Jesus, when He came to Jerusalem on the way to what would be His own death upon seeing it wept over it. In Luke 19:41-45 we read the events of His last days before the cross and see His selfless heart for others. He was on His way to the cross. He knew this and yet we see His heart break for- others! What love…what grace is on display. The word used for “wept” is the strongest word that could be used in the original language which we may say He SOBBED, HEART BREAKING SOBBING. There is no stronger word that could be used. Heart breaking, agonizing, sobbing, upon coming and seeing Jerusalem.

He had come and there was celebration upon His entry, He had come but it was all depthless, they were outwardly celebrating but internally rebellious to God’s message, there was no submission to Him for who He was, God incarnate! They, because of their willful refusal- unbelief- would refuse Him, reject Him and it would be to their great eternal destruction, and it broke His heart! God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

“THIS DAY…”

He says, “If you had known this day, even you, the things that make for peace.”- What “day” is He referring to? A specific day of the week? No! God has come to them in the Person of Jesus Christ, “and they did not receive Him.” The Day when God had visited them and they rejected Him. “The Day of Salvation” that had come to them and they had rejected God’s salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. They rejected His message of repentance, which John the Baptist also lost his head over, which Jesus preached and when He arose from the dead would commission His disciples to go and preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Peter would preach repentance on the day of Pentecost, Paul would preach “repentance towards God and faith in Christ Jesus”- They rejected the Message they rejected the Messiah, they did not know that there is a DAY of visitation when their eternal destination is sealed and all because of their willful refusal to believe, TO REPENT TOWARDS God of self-rule, self- will and turn to God in true repentance and embrace by faith the sufficiency of Jesus Christ to rescue them from the wrath of God, forgive them and adopt them into the family of God with right standing before God based on the perfect work of Jesus Christ. He had called them to Himself, they had seen miracles, they had known the truth, some had even marveled, but they REFUSED to obey His message and now Jesus upon coming to Jerusalem- whose name means “the city of Peace” was now rejecting the Prince of peace and the message of Peace and Jesus heaved with great sobs of agony, heartbroken over their choice to reject God’s Message of repentance and faith. In the end of v 44 – they did not recognize Who it was who was among them, it says, “Because you didn’t recognize the time of your visitation.” The “visitation” was used in the Old Testament to speak of the coming of God in Judgment or Salvation. The way it is used here is to speak of the Coming of God in salvation to them, and they did not recognize Him.

JESUS WEEPS OVER COMING JUDGMENT;

Jesus describes the judgment that is coming, verse 43, “For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, surround you, hem you in on every side, level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another.”

JESUS sobbed, heartbrokenly over the Judgment that would come upon the city. Within forty years, 70 AD, The Romans would surround the city, barricade the people in, cut off the food supply, and within the city, people would lack food and begin to starve and grow weaker and if any tried to escape they would be killed. For five months they hemmed them in, starving within, no hope for them. Eventually when the people were tired, weary, weak from hunger, and from the external pressures without and within, completely surrounded, they would be massacred.

The emperor ordered the entire city and temple to be leveled, leaving only rubble, a little more was left and a portion of the wall on the west, the place was flattened and indeed there would be no evidence a city even existed when others would come. Walls broken, leveled and people massacred. The stones were left to testify to the people who rejected the Messiah. For five months the Romans surrounded them and hemmed them in and then Devastation! Destruction. They were destroyed. Judgment had come upon the city. Lives went into eternity. Jesus knowing what was coming wept, sobbingly so, heartbroken.

THIS IS A GOOD POINT FOR US TO STOP AND PAUSE;

Jesus takes no delight in the perishing of the wicked. We see here He was heartbroken. How easy is it for you or me to see people reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be unaffected by it. To look at people and know within years they will be in a Christ-less eternity if they continue in their rebellion. How unlike Jesus we too often are, callous, not compassionate when it comes to souls. The Devastation of the destruction of Jerusalem and its people, He took no delight in it, indeed from the passage we see He sobbed, His heart was broken, it caused great sorrow to Him. And today the REJECTION of Jesus Christ, His message of repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ leads to eternal separation. It is Devastating. Jesus wept- sobbingly, heartbroken over the rejection of the people to their day of His visitation to them with the Gospel of salvation, the Gospel of peace, and knowing their hardness of heart would lead to their temporal devastation but more importantly their eternal destruction.

ETERNAL DESTINY.

To stand at a funeral, and to look into a casket and know, no matter how well the mortician has made the person seem “peaceful’ if they did not repent towards God and place their faith in Jesus Christ, they are in Hell-without God, without hope, eternally so, and what great effect it should have upon us- but too often death does not. How horrific to be standing close to a corpse and unaffected that this soul has entered into eternity, knowing that all the “nice” things said about them if they have rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ- their destruction has and is and will be of eternal devastation. Why are we often so “numb” towards the lost soul?

SOME TRUTHS TO PONDER

  • GOD LOOKS AT THE CONSEQUENCES OF PEOPLE’S HARDNESS OF HEART AND IT BREAKS HIS HEART
  • GOD’S MESSAGE OF REPENTANCE AND FAITH WILL BE REJECTED BY SOME- BUT NEVERTHELESS IS TO BE SHARED
  • SOME PEOPLE VALUE THE TEMPORAL OVER THE ETERNAL
  • GOD’S MESSAGE OF REPENTANCE TOWARDS GOD AND FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST IS GOD’S WAY TO EXPERIENCE PEACE WITH GOD
  • ASK GOD TO GIVE YOU HIS HEART FOR THE SOULS OF PEOPLE
  • IF A PERSON WILL NOT RECEIVE SALVATION THEY WILL EXPERIENCE ETERNAL JUDGMENT
  • GOD’S HEART IS STILL FOR THE LOST TODAY.
  • THE SOULS OF PEOPLE ARE TO BE YOUR PRIORITY
  • In the place of pain and coming troubles- the cross- Jesus is still reaching out, Let’s pray to do likewise in our own troubles…

 

God BLESS And encourage you to worship, praise, adore and follow Him out of appreciation for who He is what He has done and is doing for you,

Aidan.