Jesus’s last words to Israel

Matthew 23:37-39

a. Jesus’s indictment towards Israel (23:37-38)

b. Jesus’s promise of His welcoming (23:39)

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. Jesus’s indictment towards Israel (23:37-38)

i. The focus now shifts from the Pharisees to Jerusalem. The Pharisees were already rebuked for being guilty of killing the prophets (23:35) but now includes Jerusalem. His accusation states that Jerusalem, all of you, are those who kill the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. It is a bizarre statement to make but we see how those in Jerusalem were guilty of this.

ii. Turn to John 10:22-39. In this section, the Jews are gathered during the Feast of the Dedication. It is also known as the Festival of Lights or the Feast of the Maccabees, which was an eight-day winter festival celebrated by the Jews in the month of December or sometimes late November, depending on when it fell in the lunisolar Jewish calendar.  What is this called today? Hanukkah.

iii. The history of the Feast of Dedication goes back to the intertestamental period (the historical bridge between the Old and New Testaments, lasting roughly 400 years from the ministry of Malachi (c. 420 BC) to the appearance of John the Baptist in the early 1st century AD) and the Maccabean Revolt. After the Seleucid king Antiochus Ephiphanes profaned the Jewish temple (The king put an altar and statue of the Greek god Zeus inside the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem) and forced the Jews to abandon their sacrifices and adopt pagan rituals, a group of Jewish freedom fighters rose up, defied the oppressive pagan regime, and overthrew the Seleucids. The temple in Jerusalem was re-dedicated to God; ever since then, the Feast of Dedication has been celebrated to commemorate this meaningful event in Jewish history.

v. So here in John 10, this was a time when they were celebrating and they say, tell us who you are. If you are the Messiah, tell us so we know (10:24). So Jesus responds by saying, I told you, but you don’t believe me. The things I do, it shows you that I am of my Father’s name and these things prove to you that I am His. But you don’t believe because you are not of My sheep. Then Jesus says that whoever is in my father’s hand, nobody can snatch them out (10:28) because they are His sheep and the sheep know His voice. Then in 10:30, Jesus says I and the Father are one.

1. This shows that Jesus and God are unified. It should be understood as God and I are one thing. It should not be translated as one person as the one is neuter, it is not referring to identity, but rather unity. These two belong together. How are they one? They both have the fullness of deity. Within the doctrine of the Trinity, we say that God is co-equal, co-eternal and co-existent with a shared essence. So what is shared between the three? It is that they are divine. They equally share divinity, that they are God so they don’t split into three parts, or three separate gods, but rather, one God subsisting in three persons, means that the one true God exists as three distinct, real, and co-equal persons.

vi. So what was the people’s response? They try to stone him (10:31). This goes to show exactly what Jesus was saying here in Matthew 23:37. These jews, not the Pharisees were the ones who tried to kill Jesus because He said that He was God.

vii. So here in verse 37, Jesus says that you try to stone her which we see in John 10:22-39 and Jesus’s tone changes here. It goes from accusation to lament. Jesus says how often I wanted to gather your children together. His presentation that He is God should have unified them, but yet, it caused them to be against the Messiah. Instead of drawing them together, they separated themselves from God. Jesus came to redeem them and to gather them together, like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and yet, the response here is stunning, they were unwilling.

viii. This is a stunning statement considering the context. If we consider the context of John 10, Jesus tells them that you don’t know me because you are not my sheep and yet, His response to them is in sadness. He mourns the fact that they don’t believe because they are not His sheep, and yet, He laments over the reality that they were unwilling. This is not to say that God can’t save them because of their choice. No, the blame is placed firmly on their choice. We see this even in the context of John 10. They were asking Him tell us you are the Messiah. Jesus came to unite them and provide them safety, and yet, through their unbelief, they would desire destruction.

ix. This is why Jesus says in Matthew 23:38, behold, your house is being left to you desolate. Your failure has a consequence. Your house, most likely referring to the temple building is being left desolate. It is literally, your house is being handed over to you. What does this mean? God has abandoned it, just as God abandoned it in Ezekiel 10:18. Jerusalem and the people were now left to themselves and they would face destruction. Their unwillingness to cause God to abandon them. This is what they want.

x. This goes to show that unbelief is a choice. We can refuse God’s offer of the Gospel and that is what causes our destruction. Yes, it is true that they don’t believe because they are not His sheep, but somehow, that blame is not on God’s sovereignty but on the people. Everyone is culpable to their own decisions. He had wanted to gather them, not to condemn them, but they were unwilling.

xi. This reminds me of the parable of the marriage feast (Matthew 22:3). It says that He sent out His slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.  Matthew 22:5 tells us that they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business. They had their own priorities. They didn’t care about the things that God had provided them. They wanted to find their own way.

xii. This is what makes the Gospel so amazing. It is true that we all wanted to go our own way. Isaiah 53:6 tells us that each of us has turned to his own way, and that we have all gone astray. And yet, when we were all lost, God sends His own son to die for His people so that all those who believe in Him, would have a way back to the Father. Although we strayed and got lost and couldn’t find our way back, God sent His son to go look for us so that we would be able to come back home. This is the picture of Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. Every time I go the wrong way, he makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside quiet waters. Because of Him, I am always walking in the paths of righteousness because He is the one who leads me. This is why I shall never want. I shall never want or need more than Him. 

b. Jesus’s promise of His welcoming (23:39)

i. So verse 39 is the final statement that Jesus says. His statement is in connection with verse 38. Jesus has said that your house is in destruction because I have left. And from now on, you will not see me until you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. The promise here is, unless you repent and turn to me, you will not see me.

ii. This is what God demands of people and the problem is, unless God draws the person, then man cannot come. We see this in John 10. You don’t believe because you are not my sheep. But what is the other side of the Gospel? If you seek Him, if you draw near, He will draw near to you (James 4:8).

iii. The problem we face as believers is the problem that Jesus states here. You will not see me until you repent but you can’t repent unless I allow you to repent. So how does one repent and seek Him? You beg and plead with God, and yet, only God can allow this. How can I believe? You must believe. You must throw yourself on Jesus. You must believe that you are a sinner. You must believe that you have sinned and have offended God. And you must believe that Jesus has made a way of salvation for you.

iv. Until you repent and come to faith, you will not see me. But the issue is not that you will not see me, but you will not desire to see Him. You see, the issue is because you haven’t been humbled. You haven’t been broken. You don’t see a need for Christ. But if God is gracious, He will break you and show you, that you need Him. Nobody wants this, but when you go through this, acknowledge Him.

3. CONCLUSION