2017-01-08 Luke 19:41-44 Repercussions of Rejection

REPERCUSSIONS OF REJECTION (Luke 19:41-44) January 1, 2017 Read Lu 19:41-44 - Bob Uecker, the lifetime .200 hitter who played for many teams once said, “I knew my days with the Phillies were numbered when I pinch hit one night, looked at the coach for a sign – and he turned his back on me.” Rejected as useless for their purposes! Well, in a sense, that is exactly what is happening to Jesus in this passage – tho the stakes here are much, much higher. The people of Jerusalem haven’t outwardly turned their back on Him, but by week’s end they will kill Him as useless for their purposes. It’s so sad. Huge crowds cheer Jesus’ every move as He enters Jerusalem publicly proclaiming His role as King and Messiah. But as they cheer, what is He doing? Weeping. And not just weeping, He is distraught with grief. At Lazarus tomb in Jn 11:35, “Jesus wept” -- quiet tears, participating in the grief of Lazarus’ family and friends, but knowing He will soon raise him. Here the word is κλαιω – strongest Greek word for sobbing uncontrollably. It is used of Peter in Mt 26:75. After denying Jesus, “he went out and wept bitterly.” It is used in Lu 8:52 of those mourning the death of Jairus’ daughter. This is not Jesus wiping away a casual tear. This is Jesus sobbing with emotion over the reality of rejection that the crowd does not yet see. Most rejected people weep for themselves. Not Jesus. He weeps for others! V. 42: “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” He despairs over the blindness that sees Him only as political deliverer but rejects what He really came for – to deliver from sin. With tears He pronounces the judgment that must inevitably fall on all who reject Him. But this is a view straight into the heart of God. Despite His infinite patience, judgment will ultimately fall on all who reject Him. But never without His heartfelt grief at the repudiation of Him that leaves the penalty on the shoulders of the unbeliever. No sin is worse than the sin of rejecting Jesus. So Jesus is forced to pronounce a 3-fold judgment on this generation of Jewish people. It foreshadows the hopeless future of all unbelievers. The price of rejecting Him is very, very high. I. Deprived of God’s Purposes Two phrases should really catch our attention in this passage. V. 42 Jesus wishes the crowd: “had known on this day the things that make for peace!” 1 And at the end of v. 44, judgment is coming “because you did not know the time of your visitation.” “Visitation” in the broadest sense refers to Jesus’ earthly mission. He’s Immanuel. God with us – an amazing 33 years. But Jesus is focused on time here, and perhaps even that very day. Is He hinting at something beneath the surface? I think He’s referring us back to Daniel 9. In 606 BC God sent Babylon to take Judah captive after 300 years of warnings against their idolatry. As one of Judah’s “best and brightest” teens, Daniel was ushered off for service in Babylon. Thru his faithfulness and God’s blessing he soon was made #2 in Nebuchadnezzar’s government. Fast forward 70 years and Daniel is now a major player in the government of the Medes who have taken over. One day in his devotions, he comes across Jeremiah’s prophecy that Judah’s captivity will last 70 years. And 70 years are almost up. So Daniel prays for God’s promise. In response, God does an amazing thing. He sends the angel Gabriel to announce God’s future plans for the nation (24-27). Now, this is a difficult prophecy. But the major points are discernible. First Gabriel says in Dan 9:24: “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people.” Literally, “Seventy 7’s,” 70 periods of 7. And there is virtually unanimous agreement that this means 70 periods of 7 years each = 490 years. I know of no commentator who disagrees. And this period of 490 years relates to Daniel’s “people”. That can only be the Jews. This is the 490-year plan! The starting point for this 70 groups of 7 years is “from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem” (25). The Persian King Artaxerxes issued such a decree on March 5, 444 BC. That starts the time clock. Now, in the ESV, the remainder of v. 25 has a confusing translation, so on the screen you’ll see the NASB translation that reflects exactly how the original Hebrew reads: “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress (after first 7). 