Title: Jerusalem, Jerusalem / Matthew 23:29-39,
Contents
Years pass very quickly. As if to soften our hearts, who were busy with life, snow falls on the mountains and streams, and the snow seems to urge us to open the last page of this year's calendar. This year is over, what have we accomplished? He apologizes before God, is ashamed in front of history, and is just nervous in front of himself. While examining the words that Jesus rebuked to the Pharisees and Sadducees, 'Woe to you,' we reflected on whether the Lord's rebuke was directed at us today. Today, in the last part of Matthew 23, we are faced with the words of the Lord's rebuke.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! (Verse 29) Hypocrisy means putting on a mask, so the Lord's request is that we must put off all the masks of lies and hypocrisy, and the masks of duality, and be truthful before God. Voice. If you do not take off your mask until the very end and do evil to the end, the end will be miserable. However, he warns that the end is not far away, but is near.
“Behold, your house shall be left desolate” (verse 38).
We all want to hear a message of hope, to be comforted, and to be praised.
However, today's text speaks of a day of desolation instead of hope, a whip instead of comfort, and a word of reproof instead of praise. Weak humans cannot afford it. So how should we listen to these words?
At the beginning of verse 37, the Lord said, "Jerusalem! Jerusalem!" You will see it being called twice over and over again. This shows that he never hates Jerusalem, but how much he loves him. There were sad and intense emotions involved. Therefore, the Lord's reproof is a rebuke of love. If we accept the scourge of the Lord's love well, our anger will turn into a blessing. However, if we do not know how much He loves us in the rebuke of the Lord, and we excuse ourselves with our own pain and difficult problems and pass the blame, then there is really no hope.
Jerusalem is a city. It is a city with a temple that is pleasing to God. But nowhere in Jerusalem is Jesus Christ the Son of God not welcomed, but now he is plotting to kill him.
He is expressing his feelings of being expelled and betrayed by God's beloved people, his beloved city, Jerusalem.
The hopeless city tries to kill even God.
In Jerusalem you can see the tombs and tombs of the prophets. Their ancestors killed the prophets and did evil, but they adorn the tombs and tombs of the prophets, saying that if we had lived, we would never have taken part in shedding the blood of the righteous. But in the sight of the Lord they are nothing different from their ancestors.
From the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of the recent prophet Zacharias, the appeal of the blood shed on the earth will enter you. Even though it was not enough to repeatedly demean and resist the people of God whom God had sent, and to finally stone them to death, He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, who was without sin, but who healed the sick, fed the poor, and comforted the sorrowful. Trying to kill him by accusing him of sin, which is a challenge to God, and can be seen as an extreme evil that even tries to kill God.
I did.
The urban civilization we live in today would have been more than that of Jerusalem, but not worse than that. God is a God of justice, and he is killing justice. God is love, but it is a world that kills love. We are destroying the world that God created and treasured, and this is also man's sword against God. Why do humans become so evil? It is because of the wrong view of life, wrong values, and wrongly recognized beliefs. A successful life is the result of the idea of having status, fame, or wealth. i cow more
It becomes self-evident that in order for me to be small and greater, what you have must come to me, and for it to be safe, I must kill you.
The Pharisees and scribes valued honor. However, when the people admired and followed Jesus' teachings, their honor was shaken. So, you have no choice but to try to kill Jesus. The endless desires of humans are trying to get rid of them even if they are God.
When Jesus was on earth, he had no place to dwell. He said that there are fox dens in the mountains and places where birds of the air can nest, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. The Lord did not own anything, but he never took it away and divided it.
He shared bread, shared health, and shared the Word, the heavenly food.
And in the end, on the cross, he tore himself and shared it. It is the pinnacle of self-destruction.
The cross of Jesus condemns us. We were so anxious to own something, but what do we have now? Even if you have some fortune and a handful of fame and achievements. The Lord says
"You fool! If you take away your soul tonight, whose will you possess?" That's right. The Lord dismantled even his body for us, and if we are killing someone for our own desires, that is the act of nailing Jesus again.
The beginning must be different for happiness and success. Happiness is not when you have it, but when you share it. Success is not about killing others and climbing up, but when you save others and give them joy and gratitude, there is true success.
Jesus felt sorry for Jerusalem who challenged God.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem” This is a call of love. When David heard a report that his son Absalom, who had rebelled against him and wanted to kill him, had died, he said, "Absalom, Absalom, my son Absalom."
and cried. Other Gospels say that Jesus wept when He called to Jerusalem.
Judging from this, it seems that the Lord loved the city of Jerusalem by doing so evil and trying to kill Jesus. He calls out, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” as he weeps bitterly because he cannot give up Jerusalem, which has already been corrupted to the extent that it is full of destruction.
Look at verse 37. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times have I sought to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were not willing.”
The hen's desire to gather her chicks means maternal love to protect them from external dangers.
It means that God was trying to gather the lives of people who wanted to go as far as they wanted.
The Church of God is the bosom of God where the hens are trying to gather their young. The church is a gathering place. It is a place where we gather to form a community and are protected under the wings of God. But the foolish chicks run away and become food for the eagles.
Jesus never gave up hope.
Let's look at verse 39. “I tell you, from now on you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” These words mean that the Lord completed the work of redemption on the cross, and the hardened people repented and received the Lord It is a word that expects the day of praise to come. And on the day the Lord returns with the shouts of angels and the sound of trumpets, believers all over the world will rise to praise Him who comes in the name of the Lord.
On that day, as the prophet Isaiah said, we will strike the sword and make plowshares. It means the war is over. Even if a child puts his hand into a snake's burrow, it will not hurt. It is said that the lamb will graze with the lion, so the strong will not kill the weak.
Ladies and gentlemen, our Lord does not give up until the last day. We must live without giving up hope and not giving up until the last day.
We must not give up hope for the reunification of North and South Korea. From the south, they took the Kumgang Lake for a tour of Mt. Kumgang, but North Korea sent a spy ship. They are really unstoppable people. However, we must not give up on the day of reunification until the very end.
Some people are discouraged because there are many problems in the church and there is no hope in this day and age. But don't give up hope too soon. It is something to pray, anticipate, and work hard with hope until the end.
Do you have an upset child or family member in your household? Don't give up looking forward to the day when he will change and praise the Lord.
I made a five-year plan for our Suwon Church 5 years ago, and now, as the five years are coming to an end, there are some things that have not been accomplished and some things have been accomplished, but I am not giving up hope and I am going to make the second five-year plan. We must live with hope, wait, hope, and work hard until the day when the Lord comes.
It is worth noting the words at the end of verse 37, “But you were not willing”. God's interest and love do not change. But when we do not want it, the day of curses, destruction, and desolation will come.
We must sing before the Lord at this time.
O Lord, I will never give up.
Let the green season of Christ come to this earth. I look forward to the day when reconciliation and love will overflow where there were confrontations and antagonisms.
We yearn for a world where the strong protect the weak and do not hate the weak no matter how strong they become.
I dream of the day when couples from all directions from east to west come to our church with joy and joy.
I sow with tears now, but I believe that on that day you will reap with joy.
Dear brothers and sisters, the most dreadful sin is the sin of killing others for one's own sake. It is a sin that stems from values that seek to secure happiness in possessions. That sin eventually turns against God and leads to destruction. But the Lord calls us with sorrow because He loves us. And to the end, to you and me, and toward this Suwon city, he does not give up. We hope that we do not give up and work hard with a wish.