Determined Even in the Light of the Prophecies

Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. How well do you know the future?

! The future of the people around you.

Most of the time our thoughts about what the future will bring are wrong. They're not according to what we expect or even what we want.

Without knowing the future, what it brings can sometimes shake us. Thankfully, God knows all things.

And though he often does not reveal much about the future, he often prepares us for it in ways that we don't even see.

God is very gracious. We'll see some of God's grace and goodness in this passage today as we watch Jesus lay a foundation for the apostles for what they did not even see coming.

Follow along as I read just three verses. Luke chapter 18 verses 15 through 17. I'm sorry. 31 to 34.

I really do have the right servant. Luke 18, 31 to 34.

So it's four verses. And taking the twelve, he said to them, see, we're going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written about the son of man by the prophets will be accomplished.

For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and would be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him and on the third day he will rise.

But they understood none of these things. The saying was hidden from them and they did not grasp what was said. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for your word.

We mentioned earlier, we're thankful for what is written down and how we can come back to it. That's such a blessing. Lord, this is not a promise per se, but it's an important revelation of what you are doing.

What you did. And I pray that you would be with us. Help us to learn from it. Help us to apply it. May we be encouraged in beholding the wonder of our Savior as we look at it.

May we be encouraged in how you will take care of us as we look at it. And I pray that you would open our eyes to the truths of your word today. Be with me as I speak.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, this is a short passage and it's kind of interesting what goes on here. It's a passage that you look at it and you think, yeah, yeah, that's nice.

And you could keep going and not think twice about it. Here we're going to see where Jesus is pointing out the importance of what's ahead. If you were raised on the King James Bible or have a King James Bible with you this morning, you would say, Pastor, you read the wrong word.

It's behold. It's not see. Well, the ESV is doing its best to make it something we would use today. We don't go around saying, behold, I am here.

That would sound funny, sound pretentious, but that's not what Jesus is doing. Maybe a nicer or better way that would catch our attention more would be pay attention.

What Jesus is about to say, the disciples need to hear, and he's telling them to pay attention. Now he's talking to the 12.

He's been journeying to Jerusalem, and with him have been the 12, and there have been other disciples, and there have been Pharisees and scribes, and people from the surrounding area.

At times, the crowd was thousands. And they're all traveling with him. And Jesus has been talking to groups, sometimes the whole group, sometimes groups within the group, and several times he has talked to just the 12.

This is one of those times. We don't know if anyone else was listening. He doesn't say. But he addressed what he is looking at or talking about to the 12.

And so he says, pay attention to this. Jesus is saying something that the 12 really need to grasp.

Now, we've read through it. Maybe you've read through it on your own, and you already know they don't pay attention. At least they don't understand. But he's telling them, you need to pay attention to this.

Now, does Jesus fail when he says pay attention? They don't really. Well, I think they pay attention. Because we'll see proof later that they did. But it went right over their heads.

They didn't know it. But they were called to be witnesses to his death, burial, and resurrection. And it was not something that at all was on their radar.

Jesus reiterates that, and he's talking to the 12, he reiterates that they're going to Jerusalem. Now, they had gone to Jerusalem a lot of times. He was in ministry three and a half years.

Each year, the adult male was required to come to Jerusalem three times. So in that three and a half year ministry, what, nine, ten times?

Twelve times? Going to Jerusalem was not anything unusual. And he could have gone other times. But back in chapter 9, verse 51, we've made much of this because there is much to be made of this.

In chapter 9, verse 51, it says, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he told the disciples that. I'm going to Jerusalem.

And whether they thought it was, yeah, okay, this is number 14. This will be great. We don't know if they thought that or what they thought. I think they were thinking that this was something special because of the things that Jesus had been saying.

But it was certainly not what they thought it would be. So he sets his face to Jerusalem. And I think the twelve were hoping that, and not only the twelve, but many of the Jews, disciples, and others were hoping that as Jesus determines to go to Jerusalem, he was determining to go to Jerusalem to establish himself as king of the Jews.

Going there to finally take the throne. But Jesus knew differently. Jesus wanted these people to know, these twelve to know, what awaited the Son of Man.

