THE sun is setting over the ancient city, Jerusalem. The shadows are lengthening as a little group of travelers wend their way over the Mount Olivet. Descending the slope of the hill, within sight of the city, a hast is made. The Leader of the little band, Jesus of Nazareth, stays, and, resting upon one of the boulders, He looks across the valley. There is the city which had so long been God’s center upon earth, and there is the temple, with the smoke of the evening sacrifice now rising from the altar, reminding Him of the supreme sacrifice He was so soon to offer—even Himself.
The followers draw aside and watch Him, for they realize He is deep in thought. A look of inexpressible sadness and longing comes over His face and large tears roll down His cheeks. A solemn hush falls upon the company, and each one feels as though it had been said to him, “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”
Jesus, the eternal Son of God, the despised Messiah of Israel, is weeping. Not on account of His own rejection by His people are those tears falling, but because of the awful picture that rises before His soul at this moment. He foresees—for He is divine—that very city in a few short years besieged, captured, and laid even with the ground. He knows that a fearful disaster must, as the inevitable consequence of His rejection, overtake that nation, and those who at the moment are plotting His capture and death will reap the dire consequences of their folly.
A deep sigh escapes Him, and His lips move. Not to those around does He speak, but to that city He says, “IF THOU HADST KNOWN, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace—” He pauses. That sentence can never be finished. Who can say what joy would have been theirs had they known Him, or who could express the delight it would have been to His heart had they received Him? Fresh tears fall from His eyes as He slowly adds the solemn utterance— “But NOW they are hid from thine eyes” (Luke 19:41, 4241And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. (Luke 19:41‑42)).
It is late in the afternoon on a Lord’s Day. On the banks of a river in the West of England lies the lifeless form of a young girl. As she entered the boat that afternoon, full of youthful vigor, she little thought that soon she would be in eternity. She had been anxious about her soul but had never decided for Christ, and on this occasion had chosen a boating excursion in preference to a gospel meeting. Who can say whether in those moments of struggling, her heart trusted Christ, the only Saviour; whether with her last breath she called upon the name of the Lord? We know not; but, as we think of that one in death’s cold grip, tears fall from our eyes, and irresistibly the solemn words fall from our lips, “If thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace.”
My unconverted reader, it is possible that in a few hours someone may be looking into your coffin—may have to see your now fair form stretched in death. Think! if you die as you are now, heedless and careless as to your soul of priceless value; if you still refuse and slight Jesus the Lord, it would be concerning you that those heart-breaking words would be uttered, “IF THOU HADST KNOWN, even THOU, the things that belong unto thy peace! BUT NOW THEY ARE HID FROM THINE EYES.”
It is a few moments after the Lord’s coming for His people has taken place. The whole redeemed company have gone to be with Him, but there is a vast multitude left behind, desperately anxious about their eternal welfare. At last, though alas! too late, they have awakened to the fact that eternity is a reality. They fully intended to be saved; they had heard the gospel preached and were conversant with its terms; they knew Christians were right, but they had never accepted Christ for themselves. There is a fearful dread in their heart as they now eagerly grasp the first Bible they can find with a faint hope that perchance there is still some means of salvation. The book opens at the Gospel of Luke, and one reads aloud until, with a look of horror, it is thrown down as the reader despairingly repeats the words, which have struck him with awful personal application, “If thou hadst known, even thou, the things that belong unto thy peace! BUT NOW THEY ARE HID FROM THINE EYES.”
This picture is not a stretch of imagination, for the Lord Jesus Himself, when here on earth, said of that moment when God’s day of grace is over, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord! Lord! have we not prophesied in thy name?... Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you! depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
One word more. Through the long-suffering of God it cannot yet be said of you that “now they are hid from thine eyes.” It was true of Jerusalem; it may have been true of that young life suddenly cut off; it certainly will be true of those who are left for judgment when the Lord comes: but you are still within reach of the things that belong to thy peace. “What things?” you ask. REPENTANCE towards God and FAITH towards our Lord Jesus Christ. The FORGIVENESS of your Bins and JUSTIFICATION before God. These are the things that belong to thy peace. To know Jesus, the living Saviour at God’s right hand, is to enjoy peace; for He “was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification, therefore being justified by faith WE HAVE PEACE with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Acquaint Now thyself with him and be at peace, thereby good shall come to thee.”
F. S. M—H.