Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Matthew 23:37-39: “God: Abounding in Love, Punishing the Guilty”

Rembrandt's painting of the prophet Jeremiah lamenting the first destruction of Jerusalem approximately 586 BC.


O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!  …How often would I have gathered your children together…and you would not!” Jesus in Matthew 23:37

You don't see the spectacular love of God until you see the spectacular holiness of God..If you soften your view of God's holiness, then what the cross achieved also is weakened."  (Dr. D.A. Carson, God: Abounding in Love, Punishing the Guilty; Lecture given May 12, 2011)  
But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,  and with His wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6 ESV)

“Jerusalem, the city which missed its moment of destiny.”  (P.W.L.  Walker, New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, p. 591)

In one of the most poignant moments in all of Scripture, Jesus finishes His condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees with a heartfelt lament over the city of Jerusalem and the people of Israel.  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” (v.37) Jesus cries, using the double name.   In times of great emphasis Jesus doubles the name of the person to whom He is speaking:  Martha (Luke 10:41), Simon (Luke 22:31) and Saul (Acts 9:4).   David also used this same pattern when crying over his son Absalom (2 Samuel 19:4).

Our Lord never glosses over or merely dismisses sin.  Rather, He faces it head on.    Here He speaks the truth in love regarding Jerusalem: “who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!” (v.37)  This statement looks backwards into the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 36:15-16; Hebrews 11:37) including such prophets as John the Baptist (Matthew 14:10).  It also, as mentioned in the previous devotion, points forward to the apostles and the early church in the Book of Acts (Acts 5:40; 7:60; 9:2; 12:2; 14:19; 2 Corinthians 11:23-27).   And of course, it is merely days until they kill the Sent One from God (Zechariah 2:9).

Yet the Lord promises His blessing and reward on those who suffer for His sake, from Bible times till the culmination of the ages (Matthew 5:10-12).   For if they kill the King of Glory, then how much more shall we expect suffering as well (John 15:18)?  

Yet our Lord shows His tender heart and His desire for Israel: “How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings” (v. 27).  And our Lord, always the gentleman, does not force His children into compliance.  He took a step back and observed, “and you would not” (v. 27).   

As the Lord, abounding in love, gives plenty of opportunity for repentance, He will also punish the disobedient when those calls are repeatedly ignored.   Jesus promises Jerusalem, “See, your house is left to you desolate” (v. 38).  The desolation of Jerusalem was fulfilled in AD 70 when the Roman general Titus destroys the city.   Over 1 million died, according to Jewish historian Josephus.  

This is not the first time that Israel ignored the call of the Lord to repent.  Through the prophet Jeremiah the Lord said to Israel, “I spoke to you…but you did not hear and I called you but you did not answer,” (Jeremiah 7:13).  And consequently this is not the first time the Lord destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.  In 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar destroyed both (2 Chronicles 36:17-19). 

Jesus ends Matthew 23 with this stern promise: “for I tell you, you will not see Me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord’ (v.39).  Granted, this cry was given when Jesus entered Jerusalem just days before (Matthew 21:9) but it was not from hearts that understood and worshiped (Matthew 21:10).   This promise will not be fulfilled until the Second Coming of our Lord when “the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem” will have the Spirit of grace poured out upon them (Zechariah 12:10).  And with that statement, our Lord left the temple (Matthew 24:1) to never enter it again

If these judgments for not repenting come upon Israel, of whom the Lord saw as a son, (Hosea 11:1; Exodus 4:22), how much more will they apply to us, the wild olive branches who have been grafted into the olive tree (Romans 11:19-21)?   Yes, God is a God of love.   But He is also a God of wrath on the unrepentant.  It is the same God in both the Old and the New Testament who is abounding in love and punishing the guilty.   And praise God for our Lord Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself the wrath of God destined for us (Romans 5:9).  Let us humbly learn from Israel and give ourselves fully to the grace of God. 

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