Luke 9:23-36 Bible Teaching

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Last week in our study of Luke 9 we covered the passages where Jesus, speaking with His twelve asks them:

Who do men, and then, who do YOU say that I am.

We read how Peter stood up and exclaimed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

We then turned to Matthew’s account of this and how he included how Peter, once Jesus revealed that He was going to be put to death by the chief priests and scribes, “told Jesus that this was not going to happen on His watch.”

We then read Jesus response to Peter, where he said to Him:

“Get thee behind me Satan – you are representing the will of Man and not of God.” And we talked all about this.

October 13th 2019
Meat
Luke 9.23-
So, after calling Peter out Jesus says:

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?
26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.
27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.

Alright, jump back and let’s finish the chapter verse by verse beginning with verse 23.

Peter has stepped in upon hearing the Lord say that He was going to be traded up to death by the leaders of the Jews.

This did not accord with Peter’s ideas of how Jesus should be treated or what should happen to him in this life. We mentioned last week that what Peter was responding to was his own personal emotional reactions to the news Jesus gave rather than responding the way God would have Him respond which would have been to pray and serve and sustain the Lord as he progresses to this ultimate fate.

Jesus summarizes Peters response by telling him, essentially, that he was thinking like and man, and focusing on how men respond RATHER than allowing God and His will to take over and do the thinking.

This is really interesting because just a few verses earlier Peter was regaled by Jesus for not allowing Flesh and Blood (what Men are made of) to influence him in his opinion of the identity of who Jesus was but instead allowed his father who was in heaven to teach him this.

Tenuous and wishy as Peter could be, the table have quickly turned and have caused Jesus to nickname him Satan with the command to get behind him.

This setting allows us to understand why Jesus says the following to the rest of the group – which is:

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

There is an implication in this that Peter was actually doing something very different when he suggested to Jesus that he was not to die by any means; from the follow-up words from Jesus it seems that Peter was suggesting that he feed himself, refuse the cross, and follow self-will.

The interesting thing, again, is that it is doubtful that Peter saw his words as selfish because they SOUNDED noble. They sounded caring and good and supportive.

And that is the thing – there is the ways of Man and there are the ways of God, and Peter was operating in the first ways not the second.

So in this moment of teaching the others (in the face of this exchange with Peter), Jesus wanted to highlight the import of death to self and dedication to the will of God, which is all summarized neatly in this passage:

“If any man will come after me, (remember now, these twelve me were all called and committed to coming after or following Jesus) If Any man with come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

The attitude that would cause someone to reject this advice and take their own road is indirectly addressed in the very next passage as Jesus adds:

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

And then even more clarifying words

“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses His own soul, or what will a man give in exchange for His soul?”

These are some really poignant words here and if they have application to us today – which I believe they do even though they were spoken only to His twelve – they may be some of the most telling words of Jesus to a human being that we have in the New Testament.

So, let’s work through them together as Jesus says to the others, in light of Peter’s words to Him.

If Any man with come after me,

The better Greek taking all the synoptics together is “if anyone desires to follow me, be my disciple, desires to be under my guidance”

That makes sense since he is speaking to the Other Apostles here. But because the terms ANY man is used here instead of ANY of YOU, I think the teaching has application to all people.

If anyone desires to walk as my disciple,

let him deny himself,

I have some sobering news for us all here. That word translated to deny here is “ap-ar-neh’-om-ahee” and it means to TOTALLY abandon, disown and deny . . . oneself.

Now, we have to decide here are we going to think about this passage and reason with it or are we going to take the passage literally.

Because if we are going to take it literally, then we ought to do – if we seek to follow Jesus – what the word says here and
utterly abandon ourselves.

Abandon EVERYTHING about ourselves – our interests, talents, speech patterns and traits, bodies, opinions, views – everything utterly abandoned. How this looks physically is a mystery to me as it suggests suicide in the extreme view, but IF we are going to be literalists then that is the course we ought to take.

But if we want to be reasonable and yet dedicated to message, we can assume that what Jesus means here is to utterly abandon the mind will and ways of our former selves prior to Christ – the ways of the world, the self-centeredness, the things we did to please Man.

Literal or Reasonable is often the question and in the case we have our answer.

And what does Jesus say next after describing that a man must utterly abandon his will and ways for Gods?

LET HIM DENY HIMSELF . . . and

“take up his cross,”

I read this as denying oneself is one thing – that is the decision to let everything from the former life (in terms of this world) go. It seems to speak to “the willingness” and commitment to letting our ways fade away (something Peter hadn’t done here yet) but when Jesus adds “and take up His cross” the imagery suggested is “endure the pain that comes with abandoning our former ways.”

Let him utterly abandon the former woman or man, and then endure the pain, the discomfort, the weight of suffering by taking up HIS CROSS.

Some versions add take up his cross daily here, some do not. I like the addition of daily because death or abandonment of the self is a daily, even minute to minute choice, isn’t it? And because it is a choice that requires pain via the death or abandonment of self we are constantly faced with choosing to take up the painful cross . . . or not.

