Jesus was fully aware of his future

JESUS WAS FULLY AWARE OF HIS FUTURE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
“And Jesus going up to Jerusalemtook the twelve
disciplesapart in the way, and said unto them, Behold,
we go up to Jerusalem;and the Son of man shall be
betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes,
and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall
deliverHim to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge,
and to crucify Him: and the third day He shall rise
again.” Matthew 20:17-19.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Anticipations Of Betrayal
Matthew 20:18
R. Tuck It is not often set out prominently that the chief ingredient in our Lord's sorrowful
anticipations was his betrayal by one of his disciples. There is no greater distress comes to us in
life than the unfaithfulness of trusted friends. The psalmist wails in this way (Psalm 4:12-14):
"For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it... but it was thou, a man
mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance." The dealings of our Lord with Judas need careful
study. Our Lord had to act so as not to interfere with Providence. The fact that he knew what
would happen must not be used to prevent it from happening; and yet that knowledge filled him
with anxiety concerning Judas, and constrained him to make attempts to influence the man who,
on the road of his covetousness, was fast hastening to his crime.

I. ANTICIPATIONS OF BETRAYAL TESTED THE LORD JESUS. Even that was in the
Father's will for him. There could hardly he anything in his cup of woe more bitter. Probably
Judas had been chosen an apostle because of his business capacity. Our Lord had trusted him.
His face was familiar to him. He had grown interested in Judas, and it was hard indeed to think
he would, one day soon, turn traitor. Our Lord would not have been fairly tested by all forms of
human anxiety if he had not known failing, forsaking friends. Could he take up, and bear, this
yoke of the Father? Knowing it was coming, could he go on, quietly, steadily, in the path of
duty? Could he bear to have Judas close beside him day by day? This gives us a deep sense of
the reality and severity of our Lord's struggle to preserve a perfect, Son-like obedience and
submission. Even here he won and held his triumph.
II. ANTICIPATIONS OF BETRAYAL TESTED THE DISCIPLES. It must have led to heart-
searching inquiries. Some, no doubt, felt our Lord's words more than the others. Some would
think it only a melancholy mood that the Master was in. Some would feel quite certain that the
words would never apply to them. What did Judas think about the possible betrayal? We know
well. The man who is deteriorating, as Judas was, becomes insensible to such suggestions. None
could have been more positive than Judas in denying that the term "traitor" could ever apply to
him. But Judas was the betrayer. - R.T.
Biblical Illustrator
And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way.
Matthew 20:17
A Palm Sunday discourse
M. Dix, D. D.Year by year let us go up to Jerusalem on the Palm Sunday with Christ.
1. Some go up without any special interest.
2. Others are moved by curiosity.
3. There are those who hate Him and His servants.
4. Some who believe in Christ but fear the world.
5. Some are in dark despair thinking that the cause of religion is about to perish because of
organized opposition.
6. Others, a faithful few, like the small group around the cross.
(M. Dix, D. D.)
Christ coming to Jerusalem

M. Dix, D. D.What an approach! The cities are the strongholds of the world — Babylon —
Nineveh — Tyre, the centre of commerce. To none of these could our God have come expecting
a joyous reception. They were of the world. But He came to Jerusalem, the city of God, the
centre of true religion; a beautiful city for situation, renowned for its great age and greater
history. It was a consecrated city, above whose roofs arose, day by day, clouds of smoke from
the morning and evening sacrifice; an awful city, in which God had, from time to time, appeared.
It held for awhile the place of the throne of the living God! It is to this city Jesus approaches.
Surely to Him the gates will open and He will be greeted with songs of joy.
(M. Dix, D. D.)
Going up to Jerusalem
J. H. Norton.Who shall hereafter " have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates
into the city" (Psalm 24:3 and Revelation 22:14). Those whose conduct shows that they are
going up to Jerusalem. This may be said to imply —
I. A growth and an advancement in those things which are good. Those who "go up" to the
heavenly Jerusalem gradually increase in holiness by a diligent use of the appointed means.
II. Another evidence that we are " going up to Jerusalem" is love to God.
III. If our faces are indeed turned to Jerusalem, like travellers who have a long journey to
accomplish, we shall be most anxious to lay aside any unnecessary weight, and to overcome the
corrupting influence of our besetting sins. We cannot be going up to Jerusalem if our affections
are rooted in the earth; we must be conscious that our course is turned thitherward. Why this
loitering by the way. Let us refresh our souls with spiritual food. Let the world offer what
attractions it may, our purpose is firmly fixed "to go up to Jerusalem."
(J. H. Norton.)
Jesus betrayed and condemned
J. Irons., J. P. Lange, D. D.I. The language of the text is the testimony of our great Prophet
concerning His OWN SUFFERINGS. You see it is a prophecy; the event had not yet taken place.
1. His suffering was substitutional.
2. Acceptable.
3. Covenanted.
II. THE HANDS EMPLOYED.
1. The ruthless traitor.
2. The infidel priesthood.
3. The far-famed literary men.
III. THE END ACCOMPLISHED. "They shall condemn Him to death."
(J. Irons.)How the faithfulness of Christ toward His disciples appears in the announcement of His
impending sufferings.
I. It is seen in the gradual manner in which He makes the fact known. From the first He had
intimated that His path was one of suffering; but, while putting an end to their spurious hopes,
He had never said anything to cast them down.

II. He now set it before them in all its terrors. He dealt candidly with them. Return was still
possible for them, though, from their former decision, He no longer asked them whether they
would forsake Him.
III. He placed before their view the promise awaiting them at the end, thus establishing and
encouraging them by this blessed prospect.
(J. P. Lange, D. D.)
Why Christ saw His cross afar off
J. P. Lange, D. D.1. It was predetermined from the beginning, and He saw it everywhere
throughout His course.
2. From the first He prepared for it, and experienced its bitterness in many preliminary trials.
3. It was the harbinger of His exaltation, and ever and anon He anticipated His coming glory.
Communion with Jesus
J. Irons.I. THE PARTY — Jesus and His disciples. The great Head of the Church and His
members.
1. Their interests were mutual.
2. They are a united company.
3. They were distinct from the world.
4. Are you of the party?
II. THEIR UNION AND COMMUNION — Jesus took the twelve disciples apart.
1. We sometimes try to take Christ apart, it is better that Christ should take us.
2. This communion has love for its origin.
3. He would not have them associated with the world, He was about to touch on matters He
wished His disciples to know.
4. He not only invites His Church apart as an act of love, but every grace of His Holy Spirit's
implanting is then called into exercise.
5. He took them apart to talk about the atonement.
III. Mark now THE TRAVELLING ITSELF — "going up to Jerusalem." Ours is not a stand-still
religion. We have no continuing city. We are in company with Jesus.
1. Decision is implied.
2. Progress is implied.
3. There was expectation as they journeyed.
4. Jesus was going up to Jerusalem for the accomplishment of redemption; and we must go to the
Jerusalem above in order to fully enjoy them.
(J. Irons.)
Christ's sufferings and ours

John Trapp.What are all our sufferings to His? And yet we think ourselves undone if but
touched, and in setting forth our calamities we add, we multiply, we rise in our discourse, like
him in the poet, "I am thrice miserable, nay, ten, twenty, an hundred, a thousand times unhappy."
And yet all our sufferings are but as the slivers and chips of that cross upon which Christ, nay,
many Christians, have suffered. In the time of Adrian the emperor ten thousand martyrs are said
to have been crucified in the Mount of Ararat, crowned with thorns, and thrust into the sides with
sharp darts, after the example of the Lord's passion.
(John Trapp.)
The resurrection of Christ
Lapide.He wraps up the gall of the passion in the honey of the resurrection.
(Lapide.)
The saddest yet happiest event in human history
J. P. Lange, D. D.Our Lord's last journey to Jerusalem. The prediction of the sufferings of Christ
a great evidence
(1)of His prophetical character;
(2)of His willingness, as a Priest, to offer Himself a sacrifice for sin;
(3)of His confident expectation of victory as a King.
The sufferings of Christ
Cawdray.As the precious stone called the carbuncle to look at is like a hot burning coal of fire,
shining exceeding brightly, the which feeleth no fire, neither is it molten, changed, or mollified
therewith; if thou shalt take it, and close it fast in a ring of lead, and cast it into the fire, thou
shalt see the lead molten and consume before thy face, but the carbuncle remaining sound and
perfect without blemish as before, for the fire worketh upon the lead, but upon the carbuncle it
cannot work; even so Christ, our Saviour, being in the hot, scorching fire of His torments,
suffered and died as He was man, but as He was God He neither suffered nor died. The fire of
His afflictions wrought, then, upon His manhood, but His Divinity and Godhead continued
perfect and utterly untouched.
(Cawdray.)
Crucifixion of Christ
J. P. Lange, D. D.The cross was the perfect manifestation of
(1)the guilt of the world;
(2)the love of Christ;
(3)His obedience;
(4)the grace of God.
Christ's sufferings were foreseen

