![]() ![]() To trade that away is the epitome of foolishness. There is nothing more valuable than a person’s soul. The day of reckoning is coming: “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” (Matthew 16:27). And that person will have lost the only part of himself that lasts forever. ![]() Sooner or later, earthly things will fade away. This is the context of Jesus’ question, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” If a person rejects Jesus and becomes the richest, most powerful person on earth, he has still made a poor decision. Worldly suffering shouldn’t be a deterrent. In other words, one needs to be willing to give up everything in order to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ statement is symbolic of a total, final commitment. To take up one’s cross is a reference to being condemned to die. Just before He asks, “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Jesus says that, in order to truly follow Christ, people must be willing to “deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Instead, Jesus taught that the Messiah would suffer and die at the hands of men. However, Jesus did not speak about conquering with an army or by taking over the government. Jesus’ disciples recognized that He was the One whom the prophets had predicted. Most expected that this Messiah would be a military leader or a king like David or Solomon. The Jewish people had been waiting for a Promised One for many centuries. Rejecting Christ might mean temporary, earthly gains, but it comes at the worst possible price. Jesus then spoke to the crowd and reminded them that there was nothing worth more than one’s own eternal soul. When Peter resisted His teaching, Jesus rebuked him and said, “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns” (verse 23). In the context of His rhetorical question, the Lord was predicting His suffering and death and resurrection (Matthew 16:21). To lose one’s soul is to die without a right relationship with Christ and spend an eternity in the lake of fire. To gain the whole world is to receive all the world has to offer-money, fame, pleasure, power, prestige, etc. In Matthew 16, Jesus asks what good it is for a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul (Matthew 16:26). ![]()
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