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The Book of Luke, The Cross and Christianity - Lesson 115
Luke 9:18-26, 18And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? 19They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. 20He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. 21And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; 22Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. 23And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels. This passage can be divided into three subjects, none independent but each one in place to support the others.The Lord has placed them together for good reason for one introduces the next.Our first subject is the confession of Peter that this man Jesus, whom he follows is the Christ, the expected one, the Prophet, the Messiah.That confession is the catalyst that opens up the subject of the cross.For that confession leads to Christ’s revelation of a cross that he must bear, which in turn leads to his revelation that each of his followers is also to bear a cross.The revelation of the cross is the revelation for which Peter rebuked Christ and was in turn rebuked by Christ as yielding himself to be a representative of Satan. The cross was an offense to Peter for Peter desired a victorious Christ in the now and now. Although Peter identified Christ as the Messiah this reveals to us that Peter did not welcome a suffering Messiah. As believers and students of the book of Luke we know that the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Messiah was made plain to us from the beginning of this book. Remember what the angel Gabriel told Mary in:
Luke 1:31‑33, And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
We know, then, from the beginning of Luke’s account, that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is the promised, God given, Messiah, the Messiah who is to rule over the prophesied Kingdom of God.
John the Baptist also knew that Jesus was the Messiah although in his time of distress in prison he expressed doubt as to whether this man Jesus was the Messiah or should he look for another.
Satan likewise knew who Jesus was, as we know from Luke’s account of the temptation of our Lord in the wilderness.
The Demons also knew that this Jesus was the Messiah for they said, in:
Luke 4:34, …….. Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.
And in Luke 4:41, we read, And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God.
But to the leaders of the nation Israel, the scribes and Pharisees and the priests, Jesus was an impostor, a false Messiah, who worked miracles through the power of Satan.
As Mark 3:22 reads, And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
They had already determined that they must destroy Him.
We read of that in Luke 6:11, And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.
Among the common people this was the paramount question, Who is this man?
After the Lord’s message delivered in the synagogue at Nazareth, the people immediately began to discuss Jesus’ identity:
Luke 4:22, And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Although the leaders quickly arrived at their conclusion that Jesus was a false Messiah the people did not agree with them so quickly.
Many of the people thought Him to be a great prophet:
Luke 7:16, And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.
There was never complete agreement as to the identity of the Lord Jesus, as can be most clearly seen in John’s gospel:
John 7:25‑31, Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill? 26But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? 27Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. 28Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. 29But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me. 30Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. 31And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
John 7:40‑43, Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. 41Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? 42Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? 43So there was a division among the people because of him. 44And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
Most of the people believed Jesus to be a good man, although some, like their leaders, held Him to be a deceiver:
John 7:12, And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.
The disciples also wondered who Jesus was.
When Jesus stilled the storm, they pondered Who it was who was in the boat with them:
Luke 8:25, ….. And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.
Even a casual reading of the Gospels will reveal that there was no consensus in Israel, between the people and the rulers, as to who this Jesus was.
But as far as Christ is concerned it is now time for this question to be answered at least among the twelve for he wishes to prepare then for the cross.
The question is clearly answered in Luke 9 but it is still being asked throughout the world.
Who is this Jesus?
How you answer this question is the difference between a disciple of Jesus Christ and an enemy of Jesus Christ for He has said if you are not with me you are against me.
There is no fence straddling when it comes to Christ.
How you answer this question determines your eternal destiny.
God’s timing is perfect and Jesus Christ had determined that the time had come for the disciples to declare their allegiance to their Master as their Messiah. From the gospels of Matthew and Mark, we know only that the scene of the great confession of Peter is somewhere along the way to Caesarea Philippi.
Luke tells us that Jesus had been spending time in private prayer (9:18), and that it was in this privacy that the question of His identity was put to the disciples.
What was the subject matter of our Lord’s private prayer?
Perhaps one subject of his prayer would have been His disciples’ understanding of His identity as the Messiah.
This was only be known by faith and Jesus was not going to tell them but awaited the Father to tells them.
Luke does not tell us of Jesus reaction after Peter identified him as the Christ, but Matthew does.
Matthew 16:17, And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
We are told that the Father revealed this to Peter and perhaps it was in answer to this prayer of His Son.
All of the events necessary, including the revelation to Peter so the time was right for the question to be asked. Jesus did not begin by immediately asking the disciples who they thought He was, but rather who the crowds thought He was:
Luke 9:18, Whom say the people that I am?
The answer was given by various disciples, not just Peter.
Perhaps one said, “John the Baptist,” while another said, “Elijah,” and yet another, “one of the prophets, raised from the dead.”
These answers tell us several important things:
There was no consensus in the popular thinking as to the identity of this man Jesus.
There were various views as to who He was.
There was no general agreement, no commonly held identification of him. There were many opinions!
But there was agreement that Jesus was somehow a man “sent from God.”
All of the three answers imply that Jesus was viewed as a good man, a man sent from God, and a man of great power.
He seems to have been viewed as being associated with the Kingdom of God, which the Jews awaited with great expectation.
But from the accounts of scripture there was no large group of the Israelites who believed that Jesus was Israel’s Messiah.
It is hard to understand that after the testimony of John the Baptist, the testimony and deeds of the Lord Jesus Christ, and even the testimony of the demons, that the nation would not grasp that Jesus was the Messiah, and not just a prophet or one sent from God.
How could any thinking Jew of that day not conclude that Jesus was the Messiah?
The answer is found in John chapter 6, where John records the response of the people to the miraculous feeding of the five thousand.
It is in John’s gospel that the popular response to Jesus’ miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is recorded, along with the corrective action taken by our Lord to fend off this response:
John 6:14‑15, Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. 15When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
Jesus’ miracle feeding of the five thousand resulted in what almost seems to be mass hysteria.
In their minds they could not find a better candidate for Messiah than Jesus.
He had just fed 5000. “Could they wish for any better things from Messiah?”
There seems to be no understanding that God must appoint the Messiah and not the people but here in this passage we see that the people were intent of drafting Him as their king.
This emotional response of the people caused Jesus to do several things.
First, He sent His disciples away, so that they would not get caught up in this emotional outpouring and then he withdrew from the crowds for a time of private prayer.
At this point Jesus then began to introduce the subject of His sacrificial and substitutionary death to the crowds.
Jesus began by exposing the selfish motivation of the crowds in wanting to make Him their King.
John 6:26, Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
He then went on to speak of Himself as the “Bread of Life.”
Once Jesus began to speak of His suffering, the crowd quickly lost its enthusiasm.
John tells us the result of Jesus’ teaching:
John 6:66, From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Jesus Christ never intended to be the people’s choice for he was the Father’s choice.
His heart was one of being about his Father’s business.
He never said he must be about the people’s business. |