26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” That makes 69 weeks total – all but one of the 70. So Gabriel has prophesied that 483 years after 444 BC Messiah will be on the ground and doing something in Israel, then rejected. Various attempts have been made to pinpoint that 483-year period – most notably in The Coming Prince by Sir Robert Anderson, and Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ by Harold Hoehner just a few years ago. Taking into account that Bible prophecy always uses 360-day years, taking into 2 account variations in calendars and other complexities, the end of the 483 years is estimated to fall in AD 30 or AD 32. The best historical data indicate the “triumphal entry” of Christ was 9 Nissan (late March) in AD 30 -- at or near the end of the 483 years. I think it’s very possible that was exactly what Jesus had in mind when He said that Jerusalem “did not know the time of your visitation” -- they did not know “on this day” the things that made for peace. This is further suggested by the fact that Daniel’s prophecy predicts in v. 26 that Messiah will be cut off (killed) at the end of the 69 weeks or 483 years – exactly what was going to happen to Jesus by week’s end. But bc the nation rejected Christ, when He was cut off, so was God’s time clock for Israel. It stopped at one minute to midnight, if you will – with one week of 7 years left to go. Dan 9:27 and Rev 6-19 describe what will happen when that time clock starts up again at a time yet future to us. Further persecution awaits Israel until Zech 12:10 comes true: “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son. After the final week is ended, all Israel will finally, turn to the Messiah who wept bitter tears on the day of His rejection. But when the nation finally turns, they will be the ones weeping at unforgiveable actions of their ancient predecessors in killing their own Messiah. What a day that will be – when all the promises of Dan 9:25 finally come to fruition – an end to sin and installation of righteousness. But meantime, Jesus’ generation of Israel deprived themselves of a role in God’s purposes, leading to a delay that is already 2,000 years in duration. What a tragedy – to remove oneself from God’s purposes. But that is what unbelief got them, and it is what unbelief will get us. Rejection of Jesus is an act of war against a God. It is to condemn oneself to eternal damnation. You can reject Christ only so long before the day of accountability comes. During WWII an American carrier in the North Atlantic was subjected to attack, so a blackout was ordered. Tragically, 6 planes were still in the air and they desperately requested the lights be left on long enough for them to land. But the request was denied. Thousands of lives could not be jeopardized and the lights went out. All six crews had to ditch in the cold waters and died. So we can reject the light of God’s salvation only so long before the time is up. The lights go out and we are lost forever from His purposes. Don’t be blind, Beloved. We must open our hearts to God’s love while time remains. II. Devoid of God’s Peace 3 Jesus says in v. 42, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” Everyone wants peace. The people welcoming Jesus wanted peace. Peace at home, peace at work, peace for their country. They wanted release from the cruelty and arbitrariness of Roman captivity that led to cheating on taxes, persecution and death. They wanted peace. But Jesus weeps. Why? Because they did not now “on this day the things that make for peace!” They thought it was just a matter of kicking the Romans out. But Jesus knew better. He’d been trying to tell them, but they would not listen. So what makes for peace? It’s the things listed in Dan 9:24. God’s 490-year plan was decreed “to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness.” That’s what brings peace. Peace starts inside, not outside. Peace starts with God, not man. Peace is a spiritual issue, not a political issue. Before peace can move in, sin has to move out. It takes atonement to do that – forgiveness based on payment of the penalty. That brings peace with God and everything else stems from that. Peace with others can only come when we have peace with God. And how do we have peace with God? Exactly what Jesus had been preaching since Day One. “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Peace with God is not a matter of doing better; it is a matter of repentance. It’s accepting Jesus’ death as mine – by faith! Rom 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God thru our Lord Jesus Christ.” No Christ, no peace. Reject Christ and you have bought an eternity devoid of peace. Bruce Larson tells of leading a tour one day from Bethany to Jerusalem, following Jesus’ 2-mile path. They were joined by some local boys who reminded them of the enthusiastic crowd that followed Jesus. Eventually they came to the top of the Mt of Olives overlooking the city from the east – the point from which Jesus looked over the city and wept. They were standing in awe at the thought of what had happened there when one of the boys tugged on Larson’s coat. “Mister, would you like to have my sister? She lives right over there.” Nothing changed in 2,000 years. Just more people devoid of peace, having rejected the Prince of peace. How Jesus must weep yet. III. Doomed to God’s Punishment This is why Jesus weeps. These people do not see the result of their rejection. For them, after Jesus is killed, life will go as usual for a time. They don’t see the end. But Jesus does; He always knows the end from the beginning. It is 4 always good to know the end from