And when he approached, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."You can only push God so far. Eventually, having pushed him away and away and away, he will finally pronounce a verdict upon you and you will find that you have received in full all that you inevitably get by pushing him away. In Jerusalem's case God declared judgement on it: "if you do not want to see, okay, from now on you can not see." Jerusalem did not recognize Jesus as the Seeker and the Saver. All they wanted was another king to rule in place of Caesar and to let them blithely and blindly continue as 'God's chosen people', never fulfilling their role as a light to the Gentiles. They wanted, not a new system, but the existing system with different rulers. They got the existing system: AD70. Jesus arrived declaring a different system but Jerusalem didn't want to see. So God made them unable to see.
--Luke 19: 41-44 (NASB)
We can only push God so far. Then we may find that what we thought we wanted is actually not what we want at all. But by then it may be too late to turn back. Constant rejection of God cements into one's character the habit of rejection. Eventually, the heart hardens -- impervious to all influences, internal and external.
Jesus goes on to clear out the temple. The religious rulers try to kill him. The common people hang upon his every word.
[Memories of Pakistan -- 3 Jan 2003]
© Copyright Bruce M. Axtens, 2006
No comments:
Post a Comment