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Luke 18:31–34
“[The Son of Man] will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise” (vv. 32–33).
We have often noted that Luke 9:51–19:27 records the final journey of Jesus to Jerusalem for the climax of His earthly ministry. Of course, He made this journey to die for the sins of His people and rise again for our justification (see Rom. 4:25). Today’s passage tells us about one occasion when Jesus made clear His purposes for going to Jerusalem.
Luke 18:31–34 states that Jesus told His disciples that in Jerusalem He would be handed over to the gentiles; be mocked, spit on, flogged, and otherwise shamefully treated; be killed; and then be raised from the dead. Our Savior explained that all this is predicted in “the prophets,” which serves as a shorthand for the Old Testament, although Jesus did not cite specific passages.
Certain texts come readily to mind when we think of how the Old Testament foresees the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Messiah. For instance, Isaiah 53 quite clearly describes the work of the Suffering Servant to offer an atoning death for the sins of His people. Other passages, such as 2 Samuel 7:14–15, indicate that David’s sons will suffer discipline for their iniquity. Although Jesus had no sin of His own to be punished, the biblical principles of substitution and representation mean that the perfect Son of David could stand in for the imperfect sons of David, bearing the full curse that David’s line deserves for so often leading the people of Israel into wickedness.
Jesus would also have had certain themes from the prophets in mind when He spoke of the prophets’ foreseeing His death and resurrection. Referring to Himself as the “true vine” (John 15:1), Jesus claimed to be the true Israel of God, for the Old Testament describes Israel as God’s vine or vineyard (Isa. 5:1–7; Ezek. 15). This theme of Jesus as the true Israel is seen in the ways that Jesus repeats the history of old covenant Israel and proves faithful where the Israelites fell far short of righteousness. For instance, Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea and went into the wilderness, where it sinned in a time of testing and temptation (Ex. 14–16). Jesus passed through the waters of baptism and then successfully resisted the devil in the wilderness (Matt. 3:13–4:11). That Jesus would be handed over to the gentiles and mistreated and killed (Luke 18:32–33) repeats the history of old covenant Israel as well, for gentiles took the people into exile (2 Kings 25:1–21). Christ’s resurrection, then, fulfills Israel’s predicted restoration to life after the death of exile (Ezek. 37).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The good news of the gospel is that Jesus has succeeded where we have failed. God has made just demands of His people that we cannot fulfill because of sin, but He has sent Jesus in our place to do what we cannot do. When we trust in Him alone, His success is credited to our account and we are declared righteous before God, which ensures that we will never lose eternal life. May we never forget the good news of what Jesus has done for us.
for further study
- 1 Chronicles 17:1–15
- Hosea 6:1–3
- Romans 8:1–4
- 1 Peter 2:22
the bible in a year
- Proverbs 21–22
- 2 Corinthians 4