grad ESUS visited the beautiful Jew-
ish temple for the last time. At its entrance
was the altar of burnt offering where many
innocent creatures had been sacrificed,
typifying the coming of Him who was the
promised ‘‘Lamb slain from the founda-
tion of the world.” Revelation 13: 8; John
1:29. The Jews rejected Him. ‘He came
unto His own, and His own received Him
not.” John 1:11. He had preached His
last public sermon, in which He denounced
the Jewish leaders, exposed their characters
and hypocrisy with withering plainness of
speech, and pronounced in language of
awful severity the judgments of God
against them for their faithlessness to their
trust, which was bringing ruin upon their
nation and city. He closed His discourse
with a heart-breaking lamentation over
Jerusalem, as He bade it a solemn farewell:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
killest the prophets, and stonest them
which are sent unto thee, how often would
I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not! Behold,
your house is left unto you desolate.”
Matthew 23: 37, 38.
A few days before this, Jesus had made
His triumphal entry into Jerusalem sitting
upon an ass’s colt, which had long been
the Jewish custom of royal entry. This
procession started at Bethany, and as it
reached the brow of Olivet, Jesus halted.
Before Him lay Jerusalem in her glory—
“beautiful for situation, the joy of the
whole earth.” Psalm 48:2. The city was
bathed in the golden light of the setting
sun. The temple, in stately grandeur with
its walls of pure white marble and its gold-
capped pillars, was the cynosure of all eyes.
Jesus gazed meditatively upon the scene
laid out before them. The disciples turned
their eyes upon Him, expecting to witness
upon His face a look of satisfaction and
admiration, but were surprised and disap-
pointed to see a look of sorrow, to see His
eyes fill with tears, and His body rock like
a strong tree in a tempest. In a burst of
anguish and with quivering lips, they
heard Him lament over Jerusalem, saying,
“If thou hadst known, even thou, at least
in this thy day, the things which belong
unto thy peace!”
He was about to recount the many
blessings promised through the prophets,
which might have been theirs to enjoy,—
Thy enemies shall ‘‘come out against thee
one way, and flee before thee seven ways”
Page FOUR
THE GALILEAN
PROPHET
By Jesse C. Stevens
¥ “Before Him lay
Jerusalem in her glory
—‘beautiful for sttua-
tion, the joy of the whole
earth.”
AY ZL
srs NWN
(Deuteronomy 28:7);
“Whosoever shall
gather together
against thee shall
fall” (Isaiah 54:15);
“No weapon that is
formed against thee
shall prosper” (Isaiah
54:17); “The Gen-
tiles shall come to thy
light, and kings to the
brightness of thy ris-
ing. . Thy gates
shall be open continu-
ally; they shall not be
shut day nor night”
(Isaiah 60: 3, 11);
“Violence shall no
more be heard in
thy land, . but thou shalt call thy
walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise”
(Isaiah 60: 18); “I will extend peace
to her like a river. . As one whom
his mother comforteth, so will 1 com-
fort you; and ye shall be comforted in
Jerusalem” (Isaiah 66:12, 13); “Thine
eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation,
a tabernacle that shall not be taken down”
(Isaiah 33: 20); “Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her war-
fare 1s accomplished” (Isaiah 40: 2); “And
give Him no rest, . till He make Jeru-
salem a praise in the earth” (Isaiah 62:7);
“Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing,
and her people a joy. And I will rejoice
in Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and
the voice of weeping shall be no more
heard in her, nor the voice of crying”
(Isaiah 65:18, 19).
These and many more He was about to
recount, but He stopped, and exclaimed,
“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.
“How often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathereth
The
her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not!” Matthew 23:37. What a beautiful
figure of God's tender care of His children!
I can remember that, when I was a boy,
my mother had a good-sized poultry yard.
I used to watch with delight the little fluffy
chicks a few days after their hatching fol-
low the mother hen about as she taught
them how to scratch for food. A chicken
hawk would fly overhead. The mother
hen would in her own language inform her
children that danger was near and they
should come under her wings for protec-
tion. They would spread their unfeath-
ered wings and speed to mother whose
wings were outspread to receive them.
When they were all securely under her
wings, she would cover them all safely till
the danger was past.
“Behold, your house is left unto you
desolate,” said Jesus to the Jews. These
words were spoken in the hearing, not only
of the disciples present, but also of the
multitude. Upon leaving the temple the
disciples pointed to the stones of the
temple, some of which were of fabulous
size—forty-eight feet long, eighteen feet
wide, and twelve feet thick, Josephus, the
Jewish historian, tells us—as if to say,
‘“Master, your pronouncement is almost
incredible.” But He replied, ‘See ye not
all these things? Verily I say unto you,
There shall not be left here one stone upon
(Continued on page 12)
WATCHMAN MAGAZINE