How we Should Sigh and Cry
“If God abhors one sin above another, of
which His people are guilty, it is doing nothing in case of an emergency.
Indifference and neutrality in a religious crisis is regarded of God as a
grievous crime and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God.” —Testimonies, vol. 3, page 281. “Mark this point
with care; those who receive the pure mark of truth, wrought in them by the
power of the Holy Ghost, represented by the man in linen, are those
"that sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done" in
the church. Their love for purity and the honor and glory of God is such,
and they have so clear a view of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, that they
are represented as being in an agony, even sighing and crying.” {RH,
June 8, 1886 par. 2} Click to go to our Home Page
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One of the most
phenomenal occurrences in the SDA church today is the living truth that
according to the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, one’s salvation (receiving
the mark by the Man in Linen) is conditional
to sighing and crying for all the abominations done in the midsts of the
church, yet you can scour the internet SDA chat groups and you will find little
to no mention of any abominations whatsoever. In fact, most SDA forums forbid
any such sighing and crying about any abominations and dub such activity as
“church bashing.” One is duly warned upon joining said forums that he/she will
be banned if any such activity is engaged.
The Lord has
shown this writer in vision that the prime, serious reasons professing SDA’s do
not sigh and cry for the abominations are:
·
They misapply Ellen White’s statements concerning faults and
defects (such as we all have) in a way to infer that gross, antichrist apostasy
is no more than faults and defects and that God loves His church in spite of
such faults and defects—which (to them) includes all manner of apostasy. This
is truly irrational and insane.
·
It isn’t popular to cite the abominations and it often gets one
in trouble no matter how loving he/she is in warning God’s people. All of the
disciples except 1 (John the beloved) were killed for warning God’s first
chosen people and most of the prophets who warned them were either killed or
treated with high disdain. Most Christians don’t want to suffer for Christ.
·
They misinterpret and misapply Ellen White’s statement to the
effect that if there is trouble at headquarters, God will work to make right
every wrong. Here is the statement: “There is no need to doubt, to be fearful that the work will not
succeed. God is at the head of the work, and He will set everything in order.
If maters need adjusting at the head of the work, God will attend to that, and
work to right every wrong. Let us have faith that God is going to carry the
noble ship which bears the people of God safely into port." E.G. White, Selected
Messages, vol. 2, 390.
·
In apostate Israel, matters needed adjusting at the head of the work.
Did God right every wrong? Did He carry that once noble ship that bore
His first chosen people safely into port? The answer to these questions is: No
and Yes! No, He did not save the apostate Jewish church from forever
destruction, Chapter
1, The Great Controversy. The answer is yes, He did save a faithful
remnant out of that apostate church (Isaiah 37:31, 32), but how did He do it?
He gathered out the faithful followers of Christ from the apostate Jewish, once
chosen church. The rest of the answer is that God will work in the same way
with apostate Adventism as He did with the apostate Jewish church, in type and antitype
fashion—in PART AND COUNTERPART fashion, which the following evidence will
prove to any spiritual discerning mind who is willing to interpret so that
nothing contradicts.
·
They misinterpret and misapply Ellen White’s statements about those who
“go out from us because they were not of us.” They believe that these words
mean that the bad leave the church militant when the testing time comes, thus
leaving the church militant the church triumphant, the noble ship that goes
through safely into port heaven. This could not be further from the truth when
all the evidence is interpreted so that nothing contradicts.
·
Ellen White oft quoted Paul’s words: 1
John 2:19
“They
went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us,
they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us.”
·
Ellen White’s quoting of Paul’s words (above) are
misinterpreted to mean that all the bad will leave the church militant (wheat
and tare co-ed church). Ellen White’s real intended meaning of those words is
that all who go out of the true message of 1844, were
not of us in the first place. This is vastly different from the common
misunderstanding of her words! And this is the only proper way to interpret her
words lest we make her seriously contradict herself in other statements.
·
Paul applied those words to the true followers of Christ,
himself and the disciples after they separated from the apostate Jewish church
and formed home churches. He said that anyone who left the separated group of
Christians were not really “of us.” These words are misapplied to refer to the
apostate SDA church today—inferring that any who leave that apostate church
were really not true converts in the first place. If this interpretation was
true, then the following statements by Ellen White would be gross falsehood:
·
"The Lord commanded one of his ancient servants, 'Pray not thou for this people [Jer. 7:16 and 11:14], neither
lift up cry nor prayer for them neither make intercession to me for I will not
hear thee.' The prophet thus describes the sins which had called forth this
fearful denunciation: 'The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule
by their means and my people love to have it so and what will ye do in the end
thereof?' 'From the least of them even unto the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness and from the prophet
even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no
peace.' The
apostles declare that this state of things will find its COUNTERPART in the
last days. Many
have a form of godliness, but in their daily life deny the power thereof. They
have ceased to be convicted of their sins or alarmed at their state. They say
in their hearts, 'The church is flourishing. Peace and spiritual prosperity are
within her borders.' The words of the prophet may well apply to these
self-deceivers, 'They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in
their abominations. I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their
fears upon them." E. G. White, Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 11-07-82.
"Jesus sends HIS PEOPLE a message of warning to prepare them for his
coming. To the prophet John was made known the closing work in the great plan
of man's redemption. He beheld an angel flying 'in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice,
Fear God, and give glory to him for the hour of his Judgment is come and worship
him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters [Rev.
14:6, 7.].
The angel represented in prophecy as
delivering this message, symbolizes a class of faithful men, who,
obedient to the promptings of God's Spirit and the teachings of his word,
proclaim this warning to the inhabitants of earth. This message was not to be committed to the religious leaders of the
people. They had failed to preserve their connection with God, and had
REFUSED THE LIGHT FROM HEAVEN therefore they WERE NOT of the number described
by the apostle Paul: 'But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day
should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the
children of the day we are not of the night nor of
darkness' [1 Thess. 5:4, 5].
The watchmen upon the walls of Zion
should be the first to catch the tidings of the Saviour's advent, the first to
lift their voices to proclaim him near, the first to
warn the people to prepare for his coming. But they were at ease, dreaming of
peace and safety, while the people were asleep in their sins. Jesus saw HIS
CHURCH, like the barren fig-tree, covered with pretentious leaves, yet
destitute of precious fruit. There was a boastful observance of the forms of
religion, while the spirit of true humility, penitence and faith--which alone
could render the service acceptable to God--was lacking. Instead of the graces
of the Spirit, there were manifested pride, formalism,
vainglory, selfishness, oppression. A
BACKSLIDING CHURCH closed their eyes to the signs of the times.
