March 2007

August 15, 1878 Proffered Mercy

The tears of Christ on the mount of Olivet, when he was being escorted with triumph and hosannas into Jerusalem just prior to his crucifixion were wrung from a broken heart because his love was spurned, and his mercy despised. He saw just before him, in his coming crucifixion, the consummation of the guilt of Jerusalem. Before him was the sheep gate through which for centuries the victims for sacrifice had been conducted. It was soon to open for the great Antitype, who should be taken by wicked hands and slain for the sins of the world. It rent the heart of Christ to pronounce the doom of the city of his love. His body swayed like a cedar before the tempest. He then uttered in a voice broken by grief, “Oh that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace.” He hesitated, must the irrevocable sentence be pronounced. “But now they are hid from thine eyes.”