THE GOSPEL IN ADVANCE

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on July 21, 2021 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: July 21, 2021 from Luke 18:31-34

Theme: Our Lord’s willingness to sacrifice Himself for us is shown in that He declared in advance what He would do in Jerusalem.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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We have been studying together about our Lord’s journey toward Jerusalem, as it has been described for us in the Gospel of Luke. And at this portion of Luke’s Gospel, that destination looms very near. Just a short time away in the story of this Gospel account, in Chapter 19, our Lord would make His triumphant entry into the city to present Himself as the King of the Jews, be rejected, and offer His life for us as our atoning sacrifice on the cross.

If we follow through the Gospel of Luke carefully, we find that there were three times that our Lord told His disciples—in advance—that all of this would happen. In Luke 9:21-22—just after the Lord asked the disciples who He was, and they declared that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God—we read;

And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” (Luke 9:21-22).

Curious, isn’t it? They had correctly identified Him as the Christ—the Son of God. But even then, He commanded them not to declare it just yet. This was because He still needed to suffer for us on the cross. And then, we find that there was a second time in which He told them all of this in advance. In Luke 9:43-45—just after He had cast a demon out of a boy—we’re told;

But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, “Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying (9:43-44).

Even though everyone was marveling at the greatness of His power and authority, He still stressed to His disciples what must still lay ahead for Him. He needed to go to Jerusalem and suffer on the cross. And now, in our passage this morning, we find that He declares this to His disciples a third and final time. This time, it was right after He had told them of how they would be blessed in His kingdom reign, and would receive a hundredfold of all that they sacrificed for Him, and would receive eternal life. Immediately after telling them all that, Luke 18:31-34 says;

Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken (Luke 18:31-34).

Our Lord really only needs to say a thing once; and it possesses all authority and should be believed. But we find that He made this important revelation three times to the twelve apostles—stressing it to them in an unusual way—urging them to let it sink in—saying it at key moments of the demonstrations of His identity, power and future glory. And what a great thing this teaches us!

Some have suggested that the cross came as a surprise—an unexpected turn of events. Some have even dared to suggest—irreverently and almost blasphemously—that if our Lord had only been more careful, He might not have suffered as He did; and that He could have then gone on to live longer, and teach more, and minister in even greater ways. But this passage—and the two others that precede it—show us how dreadfully wrong that idea is. The cross didn’t take our Lord by surprise. It wasn’t an unexpected event; and it was not in contradiction to the sure promises of His kingdom’s reign. It was His intention—His set purpose of heart in obedience to His Father—to go to Jerusalem and die on the cross for our redemption. He did this willingly and in the light of His full glory—well knowing in advance what would happen to Him.

We should learn from this that our Lord’s willingness to sacrifice Himself for us is shown in that He declared in advance what He would do in Jerusalem—and we should love Him all the more for it.

* * * * * * * * * *

This passage tells us many things about the work of our Lord on the cross for us. In verse 31, we see that …

1. IT WAS INTENTIONALLY DECLARED IN ADVANCE (v. 31).

As He and His disciples traveled along, we’re told in verse 31, “Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem …” And if this had been the only declaration of that fact—and if that was all that He had said—they might have excited them. They had daydreams of Him going to Jerusalem and presenting Himself as the conquering Messiah—throwing the occupying Romans out of the land, and taking up His throne in the reign of His ancestor David. But they could no longer have that kind of excitement. He had already told them in advance—more than once—that suffering and death awaited Him. The announcement that they were going to Jerusalem was a sobering one.

In Mark’s account of this story—in Mark 10:32—we’re told something very interesting. Mark says;

Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid (Mark 10:32).

Why were they amazed and afraid? It would probably be because He had been telling them the things that would happen. If the things that He said were actually going to happen, they—in their frail understanding of things—might even have thought that it would have been far better not to go to Jerusalem at all. But He was determined to go. As Luke 9:51 says, “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” And now—even as they were amazed and afraid along the way—He drew them aside yet again and told them what would happen.

Our Lord intentionally made this all known to them; so that they would later perceive that it was not an accident. It was something that He had come to earth to do.

This leads us to another thing to notice; that …

2. IT WAS PROMISED BEFOREHAND IN THE SCRIPTURES (v. 31).

It wasn’t simply something that the Lord had purposed to do along the way. It was in fulfillment of the promises of God in the Scriptures concerning the Messiah. Jesus went on in verse 31 to say, “and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.”

The Lord’s apostles may not have understood this at the time; but it was made very plain to them after it had occurred. When the resurrected Lord Jesus met the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, He told them;

“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:25-27).

What a conversation that must have been, as the resurrected Lord explained to them from the Scriptures all that was prophesied about Him—all of which things He had just fulfilled! Jesus said that “all things” which had been written about Him would be accomplished. And they were indeed accomplished. It was no accident. It was the deliberate fulfillment of the promises of God!

What were those things that the Scriptures said about Jesus? He Himself told us—in verses 32-33—that …

3. IT WAS REVEALED THAT IT WOULD INVOLVE HIS SUFFERING (v. 32-33).

That wasn’t the expectation that the disciples had about Him. It wasn’t the expectation that the Jewish people had of the Messiah either. And yet, they are the very things that the Scriptures promised. Jesus said, “For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him.”

These are the things that the Old Testament promised about the Messiah; saying this, for example, in Psalm 22:

For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots (Psalm 22:16-18).

Or this in Isaiah 50:6;

“I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6).

Or this in Isaiah 52;

So His visage was marred more than any man,
And His form more than the sons of men (Isaiah 52:14b).

Or this in Isaiah 53:3;

He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him (Isaiah 53:3).

But notice what else our Lord said; that …

4. IT WAS ASSURED TO RESULT IN VICTORY (v. 33).

In Luke 18:33, our Lord pulled those twelve disciples aside and told them all those things that would happen to Him as the Son of Man in accordance with the Scriptures; and added, “And the third day He will rise again.” And what a wonderful promise this was! They were afraid. They were in a state of amazement that He was leading them to Jerusalem where He said that He would suffer and be mistreated and be killed. And yet, He promised that He would also rise from the dead.

This too was clearly promised in the Old Testament. Psalm 16 says;

For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:10-11).

It was prefigured in the Old Testament through the story of Jonah. As Jesus Himself once said, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). In John 16—during His final conversations with them before going to the cross—He told His disciples;

“Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you” (John 16:20-22).

Now; with all this in mind, it’s fascinating to notice that—even though He intentionally told them all of this in advance, they still didn’t understand it. In fact, they were prevented from understanding it fully. As verse 34 tells us, “But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.” They heard it. It was revealed to them. And yet, it was hidden from them. This shows us that …

5. THOUGH REVEALED, IT WAS PROTECTED BY BEING CONCEALED (v. 34).

That may sound like a contradiction. But it may be the best way to say it. After all, if they had fully understood it all, they may have tried to prevent it. Peter, in fact, did try. He pulled his sword out at Jesus’ arrest, and Jesus had to tell him to put it away—asking him, “How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus?” (Matthew 26:54). And yet, though its full meaning was concealed from them, it still needed to be revealed to them so that, after it all happened and after Jesus rose victoriously, they could then go out into the world and proclaim it. Later—after His resurrection—Jesus “opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45).

Then, they went forth and proclaimed it to the world.

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What the Lord Jesus gave to His disciples, then, was nothing less than the gospel in advance. As the apostle Paul once wrote;

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve (1 Corinthians 15:1-5).

And the fact that our Lord declared this all in advance to His apostles shows us that it was no accident. It was what He willingly did for our salvation.

That’s the good news of the gospel.

EA