A Forsaken House
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Americans, for the most part, are not good at lament. Lament is not a word we use often, but it’s that strong feeling and pouring out of sorrow and regret. In fact, I think lament is not generally part of the Western World’s vocabulary, let alone lifestyle. It certainly has not found a resting place in the western church. And there’s good reason for that. We are told to rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. We are told that the joy of the Lord is our strength. And there are hundreds of other verses that talk to us about joy. But there are few verses that tell us to lament and generally those verses are geared toward our own personal (or possibly national) sins. Typically lament is more seen that taught. So we observe it quite often in the Scriptures, but we’re not taught how to lament.
So this morning, we see Jesus lamenting and we see that there are four reasons for him to lament. But in our observation of Jesus’s lament, I also hope we can see that lament is not only right, but also good for us to do.
In this text, we find Jesus lamenting because, first: there is an alliance of powers coming against him. Second, there affliction of the prophets continues down through the ages. Third there is an apathy on the part of the people. And lastly, the abandonment of their place is coming.
Four Reasons for Jesus to Lament
The Alliance of the Powers
The Affliction of the Prophets
The Apathy of the People
The Abandonment of the Place
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”
And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.
Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
The Alliance of the Powers
The Alliance of the Powers
The first reason for Jesus to experience lament is that is an alliance of powers against him. It’s hard to catch this at first, but there are some subtle clues in the text that show us this is true.
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”
And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.
At first, it would seem that the Pharisees are concerned about Jesus. They’re coming and telling him that Herod is wanting to kill him. How kind of them to be so concerned about this guy that has been a trouble-maker at best, and a blasphemer at worst!
If you go back a few verses, you’ll see that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem.
He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.
At this point, he must not have reached Judea yet, as we know that Herod’s jurisdiction was Galilee. Now Pharisees lived all over Judea and Galilee. Unlike the Sadducees that were mainly made up of priests, the Pharisees were laypeople who sought to live a pure life. Priests had to stay around the temple area, but the Pharisees could be anywhere. However, many of the Pharisees were powerful enough to be part of the Sanhedrin Council. The Sanhedrin were made up mostly of Sadducees but quite a few were Pharisees.
It was the Sanhedrin Council that held so much power and sway. There wasn’t much that the Pharisees could do with Jesus so long as he stayed in Galilee. But if they could get him to Jerusalem, the options got a lot better.
So they come to him and tell him that Herod wants to kill him. That may or may not be true. If it is true, then it seems most likely that the Pharisees were allied with him to get to Jesus. Like his father Herod the Great who used the Wise Men to get to baby Jesus, so Herod Antipas was using the Pharisees to get to adult Jesus. The Pharisees however, wanted Jesus to themselves. They wanted to handle Jesus, but they would use Herod’s threats to scare him.
“Flee from Galilee. Go to Jerusalem.” is what they were really trying to convey to Jesus. Here were those who saw Jesus as a threat, those who hated Jesus something terribly, allying themselves together to put an end to him. The Pharisees hated Herod. Herod was everything the Pharisees were not. He was an adulterer who stole his brother’s wife. He was a murderer, a Roman ally, and partial Edomite! But “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” as the saying goes.
And this is why Jesus confronts them with their partnership. He sends them packing. “Go tell that fox.” He knew that they had come from Herod and he was sending them right back. That sly, untrustworthy fox.
Beloved, it’s not wrong to call a spade a spade. It’s not wrong to deny reality. One can trust God and still live in reality. In fact, he would have it no other way. The fact that we do trust God, gives us hope in the midst of the evil in the hearts of people. To pretend that people are benevolent by nature is a denial of all that Scripture tells us. Jesus understood this. He lamented it. He confronted it.
And in that confrontation, he held tightly to God’s sovereign control. He held tightly to being in the center of God’s will. He was doing what his Father had called him to do. He was ministering as he was supposed to—healing the sick and casting out demons. He’d keep doing it today, tomorrow, and the next day. Nothing that Herod or the Pharisees said or did would keep him from the ministry God had called him to. Lamenting, yet unflappable.