the beginning. Jesus knows the end and here is what He sees: 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.” They wanted the Romans out; instead they are going to get the full force of the Romans – because they rejected Jesus Christ. Consequences eventually attach to rejecting Jesus, Beloved. Everything that Jesus predicted here came to pass in exacting detail forty years later – well within the lifetime of many of these people. Their continued passive and active resistance to Roman rule grew to the point that by AD 70, the Roman General Titus was sent with orders to destroy the city which he did exactly as Jesus described. First, a barricade – χαραξ. Originally meant a stake, but came to mean timber used in fortifying a camp. Here is speaks of a siege works comprised of a wooden palisade atop a bank encircling the city to provide protection for the army. They had enough timber for the Jews to burn them at one point, but the Romans replaced them with a stone wall. Second, they would be surrounded and hemmed in, which they were, allowing no one in or out. The siege went on for months thru various failed negotiations and failed military maneuvers by both sides. Food became non-existent and Josephus reports “unspeakable suffering.” He says, “In every house the merest hint of food sparked violence, and close relatives fell to blows, snatching from one another the pitiful supports of life.” He reports, “Need drove the starving to gnaw at anything. Refuse which even the animals would reject was collected and turned into food. In the end they were eating belts and shoes, and the leather stripped off their shields.” Cannabalism was not unheard of. Third, they would be torn to the ground – young and old alike. When the Romans finally broke thru in a surprise attack in September of AD 70, they were merciless. Josephus reports that over 1,000,000 Jews were killed – no doubt an exaggeration, but giving some idea of the scope of the tragedy. Pregnant women were not exempted, just as Jesus predicted. Josephus reports, “While the sanctuary was burning … neither pity for age nor respect for rank was shown. On the contrary, children and old people, laity and priests alike were massacred.” All of this Jesus saw as He sat weeping over the city that stretched out before Him. No wonder He cried. 5 But there was one more thing. Jesus predicted there would not be one stone atop another. Titus had specifically instructed that the temple be left intact. He wanted to turn that magnificent building into a shrine to Caesar. But one of the soldiers, acting on impulse, threw a torch through the archway of the Temple and some tapestries caught fire. The whole building burned and Bible scholar Randall Christ comments, “The decorative gold on the walls melted and ran into the seams between the stones. Afterward, in a frenzied attempt to recover the gold, the Roman soldiers tore apart the stones of the Temple walls, resulting in a complete desolation of the Temple.” That’s the future Jesus saw as He looked into the future that day – a city doomed to God’s judgment for rejecting His Son. Today on the remaining 1st century streets of Jerusalem you can see the indentations where the huge stones were thrown down by the Romans, and piles of the stones remain as well. And in Rome, you can walk under the victory archway of Titus and see the artwork depicting the destruction of Jerusalem – all exactly as Jesus prophesied. But what we must all understand is, as bad as that judgment was, it is a mere preview of what awaits every person who rejects God’s Son. God makes the line of demarcation crystal clear in Jn 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” Heb 10:31 reminds us: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Rejecting Jesus is a serious, serious business with eternal consequences. All who do will find themselves Deprived of God’s Purposes, Devoid of God’s Peace and Doomed to God’s Punishment. Conc – Let me close with this. As we sit here this morning eternity seems a long way off. It seems like things will just go on forever like they always have. But the stakes are way too high to be apathetic, Beloved. Judgment fell on these “because [they] did not know the time of [their] visitation.” Well the time of our visitation is right now. Today. We dare not be like the guy who was pulled over for speeding. As the patrolman returned his driver’s license, hoping for leniency he said, “Officer, did you notice that yesterday was my birthday?” The officer replied, “As a matter of fact, I did – because that’s when your license expired!” Well, the truth is we all have an expiration date. And after that, it’s too late to decide for Christ. Neglect is the same as rejection, and today is the only day you have to get it right. Don’t follow 1st century Jerusalem to destruction. Jesus is inviting you today to follow Him to eternal life. This is your day to discover the forgiveness that makes for peace with God. Don’t reject the greatest offer you’ll ever have. Let’s pray. 6