Luke 13:31-35

Luke 13:31 (KJB)
The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee.

There were actually some Pharisees who were disciples of Jesus but the majority of them were His enemies. Jesus was still in Herod’s jurisdiction and some of the Pharisees who may have been envoys of Herod came to Jesus and told Him that Herod had a plot to kill Him. Herod did lack the courage to have Jesus killed because of His popularity with the people. It is more probable that Herod had dispatched these Pharisees and told them that he would like Him to leave that area because he did not want to be responsible to Rome if there were any riots due to large crowds which gathered around Jesus.

Luke 13:32 (KJB)
And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Jesus calls Herod a fox because he is sly in getting the Pharisees to do his bidding. (Song 2:15 KJV) Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. Foxes also had a tendency to ruin the vines on the vineyards which had tender grapes. Jesus may be comparing Herod to one of those foxes who have done a disservice to Israel and caused her to stray from the truth. He was a very evil ruler which would not have been conducive to a proper spiritual atmosphere. Then Jesus tells the Pharisees to carry this message to him. First, that He was casting out devils which means that He had power over the kingdom of Satan, then secondly He was healing the sick people both today and tomorrow. Then he makes a very peculiar statement that He will be perfected on the third day. This, of course, is a veiled reference to His resurrection from the dead on the third day. It was also a reference to the fact that His resurrection would be the culmination of His ministry on earth.

Luke 13:33 (KJB)
Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.

It was getting near for the time for Jesus to be put to death. Until that time, He was still going to be continuing on in His ministry. We must also adopt that mindset that we too, until the time of our death, continue on in the ministry the Lord gave us. Jesus continued to do ministry as He headed toward Jerusalem. Jesus also knew that Herod could not put Him to death because the place of His death was to be Jerusalem. It was the city which rejected so many of the prophets which were sent to it by God. Jerusalem was also the center of Jewish pride as it is today and pride is the root of all sin, and would be at the center of the motivation to kill Jesus, along with envy.

Luke 13:34 (KJB)
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

For many years Jerusalem had been the center of worship for Israel. It had the temple and it was where the kings lived such as David and Solomon. It then became the center of worship for the Southern Kingdom Judah. Jesus was moved by compassion for Jerusalem as seen in His words and his comparison to a hen who would protect her young by placing her wings over them. However, over the years it became more and more corrupt and instead of being a true place of worship it became a place of extortion and murder and false religion. The last four words of this verse states it well, “and ye would not.” That is because they thought themselves to be independent and that they had a relationship with God and nothing could happen to them as a result of the relationship and this mindset resulted in them being destroyed in 37 years. Those words showed a willfulness in their rebellion.

Luke 13:35 (KJB)
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Desolate - Abandoned, uninhabited, laid waste

Jesus now pronounces the final decree on Jerusalem and Israel for all of its rebellion from the time they left Egypt to the persecution of the Apostles. The pride of the religious leaders was the fact that Israel was the place where God chose to place His name and that they had the temple and the Scriptures. In reality, this meant nothing to them because their history proves this. So now because they have filled up their cup of iniquity, the nation of Israel will cease to exist among the nations of the world. It will become an uninhabited place as if it never existed.

The departure of Jesus, which is His death, will be linked to the departure of God from the temple. This will happen when Jesus physically dies and the veil in the temple is torn from top to bottom. God no longer would dwell in the temple as He will now be dealing with the entire world. The Gospel was now going to go worldwide. Jesus’ death is also connected to the destruction of Jerusalem. No longer would the Mosaic law be in force with all its ceremonies because salvation will come by grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus places a conjunction in the statement that they shall see Him no more until they see Him as coming in the name of the Lord. (Psa 118:26 KJV) Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. There will be a remnant from Israel who will come to know Christ as Savior and He will show Himself to them but not to those who will not believe. (Isa 10:21-22 KJV) The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. {22} For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. This will be salvation on an individual basis and not on a nationwide basis as some false teachers teach.

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