Luke 13:31-35
Not Yet
\\#Luke 13:18-30\\ Jesus was teaching about the kingdom of God. He
taught first in \\#18-22\\ about the kingdom of God within the New
Testament believers. Then in \\#23-30\\, he taught about the kingdom
of the Jews, that literal kingdom in which Jesus will return to rule
and reign over the world.
I mention that because \\#31\\ tells us that on the same day that
Jesus was teaching about the end-time kingdom, several Pharisees came
to warn Him that Herod was plotting to kill Him.
Several thoughts in just reading that.
1. For the Pharisees to know, they must have been a part of the
planning! Perhaps they figured that since Herod was a killer
anyway, they would get him to do their dirty work for them.
2. However, I also see that not all Pharisees were wicked. These
came to warn Jesus.
3. Jesus seemed to resort to name calling.
Luke 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and
tell that fox….
4. Is God a name-caller?
a. I don’t think so.
b. I do not think Jesus was being as much disrespectful to
the king as He was describing him.
c. After all, what good does it do to call a person a name?
d. Listen to another examples:
Matt 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited
sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful
outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones,
and of all uncleanness.
(1) Was Jesus trying to insult them or teach them?
(2) I believe He was trying to teach them.
(a) Concerning themselves - They were hypocrites.
They were pretending to be something they were
not, righteous.
(b) Concerning their religion - "whited-sepulchre"
It was a pretty enough religion to look at, but
it only housed the bones of the spiritually
dead.
e. In another, Jesus taught that the religious leaders were
killing their followers with their words not giving them
life.
Matt 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye,
being evil, speak good things? for out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
In our text, Jesus was not just name-calling.
1. He was describing Herod as a predator, a fox; Himself as
the hen and Israel as the chicks the fox had his eye upon.
2. I believe that was Jesus’ way of telling us something about
Herod.
a. Foxes are killers but mostly of smaller prey. So was
Herod.
b. Foxes are tricky, cunning, and deceitful. So was Herod.
Jesus sent these men back with a message—apparently to Herod. In
fact, there are two messages here.
1. One for Jesus’ enemies.
2. One for Jesus’ beloved.
Both of them can be summed up in the title, NOT YET.
I. The Message for Jesus’ Enemies
A. Jesus had lots of enemies:
1. Most all of the religious leaders.
2. Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, will actually be the
man who sentences Jesus to death.
3. And here we learn that Herod, the ruler of the Jews,
wanted to kill Jesus too.
B. Interestingly, Herod had chances.
1. Herod’s rule was over Galilee and Decapolis, where Jesus
spend much of his ministry.
2. \\#Luke 23:6-12\\ Perhaps as a follow up to this account,
tell us that Pilate sent Jesus to Herod to be examined
of him.
3. Herold and Pilate ruled side-by-side for Rome.
a. After Herod the Great’s death, most of his kingdom was
divided between his sons but some was designated
Roman providences and Rome appointed governors who
answered to Rome over them, such as Pontius Pilate.
b. Luke 23 makes it clear that there was some friction
between the men, probably some jealousy and authority
disputes.
4. But apparently Herod did not have the authority to have
Jesus killed, only Pilate.
5. But, if these men are reliable and there is no reason to
think they were not, this warning makes it clear that
Herod would have killed Jesus if he could have.
C. Jesus message to His enemies were:
1. "I WILL BE GOTTEN BUT NOT YET!"
Luke 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and
tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and
I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third
day I shall be perfected.
a. That Jesus would continue healing and helping until He
was finished.
(1) Jesus would not be stoned, run through with a
sword, beheaded, or murdered in secrecy as Herod
might have done.
(2) No one was going to take His life. He was going
to GIVE IT.
Joh 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it
down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and
I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my Father.
(3) The proof that Jesus GAVE His life are the dozens
of prophecies concerning His betrayal, His
death, and His resurrection that were given and
fulfilled.
b. That when Jesus was ready, He would be "perfected."
(1) The world means fulfilled, completed, perfected.
(2) Although Jesus had a sinless body, He did not
have a perfect body.
(3) That body—even without sin—could still hurt
and be weak.
(4) When Jesus was ready, He would take to Himself a
perfect body.
c. And when would Jesus be ready?
(1) On the "third day."
(2) That was a reference Jesus used often but until
after the resurrection, no one would have
understood.
(3) Jesus was giving a very veiled hint that He
would rise on the third days.
2. "I WILL BE GOTTEN, BUT NOT HERE."
Luke 13:33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and
tomorrow, and the day following: for it cannot
be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.
a. Jesus had been on the road to Jerusalem, and He was
not going to be stopped.
b. In this message was some bitter sarcasm.
(1) Jesus was saying that He would continue His
journey to "Jerusalem, a place where prophets
have never been killed."
(2) Of course, that is not true. Many prophet’s had
died at Jerusalem as Jesus would say in the next
verse.
