12-2-2009
Jesus Predicts His Death

Matthew 17:22-23 says the following:

“22When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. 23They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief.”

This marks the second time Jesus predicts his death, the first time being in Matthew 16:21. In both cases, Jesus explains his death and the resurrection. Let’s think about those two predictions. Jesus literally informs his disciples that he will be killed and he will be resurrected! This is amazing. If you were sitting there listening to Jesus explain what’s to come, you would probably start to wonder if he was a little crazy. Heck, it would be hard not to tell him to avoid Jerusalem at all cost so if his predictions were right, he could avoid death. This was the same way Jesus’ follower thought, and it reminds us of our temporal ways of thinking. Jesus never took his eyes off the mission at hand. He knew what was going to happen, he informed his followers of what would happen, and it happened! After hearing Jesus predict his death and resurrection, and then seeing it come to fruition exactly how he described the event would occur, how in the world could you not believe!

A great lesson to learn from this passage in scripture is doubt does occur. The disciples walked with Jesus, watched everything he said would happen occur, and they still had some moments of hesitation. We don’t physically see and walk with Jesus today, so it makes sense we too may have some hesitations. Just remember, the resurrection DID OCCUR, just as described, and anytime you start to stray, remind yourself of this truth. Use your moments of doubt as a challenge to dive into God’s word to increase your faith and understanding of who Christ is, and you will become transformed into his likeness!

Application:
1. Read Matthew 17:22-23 and Matthew 16
2. How strong would your faith in Jesus be if you had witnessed what the disciples did?