OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS SON TO DIE FOR THE SALVATION OF MEN

Matthew chapter 17 verses 22 - 23 records the return of Jesus and His Disciples back to their home region of Galilee and at this time, the Lord Jesus told them explicitly what was goingto happen to Him in the near future.

22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.

The disciples reacted with grief because they could not reconcile the two points that Jesus had mentioned pertaining to being killed and then being raised to life after three days.

They were witnessing His dynamic ministry of healing and teaching which, to them, was a harbinger of the restoration of the kingdom of Israel and they were having a difficult time comprehending the antithetical timeline that the Lord was introducing to them.

The Lord, speaking of Himself in the third person using the title of Son of Man, gives them a sequence of three events.

The Son of Man was going to be;

1. Delivered into the hands of men
2. Be killed by men
3. Be raised to life three days after He was killed

The timeline given should have mystified the disciples and filled them with questions about Jesus being raised from the dead but they seemed not to have heard that part and only heard that He was going to be killed and thus they were filled with grief.

Interestingly, it appears that the kingdom of darkness could not hear what Jesus was telling His disciples either because He had the power to keep the information from being overheard in the spiritual realm even as He spoke to His disciples.  1 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 7 - 8 tells us that the spiritual rulers of the age did not comprehend the mystery of the resurrection because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

The book of John Chapter 1 verses 4 - 5 tells us that the incomprehension of the kingdom of darkness was what the plan of salvation was going to hinge on.

 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The life that was in Jesus was the light of men and even as He explained what was to occur for the plan of salvation to be completed, His light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Amen.

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