God did nor forsake them, or suffer his faithfulness to fail but they departed
from him, and SEPARATED THEMSELVES from his love. As
they REFUSED TO COMPLY WITH THE
CONDITIONS, his promises were NOT FULFILLED to them."
E.G. White, The Spirit of Prophecy, vol.
4, pp. 199-200 [The 1884 edition of The
Great Controversy, 199, 200].
All this
reality is made even more serious by the fact that Ellen White said that
Ezekiel 9 will be literally
fulfilled.
"Study the 9th chapter of Ezekiel. These
words will be literally fulfilled yet the time is passing, and the people are asleep. They refuse to
humble their souls and to be converted. Not a great while longer will the Lord bear
with the people who have such great and important truths revealed to them, but
who refuse to bring these truths into their individual experience. The time is
short. God is calling will YOU hear? Will YOU receive His message? Will YOU be
converted before it is too late? Soon, very soon, every case will be decided
for eternity. Letter 106, 1909, pp. 2, 3, 5, 7. (To "The churches in Oakland and Berkeley, September 26,
1909.)" E.
G. White Manuscript Releases Volume One, p. 260.
“The time will soon come when the prophecy of
Ezekiel 9 will be fulfilled; that prophecy should be carefully studied, for it
will be fulfilled to the very letter.”— Ellen G.
White 1888 Materials, p. 1303.
The Signs of the Times, February 12, 1880: “The desolation of
Jerusalem stands as a solemn warning before the eyes of modern
Israel.”
“The desolation of Jerusalem in the days of
Jeremiah is a solemn warning to modern Israel, that the counsels and
admonitions given them through chosen instrumentalities cannot be disregarded
with impunity.” Prophets and Kings, 416.
It should be an
empirical fact to any thinking Adventist that if the bad were shaken from the
SDA church militant, to leave it as the SDA church triumphant, that Ezekiel 9
would not BEGIN AT HIS SANCTUARY, HIS CHURCH, those who had been privileged
with great light.
It should be an
empirical fact to any thinking Adventist that if Ezekiel 9 is literally
fulfilled, it must involve a literal, apostate, church structure, for that is
how it was literally fulfilled in the destruction of God’s first chosen people,
in the destruction of their Temple in A.D. 70. Thus, God will not work to right
every wrongful apostasy at the SDA church—except to do so
exactly as He did in His dealings with the TYPE of Ezekiel 9, in the destruction
of the Temple and Jerusalem. Only Adventists who have dug deep in the mines of
truth and are willing to follow Ellen White’s instruction to interpret all so
that nothing contradicts, will come to this true conclusion and avoid the
Ezekiel 9 debacle which will begin at His Sanctuary, His church, the House of
Jacob, where men, maidens and little children will all perish together because
of the apostasy of the leaders and the support of the laity to those apostate
leaders. But the foolish virgins will hang their heads and ask: “What
apostasy?!” “What abominations?!” “What torrent of
iniquity?!”
1He
cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over
the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
2And,
behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the
north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was
clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and
stood beside the brasen altar.
3And
the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was,
to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen,
which had the writer's inkhorn by his side;
4And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the
city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the
men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
5And
to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him
through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
6Slay
utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not
near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my
sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
7And
he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye
forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
8And
it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon
my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou
destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon
Jerusalem?
9Then
said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel
and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full
of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD
seeth not.
10And
as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will
recompense their way upon their head.
11And,
behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported
the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.
What Does it Mean to Sigh and
Cry? How Should One Sigh and Cry for All the Abominations?
Some, even some SDA pastors,
teach that we should sigh and cry in the closet and not express such to anyone
else. They teach that any negative commentary about apostasy in and of the
church is church bashing and satanic criticism of the brethren. Is that what
the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy teaches?
"While
others try to throw a cloak over the existing evil, and excuse the great wickedness everywhere prevalent, those who have a zeal for
God's honor and a love for souls will not hold their peace to obtain favor of
any. Their
righteous souls are vexed day by day with the unholy
works and conversation of the unrighteous. They are powerless to stop the rushing torrent of iniquity, and hence they are filled with grief and
alarm. They mourn before God to see religion despised in
the very homes of those who have had great light. They lament and afflict
their souls because pride, avarice, selfishness, and deception of almost every
kind are in the church. The Spirit of God, which prompts to reproof,
is trampled underfoot, while the servants of Satan triumph. God is dishonored,
the truth made of none effect" (Testimonies, Vol. 5, pp. 210, 211).
·
Some try to cloak the existing evil. I would say MOST try to cloak the
existing evil. Only a small remnant will actually protest and try to correct
the evil.
·
Great wickedness everywhere prevalent! Interesting words!
·
Would sighing and crying in the closet all to oneself, be cloaking the
existing evil and excusing the great wickedness everywhere prevalent?
·
“Those who have a zeal for God's honor and a love for souls will not
hold their peace to obtain favor of any.” Does that sound like sighing and crying to
oneself in the closet?
·
The souls of the righteous who sigh and cry are vexed day by day with
the unholy works and conversation of the unrighteous.
·
There is a torrent of iniquity which those who sigh and
cry are powerless to stop so that they are filled with grief and alarm.
·
Some mourn before God to see religion despised by those who have had
great light.
·
Some lament and afflict their souls because pride, avarice, selfishness, and deception of almost every kind are in the
church.
·
Some lament because: “The Spirit of God, which prompts to reproof, is trampled
underfoot, while the servants of Satan triumph. God is dishonored, the truth
made of none effect"
·
If the Spirit of God prompts to reproof, does that sound like one is to
sigh and cry to him/herself in the closet as many “dumb-dog” SDA watchmen and
their sheeple followers teach (Isaiah 56:10-12)?
How Should One Sigh and Cry for All the
Abominations?
What does
God’s Word say about this issue?
1.
Isaiah
58:1
Cry aloud,
spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their
transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Isaiah
58:1-3 (in Context) Isaiah
58 (Whole Chapter)
2. Hosea
5:8
Blow
ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at
Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin.
Hosea
5:7-9 (in Context) Hosea
5 (Whole
Chapter)
3.
Proverbs 9:7
He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh
a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
Proverbs
9:6-8 (in Context) Proverbs
9 (Whole
Chapter)
4.
Proverbs
9:8
Reprove not a scorner,
lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Proverbs
9:7-9 (in Context) Proverbs
9 (Whole
Chapter)
5.
