PART 2: THE DIVINE PATTERN OF LOSING YOUR LIFE

Jesus on the cross

Having looked at Part 1, "Identify the Battle," let us now address the elephant in the room: the big question that was left unanswered. When I look at Matthew 16:24-25, I realize that Jesus spoke those words in direct response to Peter’s rebuke, attempting to stop Him from dying on the cross. In Peter's mind, it was not fitting for the long-awaited Messiah to die without rescuing them from the Roman Empire. Peter, just like any Jew of that time, expected the coming Messiah to fight for them and deliver them from their earthly enemies. When he heard Jesus talking about suffering and dying, he tried to stop Him. Jesus immediately rebuked him, recognizing the voice of Satan. Peter did not yet fully grasp what Jesus later told Pilate: "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders" (John 18:36).

It is interesting how Satan can weaponize someone’s great longing, desire, conviction, and common beliefs about future expectations against the plans God has for their life. Imagine if Jesus had obeyed Satan—speaking through Peter—and chosen to become an earthly hero for them. He still would have died eventually, but for what purpose? Would we have salvation as we know it today? What about all the prophecies pointing to Him as the Messiah who would take away the sins of mankind? Obviously, He would have been no different from the first Adam, and humanity would have perished. As Romans 5:19 reminds us: "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." The Bible tells us that at the very end of time, just when the Father's patience with this world was complete, Jesus came to die for us:

"But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.' So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has also made you an heir." (Galatians 4:4-7)

Salvation is a beautiful love letter to mankind, sent by the Father and delivered through the obedience of Jesus. Either way, Jesus was still going to die; Satan was merely trying to steal the eternal meaning behind His death by using Peter.

Therefore, when Jesus said in Matthew 16:25-27, "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done," I believe He was not only emphasizing the meaning behind His own death, but also introducing to us the new way of living as a Christian. Jesus came to tell us that gaining everything before death is not the end; rather, death is not the end at all—it is the beginning of a real, fulfilled eternal life. He came to introduce a divine pattern: in God's kingdom, everything must start from the end in order to truly begin. As the Apostle Paul later embraced this pattern, writing: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21).

In Matthew 16:27, Jesus speaks of coming back to earth in glory as the Judge and Rewarder of both the good and the evil. He knew exactly where He was going after death and what He would do in His next world. That knowledge is what kept Him grounded, enabling Him to become obedient to the point of death, because death was the beginning of a new everything for both Him and for all of us today. He wants us to live like Him every day in our walk with Him as time draws closer to the end. Should that scare us? No. Instead, He wants us to be excited in the process, just as He excitedly spoke about His own glory after His resurrection. We, too, should start focusing on the glory that will be revealed when He comes back to judge the world. The Bible says: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).

We can still work, dream, and achieve glory here on earth by the grace of God, but the glory that is coming cannot be compared to anything we can achieve in this world today. A city of gold, mansions, prizes, inheritances, and a glorious heavenly banquet are being prepared for you and me today in our Father's kingdom. As Jesus promised: "My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?" (John 14:2). That is why He does not want us to miss it by living to gain everything in the world and satisfy all the desires of our flesh.

He continuously calls us to take up our crosses daily, die to ourselves, and remain obedient to Him and His Word by following the leading of the Holy Spirit. We must fix our eyes not on what we can temporarily achieve in this world—which would only lay waste to our souls—but on the glory that is to come. This is the mental shift He wants us to make regarding the Christian life: to live a life of obedience, seeing death and suffering as the beginning of our glorious days ahead, and continuously holding onto His promises regarding our positions in our Father's kingdom. We are called to "Set [our] minds on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:2), looking unto Jesus, "the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).

May God bless His Word in you, in Christ Jesus. Amen.