Mensa Otabil - Push Through the Pain

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Luke chapter 18, verses 32 and 33. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked, insulted, and spit upon. They will scourge him and kill him, and the third day he will rise again. These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember yesterday he said that the scriptures will be fulfilled, and now he’s telling his disciples the scriptures that will be fulfilled, announcing the message to them in a very strong way. He offloaded such an unsettling message to his disciples. These are people who are close to Jesus; they’ve been with him all along. Jerusalem has always been a fascinating place for them to go because Jesus works miracles in Jerusalem. But this time he tells them very profound words. I’m going to group what Jesus said into four categories.

The first is that Jesus said he would be delivered to the Gentiles or to his enemies. This was an important aspect of this prophecy because the death that Jesus was going to die could not be exacted by the Jews. The Jews could stone people and punish people in different ways, but they couldn’t crucify, as crucifixion was a particularly Roman system of punishment. The Romans, being the ones ruling Judea, had the authority to exact this kind of punishment. So the Gentiles were going to be the ones responsible for his death; that’s the first thing he said.

Second, Jesus said he would be mocked and insulted. They were going to mock him, make fun of him, and insult him, and we saw that happen in the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ when his beard was pulled and they put a crown of thorns on him. They slapped him around and spat on him. Then Jesus said, «He will be whipped. " He clearly stated, «He’ll be scourged, he’ll be whipped, and then killed. " So Jesus noted that there would be whipping ahead of him. Later we come to know that it was necessary for him to suffer the stripes because that is what brought healing to us.

Then Jesus said, after all of these things, he would rise again on the third day. But when you follow the disciples, it seems as if they paid attention to the first three points and forgot about the rising again, because when it was time for him to rise, they weren’t expecting him to do so. What I want you to pay attention to is that Jesus said this is what the scripture had said concerning him. You know, many times when we say that God has spoken to us, we think that everything God says might sound nice to our ears. But the word of God to us is not fortunetelling or soothsaying. The word of God is real. So when there is pain coming, God speaks to our pain; he speaks to our suffering; he speaks to everything we go through. That’s why he can tell us, «Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. "

So the word of God sometimes speaks, and affliction comes to us, and difficulties come to us, but the same word also delivers us. When we say that God’s word has spoken to us, don’t just look through the scriptures for nice, feel-good words, but look for everything God says. There is some pain, there is some suffering, and there is some difficulty, but there is always deliverance, always help, and always triumph because the Christian life is a life that ends in triumph. In the process, all kinds of things can happen, and that’s what we see in the life of Jesus Christ. He talked about suffering; he didn’t shy away from it. It was written and it’s part of God’s word. He went through it. But he also talked about the glorious resurrection, and all of this happened in the life of Jesus.

So God has a word for you. No matter what you suffer through, you will come out victorious. You will be lifted up and raised up. That is the promise of God to his children. Let us pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, you know the end from the beginning. You know both the pain and the deliverance of your children. In Jesus' name, Amen.»