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27 Then Peter answered and said to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?" 28 So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first." ~ Matthew 19:27-30
Today, we conclude our study of Matthew 19 where the Lord Jesus had just told the Rich Young Ruler to give away all of his possessions and come and follow Him. To that the Rich Young Ruler went away sad. He walked away as his understanding of the Lord Jesus jerked him in the wrong direction. And, that which blunted his view of the Lord Jesus was his wealth. If God is not bigger in our lives than anything else, He will appear small in certain areas of our lives. Until the Holy Spirit has broken us of our puny view of God, we will lack the power to rise above the powers of this world.
In v.27 of today's passage we read, "Then Peter answered and said to Him, 'See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?'"
When we see the Lord Jesus for who He is, it will be then that we will lose sight of those things that keep us from realizing His call. It took the death of my mom when I was five years old and the death of my dad when I was seventeen for me to get to this place. And, the moment I saw it, I was set on a course to discover new appetites and new aims. Don't get me wrong, I did not stop sinning, but once I was born again a new course was set in my life. This new course was a tremendous gift whereby my spirit was made alive to God.
Peter and the other disciples had left everything in order to follow the Lord Jesus. And, even though they had been changed, they still lived out of the type of theology that needed changing. We are no different than they. At this point the disciples were living out of what they left rather than what was before them. They had just heard the conversation the Lord Jesus had with the Rich Young Ruler, and out of their response through Peter, they proved they were not fully aware of the gift given them. As in the disciples lives, God's goal in our lives is not our perfection, this will never happen this side of heaven. God's goal in our lives is to increase our trust in Him.
Trust is essential in any relationship where love increases. Trust is feeling safe when vulnerable. It is only in the realm of vulnerability that we grow in our trust of anyone. This is why the Lord tells us to rejoice in our trials for it is through our trials that the goodness of God can be seen. If we try to avoid our trials by holding on to the control of our lives, like the rich young ruler, we will end up walking away from Him.
Peter and the disciples were so saturated in the culture of this world. The evidence was they thought they were earning their greatness which is never earned, it is realized as we learn to say "no" to self and to say "yes" to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is a posture, not a right. To experience the life the Lord Jesus died to give us, we will have invested in that which causes us to die to self.
In v.28-29 of today's passage we read, "28 So Jesus said to them, 'Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.'"
The Lord Jesus strategically reminded the disciples that they had gained a personal relationship with God whom they had not previously known. And, they were given it before they started following Him. When believers in Christ focus on leaving our old lives and we do not focus on the life the Lord is giving us, we miss the point of our calling. The point is that we are now following and being defined by God. The point is that we are being delivered from this world's way of living and we are experiencing eternal life now. When we learn to live according to His culture, we will increasingly recognize that our possessions were given to us not for our benefit alone. Our possessions were given to us in order to advance His kingdom in the hearts of others. The disciples had walked away from their families while the young ruler walked away from the Lord Jesus.
In v.30 of today's passage we read, "But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
This phrase "first will be last and the last first" screams to us that it does not matter who we are in this world or what we have done, eternal life is for those who believe that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus gained us a personal relationship with God. The Lord Jesus chose the weak things of this world to bring about His purposes in this world.
This phrase also refers to those who will reign in the millennium with the Lord Jesus. We endure in the faith because we belong to the Lord Jesus. We endure because we are His. And, in the end, when all history is done, we will rule and reign with the Lord Jesus in His enduring kingdom. And, the extent of our rule in the coming age will be a reward in proportion to our faithful service here in this world now.
