Everything That is Written

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. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
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 time was drawing nigh. Jesus was speaking clearly, now, about exactly what He and they were about to face in Jerusalem. No more soft preparation. They'd been with Him for three years, observing and participating in His ministries throughout the region. He taught them diligently about the Kingdom of God and demonstrated His power by the miracles they saw Him do. He'd been telling them the life would not be easy for His followers in this world. He had told them there would be unanticipated hardships. He had made it clear to certain wannabees that they must seriously examine their willingness to commit to Him before signing on.

"Everything that is written by the prophets" including the horrors of Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 would be fulfilled in Jerusalem. They knew these prophecies, but He spelled it out: delivered over to the Gentiles. Mocked. Insulted. Spat upon. Flogged. Killed. Raised the third day.

They just didn't get it. Apparently, they thought their arrival in Jerusalem would usher in the Kingdom and they would be granted their thrones that were promised in an earlier discourse. In The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce states: "The twelve were yet but crude Christians. Their minds were completely possessed by romantic expectations, their heads giddy with the sparkling wine of vain hope."

A people who had, for generations, looked forward to a Champion-Redeemer who would burst on the scene and overthrow their oppressors, setting up His eternal kingdom at Jerusalem (2nd advent prophecy), simply were not prepared to understand that their Redeemer must first suffer and die, spiritually and physically, for their sins and the sins of all mankind. Then He must be resurrected and ascend to the Father as the firstfruits of restored humanity. Even after He told them and told them and told them.....