(31) Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. (32) For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully intreated, and spitted on: (33) And they shall scourge him, and put him to death; and the third day he shall rise again. (34) And they understood none of these things; and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.
I request the Reader to remark with me how graciously the Lord Jesus, by little and little, as they were able to bear it, prepared the minds of his disciples for the great events which were now coming on, and very shortly to be accomplished at Jerusalem. The Passover, which was now at hand, the Lord Jesus well knew would be his last. And I beg the Reader to observe yet further, how sweetly Jesus directed their minds to the study of those scriptures which referred to him on the subject, that when the great events foretold should be accomplished, they might the better be enabled to compare the prediction with the event. And let me add, that the Reader will do well to be occupied in the same. For this purpose, let him consult those scriptures to which in the prophets we may suppose Christ here referred, Isaiah 53:1; Psalms 2:1; Psalms 22:1; Psalms 69:1; Isaiah 50:1; Daniel 9:24-26; Zechariah 11:12-13. These holy records will be truly blessed, when opened to us by God the Holy Ghost; if we take them with us in our hands, and feel their power in our hearts, when by and by we come on to that part of Luke's Gospel, where we follow the Lord Jesus Christ from the garden to the hall of Pilate, until we take our stand at the foot of the cross. Oh! the preciousness of entering into an heartfelt participation of those momentous truths, when with the eye of faith we behold the Lord Jesus as Paul describes him, witnessing before Pontius Pilate a good confession. 1 Timothy 6:13.