Now this is the third time he's told them he's going to Jerusalem. And each of the three times he has said he's going there to die. And they did not understand any of those, well including this one, three, actually there's like five or seven, but most see three as being most clear and most definitive that he was going to Jerusalem to die.

And all three times it's been to the twelve. And interestingly, all three times he addressed himself as the Son of Man. Now if you read the book of Luke, if you've paid attention, that's one of his favorite titles for himself.

And it really meant something. He was doing this on purpose because all the Jews knew what the term Son of Man meant or what it was referring to.

And it's important for you to know what they expected when they heard the term Son of Man. In Daniel, the book of Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14, we have a passage that when someone said the Son of Man, now Son of Man is in Ezekiel and it has a little bit of a different flavor, but when someone said the Son of Man to the Jew, he thought of Daniel 7 verses 13 and 14.

And those verses read like this, I saw in the night visions and behold, now I should back up, previous to this, Daniel has received a vision of the kingdoms that would come to this world and how one kingdom would defeat the next kingdom and would defeat the next kingdom and how there would be this succession and how the fourth kingdom would be awful and rule terribly, which was the Romans.

And then this prophecy came out at the end and I saw in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like the Son of Man. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him and to him, to the Son of Man, to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

When the Jew heard the Son of Man, that's what he heard. he heard the one who would finally come and throw off this fourth evil kingdom which was the kingdom of Rome.

The Jews had gone into captivity in 586 BC. The last of the Jews had gone into captivity. They were there 70 years. They came back but they didn't rule themselves and the temple was nothing like what it used to be and things just weren't right.

They were under the thumb at that time the Babylonians and then the Medes and the Persians and the Greeks and then Rome and it was awful under Rome.

And so the twelve were thinking Son of Man is going to Jerusalem. The Son of Man is going to Jerusalem. The Son of Man is going to Jerusalem. He's finally going to do it.

He's finally going to set it straight. He's finally going to fix it. And they all expected a Messiah who would destroy any opposing kingdom and set up His rule over the whole world forever.

Even the twelve expected a Daniel 7 version of the Son of Man. But Jesus has said now several times the Son of Man is going to Jerusalem and at that point they didn't technically but they plugged their ears because He would always say the Son of Man is going to Jerusalem to be given over and to die and to raise the third day.

this was the most complete of those declarations. Jesus is that Daniel 7 Son of Man who will come to destroy His enemies but it's interesting that Jesus knows that He will fulfill all that the prophets have said.

Notice He says that I'm going to Jerusalem to fulfill all that the prophets have said. The Son of Man is going to Jerusalem to fulfill all that the prophets have said.

How did He know what He would face? I found this very interesting to contemplate this. Jesus learned what the prophets said by reading the prophets.

prophets. He learned what awaited Him by looking at His Old Testament. You said but He was God. But remember most all of what He did He did as a man.

As a 12 year old He was in the temple asking questions and giving answers not as the Son of God but as a man. A boy at that point.

from what He had learned of the Old Testament. And now His understanding probably of the Old Testament is much more. And so He knows that there are a great many prophecies.

I've thought how did this all start? I'm sure there were people who said Jesus do you know how you were born? Do you know what happened before you were born?

Do you know that there were angels in the sky? do you know that your cousin was able to miraculously conceive as an old woman?

Do you know? I don't know if they were told him this. I'm sure they had to. Do you know you were born without a physical father? And there was already witness to the fact that he was the one who was to come.

And as they would tell him these things he could go back to the Old Testament and see oh yes all these things were talked about. But as he continued his study of the Old Testament as he continued to look at the prophets he learned by studying the prophets many things.

As I mentioned he knows from the book of Daniel that he is the son of man. He knows this. he's using this title properly because he knows that it fits him.

All the prophecies that fit together concerning the Messiah all fit together on him. But he not only knows that he is the son of man of Daniel 7 he also knows that he is the anointed one of Daniel 9 which the Jews didn't talk about so much.

he's the anointed one of Daniel 9 verse 26 that will be cut off. Daniel 9 26 and after 62 weeks an appointed one shall be cut off I'm sorry an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.

Yes he knew he was the son of man but he also knew he was that anointed one of Daniel 9. He also knew he was the suffering servant of Isaiah 40.