2
Timothy 4:2
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
Ezekiel
3:17-21
17Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of
Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely
die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his
wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity;
but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19Yet if thou warn the wicked,
and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in
his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
20Again, When a
righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay
a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him
warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done
shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that
the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is
warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
Do the words cry aloud, spare not, show my people their sins,
sound like sighing and crying to oneself in the closet? And what about the
words: reprove; rebuke and warn?
Were God’s words to Ezekiel applicable to him alone because he
was a prophet?
“So far as his opportunities extend, every
one who has received the light of truth is under the same solemn and fearful
responsibility as was the prophet of Israel, to whom the word of the Lord came,
saying: "Son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel;
therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked
from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I
require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if
thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do
not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou has delivered thy
soul.” Eze 33:7-9. The Great Controversy, p. 459.
“If God
abhors one sin above another, of
which His people are guilty, it is doing nothing in case of an
emergency. Indifference and neutrality in a religious crisis is regarded of God
as a grievous crime and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God.”
—Testimonies, vol. 3, page 281.
"The leaven of godliness has not entirely lost its power. At the
time when the danger and depression of the church are greatest, [the Sunday
Law] the little company who are standing in the
light will be sighing and crying for the abominations that are done in the
land. But more especially will their prayers arise in behalf of the church
because its members are doing after the manner of the world. (Ellen G. White, “The Seal of God,” Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, page 209.
Did Jesus protest?
“Christ was a protestant. He protested against the formal worship of the Jewish nation,
who rejected the counsel of God against themselves. He told them that they taught
for doctrines the commandments of men, and that they were pretenders and
hypocrites. Like whited sepulchers they were beautiful without, but within full of impurity and
corruption. The Reformers date back to Christ and the
apostles. They came out and separated themselves from a religion of forms
and ceremonies. Luther and his followers did not invent the reformed
religion. They simply accepted it as presented by Christ and the apostles.
The Bible is presented to us as a sufficient guide; but the pope and his
workers remove it from the people as if it were a curse, because it exposes
their pretensions and rebukes their idolatry.
{RH, June 1, 1886 par. 14}
Why did Christ and His
apostles separate? Because of Babylonian doctrines?
No! Because of a religion consisting of forms and ceremonies.
Why did true reformers in every succeeding generation separate? See the
following statement for the all important answer:
"The Sanhedrin had rejected Christ's message and was bent upon His
death therefore Jesus departed from
Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious leaders, the people who
had been instructed in the law, and turned to another class to proclaim His
message, and to gather out those who should carry the gospel to all nations.
As the light and life of men was rejected by
the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so it has been rejected
in every succeeding generation. Again and again the history of Christ's
withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers preached the word of God,
they had no thought of separating themselves from the established church but
the religious leaders would not tolerate the light, and those that bore it were
forced to seek another class, who were longing for the truth. In our day few of the
professed followers of the Reformers are actuated by their spirit. Few are
listening for the voice of God, and ready to accept truth in whatever guise it
may be presented. Often those who follow in the steps of the Reformers are
forced to turn away from the churches they love, in order to declare the plain
teaching of the word of God. And many times those who are seeking for light are
by the same teaching obliged to leave the church of their fathers, that they
may render obedience." E.G. White, Desire of Ages, 232.
Did the reformers in every succeeding
generation sigh and cry to themselves in the closet? Did Luther sigh and cry to
himself in the closet? Did Adventists in 1844, sigh and cry to themselves in
the closet? Did the disciples of Jesus sigh and cry to themselves in the
closet?
What is the only reason given as to why true
reformers in every succeeding generation left the church of their fathers? It was because the ecclesiastical leaders would not tolerate light. We
are to protest that light has been disregarded and/or not received. When and
where that protest is unsuccessful, we are to go elsewhere to appeal to others.
But we are never to imbibe indifference and sigh and cry to ourselves as the
dumb-dog leaders and their sheeple followers often teach. They will NEVER AGAIN
show the House of Jacob its sins.
Begin at My Sanctuary --
"Here we see that the church--the Lord's sanctuary--was the first to feel the stroke of
the wrath of God. The
ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as
guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust.
They had taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the marked
manifestation of God's power as in former days. Times have changed. These words
strengthen their unbelief, and they say: The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. He is too merciful to visit
His people in judgment. Thus 'Peace and safety" is the cry from men who
will never again lift up their voice like
a trumpet to show God's people their transgressions and the house of Jacob
their sins. These
dumb dogs that would not bark are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an
offended God. Men, maidens, and little children all perish together." E.
G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 211.
We are to warn with all long
suffering and loving entreating. Never should there be the least element of
bitterness in our warnings. Jesus was our example in this. He wept over
Jerusalem because they rejected His warnings and entreatments. We are to weep
between the porch and the altar. Where was the porch and altar the disciples
and their followers wept between when the disciples were “gathered out” (DA
232) as the first act of Christ’s ministry? Where was
the porch and the altar between which the followers of the disciples wept when
they were called out from A.D. 34-70? It was in the home churches established
by the disciples.
Scripture on Home Churches
Act 16:32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all
that were in his house.
Act 16:34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat
before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Act 16:40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into [the house
of] Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and
departed.
Act 18:7 And he departed thence, and entered into a certain [man's]
house, named Justus, [one] that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the
synagogue.
Rom 16:5 Likewise
[greet] the church that is in their house. Salute my well beloved Epaenetus,
who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.
1Cr 1:11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by
them [which are of the house] of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
1Cr 16:15 I
beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the
firstfruits of Achaia, and [that] they have addicted themselves to the ministry
of the saints,)
1Cr 16:19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute
you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.
Below is the
account of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. It would do
all well to read this chapter of The Great Controversy, because this is
record of how God worked to right every wrong in the last LITERAL, TYPICAL,
fulfillment of Ezekiel 9. Any ANTITYPICAL LITERAL fulfillment will be of a
similar sequence of events or Ezekiel 9 would not be literally fulfilled as
Ellen White prophesied it will be.
—rwb
"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day,
the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are
hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall
cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every
side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee;
and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest
not the time of thy visitation." Luke 19:42-44.
