesus is talking about. However, it’s not their lack of intelligence, it’s that they are not thinking spiritually. Instead, they are thinking carnally.

Those without the Holy Spirit, (I’m thinking particularly of atheists who often want to debate Christians) will get offended when we tell them they can not understand the Bible. Thinking carnally, they assume we are accusing them of not being intelligent enough to understand the Bible. That’s not the case. To understand the Bible, it’s true meaning must be spiritually interpreted. Thus, without the Holy Spirit, how can one understand something that requires a spiritual interpretation. Stated more succinctly, to understand the Bible, it’s meaning must be revealed to us by God. God will not reveal these meanings to someone who lacks the Holy Spirit.
The disciples, however, have Jesus Christ in their presence. Even though they don’t yet have the Holy Spirit, whatever they don’t yet understand spiritually, Jesus is there among them to explain it to them.

He says to the disciples, “You of little faith, why are you debating among yourselves about having no bread? Do you still not understand? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? How do you not understand that I was not telling you about bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that He was not telling them to beware of the leaven used in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

How can we be aware of the leaven of false teachers? By knowing well, the word of God. Most Christians do not read the Bible. This is why I believe self-discipline is an act of worship. To read the Bible daily even when you don’t feel like it.

In every occurrence when Jesus was being tempted by Satan, Jesus used the word of God to refute Satan. In order to defend yourself against demonic influence and to avoid being deceived by false teachers and false doctrine, you must be very familiar with the Word of God. Read it in conjunction with prayer for understanding.

Remember, false doctrine is often very subtle. No pastor ever goes to the pulpit and announces, “Now I’m going to teach you false doctrine”. Even after having read the Bible so many times, I can still sometimes hear a subtle false doctrine and at first nod my head because it sounds so nice. Only after a couple of minutes of thinking about it, does the scripture come to my mind which refutes what I was nodding my head to minutes earlier.

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you. (John 14:26)

Let me ask you a question: How can the Holy Spirit remind you of something you’ve never read?

Salvation is by faith, but how can you be certain you are putting your faith into the right thing unless you read the instruction manual? How can you be certain that what you believe is correct unless you read the book that defines truth? Read the Bible. Not once, not twice, you should read from the Bible daily for the rest of your life. You should read the Bible so much, that you eventually wear out the book. Then go get another one and start again.

(By the way, as stated before, I recommend the New Living Translation (NLT), the English Standard Version (ESV) and the Berean Stand Bible (BSB).

If you find something in my New Testament commentaries that you believe to be a false doctrine, and you can convince me through scripture of why I am wrong, I will gladly edit my commentary. However, what I’ve found in my experience (and this is what we’re going to talk about in just a moment), is that in almost every case, when someone has a grievance against my interpretations of the Bible, that person often formed their argument and beliefs based upon what someone else has told them, rather than upon what’s actually in the word of God. The Bible has 1,500+ pages. Most people do not want to read a book that big. Many Christians try to take shortcuts. They try to take the easy route. Many Christians are not willing to inconvenience themselves for the sake of Jesus. Many Christians are not willing to pick up their cross and follow Jesus. They prefer the lazy route of not having to study the Bible and instead form their spiritual beliefs based on what they’ve heard other people say. I challenge you to be self-critiquing. How much have you personally studied the Bible? How often have you prayed for spiritual understanding? If your honest answer is not very much, begin today pursuing Jesus.

Verses 13-18

These are broad reaching and influential verses, so we’ll spend a little time on them. First as always, we have to take everything in context. What’s the first thing spoken?

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He questioned His disciples: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

The phrase “Son of Man” is what Jesus calls himself. It comes from the book of Daniel in which Daniel was describing his vision of Jesus.

In my vision in the night I continued to watch, and I saw One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

So now Jesus is asking his disciples, “who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

Then Jesus asks, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Keep Peter’s statement in mind because it’s critical to understanding the rest of the verses.

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

The Catholic church teaches that Jesus is going to build his church on Peter. There are several reasons why I reject that interpretation. One of which is that if Jesus were going to name an individual upon which he was to build his church, that person would be Paul rather than Peter. Paul (inspired by the Holy Spirit) wrote nearly 50% of the New Testament. No! Jesus is not saying he’s going to build his church upon a man.

For the sake of emphasis, let’s circle back and read it again:

Then Jesus asks, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter…..

Within those three verses are two very important points about the future church. The first is Peter’s proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah. That Jesus is the Son of the living God.

