Expository Thoughts On Luke – Luke 18:28-34 - John Charles Ryle

JESUS PREDICTS HIS DEATH

Let us observe, firstly, in these verses, what a glorious and satisfying promise our Lord holds out to all believers who make sacrifices for His sake. He says, “There is no man that has left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive many times as much in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.”

The promise before us is a very peculiar one. It does not refer to the believer’s reward in another world, and the crown of glory which fades not away. It refers distinctly to the life that now is. It is spoken of “this present time.”

The “many times as much” of the promise must evidently be taken in a spiritual sense. The meaning is, that the believer shall find in Christ a full equivalent for anything that he is obliged to give up for Christ’s sake. He shall find such peace, and hope, and joy, and comfort, and rest, in communion with the Father and the Son, that his losses shall be more than counterbalanced by his gains. In short, the Lord Jesus Christ shall be more to him than property, or relatives, or friends.

The complete fulfillment of this wonderful promise has been often seen in the experience of God’s saints. Hundreds could testify in every age of the church, that when they were obliged to give up everything for the kingdom of God’s sake, their losses were amply supplied by Christ’s grace. They were kept in perfect peace, staying their souls on Jesus. (Isaiah. 26:3.) They were enabled to glory in tribulation, and to take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in distresses for Christ’s sake (Rom. 5:3. 2 Cor. 12:10.) They were enabled in the darkest hour to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and to count it an honor to suffer shame for their Master’s name. (1 Pet. 1:8. Acts 5:41.) The last day will show that in poverty and in exile–in prisons and before judgment seats–in the fire and under the sword–the words of Christ before us have repeatedly been made good. Friends have often proved faithless. Royal promises have often been broken. Riches have made themselves wings. But Christ’s engagements have never been known to fail.

Let us grasp this promise firmly. Let us go forward in the way of life with a firm conviction that it is a promise which is the property of all God’s people. Let us not give way to doubts and fears because of difficulties that cross our path. Let us press onward with a strong persuasion, that if we lose anything for Christ’s sake, Christ will make it up to us even in this present world. What believers need is more daily practical faith in Christ’s words. The well of living water is always near us, as we travel through the wilderness of this world. Yet for lack of faith we often fail to see it, and faint by the way. (Gen. 21:19.)

Let us observe, secondly, in these verses, the clear and plain prediction which our Lord makes about His own death. We see Him telling the disciples that He would be “delivered to the Gentiles, mocked, spitefully entreated, spitted on, scourged, and put to death.”

The importance of our Lord’s death appears in the frequency with which He foretold it, and referred to it during His life. He knew well that it was the principal end for which He came into the world. He was to give His life a ransom for many. He was to make His soul an offering for sin, and to bear our transgressions in His own body on the tree. He was to give His body and blood for the life of the world. Let us seek to be of the same mind with Christ in our estimate of His death. Let our principal thoughts about Jesus be inseparably bound up with His crucifixion. The corner-stone of all truth concerning Christ is this–that “While we were yet sinners, He died for us.” (Rom. 5:8.)

The love of our Lord Jesus Christ towards sinners is strikingly shown in His steady purpose of heart to die for them. All through His life He knew that He was about to be crucified. There was nothing in His cross and passion which He did not foresee distinctly even to the minutest particular, long before it came upon Him. He tasted all the well-known bitterness of ‘anticipated suffering’. Yet He never swerved from His path for a moment. He was straitened in spirit until He had finished the work He came to do. (Luke 12:50.) Such love passes knowledge. It is unspeakable–unsearchable. We may rest on that love without fear. If Christ so loved us before we thought of Him, He will surely not cease to love us after we have believed.

The calmness of our Lord Jesus Christ in the prospect of certain death ought to be a pattern to all His people. Like Him, let us drink the bitter cup which our Father gives us, without a murmur, and say, “not my will but yours be done.” The man that has faith in the Lord Jesus has no reason to be afraid of the grave. “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:56, 57.) The grave is no longer what it once was. It is the place where the Lord lay. If the great Head of the body looked forward to the grave with calmness, much more may all His believing members. For them He has overcome death. The king of terrors at the worst is a conquered foe.

Let us observe, lastly, in these verses, the slowness of the disciples to understand Christ’s death. We find that when our Lord described His coming sufferings, the disciples “didn’t understand a thing he said. Its significance was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about.” We read such passages as these, perhaps, with a mixture of pity and surprise. We wonder at the darkness and blindness of these Jews. We marvel that in the face of plain teaching, and in the light of plain types of the Mosaic law, the sufferings of Messiah should have been lost sight of in His glory, and His cross hidden behind His crown.

But are we not forgetting that the vicarious death of Christ has always been a stumbling-block and an offence to proud human nature? Do we not know that even now after Christ has arisen from the dead and ascended into glory, the doctrine of the cross is still foolishness to many, and that Christ’s substitution for us on the cross is a truth which is often denied, rejected and refused? Before we wonder at these first weak disciples for not understanding our Lord’s words about His death, we should do well to look around us. It may humble us to remember that thousands of so-called Christians neither understand nor value Christ’s death at the present day.

Let us look well to our own hearts. We live in a day when false doctrines about Christ’s death abound on every side. Let us see that Christ crucified is really the foundation of our own hopes, and that Christ’s atoning death for sin is indeed the whole life of our souls. Let us beware of adding to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, as the Roman Catholic does. Its value was infinite. It admits of no addition. Let us beware of taking away from Christ’s sacrifice, as the Socinian does. To suppose that the Son of God only died to leave us an example of self-denial, is to contradict a hundred plain texts of Scripture. Let us walk in the old paths. Let us say with Paul, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 6:14.)

John Charles Ryle