The Affliction of the Prophets
The Affliction of the Prophets
So there is lament that comes from those in power forming an alliance against Jesus. But there is also a lament over the affliction of the prophets. Notice what Jesus said about Jerusalem.
Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’
Again, what we see is Jesus’s confidence in his ministry. He’s not in a hurry. He’s doing his thing, going here and there throughout today and tomorrow and the next day. But notice what he says: “It cannot be that a prophet should perish away form Jerusalem.” Perhaps a better way of saying it is “It’s unimaginable that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.”
That’s not simply a statement of fact, but a statement of lament. In fact, many prophets did perish away from Jerusalem. Elisha, Moses, Ezekiel, Jeremiah. All of these died outside Jerusalem. Many however, did die or were afflicted within the confines of the city. The point that Jesus was making was not that every single prophet perished in Jerusalem, but something much more important.
Luke 13:34 (ESV)
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!
What was Jerusalem? It was the capital city of God’s chosen people. It was the place where God had chosen his name to dwell. It was the center of Jewish life. It was the home of the temple. Everything pointing to Yahweh should have been evident in Jerusalem and yet it not only had become a place for prophets to go and charge with injustice and unrighteousness and unholiness, but it was the place that prophets would know could lead—not only to their rejection, but their own demise.
That would be something to lament about. It’s not an optimistic, pie-in-the-sky outlook. Again, Jesus speaks the truth of what has been and is continuing to go on. It wasn’t a one-time mistake that the people felt awful about. It was ongoing to the point that it was now unimaginable that a prophet to God’s chosen people would even be able to die away from Jerusalem. He knows the plan is to get him when he goes to Jerusalem.
In John, we see Jesus’s brothers mocking him for not going to Jerusalem. We see this in
After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
Of course, he would eventually go, like all the other prophets, he knew it would lead to his own death.
Brothers and sisters, it is okay and even good to lament the state of the church. Like Jerusalem, the church visible is made up of people believing themselves to be God’s chosen and yet like Jerusalem, many in the church would just as soon kill the prophet than hear him. We have no modern day prophets like Israel did, but we have their writings. And many in the church today tell us to ignore them, to unhitch ourselves from them, that they were culturally informed and we’ve evolved and advanced. It’s okay to lament this rebellion. It’s not only okay, it’s right and it’s good.
We are told two promises of what will happen. One is lamentable, and one is encouraging.
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
Or as Paul would tell Timothy
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
That’s lamentable. It ought to bring us sorrow in the heart. To deny the reality that many in the church will turn from the truth is to deny the truth of Scripture itself. Lament is receiving God’s providence, mourning it and yet trusting him. As I said, there are two promises. One is that the church will rebel—apostatize; they will turn away. But the second is
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Though many will turn away, the church still prevails!
So we can lament and cry for those who rebel and yet trust God’s promise that we prevail. That’s what Jesus did. That’s what the prophets did.
Remember that we have an entire book simply titled Lamentations. And in it Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem and he weeps over it, yet also proclaims in the exact middle of the book
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
The Apathy of the People
The Apathy of the People
But it is not only the alliance of powers against him and the same old dealings with the prophets that causes Jesus’s lament. It is also the people’s apathy.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Notice in the text that Jerusalem comes three times in a row. In the original, there’s no “O.” It simply says “a prophet cannot perish away from Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” As if the very words uttered on Jesus’s lips the first time, “away from Jerusalem,” sparked this moment of pain in Jesus’s heart. Jesus has an affectionate care for people. Though they have rejected the prophets sent before him, he was still willing to gather the people together. He was still willing to let bygones be bygones. He was willing to forgive and cover them with his wings and protect them and care for them.
Again, Jerusalem was the capital city. It was filled with God’s people who should have protected the prophets, but they killed them and stoned those sent to it. It would serve them right to be wiped off the face of the map. Yet Jesus would offer to them what they never offered to him: protection. Tender care and protection from their enemies. And their response: “no thank you.”
Parents, you may know this feelings. You’ve worked, you skimped and saved, you’ve offered a home with love and food and shelter. You give your life for these children of yours and then they’re all grown up and they don’t want what you are willing to give. You see them going the wrong way. You see them making mistakes. You see where all this rebellion will lead and try to warn them, but they were not willing to listen. And the heartbreak and the lament that comes from their unwillingness; their apathy, is nearly too great to bear.