Our former man is always waiting in the wings to help us manage our lives – like Peter managed the situation and told Jesus He was not going to let Him die.

Jesus message is plain – If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny that former man and His ways and will and attitudes and opinions – no matter how good and noble they sound, and take up HIS personal cross, perfectly constructed for them daily and then he adds:

“And follow me.”

Now we can read this last line a couple of ways. We can say that Jesus was saying:

“If anyone desires to follow me as a disciple, let him abandon his or her former self, and take up his or her hard to bear cross daily, and follow me AS I HAVE LIVED MY LIFE doing the same as I have done.”

OR we can put these words in deeper application and have him say:

“If anyone desires to follow me as a disciple, let him abandon his or her former self, and take up his or her hard to bear cross daily, and follow me to death, because that is where I went once I picked my cross up – to death.

I go with the last interpretation in part because of what he says next in verse 25, adding

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

This paradoxical phrase is self-explanatory – If you go about building up and protecting your natural life, you views and opinions, your will and ways, the life you are going about to save and render eternal will be lost.

Pridefully stand by yourself, building your Empires of philosophy and will and ways, and I guarantee that whatever you are building up around you will be lost. However, he adds:

“and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”

Note the caveat, “whosoever will lose his life FOR MY SAKE will find it.”

So we are not just talking about losing yourself to the music, or the world, or nirvana
But to discover ones one life, and to ensure the perpetuation of it, lose yourself FOR THE SAKE of Christ.

Peter was trying, in the flesh, to save Christ from death – but the truest sake of Christ was for Him to die. Jesus called him out on this error in judgement telling Peter that his heart was upon the things of Man instead of the things of God.

Now he adds:

“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses His own soul, or what will a man give in exchange for His soul?”

Psalm 49 beginning at verse 6 may be where Jesus extracts these words as they tend to describe the fate of those who “gain the whole world” but lose their own soul as it reads

6 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
8 (WEB) For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough,
9 That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.
10 For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless man being in honor abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.
13 This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.
16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

Tied directly to Peters manly suggestion that he was not going to allow Jesus to die – or at least built right into that stance was profit verses loss.

Peter wanted to protect Jesus the asset and Jesus the asset was to be expended. Peter’s perspective was one of gain. Jesus was to lose (in his case, His life).

The whole principle can be played out when we think about it as in our realm of human ego and self-preservation lies the notion to

Protect our reputations from assault. But in Christ we are to become fools.

In the world we covet and seek for material gain, barns of cash and gold, and are stingy with our time.

In the Christian community, which is beating with the heart of Christ, we give time, we give material aid, we share with others on behalf of their well-being instead of our own.

Jesus goes so far as to say in an extreme:

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

This is a clear gaze into the eternal realm. What good could any thing on earth – even the whole world – do a man who in exchange for acquiring it loses his mind and His will and His emotion – who abides outside the lighted realms of God’s presence and instead moves about outside of it?

There is no profit to wealth or fame or power or privacy in such cases – it all becomes unprofitable.

Of course, the rub is that all of this must be accepted on faith. And that is what makes living the principle all the more daunting.

At this point – still talking to the twelve – Jesus adds the following verse from Matthew which add additionally flavor to context, saying:

27 For . . . (in other words, the division (for them/then) between those who gained the whole world but lost their soul and those who denied themselves and took up their cross and followed Him was going to occur in the following scene) FOR . . . the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

Now notice the direct, unequivocal ties Jesus makes to the apostles denying their will and wants, taking up their own cross and following him AND his return to them with reward for having done so!

Do you see it?

This teaching was to them, in that time, and surrounded that age – in so much that Jesus even connect their walk in suffering with the reward he promises to bring them.

FOR . . .(let me tell you something boys relative to all I have just taught you)

“FOR . . . the Son of man (me, Jesus) shall come (since I am already hear talking to you then this coming is talking about one in the future) in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

Luke’s version of this reads:

Luke 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.

And these seem to refer to the fact that part of the denying oneself, which is as painful as bearing a personal cross, was to be willing to stand up for the Lord and His words and not be ashamed of either.

Because it was Peter who stepped forward and told Jesus that he would in no way allow him to die, and the fact that it would be Peter himself who would in fact deny even knowing Him in the end, that I think these words were prophetically stated at this time.

The idea that all people will be rewarded according to their labors or works goes all the way back to the old Testament – even the oldest books in the Old Testament.

Job 34:11 reads:

“For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.

Psalm 62:12 Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.

Proverbs 24:12 If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?

Jeremiah 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings

But this is not just an old testament stance as Paul, speaking of God, wrote in Romans 2:6

Who will render to every man according to his deeds.

And added in Romans 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

And wrote in 1st Corinthians 3:8

Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.

And of course 2nd Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Jesus ties the choice he commends these men to make to the idea that he was going to come back with reward in his hand and at that point give to all their judgment or reward.

And then he adds the final verse which says even more directly:

28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

Some have supposed that Jesus was not talking about his second coming here but the other synoptics reinforce the idea that they are wrong as

Matthew 16:28 reads:
Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

And Mark 9:1 adds

“And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.”

