Tag: Matthew 23:37-39
Lament over Jerusalem!
Scripture reading for August 16: Lamentations 1-5
Jeremiah composed a series of five funeral songs about the death of Jerusalem and the captivity of God’s people. As a pastor, this book is helpful to gain insight into the process of grief and helping families and individuals deal with death and loss. Grief takes time and energy to process. Mourning people go through stages ranging from disbelief and shock, to mourning and wailing, blaming others or God, to quiet acceptance and finally readiness to move on. God understands our grief and sorrows for His Son, Jesus, was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. (Isaiah 53:3)
Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet because he had a tender heart of compassion for God’s people. (Lamentations 1:16) He had warned them faithfully of the coming judgment and destruction of Jerusalem. He had witnessed the destruction and now wrote to chronicle the grief process. Jeremiah was a lot like Jesus Christ, Who also wept over the city of Jerusalem as He saw prophetically the destruction that was to come upon it for their rejection of Him as their Messiah. (Matthew 23:37-39) God values tears so much that the Psalmist said He gathers them up in a bottle and records them on a scroll. (Psalm 56:8) Tears are a sign of compassion and were cried by Jesus at Lazarus’ tomb and again over Jerusalem.
In Lamentations 3, the prophet is recounting his misery and described it with images that bring Isaiah 53 and the crucifixion to mind. In the middle of his rant, he turned his thoughts to hope! (Lamentation 3:20-21) He remembered God’s steadfast love and great compassion. Jeremiah declared that His mercy is “new every morning” and that “great is God’s faithfulness”. (Lamentations 3:22-23) Because God was Jeremiah’s portion, he chose to wait for the Lord, Who is good to those who wait for Him and put their hope in Him! It is truly God’s mercy that gives us hope and leads us to repentance! (Romans 2:4)
This funeral lament ends with words of faith and hope and a prayer. God is sovereign and reigns forever. In His compassion, He would restore them as they prayed. Take a moment and offer a prayer of thanksgiving and trust in the Lord for His loving compassion today. His Son Jesus Christ wept over us and bore our sorrows and tears that we might live in His love and receive new mercies every morning!
“You, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to Yourself, O Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless You have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.” Lamentations 5:19-22
The “Bridegroom’s” longing!
Scripture reading for May 8th: Matthew 23, Psalm 91, Proverbs 29
Matthew 23: 37-39 “”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! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see Me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord.'”
As Jesus came to the conclusion of His earthly ministry, for the last time He came to Jerusalem, the city of God. As He approached the city, He lamented over the city that had been given many opportunities to receive God’s instruction and correction from prophets, judges, and kings. Now Jesus Christ, Son of God, came personally to intercede for the city. In His foreknowledge, He knew that they would reject Him too. He would have loved to gather them under His wings. Jesus used a mother hen and chicks here. But this could likely refer to the Jewish Rabbi’s prayer shawl and the act of covering the bride during the wedding ceremony. Their unwillingness would leave them a desolate woman without a husband or inheritance or eternal provision. For those with open ears and hearts, the longing of Jesus calls out to us!
Psalm 91:1-2 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in Whom I trust.””
Prayer: Father God, thank You for this insight into Your heart of gathering a willing ‘Bride’ for Your Son from among Your own people. Thank You for sheltering those who come to Your through faith in Jesus Christ under the shadow of Your wings. Thank You for eternal life and protection and the grace of having justice done through the cross of Calvary in my life. I love You and willingly come under Your authority!
Proverbs 29:25-26 “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. Many seek the face of a ruler, but it from the Lord that a man gets justice.”