Luke 18:31-34--Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

Luke 18:31-34
English Standard Version
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Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time
31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” 34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

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Notice that these words are said only to the Twelve.  Just like before, Jesus did not tell all of the followers what His purpose and mission were, but when He talked about His imminent death and His coming to give His life as a ransom for many, these kinds of statements were made just to the Twelve so that they shouldn't have been surprised when it happened.  However, they did not understand these words completely, and they were not given full understanding of the plan until after the Resurrection.

Everything was there in the Old Testament for them and anyone else to see that the Son of Man, that's Jesus, had to be the substitutionary atonement for His people Israel (and also all the other people who believed and were part of what the assembly of God's people that was called the congregation of Israel in the Old Testament, but is called the Church in the New Testament).  Jesus gets very specific in what prophecies need to be fulfilled--that He must be turned over to the Gentiles (the Romans), be mocked and shamefully treated, and spit upon.  He must also be flogged and then killed.  Jesus doesn't specifically mention crucifixion in this passage, but He does in other places.  Then Jesus prophecies once again that He will rise again on the third day.

I mentioned it earlier but Luke is careful to record that the Twelve understood none of these things, even though they were said plainly to them, because it was hidden from them.  Why?  Because part of the prophecies would be that everyone would abandon Him.  Also, if they had understood what was going on, they may have tried to interfere--we see Peter trying to fight for Jesus on the night of His arrest and Jesus has to tell Peter to put his sword away.  So then, we see that even when the word are plain, the meaning of the words can be hidden until it is the proper time for the hearer to understand.  We should not get upset when the hearer does not understand, because God is the one who must reveal the truth to them.