Matthew 23:39, commentary and pictures

Spoken with tears on His final day of teaching in the temple as His farewell lament over Jerusalem, it declares that their house is left desolate and His presence is withdrawn so that they will see Him no more as a merciful Saviour offering life until they recognize Him as sent by God. It is the pouring forth of long-suffering love after years of labor to save a favored people who would not be gathered and sheltered, and it places the guilt for the coming destruction of city and temple upon that generation itself for rejecting the help God sent. Its words point beyond the triumphal entry to His return in power and great glory as King, when those who rejected Him will without further proof acknowledge His divinity and every question of who He is is settled. That final acknowledgment comes too late for salvation, fulfilled most fully after the thousand years when the wicked are raised to behold His majesty and the marks of crucifixion and pronounce blessing upon Him with unwilling lips from hearts still hostile and unchanged. It stands as a warning to every age that when light, mercy and reproof are persistently despised, probation ends and judgment must follow, as it did upon Jerusalem.

Setting and Immediate Sentence

The words close the denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees and the lament over Jerusalem, spoken on the final day of teaching in the temple as the final appeal and the final departure from the temple forever. They bid farewell to the hallowed courts, quitting the temple never to return, and were meant not only for those then listening but for people of every age, language and nation to the close of time. It was the most solemn denunciation ever uttered against Jerusalem.

They were spoken with tears of great sorrow as the pouring forth of the very heart of God in His representative, the separation struggle and mysterious farewell of the long-suffering love of Deity, the expression of abused and rejected love after years of labor to convince to repentance and after every resource had been exhausted. They came after woes pronounced upon blind priests and unbelieving Pharisees whose leaders rejected the messages sent to them. Though loving Jerusalem and longing as a hen gathers her chickens to gather, shelter, protect and save its children, Christ grieved because they would not respond, rejecting in the most terribly momentous period of the highly honored and favored nation His yearning love and the help God sent to save them, bringing certain ruin and the wrath their sins deserved.

Their immediate sentence is that their house is left unto them desolate, Christ's presence is withdrawn, and they will not see Him henceforth until they acknowledge Him as coming in the Lord's name. With God's presence withdrawn the temple would no longer be God's house, its services and ceremonies becoming empty, meaningless and a mockery. Jerusalem's time of probation and mercy ended, and Jesus would no longer be seen among them as a merciful Saviour offering redemption, help and life, though after heavy judgments fall they would long for the Deliverer once among them yet still refuse to see Him as a sin-pardoning Saviour.

Joined to the declaration that the house is left desolate, the words place guilt and responsibility for destruction on that generation itself, bringing upon it all righteous blood from Abel to Zacharias. The chosen nation must receive eternal retribution for refusal of Christ, the Jewish nation as a nation then divorced from God and the natural branches of the olive tree cut off. The sentence accompanies the prediction spoken on leaving the temple that the city would be besieged, laid even with the ground with its children destroyed within it, and the temple completely destroyed with not one stone left upon another by the Roman legions because it knew not the time of its visitation, a prediction the disciples could hardly believe as they looked on the massive stones.

It exposes the guilt that brings this sentence: hypocrisy that worshiped the temple while working with Satan-inspired hatred to destroy in every way the One who made it sacred, murdering the prophets and rejecting and slaying the Son of God so that threatenings of divine wrath hang over Jerusalem. It rebukes spiritual blindness to the relative importance of truth, neglecting the weightier matters of the law of judgment, mercy and faith while attending closely to minor requirements, which must not be neglected. It foretells retribution for obstinate, persistent unbelief despite powerful evidence that He is the Son of God, which will bring terrible retribution.

The lament distressed the disciples but they did not understand its full meaning. They wrongly connected the coming judgment on Jerusalem with the second coming and expected Him to establish a temporal kingdom in Jerusalem and free them from Roman rule.