Beecher.As astronomers know when none others think of it, that travelling through the heavens
the vast shadow is progressing towards the sun which ere long shall clothe it and hide it, so
Christ knew that the great darkness which was to overwhelm Him was approaching.
(Beecher.)
Christ's resurrection
R. South.His resurrection was necessary to His being believed in as a Saviour. As Christ by His
death paid down a satisfaction for sin, so it was necessary that it should be declared to the world
by such arguments as might found a rational belief of it, so that men's unbelief should be
rendered inexcusable. But how could the world believe that He fully had satisfied for sin so long
as they saw death, the known wages of sin, maintain its full force and power over Him, holding
Him like an obnoxious person in captivity? When a man is once imprisoned for debt none can
conclude the debt either paid by him or forgiven to him but by the release of his person. Who
could believe Christ to have been a God and a Saviour while He was hanging upon the tree? A
dying, crucified God, a Saviour of the world who could not save Himself would have been
exploded by the universal consent of reason as a horrible paradox and absurdity.
(R. South.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(18) Behold, we go up to Jerusalem.—The words
repeat in substance what had been previously stated after the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:22),
but with greater definiteness. Jerusalem is to be the scene of His suffering, and their present
journey is to end in it, and “the chief priests and scribes” are to be the chief actors in it, and “the
Gentiles” are to be their instruments in it. The mocking, the spitting (Mark 10:34), the scourging,
the crucifixion, all these are new elements in the prediction, as if what had before been presented
in dim outline to the disciples was now brought vividly, in every stage of its progress, before His
mind and theirs.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary20:17-19 Christ is more particular here in foretelling his
sufferings than before. And here, as before, he adds the mention of his resurrection and his glory,
to that of his death and sufferings, to encourage his disciples, and comfort them. A believing
view of our once crucified and now glorified Redeemer, is good to humble a proud, self-
justifying disposition. When we consider the need of the humiliation and sufferings of the Son of
God, in order to the salvation of perishing sinners, surely we must be aware of the freeness and
richness of Divine grace in our salvation.
Barnes' Notes on the BibleBehold, we go up to Jerusalem - Jesus assured them that what they
feared would come to pass, but he had, in some measure, prepared their minds for this state of

suffering by the promises which he had made to them, Matthew 19:27-30; Matthew 20:1-16. In
all their sufferings they might be assured that eternal rewards were before them.
Shall be betrayed - See Matthew 17:22. "Unto the chief priests and scribes." The high priest, and
the learned men who composed the Sanhedrin or the Great Council of the nation. He was thus
betrayed by Judas, Matthew 26:15. He was delivered to the chief priests and scribes, Matthew
26:57.
And they shall condemn him to death - They had not power to inflict death, as that power had
been taken away by the Romans; but they had the power of expressing an opinion, and of
delivering him to the Romans to be put to death. This they did, Matthew 26:66; Matthew 27:2.
Shall deliver him to the Gentiles - That is, because they have not the right of inflicting capital
punishment, they will deliver him to those who have to the Roman authorities. The Gentiles here
means Pontius Pilate and the Roman soldiers. See Matthew 27:2, Matthew 27:27-30.
To mock - See the notes at Matthew 2:16.
To scourge - That is, to whip. This was done with thongs, or a whip made for the purpose, and
this punishment was commonly inflicted upon criminals before crucifixion. See the notes at
Matthew 10:17.
To crucify him - That is, to put him to death on a cross - the common punishment of slaves. See
the notes at Matthew 27:31-32.
The third day ... - For the evidence that this was fulfilled, see the notes at Matthew 28:15. Mark
and Luke say that he would be spit upon. Spitting on another has always been considered an
expression of the deepest contempt. Luke says Luke 18:31, "All things that are written by the
prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished." Among other things, he says he
shall be "spitefully entreated;" that is, treated with spite or malice; malice, implying contempt.
These sufferings of our Saviour, and this treatment, and his death, had been predicted in many
places. See Isaiah 53:1-12; Daniel 9:26-27.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible CommentaryMt 20:17-28. Third Explicit Announcement of His
Approaching Sufferings, Death, and Resurrection—The Ambitious Request of James and John,
and the Reply. ( = Mr 10:32-45; Lu 18:31-34).
For the exposition, see on [1331]Mr 10:32-45.
Matthew Poole's CommentarySee Poole on "Matthew 20:19".
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleBehold, we go up to Jerusalem,.... This is the last time of our
going thither; observe, and take notice of what I am about to say; some extraordinary things will
come to pass, and, as Luke relates that he said,
all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man, shall be accomplished;
everything that is recorded in Psalm 22:1, and in Isaiah 53:1, or in any other prophecies of the
Old Testament, relating to the ill treatment the Messiah should meet with, to his sufferings and
death, and all the circumstances attending them, shall be exactly fulfilled in every point: and that
they might not be at a loss about what he meant, he gives an account of various particular things,
which should befall him;
and the Son of man shall be betrayed: he does not say by whom, though he knew from the
beginning who should betray him, that it would be one of his disciples, and that it would be

Judas; but the proper time was not yet come to make this discovery: the persons into whose
hands he was to be betrayed, are mentioned;
unto the chief priests, and unto the Scribes; who were his most inveterate and implacable
enemies; and who were the persons that had already taken counsel to put him to death, and were
seeking all advantages and opportunities to execute their design:
and they shall condemn him to death; which is to be understood not of their declaring it as their
opinion, that he was guilty of death, and ought to die by a law of their's, which declaration they
made before Pilate; nor of their procuring the sentence of death to be pronounced by him, upon
him; but of their adjudging him to death among themselves, in the palace of the high priest;
which was done by them, as the sanhedrim and great council of the nation; though either they
could not, or did not, choose to execute it themselves, and therefore delivered him up to the
Romans; for this act of condemning him to death, was to be, and was, before the delivery of him
up to the Gentiles, as is clear from what follows.
Geneva Study Bible{3} Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death,
(3) They that should be persecuting him the least, are the greatest persecutors of Christ.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Expositor's Greek TestamentHYPERLINK "/matthew/20-18.htm"Matthew 20:18. ἰδού,
ἀναβαίνομεν! a memorable fateful anabasis! It excites lively expectation in the whole company,
but how different the thoughts of the Master from those of His followers!—κατακρινοῦσι, they
shall sentence Him to death; a new feature.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges18, 19. Observe the exactness of the prediction; the
Sanhedrin shall condemn but not kill, the Gentiles shall scourge and crucify.
Bengel's GnomenHYPERLINK "/matthew/20-18.htm"Matthew 20:18. Ἀρχιερεῦσι, to the chief
priests) This appellation seems to have been very common at that time.—γραμματεῦσι, to the
scribes) whose duty it was to examine, as of the priests to decide.[885]
[885] Bengel’s very sentences have a rhythm, which brings out happily the antithesis intended:
“Scribis) quorum erat scientia; uti pontificum sententia.” The province of the former was
knowledge of the written law; of the latter, to decide or give sentence in accordance with it.—
ED.
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 18. - Behold. This exclamation would seem to indicate that the events
predicted were very near at hand, as it were, already in sight. Shall be betrayed; παραδοθήσεται:
shall be delivered; the same word as in the next verse. God "spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all" (Romans 8:32). The special agent of this betrayal is not here named.
Of his future crime, Judas, one of the twelve, had probably no thought, the devil not having yet
put it into his heart. The chief priests (see on Matthew 16:21). Shall condemn him. This was the
act of the Sanhedrin, who could doom, but could not execute (John 18:31). The announcement of
his death and resurrection had already been made at least twice before - once after Peter's great
confession (Matthew 16:21), and again at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:12, 22, Mark 9:9, 12

PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
THE PRIVATE THOUGHTS AND WORDS OF JESUS NO. 2212
A SERMON INTENDEDFOR READING ON LORD’S DAY, JULY 12,
1891, DELIVERED BYC. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN
TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 26,
1891
“And Jesus going up to Jerusalemtook the twelve disciples apart in the way,
and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem;and the Son of man shall
be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall
condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to
scourge, andto crucify Him: and the third day He shall rise again.” Matthew
20:17-19.
YOU have this same story in Matthew and Mark and Luke, a little differently
told, as would naturally be the case when the information came from three
different observers. It will be to our edification to put the three accounts
together, so as to get a complete view of the incident, for eachevangelist
mentions something omitted by the others. Our Lord firmly resolvedto go to
Jerusalem, about a fortnight before the Passover, with the view of becoming
Himself the Lamb of God’s Passover. He had frequently left Jerusalemwhen
His life had been in danger there, because His time was not yet come, and He
thus setus the example of not willfully running into danger, or braving it with
foolhardiness, but now that He felt that the hour of His sacrifice was nearat
hand, He did not hesitate, orseek to avoid it, but He resolutelyset out to meet
His sufferings and His death. When He was in the highway that led to
Jerusalem, He marched in front of the little band of His disciples with so

vigorous and bold a step, and with such a calm, determined air of heroism
upon Him, that His followers were filled with astonishment(Mark 10:32).
Here are the very words, “And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem;
and Jesus wentbefore them; and they were amazed, and as they followedthey
were afraid.” Knowing that, according to His own account, He was going to
suffering and death, and being well assured, from their ownobservation, that
He was about to encounterthe most furious opposition, they were amazed at
His dauntless courage of his manner, and wondered what made Him so
resolved. We also read that “they were afraid,” afraid for themselves, in a
measure, but most of all afraid for Him. Would not His daring lead to conflict
with the powers then in authority, and might not terrible things happen both
to Him and to them? It was not altogethertimidity, but awe which came over
them; His manner was so majestic and sublime. That lowly man had a
something about Him which commanded the trembling reverence ofHis
disciples. After all, meekness is imperial, and commands far more reverence
than angeror pride. His followers felt that greatevents were about to
transpire, and they were deeply soberedand filled with awe-struck
apprehension. In the presence of their Lord, who seemedto be leading a
forlorn hope to a fierce battle, they were afraid. They were amazed at His
courage, andafraid for the consequences.Theywere also amazed at Him, and
afraid because of their ownunfitness to stand in His presence. Do we not
know what this feeling is? Then it was that He took the twelve aside, and
beganto tell them what things should happen to Him. The conversationwas
private. We will go aside with the chosenapostles fora little while at this time,
and hear what their Lord would say to us, even as He aforetime said it to
them. May the goodSpirit bless our meditation! I shall have three things to
speak of, and the first will be our Lord’s private communings. This will give
us an insight, secondly, into our Lord’s private thoughts, and when we have
lookedinto these a little, as far as our dim eyes are able, we will then notice, in
the third place, our Lord’s dwelling on the details of His passion, for into
those details He went with singular impressiveness. Let us not forget our need
of the Holy Spirit’s illumination while we come near to a place as holy as this
of “The Revelationof the Passion.”
2 The Private Thoughts and Words of Jesus Sermon#2212

