THE KING’S BUSINESS
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Tuesday, January 4 . Luke 13 : 3 1 - 35 .
rest, and we find the same under His wings. Jerusalem’s period o f probation was at an end, they had finally rejected their Messiah, and consequently their house was left unto them desolate. The same result will follow to the individual . soul that persistently refuses to be gathered under the protect ing wings o f Christ. There is a terrible suggestiveness in the two statements- in versé 34, “ I would,’’ “Ye would not.” The whole secret o f Jerusalem’s desolation and destruction is found in these words. Though the words apply primarily to the Jews, the principle applies to all. The Lord would save. The Lord would not have any man perish (2 Peter 3:9) | it is the will o f God that all men be saved (1 Tim. 2 :4 ), but men "will not;” they set their sinful will up against the loving, saving will o f God and His Son, the Lord Jesus, and there fore men perish (cf. John 5:40). The result o f their not coming to Jesus was that their house would be left unto them desolate. It has been desolate now for cen turies. Destruction overtook Jerusalem sim ply because they rejected their rightful King. But another day o f deliverance is coming for the Jews after the awful deso lation o f centuries. The day Hs coming when their King shall come again in His glory and when they shall acknowledge Him as King and when they shall cry, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name o f the Lord.” These are awful days o f desolation for the Jews in Russia and other lands, and it seems as though the blessed day here, spoken o f was fast hastening on and the black night-that now covers the Jews was the precursor o f the swift coming dawn. Wednesday, January 5 . Luke 14 : 1 - 6 . Jesus went to eat with the Pharisees on a number o f occasions, but He was not well treated, He was regarded with coldness and suspicion (cf. Luke 7:39, 44-46). And now the old Sabbath controversy comes up anew (cf. Matt. 12 :1(1-13). On ^ former occasion at the synagogue they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” ’ in the present instance He asked them the same question, but in answering He uses
The Pharisees who brought Jesus this word o f warning were not at all interested in Jesus’ safety; they simply wished to frighten Him and limit His activity (cf. Neh. 6:9-11; Amos 7:12, 13). But their warning against Herod awakened no fear on the part o f our Lord. He had His work to do and would do it until the time came for Him to be perfected through suffering and death ; i. e., perfected as regards His office and mission, not as regards His char acter (cf. Heb. 2:10-18) . The point o f Jesus’ reply to Herod was that He had H is‘work to do and could not be killed until that work was done (v. 32; cf. John 11:8-10). The words o f Jesus concerning Jerusalem spoken at such a moment lets us see into the innermost depths o f His heart Jerusa lem had rejected H im ; Jerusalem was to kill Him ; Jerusalem had stoned and killed the prophets that went before Him. His natural feeling toward Jerusalem after the way in which Jerusalem had treated Him and the prophets would have been that of anger and resentment, but His real feeling was that o f passionate love (cf. ch. 19:41, 42 ; Matt. 23:37-39). He had longed to save' them; He saw the eagle in the sky hover ing over them, ready to .swoop down and tear and kill; the coming judgment to the Roman forces that were to lay Jerusalem waste with the most awful siege ~in the world’s history. Time and again He had raised His voice calling Jerusalem to Him that they might be saved from the awful judgment that would overtake them. He would have gathered them under His pro tection as a hen gathers- her brood under her wings, but they would not. The figure o f a hen gathering her brood under her wings was suggested by the Old Testament imagery concerning Jehovah (Ruth 2:12; Ps. 17:8; 36:7; 57-1; 91:4; Deut. 32:11, 12). So Jesus unhesitatingly applies to Himself thoughts that were only applied to Jehovah in the Old Testament, and thus we have a very daring assertion o f His own Deity. The chicken finds three things under its mother’s wings; safety, comfort and
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