Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20090610.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Luke: Jesus, The Son Of Man For All Mankind
Part XXXIII: Christ's Identity As The World's Savior By His Cross-Before-The-Crown Theme
(Luke 9:18-36)
  1. Introduction
    1. Death by crucifixion was a form of capital punishment for criminals, so Jesus' death on the cross needed to be explained to the reader of Luke's Gospel in view of Luke's claim that He was God's sinless Savior.
    2. Luke 9:18-36 begins to explain this matter (as follows):
  2. Christ's Identity As The World's Savior By His Cross-Before-The-Crown Theme, Luke 9:18-36.
    1. Before the first mention of Christ's cross in Luke's Gospel at Luke 9:23 (cf. Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Luke 9:23), Luke recorded an important confession about Christ's identity as Messiah to show that Jesus was not going to die because He was a criminal, Luke 9:18-21:
      1. As Jesus was alone with His disciples, He asked them, "Whom say the people that I am?" (Luke 9:18)
      2. They replied some felt He was John the Baptist or Elijah or some other resurrected prophet, Luke 9:19.
      3. When Jesus asked Who they thought He was, Peter replied, "The Messiah of God," Luke 8:20.
      4. As soon as Peter made this confession, Jesus told His disciples to keep quiet about it, for He had to be rejected and slain by Israel's leaders before being raised from the dead on the third day, Luke 9:22.
    2. Then, to explain why He would go to the cross though He was the true Messiah, Jesus taught that He and those disciples who followed Him must necessarily part company with this world system to be rewarded in Christ's coming Messianic Kingdom , Luke 9:23-26:
      1. Just as He would deny Himself as the rightful Messiah to take up His cross, Jesus taught the same type of activity had to occur in the lives of His followers to qualify for God's blessings, Luke 9:23-25.
      2. This truth arose from the fact that the world and God were at great conflict with one another, so the believer must choose between indulging in this world's lusts of the flesh, the eyes and the pride of life or pleasing God in a self-crucifixion to this world, Luke 9:26 with 1 John 2:15-17 and Galatians 6:14.
    3. Finally, to reveal that He would truly reign as King in His Messianic Kingdom though He would first go to the cross, Jesus gave a supernatural revelation of His messianic glory in the event of Luke 9:27-36:
      1. To illustrate His teaching on crucifixion to the world before the blessings of the kingdom, Jesus then predicted that some of His disciples would not taste of death until they saw the Kingdom, Lk. 9:26-27.
      2. This prediction was fulfilled about eight days later when Jesus took Peter, James and John up into a mountain to pray, and He was transfigured before them into His future Messianic glory, Luke 9:28-36:
        1. Jesus took these disciples up into the mountain and began to pray, and the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothes became dazzling white, Luke 9:28-29 ESV.
        2. The two most important and humanly famous Old Testament prophets, Moses and Elijah, appeared with Jesus and began to speak with Him about His ascension to the Father's heavenly throne that He would accomplish from the city of Jerusalem, Luke 9:30-31 with Acts 1:9 and Daniel 7:13-14.
        3. Though they were very sleepy at the time, the disciples awakened fully to witness Moses and Elijah with Jesus just before they disappeared, and, awed by viewing such humanly esteemed men, Peter suggested they build three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah and one for Jesus, Lk. 9:32-33.
        4. Peter's statement was very worldly. He was impressed that he was included in a group esteemed by worldly Jews, so he gave his suggestion about the tabernacles in pride, trying to be a second Moses by building some tabernacles, so the Father corrected him in line with Jesus' word on worldliness: God hid what the disciples saw with a cloud in a way that erased their pride with fear, and He said, "This is My Son, Whom I have chosen : listen to Him" on resisting worldliness. (Lk. 9:34-35 NIV)
        5. After this, the three disciples found Jesus alone in His unglorified state, the focus the Father had willed, and they kept quiet about this whole event until after Christ's resurrection, Luke 9:36.
Lesson: Jesus revealed He was the true Messiah, explaining His cross was necessary in attaining His earthly throne in view of His need, as well as that of His followers, to part fellowship with this world.

Application: (1) May we believe Jesus is the true Messiah regardless of His death on the cross. (2) May we accept our need as it was His to part fellowship with this world to gain God's blessed rewards.