Blessed is He that Comes - Matthew 23:39

Matthew the apostle wrote how Jesus cried out, “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! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate”, and in chapter twenty-three and verse thirty-nine of his book, Matthew shared how Jesus said the people of Jerusalem would not see Him until they cried out, “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord” where we read:

For I say unto you, You shall not see me henceforth,

till you shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.

The verse reads, “For I say unto you, You shall not see me henceforth, ...” Matthew began with the word, “for” which means “indeed, even as, because, since and on account of that” “I say” or “Jesus utters, declares and proclaims” “unto you” or “to the people in the city of Jerusalem”, “you shall not see me” or “the people in Jerusalem would not perceive, notice, discern and discover Jesus” “henceforth” which means “from this present time”. Matthew shared how Jesus said the people in Jerusalem would not “see” Him from that present time.

The verse goes on to say, “... till you shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.”. Matthew continued with the words, “till you shall say” which means “until the people of Jerusalem would cry out, utter, declare and proclaim”, “blessed” or “consecrated, celebrated with praises and favored” “is he” which refers to “Jesus Himself” “that comes” or “who appears, arises and shows himself” “in the name” which means “within everything which the name covers including the thought or feeling of which is aroused in the mind by mentioning, hearing and remembering” “of the Lord” or “belonging to he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding, master and the title given to God the Messiah”. Matthew shared how Jesus gave a point of time when the people of Jerusalem would see Him again, and they would be crying out “blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord”.

When we consider Matthew's words in this verse, we see Jesus limit the people of Jerusalem's exposure to Him. They would not be able to “see” Him again until He came back to the city on the day of His “triumphal” entry which was one week before He was crucified. At that time the people in Jerusalem would cry out to Jesus as being “blessed” of the Lord which recognized Him as the Messiah. Jesus desires to have a relationship with every person, and when they submit their lives to Him as “Savior and Lord”, they not only shall call Him “blessed” but shall receive the promise of “everlasting life” with God.

Next time we begin a new chapter and see Matthew write how Jesus “departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.