For those of you that have not been with us, we are currently going through Mark's gospel verse by verse. And this morning we find ourselves in verses 32 and 34 of Mark 10. So, if you will take your Bibles and turn there. And this morning, I've been titled my discourse to you "Christ's Ministry of Prophetic Preparation." As we watch our country collapse under the weight of its own depravity, it's important for we, as Christians, to have a biblical worldview. We are told in First John 5:19, that "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" and we see that manifested every single day. We see his nefarious deceptions being implemented primarily through theological and political liberalism that has brought on a very virulent stream of Cultural Marxism. In fact, the woke cult is now the official religion of our culture. And we are all supposed to bow to it. Its demonic priests are among the most immoral and ungodly in our country, including transgenders and drag queens that are nothing more than painted up pedophile perverts trying to seduce our children and many apostate churches have embraced this insanity. Our responsibility, in light of all this, is to have a biblical worldview and live it out. And at the very heart of that, we must not only understand the gospel, but we must proclaim it and all of its power, with all of its clarity, and even with its offense. Moreover, we must live the gospel. And my responsibility before the Lord is to make sure I am equipping you to do just that, to make sure you have a biblical worldview. And our text this morning, along with a number of associated passages will help us see the big picture of God's Kingdom purposes, it's easy to come to a passage like we're going to look at and just kind of read it and grasp some great truths that emerge from it, and not see how it fits into not only the immediate historical context, but into the overall context of God's redemptive purposes. In our violent world of deception and perversion, and corruption the truth concerning what God has done, is doing and will do, is certainly a treasure of inestimable worth. In fact, the eternal destiny of men's souls depends upon it. And what we are going to see is that our God reigns in absolute sovereignty, and we can rest assured that he will accomplish his good purposes in his time. With that, let me read our text Mark, chapter 10, verse 32, "They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed and those who followed were fearful. And again, He took the 12 aside and He began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, saying, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him and scourge Him and kill Him. And three days later, He will rise again."

Now I wish to explain this passage under two headings that I hope will be helpful to you. The first heading is we want to look at the historical and theological contexts of Jesus prophecy in this particular passage. And secondly, we want to look at the specifics and fulfillments of Jesus prophecy. So let me begin, first of all, giving you the big picture of the historical and theological context of what Jesus is saying. There is a historical flow to the biblical storyline, as we see it unfold throughout Scripture and throughout history. It can be divided into four categories, we see that there is a creation, then there is a fall, there's redemption, and there's restoration. At creation, God made a magnificent and a perfect universe. At the fall, Satan deceived his image bearers, and they sinned. And as a result, God cursed them and all creation, and death enters into the world. Through redemption, God implements a plan, through His promises, and through his covenants, whereby he will restore his creation, through the person and the work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the final big category is one of restoration that we all are longing for. This plan includes the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, as a means of blessing to all of the nations, they would become the vessels through whom the Savior, the King, the Messiah would eventually come. He would be the rightful descendant of Abraham and David, thus fulfilling the Abrahamic and the Davidic covenants. And Jesus came as a literal fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies predicting a Messiah that would come and would one day rule over a worldwide kingdom. As we read, for example, in Zechariah, 14 in verse nine when "the LORD will be king over all the earth," but he would also suffer for the sins of the people, as we have read and Isaiah 53 earlier. And as we look at the big picture, we see that these purposes will be accomplished through two distinct arrivals, two "comings", a truth not clearly revealed in the Old Testament, but made abundantly clear in the New Testament. Scripture reveals that his suffering for sin on the cross was fulfilled in his first coming consistent with Old Testament prophecy. But the Old Testament prophets, concerning his worldwide reign, have yet to occur. For example, the prophecies related to the pre kingdom judgments of Daniel's 70th week as we would read in Daniel 9:27, the day of the Lord, the salvation and restoration of Israel, the reign and the defeat of the Antichrist, the millennial kingdom, all of these events are awaiting a second coming. And we can anticipate a literal fulfillment of all of the Old Testament prophecies and promises. Jesus made this abundantly clear. In Matthew five beginning in verse 17, he said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets," that's a reference to the Hebrew Scriptures as a whole, including all of its prophecies. "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished."