2 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ. Volume 37
I. First, then, our LORD’S PRIVATE COMMUNINGS. He did not say all
things to all men. He spoke certainmatters to His disciples only. To the
outside world it was given to hear the parable, but to the disciples alone was it
given to know the explanation. Not even to all the disciples did our Lord make
known the whole of His teachings. He had an electout of the elect. Firstcame
twelve out of the many, and then came three out of the twelve. These three
were admitted to specialmanifestations, whichthe other nine did not share.
As if to carry the principle of electionto the utmost extent, one was chosenout
of the three, who enjoyed a peculiar personal love, and leanedhis head upon
his Lord’s bosom, as the other two never did. We are happy to be admitted,
by the key of inspiration, into the inner chamber of our Lord’s private
conferences. On this occasionour Lord’s communings were with the leaders
of His band. Those who have to lead others need more instruction than the
rest. It needs more grace to lead than to follow. No man can give out what he
has not received. If you are to be a fountain of living waters to others, you
must be filled yourself from the fullness of God. Dearbrethren and sisters,
you whom the Lord has chosento be vessels ofmercy to others, take care that
you wait much upon Him yourselves, and are much with Him in secret
retirement. Live near to God that you may bring others near. I remember
sitting, one rainy day, in an inn, at Cologne, lookingout of a window upon a
square. There was not much to see, but what was to see I did see, as I
occasionallylookedup from my writing. I saw a man coming to a pump that
stoodin the middle of the square, and from that pump he filled a vessel. A
little while after, I saw the same man againfilling his buckets. All that
morning, I saw no one else, but only that one water-loving individual man,
filling his buckets againand again. I thought to myself, “What canhe be?
Why is he always drawing water?” ThenI perceived that he was a water
carrier, a bearer of waterto families in the adjoining streets. Wellmight he
often come to the fountain himself, since he was supplying others. You that
are watercarriers for thirsty souls must necessarilycome often to the living
wateryourselves, and be thankful that your Masteris always willing to meet
you, and give you rich supplies. He graciouslywaits to take you apart in the
way, and speak to you things which you need to hear and tell. Take care that

you hear well that which you are commissionedto publish to all the world.
Take goodnote of this, you who instruct others; neglectnot the yielding of
your ear to your Lord quite as completely as your tongue. Hear Him that you
may speak ofHim. Be sure that you are much with your Lord alone, that you
may have Him much with you in public. When our Lord, on this occasion,
spoke to the twelve, the time was significant;it was on the way to a greattrial.
To Him His coming suffering was the sum of all trial. He was about to be
wounded for our transgressions,and bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisementof our peace was about to fall upon Him, that with His stripes we
might be healed. But it was to be a time of greattrial to the disciples also.
Inasmuch as they loved their Lord, they would sympathize with His sufferings
and death. Inasmuch as they trusted in Him, it would be a sharp trial to their
faith to see Him dying on the cross, vanquished by His remorselessenemies.
Inasmuch as they loved His company, they would weepand lament, and feel
like orphaned children when He was takenfrom them. Therefore they must
be favored with a specialprivate interview, to prepare them for the coming
ordeal. Have you ever noticed how our Lord, before the coming to us of a
greattribulation, strengthens our hearts by some heavenly visitation? Either
before or after the affliction, it has happened to me to enjoy very special
manifestations of the Well-Beloved. At such junctures He brings us into His
banqueting house, and His banner over us is love, that we may go down to the
battle like men refreshedby a feast. He gives us a joyful bracing up, that we
may be ready for tomorrow’s stern service. I feel that it is so, and I pray that
eachof you may know, by personalexperience, how wise is your Redeemer’s
foresight, and how, by the communion apart, He prepares us for that which
we are to meet at the end of the way. A drink from the brook of fellowshipby
the waywill make you ready for the heat of the conflict. A word from His
myrrh-dropping lips will perfume the air, even of the valley of death-shade.
Speak to us, Lord, and we will not heed the howls of the dog of hell. When
our Masterthus took the twelve apart, we may sayof His conversation, that it
was upon choice themes. Our Lord’s conversationis always holy and suitable
for the occasion. He spoke to them of the Scriptures. Luke says, “He took unto
Him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all
things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be
accomplished.” Blessedtheme—the Word of the Lord by His prophets and

the fulfillment thereof. Have you never noticed how our divine Lord delights
to speak upon the Scriptures? How often does He enforce
Sermon #2212 The Private Thoughts and Words of Jesus 3
Volume 37 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ. 3
His teaching by “as the Scripture has said”! If He has only two of them, and
they are walking on the road, we read, “Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself.” Communion with Christ Jesus must be based on the Word of the
Lord. If you speak half a word derogatoryof Holy Scripture, your fellowship
will evaporate. Mentalk about building upon Christ, and not upon the
Scriptures, but they know not what they say, for our Lord continually
establishedHis ownclaims by appealing to Moses andthe prophets. They
would be Christocentric, they say; I only wish they would. But if they take
Christ for a center, they will inevitably have the Scriptures for a centertoo,
and these men neither want the one nor the other. They care nothing for the
center; they only want to do awaywith the circumference that they may roam
at their own proud wills. Our Lord made the written Word to be the reason
for many of His acts;He did this, and He did not do that, because ofwhat the
Scriptures had said. He comes not to take awaythe law and the prophets, yes,
not a jot or a tittle does He destroy, so carefulis He of the Scriptures of truth.
We learn from Him to believe not only in inspired words, but in inspired jots
and tittles. They that have been much with Christ always show a profound
reverence for the Word of God. I have never yet met with a person worthy to
be called a saint who did not love and revere the inspired Book. Ihave heard
in the lastdays the newlycoinedword “bibliolatry” which is meant to set forth
the imaginary crime of worshipping the Bible. I know not who may be guilty
of the offense;I have never met with such idolaters. When I do, I will try to
show them their error, but at present I am too much occupiedwith the
enemies of the Bible to think much of its too ardent friends, if such there be.
While the word may be used in an accusationagainstus, it most surely is a
confessiononthe part of those who use it that they see nothing specialabout
the Scriptures, and are angry with those who do. Let them speak as they will,
O Lord, “my heart stands in awe of Your Word.” I would be numbered with

the men who tremble at Your Word. The words of the Holy Spirit are more
than words to me. I tremble lestI should sin againstHim by sinning against
them. I would not take awaya word from the Book ofthis prophecy, nor add
thereunto; but let it stand as it is, for here it is that Jesus meets us and
communes with us. He opens the Scriptures to our understanding, and then
He opens our understanding to receive the Scriptures. He makes us hearHis
voice in these chapters; yes, we see Himself in them— “Here I behold my
Savior’s face Almost in every page.” We cannotlook up to heaven and see
Jesus amid the celestialsplendors, but He lovingly looks down from the throne
of His glory into the mirror of the Word, and when we look into it we see the
sweetreflectionof His face. As in a mirror His countenance is displayed by
Scripture. O believers, love the Word of God! Prize every letter of it, and be
prepared to answerthe cold, carping words of critics, who know nothing of
the benediction which comes to us through every line of inspiration. These are
they who would cruelly divide the living child, for it does not belong to them,
but we will have no sword come near it, for it is our love; it is life and bliss to
us. Our Lord, in His most private communion with our souls, speaks in, and
by, and through the Scriptures in the powerof the Holy Spirit. But the chief
theme that our Lord dwelt upon was His own suffering even unto death.
Beloved, our Lord Jesus has said many delightful things, and let Him say what
He will, His voice is as angels’music to our ears, but from the cross His voice
is richest in consolation. We nevercome so near to Jesus—atleast, suchis my
experience—aswhenwe gaze upon His bloody sweat, orsee Him robed in
shame, crownedwith thorns, and enthroned upon the cross. OurLord’s
incomparable beauties are most visible amid His griefs. When I see Him on
the cross, Ifeel that I must borrow Pilate’s words, and cry, “Beholdthe man!”
Coveredwith His own blood from the scourging, andabout to be led awayto
be crucified betweentwo thieves, you look into His inmost heart, and behold
what manner of love He bore towards guilty men. We know not Christ till He
puts on His crimson garments. I know not my beloved when He is only to me
as the snow-white lily for purity, but when, in His wounding, He is red as the
rose, then I perceive Him. “My beloved is white and ruddy, the chief among
ten thousand.” A suffering Savior bears the palm for me; a wounded Savior is
my Lord and my God. The lower He went for my redemption, the higher does
He rise in my soul’s loving esteem. He saw this when He said, “I, if I am lifted

up,” for indeed it was a lifting up for Him to die upon the cruel gallows. To
the wondering universe the Son of God is lifted to a height of wondering
admiration, by His becoming obedient unto death, out of love to His chosen.
He is lifted up in every grateful heart, and shall be lifted up forever. Our
fellowship with Jesus
largely flows along the greatdeep of His suffering, and to me, at least, it is
then deepest, truest, and sweetest. Our Lord talked to the twelve of His
sufferings in greatdetail, of which we will speak further on, but He did not
shrink from dwelling upon His death, nor did He stop there, but foretold His
rising again. In eachof the three accounts He appears to end the story of His
passionby saying that on the third day He would rise againfrom the dead.
That was a glorious climax—“The third day He shall rise again.” Oh, that
blesseddoctrine of the resurrection!If our Lord’s record ended at the cross, it
might drive us to despair, but He is declaredto be the Son of God with power
by His resurrectionfrom the dead. That He was raisedfrom the dead makes
us see the merit, the power, the greatrewardof His death. He that brought
againfrom the dead our Lord Jesus that greatShepherd of the sheep, by the
blood of the everlasting covenant, even He will make us perfectin every good
work to do His will. Wheneverthe Mastercomes very near to us in His
gracious condescension, He shows us not only that He shed His blood for us,
but that He rose again, and everlives to carry on our cause. Whenyou
worship most closely, you will worship Him that lived, and died, and rose
again, and now lives foreverand ever. This is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is not
a teacheronly, or a bright example merely, but one whose death is the source
of our salvation, and whose resurrectionand eternal glory are the guarantee
and foretaste ofour everlasting bliss. A living, dying, risen Christ is one with
whom we have joyful fellowship, and if we know Him not in this character, we
do not know Him at all. Furthermore, He conversedwith them upon their
share in all this. They were one with Him in that which would befall Him. He
says, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem.” True, they would have no share in the
scourging, and the spitting, and the crucifixion. He must tread that winepress

