Bible Truth #308 - Luke 9:44-45

Luke 9:44-45
44  "Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men."
45  But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

If nothing else, the very concept of verse 45 should prove it is not up to man to understand God’s Word, or words that proceed from the very mouth of our Savior. At this point in Jesus’ ministry the apostles had been with Him for 3 years - this was after the Mount of Transfiguration. They had heard Jesus teach hundreds of times, they had heard countless parables. But yet when Jesus said He was going to be betrayed, they didn’t understand?

Why? Why did they not understand? Some may say that Jesus was speaking cryptically and that the apostles had not yet been taught that Jesus would be sacrificed. I’m sorry, but every excuse the Arminian may concoct or fabricate is beside the point! The next few words tell us why - it was hidden from them! If God wanted them to understand, they would understand! The fact of the matter is that at this point, their minds were still closed to the complete understanding of Scripture, their minds were still closed to the unabridged truth. How do I know this? Easy, Luke 24:45 tells us that Jesus didn’t open their minds to understand the Scripture until AFTER the Resurrection!

I pray this helps to open the eyes of the man who believes in decisional salvation that the lost man will never understand the truth (1 Corinthians 2:14). It has everything to do with a lost man’s spiritually dead, hard-hearted, unredeemed, mind. He must be enabled by God (John 6:65) and without that enablement he sees, hears, and understands nothing. He can do nothing but reject the Truth. Only a saved man can understand, and even then, he can only understand what God wants him to understand.

Jesus raises up EVERY man God draws (John 6:44), NOT every man who accepts the drawing.