Sunday: A Brokenhearted Savior
Daily Lesson for Sunday 7th of April 2024
As Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem, His heart was broken. John’s Gospel says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11, NKJV). Jesus did everything He could to save His people from the coming destruction of their beloved city.
Jesus’ love for His people flowed from a heart of infinite love. He repeatedly appealed to them in love to repent and accept His gracious invitation of mercy.
Read Luke 19:41-44; Matthew 23:37-38; and John 5:40. What do these verses tell you about Jesus’ attitude toward His people and their response to His loving invitation of grace and mercy? What revelation of God’s character do you see?
Image © Phil McKay at Goodsalt.com
It is difficult to understand such an event as the destruction of Jerusalem in the light of God’s loving character. History reveals that tens of thousands died as the Roman general Titus led his armies against the city. Jerusalem was devastated. Men, women, and children were slaughtered. Where was God when His people suffered so greatly? The answer is clear but not easy to grasp fully. God’s heart was broken. His eyes were filled with tears. For centuries He reached out to His people. By their rebellion against His loving-kindness, they forfeited His divine protection. God does not always intervene to limit the results of His people’s choices. He allows the natural consequences of rebellion to develop. God did not cause the slaughter of innocent children in the destruction of Jerusalem; the tragic death of the innocents was Satan’s act, not God’s.
Satan delights in war because it stirs the worst passions of the human heart. Down through the centuries, it has been his purpose to deceive and destroy and then blame his evil actions on God.
Read Matthew 24:15-20. What instruction did Jesus give to His people to save them from the coming destruction of Jerusalem?
It is well to remember that the vast majority of Christians living in Jerusalem in a.d. 70 came from a Jewish background. A loving God desired to preserve as many of His people as possible. That is why He gave the instruction that when the Roman armies approached, they were to flee the city.
Reflect on the following statement: we do not judge God’s character by events we see around us; rather, we filter all the events we see through the prism of His loving character as revealed in the Bible. Why is this such good counsel?
(27)
Jerusalem's siege, capture and destruction is one of the most well-documented events in the first century CE. Flavius Josephus, a Jew who switched sides during the war gave a detailed, if somewhat biased account of the Jewish rebellion, the siege, and the ultimate destruction of the city and its temple. This led to the diaspora of the Jewish nation. Between the rebellion and the destruction, there was a period of relative calm and this provided an opportunity for Christians to escape from the conflict. The human suffering during this time was both horrific and colossal and does not make for good bedtime reading.
The seeds of rebellion were already present in New Testament times and there are references to the activities of zealots in the Bible.
Those words are all the more meaningful for their simplicity. The Jews had put their faith in their religion, their nation, their interpretation of prophecy and it was not just going to come to nothing, it was going to end in catastrophic suffering. "Jesus wept!"
We modern Christians like to quote the prophetic aspect of this event. It gives us a good feeling that we have got it right because we follow Jesus who can prophesy events like this.
Maybe the real lesson is for us to change the focus of evangelism to heart religion rather than institutional religion.
Maurice - I wholeheartedly agree!
Sir, Thank you for these words that cause us to examine ourselves.
Would you cry over the brokenness of something you had the power to fix?
An example might be as a parent or adult who loves a child...the child is sobbing unconsolably about losing a favorite toy and even though you know where the toy is and that it is being shipped back to him/her, you feel tears well up in your own eyes and heart as you share the child's present grief.
When Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus, it may be similar to that. He alone knew Lazarus would soon come back to life, and yet He wept at the pain of the whole situation.
Jesus also wept at the top of the Mt. of Olives. This situation seems a bit different than the tears at Lazarus's tomb. He had just ridden into Town on the donkey with many shouting His praises. The people knew nothing could stop Jesus as they had seen Him raise the dead, not to mention making food for 1000s and casting out demons and healing incurable diseases. They knew if Jesus just spoke the words, the Romans would flee away. They wanted Jesus to rule over the Romans and over the abusive religious elders,.... but would they let Him rule in their hearts?
Jesus did have the power to MAKE them shout His praises from soft hearts (and not from greedy hearts wanting Him only to make their nation #1 again). He said that He could make rocks speak His praises, so He could also MAKE stony-hearted people in Jerusalem sing love songs to Him. But He couldn't. Jesus had to "walk in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake". God's loving character never forces Himself on anyone. He can't fix in us what we won't let Him fix.
