11:49-51 What does Jesus mean by this?
11:49-51 What does Jesus mean by this?
Jesus Himself is the wisdom of God (cp 1Cor 1:23-24, 30). In Lu 11:49, Jesus is speaking of Himself sending apostles and prophets to the Jews of His generation who would persecute and scourge and kill some of them (cp Mt 23:34-36).
This was fulfilled in the first century church (cp Ac 4:1-21; 5:17-18; 6:8-15; 8:1-4; 12:1-4; 14:1-2, 19-20; 16:16-24; 17:2-9; 21:30 - 28:31).
That generation of Jews were privileged to have Jesus present among them and witness His miracles (cp Ac 2:22-23). But because they rejected Jesus and killed Him, their judgement would be greater than any other generation. They would be held responsible for the shed blood of every righteous person from Abel to Zechariah, the Old Testament prophet who was slain between the altar and the sanctuary in the court of the temple (cp Zech 1:1).
While there is no scriptural record of how Zechariah died, it was undoubtedly the way Jesus said. (An earlier prophet also called Zechariah was also slain in the court of the temple, which is recorded in 2 Chronicles, but His father was Jehoida, not Berechaiah, as Jesus said (cp 2Chr 24:20-22).
The greater judgement that came upon that generation was the destruction of both Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD (cp Mt 22:1-10; 23:36-38; 24:1-2; Lk 19:41-44).