Chapter 40—Jerusalem’s King
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on
the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
Psalm 48:2
.
From the crest of Olivet, Jesus looked upon Jerusalem. Fair and peaceful
was the scene spread out before Him.... The rays of the setting sun lighted
up the snowy whiteness of its marble walls and gleamed from golden gate
and tower and pinnacle. “The perfection of beauty” it stood, the pride of the
Jewish nation. What child of Israel could gaze upon the scene without a thrill
of joy and admiration! But far other thoughts occupied the mind of Jesus.
“When he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it” (
Luke 19:41
).
Amid the universal rejoicing of the triumphal entry, while palm branches
waved, while glad hosannas awoke the echoes of the hills, and thousands of
voices declared Him King, the world’s Redeemer was overwhelmed with a
sudden and mysterious sorrow. He, the Son of God, the Promised One of
Israel, whose power had conquered death and called its captives from the
grave, was in tears, not of ordinary grief, but of intense, irrepressible agony.
His tears were not for Himself.... He wept for the doomed thousands of
Jerusalem—because of the blindness and impenitence of those whom He
came to bless and to save....
Though rewarded with evil for good, and hatred for His love, He had
steadfastly pursued His mission of mercy. Never were those repelled that
sought His grace.... But Israel had turned from her best Friend and only
Helper. The pleadings of His love had been despised, His counsels spurned,
His warnings ridiculed....
When Christ should hang upon the cross of Calvary, Israel’s day as a
nation favored and blessed of God would be ended.... As Christ looked
upon Jerusalem, the doom of a whole city, a whole nation, was before Him—
that city, that nation, which had once been the chosen of God, His peculiar
treasure.
The long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem only confirmed the Jews in
their stubborn impenitence.... Her children had spurned the grace of Christ.
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