Luke 18:31-34
Jesus Predicts His Death for a Third Time
31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
Luke 23:33-38
Jesus Forgive Those Who Would Hang Him on the Cross
33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
Think about this -what if you always knew the day and time you would die in the future...Would that change you?...
Jesus knew the exact day and hour when He was going to die...This could give one's life a different perspective...Jesus told His Disciples three times that He was going to die...He told them when they were going up to Jerusalem, that everything that was written about the Son of Man by the prophets would be accomplished...The Messiah of the Old Testament would be delivered over to the Gentiles and would be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon...And after they flogged Him, they would kill Him on a cross...But on the third day He would rise from His death...But His Disciples understood none of these things...This saying and there meaning was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what He was saying...
I know Jesus suffered, and others who suffer, but I do not know why God allows suffering, even after reading Job several times...
Jesus knew He the day and the hour of His death...I think knowing that from the earliest of times in one's life, would make one apprehensive and anxious...I, of course, do not know if He was anxious about these things, but He would suffer and He would die on the cross...I think knowing that He was going to suffer and knowing the exact time He was going to die made Him a little different than most...I believe suffering has a way to give one feelings of being apart from others...And maybe apart from the world...Yet, He willingly and knowingly saved the world by His dying and He forgives the ones who hung Him from the cross...I think the cross gives some relief for those who do suffer...It was for our personal transgressions and sins that He suffered...And He had to live with these thoughts of knowing the exact time of His death most or all of His life...
God had a Plan and Jesus would suffer and die on the cross...