I don't understand Luke 9:18-22

Unknown

Hey everybody,

Can someone explain this passage?

18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
19 So they answered and said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.”
20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”
21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”

My question is, why didn't Jesus want His disciples to tell anyone that He was the Christ of God? or am I just reading this wrong?
Is He telling them not to tell anyone that He is the Christ of God or is He telling them not to tell anyone that He is going to be rejected, killed, and be raised on the third day? If it is the latter, then why didn't Jesus want His disciples to tell anyone that He is going to be rejected, killed and raised on the third day?

Thanks and God bless.

nene0587

.

Unknown

So are you saying that Jesus didn't want His disciples to preach while He was on earth, because if they did then they would be tortured too?

But that doesn't make sense cuz in the next chapter, Luke 10:1-16, Jesus appoints seventy people to go out and preach to everyone. So, why would Jesus tell His disciples not to preach but then appoint seventy other people to go and preach?

Or maybe I didn't fully understand what you said...

gmankbadi

Nene was on the right track. Jesus Christ was not merely a man clothed with a garment of divinity. He Himself was the absolute Divine. Therefore, many of His Godly characteristics were demonstrated for the people so that they would conceive who He really was; in the subtle process of faith; while many were not. The Logos exhumed much of His self-emanated power, not only via instances of Omnipotence but also that of Omniscience. The range and scope of Christ's knowledge would have surpassed all human comprehension and pervaded the boundaries of time itself; even in His human incarnate self. As in the mind of the Father all events have already come to be—all that "was and is and is to come", so also in the mind of the Son all things would have already taken place. This includes the event of suffering He was to endure for the salvivic prosperity of all men. Christ was cognizant of the day He would suffer and knew the agony that would incur upon Him during the trials of His crucifixion beforehand,.....yet, His persistence towards God's will was irrevocable.

Within the passage mentioned, Our Lord warns His disciples not to mention to anyone His divine personhood and potentiality-at least not at that present earthly moment. Even now, Christ veils His absolute dominion and prevalence over the earth, providing just enough evidence to make belief in Him a most reasonable pursuit, yet not a compelling one. Our Lord was truly a man of both secrecy and revelation; all at sufficient timing. This moment, however, was insufficient for the preaching of the gospel. The disciples were to follow through with Christ's command since it enabled the path of suffering to actualize in the yet to be future. For had men been told of Christ's divinity, many would have fallen from their pre-appointed salvation; if not by the jading of the crucifixion yet to come then by the immediate perception they would have had for an earthly king rather then the greater heavenly king.

It has often been purported that Christ rectifies the aberrations and errors of men towards His appointed path. However, the path God had foreseen and ordained as conscionable, even before the creation of the world, includes the rejection and disobedience of men. Christ does not change His plan per say, rather infallibility was and is part of His plan (although, not necessarily His will) all along. For all that humanity would and would not effectuate has been known to Christ and the Father and Spirit living in Him from the creation of the world. The command "to tell this to no one" was not a present perspective of Christ at the time, but a present necessity for the establishment of a posterior prophetic truth. Thus, as every thread and strand of existence was known to Christ, so did He find it sufficient to fulfill His crucifixion through a mere gesture; the concealment of one truth at the present for the greater revelation of all Truth in the future.

God Bless.

nene0587

.