For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
For I say unto you - and these were His last words to the impenitent nation: see opening remarks on Mark 13:1-37 --
Ye shall not see me henceforth. What? Does Jesus mean that He was Himself the Lord of the temple, and that it became "deserted" when HE finally left it? It is even so. Now is thy fate sealed, O Jerusalem, because the glory is departed from thee! That glory, once visible in the holy of holies, over the mercy-seat, when on the day of atonement the blood of typical expiation was sprinkled on it and in front of it-called by the Jews the Shechinah, or the Dwelling [Shªkiynaah], as being the visible pavilion of Yahweh-that glory, which Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-13) saw in vision, the beloved disciple says was the glory of Christ (John 12:41). Though it was never visible in the second temple, Haggai foretold that "the glory of that latter house should be greater than of the former" (Matthew 2:9), because "the Lord whom they sought was suddenly to come to His temple" (Malachi 3:1), not in a mere bright cloud, but enshrined in living Humanity! Yet brief as well as "sudden" was the manifestation to be; because the words He was now uttering were HIS VERY LAST within its precincts. Till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: that is, until those "Hosannas to the Son of David" with which the multitude had welcomed Him into the city-instead of "sore displeasing the chief priests and scribes" (Matthew 21:15) - should break forth from the whole nation, as their glad acclaim to their once pierced but now acknowledged Messiah. That such a time will come is clear from Zechariah 12:10; Romans 11:26; 2 Corinthians 3:15-16, etc. In what sense they shall then "see Him," may be gathered from Zechariah 2:10-13; Ezekiel 37:23-28; Ezekiel 39:28-29, etc.
Remarks:
(1) Though the proceedings of church rulers have no intrinsic validity against the truth of God, they have a divine sanction, and as such are to be reverenced, when their sole object is to maintain, unfold, and enforce the word of God (Matthew 23:2-3).
(2) Humility and brotherly love, and that supreme attachment to CHRIST which will beget and strengthen both these, are the glory and stability of the Christian ministry; but when the ministers of religion, seeking the fleece rather than the flock, abandon themselves to pride and self-seeking, they not only reveal their own hypocrisy, but bring their office into contempt. What sad illustrations of this does history furnish! If the Jewish ecclesiastics are faithfully, and not too darkly, depicted in this section, what language would adequately describe their Romish successors, who, with far clearer light, have exceeded them in every detestable feature of their character?
(3) As "evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13), and treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath (Romans 2:5); so over and above the partial retribution which often overtakes them individually, there are outstanding accounts left to be settled with them as a class, which accumulate from time to time-sometimes for ages-and are at length, "in the day of visitation," awfully brought up against them and settled, by an exercise of collective and crashing vengeance (Matthew 23:31-36). This terrific but righteous law of the divine administration has been illustrated at different times on a scale of no little magnitude; but perhaps its most appalling illustration is yet to come (see Daniel 7:9-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12; Revelation 11:15-18; Revelation 17:14; Revelation 18:5-8; Revelation 18:24).
(4) What a combination of withering denunciation and weeping lamentation do we find here-as if the intensity of the Redeemer's holy emotions, in their most vivid contrast, had only found full vent at this last visit to Jerusalem, and in this His last public address to the impenitent nation! And if the verses which conclude this chapter were indeed His last words to them, as it is evident they were (see opening remarks on Mark 13:1-37), how worthy were they of Him, and of the awful occasion, and how pregnant with warning to every such favoured region:
JERUSALEM Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Enthroned once on high, Thou favour'd home of God on earth, thou heaven below the sky! Now brought to bondage with thy sons, a curse and grief to see, Jerusalem! Jerusalem! our tears shall flow for thee. Oh! hadst thou known thy day of grace, and flock'd beneath the wing
Of Him who called thee lovingly, thine own anointed King, Then had the tribes of all the world gone up thy pomp to see, And glory dwelt within thy gates, and all thy sons been free!
"And who art thou that mournset me?" replied the ruin gray, "And who art thou that mournset me?" replied the ruin gray,
"And fear'st not rather that thyself may prove a castaway? I am a dried and abject branch-my place is given to thee; But woe to ev'ry barren graft of thy wild olive tree!
"Our day of grace is sunk in night, our time of mercy spent, For heavy was my children's crime, and strange their punishment; Yet gaze not idly on our fall, but, sinner, warned be, - Who spared not His chosen seed may send His wrath on thee!
"Our day of grace is sunk in night, thy noon is in its prime; Oh, turn and seek thy Saviour's face in this accepted time! So, Gentile, may Jerusalem a lesson prove to thee, And in the New Jerusalem thy home forever be!"
(-HEBER)
(5) Ye that are ready to despair of salvation, when ye think of your obstinate and long-continued rebellion against light and love, truth and grace-yea, bloody persecutors, 'Jerusalem-sinners'-come here, and suffer me to plead with you. Listen once more to the Friend of sinners. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem," says He, "that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thee!" And would He not have gathered them even then, while He was yet speaking? Verily He would, "but they would not." That was all the hindrance: there was none, none at all, in Him. If thou, then, art of their mind, there is indeed no help, no hope, for thee: but if thou only wilt be made whole:
`Jesus ready stands to save thee, Full of pity, love, and power:
He is able, He is willing, ask no more.'
(6) The doctrine of Scripture regarding man's will embraces the following points: First, that whether men are to be saved or lost hinges entirely upon their own will. "Whosoever will х ho (G3588) theloon (G2309)], let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). "I would have gathered you, and ye would not" х ouk (G3756) eetheleesate (G2309)]. This great truth must not be qualified or explained away. Next, the will of man is utterly indisposed and disabled from yielding itself to Christ. "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him" (John 6:44). And hence, finally, when the will is effectually gained, and salvation thus obtained, it is in consequence of a divine operation upon it. "It is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do" of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). Nor is this to be modified or attenuated in the least. The result of all is, that when a soul is undone, it is self-destroyed; but when surrendered to Christ and saved, it is purely of grace (Hosea 13:9).
That self-surrender to Christ which secures its salvation is as purely voluntary as the rejection of Him which is fatal to unbelievers; but never is this done until God "worketh in us to will" it. How this is effected, consistently with the entire freedom of the human will, we shall never know-here below, at least. But it is a pitiful thing for men, who see the same principle of divine operation on the free will of man in the ordinary administration of the world, to pitch the one of these against the other in the matter of salvation: Pelagians and Semi-pelagians, of different name, denying the grace which alone ever gains the consent of man's will to salvation in Christ Jesus; and ultra-Calvinists, denying the entire freedom of that will which in one class rejects Christ and is undone, and in another embraces Him and lives forever. With what awful dignity and responsibility is the human will invested by these words of Christ, "I would have gathered you, but-ye would not;" and by those other words of the same Lips, now glorified and enthroned, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me"! (Revelation 3:20). But when we have opened our willing hearts to this glorious and full-handed Saviour, our resistless language is, "By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10).
(7) What a day will that be when those whom Christ solicited so long in vain "shall look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born!" What acclamations of "Hosanna to the Son of David" will those be that come from the lips of Abraham's seed that once cried, "Crucify Him, crucify Him"! No wonder that the apostle asks, "What the receiving of them be but life from the dead?" (Romans 11:15). The Lord hasten it in its time.