From
the crest of Olivet, Jesus looked upon Jerusalem. Fair and peaceful was the
scene spread out before Him. It was the season of the Passover, and from all
lands the children of Jacob had gathered there to celebrate the great national
festival. In the midst of gardens and vineyards, and green slopes studded with
pilgrims' tents, rose the terraced hills, the stately palaces, and massive
bulwarks of Israel's capital. The daughter of Zion seemed in her pride to say,
I sit a queen and shall see no sorrow; as lovely then, and deeming herself as
secure in Heaven's favor, as when, ages before, the royal minstrel sang:
"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, . . .
the city of the great King." Psalm 48:2. In full view were the magnificent
buildings of the temple. The rays of the setting sun lighted up the snowy
whiteness of its marble walls and gleamed from golden gate and tower and
pinnacle. "The perfection of
18
beauty" it stood, the pride of the Jewish nation. What child of
Israel could gaze upon the scene without a thrill of joy and admiration! But
far other thoughts occupied the mind of Jesus. "When He was come near, He beheld
the city, and wept over it." Luke 19:41. Amid the universal rejoicing
of the triumphal entry, while palm branches waved, while glad hosannas awoke
the echoes of the hills, and thousands of voices declared Him king, the world's Redeemer was
overwhelmed with a sudden and mysterious sorrow. He, the Son of God, the
Promised One of Israel, whose power had conquered death and called its captives
from the grave, was in tears, not of ordinary grief, but of intense,
irrepressible agony.
His
tears were not for Himself, though He well knew whither His feet were tending. Before
Him lay Gethsemane, the scene of His approaching agony. The sheepgate also was
in sight, through which for centuries the victims for sacrifice had been led,
and which was to open for Him when He should be "brought as a lamb to the
slaughter." Isaiah 53:7. Not far distant was Calvary, the place of
crucifixion. Upon the path which Christ was soon to tread must fall the horror
of great darkness as He should make His soul an offering for sin. Yet it was
not the contemplation of these scenes that cast the shadow upon Him in this
hour of gladness. No foreboding of His own superhuman
anguish clouded that unselfish spirit. He wept for the doomed thousands of
Jerusalem--because of the blindness and impenitence of those whom He came to
bless and to save.
The
history of more than a thousand years of God's special favor and guardian care,
manifested to the chosen people, was open to the eye of Jesus. There was Mount
Moriah, where the son of promise, an unresisting victim, had been bound to the
altar--emblem of the offering of the Son of God. There the covenant of
blessing, the glorious Messianic promise, had been confirmed to the father of
the faithful. Genesis 22:9, 16-18. There the flames of the sacrifice ascending
to heaven from the threshing floor of Ornan had turned
19
aside the sword of the destroying angel (1 Chronicles 21)--fitting
symbol of the Saviour's sacrifice and mediation for guilty men. Jerusalem had
been honored of God above all the earth. The Lord had "chosen Zion,"
He had "desired it for His habitation." Psalm 132:13. There, for
ages, holy prophets had uttered their messages of warning. There priests had
waved their censers, and the cloud of incense, with the prayers of the
worshipers, had ascended before God. There daily the blood of slain lambs had
been offered, pointing forward to the Lamb of God. There Jehovah had revealed
His presence in the cloud of glory above the mercy seat. There rested the base
of that mystic ladder connecting earth with heaven (Genesis 28:12; John 1:51)--that
ladder upon which angels of God descended and ascended, and which opened to the
world the way into the holiest of all. Had Israel as a nation preserved her
allegiance to Heaven, Jerusalem would have stood forever, the elect of God.
Jeremiah 17:21-25. But the history of that favored people was a record of
backsliding and rebellion. They had resisted Heaven's grace, abused their
privileges, and slighted their opportunities.
Although
Israel had "mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused
His prophets" (2 Chronicles 36:16), He had still manifested Himself to
them, as "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6); notwithstanding repeated
rejections, His mercy had continued its pleadings. With more than a father's
pitying love for the son of his care, God had "sent to them by His
messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His
people, and on His dwelling place." 2 Chronicles 36:15. When remonstrance,
entreaty, and rebuke had failed, He sent to them the best gift of heaven; nay,
He poured out all heaven in that one Gift.
The
Son of God Himself was sent to plead with the impenitent city. It was Christ
that had brought Israel as a goodly vine out of Egypt. Psalm 80:8. His own hand
had cast
20
out the heathen before it. He had planted it "in a very
fruitful hill." His guardian care had hedged it about. His servants had
been sent to nurture it. "What could have been done more to My vineyard," He exclaims, "that I have not done
in it?" Isaiah 5:1-4. Though when He looked that it should bring forth
grapes, it brought forth wild grapes, yet with a still yearning hope of
fruitfulness He came in person to His vineyard, if haply it might be saved from
destruction. He digged about His vine; He pruned and cherished it. He was
unwearied in His efforts to save this vine of His own planting.
For
three years the Lord of light and glory had gone in and out among His people.
He "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the
devil," binding up the brokenhearted, setting at liberty them that were
bound, restoring sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk and the deaf to
hear, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and preaching the gospel to the
poor. Acts 10:38; Luke 4:18; Matthew 11:5. To all classes alike was addressed
the gracious call: "Come unto Me, all ye that
labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28.
Though
rewarded with evil for good, and hatred for His love (Psalm 109:5), He had
steadfastly pursued His mission of mercy. Never were those repelled that sought
His grace. A homeless wanderer, reproach and penury His daily lot, He lived to
minister to the needs and lighten the woes of men, to plead with them to accept
the gift of life. The waves of mercy, beaten back by those stubborn hearts,
returned in a stronger tide of pitying, inexpressible love. But Israel had
turned from her best Friend and only Helper. The pleadings of His love had been
despised, His counsels spurned, His warnings ridiculed.
The
hour of hope and pardon was fast passing; the cup of God's long-deferred wrath
was almost full. The cloud that had been gathering through ages of apostasy and
rebellion, now black with woe, was about to burst upon a guilty people;
21
and He who alone could save them from their impending fate had been
slighted, abused, rejected, and was soon to be crucified. When
Christ should hang upon the cross of Calvary, Israel's day as a nation favored
and blessed of God would be ended. The loss of even one soul is a
calamity infinitely outweighing the gains and treasures of a world; but as
Christ looked upon Jerusalem, the doom of a whole city, a whole nation, was
before Him--that city, that nation, which had once been the chosen of God, His
peculiar treasure.
Prophets
had wept over the apostasy of Israel and the terrible desolations by which
their sins were visited. Jeremiah wished that his eyes were a fountain of tears, that he might weep day and night for the slain of the
daughter of his people, for the Lord's flock that was carried away
captive. Jeremiah 9:1; 13:17. What, then, was the grief of Him whose prophetic
glance took in, not years, but ages! He beheld the destroying angel with sword
uplifted against the city which had so long been Jehovah's dwelling place. From
the ridge of Olivet, the very spot afterward occupied by Titus and his army, He
looked across the valley upon the sacred courts and porticoes, and with
tear-dimmed eyes He saw, in awful perspective, the walls surrounded by alien
hosts. He heard the tread of armies marshaling for war. He heard the voice of
mothers and children crying for bread in the besieged city. He saw her holy and
beautiful house, her palaces and towers, given to the flames, and where once
they stood, only a heap of smoldering ruins.