Still there are pastors that feel this as well. There are those in attendance in their churches who will not commit to Jesus. They come, they sing, they listen, but they will not submit to being under Jesus’s wing. They’ve got their ways. They’ve got their methods. They’ve got their own ideas as to how things are done (or should be done). They will not. The apathy is heartbreaking; it’s lamentable.
The Abandonment of the Place
The Abandonment of the Place
But it’s not just the apathy, but the result that we know is coming. That’s the fourth reason to lament. The result of all this hardness of heart—coming out of the alliance of those in power, the continuation of afflicting the prophets, the apathy of the people, is the abandonment of this place.
Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
When Jesus spoke these words, it ought to have brought to mind what happened in Ezekiel’s day as Judah was being exiled. He saw the glory of the LORD leaving the temple and then Judah altogether.
Then the glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim.
And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, with the wheels beside them. And they stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.
This would be happening again. This place would be abandoned. It would be forsaken by God. It would be that way, not because God would not save them, but because they would not be saved. He offered time and gain to gather them as a hen gathered her chicks, but they would not. So he would leave them to their own devices.
This is similar to what Paul would write about anyone.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
It is a fearful thing for God to abandon those who would not receive him. But Jesus wasn’t referring to this life only, but in actuality, he was referring to eternity.
While at first, it might appear that Jesus was referring to what we call his triumphant entry, in reality, he’s pointing to the the end of time—the judgment day.
You see, in Matthew, Jesus would repeat these words, but he did so after the triumphal entry. It’s an already-not yet prophecy. It has a minor fulfillment at that point in history, but its greater fulfillment is at the end of time.
And the point is that at the end of time, it will be too late. It’s no different than what we saw last week in verses 26-27. The master of the house, that is Jesus, will tell those who had refused to enter the narrow door to depart; he never knew them. And they will begin to give excuses, but none will do. In this case, they fain belief. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” But it is too late.
The place would be abandoned by God and made desolate by General Titus of Rome in 70 AD. They won’t see Jesus until his second advent when he comes to gather all who would come under his wings and judge all who would not.
J.C. Ryle rightly said,
Let unconverted people think of this and be afraid. Their judge will be that same Christ whose gospel they now despise and whose gracious invitation they refuse to hear. How great will be their confusion at last, if they go on in unbelief and die in their sins! To be condemned in the day of judgment by anyone would be awful, but to be condemned by Him who would have saved them will be awful indeed. Well may the Psalmist say, “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry.”
And no amount of praise from those who would not gather in this life will keep them from the judgment that he brings in the next.
As the writer of Hebrews wrote,
How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish up Luke 13, we see a constant theme emerging: receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior is not something to be put off, but to be done immediately. Rejecting Jesus until one’s deathbed is a terrible way to live. There is no guarantee of being able to. Not only are we not guaranteed a deathbed. We aren’t guaranteed more time to repent.
Hebrews 12:16–17 (ESV)
[see to it] that no one is. . . unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
When the narrow door is closed, when the offer to gather is gone, it leaves those who refused under God’s judgment forever. Neither the door nor the wing will be opened again.
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Repent and believe; now is the time.
Prayer
Our heavenly Father,
We are just beginning the season of advent—a time of reflection and anticipation.
A time in which we are reminded to anxiously await the return of your Son,
Even as a watching world was waiting nearly 2,000 years ago.
Our world is not much different now as it was then.
Wars, false prophets, religious zealots and traditionalists,
We have the hungry, the lonely, the marginalized, the hurting.
There is much to lament about.
May we take time to know and understand the reality that is around us,
lament its condition, but continue to trust in your providence and sovereignty.
May the lamentable conditions bring us to long more and more for the second advent of your Son, our Savior.
I pray for those who do not wait his coming;
Who until even this moment have rejected his offer to bring them under his wing.
May today be the day that they turn from rebellion, and receive and embrace his grace.
May they know him today as Savior, Shepherd, High Priest, elder Brother, and Friend.
I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.