The second is when Jesus says “And I tell you that you are Peter….”, this is a direct reference and inverse analogy to Jesus’s “I never knew you” verse.

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

What Jesus is saying to Peter is “You and I are on a first name basis. We have a relationship. We are friends. I know you. I know your name. You are Peter.”

Therefore, the interpretation of these verses is this; The rock upon which Jesus is going to build his church is the proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord and that we must be in relationship with Him.

Stated more succinctly; Jesus is going to build his church upon two things, putting one’s faith into Jesus Christ and being filled with his Holy Spirit.

Put even still more succinctly; the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)

Truth is that Faith in Jesus Christ saves us from our sins. Spirit is that we must be filled with the Holy Spirit.

If you have never before been filled with the Holy Spirit, read these next verses carefully:

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

Ask, and (The Holy Spirit) will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)

Verse 19

Jesus concludes his statement by saying, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

To properly interpret this verse, we have to keep it in context. Jesus is describing how the church will be built. So now we ask ourselves, “what do keys have to do with it”? Keys either lock or unlock a door. Jesus said he is giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter and the disciples in order that they can lock or unlock the door to heaven, (but what does that mean?)

A third aspect of Jesus building his church is going to be that the gospel is going to be spread by means of believers sharing the gospel with non-believers. Jesus could have set himself on a giant thrown in the sky for all to see. He could have made it such that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit would cause all people to automatically understand the gospel. But he did neither of those things. Instead, it is the will of God that the gospel should be spread (i.e. the church built) by one person sharing the good news with another, beginning with Peter and the disciples. (Particularly with Peter because he’s the one who is going to preach the first gospel message in Acts chapter two when three thousand people accept Christ as their savior).

Jesus says, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Again, the context is still talking about the building of the church. What this means is that when we go out and share the gospel with a person, if said person declares to us that they accept Jesus as their savior, “heaven” acknowledges that. Likewise, if we go out and share the gospel with someone and that person rejects us and rejects the gospel message, heaven acknowledges that.

The verse doesn’t necessarily define bound and loosed. Which one is which? Are people bound into salvation and loosed into hell, or are they bound into hell and loosed in heaven? Whichever the case is irrelevant. Jesus’s point, however, is that if we share the gospel with someone and they accept Jesus as savior, their acceptance is acknowledged in heaven. If they reject Jesus that also is acknowledged in heaven.

Personally, I choose to read it as being like a binding agreement. Thus, I read it such that, if someone accepts Jesus, the “binding agreement” they’ve made on earth is also bound in heaven.

Verse 20

Then He admonished the disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Christ.

We know that after he is risen from the grave he’s going to tell his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations….” But for now, he’s instructing his disciples to tell no one. In order to build his church, Jesus needs to keep his disciples alive. Jesus has already aggravated the Pharisees quite a lot. If the disciples were to now begin running throughout Jerusalem declaring Jesus to be the Messiah, they would likely all end up crucified right along side Jesus and that would be the end of the church.

Verse 21

From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Verses 22-23

Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!”

Jesus is fully man and fully God. As fully God Jesus knows what is about to take place and he informs his disciples.

Peter attempts to rebuke Jesus saying this will never happen. I empathize with Peter because if my best friend informed me that somebody was trying to kill him, I would rally to his defense and would want to protect him. Jesus, however, understands fully the end goal and the path to get there. He knows it is not by means of resisting evil or by defending himself against harm.

Peter was not focusing on the things of God, but on the things of man. Consider how you might be like Peter. Every single day and in everything you do, your focus is on those things that are important to you. You’re focus is on your own concerns and that which is best for you and your family. You are likely most often focused on the things of man. We all are. This is the reason why we need to rely so heavily upon God through prayer when it comes to decision making. God is focused on the greater things, the bigger things, the more important things, the things of God.

I challenge you to present to God every decision that you have to make. Now, granted, if in the morning you open the fridge door, and there, in the fridge, is a bottle of orange juice and a bottle of apple juice, you don’t need to pray about which one you should have because we already know that God declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19), so we can just give praise to the Lord for his provision and drink whichever one we choose. What I am referring to, however, is every decision in which the outcome is unknown, all such decisions should be presented to the Lord and to then rely upon him and let him be your guide. Learn to rely on Jesus.

