Lament over Jerusalem
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
Who is Jesus, Beloved?
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Well, in chemistry, He turned water to wine;
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In biology, He was born without the normal conception;
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In physics, He defied the law of gravity when he ascended into heaven;
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In economics, He defied the law of diminishing return by feeding 5,000 men with two fish & five loaves of bread;
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In medicine, He cured the sick and blind without administering a single dose of medicine;
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In history, He is the Beginning and the End;
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In government, it is said that He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace;
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In religion, He said no one comes to the Father except through Him;
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You see Beloved, Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master;
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Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher;
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Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer;
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He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him;
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He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today;
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He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world;
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He had no army, yet kings feared Him!
And it is that final fact that I would like to bring your attention to...
That Jesus, the King of Kings, was feared by kings like Herod Antipas and his father Herod the Great.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 13 and focus on verses 31 through 35.
Our message this morning is titled “Lament over Jerusalem.”
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As you are turning to our passage today please keep in mind this fact...
Jesus life is again threatened...
But our Lord and Savior will not stop speaking the truth of the Gospel...
And will not be intimidated to stop the mission He was sent in our world to accomplish.
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
1) The Fox
2) The Lament
And...
3) The Judgment
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
May Your Name be always hollowed and honored...
For You sustain Your entire creation with the minimalist of effort...
For nothing is to hard for You, Lord.
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Thank You for giving us our daily needs...
And for forgiving us as we have forgiven others who have wronged us.
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Help us to to stay on the narrow road and to avoid the many temptations in this world...
Oh Lord, please deliver us for all forms of evil by our enemy and his minions.
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And it is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”
32 And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.
33 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’
34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The Fox
1) The Fox
Verses 31-32: At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.
Beloved, as we start our study in this first section we need to pause at the phrase “at that very hour” which ties this present account closely with the preceding account...
So, we should review what we last covered a week ago in Luke 13:22-30, which says:
22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.
23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them,
24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’
26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’
27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’
28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.
29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.
30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
As we discussed last week, we covered how Jesus...
In response to a question from someone in the crowd...
Made it clear that our concern should not be so much on the number of people who will eventually be saved but on the fact if we are ready ourselves and are saved.
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Jesus also made it clear that one’s family lineage will not be enough to save them...
To be on the narrow road id to have a saving relationship with Jesus.
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Now, it is at that moment that Jesus is teaching these things that some of the Pharisees tell Jesus that Herod wants to kill Him.
As you may recall, in Luke’s last mention of him, Herod Antipas was troubled at the reports of Jesus’ miracles.
By having John the Baptist beheaded, Herod thought he had done away with prophetic opposition...
However, with the crowds increasing who where following Jesus around due to His amazing miracles...
It made it clear to Herod that that he still very much had a prophetic opposition.
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Now, as a reminder, Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea...
He was also the son of Herod the Great.
The same Herod that tried to murder Jesus as a baby but who failed...
Although, he did still end up slaughtering a myriad of young baby boys which was a heartless massacre.
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At the time of this event in our passage, Christ was probably either approaching Perea or ministering there already.
The Pharisees—no friends of Herod themselves—may have warned Christ because they hoped the threat of violence from Herod would either silence Him—or drive Him back to Judea, where the Sanhedrin would have jurisdiction over Him.
Theologian Darrell L. Bock pus it this way:
“While this looks like a friendly attempt to help Jesus, it might be an expedient way to get Jesus out of the region without resorting to violence.
There is not enough detail to decide this issue.
Luke does not, however, note any malice on the part of the Pharisees.
Nonetheless the effort will fail.”
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Another item we must bring attention to is that prophets, speaking as mouthpieces of God, and with divine authority, were often commissioned to rebuke leaders publicly.
Public sin often requires a public rebuke...
And since Jesus spoke with perfect divine authority, He had every right to speak of Herod in such terms as calling him a “fox.”
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Now, rabbinical writings often used “the fox” to signify someone who was both crafty and worthless.
Someone who thought of themselves as a lion but really were a little fox.
So, Jesus was basically saying that although Herod was cunning, he was also a very weak ruler.
The Pharisees, who trembled at Herod’s power, must have been astonished at Christ’s boldness when He spoke this way.
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Now, if we continue along our text, we will encounter the phrase by Jesus when He says “today and tomorrow, and the third day” which was an expression which signified that Christ was on His own divine timetable...
So, it was not meant to lay out a literal 3-day schedule...
But to show that Jesus had a time-frame in which He was operating and He would not be rushed or abandon His mission due to Herod’s threats.
Additionally, the present tenses of the words here further emphasize Jesus’ continuing ministry...
Jesus wass going to continue to cast out demons and heal the sick as His time grew closer to His sacrifice on the cross as Matthew 8:16 says:
16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.
So, this is a process that is still going on...
Herod was not going to stop Jesus fro doing what He was sent to do...
And that also included preaching the truth of the Good News...
