The Book of Mark
A Preview of Messianic Suffering
Mark 10:32-34
Tonight we’re going to be looking at Mark 10:32-34.
One of the things that becomes apparent as we study the gospels is that Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to bring His life to an end. Some deny that He knew about the cross.
In fact, there are some who believe it wasn’t supposed to happen at all and His death on the cross was the result of Him stepping over the line and going a little too far. And the way it all ended was certainly not the way He had planned it.
But to believe that is to ignore the clear teaching of Scripture. The Old Testament revealed that there is no salvation without sacrifice. When the angels announced His birth, they said He was coming to save His people from their sins. Therefore, it was understood, He came to die. He was born for the exclusive purpose of dying as a sacrifice for sin.
So the cross was no surprise to Jesus. The first words that ever come out of His mouth in the New Testament are these, “I must be about My Father’s business.” The last words ever to come out of His mouth before His death, “It is finished.” He knew why He came and He knew when He had accomplished that purpose.
And throughout His ministry it was clear to Him where He was headed. Before the Romans knew anything about what they would do, before Judas knew anything about what he would do before the chief priests and the rulers and the scribes knew anything about what they would do, before the drama in all of its detail played itself out in history, He knew every single detail that would come His way.
In fact, Mark, along with Matthew and Luke all record three separate times when He informed the disciples about the details of His death.
Mark 8:31
Mark 9: 31
Mark 10:32-34
Each time, He added a bit more detail about being delivered into the hands of men. He knew what would happen and the reason He knew what would happen is two-fold, and I want to show you those two things this evening.
And notice, at the end of verse 32, it says, “He began to tell them what was going to happen to Him.” Nobody else can do that! You can’t tell me what is going to happen to you in the future, nor can I tell you. Only Jesus had the ability to tell them in detail what was going to happen to Him. So how did He know what was going to happen?
First, He knew from
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Prophetic Scripture
verse 32
By the way, notice that Jesus is walking ahead of the others. That is an important detail because it indicates Jesus wasn’t going to Jerusalem against His will. He wasn’t hanging back. He wasn’t forced into town.
He was leading the way. He is resolute as He moves firmly to the place of His own death. He has set His face toward Jerusalem. He knows exactly what is going to happen when He gets there.
And that is why, as we read in verse 32, they were amazed and fearful. Jesus had told them what was going to happen, and they can’t believe Jesus is moving so deliberately in the direction He is going.
The word “fearful” is basically a word that refers to a kind of fear that is a baffling kind of fear. There was some confusion with them. They’re still sort of caught up in the Messianic idea of Judaism.
He’s supposed to be the King and set up a Kingdom and they’re going to have thrones and yet, Jesus has been talking about dying and now their confused and have this sickly, uneasy feeling in the pit of their stomachs. Why is He doing this? Why is He walking in to this deadly danger?
So in order to help them understand what is happening He pulls them aside began to tell them what was going to happen to Him. So how did He know what was going to happen?
The parallel account in Luke gives us the answer.
Luke 18:31
So Luke tells us that He explained to them the Old Testament prophecies concerning what was coming.
How did Jesus know what was going to come?
He had been studying His Old Testament, that’s how.
It wasn’t hard to see. Anyone who knew the scripture could have seen that. The Apostles should have known it before He told them!
His death was foretold in the Old Testament in very specific detail. They understood that sin required a sacrifice. They knew earthly sacrifices were insufficient. They’re waiting on a perfect sacrifice to come.
From the Passover, they learned that it had to be a lamb without blemish and without spot. Jesus had been introduced to them by John the Baptist with these words, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
If they knew Psalm 2, they would have understood the rage of His enemies against Him because it’s there. If they knew Zachariah 13 they would have understood that He would be deserted by His friends. If they knew Zachariah 11 verse 12, they would have known that He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
If they understood the implications of Numbers 21 in the lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness, they would have been able to see perhaps in some fashion that the Son of Man would eventually be lifted up, the picture of the cross.
If they would have understood Psalm 34:20, they would have known that none of His bones would be broken on the cross.
If they understood Psalm 22 verse 18, they would have known that His clothes would be gambled for.
If they understood Psalm 69:21 they would have known that He was being given vinegar to drink by witless people who were fulfilling a specific prophecy.
If they knew Psalm 22:1 they would have understood the cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
If they understood Psalm 22 and verse 31, they would have known the cry, “It is finished,” for it is in that Psalm.
Zachariah 12:10 talks about the spear thrust into His side.
Psalm 16 talks about His resurrection.
And Psalm 110 even talks about His ascension into heaven.
So many specific details surrounding His death were clearly in the Old Testament.
And surely they had read Isaiah 53 which we studied recently. How could they miss that Jesus would have to die as a sacrifice for sin?
