The Cross – Then the Crown

Transcript

GR 702
3/3/1985
The Cross Then the Crown
Matthew 16:21-28
Gil Rugh


Matthew 16:21-28 is a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. Matthew has been building to this point for a number of chapters. In Matthew 16 the emphasis in Jesus’ ministry changed from the kingdom He will establish for Israel to the sufferings and death He would experience at Jerusalem. Jesus began preparing His disciples for that coming time at Jerusalem.
In Matthew 16:13-20, Christ gave some clear revelation concerning His own person and the plan of God that will be carried out both before the kingdom is established and then in the kingdom. After clearly establishing the fact that He is the Son of the living God, Christ moved on to tell His disciples that He is going to build the Church. He made clear to them that the Church does not replace the kingdom, but the kingdom will follow the Church. Then He focused their attention on the events which will transpire next. The thrust of the remaining verses of Matthew 16 is on the place of suffering in the ministry of Christ and in the life of the believer.
One of my hobbies is collecting old leather-bound books. On one of our travels I picked up The Complete Works of William Penn published in the mid-1700’s. One of the chapters in that book is entitled, “The Cross Before the Crown.” That summarizes very concisely what the theme of this section is. Before Jesus Christ receives His crown of glory and rules and reigns on the earth, He must endure the cross. Then Christ points out that this establishes a pattern that is to be realized in the lives of His followers. Before we experience the glory that is ours as the sons of God, we must endure suffering because of our association with the Son of God. That is a divine necessity established in the purposes and plans of God for Jesus Christ as well as for all those who will be followers of Him.
Matthew 16:21-28 is divided into two major areas. The first section again focuses on Peter and the confusion he is experiencing. Then Christ will give an explanation as He applies this section to all believers.
Matthew points out the transition in Matthew 16:21: “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.” The introductory words, “from that time,” mark a major turning point in the ministry of Christ. This expression is used one other time in Matthew’s Gospel.
The baptism of Christ is recorded in Matthew 3 and marked the beginning of His public ministry. Then immediately following His baptism, Christ was taken out into a desolate place and tempted by the Devil for forty days and forty nights. Following the temptation in the wilderness He embarked upon His public ministry. This significant phrase is recorded in Matthew 4:17: “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” The expression “from that time” in Matthew 4 is the occasion of the beginning of Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom and offering it to Israel. That subject continues until the change in the emphasis and direction of Jesus’ ministry is indicated in Matthew 16:21. Matthew 16:20 also reflected that a change occurred as Jesus gave new instructions to His disciples: “Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.” The message was no longer to be, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17). Israel had rejected the kingdom and their time of opportunity had passed. Now Jesus’ direction was set for Jerusalem and in a few short months He would be executed there.

The word translated “must” in Matthew 16:21 denotes a divine necessity in the plan of God that Jesus Christ go to Jerusalem. He must fulfill Old Testament Scriptures such as Isaiah 52 where it was prophesied He would suffer until His appearance was marred more than any man. The Old Testament also prophesied that He would be killed as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and that He would be raised in glory and victory three days later.
Christ further indicated that when He goes to Jerusalem, the capital of the nation, He will “suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes” (Matt. 16:21). It is interesting that these are the three groups which made up the Sanhedrin, the governing body of Israel. The elders were the respected men of the nation. The chief priests were comprised of the Sadducees. The scribes were the party of the Pharisees. So Jesus indicated that the three major groups in Israel, which comprised the ruling body known as the Sanhedrin, would lead the way in bringing about His suffering and death.
Jesus said that three things were going to happen. He would suffer, He would be killed and He would be raised up on the third day. Jesus began to teach His disciples about this and would continue over the coming months, but they would not understand it. In fact, it would not be until after the resurrection that they would understand how this all fit together in the plan of God.
The events of Luke 24 occurred after the resurrection of Christ. Two of the disciples were on the road to Emmaus where Christ met them without their recognizing Him. They were prevented from perceiving who He was, so they walked along with Him in conversation as He asked them about the events that had transpired culminating in His crucifixion. The disciples, without knowing who He was, spoke to Him of their hope. “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened” (Luke 24:21). As they walked along together and continued in conversation, they told Him about the women finding the tomb empty when they went there early in the morning. Even though He had talked with them before His crucifixion about His resurrection, the fact that His body was missing was very confusing to them. They did not know what to believe.