He was the suffering servant of Isaiah 52 and 53 because he saw how those things fit. And as he had learned these things he's telling the disciples the 12 behold pay attention we're going to Jerusalem and the son of man is going to be given over to the Gentiles and there's a whole list of things that are happening and he's going to die and he's going to be raised on the third day.

He learned that by studying the Old Testament. Now the specifics of what Jesus learned from our prophets he lists a few of those specifics here in verses 32 and 33.

Now the first one I don't have a verse for but as Jesus was patterned his life was patterned after Israel remember my son went down into Egypt and they thought that that was Israel.

Well yeah for a while but that was always a picture of Jesus. Jesus went down into Egypt. Israel went into the wilderness. Yes that was about Israel.

but it was always a picture of Jesus who would be driven into the wilderness and tempted like Israel beyond anything we could know.

And he would not grumble nor complain but would continue to do his father's will. But as the picture of Israel progressed in so many different ways one of the pictures is is that Israel was given over to its enemies to the Gentiles and that happened to the Babylonian captivity.

And so Jesus is saying I will be given over to the Gentiles. Now the other gospels talk about how he's given to the Jews and the Jews would give him to the Gentiles but Luke wrote this to Gentiles and they didn't need to necessarily hear that right now.

They needed to see how this related to them. And so he tells them the son of man this ruler this judge will be given over to the Gentiles and he'll be given over for their sins as Israel was given over to the Babylonians for their sins.

He goes on he talks about the servant the suffering servant will be mocked Psalm 22 verses 6 through 8. but I am a worm and not a man scorned by mankind and despised by the people all who see me mock me they make mouths at me they wag their heads.

He trusts in the Lord let him deliver him let him rescue him for he delights in him. We heard that at the cross or we'll hear that at the cross as we continue.

Jesus saw that. he would be mocked. Psalm 22 he saw that he'd be shamefully treated spit upon and flogged.

Isaiah chapter 50 in verse 6 I gave my back to those who strike and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

He knew that he would be killed. Daniel 9 26 as we've already mentioned and after the 62 weeks an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.

And he knew that he would rise on the third day. Psalm 16 10 for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see corruption. Hosea 6 2 and after two days he will revive us and on the third day he will raise us up that we may live before him.

all this was there for the Jews. All this was there for the twelve to learn if they had studied the Old Testament as Jesus did but they did not see it.

Jesus needed the disciples to understand that these things were there and that he would face them because God had prophesied that he would.

Jesus needed these twelve witnesses to hear that what would happen and they weren't hearing it but what would happen was prophesied about.

and he also needed them to know he knew it was coming because here is this son of man who set his face to Jerusalem and he knew it was coming.

The Jews, the twelve thought it's time for the exaltation but Jesus knew it's time for the suffering servant. It's time for me to give my life for these ones I love.

It is time to suffer to pay for their sins. It is time to purchase them a redemption. It is time to go and to die in their stead. He needed them to know he was walking into something he knew.

And then Luke informs us of their reaction. Verse 34. But they understood none of these things.

The saying was hidden from them and they did not grasp what he said. And Luke shares their reaction in three ways.

They had no idea what Jesus was talking about. I would imagine they looked at each other and said something like where did that come from?

What's he even talking about? The saying was hidden from them. It was not time for them to know.

But it was there. It was written down hundreds of years. Hundreds of years before Jesus would come. And Jesus knew about it.

But they didn't get it. It was hidden from them. And Jesus did not explain it at that time. Although his explanations had become progressively more open and more clear.

But they still didn't understand it. They were kept from understanding how the Old Testament prophecies would be fulfilled in Jesus at this time. and they could not grasp what Jesus was doing.

Going to Jerusalem to endure these things. They did not understand what he was doing but he told them what he would face because they needed to know.

They needed to know that he understood what he was facing and that he was determined to go. think about that for a minute.

Jesus knew the situation when the garden was coming. Where the agony of what lay before him what he has just described where the agony of just knowing what he would face caused him to sweat as it were great drops of blood.

Where the agony of what he knew he would face would cause him to say, Father, if there's another way but I want to do your will.

as Jesus knew what he was going at, he wasn't knowing the vague generalities. He knew the awfulness of it.