And so I see Jesus crying over people whom He had the power to fix (by sovereignty), but didn't have the power to fix (because of God's gracious gift of human free will). Jesus wept over Jerusalem because even though God's marvelous plan for His true character to be revealed was coming to pass (Ps.118:22-23; Is.53:10-11; Luke 18:31-33; John 12:27), oh how He wanted the people of Jerusalem to conquer their evil impulses and enjoy an intimate relationship with Him. Oh how He wanted them to not blindly reject Him, to understand "the things that make for peace" (Luke 19:42) and truly share this glorious moment in history with Him. To truly understand God's steadfast mercy when they sang "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" (Ps.118:26,28-29).
His power is restrained by His mercy, and that looks like a well of tears. God's power seen in Jesus Christ is self-denying. When I'm feeling most powerful, is it a time of greatest self-denying? Is it a time when Christ's painful, impossible mercy is called forth in me towards another?
He cried, his heart was broken-hearted, because the people had all the means to be saved, to escape the destruction but they choose not to.
See the word of GOD says, "He came to his own, but his own received him not" (John 1:11). For so many century He did all he can to save them, but they hardened their heart. When he was with them, he did everything to save them, but they refused to be saved. He was the way of their escape, He was their savior- But they rejected him.
Even after showing no interest to him at all, after hardened their heart. He was still caring for them. And thats why, "He told them this words, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes" (Matthew 24:15-19) and added, "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day" (Matthew 24:20).
- All that words He told them in hoping that, they will remember and be saved. But did they remember?! Some, but to many not all. So, they just got fed up for their choice, it is not GOD fault. And another things is that, "If GOD would interfere in our bad choice everytime, don't you think that that will make him a weak GOD?!", What i mean is yes, GOD is a loving GOD, He is love. But that doesn't mean that, "we have to do all the bad choice and if bad consequences happen, He will save us" 👉 Very big NO. GOD is a loving GOD, He is Love but not weak.
Amen, thank you for perfect words
Amen ,thank you all for sharing
There seems to be an element of confusion in the current Sabbath School lesson.
Sunday’s page (April 17) contains the idea –
“It is well to remember that the vast majority of Christians living in Jerusalem in A.D.70 came from a Jewish background.”
In my view this statement is somewhat unfortunate because there were no Christians [not one Christian!] living in Jerusalem in A.D.70.
The next thought in the lesson (on Monday’s page) refers to the actual event which provided the Christians with their opportunity to flee Jerusalem and Judea. The lesson makes mention of “Cestius Gallus and the Roman armies [that] surrounded the city”, and of their unexpected withdrawal. It was during that withdrawal that the Christians fled to Pella, north-east of Jerusalem on the other side of the Jordan river.
My point is that the event concerning Cestius occurred in A.D.66, four years BEFORE Vespasian and Titus resumed the siege against Jerusalem.
Every Christian had fled Jerusalem [and the surrounding areas] before Titus arrived on the scene in A.D.70. There were no Christians in Jerusalem in A.D.70.
_________________
From Great Controversy, p.30
I think the author of the lesson is using AD 70 as a time period here to make a point that the Christians in Jerusalem at that time were Jewish. He talks about the Christians fleeing in tomorrow's lesson so he's well aware they fled prior. I wouldn't nit pick too much over that statement.
All we have to do is to meditate on and accept, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."(Rom 8:28)
A story is told about a mother who was drowning in a river. Her son dived into the river and tried rescuing her. However the mother was all over the place trying to rescue herself. She did not realize that she was powerless to save herself. She nearly strangled her son who was coming to rescue her. In vain he tried to rescue her. Finally he realized that it was impossible and the mother died in the water. On her funeral, he was in deep anguish. He wept saying, 'mother, I wanted to save you, but you wouldn't let me'.
During the time of Noah, God did everything to save His children.
During the time of Moses, in the wilderness, after being bitten by snakes, he wanted to save them through the bronze snake but they did not look at it.
During the destruction of Jerusalem, again people were warned to flee to the mountains when they see the city surrounded by armies. Many perished in the city 🏙️
Today, Jesus is calling us. Unfortunately we ignore the call to salvation.
We leave our Lord heartbroken
Was Jesus instructions on Matthew 24:15-20 going to Christians only?
Are not all God's instructions to whoever will heed them? God loves all persons equally. 💕
Today like in the days of Jesus, the warning goes out again ‘judgement first begins in the house of God” 1st Peter 4:17
Also read Ezekiel: 9