Does Jesus weep over you?

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you! How often I have wanted to gather your people just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.  But you didn’t want that.

 Look, your house is abandoned. I tell you, you won’t see me until the time comes when you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord’s name.”                    Luke 13:34-35 CEB

Jesus warned of Jerusalem’s coming destruction under the hand of the Roman armies because the people did not recognize the time of their visitation and believe on the name of the only-begotten Son of God and their Savior.  (cf. Luke 19:41ff; 23:27ff.)

Did Jesus desire Jerusalem’s fall?  No. He wept over Jerusalem.

He had compassion for its people, and He desired that all repent of their evil ways and turn unto Him for mercy and forgiveness.  But because they would not repent and turn to Him, judgment was coming – and it did come in 70 A.D. when the Roman armies laid siege to the city, broke down its walls and burned the city, killing and taking captive some of the city’s inhabitants.

In Ezekiel 33:11 God said: “…..‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’”

These words, as well as the words of Jesus, also have application to you and to me. Jesus first and foremost desires that we repent of our evil ways and turn unto Him for forgiveness and life everlasting.  He seeks to gather us to Himself as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.

God gives us warning signs to let us know when we are heading in the wrong direction.  He does not keep those warning signs secret or subtle or hidden.  He makes them bold and plain and urgent.

Throughout history, God continually gave His chosen people urgent warnings.  In this passage, Jesus looks out over the city of Jerusalem and as He does, He weeps.

He weeps as He laments the fact that those people failed to heed God’s warnings. They failed to heed His warnings because they refused to recognize Jesus as their Messiah.

 But did you know that God still gives us warnings today?  His warnings did not end with the Jewish people that Jesus was weeping over. He continues to urgently warn us today.

Do we cause Jesus to weep over us like He did over Jerusalem?

Does He weep over us because we fail to heed His urgent warnings?  I truly desire that all of us hear His warnings and realize the urgency of our situation.  I want us to quit putting off till tomorrow what He calls us to do today.  Because there might not be a tomorrow!

 That’s how urgent His warnings are.