0303 THEY DID NOT GRASP

THEY DID NOT GRASP

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone, and the other person simply did not grasp what it was that you were trying to say? You kept using words, being as plain as you could be, and it was clear that the other person simply wasn’t hearing you. They weren’t hip to your jive. They weren’t moving with your grooves. They weren’t stepping in what you were putting down. Know what I’m saying?

Take heart. Jesus, the greatest teacher in the world, had that problem, too. His closest friends were clueless, even when He said things to them multiple times that were as clear on this side of their unfolding as they could be.

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

As I say, on this side of their fulfillment, all of his predictions seem perfectly clear. It had happened earlier, as well.

Luke 9:44-45 Jesus said to his disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

Here’s what was happening: something seemed completely out of step with what they expected of the Messiah, the king of Israel, the prophet who will usher in the great and dreadful day of the Lord, in which the idolatrous nations would be crushed for good. Notice who they thought would be doing the crushing.

Psalm 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Daniel 7:14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Psalm 8:6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet,

1 Chronicles 17:10-14 I will subdue all your enemies. . . . When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. . . .  I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’”

On and on it goes, prophecy after prophecy, predicting the future reign of this coming king of Israel, who will usher in the golden age of political and military dominance over the world.

You know how you hear what you were expecting to hear? The disciples were expecting to hear Jesus talking about victory in this newly-established everlasting kingdom. They were fighting for who would get the best seats when it began. They simply could not comprehend that it was going to come crashing down around them. They were so convinced of it that one time when Jesus said that they were going to Jerusalem, where He would be killed, Peter took the Lord aside and told him that he was not going to die. Jesus had told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

You’d think that would have been enough. But you know how hard-headed and closed-minded “they” can be.

“They” did not grasp that day. 

Will I?