Luke continued the account: “And He said to them, ‘O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?’” (Luke 24:25,26). He told them that they were foolish and slow to accept what the Scripture said. Then He began to unfold to them the truth of the Old Testament Scriptures which is also the theme of the closing section of Matthew 16 that it was necessary for Christ to suffer these things and then to enter into His glory. All along He had been making the point to them that suffering and death precede the glory that will be His and the necessity of this to be true in the plan of God in accomplishing redemption. This is what the Old Testament had prophesied, but the disciples did not understand it, and they did not understand it until the time of His resurrection.
Christ alluded to His coming death by His reference to the sign of Jonah the prophet. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.
Jesus began to put all the pieces together for His disciples. He told them that they are going to Jerusalem where He will suffer, be killed and be resurrected. Matthew 16:22 records Peter’s response: “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’” Peter, who just previous to this event had made a tremendous statement of insight regarding his understanding of who Jesus Christ is, responded by taking Jesus aside, just as you might pull someone from a group to straighten him out, and rebuking Him. Can you believe that the man who just a few minutes before had acknowledged Jesus Christ to be the Son of the living God is now taking Him aside privately to rebuke Him? Peter’s inconsistency is amazing.

The understanding Peter displayed previously in Matthew 16:16 when he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” was probably the high point of Peter’s life. With the exception of his denial of Christ in Matthew 26, this event was probably the low point of his life as Peter was at his worst trying to rebuke Jesus Christ and stand in the way of His accomplishing the eternal plan of God. Peter could not accept the idea that the Messiah should suffer and die. He was still looking for the dimension of the Messiah’s ruling and reigning as the glorious deliverer of Israel, so that was where his attention was fixed.
The response of Christ in this situation is as harsh and strong as anything recorded in the Bible. “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’” (Matt. 16:23). After Peter’s recognition of Christ’s identity, Jesus had said, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (v. 17). But after Peter’s response to Christ’s prophecy, Jesus said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (v. 23). Jesus told Peter that he was a stumbling block to Him because he did not have his mind set on the interests of God, but on the interests of men. Christ recognized that Peter was being used as an instrument in the hands of Satan to attempt to frustrate the plan of God. By telling Christ that such a thing will never happen to Him, Peter was being used by Satan as an enticement for Christ. Peter was excited about the possibility of glory with Christ and reigning with Him, but he was not willing to accept the reality of Christ’s suffering and the cross.
Satan tried to do this very thing at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as he tempted Christ in the wilderness: “Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, ‘All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me’” (Matt. 4:8,9). Satan told Christ that He could have all of the glory associated with ruling the kingdoms of the world without going to the cross and suffering if He was willing to bow down to Satan.
Peter was being used as a tool in the hand of Satan by telling Christ that He was not going to the cross. He was glad to acknowledge Christ to be the Son of God and to admit as well that He will reign in glory, but Peter was not willing to acknowledge that He was going to the cross. First, Peter was used greatly by God in making such a bold statement about the person of Christ. Then he went from that point to rock bottom by being a tool in the hand of Satan to attempt to frustrate the eternal plan of God.
It is often after our greatest spiritual victories that we are most vulnerable to our greatest defeats. As we bask in the glory of that moment, we are caught off guard and Satan uses us to be detrimental to the plans and purposes of God. We must be careful that we do not hold Peter up as an exceptional negative example, but consideration of this situation gives insight into how Satan works. The more God uses a person for His glory, the more Satan has to gain by using that individual. We must be on our guard at all times.
Is it any wonder that later Peter would write that it is necessary to be careful about the enemy? “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). Peter knew what he was talking about because he had experienced that himself.
After Peter rebuked the Lord, Jesus 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” (Matt. 16:23). The word translated “stumbling block” comes from the action of baiting a stick in a trap. As the animal comes in and grabs the bait, he is ensnared. The word eventually came to mean that which allures or entices to temptation. Christ was telling Peter that he was being used as bait in a trap for Him, enticing Him to sin. Peter is luring Him away from His suffering on the cross. In this temptation Christ was truly a human being. He did not look forward to the terrible suffering and agony He would have to experience on the cross. Humanly speaking, that was something He shied away from. Peter was providing an opportunity for Him to be tempted by telling Him that the suffering and the cross were not necessary.
Notice how Christ dealt with temptation: He put His foot down immediately and smothered it. Christ did not stop and allow Himself to contemplate how much pleasure He could experience if He could have the kingdom and bypass the sufferings of the cross. He immediately dealt with the temptation. We often get into trouble with temptation because we roll it over in our minds, we think about the pleasure the sin would afford and allow ourselves to pause and ponder about it. Yes, it would be nice; yes, I would enjoy it. As we stop and think in that way, we are being lured into the trap. Instead, we must deal with the temptation.
