Jesus Went Before Them | Mark 10:32-34 | J. Allen Mashburn

Since the day Jesus began His earthly ministry and called His disciples to follow Him, He had tried to help them see exactly Who He was. They believed that He was a great teacher. They believed that He was a great prophet. They believed that He was a man of God. They may have even believed, on some level, that He was the promised Messiah.

They believed that their leader, their rabbi, Jesus, was going to deliver their nation from the domination of Rome. They believed that Jesus was going to restore Israel to its former greatness. They believed that He would be the King of Israel. 

And, they were right. They were just mistaken about the timing.

The disciples believed that these things were about to happen in their lifetimes. They believed that Jesus was on the verge of establishing His kingdom in the world. They failed to understand the truth that God was up to something much greater than that.

On two previous occasions Jesus had tried to tell His men that He was sent to this world to die. The first Jesus told them about His approaching death was in Mark 8:31. On that occasion Peter rebuked the Lord and could not grasp what Jesus was trying to tell them. On the second occasion, Mark 9:31, they were all confounded by what Jesus said and could not get their minds around it.