Looking
down the ages, He saw the covenant people scattered in every land, "like
wrecks on a desert shore." In the temporal retribution about to fall upon
her children, He saw but the first draft from that cup of wrath which at the
final judgment she must drain to its dregs. Divine pity, yearning love, found
utterance in the mournful words: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often
would I
22
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" O that thou, a nation favored
above every other, hadst known the time of thy visitation, and the things that
belong unto thy peace! I have stayed the angel of justice,
I have called thee to repentance, but in vain. It is not merely servants,
delegates, and prophets, whom thou hast refused and rejected, but the Holy One
of Israel, thy Redeemer. If thou art destroyed, thou alone art responsible.
"Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have
life." Matthew 23:37; John 5:40.
Christ
saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief and rebellion, and
hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of God. The woes of a fallen
race, pressing upon His soul, forced from His lips that exceeding bitter cry.
He saw the record of sin traced in human misery, tears, and blood; His heart
was moved with infinite pity for the afflicted and suffering ones of earth; He
yearned to relieve them all. But even His hand might not turn back the tide of
human woe; few would seek their only Source of help. He was willing to pour out
His soul unto death, to bring salvation within their reach; but few would come
to Him that they might have life.
The
Majesty of heaven in tears! the Son of the infinite
God troubled in spirit, bowed down with anguish! The scene filled all heaven
with wonder. That scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows
how hard a task it is, even for Infinite Power, to save the guilty from the consequences
of transgressing the law of God. Jesus, looking down to the last generation,
saw the world involved in a deception similar to that which caused the
destruction of Jerusalem. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of
Christ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their rejection of the
law of God, the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. The precepts
of Jehovah would be despised and set at nought. Millions in bondage to sin,
slaves of Satan, doomed to suffer the second death, would
23
refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visitation.
Terrible blindness! strange infatuation!
Two
days before the Passover, when Christ had for the last time departed from the temple,
after denouncing the hypocrisy of the Jewish rulers, He again went out with His
disciples to the Mount of Olives and seated Himself with them upon the grassy
slope overlooking the city. Once more He gazed upon its walls, its towers, and
its palaces. Once more He beheld the temple in its dazzling splendor, a diadem
of beauty crowning the sacred mount.
A
thousand years before, the psalmist had magnified God's favor to Israel in
making her holy house His dwelling place: "In Salem also is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion." He
"chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which He loved. And He built His
sanctuary like high palaces." Psalms 76:2; 78:68, 69. The first temple had
been erected during the most prosperous period of Israel's history. Vast stores
of treasure for this purpose had been collected by King David, and the plans
for its construction were made by divine inspiration. 1 Chronicles 28:12, 19.
Solomon, the wisest of Israel's monarchs, had completed the work. This temple
was the most magnificent building which the world ever saw. Yet the Lord had
declared by the prophet Haggai, concerning the second temple: "The glory
of this latter house shall be greater than of the former." "I will
shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill
this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." Haggai
2:9, 7.
After
the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar it was rebuilt about five
hundred years before the birth of Christ by a people who from a lifelong
captivity had returned to a wasted and almost deserted country. There were then
among them aged men who had seen the glory of Solomon's temple, and who wept at
the foundation of the new building, that it must be so inferior to the former.
The feeling that prevailed is forcibly described by the prophet: "Who is
24
left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not
in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?" Haggai 2:3; Ezra 3:12. Then was given the promise that the glory of this latter house
should be greater than that of the former.
But
the second temple had not equaled the first in magnificence; nor was it
hallowed by those visible tokens of the divine presence which pertained to the
first temple. There was no manifestation of supernatural power to mark its
dedication. No cloud of glory was seen to fill the newly erected sanctuary. No
fire from heaven descended to consume the sacrifice upon its altar. The
Shekinah no longer abode between the cherubim in the most holy place; the ark,
the mercy seat, and the tables of the testimony were not to be found therein.
No voice sounded from heaven to make known to the inquiring priest the will of
Jehovah.
For
centuries the Jews had vainly endeavored to show wherein the promise of God given
by Haggai had been fulfilled; yet pride and unbelief blinded their minds to the
true meaning of the prophet's words. The second temple was not honored with the
cloud of Jehovah's glory, but with the living presence of One
in whom dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily--who was God Himself manifest
in the flesh. The "Desire of all nations" had indeed come to His
temple when the Man of Nazareth taught and healed in the sacred courts. In the
presence of Christ, and in this only, did the second temple exceed the first in
glory. But Israel had put from her the proffered Gift
of heaven. With the humble Teacher who had that day passed out from its golden
gate, the glory had forever departed from the temple. Already were the
Saviour's words fulfilled: "Your house is left unto you desolate."
Matthew 23:38.
The
disciples had been filled with awe and wonder at Christ's prediction of the
overthrow of the temple, and they desired to understand more fully the meaning
of His words. Wealth, labor, and architectural skill had for more than forty
years been freely expended to enhance its splendors. Herod
25
the Great had lavished upon it both Roman wealth and Jewish
treasure, and even the emperor of the world had enriched it with his gifts.
Massive blocks of white marble, of almost fabulous size, forwarded from Rome
for this purpose, formed a part of its structure; and to these the disciples
had called the attention of their Master, saying: "See what manner of
stones and what buildings are here!" Mark 13:1.
To
these words, Jesus made the solemn and startling reply: "Verily I say unto
you, There shall not be left here one stone upon
another, that shall not be thrown down." Matthew 24:2.
With
the overthrow of Jerusalem the disciples associated the events of Christ's personal
coming in temporal glory to take the throne of universal empire, to punish the
impenitent Jews, and to break from off the nation the Roman yoke. The Lord had
told them that He would come the second time. Hence at the mention of judgments
upon Jerusalem, their minds reverted to that coming; and as they were gathered
about the Saviour upon the Mount of Olives, they asked: "When shall these
things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming,
and of the end of the world?" Verse 3.