If the Son of God Himself had to deal with temptation like that, much more so do we. To fail to do so is to act contrary to the plans of God as revealed in the Word. There is nothing to contemplate when temptation arises. It is a trap of Satan and must be stopped immediately. That was how Christ dealt with the temptation of Peter in this incident. Peter was seeing things from a human perspective. His problem was in setting his mind on man’s interests not on God’s.
We usually want to do all we can to avoid suffering, difficulty and the unpleasantness of hardship and heartache. But from God’s perspective, suffering and hardship are part of His plan in carrying believers to glory. Peter did not understand that it was part of the eternal plan of God that the Messiah suffer and die on a cross so that He could bring the greatest victory: redemption for Peter and all like him who believe in the Messiah.
Peter made a terrible mistake here. He sinned grievously against Jesus Christ by allowing himself to be a tool of Satan. He may not have understood completely what was going on, but he understood enough. He recognized that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. All he had to concern himself with was submitting himself to Him and obeying His word. There is no place for rebuking and resisting Jesus Christ.
After allowing himself to be an instrument in the hands of Satan by attempting to keep Christ from the cross, could Peter ever be useful to God again? It is a testimony to the grace of God and to Peter that he submitted himself to the Spirit of God and made a remarkable change. No one was stronger in proclaiming the place of the cross than Peter was in his subsequent ministry as recorded in Acts 2. Incidentally, Peter’s failure here makes it clear that the Church could not be founded on him. Peter was a human being. He was probably one of the greatest of the apostles, but he had his inconsistencies. The Church had to be founded on the rock, Jesus Christ, the One who is firm, consistent and stable, the same yesterday, today and forever.
It is amazing that Peter, the one who tried to keep Christ from the cross, was the very one God used to proclaim the importance of the cross to the nation Israel in Acts 2. It is amazing that God would take Peter, the one who said there would never be a cross, and use him to announce to Israel why there was a cross and what was accomplished by it. “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power” (Acts 2:22-24). Peter said that Jesus Christ was turned over to be crucified because of the eternal plan of God. In this statement the difference in his perspective is evident. Peter is preaching the very thing that Jesus referred to in Matthew 16:21 which Peter said would never happen. In Acts he is the instrument God used to reveal to Israel why it had to happen. Peter continued in Acts to quote from the Old Testament showing how this is exactly what God had said must happen to the Messiah. What a change!
Peter was preaching again in Acts 3: “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses” (vv. 14,15). He continued in Acts 3:18: “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.” Peter says that the message of the prophets is just what Christ said, it is the plan of God being fulfilled in the suffering, death and resurrection of the Messiah.
As the record continues from Matthew 16:24 to the end of the chapter, Jesus will take this truth concerning His own suffering, then turn it around and apply it to all those who are His followers. Peter grasped that truth not just as it applied to Christ, but he applied it to himself and all those who would become followers of Christ. Peter wrote in his first epistle: “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an
example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Pet. 2:21-24). Peter understood very clearly the purposes and plans of God. When Christ died on the cross, He was bearing our sins in His body. That was God’s plan so we could be forgiven and cleansed. Peter stated that this pattern of willingness to suffer for righteousness was set down by Christ. Peter grasped that truth and became a preacher of the very truth he had denied in Matthew 16.
The principle in Matthew’s Gospel is very simple: for the Messiah, the order is first the cross, then the crown. For the believer, it is suffering first, then glory. Believers will not have a cross as Christ had. He was the God-Man who died redemptively to bear our sins in His body on the cross. It is by believing in Him alone that one has forgiveness, but the pattern is the same for me as it was for Him. Just as Christ had to go through the suffering and agony of the cross, so the followers of Jesus Christ are called to suffer in identification with Him. Just as His suffering was followed by victory and glory, so our suffering as believers will be followed by the same. Christ began to turn the attention of Peter and the disciples to see things from God’s perspective rather than from mans.
Jesus listed three things required of all those who will come after Him: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). It is important that those who will be followers of Christ recognize what is involved. Each of the three requirements is significant.
To “deny himself” means to say no to self, to renounce yourself. This is talking about the old self apart from the grace of God that makes a person a new creature in Christ. The one who is going to follow Christ must quit depending upon himself, his abilities, his good works. He must turn from a dependence upon himself to dependence upon Jesus Christ. He must recognize his own unworthiness and inadequacy, rather than trying to trust himself and his works, he must say no to himself and cast himself upon Christ.
