Matt. 23:37-3937O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Matthew 23:37‑39).
JESUS had pronounced woe after woe upon the scribes and Pharisees because of their hypocrisy and wickedness. These wicked men were the men who ruled in Jerusalem, and that highly favored city, the city of the great King, was full of wickedness. It was ripe for judgment. Jesus, the great King, despised and rejected; exclaimed in sorrowful lamentation, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see Me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
What tender grace and loving compassion in these words of Jesus! He would have gathered them, but they would not be gathered. “I would,” but “ye would not.” All His gracious love was refused. They rejected Him, and now He rejects them. Sorrowfully, yet solemnly, He has to say to them, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” He would have filled that house with glory, but all was refused and sadly He turned away, telling them they should not henceforth see Him, until they said “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
Only a little while before this, when about to make His last entrance into the city, as He was descending the Mt. of Olives, and drew near, His compassions lingered over the doomed city. “He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes.” Blinded by hypocritical self-righteousness and pride, they could not see. The Center of all the glory, the Prince of peace was there, but they knew not the things which belonged to their peace.
His prophetic, omniscient eye foresaw that guilty city’s terrible doom, and He did not withhold the sorrowful tidings, “For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”
Oh! what a sorrowful vision for that heart of loving compassion to behold. Yet how truly it was all fulfilled. Every word came true, when the Roman armies surrounded the city, and accomplished its complete destruction and de’ solation.
And now, O sinner, is there no word of warning in all this for you? Was not the fulfillment of those solemn words of judgment a pledge of the fulfillment of a more fearful judgment, yet future? Jesus foretold that judgment and it was fulfilled to the very letter. And He has foretold a judgment that awaits all the ungodly, all who despise the gospel. That judgment will surely come to pass. Sinners, it will overtake you, unless you repent and believe in Jesus. Jesus wept over Jerusalem; Jesus passed through a sea of woe on the cross for sinners; Jesus had tears for you, O sinner: have you no tears for Jesus? No tears of repentance? No tears because your sins nailed Him to that cruel cross? Oh! pause a moment in your course. Is He not even now saying to you, “I would but ye would not.” Why will you die in your sins, when Jesus is waiting to save you? His compassions linger. Take heed lest He turn away, as He did from Jerusalem, and leave you to the desolation of coming judgment.
Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart. Repent, believe and live.
ML 10/18/1903