April 10 – Reading Luke 9:21-45

Read and believe in Jesus.

“There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”  Luke 9:27b

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The Gospel according to Luke 9:21-45

Review – In the last study, we saw the Twelve sent out on a short-term mission trip and returned “pumped.”  Meanwhile, Herod is fearful of all that Jesus is doing and wants to see Him.  Jesus feeds the 5000, then asks His disciples who they say that He is.  “The Christ of God!”

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Vss. 20-22.

When Peter answers Jesus’ question about who THEY think He is, Jesus charges them to give NO ONE ELSE this information … at least not right then.  Many important things must happen to Him first, before they will understand, and the world can receive it.

The disciples have now confessed their “faith” in Him as the Messiah.  Jesus begins to prepare them for His death, the whole reason He has come.   This is the first of three times He tells them….

“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

It goes right over their heads.

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Vss. 23-27.

Then Jesus tells these men something even more cryptic.

• “If ANYONE would come after me, let him DENY himself, TAKE UP HIS CROSS daily, and FOLLOW Me.
• “Whoever would SAVE his life, will LOSE it, but whoever LOSES his life for My sake will SAVE it.
• “What does it PROFIT a man if he gains the whole world and FORFEITS himself?
• “Whoever is ASHAMED of Me and My words, of him will the Son of Man BE ASHAMED when He comes in glory.”

“The cross” was a horrific, shameful instrument of execution for the vilest of criminals.  It meant guilt, condemnation, judgment, and excruciating suffering. WHY would Jesus tell His followers that they must submit to this self-denial … daily … in order to be His disciples?

Loss = salvation; forfeit and shame = profit.

This also goes right over the disciples’ heads.

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..And then Jesus says, “I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not TASTE DEATH until they SEE the kingdom of God.”

• Some standing there (Peter, John, and James)
• Not taste death (it will happen soon, and they will not die when it happens).
• See the kingdom of God (the transfiguration of Jesus, a glimpse of His former and ultimate glory).

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Vss. 28-36.

This is another experience that the disciples kept silent about until after Jesus was resurrected. (See 2 Peter 1:16-18)

As Jesus was praying, He was endued with glistening, brilliant white light (think a constant strobe spreading out from Him) – His face, form, and clothing.

It was as though He pulled aside the veil of His humanity so these three could glimpse “the glory that He had with the Father before the world existed.” (See John 17:5)

With Him, they saw Moses and Elijah, representing “the Law” and “the Prophets,” which Jesus totally fulfilled.  Curiously, they were discussing His upcoming death (departure or exodus).

The three disciples fell into a deep (coma) of sleep. When they were awakened, Peter burst forth with “the greatest idea he’d ever had!”   “Let’s make three tents here; one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!!!” 

Have you ever done something like that?  Blurted out something entirely stupid and inappropriate?  He probably would have babbled on if not the cloud of God’s glory hadn’t overshadowed the scene, and the voice of God hadn’t interrupted him.

“This is my Chosen One; LISTEN TO HIM!”

And then it was over, and they were walking silently down from Mt. Tabor’s peak.

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Vss. 37-43.

In the crowd that met Jesus was a desperate man with a totally demon-possessed little boy.

(NOTE: this was his ONLY child.  Alone in the Gospels, Dr. Luke mentions that, and previously that the Nain widow’s dead son was her only child, and that Jairus had only his one daughter.  Doesn’t it remind you of the sacrifice of God, who gave His ONLY Son, Jesus, to be sin for us?)

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For some reason, the disciples were unable to cast out this vicious demon  (though they had done exorcisms many times on their evangelistic tours).

Jesus, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you?

Who was Jesus talking to/about?

His own disciples, who vacillated between great faith and “O, ye of little faith.”

The desperate man describes the horrible things that the demon does to his little son. “It seizes him so that he cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth. It shatters him and will hardly leave him alone.”

(NOTE: Although this may seem like a bad case of epilepsy to modern ears, Dr. Luke clearly identifies it as demon possession.)

As Jesus approached the boy, the demon made one last attempt to kill this only son.  But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and, like the resurrected son Jesus “gave back” to the widow of Nain, Jesus gave this little boy back to his father.

And all were astonished at the MAJESTY of GOD.

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Vss. 43b-45.

As the crowd was all marveling at everything Jesus was doing, He took his disciples aside and said, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”

(Were the disciples thinking – with the crowds – that Jesus was about to come into his glory, and be crowned the King and save the nation?? Jesus had to bring reality to their thinking.)

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The sad thing is, “they did not understand. It was concealed from them, so they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask about it.”

WHY?

Because it was God’s sovereign design that they would NOT UNDERSTAND until after Jesus’ resurrection. His death for sinful mankind would then be understandable to them.

 Luke 24:45-48 – “Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses to these things.’”