Restored
What if you believed your city or country was going to be destroyed and you couldn't do anything to stop it?
As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’ Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, ‘It is written, “My house shall be a house of prayer”; but you have made it a den of robbers.’ Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard. - Luke 19:41-48
Jesus couldn't resist going to Jerusalem. It was always on his mind.
He blamed Jerusalem for killing the prophets, and he knew he would meet the same fate, and yet, he went.
So, imagine what Jerusalem would be like today if the people had recognized that Jesus was a visitation from God. According to Jesus, it would not have been destroyed, and the people would not have been scattered.
The Temple would be still standing. It would not need to be rebuilt if the people, like those in Nineveh in the Book of Jonah, would have repented and turned to God.
So, what is the message for us today?
Perhaps if we pay attention to the Word of God, we will save not only ourselves, but our cities and countries. Bloodshed would end and peace would reign.
But we are a stubborn lot, thinking that we know better. I am right and you are wrong.
It is in our nature, isn't it?
But if we couldn't turn around, why would God send his son to ask us to do just that?
Maybe we can overcome what we believe is natural, and change the world after all.
More to come...