Jesus illustrated a literal fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in his prophetic discourse, for example, in Matthew 24 and 25. To give you one example, in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 15, Jesus declared, "Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation," now catch this, "which was spoken up through Daniel the prophet," when you see that "standing in the holy place, (let the reader understand) then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains," and so on. And we also know that Jesus prophecy, in the text that we have before us, concerning his betrayal, his arrest, his trials, his crucifixion, his death, and resurrection, were all fulfilled literally. And it's fascinating that all of these details and many more, were promised, were prophesied in the Old Testament. In fact, Luke records Jesus speaking to His disciples, and Luke 18:31, about quote, "all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man, that would be accomplished." And for this reason, I am committed to the consistent use of a grammatical, historical hermeneutic principle of interpretation in all areas of Scripture, including the prophetic sections, I am only concerned with the original, authorial intent of every passage. I'm only concerned with what the original readers would have understood through the normal meaning of language.

And I might add, by doing this, it avoids the theological confusion, especially in the realm of eschatology, where many Christians look for hidden or allegorical meanings in the prophetic literature. Spiritualizing the prophetic literature has led to the errant belief, for example, that the church is the new Israel, that despite all of God's promises, to the contrary, he has permanently disenfranchised his covenant people Israel from his redemptive program, and he has replaced them with his church, that somehow all of the material and physical blessings of the kingdom promises that he made to Old Testament Israel are really nothing more than spiritual blessings that belong to the church. And I believe that these claims run contrary to the revocable nature of divine election. For example, in Romans 11 in verse one, Paul says, "I say then God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!" He goes on to say in verse 25, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB, THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.'" And then he says in verse 29, "for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." All of this is important for us to understand, as we approach Jesus prophecy here in Mark 10, especially as it relates to the chronology of Jesus's ministry. And I hope you will bear with me here. Sometimes as I put together my thoughts for the sermons I get finished and think, "Oh, my goodness, they're going to be so lost with all of this Lord, only you can illumine them, and help them to endure this." But dear friends, I believe that this is very important, you may not understand it all now; you may have to go back and listen to it, but this is absolutely foundational to a biblical worldview.

Now, the immediate context; the chronological flow of these historical narratives that we've been studying in the gospels can easily get lost when you just study one gospel at a time. For example, Matthew, Mark and Luke do not record the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and the subsequent decision of the Sanhedrin to put Jesus to death. And how, after that Jesus and his disciples took refuge for a few quiet weeks in a small village of Ephraim, awaiting the time when quote, "All things should be fulfilled." Yet you need to understand that this took place before the texts before us, before what Jesus prophesied. And this is really important. You see, no one knew where Jesus was after the raising of Lazarus. Although everyone was looking for him, and the question that was on everyone's mind is recorded in John 11, verses 55 and six, Do you think this Jesus of Nazareth will have the courage to come up to the feast, referring to the Feast of Passover?

Now, during the Passover season, great throngs of pilgrims, Jewish pilgrims, would leave the northern region of Israel, the region of Galilee, and travel south, down to the east side of the Jordan River in the region of Perea. They would do this to avoid Samaria, they would not set foot in Samaria. But Jesus was in Ephraim, on the southern boundary of Samaria. So, as Passover grew near, what we see is Jesus and his disciples leave the village of Ephraim, and travel north through Samaria. They could have just gone south, just a little ways to Jerusalem, but instead they go north through Samaria, because there's no Jews there. Therefore, he could avoid arrest. And he goes to the south edge of the Galilee, as we read in Luke 17, and verse 11. And then he crosses over the Jordan Rift, the little town basically of Pella. They cross over, and he joins one of the large pilgrim bands going south through Perea. Eventually, then, they will go south, and they will turn back west, they will cross the Jordan River at Jericho, a number of you have been with me, we've been on this trail before. And they will start to make about a 20 mile climb of 3500 feet up to Jerusalem. Now we know that Jesus and the disciples then stop at the village of Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem, stay with Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and the ecstatic pilgrims continue on to find lodging. And there's many things that they heard and saw, miracles that Jesus did during that journey. Many parables that he spoke, but they're going to go on into Jerusalem, where they are going to announce that the king is coming. And they're going to describe the miracles that they saw that they witnessed on the way.