As Luke 4:18 says:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
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Now, the “third day” in Jesus’ phrase would have reminded Luke’s readers of the day and us today of Jesus’ resurrection.
To be clear, when Jesus talks about “finishing His course” this is a reference to His death, in the finishing of His work on the Cross.
So, although Herod was threatening to kill Jesus...
No one could kill Christ before His time as John 10:17-18 records:
17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
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You see, Beloved, Jesus was on a lot of people’s hit lists...
That is often what happens when one speaks the truth without compromise...
And Jesus spoke that truth boldly and with absolute perfection...
So, it only makes sense that He wold draw that much hatred.
As Mark 3:6 records:
6 The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
Likewise take a look at what it says in John 5:18:
18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
So, in addition to Herod, the religious elite of the day wanted to see Jesus dead...
That is why we can’t just assume that the warning to Jesus by the Pharisees that Herod wanted to see Him dead was due to genuine concern or if there was an ulterior motive as we discussed earlier.
Another insightful passage that is related to our study is Luke 11:47–51, which says:
47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed.
48 So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.
49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’
50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation,
51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.
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So, Jesus had a huge target on His head for He spoke with authority and had no problem challenging the rulers of His day...
Jesus had a target on His head for He called out the religious elite for their hypocritical behavior...
Jesus had a target on His head for He made it clear that He was the Lord of the Sabbath...
And Jesus had a target on His head for He made it clear that He was truly God in the flesh.
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Furthermore, Jesus did not hide the truth of the subject of His preaching...
Yet, He still upset the religious elite enough to have them seek Him and plot to destroy Him as Luke 19:47:
47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him,
What it all came down to, Beloved, was whether the enemies of Christ would ever humble themselves and follow the Lord genuinely...
Would they trust in the truth that is found in the Word of God alone...
Or would they seek to protect their precious man-made traditions.
As John 8:37 says:
37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.
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The nation of Israel’s hardness of heart to His teaching lead to Jesus declaring a lament which shows us His compassion for those even in rebellion against Him...
And that takes us to our second point.
2) The Lament
2) The Lament
Verses 33-34: Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Beloved, do you see how the word “Jerusalem” is repeated three times in a row...
That is to bring ones attention to the word and make it clear that this is the main focus of these verses...
So, it is important to define “Jerusalem” here which should not be understood as referring simply to the twenty-five to thirty thousand people who lived in the city but as representing the nation of Israel as well.
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Another note that is important in our study is that not all prophets who were martyred died in the city of Jerusalem.
John the Baptist, for example, was beheaded by Herod, probably at Herod’s palace in Machaerus.
This saying was probably a familiar proverb, like the adage in Matthew 13:57, which says:
57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”
So, this statement is full of irony, noting that most of the Old Testament prophets were martyred at the hands of the Jewish people, not by foreign enemies.
Basically, the prophets where murdered by their fellow countrymen and not by those hostile to Israel...
Which is pretty sad that the people who are supposed to be ones family are ones who are committing these terrible crimes.
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The parallel statements kills the prophets and stones those sent to her each contain present participles, indicating ongoing action.
Israel had rejected and killed the prophets in the past, was still doing it, and would continue to do so in the future.
So, Jerusalem and the whole nation of Israel is being rebuked for killing the prophets not only of the past but also for the future deaths of Jesus, of Stephen in Acts 7, of James in 62 AD, and of many more Christians.
A vivid illustration of this rejection is found in this parable by Jesus in Luke 20:9–16, which says:
9 And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while.
10 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
11 And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.
12 And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.
13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’
14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’
15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!”
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However, despite the wickedness of Israel and it long history of unfaithfulness, God still shows compassion...
For if only Israel would repent, then the Lord would forgive the nation.
That is true for all people today as well...
For we truly have a loving and compassionate God that desires all to be saved.
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I like how John Calvin once said it:
“Your idea of [God’s] nature is not clear unless you acknowledge him to be the origin and fountain of all goodness.”
Just look at how God talks about Israel as if i was His child in Hosea 11:1–4:
1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.
Likewise, there is great tenderness in Jesus’ words as seen in the imagery of a hen with chickens.
This outpouring of divine compassion foreshadows His weeping over the city of Jerusalem as He approached it for the final time as recorded in Luke 19:41-44, which says:
41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,
42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side
44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
So, clearly, these are deep and sincere emotions.
As the New International Commentary on the New Testament on Luke says:
“The Savior is very deeply moved by the hardness of heart of the inhabitants of Jerusalem who through the centuries have again and again misjudged and killed God’s messengers and also rejected all the persevering attempts of Jesus Himself to call them to true repentance.
As a hen gathers her brood under her wings to protect them against threatening danger, so He desired to protect them against the impending judgments.
With the utmost devotion and self-sacrifice He tried to lead them to spiritual and temporal safety, but they persistently opposed Him.”