The Lord was on His way to the cross and He knew it and on the way He explained to them the Old Testament prophecies that He would fulfill. He knew His Old Testament and told Him of His future.
But secondly, He knew what was coming by
2. Personal Omniscience
That He would be the God’s sacrificial lamb was obvious. But there were some things not revealed in the Old Testament that no one could know unless one knows the future.
verse 33
The details that He shares are amazing. Here we find the betrayal, the scheming involvement of the the religious establishment, the legal process that condemns Him to die, that He is handed over to the Romans for execution, the spit and scourging, it’s all there in vivid detail. Jesus knew things that no person could know simply because He is the Son of God and as such He has personal omniscience.
Early in His ministry, we discover He didn’t need anybody to Him what people were thinking because He knew what they were thinking. He knew exactly where, for example, a certain fish would be swimming at a split second of time when it would be caught because it was the fish that had the coin in his mouth to pay His taxes.
He knew the exact history of a strange woman He had never seen in His life but He met her by a well and knew her entire marital history.
He knew precisely where there would be a colt that He could ride on into the city of Jerusalem and He knew exactly what the conversation would be when His disciples went to get the colt from the man to whom it belonged.
He knew precisely about a man who was carrying a pitcher that His disciples would meet as they went into Jerusalem.
He forecast in detail the destruction of Jerusalem that not one stone would be left upon another forty years before it happened.
He knew all these things because God knows all these things and He is God.
And here, in particular, He says “The Son of Man will be delivered”.
Let’s talk about that. This is the betrayal. It’s a terrible thing to be betrayed. Psalm 41:9 describes Judas, the Lord’s betrayer, as being His own familiar friend with whom He broke bread. But Jesus knew it would be, not only a familiar friend, He knew it would be Judas in particular. He knew who it was and He knew it by personal omniscience.
Not only did He know who would betray Him, He knew to whom He would be betrayed and it was a very unlikely group.
Verse 33: chief priests and scribes
No one would have ever guessed that the chief priests and scribes would reject the Messiah when He finally showed up, but that’s exactly what happened.
It starts at the top with the High Priest and extends down through the ranks to reach every level of Jewish leadership. All of them, the chief priests and everybody that they influenced rejected Jesus.
I think most surprising was the rejection by the scribes. While the priests certainly were not ignorant of the Old Testament, they were the ones who handled the practical ministry, including taking care of the temple and the housekeeping kind of chores.
But the scribes were the theologians. While the priests were out front, interacting with the people and ministering, the scribes were behind the scenes interpreting the Old Testament.
With the exception of the chief priests, priests could be a little bit low class, common people. But between the hierarchy of the chief priests and the working class priests were the scribes. They were the scholars. Most of them were Pharisees who were legalists while some were Sadducees and more liberal. But all of them, those who were the most schooled in the Old Testament, rejected Jesus Christ.
And not only did they reject Him, they condemned Him to die as a common criminal by using false witnesses and abusing the legal system of their day. Time and time again, Jesus was rejected and condemned, once before the High Priest, then before Pilate, then before Herod, then back to Pilate with no legitimate witnesses or accusations.
He had done nothing. Pilate even said it, “I find no fault in Him, ” and tried to wash his hands of the whole thing. And in one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in human history, Jesus is condemned to die.
And as you read through Mark, as well as Matthew and Luke, you discover that it all unfolds exactly the way He said it would happen. Before Judas knew what he was going to do, Jesus knew. Before the chief priests and scribes knew what they were going to do, Jesus knew. Before the trial could ever be played out, He knew exactly what its end would be.
He knew He would be betrayed and He knew it would involve the chief priests and the scribes, and as verse 33 tells us, He knew He would be
“. . .delivered over to the Gentiles”.
And what we read in verse 33 comes at their hands.
“They will mock Him and scourge Him and spit on Him and kill Him.”
And Matthew includes that Jesus told them He would be killed by crucifixion. It’s the first time He told them that bluntly. He knew every single detail.
His suffering was personally planned by God, recorded in the Old Testament and personally known by Him in detail through His own omniscience. He knew every bit of it and thus He lived in the anticipation of all this agony long before He ever experienced it.
But I am so glad the story doesn’t end there.
Without exception, all three of the gospel writers who record these events end as Mark does in
verse 34
“And the third day, He will rise again. “
And He did. He said He would at the beginning of His earthly ministry:
John 2:19, “Destroy this body and in three days I’ll raise it up.”
He said He would die and He said He would rise. And He died exactly the way He said He would die, with exactly the details that would accompany His death.
And He rose exactly the way He said He would rise in exactly the time He said He would rise.
No wonder the centurion standing near the cross who watched it all happen said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”
He came to save His people from their sins. And that’s exactly what He did on the cross and through the resurrection.
Let’s pray