alone. But yet they would with Him carry the cross in the near future, and
with Him deny themselves during the rest of their lives. Henceforward, it
would not be only Jesus the Lord who would bear witness for God and
righteousness, but the followers of the Crucified One would unite in testimony
to the same truth, for the same greatpurpose. It was well for Him to speak to
them on such a practicaltheme; they would be cheeredand comfortedon
later days when they remembered that He had told them of these things. He
will draw us into very intimate communion if we are willing to take up His
cross and bear His reproach. We lose much when we quit the separatedpath
because it is rough, for we lose our Lord’s sweetcompany. Oh, for grace to
love the rough paths, because we see His footprints on them! They listened to
this private talk, but we are told by Luke that it was very much lost upon
them, because they did not understand Him. “And they understood none of
these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things
which were spoken.” “Yet,” you say, “it was very simple.” Possibly that is why
they did not understand it. Numbers of people imagine that they understand
mysteries, and yet the simplicities of the faith are hid from their eyes because
they are gazing after abstruse doctrines. They searchafter difficult things and
miss the plain truth. We groan as we wantonly dive into a profound abyss,
and yet we stand confounded over a little transparent stream, which, to wade
through, would bring us bliss. When our Lord told the twelve that He would
die, they imagined that it was a parable, concealing some deepmystery. They
lookedat one another, and they tried to fathom where there was no depth, but
where the truth lay on the surface. The deep things of Godthousands will pry
into, but yet these are not saving matters, nor are they of any greatpractical
value. Fixed fate, free will, predestination, prophecy, and the like, these have
small bearings upon our salvationfrom sin, but in the death of our Lord lies
the kernelof the matter. Beloved, when we try to commune with Jesus, letus
wearthe garments of simplicity. It is the serpent who trades in subtlety, but I
would have you remember “the simplicity which is in Christ Jesus.” There is
in Him a depth which we cannot fathom, but His every word is pure truth,
and those things which are necessaryare made so plain that he who runs may
read, and he who reads may run. Believe Him to mean what He says, and take
His promises as they stand, and His precepts in their plain meaning, and, oh,
if we do this, we shall be made greatly wise!Do not confuse your minds with

doctrinal riddles, nor amuse your souls with spiritual conundrums, but
believe in Him who is Jesus, the faithful and true, which makes knownto us
the heart of the Father. Believe that He died in our stead. Believe that He took
our sin upon Him, and carriedit all away. Believe that we are justified
through His resurrection, and are made to live because He lives. Hypotheses
and criticaldoubts we may leave to the dogs that first sniffed them out, but as
for us, we will be as children who eat the
bread their father gives them, and ask no questions as to the field in which the
wheatwas reaped, and raise no debates as to the mill at which the grain was
ground. Thus, you see, the private conversations ofour Lord with the twelve
dealt with His sufferings and death, and His communications come home to
our hearts in proportion as we are prepared to receive them in childlike
simplicity. II. Secondly, we will now turn our minds to THE PRIVATE
THOUGHTS OF OUR LORD JESUS. We shall not be presumptuous if we
humbly inquire—What were the thoughts of our Lord at the time? When He
had calledthem quite apart, and spokento them, we may be quite sure that
what He saidto them was the outcome of His innermost meditations. Our
Lord was forecasting His death in all its mournful details. Do you not know
that frequently it is more painful to anticipate death than it is actually to die?
Yet our Lord dwelt upon His sufferings, even to their minutiae. A person was
speaking to me the other day of a painful operation which he was bound to
undergo. There was no probability that he could getinto the hospital for
another month or two, and he remarked that he greatly wishedthat the
operationcould have been performed sooner, “For,” he said, “it is so painful
to be looking forwardto a matter so distressing. Let it be soon,” was his cry.
Our Lord was like a grain of wheatwhich is castinto the ground, and lies
there for a while before it dies. He was buried, as it were, in prospective
agony; immersed in suffering, which He foresaw. In the thought of the cross
He endured it before He felt the nails. The shadow of His death was upon Him
before He reachedthe tree of doom. Yet He did not put away the thought, but
dwelt upon it as one who tastes a cup before he drinks it to the dregs. After so

deliberate a testing, is it not all the more marvelous that He did not refuse the
draught? Did He not remember His engagementto go through with our
redemption? “Lo, I come,” He said, “in the volume of the Book it is written of
Me.” He had pledged Himself by solemn covenant, and in the Book it was
written that He would stand in our stead, and give His life an offering for sin.
From this suretyship He never departed. He knew that the Father would
bruise Him and put Him to grief in the approaching day of His anger. He
knew that the wickedwould pierce His hands and His feet. He knew all that
would occur, and He startednot back from the pledge which He had given in
the councilchamber of eternity that His life should be rendered up as a
ransom for many. It were well if we also remembered our vows to God, and
the obligations under which we are placed by His greatlove. Our Lord’s
thoughts took the form of a resolution to do the Father’s will to the end. He set
His face steadfastlyto go to Jerusalem. Nothing could make Him look aside.
He had undertaken, and He would go through with it. Unless it should prove
possible for us to be saved otherwise, He would not set aside that cup which
His Fatherhad given Him to drink. The thought of our perishing He could not
bear; that was not to be tolerated. He would suffer all imaginable and
unimaginable woe soonerthan desertthe cause He had espoused. He was
straitened—so He described it—straitenedtill His labor was accomplished. He
was like a man pent up againstHis will; He longedto be discharging His
tremendous task. He had an awful work to do, an agonizing suffering to bear,
and He felt fettered until He could be at it; “How am I straitened till it is
accomplished!” He was as a hostage bound for others, longing to be set free.
He longed to be bearing the penalty to which He had voluntarily subjected
Himself by His covenantsuretyship. He therefore thought upon that
“obedience unto death” which He was determined and resolvedto render.
He had an eye all the while to you and to me. While He was thinking of death
He was chiefly regarding those for whom He would suffer. I doubt not that
there flashed before that mighty mind the individuals who make up the vast
host of His redeemed, and among them there were insignificant individuals,
such as we are. Out of His strong love to us, even to us, He determined to pay
our ransom price in death; it was part of His solace thatHe would deliver you
and me. “He loved me, and gave Himself for me.” He made a voluntary
offering of Himself for me, before He actually died; often and often

surrendering Himself in purpose, before the cross was rearedfor the actual
offering up of His body once for all. Then there came into His mind, also, the
thought of the grand sequel of it all. He would rise again. On the third day, it
would all be over, and the recompense would begin. A few hours of bitter
grief; a night of bloody sweat, a night and a morning of mockery, when He
would be flouted by the abjects, and made nothing of by the profane; a direful
afternoonof deadly anguish on the cross, and of dark desertionby Jehovah;
and then the bowing of the head, and a little rest in the grave for His body;
and on the third
day the light would break upon mankind, for the Sun of righteousness would
arise with healing in His wings. The light that would come when He should
rise would lighten the Gentiles, and be the glory of His people Israel. He
would then have said, “It is finished,” and He would shortly afterwardascend
to reap His reward in personalglorification, and in receiving gifts for men—
yes, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.
Surely our Lord’s thoughts were all the while upon His Father! He
remembered ever the beloved Fatherto whom He was to be “obedientunto
death, even the death of the cross.”Thattwenty-secondpsalm, which might
well be our Lord’s on the cross, is full of God; it is an appeal to God. As our
Lord went on His way with the twelve, conversing upon the road, they must
have seenthat He was in close communion with God. There was about Him a
deep solemnity of spirit, a rapt communion with the Unseen, a heavenly
walking with God, evenbeyond His usual habit. This mixed with His deeply-
fixed resolve, and that stern joy which only they can feelthat are resolvedto
accomplisha greatpurpose through bowing to the divine will, let it costwhat
it may. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus was everything to Him, and in
all His acts His heart was setupon Jehovah’s glory. I wish that I had time for
my subject, but it is overwhelming me. I canonly open the door, and bid you
look into the private thoughts of Him whose thoughts are priceless gems,
whereas yours and mine are as the pebbles of the brook. What meditations
were His! How precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O Christ! How great

is the sum of them! Wonderful things did You ponder in Your soul on those
days of Your nearing passion! III. Now we will have a few moments as to
OUR LORD’S DWELLING ON DETAILS. I do not want to preach. I wish to
be a kind of model for your thoughts, just setting the example by thinking first
that you may follow. May the sacredSpirit now lead you quietly into the
points upon which our Lord so calmly enlarged! Note well what our Lord
said about His sufferings. “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem;and the Son of
man shall be betrayed.” Stop there; “Betrayed”!It is as though I heard the
deep boom of a death knell. “Betrayed”!“Betrayed”!To die, yes, that is not a
word with a sting in it to Him! But “Betrayed”!—thatmeans sold by cruel
treachery. It means that one who ate bread with Him lifted up his heel against
Him. It means that a man who was His familiar acquaintance, with whom He
walkedto the house of God in company, sold Him for a paltry bribe.
“Betrayed,” forthirty pieces of silver! A goodlyprice, indeed, for the blood of
such a friend! “Betrayed”!Hear how He cries, “If it were an enemy, then I
could have borne it.” “Betrayed”!It was no stranger; it was no bloodhound of
the Phariseeswho scentedHim out in the garden; but “Judas also, which
betrayed Him, knew the place.” Betrayedwith a kiss, and with a friendly
word! Handed over to them who soughtHis blood by one who ought to have
defended Him to the death. “Betrayed”!It is a dreadful word to be set here
before the passion, and it throws a lurid light over it all. We read—“The same
night in which He was betrayed He took bread.” This was the bitterest drop in
His cup, that He was betrayed. And still is He betrayed! If the gospeldies in
England, write on its tomb, “Betrayed.”If our churches lose their holy
influence among men, write on them, “Betrayed.” Whatcare we for infidels?
What care we for those who curse and blaspheme? They cannot hurt the
Christ. His wounds are those which He receives in the house of His friends.
“Betrayed”!O Savior, some of us have been betrayed, but ours was a small
sorrow comparedwith Yours, for You were betrayed into the hands of sinners
by one who claimed to be Your friend, by one who was bound by every tie to
have been Your faithful follower. “Betrayed”!Beloved, I cannot bear the
word. It falls like a flake of fire into my bosom, and burns its wayinto my
inmost soul. “Betrayed”!And such a faithful friend as He! So full of love and
yet betrayed! Readon. “The Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief
priests, and unto the scribes.” The chiefpriests ought to have been His best

