37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
We can never fully comprehend - this side of heaven - the highest height of God’s love and mercy towards us – there is ever, more. Conversely, we can never fully estimate the lowest low of Satan’s sin and depravity against us – there is always a further still in his arsenal – just ask Job.
“There is a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea.” Frederick William Faber
“Mercy imitates God and disappoints Satan.” John Chrysostom
God uses primed willing vessels of his choosing for good just as the adversary does for evil – albeit perhaps unbeknownst to the vessel. Satan is forever countering the Creator. Those cloaked in God’s armor are used as conduits of blessing to others while those armed with the sins of pride and greed make easy targets to be used as pawns for Satan’s ploys. The feigned religious characters our Lord here addresses are perfect examples of the latter. Wearing the mask of piety, they lead others to the pit of hell right along with themselves by way of their teaching and example. Peter tells us to be on guard against the enemy’s evil tactics – he can even use the religious to do his bidding:
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV)
“If we suffer the good to grow weaker, the evil will surely gather strength and struggle desperately for the mastery over us; and so, mayhap, a painful desolation, and a lamentable disgrace may follow.” Charles Spurgeon
“Our old nature is no more extinct than the devil; but God’s will is that the dominion of both should be broken.” John Stott
In our verses for today, Jesus amazingly concludes His blistering rebuke to these “religious” elite with a beautiful lament of love and mercy. Wow. Let that sink in for a minute. The One despised and rejected by men, the Man of sorrows who was familiar with sufferings, the One from whom men hid their faces, the One who was spit at, whose beard was plucked out, who was beaten and crucified - the God of all creation who came to save the ones rejecting Him – all the while with full knowledge of His enemy’s actions – here weeps for them, longs for them – quite convicting. Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus.
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” Lam 3:22-24 (NIV)
“You never touch the ocean of God’s love as when you forgive and love your enemies.” Corrie ten Boom
Yet, our Lord tells us, they were not willing to turn - concealing their sins under their masks of righteousness. They refused to repent. They blinded their eyes to the light of Truth concerning Christ and the fact that He alone could bring them peace. It broke His holy heart. He was leaving and their house would be left desolate. What comfort can there possibly be where Christ is not present? When God departs all enemies enter. Jesus was fully aware that God would demand discipline for their sin. Their willful blindness would be punished with judicial blindness. God’s love demands discipline for our good or it is not love but simply license. Mercy and love apart from discipline is fertile soil for sin and depravity. Consider God’s word to us in Hebrews:
5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Heb 12:4-11 (NIV)
Yet they staunchly remained unwilling to turn.
13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Prov 28:13 (NIV)