Confirming Our Faith: Luke 18:31-34

Focus Passage: Luke 18:31-34 (NIV)

 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 handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. 33 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.

Read Luke 18:31-34 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

In today’s journal entry, we’ll be looking at just one of the many verses where Jesus directly tells His disciples that He will be arrested, sentenced, abused, killed, and then be raised from the dead. It seems shocking that the disciples don’t understand any of this, especially when it seems so clear to us looking back on this event.

Which leads me to the one idea I want to focus on in this passage: Jesus does not want us to be surprised by the future. He wants to share with us what will happen, both as a way of confirming our faith in Him, and so that we won’t be scared when what He has predicted will come to pass.

The Bible, including the gospels, are filled with prophecy and foreshadowing about what the future will hold. Too many people seem to forget this, or they rationalize away these prophecies saying that they have already been fulfilled.

I will agree that many Biblical prophecies have been fulfilled already in the timeline of history, but this doesn’t diminish the remaining prophecies. Instead, it enhances them, and our faith in the entire message of the Bible. Prophecy is given primarily to strengthen the faith of those within the church, and only secondarily to impress those outside of the church.

Prophecy is much less impressing to a secular person than our actions and attitudes towards them and each other. It is completely possible for us to have an accurate understanding of prophecy, and repel everyone we meet when we share it. Our best witness is the personal witness of our lives and how we treat each other, and only after this are we able to share faith building truth – such as what we find in this passage.

Jesus didn’t share this message with the broader crowd, but with His close followers. It is unclear all the different reasons, but one reason He did this was to strengthen their faith in Him after it was shattered during the fact.

Jesus does not want the future to scare us, because He has seen it, knows what will happen, and will be with us all the way through it.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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