defenders always. They were the leaders of the religion of the day; these chief
priests were the guides of Israel. When Israel bowedbefore the Lord, the chief
priests presentedthe sacrifice. Yetthese were our Lord’s most bitter enemies;
by their malice He was condemned, and crucified. It is hard to have the
professedservants of God againstyou. The scribes, too, those Bible writers
and Bible interpreters; these also were fiercely againstHim. From the hands
of scribes He would have less mercy than from soldiers. I said, the other
Sabbath-day, what I now repeat; I would rather be bitten by wolves than by
sheep. It is wretched work to have those againstyou who are reckonedto be
the bestmen of the time. It was little to Him to have Herod againstHim, or
Pilate, and the Romans as
His foes, for they knew no better, but it was heart-rending work to see the
men of the Sanhedrim, the men of prayers and phylacteries, the men of the
temple and of the synagogue, arrayedagainstHim. Yet into their hands He
falls! GoodMaster, You are delivered into the hands of men who know no
mercy, for they hate You for Your faithful words!They cancompromise, but
You cannot; they cantrifle with language, and You cannot; they canplay the
hypocrite, and that You cannotdo! Readon, “And they shall condemn Him
to death.” They did not leave the sentence ofcondemnation to the Romans,
but themselves passedsentenceupon their victim. The priests, whose office
made them types of Himself, and the scribes, who were the official
interpreters of His Father’s Book, these condemnedthe holy One and the just.
They count Him worthy of death; nothing less will serve their turn. This the
Christ could plainly see, and it was no small trial to come under the censure of
His country’s governors. Theycould not put Him to death themselves. If they
dared they would have stonedHim, and that would have broken the
prophecy, which declared that in death His enemies must pierce His hands
and His feet. They can condemn Him to death, but they cannotexecute the
sentence. Yetnone the less this iron entered into His soul, that those who were
professedlythe servants of God condemned Him to die. If you have ever
tastedof this cup you know that it has wormwoodin it. Notice, further, “and

shall deliver Him to the Gentiles.” In our Master’s death all men conspired;
not half the world, but all of it, must have a hand in the tragedy of Calvary.
The Gentile must come in. He takes his share in this iniquity, for Pilate
condemns Him to the cross. The chief priests hand Him over to Pilate, and he
commits Him to the Roman soldiers, that they may do the cruel deed. They
“delivered Him to the Gentiles.” The Masterdwells on this. It opens another
gate through which His sorrows poured. At the hands of the Gentiles He dies,
and for Gentiles He suffered. Beloved, I like to see how the Masternotes this
point. He makes distinctions; He does not say that He should be condemned
by Pilate, but He is condemned to die by the chief priests, and then He is
delivered to the Gentiles. He sees it all, and dwells upon the points of special
interest. O believer, behold your Lord bound and taken awayto the hall of
Pilate. See Him delivered to the Gentiles, while His fellow countrymen cry,
“We have no king but Caesar”!They shout, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
and the Gentiles carry out their cruel demand. Unanimity among our
persecutors must add greatly to the sting of their unkindness. These three
words follow—“To mock, andto scourge,and to crucify Him.” Mark puts in,
“To spit upon Him.” That was a sad part of the mockery. What dreadful
scorning He endured! From the Jews whenthey blindfolded Him, and
buffeted Him; and from the Gentiles when they put on Him a purple robe,
and thrust a reed into His hand, bowed the knee, and cried before Him, “Hail,
King of the Jews!” They plucked His hair, they smote His cheeks,they spat in
His face. Mockerycould go no farther. It was cruel, cutting, cursedscorn.
Ridicule sometimes breaks hearts that are hardened againstpain, and the
Christ had to bearall the ridicule that human minds could invent. They were
maliciously witty. They jestedat His person; they jestedat His prayers. They
mockedHim when He cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken
Me?” Herein is grief immeasurable, and the Saviorforesaw it, and spoke
about it. That was not all; they scourgedHim. I will not harrow your hearts
by trying to describe scourging as it existed among the Romans. The scourge
was an infamous instrument of torture. It is said to have been made of the
sinews of oxen, intertwisted with the hucklebones of sheep, and slivers of
bone; so that every time the lashes fell, they plowedthe back, and laid bare
the white bones of the shoulders. It was an anguish more cruel than the grave,
but our Lord endured it to the full. They mockedHim, and they scourged

Him; He dwells upon eachseparate item. Some of our most touching hymns
upon our Lord’s passionare spokenof by the cold-bloodedcritics of today as
sensuous. “Icannot bear,” says one, “to hear so much about the physical
agonies ofChrist.” Beloved, we must preachthe physical agonies ofChrist
more than ever, because this is an age of affectation, in which His mental and
spiritual griefs are no more apprehended than those of His body. The device is
to be rid of His sufferings altogether. This age is as fond of physical pleasure
as any that has gone before it, and it must be made to know that physical pain
was a greatingredient in the cup which our Lord drank for man’s
redemption. Very many are so unspiritual, that they will never be reachedby
high-soaring language, appealing to a delicacywhich they do not possess. We
must exhibit the bleeding Savior, if we would make men’s hearts bleed for sin.
The cries of His greatgrief must ring in their ears, or they will remain deaf.
Let us not be ashamedto dwell upon points upon which the Lord Himself
dwelt.
Then He adds, “to crucify Him.” Here I will come to a pause. Behold Him!
Behold Him! His hands are extended and cruelly nailed to the wood. His feet
are fastenedto the tree, and He Himself is left to bear the weightof His body
upon His hands and feet. See how the nails tearthrough the flesh as the
weight drags the body down and enlarges the wounds! See, He is in a fever!
His mouth is dried up and has become like an oven, and His tongue cleaves to
the roofthereof! Crucifixion was an inhuman death, and the Savior was
“obedientunto death, even the death of the cross.” The wonderis that He
could foresee this, and speak of it so calmly. He meditates upon it, and speaks
to choice familiar friends about it. Oh, the mastery of love, strong as death!
He contemplates the cross, and despises its shame. Thus He dwells on it all,
and then closesby saying, “and the third day He shall rise again.” We must
never forget that, for He never forgets it. Ah! You may think as much as you
will of Calvary, and let your tears flow like rivers. You may sit at
Gethsemane, and say, “Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain
of tears, that I might weepday and night for my Lord!” But, after all, you

must wipe those tears away, for He is not in the grave;He rose againon the
third day. O blessedmorning! Not to be celebratedby an Easteronce in the
year, but to be commemoratedon every first day of the week, more than fifty
times in eachyear. Every seven days that the sun shines upon us brings us a
new recordof His resurrection. We may sing every Lord’s-day morning—
“TodayHe rose and left the dead, And Satan’s empire fell: Today the saints
His triumph spread, And all His wonders tell.” The first day of the week
stands foreveras the remembrance of our risen Lord, and on that day He
renews His specialcommunings with His people. We believe in Him; we rise in
Him; we triumph in Him; and “He ever lives to make intercessionfor us.”
Thus, you see, I have not preached my own thoughts, but I have setyou
thinking. Treasure these thoughts in your minds. All this week sweetenyour
souls with the sacredspices ofour Lord’s thoughts and words when near His
death. God bless this meditation to you by His Holy Spirit! If you have never
believed in Him, may you believe in Him at once!Why delay? He is able to
save unto the uttermost, believe in Him just now. And if you have believed,
keepon believing, and let your believing grow more intense. Think more of
Jesus, love Him more, and serve Him more, and grow more like Him. Peace
be unto you for His dear sake!Amen.
BRIAN BELL
Matthew 20:17-34 12-18-16 A Love that Serves I. Slide1 Announce:
A. Slide2-4 Larry: Church Office Hours. Christmas Services. HS New Yrs
Eve Party. B. Slide5 This Wed Night: We have specialguestmusic by Joseph
Pfeifer (dad/mom attend here) [worship leader from CC Santa Barbara].
Share songs from New Christmas Album. 1. 4(10min) Christmas Devo’s:
Hope/Gail Mays, Peace/Andy Deanne, Comfort/Kelly, Joy/BrianC. Slide6a
Sanctuary Remodel:Due to our Sanctuaryremodel there will be NO services
in our Sanctuary on Wed, Dec. 28thor Jan4th. [Yes, on Sun Jan.1st]1. On
both Wed nights we encourage youto open up your home and host a

fellowship night or Bible study with friends. a) On 12/28 you’re invited to play
Capture the Flag with our HS ministry. 2. Then on Jan.4th, we’ll be meeting
at the CalOaks Reading Theaterto watchthe movie “Sing”. (Time
TBD/announcedon facebook& website)Or again, take this time and open
your home, have some new people over for dinner and/or fellowship.
D.Slide6bPrayer: II. Slide7 Intro: A.We remain on the theme of serving.
Last week Service orServe Us? This week A Love That Serves. 1. Dying to
Serve (17-19)Coming to Serve (20-28)Compassionthat Serves (29-34). B.
Slide8 Jesus’journey beganin Galilee. Travelers on this route would start
uphill at Jericho. Fromthere, it was about a 10-mile ascentto Jerusalem. C.
In vs.28 we have the key to the life of Christ...answering why He came. It’s
what we celebrate this time of year in His Incarnation, His coming...but why
did He come? 1. He came to serve & to give (His life). Servanthood&
Sacrifice. 2. He came to die, His supreme mission. He came to live, for our
example. He came to teach, about His kingdom. He came to heal, both body &
soul. He came to show compassion, to the multitudes. He came to testify of
truth, that we might walk in it. He came to destroy the work of the devil, to set
us free of sin. 1
He came to setthe captives free, that we might be free indeed. He came to lay
down His life a ransom for many. (He didn’t die a martyr, but as a Savior).
III. Slide9 DYING TO SERVE (17-19) A. Jesus marches boldly on before
them, showing us He’s a Lion of a Lamb. 1. Slide10 Mark 10:32 nlt Now they
were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them;
and they were amazed. And as they followedthey were afraid. Then He took
the twelve aside againand began to tell them the things that would happen to
Him. a) His steadfastdetermination in the face of impending danger
amazed/surprised the disciples; indeed those who followedwere afraid. B.
This is the 3rd & final prediction of His passion. 1. Here He finally names the
destination…Jerusalem. C. Ok, so I want you to know this information so
you’ll know I’m in controlwhen it seems like everything is out of control.
IV. Slide11 COMING TO SERVE (20-28)A. One at your right hand and one
at your left - Refers to preeminent positions of authority and honor - the 1st
and 2nd in importance after Jesus Himself. 1. Denied on 2 counts: Their

