Chapter 64—A Doomed People
This chapter is based on
Mark 11:11-14, 20, 21
;
Matthew 21:17-19
.
The triumphal ride of Christ into Jerusalem was the dim foreshad-
owing of His coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory,
amid the triumph of angels and the rejoicing of the saints. Then will
be fulfilled the words of Christ to the priests and Pharisees: “Ye shall
not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in
the name of the Lord.”
Matthew 23:39
. In prophetic vision Zechariah
was shown that day of final triumph; and he beheld also the doom
of those who at the first advent had rejected Christ: “They shall look
upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him,
as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him,
as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.”
Zechariah 12:10
. This
scene Christ foresaw when He beheld the city and wept over it. In the
temporal ruin of Jerusalem He saw the final destruction of that people
who were guilty of the blood of the Son of God.
The disciples saw the hatred of the Jews to Christ, but they did not
yet see to what it would lead. They did not yet understand the true
condition of Israel, nor comprehend the retribution that was to fall
upon Jerusalem. This Christ opened to them by a significant object
lesson.
The last appeal to Jerusalem had been in vain. The priests and
rulers had heard the prophetic voice of the past echoed by the multitude,
in answer to the question, “Who is this?” but they did not accept it as
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the voice of Inspiration. In anger and amazement they tried to silence
the people. There were Roman officers in the throng, and to them His
enemies denounced Jesus as the leader of a rebellion. They represented
that He was about to take possession of the temple, and reign as king
in Jerusalem.
But the calm voice of Jesus hushed for a moment the clamorous
throng as He again declared that He had not come to establish a tem-
poral rule; He should soon ascend to His Father, and His accusers
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