Saturday, April 6, 2019

Luke 18:31-34 comments: first the cross, then the crown


    18:31 ¶  Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. 32  For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: 33  And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. 34  And they understood none of these things:
and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.

Here is a passage that shows that the preaching that insists that the Jews were looking forward to the Cross before Christ is wrong. They have no idea what He is talking about. This is reinforced throughout the gospels.

Mark 9:9  And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. 10  And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean…31  For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. 32 But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

John 20:9  For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

Peter had no previous knowledge or understanding of this prophetic event to come.

Matthew 16:21 ¶  From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. 22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23  But he turned, and said
unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

But, Jesus told them that the things that are about to happen to Him were written of in the books by the Prophets. First, there is the most famous passage in Isaiah 52:13 through 53:12.

Also regard this important prophecy made by Abraham just before a ram is found in a thicket for his sacrifice in place of his own son.

Genesis 22:8  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

The entire Psalm 22, the first verse of which Jesus quoted from the Cross, is a prophecy of Christ. There are many others. Notice this reference in Hosea.

Hosea 6:2  After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

I could go on from the Prophet Moses spoke of in Deuteronomy 18 and referenced in Acts 3 through Job’s acknowledgement in Job 19 that he would see his Redeemer, who is God, in the flesh in the latter days though Job’s own body was consumed away. But, what is clear is that the Jews did not get it, did not understand what was to happen.  As I mentioned in my commentary on Luke 7:19-23 there was some confusion and speculation about two Messiahs and such myths and teachings as ‘The Four Craftsmen,’ but there was no clear teaching on the Messiah to come it appears. Tying together all of the threads of the Old Testament regarding the Jewish Messiah was left up to Christ before His Crucifixion and after His Resurrection as in Luke 24.

It does appear that the Jews of Jesus’s day were looking for a conquering Messiah who would restore Israel’s glory, rather ignoring the Old Testament verses about His suffering for them. Christ’s first and second advent, in their line of reasoning was confused and combined together. They thought the Christ would come as a king first and this is what Satan was trying to accomplish in His temptation of Christ in chapter four, trying to get Jesus to take the crown before the cross and subvert His mission. Here is another verse about His suffering.

Zechariah 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

But from the time of Christ’s birth even to His execution the powers that be even referred to Him as being a king, which in the first place greatly concerned them and in the latter gave them a source of spite at the Jews and mockery. First, Herod the Great.

Matthew 2:1 ¶  Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2  Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. 3  When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4  And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5  And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, 6  And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

Then, at the end, Roman governor Pontius Pilate.

Mark 15:9  But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

The people, at points, wanted to make Jesus king.

John 6:15  When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

Even after His Resurrection His disciples wondered when He would restore Israel’s lost glory.

Acts 1:6  When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

Before, though, Christ assumes the role of a king over a physical kingdom He must suffer for the sins of the world. His disciples did not understand this.

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