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JerusalemJesus destiny was in Jerusalem. God’s goal for Him would come to pass there. He would die and be raised from the dead by the amazing power of the Holy Spirit.

But notice how this was framed. He took the 12 aside and clearly said “We”. Jerusalem just wasn’t for Jesus.

The good news of the new agreement God has with us is that we have died and been raised to a new life in Him.

Oh my goodness. That is some very good news!

We went to Jerusalem with Jesus. We have shared in his death and resurrection. We have the power of the Holy Spirit, that raised Him from the dead, in us.

God’s goal for us is to live a resurrected life with Jesus.

Then he took the Twelve aside and told them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. Everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For he will be handed over to the Gentiles, and he will be mocked, insulted, spit on; and after they flog him, they will kill him, and he will rise on the third day.” | Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (Lk 18:31–33). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

May I see how I am a new human being in Him.

May I know that the old me was crucified with Him and the new me was raised up in Him.

Here Jesus makes the Twelve his private audience. “Behold” calls their special attention both to the journey to Jerusalem and to the accomplishment of prophetic Scripture in what will happen to him there for Jesus’ prescience of his fate.

The accomplishment of prophetic Scripture in Jerusalem, the headquarters of Judaism, will advance Luke’s program of presenting Christianity as the flowering of a venerable religion rather than as a questionable novelty.

That “all the things written … about the Son of Man will be finished” underlines this presentation of Christianity, and “through the prophets” presents them as agents of God’s Spirit in their writing about the Son of Man.

Thus the very Spirit of God stands behind the evolution of Judaism into Christianity. “For” introduces an explanation of what will happen in Jerusalem to Jesus the Son of Man. Details in the explanation enhance both the theme of scriptural accomplishment and Jesus’ prescience.

Jesus predicts He is going to raised from the dead. He will. How glorious is that?