(3) Was Jesus in error? No. Jesus was using sarcasm
to rebuke Jerusalem.
c. In this message, Jesus told His destination,
Jerusalem.
(1) Jerusalem was NOT part of Herod’s territory. It
was Pilate’s, although I recall reading once
that Herod’s territory at one time almost
circled Jerusalem.
(2) By indicating that He would keep on traveling to
Jerusalem, Jesus was saying that He would not
die at Herod’s hand or in Herod’s territory.
II. \\#34-35\\ The Message for Jesus’ Beloved
A. The Beloved Truth
1. Matthew tells us that Jesus said these words walking down
the Mount of Olives as He entered in Jerusalem.
2. In fact, it is pretty much word for word.
3. So who is correct, Luke or Matthew?
a. Both are.
b. Have you never repeated yourself, especially when you
are speaking to or about someone you love dearly?
c. Surely you have and so did Jesus.
d. What some insist on calling contradiction is nothing
more than confirmation.
e. Matthew and Luke are confirming that Jesus spoke these
words and meant them by showing us that Jesus spoke
them in two different places at two different times.
B. \\#34\\ The Beloved Location
Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest
the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto
thee; how often would I have gathered thy
children together, as a hen doth gather her brood
under her wings, and ye would not!
1. It is Jerusalem.
2. It is actually all of the Jews but Jesus was speaking to
their capital city.
C. The Beloved’s Response - In a word, it was rebellion. God had
offered Himself to the Jews but…
1. They had killed the prophets and stoned those that were
sent to them.
a. Notice that in almost the same breathe that Jesus had
said no prophet had ever died in Jerusalem, He also
said they had stoned and killed many prophets.
b. Again, no contradiction. Sarcasm.
2. They had rejected the His wooing.
a. The picture of the hen wooing, calling, nursing,
loving her chicks.
b. \\#Luke 19:41\\ describing the same descent down the
Mount of Olives that Matthew described in
\\#Matt 23:37\\ only without the comparison to the
hen says Jesus wept as He looked over Jerusalem.
c. You can hear tears in these words as Jesus described
the Jews rejection of Him—not only for the last
3 1/2 years but pretty much since they came into the
Promised Land.
(1) They had rejected the LAW.
(2) They had rejected the COVENANT.
(3) They had rejected the PROPHETS.
(4) They had rejected JOHN THE BAPTIST.
(5) And now, they were rejecting JESUS CHRIST,
their MESSIAH
d. A Roman Catholic church, call Church of Dominus
Flevit, was built in the 1950’s on a site coming down
the Mount of Olives.
(1) "Dominus" means Lord.
(2) Flevit means wept.
https://www.linguee.com/spanish-english/translation/dominus
+flevit.html
(3) The church inner area is built in the shape of a
tear drop.
D. \\#35\\ The Beloved’s Reward
Luke 13:35 Behold, your house is left unto you
desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not
see me, until the time come when ye shall say,
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord.
1. Your house is left UNTO YOU desolate.
a. They got what they wanted—their own house under their
own control.
b. But it will be destroyed!
(1) Like the Jews of the Old Testament who wanted a
king like the other nations, the New Testament
Jews got what they wanted.
(2) One day, they—and the whole human race—will
learn that it is better to get what God wants
us to have than to get what we want.
c. Jesus was crucified around 33 AD.
(1) In 66 AD, the Jews revolted under Rome.
(a) Vespasian and Titus put down the revolt.
(b) Jerusalem was besieged in 70 AD and over
run.
(c) The temple was destroyed and looted.
(2) In 115-117, there was the Kitos War against Rome
by those who were dispersed, already scattered
out of the land of Egypt.
(a) This included the islands of Crete, modern-
day Libya, and Egypt.
(b) The revolt spread from there into Israel.
(c) Rome put down the revolt.
(3) In 132, the Bar Kokhba Revolt.
(a) 985 villages were destroyed and most of the
Jews in central Judea were killed, sold
into slavery, or forced to flee.
(b) The conflict ended in 135 AD with King
Hadrian banishing the Jews from their land.
(c) From 135 to 1948, there was no nation of
Israel.
2. You won’t see me until….
a. That meant Jesus was leaving soon…
b. but it also means He will be returning.
c. Jesus was telling them, "THERE IS COMING A DAY
WHEN YOU WILL ACCEPT ME BUT NOT YET."
3. When will Jesus return to the Jews?
a. Not at the rapture.
b. Not at the beginning of the tribulation.
c. When they recognize and confess that Jesus is the
"blessed One who comes in the Lord’s name," that is,
the MESSIAH.
d. Before that can happen, several things are implied:
(1) Israel will repent.
(2) Israel will be redeemed.
(3) Israel will be desperate.
These things have not happened yet and Jesus has not returned to the
Jews yet, but they will and He will. Do not let this concern you
concerning the rapture for Jesus will get us before the Jews will
accept Him. The question is, "Will you be ready?"
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