The
future was mercifully veiled from the disciples. Had they at that time fully
comprehend the two awful facts--the Redeemer's sufferings and death, and the
destruction of their city and temple--they would have been overwhelmed with
horror. Christ presented before them an outline of the prominent events to take
place before the close of time. His words were not then fully understood; but
their meaning was to be unfolded as His people should need the instruction
therein given. The prophecy which He uttered was twofold in its meaning; while
foreshadowing the destruction of Jerusalem, it prefigured also the terrors of
the last great day.
Jesus
declared to the listening disciples the judgments that were to fall upon
apostate Israel, and especially the retributive vengeance that would come upon
them for their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah. Unmistakable signs
would precede the awful climax. The dreaded hour would come
26
suddenly and swiftly. And the Saviour warned His followers: "When
ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." Matthew 24:15,
16; Luke 21:20, 21. When the idolatrous standards of the Romans should be set
up in the holy ground, which extended some furlongs outside the city walls,
then the followers of Christ were to find safety in flight. When the warning
sign should be seen, those who would escape must make no delay. Throughout the
land of Judea, as well as in Jerusalem itself, the signal for flight must be
immediately obeyed. He who chanced to be upon the housetop must not go down
into his house, even to save his most valued treasures. Those who were working
in the fields or vineyards must not take time to return for the outer garment
laid aside while they should be toiling in the heat of the day. They must not
hesitate a moment, lest they be involved in the general destruction.
In
the reign of Herod, Jerusalem had not only been greatly beautified, but by the
erection of towers, walls, and fortresses, adding to the natural strength of
its situation, it had been rendered apparently impregnable. He who would at
this time have foretold publicly its destruction, would, like Noah in his day,
have been called a crazed alarmist. But Christ had said: "Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but My words shall not pass
away." Matthew 24:35. Because of her sins, wrath had been denounced
against Jerusalem, and her stubborn unbelief rendered her doom certain.
The
Lord had declared by the prophet Micah: "Hear this, I pray you, ye heads
of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment,
and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood,
and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the
priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets
thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the
Lord among us? none evil can come upon us." Micah
3:9-11.
27
These
words faithfully described the corrupt and self-righteous inhabitants of
Jerusalem. While claiming to observe rigidly the precepts of God's law, they
were transgressing all its principles. They hated Christ because His purity and
holiness revealed their iniquity; and they accused Him of being the cause of
all the troubles which had come upon them in consequence of their sins. Though
they knew Him to be sinless, they had declared that His death was necessary to
their safety as a nation. "If we let Him thus
alone," said the Jewish leaders, "all men will believe on Him: and
the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation."
John 11:48. If Christ were sacrificed, they might once more become a strong,
united people. Thus they reasoned, and they concurred in the decision of their
high priest, that it would be better for one man to die than for the whole
nation to perish.
Thus
the Jewish leaders had built up "Zion with blood,
and Jerusalem with iniquity." Micah 3:10. And yet, while they slew their
Saviour because He reproved their sins, such was their self-righteousness that
they regarded themselves as God's favored people and expected the Lord to
deliver them from their enemies. "Therefore," continued the prophet,
"shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become
heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high
places of the forest." Verse 12.
For
nearly forty years after the doom of Jerusalem had been pronounced by Christ
Himself, the Lord delayed His judgments upon the city and the nation. Wonderful
was the long-suffering of God toward the rejectors of His gospel and the
murderers of His Son. The parable of the unfruitful tree represented God's
dealings with the Jewish nation. The command had gone forth, "Cut it down;
why cumbereth it the ground?" (Luke 13:7) but divine mercy had spared it
yet a little longer. There were still many among the Jews who were ignorant of
the character and the work of Christ. And the children had not enjoyed the
opportunities or
28
received the light which their parents had spurned. Through the
preaching of the apostles and their associates, God would cause light to shine
upon them; they would be permitted to see how prophecy had been fulfilled, not
only in the birth and life of Christ, but in His death and resurrection. The
children were not condemned for the sins of the parents; but when, with a knowledge of all the light given to their parents, the
children rejected the additional light granted to themselves, they became
partakers of the parents' sins, and filled up the measure of their iniquity.
The
long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem only confirmed the Jews in their
stubborn impenitence. In their hatred and cruelty toward the disciples of Jesus
they rejected the last offer of mercy. Then God withdrew His protection from
them and removed His restraining power from Satan and his angels, and the
nation was left to the control of the leader she had chosen. Her children had
spurned the grace of Christ, which would have enabled them to subdue their evil
impulses, and now these became the conquerors. Satan aroused the fiercest and
most debased passions of the soul. Men did not reason; they were beyond
reason--controlled by impulse and blind rage. They became satanic in their
cruelty. In the family and in the nation, among the highest and the lowest
classes alike, there was suspicion, envy, hatred, strife, rebellion, murder.
There was no safety anywhere. Friends and kindred betrayed one another. Parents
slew their children, and children their parents. The
rulers of the people had no power to rule themselves. Uncontrolled passions
made them tyrants. The Jews had accepted false testimony to condemn the
innocent Son of God. Now false accusations made their own lives uncertain. By
their actions they had long been saying: "Cause the Holy One of Israel to
cease from before us." Isaiah 30:11. Now their desire was granted. The
fear of God no longer disturbed them. Satan
29
was at the head of the nation, and the highest civil and religious
authorities were under his sway.
The
leaders of the opposing factions at times united to plunder and torture their
wretched victims, and again they fell upon each other's forces and slaughtered without
mercy. Even the sanctity of the temple could not restrain their horrible
ferocity. The worshipers were stricken down before the altar, and the sanctuary
was polluted with the bodies of the slain. Yet in their blind and blasphemous
presumption the instigators of this hellish work publicly declared that they
had no fear that Jerusalem would be destroyed, for it was God's own city. To
establish their power more firmly, they bribed false prophets to proclaim, even
while Roman legions were besieging the temple, that the people were to wait for
deliverance from God. To the last, multitudes held fast to the belief that the
Most High would interpose for the defeat of their adversaries. But Israel had
spurned the divine protection, and now she had no defense. Unhappy Jerusalem! rent by internal dissensions, the blood of her children
slain by one another's hands crimsoning her streets, while alien armies beat
down her fortifications and slew her men of war!
All
the predictions given by Christ concerning the destruction of Jerusalem were
fulfilled to the letter. The Jews experienced the truth of His words of
warning: "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again." Matthew 7:2.
Signs
and wonders appeared, foreboding disaster and doom. In the midst of the night
an unnatural light shone over the temple and the altar. Upon the clouds at
sunset were pictured chariots and men of war gathering for battle. The priests
ministering by night in the sanctuary were terrified by mysterious sounds; the
earth trembled, and a multitude of voices were heard crying: "Let us
depart hence." The great eastern gate, which was so heavy that it could
hardly be shut by a score of men, and which was secured by
30
immense bars of iron fastened deep in the pavement of solid stone,
opened at midnight, without visible agency.--Milman, The History of the Jews,
book 13.
