The European Union in Prophecy
destroyed , thou alone art responsible . " Ye will not come to Me , that ye might have life ." Matthew 23:37 ; John 5:40 .
Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief and rebellion , and hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of God . The woes of a fallen race , pressing upon His soul , forced from His lips that exceeding bitter cry . He saw the record of sin traced in human misery , tears , and blood ; His heart was moved with infinite pity for the afflicted and suffering ones of earth ; He yearned to relieve them all . But even His hand might not turn back the tide of human woe ; few would seek their only Source of help . He was willing to pour out His soul unto death , to bring salvation within their reach ; but few would come to Him that they might have life .
The Majesty of heaven in tears ! the Son of the infinite God troubled in spirit , bowed down with anguish ! The scene filled all heaven with wonder . That scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin ; it shows how hard a task it is , even for Infinite Power , to save the guilty from the consequences of transgressing the law of God . Jesus , looking down to the last generation , saw the world involved in a deception similar to that which caused the destruction of Jerusalem . The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of Christ ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God , the foundation of His government in heaven and earth . The precepts of Jehovah would be despised and set at nought . Millions in bondage to sin , slaves of Satan , doomed to suffer the second death , would refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visitation . Terrible blindness ! strange infatuation !
Two days before the Passover , when Christ had for the last time departed from the temple , after denouncing the hypocrisy of the Jewish rulers , He again went out with His disciples to the Mount of Olives and seated Himself with them upon the grassy slope overlooking the city . Once more He gazed upon its walls , its towers , and its palaces . Once more He beheld the temple in its dazzling splendor , a diadem of beauty crowning the sacred mount .
A thousand years before , the psalmist had magnified God ' s favor to Israel in making her holy house His dwelling place : " In Salem also is His tabernacle , and His dwelling place in Zion ." He " chose the tribe of Judah , the Mount Zion which He loved . And He built His sanctuary like high palaces ." Psalms 76:2 ; 78:68 , 69 . The first temple
9