#DailyDevotion The Mind Of God Is Far Above Our Own
Luke 19:41-48 41When He came near and saw the city, He wept over it 42and said, “If today you only knew — yes, you — the way to peace! But now it’s hidden so that you can’t see it. 43The time will come for you when your enemies will put up ramparts against you and surround you and press against you from every side. 44Theyll dash you and your children to the ground and not leave one stone on another in you, because you didn’t know the time your help came to you.” 45Jesus went into the temple and proceeded to drive out the men who were selling things there. 46He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house should be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.” 47Every day He was teaching in the temple. The ruling priests, the Bible scholars, and the leaders of the people were trying to kill Him, 48but they couldn’t find a way to do it, because the people were all eager to hear Him.
It’s one of the more perplexing things with the God of the Bible who is the only one, true, living God. On the one hand we harden ourselves against him. On the other hand, he then hardens our hearts to accomplish his good will. We saw this with Pharaoh in Exodus where he first hardened his heart against Moses and the LORD and then the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart to display his glory and free his people. So too, now to deliver the world and save his people people from sin and death, our LORD uses the wickedness and hardness of heart of his people the Jews to reject and kill him as the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world. Yet, this is not the way he wanted it. Jesus wept over them because of it.
Jesus is the way to peace. It was hidden from the Jews so they couldn’t see it. He was the help that came to them, but they rejected it. Faith in Jesus is the way to peace with God. It doesn’t make sense to the human mind how God could do this or allow this. We often want to use the excuse of our free will, but that is a pagan concept not a Christian one—though Christians have often exercised their minds to it. Because they rejected the way to peace and could not see it they would be destroyed by the Romans. To be fair, on Pentecost God poured out his Holy Spirit upon all flesh so faith in Christ could be had through the preaching of Christ. After the resurrection of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit many, and one historian postulates, most of the Jews throughout the empire converted to faith in Christ. Unfortunately, many also, particularly in Jerusalem and Judea did not. The sacrifice completed in Christ, the preaching of the atonement in Christ and the resurrection in him for forty years, the sacrifices of the Temple would no longer be needed. Those who rejected him and did not come to faith in Christ would be destroyed with Jerusalem and the Temple. Of course some of them would survive and would be taken into slavery by the Romans.
The Temple which the LORD built was to a house of prayer but the priests had turned into a den of robbers, much like their ancestors in Jeremiahs day. Jesus had driven them out at that time. It would push the religious leaders to want to kill him. It was necessary for them to kill him to make atonement for their sins and the sin of the world. His teaching in the temple condemned them because they didn’t believe him then. The proclamation of his resurrection through the apostles would confirm them in their condemnation because they rejected the message of the Holy Spirit through them. Where are you on this? Are you going to harden your hearts because you cannot understand? Are you going to confess your sins and believe the good news Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose for your justification?
Heavenly Father, grant us your Holy Spirit so we may not harden our hearts against Christ Jesus but repent and believe the good news. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.