Psalm of the Day: Psalm 118:16-29
Wisdom for the Day: Job 32:12-22
Scripture Reading: Luke 9:18-22
Let us notice our Lord's prediction of His own coming death. We read that He said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be slain and be raised the third day." These words, as we read them now, sound simple and plain; but beneath the surface of them, lie two truths which ought to be carefully remembered.
For one thing, our Lord's prediction shows us that His death upon the cross was the voluntary act of His own free will. He was not delivered up to Pilate and crucified because He could not help it, and had no power to crush His enemies. His death was the result of the eternal counsels of the blessed Trinity. He had undertaken to suffer for man's sin — the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. He had engaged to bear our sins, as our Substitute and Surety and He bore them willingly in His own person on the cruel tree.
He saw Calvary and the cross before Him all the days of His ministry. He went up to them willingly, knowingly, and with full consent that He might pay our sin-debts in His own blood. His death was not the death of a mere weak man, who could not escape; but the death of One who was fully God, and had undertaken to be punished in our stead.
For another thing, our Lord's prediction shows us the blinding effect of prejudice on men's minds. As clear and plain as His words now seem to us His disciples did not understand them. They could not understand that Messiah was to be "cut off." They could not receive the doctrine that their own Master must die. And hence, when His death really took place, they were astonished and confounded. As often as He had told them of it they had never realized it as a fact.
Prayer for the Day: Dear Lord, thank you that Jesus went willingly to the cross for my sake.
Action Plan: The Old Testament is not silent about the death of Messiah for sin. Why do you think the Jews missed it? What do you plainly read in the Scriptures and not understand. How can you correct this?
This devotional was taken from The Gospel of Luke by J.C. Ryle published in 1858
and adapted by Pastor Tim Lewis of New England Shores Baptist Church.
