city which had so long been Jehovah ' s dwelling place . From the ridge of Olivet , the very spot afterward occupied by Titus and his army , He looked across the valley upon the sacred courts and porticoes , and with tear-dimmed eyes He saw , in awful perspective , the walls surrounded by alien hosts . He heard the tread of armies marshaling for war . He heard the voice of mothers and children crying for bread in the besieged city . He saw her holy and beautiful house , her palaces and towers , given to the flames , and where once they stood , only a heap of smoldering ruins .
Looking down the ages , He saw the covenant people scattered in every land , " like wrecks on a desert shore ." In the temporal retribution about to fall upon her children , He saw but the first draft from that cup of wrath which at the final judgment she must drain to its dregs . Divine pity , yearning love , found utterance in the mournful words : " O Jerusalem , Jerusalem , thou that killest the prophets , and stonest them which are sent unto thee , how often would I have gathered thy children together , even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings , and ye would not !" O that thou , a nation favored above every other , hadst known the time of thy visitation , and the things that belong unto thy peace ! I have stayed the angel of justice , I have called thee to repentance , but in vain . It is not merely servants , delegates , and prophets , whom thou hast refused and rejected , but the Holy One of Israel , thy Redeemer . If thou art 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
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