Fulfillment at Christ's Return

The words reach beyond the triumphal ride into Jerusalem, for that entry foreshadowed the return in the clouds with power and great glory, and they will be fulfilled in final triumph amid the triumph of angels and the rejoicing of the saints. His kingdom was not a temporal rule on earth, for He would soon ascend to the Father, and His accusers and those who rejected Him at His first coming would see Him no more until He returns in glory. Then He comes in power and great glory and divine glory as King of Glory, and without asking for a sign they will with overwhelming power acknowledge Him as sent and coming in the Lord's name. In that hour they will recognize His divinity and honor Him, so that the question of His divinity is settled and every tongue confesses Him as Lord.

That later recognition comes too late for salvation and is not a day of joy to them. After judgment falls they will long for the Deliverer once among them and be ready to bless Him whom they once cursed. The rejected Jews will look upon the One they pierced and mourn bitterly.

The fulfillment comes after the thousand years, when at His return in terrible, fearful majesty and kingly majesty as King of kings and Lord of lords He calls forth the wicked dead in the same feeble, sickly bodies that went into the grave with the marks of the curse visible on all. Among them are those who despised and mocked Him, smote Him with the reed, put the crown of thorns on His brow, spit on Him, drove nails through His hands and feet and thrust the spear into His side. Beholding Him in exceeding glory, looking on the marks of His crucifixion and knowing He is the very One they crucified and derided in His expiring agony, they are overwhelmed and pained by His majesty. They flee to hide in the rocks and shield themselves from His terrible glory, and with one accord in one long protracted wail of agony with terrible distinctness pronounce blessing on Him who comes in the name of the Lord.

Their cry expresses recognition but not a change of heart, for it is forced from unwilling lips by the power of truth and is not inspired by love. They rise with the same enmity and rebellious spirit they had in life and remain hostile and rebellious. Their words bring no new probation, since a further opportunity would not soften their hearts or change their persistent resistance to God.

Warning and Present Application

The closing words belong to the end of the rebuke of those who kill and persecute the prophets, wise men and scribes sent to them, bringing upon that generation the guilt of all righteous blood from Abel to Zacharias. He loved Jerusalem and would often have gathered its children as a hen gathers her chickens, but they would not, so He declared their house left desolate and withdrew Himself from their sight until they should acknowledge Him as coming in the name of the Lord. This shows that He identifies Himself personally with His people, feels their wrongs as done to Himself, registers in heaven the contempt and suffering inflicted on them as done to Him, and will judge every action in the great day on that ground. He wept over the city because it knew not the time of its visitation, and foretold its siege, its being laid even with the ground with its children destroyed within it, with not one stone of the temple left upon another.

His recorded denunciations of the scribes and Pharisees and His warnings against following blind leaders stand as an admonition to future generations concerning the harmful rule of human authority over conscience. Jerusalem had rejected God's warnings and the means of help provided for it, and its time of mercy had ended. Though Jesus wept over the doomed city, He could not deliver it after it rejected the warnings of the Spirit, and its judgment warns people in every age that rejecting the Spirit's reproofs brings condemnation.

He spoke with tears of great sorrow after years of labor to convince to repentance and after pronouncing woes upon blind priests and unbelieving Pharisees, declaring the house desolate and His presence withdrawn until He should be acknowledged as coming in the name of the Lord. He then left the temple and foretold its complete destruction with not one stone left upon another, a prediction the disciples could hardly believe as they looked upon the massive stones. God deals in the same way with impenitent cities, sending messengers with reproof and warning, and when the messengers are despised and abused and patience and forbearance fail to turn hearts to Him, sending judgments as upon Jerusalem and upon San Francisco, which no human power can stand against. The lament reaches beyond Jerusalem to those today who have had great light and have seen wonderful manifestations of His power and goodness and mercy but have not fulfilled God's purpose for them. Those who hear God's voice and cooperate with Him, using their capabilities in His service and walking in all humility of mind before Him, will receive His blessing, but those who forget His instruction and follow their own way are a dishonor to Him, and a time will come when their wrong course with its results and consequences must be met.