In verse 33 the Lord said specifically that Peter was not setting his mind on the things of God, but on the things of men. This is a matter of the evil reasonings mentioned in 7:21. Man’s corrupted heart is filled with evil reasonings. Here the Lord Jesus seems to be telling Peter, “Peter, there are evil reasonings in your heart. In particular, you have evil reasonings within you concerning My word about My being put to death. First you reason, and then you rebuke Me. This reasoning indicates that your mind has been set on the things of fallen man, not on the things of God.”
The Lord’s word here reminds us of Paul’s word concerning the mind in Romans 8:6: “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” No doubt, at this juncture Peter set his mind on the flesh. When he was reasoning concerning Christ’s sufferings and death, he was setting his mind on the flesh.
Verse 34 says, “And calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, He said to them, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” To come after the Lord is to have Him, to experience Him, to enjoy Him, and to partake of Him. If we want to gain the Lord in this way, experiencing Him, enjoying Him, and partaking of Him, we must deny ourselves. If we remain instead of denying ourselves, the Lord is gone. If we would have the Lord, then we must go, we must deny ourselves.
In a previous message on the Lord’s exposing the condition of our heart, I pointed out that at the end of chapter seven we do not have the solution to man’s inward condition. Here in chapter eight we have the solution. The solution is that, as a fallen person with an evil heart, we must have Christ. We must follow Him, partake of Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him. Then He Himself will be the “medicine” to heal our evil heart. Therefore, the solution to the condition of our evil heart is Christ Himself.
In chapter eight of Mark we have a revelation not only concerning the wonderful Person of Christ, but also concerning His marvelous death. In His death we are crucified, terminated, annulled. Hence, when we come to partake of Him, we need to deny ourselves; that is, we need to put ourselves aside and forget ourselves.
Actually, the Lord’s word here concerning His death requires all the Epistles written by the Apostle Paul for its definition. If we do not have an adequate understanding of the Epistles of Paul, we shall not be able to understand thoroughly the Lord’s word in 8:34-37. According to the revelation regarding Christ’s death in Paul’s Epistles, Christ went through the process of death for God and for us. His all-inclusive death dealt with sins, our sinful nature, the self, our flesh, the old creation, the Devil, the world, and all the ordinances. Through the all-inclusive death of Christ, we have been terminated. Now if we would enjoy Christ and partake of Him, we need to realize that we have already been terminated. Based upon the fact that we have been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20), we should deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow the Lord.