Get behind me, Satan

“Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’” Matthew 16:23
These seem like very harsh words from Jesus – and they are – but they are the truth. Was Jesus calling Peter Satan? No. Was Jesus saying that Peter was possessed by Satan? Can Christians, who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, having made a confession of faith – as Peter did – be possessed by demons as well? No. So what’s going on?
In one breath, Peter declares to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). Jesus in reply tells him that “this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven” (Matt. 16:17). But then in the very next breath, when Jesus started to tell the disciples about His coming crucifixion and subsequent resurrection, Peter began to rebuke Him, saying, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to You!” (Matt. 16:22).
Throughout the Bible we can see Satan’s attempts to prevent God from providing redemption for mankind. Once he had successfully caused Adam and Eve to fall into sin, he made it his primary mission to try to thwart God’s plan to rectify the situation. When God announced that Abraham would be the one through whom the Saviour would come, Satan focused his attack on Abraham and his family. In Egypt, he incited Pharaoh to kill the baby boys of the Israelites, and later to pursue them as they were leaving the country. Later, when God announced that it would be through David that Messiah would come, Satan incited Saul to try to kill him, and in later years there were several occasions where all of the king’s sons except for one were killed (see for example 2 Chr. 22:10-12). When Jesus was born, Herod was incited to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:16-18). Later, the people tried to throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4:28-30). Here, Satan was doing all he could to try to keep Jesus from going to the cross. He didn’t possess Peter, but he did make suggestions to him. Peter expressed those thoughts out of his loyalty for Jesus. But Jesus recognised the true source of those words.