I.        INTRODUCTION

A.      One of the saddest moments recorded in Scripture is when Christ mourned for His people, saying, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…” (Luke 13:34).

B.      Presently, let us consider what caused Christ to mourn and why God likewise mourns for the world today.

II.      CHRIST LAMENTED FOR JERUSALEM

A.      A brief history of Jerusalem shows how the city became the center of the Jewish nation.

                                                             1.      The city was already established as Salem when Abraham came to Canaan (Gen. 14:18-20; Ps. 76:2).  Abraham paid tithes to its king and priest Melchizedek.

                                                             2.      When Joshua led Israel in the conquest of Canaan, the king of Jerusalem was defeated, but the Jebusites remained in the city (Josh. 10:1-27; 15:8, 63).  The city was assigned to the tribe of Benjamin, but they and Judah failed to drive out the Jebusites (Josh. 18:28; Judg. 1:8, 21).

                                                             3.      At last, King David conquered Jerusalem around 1000 B.C., called it his city, brought in the ark of the covenant, and made it the capital of his kingdom for thirty-three years (2Sam. 5:5-9; 6:12-17).

                                                             4.      When David’s son Solomon became king, he built a spectacular temple for God in Jerusalem.  Thus, the city became the center of worship for Israel (1Ki. 5-6).

                                                             5.      After Israel divided in 931 B.C., Jerusalem served as the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah.  It was often attacked and plundered until at last the city and the temple were destroyed by Babylon in 586 B.C. (2Chron. 36:17-21).

                                                             6.      After seventy years of captivity, a remnant of the Jews returned from Babylon and rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem (Ez. 1:1-4; Neh. 12:27-47).

                                                             7.      By the first century, the Romans governed Judea.  Jerusalem had once again become very prosperous, and King Herod the Great had expanded the temple into a magnificent structure.

B.      The history of Jerusalem also shows how it became the center for the Jews’ rebellion against God.

                                                             1.      When Israel divided, the northern kingdom became completely unfaithful to God, and the southern kingdom was not much better.  The people became idolatrous, covetous, unjust, and evil.

                                                             2.      Most of the time, the people of Jerusalem led the nation of Judah in rebellion against God.  God sent prophet after prophet to rebuke and correct the people, but they refused to listen.

a.       Notice 2Chronicles 36:13-16.  Jerusalem rebelled "until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy.”  This led to the city’s first destruction.

b.       Consider Jeremiah 5:1-3 as a sample of the prophecies against the city:

"Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and look now and take note.  And seek in her open squares, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her.  And although they say, ‘As the LORD lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”  O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth?  You have smitten them, but they did not weaken; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction.  They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.

                                                             3.      By the time Christ came to Jerusalem, it was again in open rebellion, although the nature of the rebellion was different.  The city was not consumed in idolatry, but it was filled with hypocrisy, greed, and vain worship until at last the people rejected and crucified even the Son of God.

C.      When Jerusalem’s destruction by the Romans was drawing nigh, Christ lamented the fate of the city.

                                                             1.      Consider how the Lord mourned over Jerusalem in the following passages:

a.       Luke 13:34-35 – "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!  Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’”

i.         In these words of Jesus, He quoted from Psalm 118:26, which the multitudes later cried out during His triumphal entry.

ii.        These words were repeated during the final week before Christ’s crucifixion (Matt. 23:37-39).

b.       Luke 19:41-44 – When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace!  But now they have been hidden from your eyes.  For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

c.        Luke 21:20-24 – "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near.  Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.  Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

d.       Luke 23:27-31 – And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him.  But Jesus turning to them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’  Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’  For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

i.         This exchange happened as Jesus was being led to His death.

ii.        Jesus quoted from Hosea 10:8, which told of the utter destruction of Samaria.

                                                             2.      Jesus looked ahead and saw the coming of destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D.  As Jesus had foretold, not one stone of the temple was left upon another (Matt. 24:1-2).

III.   GOD LAMENTS FOR THE WORLD

A.      The story of Jerusalem is a model for the story of the world.

                                                             1.      Like Jerusalem, the world has stubbornly rebelled against its Creator and refused to repent.

                                                             2.      As with Jerusalem, God has repeatedly sent prophets to the world to bring it to repentance, but the world refuses.  Ultimately, God sent His own Son to save the world (John 3:16), but most of the world has rejected Him.

                                                             3.      Like Jerusalem, the fate of the world grieves the Lord, yet justice requires the world’s destruction.

B.      As with Jerusalem, God desires for the whole world to be saved, but most reject His mercy and will be lost.

                                                             1.      The Lord might also say of the world, "How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”

                                                             2.      The Lord is "not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2Pet. 3:9).  He "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Tim. 2:4).  He is the "Savior of all men” (1Tim. 4:10).

                                                             3.      Nevertheless, many will follow the way that leads to destruction, and few will find the way that leads to life (Matt. 7:13-14; see also Luke 13:23-24).  "Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14).

C.      As it was in Jerusalem, God is not pleased with the destruction of sinners, yet justice requires the punishment of those who rebel against Him.

                                                             1.      The Lord might also say of the world, "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!”

                                                             2.      God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, yet if the wicked will not repent, then they will not live (Ezek. 18:23; 33:11).

                                                             3.      Souls that are stubborn, unrepentant, selfish, disobedient, unrighteous, and evil are destined for wrath, indignation, tribulation, and distress (Rom. 2:4-10).  They will "pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2Thess. 1:9).

IV.    CONCLUSION

A.      For us, the lesson of Jerusalem is that we must come out of the world of sin and rebellion and be separate lest we suffer the same fate as the world (2Cor. 5:14-18).

B.      "But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men…Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness…” (2Pet. 3:7, 11)