Now it's an also important for us to understand that Jesus is orchestrating all of this. He's moving it towards a high point, a climax on the day of His triumphal entry, by traveling with the Jewish pilgrims. By working these miracles, by rebuking the Pharisees during that journey, and then by stopping in Bethany and allowing the pilgrims to proceed on before him into Jerusalem, he really accomplished three objectives. The first objective that he accomplishes is that somebody is going to spread the word that he is going to appear in Jerusalem. Secondly, he fueled the fires of messianic expectation that would pave the way for his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And then thirdly, he frustrated the murderous plans of the Sanhedrin, making them afraid to arrest him because of his enormous popularity. Albeit it was a superficial and self-serving popularity that would soon turn to rejection of their king; and the same people would call for his crucifixion. His triumphal entry, you must understand, was a day of Messianic presentation foretold by the Old Testament prophets, predicting the manner, the moment and even the meaning of the King's presentation. In Zechariah nine verse nine, we have the prediction of the manner of the King's presentation, it's foretold. The prophet says "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph O, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey." In Daniel nine and verse 25, we even have the moment of the king's presentation being foretold. There we read "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks." This is a reference to weeks of years. Without getting into all of the details, suffice it to say, that this is speaking of 483 years, after the Persian king, Artaxerxes, decreed to allow the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem in 445 BC. The first advent of Messiah would then be fulfilled at his triumphal entry that occurred on Nissan nine AD 30, precisely as it was predicted. As a prophetic footnote, 69 weeks of those years have been fulfilled. There is one more seven-year period yet to be fulfilled. It's known as Daniel's 70th week that corresponds with the pre kingdom tribulation judgments, just prior to our Lord's Second Coming.

And Psalm 118, beginning in verse 21, even tells us of the meaning of the king's presentation, There we read, "I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, and You have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad." Furthermore, both Mark and Luke state that he will, quote, "Be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And after three days rise again." That's Mark 8:31, and Luke 9:22. In fact, in Mark 8:32, Mark expresses how Jesus is now quote, "stating the matter plainly." Now there's no more ambiguity. And you will recall when he states the matter, plainly, what does Peter do? Peter said, no, no, no, no, you can't do that. Jesus says, "Get behind Me, Satan." Now, the question that stands before us is simply this. Why would Jesus avoid stating these matters clearly, in the early stages of his ministry? After all, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, are absolutely central to the gospel, and the history of the church. Moreover, if the church and the kingdom of heaven are essentially indistinguishable, one in the same, as some will argue, and if the kingdom and quote "the gospel of the kingdom," Mark 1:14, is merely a spiritual entity, as many claim, then why didn't Jesus and his disciples emphasize the cross from the outside of their ministry? Why would Jesus begin his public preaching, recorded in Matthew 4:17, by saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand?" Why didn't he say, "Repent, For the kingdom of heaven, is at hand and it is a spiritual kingdom, that I am going to offer you through my death and my burial and my resurrection." Why did he not do that? And the answer is this, dear friends, is because Jesus first offered himself as the promised king of the messianic kingdom in exact fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. You will remember, originally, the good news of the kingdom was announced only to Israel. John one in verse 11, "He came to His own," referring to the people of Israel, "and those who were His own did not receive Him." In fact, prior to Israel's rejection, Jesus would not even allow His disciples to go into the region of the Gentiles and the Samaritans. But he said, Go only quote "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand,'" Matthew 10, verses five and six.

