Jesus’ Lament Over Jerusalem
While the people were cheering, and the religious leaders were plotting, Jesus was grieving, “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city, and He wept over it (Lk 19:41).” It was Palm Sunday, Jesus’ triumphal entry.
The city of God’s peace had no peace with God. Jesus lamented, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace (Lk 19:42)!” Even you! Jesus noted the irony. If any city on earth should have known God, it was this one. He was arriving with the fulfillment of royal prophecy, but “you did not recognize the time of your visitation (Lk 19:44).”
Jesus’ ominous words of lament for the city of Zion, the city of God’s peace, remain ominous, today, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 39 For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! (Mt 23:37–39).’”
Jerusalem was the holy city of God’s people Israel. It was central to the program of Yahweh, and yet, it was disobedient. The Passover week, Jesus’ passion week, exposed the reality of the church, Old Testament Israel, being disobedient. In the Old Testament, disobedience invited a curse, “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!”
In A.D. 70, the Roman general Titus arrived in Jerusalem. He fulfilled Jesus’ Psalm Sunday prophecy, “43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another (Lk 19:43–44).”
Palm Sunday is a paradox. The people cheered. The elders jeered. Jesus wept. The apostle Paul would later clarify, “Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children (Gal 4:25).” By not receiving Jesus Messiah, the anointed Son of God, sent from God, Jerusalem was to be punished for breaking the Law of Moses and the Law of God. It was a city enslaved by sin.
The destruction of Sodom was because of sin. The destruction of Jerusalem was because of sin. Jesus had already pronounced a woeful curse upon Bethsaida and Chorazin, promising them it would be better for Sodom on the day of judgment than for them. Why? Jesus had come into these cities on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee and performed miracle after miracle, but they did not receive Him. God had reduced Sodom and Gomorrah to ash, as an exemplary warning to every city that would indulge in gross immorality (2 Pet 2:6; Jude 1:7).
What does Sodom have to do with Jerusalem? “When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified (Rev 11:8).”
The two witnesses of the Apocalypse preach on the streets of Jerusalem before Jesus’ second coming. Jerusalem, the great city, Jerusalem, mystically called Sodom and Egypt, Jerusalem, the city where also the Lord Jesus was crucified. Jerusalem is a city that has never changed. It still kills the prophets, even after it killed its Messiah.
What is the name of your city? Are you any different than the people of Sodom, Babylon, Bethsaida, Chorazin, or Jerusalem? Today, you live in a city appointed for destruction. You and your children live at the foot of Mount Sinai. You are under the Law, exposed as slaves of sin. Who will warn you? Noah warned his neighbors. Lot warned his neighbors. Isaiah warned his neighbors. Jeremiah warned his neighbors. Jesus warned his neighbors. Are you weeping for your neighbors? Or should we be weeping for you?
The apostle Paul found hope in the words the prophet living in the shadow of the city of destruction, “And just as Isaiah foretold, “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, We would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah (Rom 9:29).” The prophet travels to your city, and his message is two-fold: warning and hope. He is received like Jesus at Jerusalem. The ignorant cheer. The ignorant jeer. The posterity persevere.
God is saving a remnant of people in a world of destruction. This is the Christian message. We must enter our cities, look at them, and weep for them. Destruction is appointed. Who will sound the trumpet? Who will serve as the watchman on the wall? Who will preach with solemn earnestness?
The children in our church used to parade into the sanctuary with palm branches. Why did you change that? We used to sing this hymn every Palm Sunday. Why did you change that? We used to have a fellowship meal on Palm Sunday. Why did you change that? O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, are you missing the day of your visitation?
What does a prophet say to the cities destined for destruction? “Come out of her my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive her plagues (Rev 18:4).” Jesus came to Jerusalem, and they killed him. He would have gathered the people, like a hen gathers her chicks to protect them, but the people of Jerusalem were not willing. What about you?
If you are even reading these words, Jesus has come to you. You must heed His warning. You must get on the ark with Noah. You must leave the city with Lot. Do not look back! You must head to Jerusalem, not the Jerusalem below, but the New Jerusalem which is above (Gal 4:26). She is free, and it was for freedom that Jesus came to set you free from your doomed Jerusalem (Gal 5:1). The city of man has no future. The storm clouds are forming. Now is the time to flee. There is hope in the One who has come to deliver you from the wrath to come (1 Thess 1:10). There is hope in the company of the renascent remnant.
The lament, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” has become a spirited anticipation, as one travels through the dark winding valley in the night. Suddenly, around the corner of despair, there is a city set on a hill. It is a city of refuge, a city of hope. It cannot be hidden, but your travel guide must assure you, “This is the city He has prepared for you.” This is the city of God. You are welcome here. Press on toward the city. Do not deviate from the way. There is more light ahead. Draw near.
Friend, the message of Palm Sunday is a simple message, “You must receive Jesus the King of kings.” For, “as many as received Him, He gave them the right to be called, ‘the children of God,’ even to those who believe in His name (Jn 1:12).’” You must trust the One who has come to gather you to Himself. The remnant was appointed to believe in Jesus (Acts 13:48). If you are one of His sheep, you must come out of your Egypt, your Sodom, your Jerusalem, your city of sin, and come to Him outside the camp. There is hill on the way to Zion, called, “Calvary.” It is the where the Cross of Christ is located. It is where Jesus died to pave the way for you to draw near to the heavenly city. You must stop at Calvary before you reach Zion.
You must recognize the perfect man pinned to the tree. It is Jesus Christ. He is there…in your place of punishment. He is there in your stead, suffering your curse. This judgment was your judgment. God has poured out His wrath on Jesus, and He has turned His wrath away from you. Your sins are forgiven if you come to Him. All who gather have their sins washed away in the river of His precious blood. His blood is an atoning sacrifice. It is the blood of a new covenant. Every man must be sprinkled with the blood of another, or he must pay for his sins with his own blood.
Jesus came to earthly Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, but the festival was short-lived. Jesus is coming to heavenly Jerusalem, the eternal city. Will you enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise? You must leave one Jerusalem in order to enter the other Jerusalem. Are you confused? One city is below, earthy, and one city is above, heavenly. If you stay in Jerusalem below, you will be destroyed. There is a company of sojourners traveling from the city below to the city above. You will recognize them by their psalms of ascent (Psalms 120–134). Jesus is bringing many sons to glory. Are you with us on Palm Sunday? If you are, you will recognize our song of joy (Ps 126) on this celebrated day, of following in His triumph (2 Cor 2:14):
When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter And our tongue with joyful shouting; Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” 3 The Lord has done great things for us; We are glad.
4 Restore our captivity, O Lord, As the streams in the South. 5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. 6 He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him (Psalm 126:1–6).
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
March 19, 2021