For
seven years a man continued to go up and down the streets of Jerusalem,
declaring the woes that were to come upon the city. By day and by night he
chanted the wild dirge: "A voice from the east! a
voice from the west! a voice from the four winds! a voice against Jerusalem and against the temple! a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides! a voice against the whole people!"--Ibid. This strange
being was imprisoned and scourged, but no complaint escaped his lips. To insult
and abuse he answered only: "Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" "woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof!" His warning cry
ceased not until he was slain in the siege he had foretold.
Not
one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. Christ had given His
disciples warning, and all who believed His words watched for the promised
sign. "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies," said
Jesus, "then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which
are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it
depart out." Luke 21:20, 21. After the Romans under Cestius had surrounded
the city, they unexpectedly abandoned the siege when everything seemed favorable
for an immediate attack. The besieged, despairing of successful resistance,
were on the point of surrender, when the Roman general withdrew his forces
without the least apparent reason. But God's merciful providence was directing
events for the good of His own people. The promised sign had been given to the
waiting Christians, and now an opportunity was offered for all who would, to
obey the Saviour's warning. Events were so overruled that neither Jews nor
Romans should hinder the flight of the Christians. Upon the retreat of Cestius,
the Jews, sallying from Jerusalem, pursued after his retiring army; and while
both forces were thus fully engaged, the Christians had an opportunity to leave
the city. At this time the country also
31
had been cleared of enemies who might have endeavored to intercept
them. At the time of the siege, the Jews were assembled at Jerusalem to keep
the Feast of Tabernacles, and thus the Christians throughout the land were able
to make their escape unmolested. Without delay they fled to a place of
safety--the city of Pella, in the land of Perea, beyond Jordan.
The
Jewish forces, pursuing after Cestius and his army, fell upon their rear with
such fierceness as to threaten them with total destruction. It was with great
difficulty that the Romans succeeded in making their retreat. The Jews escaped
almost without loss, and with their spoils returned in triumph to Jerusalem.
Yet this apparent success brought them only evil. It inspired them with that
spirit of stubborn resistance to the Romans which speedily brought unutterable
woe upon the doomed city.
Terrible
were the calamities that fell upon Jerusalem when the siege was resumed by
Titus. The city was invested at the time of the Passover, when millions of Jews
were assembled within its walls. Their stores of provision, which if carefully
preserved would have supplied the inhabitants for years, had previously been
destroyed through the jealousy and revenge of the contending factions, and now
all the horrors of starvation were experienced. A measure of wheat was sold for
a talent. So fierce were the pangs of hunger that men would gnaw the leather of
their belts and sandals and the covering of their shields. Great numbers of the
people would steal out at night to gather wild plants growing outside the city
walls, though many were seized and put to death with cruel torture, and often
those who returned in safety were robbed of what they had gleaned at so great
peril. The most inhuman tortures were inflicted by those in power, to force
from the want-stricken people the last scanty supplies which they might have
concealed. And these cruelties were not infrequently practiced by men who were themselves well fed, and who were merely desirous of laying
up a store of provision for the future.
32
Thousands
perished from famine and pestilence. Natural affection seemed to have been
destroyed. Husbands robbed their wives, and wives
their husbands. Children would be seen snatching the food from the mouths of
their aged parents. The question of the prophet, "Can a woman forget her
sucking child?" received the answer within the walls of that doomed city:
"The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were
their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people." Isaiah 49:15;
Lamentations 4:10. Again was fulfilled the warning prophecy given fourteen
centuries before: "The tender and delicate woman among you, which would
not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and
tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward
her son, and toward her daughter, . . . and toward her children which she shall
bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and
straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates." Deuteronomy 28:56, 57.
The
Roman leaders endeavored to strike terror to the Jews and thus cause them to
surrender. Those prisoners who resisted when taken,
were scourged, tortured, and crucified before the wall of the city. Hundreds
were daily put to death in this manner, and the dreadful work continued until,
along the Valley of Jehoshaphat and at Calvary, crosses were erected in so
great numbers that there was scarcely room to move among them. So terribly was
visited that awful imprecation uttered before the judgment seat of Pilate:
"His blood be on us, and on our children." Matthew 27:25.
Titus
would willingly have put an end to the fearful scene, and thus have spared
Jerusalem the full measure of her doom. He was filled with horror as he saw the
bodies of the dead lying in heaps in the valleys. Like one entranced, he looked
from the crest of Olivet upon the magnificent temple and gave command that not
one stone of it be touched. Before attempting to gain possession of this
stronghold,
33
he made an earnest appeal to the Jewish leaders not to force him
to defile the sacred place with blood. If they would come forth and fight in
any other place, no Roman should violate the sanctity of the temple. Josephus
himself, in a most eloquent appeal, entreated them to surrender, to save
themselves, their city, and their place of worship. But his words were answered
with bitter curses. Darts were hurled at him, their last human mediator, as he
stood pleading with them. The Jews had rejected the entreaties of the Son of
God, and now expostulation and entreaty only made them more determined to
resist to the last. In vain were the efforts of Titus to save the temple; One greater than he had declared that not one stone was to
be left upon another.
The
blind obstinacy of the Jewish leaders, and the detestable crimes perpetrated
within the besieged city, excited the horror and indignation of the Romans, and
Titus at last decided to take the temple by storm. He determined, however, that
if possible it should be saved from destruction. But his commands were
disregarded. After he had retired to his tent at night, the Jews, sallying from
the temple, attacked the soldiers without. In the struggle, a firebrand was
flung by a soldier through an opening in the porch, and immediately the
cedar-lined chambers about the holy house were in a blaze. Titus rushed to the
place, followed by his generals and legionaries, and commanded the soldiers to
quench the flames. His words were unheeded. In their fury the soldiers hurled
blazing brands into the chambers adjoining the temple, and then with their
swords they slaughtered in great numbers those who had found shelter there.
Blood flowed down the temple steps like water. Thousands upon thousands of Jews
perished. Above the sound of battle, voices were heard shouting:
"Ichabod!"--the glory is departed.