But the promised kingdom to Israel, God's chosen covenant people, demanded a decision and we see this when we read the imperatives that Jesus uses in calling them to repentance. We read verbs like repent, believe, receive, confess, follow, yet at every turn, despite all of his miraculous signs, they rejected him. Now, to be sure, Jesus atoning work on the cross, as predicted in the Old Testament, was necessary for both cosmic and human reconciliation to occur. We know that Jesus according to Acts 2:23, was "delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God." We know according to Revelation 13, in verse eight that the Lamb was slain prior to the foundation of the world, all of this was set into motion in eternity past. So, Jesus's death was going to happen, it was not a plan B, as some would claim. But to emphasize his betrayal, and his arrest and his phony trials, and his crucifixion and death and resurrection, at the outset of his messianic presentation, would have been horribly confusing to them. They could not imagine a suffering and dying Messiah. Emil Schurer, a 19th century German Protestant theologian, wrote an elaborate four volume history of the Jews around the time of Jesus ministry. And I might add that all of you who are serious Bible students, and want to be teachers, you absolutely must have this in your library, and you must become familiar with it. It's absolutely fascinating and it will enlighten you as to how the people thought in those days. But in these volumes, especially in one volume, he provides a systematic statement of Messianic doctrinal theology regarding the eschatological expectations of the Jewish people in the days of Jesus. In other words, this is how they thought, and I've summarized this very briefly, first of all, they believe the Messiah's appearance of redemption must be preceded by a special period of trouble and affliction, what he called the last tribulation and perplexity. Secondly, they believe that Elijah will return as the forerunner to prepare the way of the Messiah. Thirdly, they believed that Messiah will appear and overthrow the...(inaudible in transcription)... correct the disciples misunderstanding that the kingdom would come immediately. Because remember, I mean, even in the upper room, right around that time, what are they fighting over? Who's going to be first in the kingdom. You know, they're thinking even with all that Jesus is saying, the kingdom is coming now. That parable refutes that. But it also makes it clear that there is going to be an interregnum, there is going to be an interval of delay, followed by a future arrival. So, there you have a very hurried historical and theological context of Jesus prophecy that we have here in Mark 10.

Let's look finally at the specifics and fulfillments of Jesus prophecy. Notice verse 32. "They were on the road going up to Jerusalem. And Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed. And those who followed were fearful." Can't you see the scene? They know that Jesus is walking into a death trap. They're terrified. They don't know what's going to happen. The disciples are terrified. And Jesus is on up ahead of them, in that steep 3500 foot climb over 20 miles. He was resolute was he not? In his determination to accomplish the will of his Father. He was unflinchingly committed to finishing his atoning work on the cross. To bear my sins, your sins in his body, as our substitute.

We read this in the Messiah soliloquy about being perfected through his obedience and his suffering recorded by Isaiah the prophet. Some years before in Isaiah 50 beginning in verse five we read this "The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back. I gave My back to those who strike Me and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. For the Lord God helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed. He who vindicates Me is near; Who will contend with Me?" And what's amazing is that these specifics recorded 800 years prior are the same specific that Jesus gives here in Mark 10.

Now notice them, verse 32, "And again He took the 12 aside and He began to tell them what was going to happen to Him." And what we're going to see is that Jesus makes eight very specific predictions concerning his suffering, his death and his resurrection in verses 33 and 34. A real quick, important digression, just so you know, this is all setting up the Passion Week of Christ. On Sunday, Jesus is going to enter the city of Jerusalem on a colt and be welcomed as king on Monday and Tuesday. He is going to enter the temple, he is going to cleanse it and for two days he is going to rule its precincts as the Messiah King, and he is going to answer the charges leveled against him, denounce the scribes and the Pharisees in a series of woes, and pronounce judgment on all who reject Him. And then he will leave the temple, he will go up to the Mount of Olives where he will answer the disciple's questions concerning his appearance, his coming, known as the Olivet Discourse. We read about it in Matthew 24 and 25, Mark 13, Luke 12:21. And there he predicts, as well, the destruction of Jerusalem and his own second coming. And then on Wednesday, there's really nothing recorded, but we believe that he's probably in Bethany with the 12, worshipping and fellowshipping with Lazarus, preparing for the feast on the following day. And then on Thursday afternoon and evening, he will wash the disciples feet, he will enjoy his last supper Passover meal with his disciples. Judas will leave and go to betray him and then on Friday morning, well before dawn, he will be betrayed, he will be arrested, and He will even be forsaken by the 11. He will suffer three mock trials by the Jews and the Sanhedrin. And sometime after dawn, he will be formally condemned, and then he will endure three more Roman interrogations, Pilate will then surrender to the demands of the Sanhedrin, Jesus will be scourged and executed by crucifixion. And then on Sunday, early in the day he will rise from the dead.