Ignorance - They don’t know what they’re asking. TheirInability - The
Father assigns the seating arrangements. B. Mom’s name is Salome. Maybe
she remembered Jesus’promise in 19:28 & was simply claiming it for her 2
boys. 1. Maybe it was the mention of Jerusalemthat triggeredtheir inquiry?
As they thought he was going to take His place on the throne of the
kingdom...andthey wanted the box seats. 2. What she/they forgotwas what
He just said about the cross. 3. Slide12a Whatshe/they forgotwas the only
way to glory is through suffering (1 Pet.5:10 may the God of all grace, who
calledus to His eternalglory by
2
Christ Jesus, afteryou have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, &
settle you) a) Slide12bYou do not pray for a throne; you pay for it. Weirsbe
C. (22) Why do you think James/Johnask whatthey do? 1. They had
enjoyed the unique privilege of glimpsing His glory on the mount of
Transfiguration. 2. They wanted to getto Him 1st (the early bird gets the
worm right?) D. Slide12c If you are a disciple, expecta cross, a cup, & a
baptism, for the servant is not greaterthan his Lord.1 1. Cup = of sorrow.
Baptism = of suffering. [Their goalshould be serving, not ruling] 2. Disciples:
Jesus canwe share in your glory? Jesus:Sure...willyou share in my suffering?
E. Slide12dHere is flesh in its finest hour…we are able! 1. Do you desire a
position? Then prepare yourself for it, rather than seek it selfishly. a) James
4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, & HE will lift you up. F. (23)
You will indeed drink - James was going to be the 1st of the 12 to lose his life
for Christ, King Herod...hadJames, the brother of John, put to death w/the
sword. Acts 12:1,2 1. John was probably the last to die. Died of natural causes
as best we know… but suffered many persecutions. [Like trying to be boiled
to death]2 G. (24) Greatly displeased? – BecauseofJames & John’s
selfishness?Or, because the other 10 didn’t think of it 1st? Or, because they
were jealous they didn’t get to Him 1st? H. (25-28)Jesus turns the value
system of the world totally upside down. I. The marks of true greatness are
humility & service. 1. Jesus seems to saythere’s nothing wrong w/the desire
to be great, provided: a) You seek the right kind of greatness. You allow God
to decide what greatness is. You are willing to pay the full price that greatness

demands.3 J. Slide13a(27)Jesus brings out for a 3rd time 1st shall be last;
slave of all. [It’s a race to the bottom] 3
1 Warren Wiersbe, pg.661 2 Where the apostle John was ﬁrst plunged,
unhurt, in the boiling oil, & thence remitted to his island-exile. Tertullian,
ch.36, The PrescriptionAgainst Heretics. 3 A.W.Tozer
1. God’s pattern in Scripture is that a person must first be a servant before
God promotes him or her to be a ruler. 2. Slide13bYou can’t give orders until
you cantake orders. You can’t exercise authority until you canbe under
authority. K. (28) New motivation for service? To give…notget. 1. Jesus
didn’t come to getyour service but to give you His services. 2. Jesus didn’t
come to gather your merit but to show you grace. 3. Jesus didn’t come to
count up your works but to show you mercy. 4. Jesus didn’t come to look for
treasure but to bestow upon you unsearchable treasures 5. Jesus didn’t come
for those who think they are righteous but to look for sinners. 6. Jesus didn’t
come to those who think they are healthy but to heal the spiritually sick. 7.
Jesus didn’t come to those who think they are found but to seek & save the
lost. 8. Jesus didn’t come for those who could see but to those who were
spiritually blind. L. How can your life better conform to Jesus’view of
greatness?In the area of serving or giving?
M. Slide14a Ransom– The essentialidea is release, redeem, redemption. 1.
Originally, it was the payment of a price to secure the releaseofa prisoner of
war. Then it was usedof the release ofa slave, and then of a personunder
sentence ofdeath. 2. It indicated something was paid to secure that release.
3. Christ gave Himself as the ransom price to free us from the slavery of sin.
N. Slide14b3 words for redemption/ransom: O. Agorazo (ἀγοράζω)buy in
the market. 1. 1 Cor. 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. P. Exagorazo
(ἐξαγοράζω)buy out of the market. 1. Gal.3:13 Christ has redeemedus from
the curse of the law, having become a curse for us for it is written, Cursedis
everyone who hangs on a tree. Q. Lutron (λυτρόv) to set free never to be
bought again.
4

1. Titus 2:14 (Jesus)who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from
every lawless deedand purify for Himself His own specialpeople. 2. It’s the
price for a slave who is then setfree by the one who bought him. a) Jesus gave
His own life as the price of freedom for the slaves of sin. R. Ransomfor (in
place of) many - His death would take the place of many deaths (animal
sacrifices), foronly His death could truly atone for sin. 1. First, it was 1
animal sacrifice perperson (Adam/Eve Gen.3). Then, 1 animal sacrifice per
family (at PassoverEx.12). Then, 1 animal sacrifice per nation (Day of
atonement). Finally, 1 sacrifice per world (John 1:29 Behold! The Lamb of
God who takes awaythe sin of the world)
V. Slide15 COMPASSIONTHAT SERVES (29-34)A. In the final episode
before Jesus’arrival in Jerusalem, Jesus is againshownto be the Messiah
from David’s line. 1. Jesus continues to show His concernfor the castoffs of
societyand heals two blind men whom the crowds attempt to silence. B. Meet
2 determined blind men. Bartimaeus was the prominent one (Mrk10:46). C.
Here is the lastmiracle recordedin the gospels before the week ofpassion. 1.
It’s Passovertime, so the streets would be packedthe closerthey get to Jer. D.
(29) Jericho – An Oasis in the desert. City of Palms. Place of fragrance. E.
(30,31)Sonof David – a Messianictitle. 1. It was said of MessiahwhenHe
comes He’d be...a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free
captives from prison and to release fromthe dungeon those who sit in
darkness. Is.42:6,7F. Slide16 (32)So Jesus stoodstill – [I love this] For a
moment in time this blind beggarhas the undivided attention of Deity.
Bartimaeus the man who stopped God. 1. Joshua made the sun stand still, but
this blind beggarcausedthe Son of Righteousnessto stand still. 2. In spite of
His impending death, Jesus makes time for Bartimaeus. a)What does this tell
us about His priorities? How do they compare with your own?
5
G. Mrk 10:49bNIV says - Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you. 1. This
should be every Christian’s cry to those who are recognizing their darkness &
helplessness…Cheerup! On your feet! He's calling you. H. Listen to his
eagerness in Marks account(10:50nlt) Bartimaeus threw aside his coat,
jumped up, and came to Jesus. 1. This is how we all must come to Jesus. Cast

off our old filthy garment like Bartimaeus. I. Slide17,18(33)What do you
want Me to do for you? - They knew what they wanted, and they trusted him
for it. Lord, that our eyes may be opened. 1. Do you know what you want
when you come to Him in prayer? 2. Do you persist even if others try to
discourage you? 3. What promise we have in Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy & find grace to
help in time of need. J. (34)The 1st thing this blind man saw was the face of
Jesus. 1. Slide19 He followedJesus – We are not surprised from what we’ve
learned of him thus far…that he followed Jesus onthe road (Mrk 10:52)But
what road? a) Well, it was the road to Jerusalem…to His death. b) He
followedJesus on the road right to: Atonement Avenue. Lonely Lane. Calvary
Circle. Scourge Street. BrokenBoulevard. PassionPlace.DeathDrive. (1) To
follow Jesus on His road...Whatmight be some of your costs? Some ofyour
liberties? Some of your rights?
Commentary on Matthew 20:17-34
by Dr. Knox Chamblin
THE THIRD PREDICTION OF THE PASSION AND TRIUMPH. 20:17-19.
I. THE PREDICTION ITSELF.
A. Affinities with 16:21 and 17:22-23. Here, as in both earlier passages, Jesus predicts both his
death and his resurrection. As in 16:21, he identifies his enemies as "the chief priests and the
teachers of the law" (Sadduccean and Pharisaic interests are combined against the common foe).
As in 17:22-23 Jesus had spoken of being "handed over" (paradid©mi) to the Jews, here (using
the verb twice) he speaks of being handed over to both Jews and (by their instrumentality) to the
Gentiles.
B. Distinctive Features of this Prediction.
In 16:21 Jesus predicted that "he must...suffer many things at the hands of [the Jewish
authorities]" before his death. Here he says, "They [the Jewish authorities] will turn him over to
the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified" (v. 19). Gentiles do the actual mocking and
flogging, but it is the Jews' purpose they fulfill. In other words, according to 20:19 no less than
16:21, Jesus "suffers many things" at Jewish hands. Noting that Matthew uses three infinitives of
purpose ("in order to be mocked, flogged, and crucified") in place of Mk's finite verbs (10:34),
Gundry comments: "Thus the center of attention shifts from the action of the Gentiles to the
malevolent purpose of the Jewish leaders in handing Jesus over to them" (401). Cf. 26:2; 27:31.

