Matthew 23:37-39

Matthew 23:37-39
The final words of Jesus, in this dissertation against the leaders of Israel, is a cry of sorrow by our Lord. His words remind us of a father who longs desperately for his child to renounce a sinful life and return to him. For fifteen hundred years the Lord had pled with Israel to listen and obey, but they would not. The analogy Jesus uses of a hen gathering her chicks is one of tenderness, care, and protection. But the nation was stubborn, and determined to go their own way. Never let anyone say that the Lord does not desire our salvation or does not do all that He can to bring us to live with Him! If we do not make it to heaven, it is our own fault. With an abundance of mercy, He has paved the way.
Verse 38 is a chilling statement: your house is left to you desolate. These words are a reminder of the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel wrote prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. The captives with Ezekiel could not believe that God would allow “His city” to be invaded by foreigners more wicked than they. However, in a vision, God presented a clear picture of how this would happen. God gave Ezekiel a vision of the throne of God with wheels that would go in any direction and cherubim that would carry it. God then showed the throne lifting up and leaving the temple, then moving again to the gate of the city, and finally moving to the mountain outside the city. God had been their protection, but contrary to their belief, His presence was no longer in the temple or in the city. He had left the city desolate and without protection. In fact, He had gone outside the city where the Babylonians were encamped and ready to attack. God had joined their enemy who would now level them to the ground.
The same thing was happening again in Jesus’ day. Again, God had left them desolate. The result would be that in 70 A.D., the Roman armies would come and level Jerusalem again. It would be the final fall of the nation. They would never again rise to be the nation who was able to worship God in a physical temple and with the worship they had once given. They would not see Jesus again until they accepted Him as the Son of God and confessed, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Berry Kercheville