The second requirement, “take up his cross,” refers to the cross of suffering a believer endures because of identification with Jesus Christ. We can expect to have difficulties and trials because we belong to Him. Sufferings and trials will come our way because Satan opposes us. As seen in the Book of Job, Satan will attempt to afflict us. We see the same pattern with the thorn in the flesh which Paul endured. We can expect to experience rejection and suffering at the hands of the people of the world who are unwilling to believe in the Savior we present.
Crucifixion was practiced widely by the Romans. It was always done publicly to instill fear in the people. Part of the punishment in crucifixion was for the person to carry his own cross to the place of his crucifixion. As he walked through the streets dragging his cross, the humiliation of having to bear that instrument upon which he would be executed would serve to instill fear in the hearts of the people and deter them from committing crimes worthy of crucifixion.
Bearing the cross is related to bearing reproach. “They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha” (John 19:17). Hebrews 13:13 says, “So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” Criminals were crucified outside the city. Therefore, we are to go forth as He did, bearing the reproach of being identified with Him. We must bear the suffering that comes to us because we are identified with Jesus Christ.
The verbs in the first two of the three requirements in Matthew 24, “deny” and “take up, ” are in the aorist tense, referring to a point in time. The third requirement, “follow Me,” is in the present tense. In contrast to denoting something that happened at a point in time, the present tense denotes something which goes on continually. At a point in time you deny yourself and take up your cross, then you begin a life-long process of following Jesus Christ. This picture seems to be of conversion. When a person trusts Christ, he is to deny himself-stop trusting himself or say no to himself-and place his faith in Christ. At that point in time he is identified with Jesus Christ and given a new life. He then picks up the cross of identification with Christ which will bring suffering, trials and humiliation as a follower of Christ. That begins a life of daily following Him.
Jesus made a statement listing the requirements of following Him in Matthew 16:24. Then each of the next three verses begins with the word “for. ” These points all support what He has said about denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Him. Why would anyone want to deny himself, take up his cross and follow Christ? I like myself; I like to give in to myself and to indulge myself. Why should I say no to myself and quit trusting myself when my life has been built around myself and on my accomplishments? Why should I take up a cross and be willing to follow Christ and endure all the suffering that entails?

Jesus explains why this is the only rational, logical thing for a person to do. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:25). This is saying that one who is so concerned about his physical life that he denies Christ really loses his life. But the one who places his trust in Christ and is identified with Him, the one who may even lose his physical life, really finds life, because in Christ is life which is eternal. That life is found only in Him. The concept of life should not be restricted to physical life. To some people physical life and physical pleasure are so important that they feel they cannot give them up. If you have been a believer very long, you have probably talked to people who are hesitant about trusting Christ for fear that their family may disown them, they may be disinherited, and they may lose their jobs or be cut off from friends. They have weighed the costs and have decided that this life is more important to them than Jesus Christ. They have decided not to say no to themselves and trust Christ. By making that decision they lose life in the fullest sense. They lose life with a meaning that only God can bring to this life, and they also lose life in the eternal dimension because it is found only in Jesus Christ.
If you are considering the commands of Christ and the choice of following Him, you need to weigh it from a true perspective. If you reject Christ because you do not want to suffer, to be persecuted or to give your life in suffering for Him, you must understand that you have lost life in the fullest sense and in the only sense that really matters-eternal life.
Jesus draws attention to this great loss in Matthew 16:26: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” The same word is translated “life” in verse 25 and “soul” in verse 26. It is simply changed in the translation to give a different emphasis. What does a man profit if he gains the whole world and loses his own life? The focal point is on physical life, but it carries over to the eternal dimension. That idea is contained in the word “soul.” If you hold on to your present physical life at all costs, you have lost life in its eternal dimension.
What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own life? Suppose someone walked up to me and told me he would give me five million dollars if I would let him kill me. Even though I may have always wanted to be a millionaire, I would not tell him to go ahead and kill me. Nobody would be that dumb, because what does a man profit if he gains the whole world and loses his life? That is the point Jesus is making. After a person dies, the question is often asked, How much did he leave at his death? He left everything! That is the point. What does it profit if the man was a billionaire or if he had only four dollars and thirty cents when he died? He left it all here.