II. THE POSITION OF THE PREDICTION.
Placed at this juncture, this third prediction (1) provides a foil to the petty ambitions of the
disciples, 20:20-24, (2) anticipates the great declaration of v. 28, and (3) reminds readers at what
great personal cost God bestows his unmerited favor upon his people (cf. 20:14-15).
THE TEST OF GREATNESS. 20:20-28.
I. JESUS AND THE FAMILY OF ZEBEDEE. 20:20-23.
A. The Family's Request. 20:20-21.
1. The source of the request. According to Mt, it is the mother of James and John who asks a
favor on their behalf; according to Mk (10:35), it is James and John themselves. These two
accounts may easily be synthesized (see Carson, 430-31).
2. The reason for the request. That such a request comes from this particular family, may be
attributed in part to Jesus' choice of James and John to be numbered among the "inner three" (cf.
17:1). There may well be another reason: "The mother of Zebedee's sons probably bore the name
Salome (cf. 27:56 with Mark 15:40) and perhaps had Mary the mother of Jesus for a sister (see
John 19:25). Family relationship, then, may lie behind the request" (Gundry, 401). This in turn
would explain the involvement of both mother and sons (as noted under 1.).
3. The nature of the request. The mother's request that her sons be permitted to sit "on Jesus' right
and left" in his kingdom, pertains not to the Messianic banquet (as foreshadowed in the Last
Supper) but to the thrones closest to that of Jesus (cf. 19:28; the above interpretation of 20:1-16;
and Gundry, 402).
B. Jesus' Response. 20:22-23.
James and John (and their mother) are ignorant of two things.
1. Suffering comes before glory.
a. The cup of Jesus. Jesus asks James and John, "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" As
applied to Jesus, the figure of "drinking the cup [potsrion]" signals his approaching experience of
suffering and death (as just predicted, vv. 18-19). As he is the sin-bearer (1:21; 3:15), it also
signals his personal experience of the wrath of God (Leonhard Goppelt, TDNT 6: 144; on "the
cup of wrath" in the OT, see ibid., 149-51). It is chiefly the prospect of experiencing God's wrath
- and the consequent separation from the Father — that causes Jesus to cry out in Gethsemane,
"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup [potsrion] be taken from me" (26:39). Cf. ibid., 152-
53.
b. The disciples' expectation. That disciples could envisage glory without suffering, is clear from
16:21-17:13. Yet perhaps by this stage the sons of Zebedee are beginning to grasp that Jesus
must enter into glory by way of suffering (for he has now thrice predicted his death and
resurrection). And perhaps the words of v. 22b ("We can" drink your cup) are quite sincere. But
if so, the words are as naive as they are sincere. For in the first place, even if the disciples are
beginning to accept the inevitability of Jesus' death, they have as yet only the faintest
understanding of the meaning of that death (cf. 20:28; 26:26-28). Had they perceived that Jesus
would die as the sin-bearer and the object of the divine wrath, would they so quickly have
affirmed their ability to drink his cup? And in the second place, the context suggests that the
thrones closest to Jesus' own are reserved for those disciples whose suffering comes closest to
approximating his own - i.e., whose suffering is marked by the greatest sacrifice and the greatest

anguish (cf. v. 28). For James and John to make their present request intelligently, would require
that they ask also for the grace needed to bear the suffering which leads to the glory (cf. 24:9;
Rom 8:17; 2 Tim 2:12; Rev 3:21).
c. The disciples' experience. In response to the disciples' boast (v. 22b), Jesus says, "You will
drink my cup" (v. 23a, RSV). The words "my cup" show that it remains Jesus' cup even as the
others drink it. NEB well renders, "You shall indeed share my cup." In fulfillment of Jesus'
prophecy, James suffers martyrdom at the hands of Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:2); and John, while
probably dying a natural death in old age, nonetheless suffers for Jesus' sake (Rev 1:9).
2. The Father's will is decisive. "But to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places
belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father" (v. 23b).
a. The Father's prerogative. According to Jesus, the apostles will sit on twelve thrones alongside
his own (19:28). Jesus himself will be enthroned, because the Father has granted him - the Son of
Man - authority to execute final Judgment (see especially Jn 5:19-27). From this we might infer
that the apostles' authority to judge (19:28) also comes from the Father. Mt 20:23 leaves us in no
doubt that this is the case; that the Father chooses the occupants of these two thrones, indicates
that he has chosen the occupants of all twelve. Jesus declares (19:28) what the Father has
authorized (20:23).
b. The Father's choice. The Father has prepared these two thrones for a given two apostles of his
choice. The preparation presupposes the choice. Which two apostles are to occupy those thrones
has not yet been disclosed. That would undermine the very reason for the choice.
c. The Father's reason. Those two seats are reserved (it appears) for apostles who identify most
closely with Jesus in his willingness to serve and to suffer (v. 28, and 1.b. above), and who
therefore are the least self-conscious, the least calculating, and the least ambitious (cf. 25:37-39).
Such persons will be astounded to learn that they have been assigned the thrones next to Jesus:
they would willingly take those furthest removed from him. Those most like Jesus shall be seated
closest to him. Cf. 1 Cor 4:9, "us apostles...at the end of the procession."
II. JESUS AND THE TWELVE. 20:24-28.
A. The Reaction of the Ten. 20:24.
The reason for their indignation toward James and John, has already been considered.
B. Jesus' Response. 20:25-28.
Having brought all twelve disciples together (v. 25a), Jesus addresses the competitive pride that
infects all the disciples and threatens to tear their company asunder.
1. The destructive use of power. "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and
their high officials exercise authority over them" (v. 25b). The way of the world, as typified here
by Gentile rulers, is to exercise power by demanding submission and service. The rulers' power
readily serves the purpose of pride, in that by asserting their power they can keep their subjects
beneath them. Power is the means of continually reminding subjects just who is in charge. And
since this is (by the standards of the Kingdom) a spurious power, ever more strenuous effort is
needed to maintain it.
2. The creative use of power. "Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among
you must be your servant [diakonos], and whoever wants to be first must be your slave [doulos]"
(20:26-27). The apostles are endowed with stupendous power and authority - that of Jesus

himself (10:1; cf. 28:18-20). Yet as those who are slaves (douloi) of Jesus and fully accountable
to him as Lord, they have no right to lord it over others or to wield power as a means of
advancing themselves. On the contrary, their slavery to Jesus manifests itself as slavery to other
people (vv. 26-27). As those who experience the security and freedom of the Kingdom, they
have no need to lord it over others. As those who emulate Jesus, they discover that self-giving
service is the very means by which God releases the true power. Accordingly, the disciples'
greatness does not lie beyond the service but precisely in the service. Jesus thus drives home the
lesson about true greatness in ch. 18, and the lesson about equality in 20:1-16.
3. Jesus the Servant. Jesus provides the supreme example of selfless service: "Just as the Son of
Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (v. 28).
va. The power of service. If ever one possessed power and authority, it is Jesus the Son of Man.
In coming to serve, he does not abandon power, he exercises power. Cf. Phil 2:6-8.
b. The sacrificial death. He comes "to serve and to give" - or better, "to serve, i.e. to give" (the
"and," kai, is epexegetical; following Gundry, 404). The singular focus of this verse is Jesus'
service in death. The language is rooted in Isa 53:10-12 (see Gundry, 404).
c. The ransom for many (lutron anti poll©n]. (1) Jesus' death is redemptive. He liberates the
"many" from the bondage and guilt of sin, at great cost to himself. (2) In bearing the sins of his
people (1:21), he simultaneously renders both the lowliest and the noblest service ever (cf.
Bruce, Matthew, 66). Moreover, as the sin-bearer he dies in the place of the many, as their
substitute (note the preposition anti). On these two points, see Leon Morris, The Apostolic
Preaching of the Cross, 3rd ed., pp. 29-38). (3) The use of the word "many" is explained both by
the presence of rabim, "many," in Isa 53:11, 12 and by Jesus' purpose to save a host of people
from among both Jews and Gentiles. The term "many" embraces all of those, from whatever
nation, for whom Jesus dies. The contrast is drawn between the many and the few (for some
interpreters, "many" is equivalent to "all"). With respect to the Gentiles, observe how this saying
relates to other passages: Before Jesus' death the proclamation of the Kingdom is confined
almost entirely to Jews, both in Jesus' preaching (15:24) and in that of his disciples (10:6). Two
things account for the shift from those sayings to the Great Commission of 28:18-20, namely
Israel's rejection of their Messiah (21:18-22:14) and Messiah's death as "a ransom for many."
Before the Gospel of liberation from sin may be taken to the Gentiles, the Savior must actually
accomplish their liberation from sin. The work of salvation must precede the news of salvation.
THE HEALING OF TWO BLIND MEN. 20:29-34.
I. THE PLACE. 20:29. The last stage of the ascent to Jerusalem (cf. 20:17) was "the road from
Jericho, leading up the Wadi Qelt. On either side of the lower reaches of the wadi lay NT
Jericho, a new foundation built by Herod the Great as his winter residence...about a mile south of
OT Jericho" (Bruce, Matthew, 66). OT Jericho lay about 17 miles northeast of Jerusalem, NT
Jericho about 16. In Mt and Mk (10:46) the episode occurs as Jesus is leaving Jericho, whereas
in Lk (18:35) Jesus is entering the town. One of the suggestions for harmonizing the accounts
(cf. Carson, 435) is that Mt and Mk speak of old Jericho, and Lk of new).
II. AFFINITIES WITH 9:27-31.
In both passages, (1) Mt speaks of two men, not just one (cf. Mk 8:22-26; 10:46-52); (2) the men
confess Jesus to be "Son of David" (once there, twice here), and cry for mercy; and (3) Jesus
touches their eyes, whereupon their sight is restored.
III. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF 20:29-34.

Here (1) the men acclaim Jesus "Lord" (kyrios) as well as "Son of David"; and (2) Jesus includes
no command to silence (here Jesus heals in public, there in private, 9:28; also, as Jesus is now
much closer to the cross, there is less need to protect against the spread of false Messianism).
Most significantly, while the first story places much greater stress than this one upon the blind
men's faith (see 9:28-29; in 20:30-33 faith is not expressly mentioned, though it clearly underlies
the men's words), the present story - in keeping with the immediately preceding verses — is
concerned to present Jesus as a compassionate Servant to the needy. The verb splagchnizomai
("to show compassion") is used here (v. 34) but not there. Jesus uses his great power to heal
others, not to save himself. Cf. Gundry, 404; Carson, 434-35.
THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS
DR. W. A. CRISWELL
Matthew 20:17-19
4-12-76 12:00 p.m.
Downtown on the street of Dallas this morning, there was a young fellow at a corner who was
giving out these invitations. And there are several of our R.A. boys who are on the city streets
inviting the people to come to this noonday service. What a gracious, precious thing for our boys
to do.
A man down there said, “I could only come and stay at the most for fifteen minutes; that would
disturb the service, and certainly disturb you.” I said, “Not at all. You come and welcome.” This
is a busy noonday hour, and if you can come and stay just a moment, do so. You will not disturb
us. We will all understand. Least of all, would you disturb me. So anytime you have to leave,
you feel free to do so.
The theme of our services this year is “Around the Christ of the Cross”: tomorrow, The
Witnesses Against Him; Wednesday, Can Christ Make Good His Claims? for He said, “I am
the Son of God” [John 10:36]; Thursday, What Shall I do with Jesus? and Friday, Eli Lama
Sabachthani, My God, Wh?; and today, The Shadow of the Cross.
There is a very famous painting. It is of the Lord Jesus as a youth. He looks to be, in the picture,
something like eighteen years of age. He is in the carpenter’s shop. He is making yokes.
Tradition has it that the easiest yokes to bear were those that were fashioned by the hands of our
Lord. And in this picture as He stands a youth of eighteen years, working in the carpenter’s shop,
in the way that He works, and in the way that He stands, over and beyond and behind Him there
is a shadow cast on the wall; and it is the shadow of the cross. All the days of the life of our Lord
did He live in that shadow of suffering and execution.
In the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord has just said to Simon Peter that “on
this rock” He would build His church [Matthew 16:18]. Then from that time forth, He began to
show His disciples how He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things, and be killed
[Matthew 16:21]. It was then that Simon Peter took Him and rebuked Him, saying, “Lord, such a
thing could not happen to Thee.” But He turned and said to Simon Peter, “Simon, you are an
instrument of Satan now, get behind Me: thou art an offense unto Me: thou savorest not the
things that be of God, but of men” [Matthew 16:22-23].

