#125 Lu. 13:31-35 JESUS, THE PHARISEES, HEROD AND JERUSALEM Introduction: Back in chapter nine Jesus had set His face toward Jerusalem. He was going there to be crucified. In our text last Sunday He was going through the cities and villages en route to Jerusalem. As usual, great crowds followed Him as He traveled along. One man asked Him if only a few would be saved. Jesus urged the whole crowd to give all diligence to enter into the Kingdom of God. In other words, He encouraged them all to get saved. In our text today, Jesus continues on His way toward Jerusalem. It appears that He is in the stage of His journey when He crosses over the Jordan River into Perea. Perea, along with Galilee is under the rule of Herod the tetrarch. In addition to the usual crowds of people, He is encountered by a group of Pharisees. The text centers around those Pharisees, around Herod the ruler of Galilee and Perea, and around Jerusalem the city where Jesus was going. I. The Pharisees V. 31, "The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee." This particular group of Pharisees came to Him the same day in which the man asked if only a few would be saved. They were His enemies, but they came in pretense of being His friend. They urged Him to leave Galilee and Perea where Herod ruled saying that if He remained that Herod would kill Him. They pretended to have reliable information that Herod had already made plans to kill Him and that His only way of escape would be to leave the territory which Herod ruled. Thus they pretended that they were interested in His well-being and would not want to see Him get hurt. II. Herod Luke does not tell us what really happened, but it is probable that those Pharisees had gone to Herod and tried to make trouble for Jesus with Herod. It is also likely that Herod personally told them, "You go to Jesus and tell Him that you have heard rumors that Herod plans to kill Him and that He should leave. We know for sure that Herod was disturbed by the ministry of Jesus. Herod had beheaded John the Baptist and when He heard about the miracles that Jesus was performing he thought that Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life again. He would certainly feel better about the situation if Jesus would just get out of his territory. V. 32, "And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox..." The fox is noted for being sly and sneaky. Jesus was saying that Herod part in the visit by the Pharisees was sly and sneaky. Herod using the Pharisees to try to persuade Him to go. Herod was also very wicked, but that was not the point that Jesus was making. The point that Jesus was making was that Herod was using underhanded ways to get Him to leave. He wanted Jesus out of his territory, but he feared to personally ask Him to leave because of his suspicions that Jesus was John come back to life and perhaps because of the great popularity of Jesus with the common people. It is very likely, therefore, that Herod had sneakily put the Pharisees up to going to Jesus with the story that He should flee for His life. Whatever the real story is, Herod had a hand in their coming and was merely using them to do his dirty work. He, of course, did not fool Jesus and Jesus called him a fox because He knew of the underhanded methods that Herod was using to try to get rid of Him. (V. 32), "...Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." In effect what Jesus said was, "You tell that old fox, Herod, that I will leave when I get ready. I am not going to leave today, because there are people here that I wish to minister to. I will be casting demon spirits out of some. Then, too, there will be people with all manner of sickness who will come to me to be healed. Tell Herod that I will still be in his territory when the sun goes down." "Tell Herod also that I will still be in his territory tomorrow. I will still be ministering to the people. I will still be casting out demons and working miracles." Jesus knew that it was His miracle working that bothered had Herod. It was His miracle working that caused Herod to think that He might be John the Baptist returned to life. So Jesus said, "Be sure and tell Herod that I will still be working miracles and I will do it right here in his territory." Furthermore, Jesus said, "You tell Herod that I will still be here three days from now working miracles." He said, "However, you can tell him that after three days, my work here in his territory will be finished and then I will leave." The word, perfected, as used here means "finished." "I will finish my work in his territory and after three days and then I will leave. I will leave as he wants me to do, but I will not leave because he wants me to. I will leave when my work here is finished, but not until it is finished." V. 33, "Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following..." Jesus would still be slowly moving along toward Jerusalem during the three days that He would remain in Herod's territory. He would be walking slowly along ministering to the people as He went. But His goal was not to say in Perea, which was a part of Herod's territory. goal was to go to Jerusalem. The reason Jesus gave for traveling on toward Jerusalem is that it was in Jerusalem where He would be killed. Through the Pharisees, Herod had threatened to kill Jesus right there in his own territory, but Jesus wanted him to know that there was no way that was going to happen. It was in Jerusalem where He would be killed. He would be in Herod's territory three more days, but Herod was not going to kill Him. If Jesus should choose to do so, He could stay there three more years and Herod still would not kill Him. He was going to Jerusalem where He would be killed. III. Jerusalem (V. 33), "...for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem." Jerusalem was the city where most of the Old Testament prophets who were martyred had been killed. It was in Jerusalem where He would be killed. It is true, that John the Baptist was not killed in Jerusalem, but that was an exception to the general pattern. Jesus would not be an exception to the pattern. He would be killed in Jerusalem. John, by the way, was not killed by the Jews. John was killed by Herod and Herod was not a Jew. Jesus would be killed by the Jews, or at least they would be the ones who would ask the Romans to put Him to death. The Jewish leadership was located in Jerusalem. Their predecessors had killed the prophets of old and now they would kill Jesus. Luke next records words of Jesus that actually transpired after He got to Jerusalem. He records them at this particular point because, being led by the Holy Spirit to do so, he wanted to show the sharp contrast between the attitude that the Jewish leaders had toward Jesus and the attitude that Jesus had toward the Jewish leaders. The Jewish leaders could hardly wait to get an opportunity to put Jesus to death. They hated Him. But listen to the love which Jesus expressed for them and for all the people of Jerusalem. As I said earlier, these words were not actually spoken until after Jesus arrived at Jerusalem and just prior to His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Listen to His words. Listen to the love expressed. V. 