Presumption

From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You."  But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."

Matthew   16:21-22 NASB

This must have been a bad day for Peter!  He was rebuked by the Son of God for somehow releasing satanic counsel.  A very bad day! 

As we look into this story we find Jesus sharing with His disciples how He must die. Upon hearing this, Peter decides to take Jesus aside and assure Him that what He has said will not happen.  Directly after sharing this, Jesus speaks to Satan (somehow coming through Peter) and rebukes Him.  

The word presumption means “an assumption, often not fully established, that is taken for granted in some piece of reasoning.”

I believe that what Peter was doing was operating out of presumption. The word presumption means “an assumption, often not fully established, that is taken for granted in some piece of reasoning.”  Its not that Peter was somehow controlled by Satan or a demon while sharing his rebuke with Jesus, but I believe that he was reacting to Jesus’ words based out of some assumptions he had concerning what Christ was going to do while present on the earth.  This was satanic in the sense that it did not involve the purpose of God (redemption).

The Jewish tradition was that when the Messiah comes, He will set up His kingdom to rule and reign, and to do so with the nation of Israel at His side. Obviously, we know today that there is an interval time between the first and second coming of Christ which is not what they understood.  Knowing this, it is easy to see how Peter was filtering what Jesus was said based on the established Jewish doctrine of that day.   When the Lord spoke something that did not fit into what He understood, Peter’s reaction was to rebuke Jesus because death seemed so far out from what the will of God should be.

As Jesus spoke to His disciples He was speaking out of the big picture which was in the Fathers heart – man redeemed. The disciples had not heard this before, nor did they have any frame of reference for what Jesus was saying.  All they could do was ask the Lord to further explain and clarify to them what He meant so they could align themselves with the plan of God. This would take great trust to stray from what they thought or had been told.

If we are not careful we will end up speaking on behalf of the Lord to others, giving them advice or counsel that is opposite of the will of God.  

The bottom line is that Jesus was speaking and living out of an eternal perspective which would bring eternal results. Peter was operating out of a temporal perspective which would only bring temporary results. What we think should happen isn’t always (if at all) the case in God’s overall picture. If we are not careful we will end up speaking on behalf of the Lord to others, giving them advice or counsel that is opposite of the will of God.  

Presumption carries the interests of man, or the interests of this life which are often, if not always, in direct opposition to the plan and will of God. 

I can remember times where I took it upon myself to give conclusive advice to someone as though that is what God would have wanted. Maybe I was not as strong as Peter, but to the person I spoke to, I am sure it was all the same. I realize now how presumption can lead us to say things we should never say, to think things that are not full of truth and ultimately to do things that may need undoing. Presumption carries the interests of man, or the interests of this life which are often, if not always, in direct opposition to the plan and will of God. The last thing any Christian should want to do is get in the way of what God is doing, even if it doesn’t look like what we think it should. 

The caution for us, then, is to live in a way where we handle the Scriptures with integrity and determine to live a life of sensitivity to the direction of the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us that the Spirit is here to “lead” us into all truth. It is important that we do not lead ourselves into what we think is true, but rather that we allow the Holy Spirit to lead as we patiently study the Scriptures and call on the Lord for His leading through prayer.

We are the representatives of the Lord Jesus, and as such it is our responsibility to represent Him as accurately as we can. This may mean we are not able to speak about some issues. This may also mean we need to speak up about things that are clear from God’s perspective. Either way, we must allow our opinions and views to be shaped by the Scriptures and the leading of the Spirit or we will inevitably have presumptuous moments that we will regret. My call to you today is to represent your King in a way that reveals His heart and purposes – not our own. May God grant us the wisdom and knowledge to share with people who desperately need to know Who God is and what He is like.

Bless you,

Ben Dixon

Ignite Global Ministries, director 

ben@igniteglobalministries.org