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This love and compassion for the lost should be in the heart of every single born-again believer...
Not only does Jesus perfectly model this for us...
But we also see this love and compassion in the apostles...
Just look at what Paul says in regards to the Jews who are still lost in Romans 9:1–3:
1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
Just, wow!
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The Old Testament prophets where also compassionate for the most part...
Sure, you had your Jonahs who reluctantly obeyed the Lord and actually did want to allow certain sinners any time to repent...
But at the same time you have your Jeremiahs whose heart wept for the lost...
We just have to look at passages like Jeremiah 9:1, which says:
1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
And you also had your Isaiahs who likewise said in Isaiah 22:4:
4 Therefore I said: “Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
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Now, I want to bring your attention to the image Jesus used to symbolize His care that He desired to share with Israel when He said, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
This image of a mother bird’s wings covering her children is a popular image in Scripture and we see it a lot in the Psalms...
For example, take a look at what it says in Psalm 17:8:
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings,
Likewise, read with me what it says in Psalm 57:1:
1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.
And consider the psalmist’s words that are recorded in Psalm 91:4, which says:
4 He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
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As the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament on Luke says:
“Jesus expresses God’s affection for the nation in a picture:
He has desired to care for them as a hen cares for her brood.
The nation rejects Jesus and is declared fit only for exile unless it acknowledges that Jesus is sent from God.
This event is a turning point in the journey narrative.
Most see it as the center of the unit.
It certainly represents a major transition.
Much of the journey up to this point has been consumed with warning the nation.
From this point on, much of the section is concerned with teaching the disciples.
The open door that Jesus mentioned in the previous parable is closing for this generation of Israel.
The fig tree is about to be uprooted.”
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Finally, Jesus ends this section of our study with a warning about what will happen at the judgment...
And that takes us to our third and final point.
3) The Judgment
3) The Judgment
Verse 35: Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
Beloved, lets start this final section by looking at the term “house” which here may mean the temple or the city of Jerusalem as a whole for both were destroyed by Roman forces in 70 AD.
However, the more likely understanding is that the “house” here refers to the whole nation of Israel.
This fits with the understanding that the term “Jerusalem” in the previous verses also referred to the nation of Israel.
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So, Jesus’ statement that “your house is forsaken” and that they will not see him until they say “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” is meant to say that until the nation of Israel acknowledges Him as blessed by God, it will be under judgment.
Now, the phrase “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” is actually a quotation of Psalm 118:26, which says:
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
This quote was chanted to incoming pilgrims on feast days...
And this was the same thing chanted to Jesus during His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
However, this is not an allusion to Palm Sunday because in Matthew’s account the saying occurs after Palm Sunday, and therefore it must refer to a later event.
Therefore the best understanding of this quote is that it is a prediction that a large number of Jews will trust in Jesus before his second coming.
As Paul writes in Romans 11:25–27:
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like you to consider this:
In an article titled, ‘The Jewish Virgins that Preach Jesus During the Tribulation,’ Dr. David Jeremiah writes that:
“Though His Spirit will not be holding back evil on the earth, God will preserve a remnant of His people to proclaim His Name during the Tribulation.
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Jews Will Come to Christ in the Tribulation. In Revelation 7:2–4 John writes:
2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea,
3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
In the verses that follow, details are shared. From each of the twelve tribes, 12,000 will be sealed with God's protection during the seven years of Tribulation.
These men, along with the two evangelists, are the only ones that will not be harmed during the judgment on earth.
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Though these 144,000 Jews would have rejected Christ as Messiah, their eyes will be opened after the Tribulation, and they will spend the next seven years spreading the Gospel and stirring up the greatest revival man has ever seen [as it says in Revelation 7:12–15, which says:]
12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”
14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
Not only are they sealed with the Holy Spirit as every believer is promised, the witnesses are sealed with the Name of the Lord on their foreheads.
This physical mark will protect them from the judgment that will be released when Jesus begins to open the seals.
The mark of the Lord will stand in stark contrast to the Mark of the Beast.
They will be servants of the Lord who will never bow to the Antichrist and his power.
They will not be passive believers, hiding and running from the Antichrist's law.
They will be bold and defiant, unashamedly preaching the Gospel. And God will protect them.
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Even today and throughout history, when you are God's child, in God's will, you are immortal until God is finished with you.
That doesn't mean that you should live life recklessly.
But it does mean that God's plan prevails.
He preserves His people for the ministry He has set before them.”
Truly, words of wisdom by Dr. David Jeremiah.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray...
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Heavenly Father...
If anyone hearing this message right now does not know You in a saving way...
Then give them new ears to hear...
Give them new eyes to see...
Give them new minds to understand.
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I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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For those hearing this message who already know You...
Remind us of the love of Your Son...
Remind us of the compassion of Your Son...
And equip us with hearts like Your Son.
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Again, I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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It is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
To God be all the glory.
Amen.
