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31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” 34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about. ~ Luke 18:31-34
The disciples had just proclaimed how they had left all to follow the Lord Jesus, but this must not be the focus of our lives. On His way to Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus made three specific references to His death which are recorded in Matthew and Mark and Luke. In Luke, the first one was in Luke 9:21-22, the second in Luke 9:44-45, and this is the third one in Luke 18:31-34. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ must be our primary focus because it must define us on a day by day basis. Otherwise, we will be defined by the lesser, and we will lack.
In v.31 we read, "Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled." Only days from today's text will the Lord Jesus enter Jerusalem, and a week after that He will die a cruel death on the cross.
The Old Testament contains well over 100 prophecies about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of these Messianic prophecies deal with His death even though they were written by several different men over many years.
In v.32-33 we read, "32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again."
To the Jews, the idea of a crucified Messiah was crazy and blasphemous. In fact, it was a massive barrier they couldn't get beyond. They were convinced the Messiah could not come to earth in order to die. They did not understand the fallenness of mankind. They didn't understand our separation from God. They didn't understand that the Messiah must be judged by God on mankind's behalf. They still don't understand it to this day.
On the road to Emmaus, according to Luke 24:25-27, the Lord Jesus said to the two men, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." He is the focal point of all the scriptures!
Then in Luke 24:31 we read, "And their eyes were opened." Then in Luke 24:44 we read, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me and the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."
Genesis 3 records how Adam sinned against God, and Romans 5 reminds us that the punishment he brought upon the entire human race was death, since we are all descendants of Adam. And, according to Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
God, in His patience, gave mankind a chance by a system of sacrificing an animal without blemish on behalf of the people and through the death of the animal mankind could be forgiven by God. Once a year the high priest would enter the Holiest of Holies, carrying the blood of the sacrifice, and he would obtain atonement for the people. According to Leviticus 17:11 and Hebrews 9:22 through the spilling of the blood of an innocent sacrifice, the debt of sin was paid.
The blood of animals, though, couldn’t take away the root cause of the problem, the sin in human nature. After their sins were forgiven, the people continued to sin, meaning that they had to come back and sacrifice again and again, year after year. According to Hebrews 10, not even the high priest could help them; he himself was a sinner, and the sacrifice was for him just as much as it was for the people.
Enter the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. God delivered over His Son to crucifixion in order to defeat sin once and for all and unite mankind with Christ. God did the excruciating part, delivering His Son at great cost to Himself. God is for us, and He has proven this by sending His Son.
In v.34 we read, "The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about."
The reason the disciples did not understand was due to the fact they were not quite there in order to understand it. Yet, as they went through the chaos and the confusion that followed, they came out on the other end with such great understanding that they all ended up dying for this gospel, this good news of God's redemption of man. I know, John died of natural causes. But, make no mistake, he died for the gospel.
Finally, the chaos and confusion were necessary for any disciple to understand the gospel. The darkest of moments are useful because these moments frame up God's goodness for us. They reveal to us God's heart, if we let them. And, out of this framing up we are granted understanding. And, it was at the cross that understanding won the day. The cross hairs of the cross of the Lord Jesus grant clarity to us on a day by day basis. We never leave the teaching of the cross, otherwise we give our existence to chaos and confusion.
