Morning Bible Study: Luke 18:31-34

The Third Prediction of His Death

31 Then he [Jesus] 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. 

32 For he will be handed over to the Gentiles, and he will be mocked, insulted, spit on; 

33 and after they flog him, they will kill him, and he will rise on the third day.”

34 They understood none of these things. The meaning of the saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Commentary

(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, 1706 -- www.christianity.com) 

"The Spirit of Christ, in the Old Testament prophets, testified beforehand his sufferings, and the glory that should follow, 1 Peter 1:11. The disciples' prejudices were so strong, that they would not understand these things literally. They were so intent upon the prophecies which spoke of Christ's glory, that they overlooked those which spoke of his sufferings. 

People run into mistakes, because they read their Bibles by halves, and are only for the smooth things. We are as backward to learn the proper lessons from the sufferings, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, as the disciples were to what he told them as to those events; and for the same reason; self-love, and a desire of worldly objects, close our understandings."

1 Peter 1:11
They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified in advance to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.