Jerusalem is a Desolate House
JERUSALEM IS A DESOLATE HOUSE
This article may be read online at the following link: Jerusalem is a Desolate House
The King, the Wedding Feast and the Citizens Matthew 22:1-14 records a Kingdom of Heaven (God) parable told by Jesus. A king (God the Father) was giving a wedding feast for His Son (Jesus). Those initially invited to attend (the Judeans) refused. In addition they mistreated and killed the messengers (prophets). The reaction of the King as found in Matthew 22:7 is one of fury and destruction.
Matthew 22:7 NET The king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death and set their city on fire.
The King sent His soldiers (Roman Military) and they set the city on fire (Jerusalem) and killed many of the murderers (Pharisees, Sadducees, experts of the law, and others).
Other messengers were sent into the streets (the nations) to invite others to the wedding feast. Some attending were not properly dressed in garments of salvation and they were cast out. The moral of the story can be found in Matthew 22:14: “For many are called but few are chosen.” This involves the first resurrection and the harpazo (catching away / rapture). They will be the judges ruling with Christ during the Millennium. The remainder will await the 2nd resurrection called the great White Throne Judgment.
Matthew 23 contains a series of “woes” given by Jesus to the Pharisees and the experts in the law residing in Jerusalem. Jesus indicates, due to their knowledge concerning the death of prophets, they have the distinction of being the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Knowing He would soon be crucified by this group of legal experts and Pharisees, Jesus states, “Fill up then the measure of your ancestors”.
All of Jerusalem at that time and todays current generation would be held liable for “all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah – Matthew 23:35”. Jesus ends his discourse against the Pharisees and legal experts with the words recorded in verses 39 and 39, “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate”
Matthew 23:38-39 NET Look, your house is left to you desolate! (39) For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!‘ “
Verse 39, “For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!‘ ” may be saying they will not be included in the first resurrection but will have to wait for the second resurrection at the White Throne judgment occurring at the end of the Millennium.
Jeremiah’s Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem The desolation of Jerusalem first occurred when the city was destroyed by Babylon in 586 B.C. It was again desolated in 70 AD by the Roman military. The third major desolation has yet to take place but it may be occurring soon. This third desolation has been made known by Jeremiah who prophesied that the city would be destroyed so completely that it would not be repaired or rebuilt again.
The 18th and 19th chapters of Jeremiah contain a prophecy concerning the nation of Israel which was conquered and the inhabitants dispersed by Assyria around 640 BC. The next section of the prophecy concerns the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem.
For the nation of Israel, in chapter 18, Jeremiah is told to go to the potter’s house and watch the potter shape wet clay into any form he desired. Because Israel is still malleable as wet clay (and open to the Gospel) God would shape Israel in their dispersion among the nations as a potter shapes wet clay.
Jeremiah 18:6 NET “I, the LORD, say: ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay? In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’
However, for the nation of Judah, Jeremiah was told to buy a previously made clay jar from the potter. With several of the leaders of Jerusalem present to watch, Jeremiah was to take the jar and smash it to pieces in the valley of Ben-hinnom (Gehenna). This clay jar would represent the nation of Judah and Jerusalem. The pieces would not be put back together.
Jeremiah 19:11 NET Tell them the LORD who rules over all says, ‘I will do just as Jeremiah has done. I will smash this nation and this city as though it were a potter’s vessel which is broken beyond repair. The dead will be buried here in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.’
Hagar and Sarai The current city of Jerusalem will not be spared at the last minute, as so many exegetes and Bible teachers have claimed. Its destruction has been prophesied and proclaimed by God, even prior to the rebuilt city and temple by the Babylonian returnees. Paul states in Galatians chapter 4 that Jerusalem is the slave woman named Hagar and she represents Mt. Sinai and the Old Covenant. Only the New Jerusalem from God represents Sarai and the New Covenant.
Galatians 4:24-25 NET These things may be treated as an allegory, for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar. (25) Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
Verse 30 further proclaims that Hagar (Jerusalem) and her children (Jews / and currently self-proclaimed Jews) will be thrown out and will not share the inheritance with the Son (Jesus Christ) and the New Covenant which will be the New Jerusalem.
Galatians 4:26 NET But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
It has been said the return of Christ (2nd Coming) will occur somewhere around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. When He returns, everyone will see Him.
Revelation 1:7 LITV-TSP (7) “Behold, He comes with the clouds,” and “every eye will see Him, and the ones who pierced” Him, and all the tribes of the earth “will wail on account of Him.” Yes, Amen. Dan. 7:13; Zech. 12:10
Everyone on the planet will mourn (wail / be sad / beat their breasts / be grieving / have bitter sorrow) at various levels of intensity. The Jews may be the biggest mourners because: they will finally realize at being duped and lied to by their religious leaders and historians; they will understand the Kingdom of God has been lost to them and that it was never in their power to gain; their desire to rule the world will be forever gone. The ones reigning with Christ will be the first fruits (also called the overcomers, and the remnant of grace). They will be reigning over the survivors of the wrath of God.
Repentance at the return of Christ will not change the previous verdicts that Jesus rendered just before He was crucified. It will not change Jeremiah’s prophecy of the utter destruction of Jerusalem. Instead, repentance will give Jews (and all other people) the opportunity to become citizens of the New Jerusalem, whereby they may be blessed along with all of its citizens.