Without much question Jesus was not only speaking of his return but he added something that helps support the idea that his return was to be in short order (relatively speaking) because there would be “SOME WHO STOOD THERE WITH HIM” that would not taste of death until they saw him coming in His Kingdom.

Something that it appears at least John the Beloved witnessed since it is believed that he was alive at the destruction of Jerusalem.

And this brings us to the next segment in Luke 9 – the account of the Mount of Transfiguration.

Luke 9:28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.
30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
32 But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.
33 And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.
34 While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud.
35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
36 And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen.

Of course, the other synoptics add some flavor and different insights to this event so we will bring those in as they arise.

So, jump back with me to verse 28 as Luke writes:

And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, (that we just read) he (Jesus) took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray

As an FYI, Matthews account says after about six days. The fix in this is Luke says about, and Matthew says six – so we have to run with Matthew version.

The three disciples, Peter, James, and John, were also the three Jesus took with him into the garden of Gethsemane – and we begin to see that they were sort of the core leadership of the twelve.

They were also present at the Olivet discourse on the signs of the end of the age but that moment also included Andrew.

And where did they go? “Into an high mountain apart – meaning apart from the other disciples.

Most scholars believe that this was Mount Tabor, which was a high mountain in Galilee but we are not given a name in the New Testament and therefore we do not know.

Luke adds here that the purpose for going up into the high mount was to pray. And when Jesus did this He was typically alone so it seems that He knew that there would be further events to occur up on the mount when he invited Peter, James and John up with Him.
(verse 29)

29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.

Verse 32 informs us that Peter and the others were sleepy and awoke to the following scene unfolded before them.

Matthew says, however, “And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.”

And Mark adds that, he was, “more white than any fuller could make it.”

This was what is called, the Transfiguration, a word that means a change in form or appearance of the Lord. We don’t know if this was a change in the substance of Jesus – I doubt it does, meaning his beating heart stopped and such – but it seems to mean merely in appearance, specifically, Luke says – Generally – that his “fashion,” or appearance was “glistering. Shining like lightning–of a bright, dazzling whiteness.

We also know that His face shone as the sun; that is, with a peculiar brightness. In this we note a similar appearance is described respecting Moses when he came down from the mount, Exodus 34:29,30.

So in this event we discover another fulfillment of Moses in Jesus. We recall that Hebrew 1:3 Christ is called the “brightness of the glory of God;” and here we see the expression of that happening for Peter, James and John.

Another change was in of his clothing as they were “white as the light,” or as Mark puts it, “white as snow, so as no fuller on earth could whiten them.”

The word “fuller” means, commonly, one who dresses cloth, or “fulls it,” making it more thick and strong or one who bleaches cloth to makes it white – like a dry cleaner of that day. Among the Greeks, that was a distinct trade.

Many people have suggested that this was God showing Peter James and John what Jesus looked like before coming to earth but I maintain that this is pure conjecture.

The Word of God made a human being with the name Jesus on earth had glory with the Father before the world was – to be sure – this was merely a change in His earthly APPEARANCE not a revelation of who or what he looked like in His pre-incarnate state.

Interestingly enough and outside of these Gospel accounts, both John (in His Gospel 1:14) and Peter (in 2nd Peter 1:16-17.) speak of the transfiguration too with John writing

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

And Peter saying:

2nd Peter 1:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

So while Jesus prayed he was transfigured and apparently, while Peter and the boys slept a couple of men from the past appeared (verse 30-32)

30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
32 But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.

So, it seems like Peter and the other awoke to this scene before them.
We often hear of Jesus coming and fulfilling the Law and the Prophets.

It appears, to me at least, that this is what Moses and Elijah represented coming from heaven to the Lord.

Moses was of course a type and figure of Christ Himself and was the one who gave the COI the Law written in stone.

We recall the verses:

For the Law was given to Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

He was long a type of the promised Messiah and it was wholly appropriate as he was the one who did so many things that typed Christ, to appear.

Elijah was also the prophet of prophets, who, according to 2nd kings 2:11 was taken up in a whirlwind and escaped tasting death.

In essence, both represented the Law and the Prophets. I cannot help but wonder why David was not there? But since there are no real answers to this I mention it only as a means to generate thought.

What were they doing? Luke tells us that they were talking with Jesus the Lord.
Talking about what? Luke says they talked about “his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.”

What they had to say to Jesus about His death fascinates me, but we are not given any details.

Finally, it is interesting to me that Peter and the others appear to have fallen asleep while Jesus was praying – something they will repeat in the garden of Gethsemane.

And looking at Matthews account they both woke in when Jesus was in the midst of being transfigured AND after Moses and Elijah appeared (the glowing light perhaps woke them up or maybe the conversation that they were having with each other).

But I want to know how Peter knew that this was Moses and Elijah as Matthews account has him refer to them by name, saying:

4 Then said Peter unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

What was Peter proposing to these men and this scene? How did he know their names?
What was the result – did he actually make them three tabernacles?

All this – and more – when we continue next week, HERE . . . on our verse by verse study of Luke.

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