I turn the page to the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, and after the glorious
transfiguration [Matthew 17:1-9], the Lord, identifying John the Baptist as Elijah who had
already come and to whom “they had done whatsoever they listed,” He says, “Likewise also
shall the Son of Man suffer of them” [Matthew 17:10-12]. I turn the page to the twentieth chapter
of the Gospel of Matthew, and beginning at verse 17:
Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart . . . and said unto them,
We go up to Jerusalem; and there the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and
unto the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death,
And they shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify Him: and the third
day He shall rise from the dead.
[Matthew 20:17-19]
I have chosen those passages in the center of the ministry of our Lord, turning those pages so few
in number, just to present how much the suffering death of our Lord was in His heart and before
His face. He lived His life in the shadow of the cross. He was the Lamb slain from before the
foundation of the earth [Revelation 13:8].
The great prophecies of the Old Testament, such as Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, by prophecy depict
the sufferings of our Lord. When He was introduced to the world by John the Baptist, it was with
the words, “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world” [John 1:29]. When
He spoke to Nicodemus in the third chapter of John, He said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” [John 3:14]. When He was anointed by
Mary in the supper at Bethany, the Lord said, “This is an anointing for My burial” [Matthew
26:12].
When the Greeks came to see Him from afar [John 12:20-21], He said, “Except a corn of wheat
fall unto the ground and die, it abideth alone; and I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all
men unto Me. This spake He signifying by what death He should glorify God” [John 12:24, 32-
33]. When He observed the Passover, He instituted the Lord’s Supper. “This is My body, broken
for you; this is My blood of the new covenant, shed for the remission of sins” [Matthew 26:26-
28; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26]. And in Gethsemane, He agonized before the cup that God had given
Him to drink [Matthew 26:38-39]. And finally, the day of the cross came; cruel, and harsh, and
awesome [Matthew 27:32-50]. Alone did He tread the winepress of the wrath and fierceness of
Almighty God for our sins [Isaiah 63:1-5], and rich red blood poured out.
When Jesus came to Golgotha
They hanged Him on a tree.
They drove great nails through hands and feet,
And made a Calvary;
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns,
Red were His wounds and deep,
For those were crude and cruel days,
And human flesh was cheap.
[from “Indifference,” by G. A. Studdart-Kennedy]

The shadow of that cross not only overshadowed the life of our Lord in all of His ministry, but
the shadow of the cross has fallen across this world and the centuries of time. In the center of the
world, and in the heart of time, our Lord has planted His cross. And the world can never be the
same again because He lived here and died here.
These scientists speak of worlds that are beyond, and search to find if there might be life and
other living creatures and maybe human races on other planets and in other spheres. I do not
think so but however the discovery may be made, there will never be another planet or another
sphere like this because this is the world in which Christ died, and this is the earth that drank up
His atoning blood. Nor can we ever be the same again because Christ lived here, and died here,
and gave His life for us here.
Going through the heart of France one time, I stopped and walked through a British military
cemetery. This was soon after the Second World War. And as I walked through that British
cemetery, there was a grave of an RAF pilot, a Royal Air Force pilot, who had been shot down
over France. And evidently his wife had made a visit to the grave of her husband, from England,
and she had laid on the mound a little bouquet of straw flowers, and had written in the wreath
these words, and I read them, “To,” and called her husband’s name, and then added, “Your wife
and boys will never forget.” What a wonderful and a precious sentiment. But how infinitely
elevated when it’s addressed to God; we shall never forget. Out of all of the things in the life of
our Lord, it was this that He asked for us to remember: “This do,” when we break bread and
drink the cup, “This do in remembrance of Me” [1 Corinthians 11:24-25].
Isn’t it a strange thing that beginning at the cross, the whole world flows out on either side?
When you place the cross in this earth, all of the languages east of it read from the right to the
left; and all of the languages west of it read from the left to the right. They all converge in the
cross, the very center of the earth. And in the center of time, all the centuries before this day are
BC, before His cross; and all of the centuries after His day are anno Domini, in the year of our
Lord. In the very heart of the earth and in the very center of time, stands the cross of the Son of
God. And in the shadow of that cross, every Christian apostle, and witness, and martyr, and
preacher proclaims the glory of our grace and salvation found in His love and sobs and tears. In
the shadow of the cross every apostle stood to preach. One of them declared, “God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” [Galatians 6:14].
In the record of the New Testament they left behind, every word and every syllable is inspired by
His sufferings and stained by His blood. And in the love and grace of the shadow of the cross
that has fallen over the earth, it has blessed the hearts, and the homes, and the lives of the people
for whom He gave His life and poured out the crimson of His blood. What a marvelous and
wonderful thing!
The sin-sick soul, the despised and forgotten, those in sorrow and perplexity with insoluble
problems to face and burdens that the heart can hardly bear, to them the message of the cross
comes with hope and grace, heavenly remembrance, and eternal salvation. It has become a very
sign of our hope of heaven. “If in Flanders Fields the poppies grow, it will be between crosses,
row on row” [“In Flanders Field,” Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae]. Over the fallen form of
these who have loved Jesus, is a little cross raised high: a sign of our hope in God.
And the shadow of that cross falling upon all mankind has made us in Him all equal and alike.
There are no big and there are no little. There are no wise and unwise. There are no poor and

rich. There are no far off and coming nigh, but all of us are alike, loved alike, cherished alike,
accepted alike, received alike, saved alike in the shadow of the cross.
In the Anglican Church, as their habit of communion is, these who worship the Lord come
forward and kneel to receive the elements of bread and the fruit of the cup. And in the great
cathedral in London, there came forward the Iron Duke of Wellington; a hero in British eyes
beyond what we could think for. This is the man that delivered England and the continent from
the ravages of Napoleon. And England almost idolized the Iron Duke of Wellington. He came
forward in the Anglican Church and knelt at the altar to receive the bread and the wine. As he
knelt there before the officiating Anglican minister, a ragged, wretched, poor, flotsam, jetsam of
a waif from the streets of London, unaware, came and knelt by his side. When the officiating
minister saw it, he came to the unaware youth and touched him on the shoulder and said, “You
must move away, for you are kneeling by the Iron Duke of Wellington.” And the great British
commander overheard what the Anglican minister was saying, and looking up, said to him, “Sir,
leave him alone. Leave him alone. We’re all the same before the Lord. The ground is level at the
cross.” What a comfort that is to the poor and the lost of the world. We all alike are loved of
God. The entry, the entrance before the majesty of His glorious and eternal presence is open
alike, not just to an officiating priest, not just to a presiding minister, not just to the great and
mighty of the earth, but to the least and the smallest amongst us.
When the Lord died, and bowed His head, and cried, “Lord, into Thy hands I commit My spirit”
[Luke 23:46]; when the Lord died, there was a great shaking of the earth, and the rocks were
rent, and the graves were opened, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain, from the top to the
bottom [Matthew 27:51-52]. Not from the bottom to the top as though a man’s hand had done it,
but from the top to the bottom as though God had done it; and the Holy of Holies was open for
the first time to view [Hebrews 10:19-20].
The commonest man could see the sanctuary of God, and the foulest could walk into the very
presence of the Lord God and call upon His name. What a marvelous thing God in Christ hath
done for us! We all are welcome. As the eloquent author of the Book of Hebrews has said:
We are not come unto Mount Sinai, the mount that burned with fire and was shaken by the
power of God.
So that even if a creature, an animal touched it he died,
And when the sound of the trumpet roared through the earth, Moses did say, I exceedingly quake
and tremble.
[Hebrews 12:18-21]
“But we,” the author says, “are come unto Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the
New Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels” [Hebrews 12:22]. They’re here,
worshiping with us today; and they’re by your side when you kneel in prayer. “And to the
general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven,” you, “and to
God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the
new covenant, whose blood speaketh better things than that of Abel” [Hebrews 12: 23-24]. Come
and kneel and pray, and lay before Him all of the problems and burdens of life; grace to help in
time of need [Hebrews 4:14-16]. Come, and welcome.
I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto Me, and rest
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down thy head upon My breast

I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad
I found in Him a resting place, and He has made me glad.
[Horatius Bonar and John Bacchus Dykes]
Come, come, come.
And our Lord, kneeling at the cross, oh may the floodtides of grace poured out into the world
reach even unto us. And in Thy remembrance, Lord, make us strong to do Thy will in the earth,
and give us a greater heart to love Thee better, in Thy saving name, amen. And thank you.
Particular Redemption and Greatness in the
Kingdom
Matthew 20:17-28
Dr. S. Lewis Johnson dicusses what it means to follow Christ based upon his response to the
request of James and John to be seated next to him in the throneroom of what they thought would
be his kingdom.
SLJ Institute > Gospel of Matthew > Jesus as the Messiah > Particular Redemption and
Greatness in the Kingdom
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The exposition of the word of God today is the 20th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. We are
reading verses 17 through 28. Matthew chapter 20 verse 17 through verse 28,
“And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples aside along the way, and said unto
them, ‘Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief
priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the
Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.’ Then
came to him the mother of Zebedees children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a
certain thing of him. And he said unto her, ‘What wilt thou?’ She saith unto him, ‘Grant that
these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.’

Jesus was fully aware of his future

Jesus was fully aware of his future

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Jesus was fully aware of his future