Now, the eight predictions, number one, verse 33, "'Behold, we're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes.'" This was fulfilled beginning with Judas betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, John 18 three, when the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. And likewise, Mark records this in chapter 14, verse 53, they lead Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered together.

The second prediction, "and they will condemn Him to death." This was fulfilled for example, in Mark 14:64, we read, "You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you? And they all condemned him to be deserving of death." John 19, verse 14, "Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover, it was about the sixth hour. And he," referring to Pilate, "said to the Jews, 'Behold your King! So they cried out, "Away with Him, Away with Him, crucify Him!' Pilate said to them, 'Shall I crucify your King?' The chief priests answered, 'We have no king but Caesar.' So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified."

A third prediction, and they "will hand him over to the Gentiles." Mark 15 verse one, "Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole Council, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate." The reason they had to do this is, they did not have the authority to kill anyone. So they had to let the Romans decide that. And "Pilate questioned Him, 'Are You the King of the Jews?' And He answered him, 'It is as you say.'"

And then the fourth and fifth prediction, "'They will mock Him,'" in verse 34, "'and spit on Him.'" We see this fulfilled later in Mark 15, beginning in verse 17. "They dressed him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him and they began to acclaim Him, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' They kept beating His head with a reed and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him."

Number six, Jesus predicted that they will scourge me. Mark 15, verse 15, "Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged he handed Him over to be crucified." Let me back up. Remember the soldiers have put a purple robe on him mocking his kingship. They put a crown of thorns on his head, they gave him a scepter to mock him as a king and then they took the reed and they beat the thorns into his head, driving them deep into a skull. This beating, combined with the previous beating that he received from the high priests, rendered him at this point, completely unrecognizable as a human being, as predicted in Isaiah 52, verse 14, that we read earlier, that "His appearance was marred more than any man." And in this condition, Pilate brings Jesus out to the Jewish mob hoping that they would see this bloody form and be appeased, but they would not. According to Matthew's account, it would appear then that Jesus was scourged the second time with with a severe "verberatio" flogging it's called, the worst kind. Because Matthew indicates that Jesus was scourged after Barabbas was released, this kind of flogging was the most severe kind. Most men would not recover. In fact, it was once reserved for those that were about to be crucified. It was one that would literally rip the hide off of one's back right down to the ribcage most would bleed to death. It was designed to be so brutal that it would hasten the criminal’s death. May I remind you, dear friends, that he endured the suffering that we deserved.

The sixth prediction was that they would kill him. We know this happened, there was a cry of victory in John 19:30, when he said "'It is finished.'" There was a cry of commitment in Luke 23:46, "'Father into thy hands, I commend my spirit," Mark 15, verse 37, "And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last."

Then an eighth prediction, "'And three days later, He will rise again.'" Mark 16, verse six, we read that an angel said to the women that had come to the tomb, "'Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.'" The resurrection of Jesus Christ is substantiated by the biblical record of five appearances just on the day of His resurrection, and then five more appearances during his subsequent 40 day ministry. And yet, dear friends, our Lord, our Savior and our King, marched forward to do all of this for us. A resolute determination to accomplish the will of the Father to suffer and die on our behalf. My what a model for us, Amen? Would that we be so resolute in our commitment to do the Father's will?

I challenge you. If you're here today, and you have never really understood the good news of the gospel, that God has provided a way for your sins to be forgiven, for you to be reconciled to a holy God through faith in a suffering Savior who is also our King, today, you have been told. I plead with you to repent, to place your faith in Him, the only hope of your salvation. And for those of us who know and love Christ, o, how we need to rejoice with joy inexpressible as we think of all that God has done and is doing and will do. To know that God is saving and preparing, in the ecclesia, the members of the royal family, destined to rule with the king, when He returns in all of his glory to establish His kingdom, an earthly kingdom, that will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. And to think that we are part of that nucleus of a future kingdom. May we all be diligent. May we be obedient to pray as Jesus has asked us to pray, "'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.'" Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the magnificent truths of your word that give us a biblical worldview. Truly, your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path, especially in the dark days in which we live. We give you praise for all that you have decreed in eternity past. And we relax in your promises knowing that you will never leave us nor forsake us and that you will accomplish your purposes to bring glory to yourself. What amazing truths and for them we give you thanks. In Jesus name, Amen.