apparently impregnable . He who would at this time have foretold publicly its destruction , would , like Noah in his day , have been called a crazed alarmist . But Christ had said : " Heaven and earth shall pass away , but My words shall not pass away ." Matthew 24:35 . Because of her sins , wrath had been denounced against Jerusalem , and her stubborn unbelief rendered her doom certain . The Lord had declared by the prophet Micah : " Hear this , I pray you , ye heads of the house of Jacob , and princes of the house of Israel , that abhor judgment , and pervert all equity . They build up Zion with blood , and Jerusalem with iniquity . The heads thereof judge for reward , and the priests thereof teach for hire , and the prophets thereof divine for money : yet will they lean upon the Lord , and say , Is not the Lord among us ? none evil can come upon us ." Micah 3:9-11 .
These words faithfully described the corrupt and self-righteous inhabitants of Jerusalem . While claiming to observe rigidly the precepts of God ' s law , they were transgressing all its principles . They hated Christ because His purity and holiness revealed their iniquity ; and they accused Him of being the cause of all the troubles which had come upon them in consequence of their sins . Though they knew Him to be sinless , they had declared that His death was necessary to their safety as a nation . " If we let Him thus alone ," said the Jewish leaders , " all men will believe on Him : and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation ." John 11:48 . If Christ were sacrificed , they might once more become a strong , united people . Thus they reasoned , and they concurred in the decision of their high priest , that it would be better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish .
Thus the Jewish leaders had built up " Zion with blood , and Jerusalem with iniquity ." Micah 3:10 . And yet , while they slew their Saviour because He reproved their sins , such was their selfrighteousness that they regarded themselves as God ' s favoured people and expected the Lord to deliver them from their enemies . " Therefore ," continued the prophet , " shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field , and Jerusalem shall become heaps , and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest ." Verse 12 .
For nearly forty years after the doom of Jerusalem had been pronounced by Christ Himself , the Lord delayed His judgments upon the city and the nation . Wonderful was the long-suffering of God toward the rejectors of His gospel and the murderers of His Son . The parable of the unfruitful tree represented God ' s dealings with the Jewish nation . The command had gone forth , " Cut it down ; why cumbereth it the ground ?" ( Luke 13:7 ) but divine mercy had spared it yet a little longer . There were still many among the Jews who were ignorant of the character and the work of Christ . And the children had not enjoyed the opportunities or received the light which their parents had spurned . Through the preaching of the apostles and their associates , God would cause light to shine upon them ; they would be permitted to see how prophecy had been fulfilled , not only in the birth and life of Christ , but in His death and resurrection . The children were not condemned for the sins of the parents ; but when , with a knowledge of all the light given to their parents , the children rejected the
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