Acts 16:14
"And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God. heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul."
There’s not a one of you sitting out there that can get one ounce of sense out of this Book without the Lord opening your understanding. There is not a person on this earth who has ever experienced true redemption and then salvation but that God didn’t open first their heart. Now, I’m not a ‘Five Point’ Calvinist. Don’t get me wrong. Nor am I a ‘Ten Point’ Armenian or whatever they call them. But I keep the thing in the middle. But yes, God does have to initiate. God does have to open the understanding and then the individual has to make his choice. That’s the way I look at it because that's what the Word says.
So Peter says, "you’re the Christ." And Jesus said, "Blessed are you Peter, this is all I wanted to know." Now you know what I call this? Peter’s profession of faith. But what does Peter not mention? Death, burial and resurrection. Peter doesn’t say, "Now I understand that you’re going to go to that Cross and die for my sins. You’re going to be raised from the dead. That’s what I believe." No, because these things were hid from their understanding just as they remain hid from Israel to this day.
No, Peter had no idea that Christ was going to go to a Cross. Now, to prove that point we need to go to Luke 18. We’ve used it many times before, but like I said, we’ve got a lot of new people everyday so hopefully for them this is all fresh. And this again is in about the same time frame as Matthew 16. They’re on their way up to Jerusalem for the last Passover and the Crucifixion. And that most of Christendom don’t know this passage is even in their Bible and if they do, they don’t read it or acknowledge it let alone understand it.
Luke 18:31
"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."
Now we’ve got to be careful. These things that Jesus is referring to were back there in the Old Testament but they were in such veiled language that nobody really knew or understood what they meant. Of course, I’m referring primarily to the Psalms and Isaiah 53. You all know those verses. "He is lead as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb openeth not his mouth," and so on and so forth.
None of the Hebrews in Israel understood that that was a reference to a coming crucifixion. But you see, Jesus knew. And so he says, "everything that was written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished." Now verse 32.
Luke 18:32-33
"For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, (the Romans) and he shall be mocked, spitefully entreated and spitted on: (not only by the Romans but His fellows, His brothers) And they shall scourge him, and put him to death; and the third day he shall rise again."
Did Jesus know the end from the beginning? Of course! He knew exactly which Roman soldier would wield the whip. He knew exactly where the soldier was at this particular moment in time who would drive the spikes. He knew exactly what the high priest was going to do. There wasn’t anything hidden from Him. He know the secret things of God that are hid from the unredeemed's eyes or understanding.
I may have pointed it out, when He was sweating those drops of blood there in the Garden of Gethsemane and the disciples were sleeping. What did Jesus know? All of this. He knew it was coming. That’s why He said, "Father if it be possible let this cup be taken from me." He knew the suffering that was lying ahead, and He did here in this passage, as well. But now look what the disciple’s knew.
Luke 18:34
"And they (the Twelve) understood none (my, highlight that word, or underline it) of these things and this saying was hid from them."
Who hid it? God did! It wasn’t time for them to know. Then why did Jesus say it? Except to prove to us that He knew and they didn’t. This is just one of those things revealed but it was in what? plain sight as are most of the secrets or mysteries of God, that are throughout the scriptures. Deuteronomy chapter 29 and verse 29 tells us they're there for our finding and our understanding and not just for us but also for our children and grandchildren forever.
If you have an argument with that, you know what I come back and tell people. If you don’t believe this, then tell me, why weren’t these believers, these followers of Jesus in His earthly ministry, why weren’t they parked outside the tomb waiting for His resurrection? Well were they? No! They’d long given up. They’d even mentioned at least, that they were going to go back to their fishing. But here they are completely unaware that Christ was going to be going to the Cross. Why? Because they were all hung up on His bringing in the Kingdom, in fact that is still their hangup to this day.
I’ve got one more verse. Come all the way to Acts chapter 1 lest you think that this whole idea of an earthly kingdom was a figment of my imagination or someone else’s. No, this was on the apostle’s mind constantly. Acts chapter 1 verse 6. Now this is after His resurrection. And He’s been with the eleven. Judas of course, is gone. He’s been with the eleven now 40 days, and He’s ready to ascend back to Glory. And He tells them to wait ten days until the Holy Spirit would come on the day of Pentecost. He had to release Him upon His return.
But look what’s on the mind of these eleven men. That’s what I want you to see. After three years of earthly ministry, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. The Good News to Israel, that the King and the Kingdom were ready to be presented:
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