And we have already seen from 951 that he set his face to do that. He set his face to go to Jerusalem to redeem his people.

And so Christian, let me just point a couple of things out. I want you to take note of his willingness to fulfill this, even though it was no small trial, and that he was going to Jerusalem to suffer what no other human had or would suffer in order to take our place under the wrath of God.

Jesus did this to make us his own. and bring us into the presence of God. He did it.

If you're a child of God, you can truly say he did this because he loved me enough to face all that so that I could be his.

God of God. I want you to note though that Jesus' explanation of what the Son of Man would do in Jerusalem, what he would do in Jerusalem according to the prophecies, laid a strong foundation for their belief after he rose from the dead.

Now when we get there, we're going to make a lot of this verse, but I'm going to give it here because I think it's going to be months before we get there and I don't want you to lose this connection.

In Luke 24 verses 44 to 48, let me read this. Now, let me set the background. This is at the tomb and Jesus is not saying these words.

These are the words of an angel. Peter and John and women have run to the tomb in different stages, been at the tomb in different stages and they have seen that it is open and that it is empty and they don't know what to think.

They're still in that shock. They're still in that, I don't understand what just happened. I thought he was the son of man. I thought he was coming to rule and terrain.

I thought he was coming to break these shackles. And as they run to that tomb with this confusion in their mind, the angel said this.

These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. I'm sorry, this is Jesus speaking. These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them, thus it is written that Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things. here where we are in Luke 18, Jesus amongst other things is laying the groundwork for their understanding of what he was doing.

He was laying the groundwork for what he said in Luke 9, 22, we go to Jerusalem and I'm going there to die. In Luke 44 where he said I'm going there to die and I'm going to suffer and I'm going to be turned over to the Gentiles.

And here in Luke 18, the 12 would come to learn after the resurrection that Jesus had come as the suffering servant according to the scriptures to make atonement for their sin.

Now Jesus, the son of man, this judge who will come and rule, came as the suffering servant to make atonement for their sins.

And it says they understood these things. They realized that this was God's plan all along. Having told them what he knew from the word of God and what he knew from the word of God related to him and that he was going to Jerusalem based on what he knew and for the purpose of giving himself, that all laid the groundwork so that in the end they could be witnesses.

Yes. And you can listen to Peter's sermon in Acts 2 where he lays these very things out. This Jesus, he's speaking to Jews and he's using some of Mark and Matthew's language, whom your rulers took and gave over to Pontius Pilate and he condemned him.

This one has died in our place, but he has risen from the dead as he said. And so here's the Lord Jesus knowing what he's going to go into, lays the foundation, makes it so the apostles have this standing so that they might be witnesses to the truth of what happened.

But I want to also say that even though Jesus was the suffering servant, he was and is still the Son of Man.

He will come someday to throw off the oppressors of his kingdom. He will make right all suffering. We will be under his rule and his care for all eternity and in fellowship with the one who's been willing to suffer as the suffering servant to redeem us.

So Christian, don't be discouraged. He will come and rule. He will come and reign. But he came first as the suffering servant.

So don't be discouraged. Be encouraged by what he was willing to do for you. Friend, Jesus went to Jerusalem knowing what he would face. but he was determined to go.

Knowing what he would face, then he might suffer for those things that would pay for the sins of his people. And so if you're here today and don't know Christ, he's calling you to come.

Turn from your sin. Turn from trying to earn your acceptance before God and accept what he has suffered to pay for your sin. He knew what he was getting into. He did it because he loves his people.

He calls you to come to himself. But don't wait because he is still the son of man who will come someday bringing judgment on all those who reject him.

Let's pray. father, I thank you for your word. Thank you for the way you have set these men up to be witnesses. Thank you for the way that you've proved that you knew what you were getting into.

Thank you for the way that you've shown that the son of man who will rule and reign is indeed the suffering servant who made a way for people to be in his kingdom in blessing and in grace.

So father, I pray that you would be with us. Draw those near you who don't know you today. May they see the suffering servant as one who has given himself for them. I pray that you would be with us.

May we be drawn to Christ in love, in worship, in praise, and in service, and obedience because of what he's done for us. And I pray that you would be with us as we go into the Lord's Supper.

In Jesus' name, amen.