Luke 13:31 ¶ The same day
there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart
hence: for Herod will kill thee. 32 And
he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I
do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and
to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish
out of Jerusalem. 34 O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee;
how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather
her brood under her wings, and ye would not! 35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate:
and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when
ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
On one level, Christ
reveals the three days of His time in the tomb and preaching in Hell. It is
important to note the use of perfect
and perfected have to do with being
complete and finished, possessing what you need to fulfill your purpose.
2Chronicles 8:16 Now all
the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of
the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected.
Colossians 4:12 Epaphras,
who is one of you, a servant of
Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye
may stand perfect and complete in
all the will of God.
James 1:4 But let patience
have her perfect work,
that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing.
And so, when the work
was done and the man who was also God had paid the price for our sins…
John 19:30 When Jesus
therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished:
and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
On another, more
literal level, He is referring to His ongoing work and that He will arrive in
Jerusalem, to accomplish His mission, in three days. Jerusalem is a place, He
says ironically and with no small bit of sarcasm, that seems to have a monopoly
on killing prophets sent from God.
God’s sarcasm and His
sense of irony is found in several places in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 44:9 ¶ They that
make a graven image are all of
them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see
not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. 10
Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and
the workmen, they are of men:
let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and
they shall be ashamed together. 12 The
smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers,
and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength
faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. 13
The carpenter stretcheth out his
rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh
it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to
the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. 14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the
cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the
forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. 15 Then shall it be
for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth
it, and baketh bread; yea, he
maketh a god, and worshippeth it;
he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. 16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with
part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he
warmeth himself, and saith,
Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17
And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith,
Deliver me; for thou art my
god. 18 They have not known nor
understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot
understand. 19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding
to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon
the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I
fall down to the stock of a tree? 20
He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he
cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
Isaiah 22:18 He will surely
violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the
chariots of thy glory shall be
the shame of thy lord’s house.
2Kings 21:13 And I will
stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of
Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. [Sorry,
fundamentalists, but it okay for a man to wipe a dish.]
It cannot be honestly
denied that God’s hand was in the revolt of the Jews against Rome that ended in
the disastrous siege of Jerusalem by the future emperor, Titus, and the Bar
Kokhba Revolt that led to the Emperor Hadrian’s rooting out of Jewish nationalism
in Judea, the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews and the elimination of
thousands of villages, that ended in the loss of the Jewish homeland and the
greatest Diaspora of Jews throughout the empire and elsewhere.
It is not antisemitic
to explain that the Jews suffered greatly for their rejection of God through
Christ, a fact of history.
1Thessalonians 2:16
Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill
up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
But, God is not done
with the Jews, the first people He created for Himself out of the Gentiles.
Many believe that Revelation, chapter 12, reveals a supernatural deliverance of
the remaining Jews who believe in Christ their Messiah, the Saviour of the
world, from Satan’s final holocaust.
Christ will appear to
them. In the following cross-reference comparison it is clear that the Jews are
being visited at the end of human-centered history.
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.
Revelation 1:7 Behold, he
cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which
pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even
so, Amen.
For remember that it is
God’s own standard that determines this. Remember that Israel is God’s
firstborn as the church is His offspring through Christ (Psalm 22:30).
Exodus 4:22 And thou shalt
say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even
my firstborn:
And that Israel was
also God’s spouse as the church is the bride of Christ (2Corinthians 11:2).
Jeremiah 3:14 Turn, O
backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a
family, and I will bring you to Zion:
God, then, in this
figure of speech, has divorced the nation of Israel.
Jeremiah 3:8 And I saw,
when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put
her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah
feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
But God has a standard
of treatment of a wife who is hated, which means despised, held in contempt,
not loved, as per the Bible definition found in Proverbs 5:12, Amos 5:21, Matthew
6:24, & Luke 16:13. Here, in the following it is the opposite of beloved.
Deuteronomy 21:15 ¶ If a
man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him
children, both the beloved and
the hated; and if the firstborn
son be hers that was hated: 16 Then it
shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that
he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:
17 But he shall acknowledge the son of
the hated for the firstborn, by
giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
At the end of the day
Israel shall be saved.
Romans 11:1 ¶ I say then,
Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the
seed of Abraham, of the tribe
of Benjamin. 2 God hath not cast away
his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how
he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and
digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I
have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there
is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if
it be of works, then is it no
more grace: otherwise work is no more work. 7
What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the
election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded 8 (According as it is written, God hath given
them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should
not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be
made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they
may not see, and bow down their back alway. 11
I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to
provoke them to jealousy. 12 Now if the
fall of them be the riches of
the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much
more their fulness? 13 For I speak to
you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine
office: 14 If by any means I may provoke
to emulation them which are my
flesh, and might save some of them. 15
For if the casting away of them be
the reconciling of the world, what shall
the receiving of them be, but
life from the dead? 16 For if the
firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be
holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken
off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with
them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou
boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken
off, that I might be graffed in. 20
Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by
faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21
For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of
God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue
in his goodness: otherwise thou
also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also,
if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to
graff them in again. 24 For if thou wert
cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to
nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own
olive tree? 25 For I would not,
brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in
your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the
fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is
written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and
shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I
shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but
as touching the election, they are
beloved for the fathers’ sakes. 29 For
the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance. 30 For as ye in
times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their
unbelief: 31 Even so have these also now
not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief,
that he might have mercy upon all.
For now, though, Jesus is giving them warning after warning as the prophets
did before Him.
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