What can you give in exchange for your life? No matter what you may have had or how hard you may have worked for it, if the doctor told you tomorrow that you would be dead next week at this time, it would cause you to think. You may offer him everything you have if he can provide you a cure. Even if you had very much, it would do you no good next week if you were dead.
That is the point Jesus is making, a point that is so simple. What has a man profited if he gains everything in this life and holds on to it at the cost of eternal life? What does he really have in the end? Nothing. We must see life in the true dimension as God sees it. But we are often short-sighted.
When Christ says that in order to follow Him, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him, your first reaction is that this is a bad deal. But let me encourage you to stop and think about it for a while. You should weigh it very carefully. If you reject Christ because of the pleasures and enjoyments of this life, you have given up life in its only meaningful sense.
Lest one fails to understand that, Jesus moves on in His discussion in Matthew 16:27: “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.” When weighing the cost of things in this life, it must all be put in a final perspective. One day everyone is going to stand before Christ, the Judge. He will recompense each one according to his works. This does not mean that a person will go to heaven on the basis of what he does, because Scripture says that by the works of the flesh no one can become righteous before God.
One day Jesus will come in glorious splendor and invite into His kingdom all who have believed in Him to enjoy the glory of life in His presence for eternity. At that coming He will also sift out from those in His kingdom the ones who decided it was too costly to follow Him. When you look at it in that perspective and put it on the scale He uses, can you imagine that there are multitudes of millions of people today who have determined that it is too costly to follow Jesus Christ? Can you believe that they have decided not to deny themselves and suffer hardships for Christ, possibly losing their friends, families, and jobs while forfeiting eternal life? They really have not considered what they have lost.
When I believed in Jesus Christ as my Savior, I did not lose anything. No one who has believed in Him has ever lost anything-not even the one who has suffered the most horrible torture as a martyr for Jesus Christ and died at an early age. Instead of losing something, he has experienced a tremendous gain because of the glory that is ahead.
In this section of Matthew 16 where Christ is talking about the cost of following Him, keep in mind that this is based upon Matthew 16:21-23 where God’s pattern and plan for the Messiah is first suffering and agony followed by glory. Keep in mind also that the plan for us as believers is the same. God intends that we be identified with Him in suffering, not because He enjoys seeing His children suffer, but because it is part of His plan in preparing us for the coming glory of His presence.
In order to put this concept in proper perspective, He concludes by saying, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt. 16:28). Jesus is telling His disciples that some of them, but not all of them, will see the Son of Man with the glory that will be His when He comes to establish His kingdom. That is a reminder that the glory is coming.
Jesus’ statement in Matthew 16:28 will be fulfilled in Matthew 17 at the Transfiguration. The glory is coming! So we must see things from God’s perspective. While undergoing suffering, we sometimes wonder if it is worth it. But then we need to remind ourselves that we are on our way to glory. The suffering is only temporary.
This is just like a person who is going into surgery. The operation itself may be unpleasant, but he must remind himself of how nice it will be when the surgery is finished and the suffering is over. That is what keeps us going as believers. We must continually remind ourselves that God is molding us for glory.
Later Peter will preach in power of the purpose of God in the suffering and death of the Messiah and His subsequent resurrection. He could not see how it all fit together when it happened. The Messiah’s crucifixion was a tragedy that overwhelmed him. How often the same has been true in our lives. While going through difficult times and enduring tremendous pressure, we sometimes tell the Lord we do not see any purpose at all in what He is doing. But in a few months or years, we can look back and see what God was doing all along. He was molding us and shaping us to be the persons He wanted us to be.
We must remind ourselves that God is in control. The difficult circumstances we experience are part of the divine necessity in preparing us for the future. Just as it was necessary for Christ to go to the cross, so it is necessary for us to be identified with Him in suffering so that we are prepared and fitted for the glory that will be ours in His kingdom.
You must face two questions. Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? If you have never recognized yourself as an unworthy sinner and turned from yourself and placed your faith in Jesus Christ alone, that is the point you must come to in identification with Him. You must take up your cross and become a follower of Christ. Quit trusting yourself and place your complete faith in God’s Son who loved you and died for you.
Secondly, if you are already a follower of Christ, do you see things from God’s perspective ? A believer should not order his life with the goal in mind of avoiding difficulty, suffering or hardship at any cost. We must be motivated by our great concern to faithfully follow Him. The suffering may be hard, but we must remember that He is fitting and preparing us for the glory of His presence. The suffering is temporary, but the glory is eternal. No wonder Paul said to the Romans, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). What a destiny!