As Jesus led the disciples to Jerusalem, He warned them about His coming crucifixion. He told them—in plain terms—what would happen. His words were not poetic or artful in any way. He was not speaking in parables. He spoke the literal truth in the simplest terms—and they completely missed it. He told them what was coming in Matthew 20:17-19. He told them in Mark 10:33-34. And He told them in Luke 18:31-34. This was probably one conversation reported three different times, but it could be three conversations. Here’s how Luke reported it. Notice how plain the language is. Jesus uses no allegory, no poetry, no symbolism:
“Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem. Everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and He will be mocked, insulted, spit on, and after they flog Him, they will kill Him, and He will rise on the third day” Luke 18:31-33.
Could Jesus say it any more clearly? He is going to Jerusalem where He will be brutally murdered. Then He will come back to life. Yet they understood none of it. Why not? How could they miss it? Because God did not allow them to understand it.
“They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said” Luke 18:34.
God wanted them to understand nothing at the time, but to remember and understand the words LATER.
Recently people seem to be talking about the rapture more than ever. I can’t complain: the Bible says “We who are alive will be caught up together … to meet the Lord in the air” 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The rapture is in the Bible.
Moreover, God promises to bless those who study the prophecies of Revelation: “Blessed are those who read the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” Revelation 1:3.
We should study the prophecies. We should look forward to the appearing of Jesus with joyful anticipation—He will reward those who LOVE His appearing, 2 Timothy 4:8-9.
But prophecy is the most difficult language in the entire Bible. Prophecy does not use plain language, but often relies on poetry, allegory, and symbolism. Like a parable, prophecy tends to have one meaning for the many, but another for the few. But even when language is easy, God sometimes hides things from His people just as He hid the meaning of Jesus’s plain words from the disciples.
(Imagine—the disciples missed what was predicted in plain language only days before it happened. By contrast, some preachers today are dogmatic about their interpretations of prophecies written in difficult, poetic, even dream-like language over 2,000 years ago.)
Moreover, consider the confusion over the First Coming of Christ. As I have written previously, God kept key details hidden from His people:
The Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament were significantly misunderstood. We look back today and understand that there are TWO COMINGS of Christ, a first coming as a Suffering Servant on a donkey, and a second coming as a Conquering King on a white horse.
But no one in the time of Christ understood that. NO ONE. They knew the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. They were able to interpret some of the prophecies correctly. But no one on earth understood that the Messiah would be born, then die on a cross, be resurrected, ascend to heaven, and return later. NOT ONE PERSON understood those details. These were not stupid people. And they were not without the Holy Spirit. God spoke to prophets through His Holy Spirit all the time. If no one in Israel understood what was going on, it is because God chose not to reveal everything.
In the same way, God may have chosen NOT TO REVEAL EVERYTHING to us.[1]
If the disciples missed a plain-spoken prediction of events a week away, and if all the Old Testament prophets and scholars were unable to discover that the Messiah would come not once but twice, then we should exercise great humility[2] as we seek to interpret end-times scripture, and even more so as we try to connect specific passages to events in today’s news.
What is more important than assigning an end-times interpretation to every event in today’s news is the state of your heart. Do you love Jesus so much that you look forward to His return?
We must pray and humbly seek God’s face, and obey the instructions He gave us–clear instructions–and look forward to His coming with joyful anticipation, 2 Timothy 4:8-9.
Pray: “Even so, come Lord Jesus” Revelation 22:20.
Read Luke 18.
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[1] https://dadsdailydevotionals.com/2023/10/20/sign-of-the-times-matthew-246/
[2] Anyone preaching on the end-times should exercise great humility, knowing God has often kept some things hidden. For this reason, I listen with skepticism to those offering detailed, super-specific interpretations linking the news of the day to the words of scripture.
Dad's Daily Devotional 