Matthew the apostle wrote how Jesus told the “scribes and Pharisees”, “fill you up then the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall you scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation”, and in chapter twenty-three and verse thirty-seven of his book Matthew shared how Jesus cried out, “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem” where we read:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that killed the prophets, and stoned them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!
The verse reads, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that killed the prophets, and stoned them which are sent unto you, ...” Matthew began with the words, “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem” which means “set you at double peace” and is “the capital of Palestine” “you that killed” or “the person's within the city of Jerusalem who destroy, allow to perish and inflict mortal death upon” “the prophets” which means “the ones who were moved by the Spirit of God and hence his organ or spokesman and solemnly declare to men what they have received by inspiration especially concerning future events and in particular such as relate to the cause and kingdom of God and to human salvation”, “and stoned” or “killed by stoning and pelting with stones” “them which are sent to you” which means “the prophets who were discharged, dismissed and appointed to the people in Jerusalem”. Matthew shared how Jesus referred to the way people in the “city of Jerusalem” “murdered and stoned” the “prophets” sent from God.
The verse goes on to say, “... how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!” Matthew continued with the words, “how often” which means “how many times” “would I have gathered” or “would Jesus have assembled and collected” “your children together” which refers to “the offspring and progeny of Jerusalem into the same place”, “even as” or “in the like and same manner as” “a hen” which means “a domestic fowl or bird” “gathers” or “assembles and collects” “her chickens” which refers to “the hen's birdlings or brood of birds” “under her wings” or “beneath or underneath the hen's wings”, “and you would not” which means “and the people of Jerusalem did not have in mind, intend, resolve, determine or purpose to be gathered unto God”! Matthew shared how Jesus said He desired to “gather” the “children of Jerusalem” to Himself like a “chicken does her brood”, but they refused.
When we meditate upon Matthew's words in this verse, we discover the passion and desire that was within Jesus to have people “come unto Him”. The name Jerusalem was used twice by Jesus for emphasis, and He shared how they were given opportunity after opportunity to receive His “good news”. However, they rejected Him. People many times are this way as well, and though God has given them chance after chance to receive His Son Jesus as their personal “Savior and Lord”, they reject Him and desire to live their own way. Lest they be like “Jerusalem” who refused to be “gathered” under Jesus' wings, let all who read these words submit themselves to Jesus Christ and receive a relationship with the “everlasting” God.
Next time Matthew writes how Jesus tells Jerusalem, “your house is left unto you desolate.”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
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Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms
Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County"
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