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Day 110

Luke 9:21-26 , Isaiah 56 "THE SON OF MAN MUST SUFFER..." Luke 9:22"

Day 110 – Luke 9

Text: Luke 9:21-26 , Isaiah 56

“THE SON OF MAN MUST SUFFER…” Luke 9:22

On a previous occasion, the Lord Jesus forewarned His Disciples that they must be prepared for suffering. In that discourse, Jesus only spoke of suffering in fairly general terms. The sufferings He listed included the following:-

1. Suffering poverty. Luke 6:20

2. Suffering hunger. Luke 6:21

3. Suffering tears. Luke 6:21

4. Suffering hatred and persecution. Luke 6:22-23

On this particular occasion, Jesus began to prepare His Disciples for the fact that He Himself must undergo intense suffering. The Lord Jesus, of course realized that this teaching of Messianic suffering would not be readily learned, and thus from time to time, He would touch on this subject.

SUFFERING – A PROFOUND TEACHING

One of the most difficult lessons to be learned in life is the acceptance of suffering in life. Fallacious theological reasoning discards the Lord’s teaching on suffering.

As long as Jesus extended His power to heal, thousands would flock to Him. When he began to teach deeper spiritual truths, such as suffering, the crowds began to dwindle.

The Lord Jesus was no crowd-pleaser. He would never compromise truth for the sake of pulling in the crowds! Thus He taught the very profound doctrine of Suffering to His Disciples – with Himself as the Exemplar. He would be the One who would have “to suffer many things”.

He elaborated further,

“The Son of Man must suffer many things,
and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes,
and be killed,
and be raised the third day.”
Luke 9:22

THE PROCLAMATION OF JESUS AS THE MESSIAH CANNOT BE DONE PROPERLY OUTSIDE THE TEACHING OF HIS SUFFERING

When Jesus asked His Disciples what they thought of Him, Peter answered, on behalf of his fellow-disciples,

“The Christ of God.”
Luke 9:20

Peter was absolutely right. Yet, the Lord Jesus Christ forbade His Disciples to share this knowledge with the multitudes! We now know the reason why they were forbidden to proclaim Jesus as the Christ (“Messiah”).

1. The proclamation of Jesus as the Christ outside suffering would be defective theology.

2. Popular Messianic expectations included the belief that He would come and establish the Davidic Kingdom. In the minds of the masses, this was a political rather than a spiritual kingdom.

3. Till Jesus had suffered, died and resurrected – and thus fulfil ALL that was demanded of Him as One who would atone for the sins of the world – this message of Jesus as the Messiah of God could not be preached!

THE PROPHECY OF THE SUFFERINGS OF THE MESSIAH-SERVANT Isaiah 53

One of the most poignant prophecies concerning the Messiah must be Isaiah 53. Let us take a bit of time to look at some of the things Isaiah prophesied concerning the Sufferings that the Messiah must endure.

“He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
Isaiah 53:3

“But He was wounded for our transgressions
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed”
Isaiah 53:5

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet, He opened not His mouth…”
Isaiah 53:7

“…He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.”
Isaiah 53:8

“…He poured out His soul unto death…”
Isaiah 53:12

THE CONCEPT OF VICARIOUS SUFFERING

We must guard against the false concept of “asceticism”. This approach to life proclaims the teaching of suffering as the highest good. In other words, suffering should be welcomed for suffering’s sake.

The sufferings of life are a direct consequence of sin. Man brings suffering upon himself because of the curse of sin! When Jesus spoke about suffering, we must bear in mind that He was thinking about “vicarious suffering”. In other words, He was going to have to suffer on our behalf!

Suffering as we know, brings about deep pain to the body and to the soul. Imagine someone suffering vicariously on our behalf!

“But we see Jesus…”