"Titus
found it impossible to check the rage of the soldiery; he entered with his
officers, and surveyed the interior of the sacred edifice. The splendor filled
them with wonder; and as the flames had not yet penetrated to the holy place,
34
he made a last effort to save it, and springing forth, again
exhorted the soldiers to stay the progress of the conflagration. The centurion
Liberalis endeavored to force obedience with his staff of office; but even
respect for the emperor gave way to the furious animosity against the Jews, to
the fierce excitement of battle, and to the insatiable hope of plunder. The
soldiers saw everything around them radiant with gold, which shone dazzlingly
in the wild light of the flames; they supposed that incalculable treasures were
laid up in the sanctuary. A soldier, unperceived, thrust a lighted torch
between the hinges of the door: the whole building was in flames in an instant.
The blinding smoke and fire forced the officers to retreat, and the noble
edifice was left to its fate.
"It
was an appalling spectacle to the Roman--what was it to the Jew? The whole
summit of the hill which commanded the city, blazed like a volcano. One after
another the buildings fell in, with a tremendous crash, and were swallowed up
in the fiery abyss. The roofs of cedar were like sheets of flame; the gilded
pinnacles shone like spikes of red light; the gate towers sent up tall columns
of flame and smoke. The neighboring hills were lighted up; and dark groups of
people were seen watching in horrible anxiety the progress of the destruction:
the walls and heights of the upper city were crowded with faces, some pale with
the agony of despair, others scowling unavailing vengeance. The shouts of the
Roman soldiery as they ran to and fro, and the howlings of the insurgents who
were perishing in the flames, mingled with the roaring of the conflagration and
the thundering sound of falling timbers. The echoes of the mountains replied or
brought back the shrieks of the people on the heights; all along the walls
resounded screams and wailings; men who were expiring with famine rallied their
remaining strength to utter a cry of anguish and desolation.
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"The
slaughter within was even more dreadful than the spectacle from without. Men
and women, old and young, insurgents and priests, those who fought and those
who entreated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminate carnage. The number of
the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The legionaries had to clamber over
heaps of dead to carry on the work of extermination."--Milman, The History of the Jews, book 16.
After
the destruction of the temple, the whole city soon fell into the hands of the
Romans. The leaders of the Jews forsook their impregnable towers, and Titus
found them solitary. He gazed upon them with amazement, and declared that God
had given them into his hands; for no engines, however powerful, could have
prevailed against those stupendous battlements. Both the city and the temple
were razed to their foundations, and the ground upon which the holy house had
stood was "plowed like a field." Jeremiah 26:18. In the siege and the
slaughter that followed, more than a million of the people perished; the
survivors were carried away as captives, sold as slaves, dragged to Rome to
grace the conqueror's triumph, thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheaters, or
scattered as homeless wanderers throughout the earth.
The
Jews had forged their own fetters; they had filled for themselves the cup of
vengeance. In the utter destruction that befell them as a nation, and in all
the woes that followed them in their dispersion, they were but reaping the
harvest which their own hands had sown. Says the prophet: "O Israel, thou
hast destroyed thyself;" "for thou hast fallen by thine
iniquity." Hosea 13:9; 14:1. Their sufferings are often represented as a
punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God. It is thus that the
great deceiver seeks to conceal his own work. By stubborn rejection of divine
love and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection of God to be withdrawn from
them, and Satan was permitted to rule them according to his will. The horrible
cruelties enacted in the
36
destruction of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan's vindictive power
over those who yield to his control.
We
cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protection which we
enjoy. It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing fully
under the control of Satan. The disobedient and unthankful have great reason
for gratitude for God's mercy and long-suffering in holding in check the cruel,
malignant power of the evil one. But when men pass the limits of divine
forbearance, that restraint is removed. God does not stand toward the sinner as
an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the
rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. Every
ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion
indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown which yields
its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last
withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil
passions of the soul, and no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan.
The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and solemn warning to all who are
trifling with the offers of divine grace and resisting the pleadings of divine
mercy. Never was there given a more decisive testimony to God's hatred of sin
and to the certain punishment that will fall upon the guilty.
The
Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to
have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint
shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a world that
has rejected God's mercy and trampled upon His law. Dark are the records of
human misery that earth has witnessed during its long centuries of crime. The heart
sickens, and the mind grows faint in contemplation. Terrible have been the
results of rejecting the authority of Heaven. But a scene yet darker is
presented in the revelations of the future. The records of the past,--the long
procession of tumults,
37
conflicts,
and revolutions, the "battle of the warrior . . . with confused noise, and
garments rolled in blood" (Isaiah 9:5),--what are these, in contrast with
the terrors of that day when the restraining Spirit of God shall be wholly
withdrawn from the wicked, no longer to hold in check the outburst of human
passion and satanic wrath! The world will then behold, as never before, the
results of Satan's rule.
But
in that day, as in the time of Jerusalem's destruction, God's people will be
delivered, everyone that shall be found written among the living. Isaiah 4:3.
Christ has declared that He will come the second time to gather His faithful
ones to Himself: "Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they
shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to
the other." Matthew 24:30, 31. Then shall they that obey not the gospel be
consumed with the spirit of His mouth and be destroyed with the brightness of
His coming. 2 Thessalonians 2:8. Like Israel of old the wicked destroy themselves; they fall by their iniquity. By a life of sin,
they have placed themselves so out of harmony with God, their natures have
become so debased with evil, that the manifestation of His glory is to them a
consuming fire.
Let
men beware lest they neglect the lesson conveyed to them in the words of
Christ. As He warned His disciples of Jerusalem's destruction, giving them a
sign of the approaching ruin, that they might make their escape; so He has
warned the world of the day of final destruction and has given them tokens of
its approach, that all who will may flee from the wrath to come. Jesus declares:
"There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and
upon the earth distress of nations." Luke 21:25; Matthew 24:29; Mark
13:24-26; Revelation 6:12-17. Those who behold these harbingers of His coming
are to "know that it is near, even
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at the doors." Matthew 24:33. "Watch ye
therefore," are His words of admonition. Mark 13:35. They that heed the
warning shall not be left in darkness, that that day should overtake them
unawares. But to them that will not watch, "the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." 1 Thessalonians 5:2-5.
The
world is no more ready to credit the message for this time than were the Jews
to receive the Saviour's warning concerning Jerusalem. Come when it may, the day
of God will come unawares to the ungodly. When life is going on in its
unvarying round; when men are absorbed in pleasure, in business, in traffic, in
money-making; when religious leaders are magnifying the world's progress and
enlightenment, and the people are lulled in a false security--then, as the
midnight thief steals within the unguarded dwelling, so shall sudden
destruction come upon the careless and ungodly, "and they shall not
escape." Verse 3.
End
of Chapter