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!" Jesus loved them in spite of the fact that they had killed His prophets. He loved them in spite of the fact that He knew they would kill Him. He loved them in spite of the fact that after He was gone they would kill His disciples. He loved them and wanted to save them. Jesus said that He felt toward the people of Jerusalem like a mother hen feels toward her chicks. How often He would have spread His protective power over them like a mother hen spreads her wings over her chicks when there is danger. How many times He would have liked for them to turn to Him and come to Him and be saved, but they would not. They were like the people in last Sunday's text. When they could get saved, they would not, but when it is too late and they cannot, they would do anything in the world if they could be saved. V. 35, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate..." Jesus speaks here of the destruction that would come to the city of Jerusalem in 70 A. D. The Romans were presently in power in Jerusalem. They had been in power for a long time. The Jews had to pay taxes to the Roman government through the publicans. The Jews hated the Romans who ruled over them. Jesus knew about thirty-some-odd years after He was gone the Jews would rebel against the Roman rule and would drive the Romans out. Then a Roman general by the name of Titus would come a destroy the city of Jerusalem. Not only would the city be destroyed, but the whole nation of Israel would be scattered to the four winds. As Jesus foretold here in this text, the entire house of Israel was desolate. It ceased to exist as a nation and did not exist again for nearly two-thousand years. It was not until 1948 that Israel became a nation again. For nearly two-thousand years that nation was desolate. (V. 35), "...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." After Jesus would get to Jerusalem, He would be arrested. He would be brought to trial. He would be found innocent of the charges but He would be sentenced to death in spite of the fact that He was found innocent. Jesus told those Jewish leaders that they would seen Him no more until the people of this city and of this nation would say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." That is, they would not see Him any more until they were ready to acknowledge that He is the Christ of God and were ready to praise God for sending Him. After the crucifixion of Jesus, Jesus would arise from the grave. He would stay in the grave for three days and three nights and then He would come forth from the grave. He would arise right there at Jerusalem, but the people of the city would not see Him. He would be seen by His disciples, but they were the only ones who see Him. Those Jewish leaders who had demanded His crucifixion did not see Him. The mob of people who had been incited to demand His crucifixion did not see Him. The inhabitants of Jerusalem and the people of the nation of Israel will not see Him again until that day when they are ready to acknowledge Him as the Christ of God. That day will come. The time will come when a new generation of Jews and Jewish leaders are on the scene. In that day the Great Tribulation will come and the armies of the Anti-christ will come and will be all set to wipe out the nation of Israel once and for all. It will be then and not until then that the people of Israel will repent and be ready to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. It will be under the preaching of the Two Witness spoken of in the book of Revelation that Israel will repent and acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ. Then just before the Anti- christ deals the death blow to Israel, our Lord will return. He will return to this world and defeat the Anti-christ and his armies. It will be then that Jesus will return to the city of Jerusalem. This time, He will not be crucified; rather He will be crowned. IV. A question about the time when Jerusalem will see Jesus again You may say, "But Brother Davis, when is that time going to come? When will Jesus return to Jerusalem and the people of Israel and of the world be able to see Him?" The answer to that question is easy. I just say, "I don't know." Nobody else knows. What I do know is that right now is the time that I have been sent to preach the gospel to you. Now is the time that the people right here in our area have an opportunity to turn to God and repent of their sins and seek forgiveness of their sin. Right now is the time when people right here in this congregation have an opportunity to turn to Jesus Christ and be saved. Jesus went to Jerusalem and was crucified that we all might have an opportunity to be saved. I know also that if you will trust Christ to save your soul that He will save you. I know that if you will not trust in Jesus to save you that you will wind up in the fires of hell. In the years gone by I have preached the gospel to men, women, boys and girls who turned to Jesus Christ and trusted in them and all who turned to Him and trusted Him as Savior have found peace with God. They can testify that the Lord Jesus Christ saved their souls. Some of those people, including my oldest brother, has already gone on to be with the Lord in glory. But there were some to whom I preached who just never would turn to the Lord and trust in Him and they are not saved to this day. Some of them have already gone on to the other world, and I am confident that they are burning in the fires of hell right now. Conclusion: Please do not make that same mistake. Come this morning and get right with the Lord. Come and trust Him as your Savior.