Verse 24

Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

What does it mean to deny yourself? And what does it mean to take up your cross? To put it simply, denying yourself means that you’re not going to do the things you want to do. Jesus said for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander (Matthew 15:19). This means that bad decisions come from following one’s heart. If we want to follow Jesus, there may be times that we have to deny ourselves of the things we long to do. Pursuing wealth, fame, popularity, style, easy money, alcohol or other worldly pleasures are all examples of things we may need to deny ourselves of when choosing to follow Jesus.

Then Jesus says we must take up our cross and follow him. Jesus carried the cross he was going to be crucified on. It represents a big burden. I want to examine this in light of two types of people; the free and the oppressed.

If you live in a country where Christianity is illegal, the cross you must take up to follow Jesus is that of being persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Great will be your rewards in heaven. I encourage this audience to read a book written by Haralan Popov, a pastor who was persecuted by the communists in Bulgaria. Although it is out of print, you can still find it used on various websites. (There are two books with very similar titles written by different authors, therefore, herein I’m not going to give the title because you’re likely to find the other one when searching by title. I have never read that other one. A search for Harlan Popov will produce the book I’m recommending. You can typically purchase it for between $1 to $10).

If, however, you live in a free country such as the United States, where, at the present time, there is little to no religious persecution against the average Christian, the cross you must carry is that of putting upon yourself a high level of self-discipline.

Again, salvation is by faith and not by works, but what Jesus is saying in these verses is that after you put your faith in him, you may have to pick up a cross in order to follow him.

Many Americans have time for sports, entertainment, recreation, hobbies, fashion, the pursuit of wealth and health, but have little to no time for Jesus, the author of their salvation.

Are you going to spend time in God‘s word daily? Are you going to spend time at the feet of Jesus in prayer every single day or are you going to fritter away your evenings streaming movies on your giant television while simultaneously claiming you don’t have time to read the Bible?

Where there is little persecution, Christians get lazy. This means that if you want to follow Jesus, you have to overcome your own laziness. Salvation is by faith, but can a person who ignores Jesus claim they are walking in faith? You need to be reading, God’s word daily, and not just superficially but through prayer. Study God’s word in depth. Develop a dynamic and organized prayer list in which you are often praying for your needs and the needs of others. Get yourself plugged into a quality Church and Bible study where you have the opportunity to associate regularly with people who are spiritually wiser than yourself. Get around them and listen. Allow them to influence your journey with God. Don’t be one of those people who sneaks into the back of the church five minutes after the service started and then dashes out the door the second the pastor says “Go in peace”. Arrive early, stay late, meet people. Get to know other Christians and ask about the church’s Bible studies and small groups. Pray for such opportunities. And also pray that God would give you opportunities to share the gospel with other people.

I challenge you to make those things a high priority. It’s very easy for us Americans to leave church on Sunday and never again think about God until the following Sunday. Be willing to inconvenience yourself for the sake of following Jesus. Remember, we don’t earn our salvation. Salvation is by faith. But does a person who ignores God have faith? Jesus is saying if you want to follow him be prepared for something that’s not convenient!

Verse 25

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Going back to those who live in places where Christianity is persecuted, the person who tries to save his life by denying Jesus Christ will lose his life to hell, but the person who refuses to deny Jesus Christ even if threatened with execution will find his life in eternity with Jesus Christ in heaven.

Verse 26

What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Verse 27

For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.

Remember, God is an all-loving God. Therefore, to be all-loving, he must be a God of justice. In a court of law, if the judge let a murderer go free because the judge wanted to be nice, the judge would be unjust because he has no concern for the victim and their family. Likewise, an all-loving God must be a God of justice. He will repay evil people for the evil they have done.

But regarding those who are saved, we will be repaid for the good we have done. Again, salvation is by faith and not by works, but we will be rewarded for whatever good we did. “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21a)

Verse 28

Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Again, always interpret Bible verses in the context of the topic being discussed. Seldom does Jesus suddenly change topics in the middle of his dialogue. Jesus said a moment earlier that He will repay each one according to what he has done. Now He says that some will not tase death before seeing the son of man coming in His kingdom. Does this mean that some standing there will live for thousands of years and not die? No. Absolutely not. Such an interpretation would be outside the context of the subject Jesus is presently talking about. To understand this verse, we have to look at what Paul wrote:

“What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:1-11)

Thus, we conclude that not tasting death before seeing the Son of Man coming in His kingdom is a negative. It’s a terrible thing. You don’t want that. It means the person wasn’t saved and the first time they taste death and see Jesus is when their soul is being cast into hell. But as Paul wrote through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.”

By putting our faith in Jesus Christ we are able to taste death before seeing the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” That, in turn, leads us to eternal life with Christ.