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Jesus Acclaimed as Israel’s King
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Nearby was Calvary, the scene of His approaching agony. Yet His
was no selfish sorrow. The thought of His own agony did not affect
that noble, self-sacrificing soul. It was the sight of Jerusalem that
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pierced the heart of Jesus—Jerusalem that had rejected the Son of
God, scorned His love, and was about to take His life. He saw what
she could have been if she had accepted Him who alone could heal
her wound. How could He give her up?
Israel had been a favored people. God had made their temple
His dwelling place; it was “beautiful in elevation, the joy of the
whole earth.”
Psalm 48:2
. In it Jehovah had revealed His glory, the
priests had officiated, and the pomp of symbol and ceremony had
gone on for ages. But all this must come to an end. Jesus waved His
hand toward the doomed city, and in grief He exclaimed, “If you had
known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make
for your peace!” The Savior left unsaid what could have been the
condition of Jerusalem if she had accepted the help that God wanted
to give her—the gift of His Son. Jerusalem could have stood out in
the pride of prosperity, the queen of kingdoms, free in the strength
of her Godgiven power, with no Roman banners waving from her
walls. The Son of God saw that she could have been liberated from
bondage and established as the leading city of the earth. From her
walls the dove of peace would have gone forth to all nations. She
would have been the world’s crown of glory.
But the Savior realized she now was under the Roman rule,
doomed to God’s punishing judgment: “But now they are hidden
from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies
will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you
in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to
the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another,
because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Jesus saw the doomed city surrounded with armies, the besieged
inhabitants driven to starvation and death, mothers feeding on the
dead bodies of their children, and parents and children snatching the
last morsel of food from one another—natural affection destroyed
by the gnawing pangs of hunger. He saw that the stubbornness of the
Jews would lead them to refuse to submit to the invading armies. He
saw Calvary set with crosses as thickly as forest trees. He saw the
beautiful palaces destroyed, the temple in ruins, and not one stone