09/05/13

Times when Jesus wept

Luke 19:41-44
41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
42 Saying, 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.
43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.


Weeping is the external manifestation of the overwhelming of sadness that is inside. The Bible records 3 times when Jesus wept. Most people do not have an understanding of why Jesus wept and I too was among them until of late when the Lord revealed this to me (I am going in the reverse order).

In the Garden of Gethsemane we find Jesus was most sorrowful. The Bible describes His sorrow and His sweating as blood. It was not that they were thick as blood, for sweat does not thicken; it was to describe the flow of sweat. When a person gets a deep cut we see blood gushes out the same way in the garden the sweat of Jesus gushed out as He was under a shower. He cried and sweat in great grief. It is only when we understand the reason He cried we will understand the way He cried.

Jesus cried because of the cup. He did not cry because He would suffer and was scared, He knew long before of His suffering and spoke of it many a times, for it is written in great depth in scriptures about the suffering He would go through. He cried for one reason and the reason was the cup, it contained the wrath of God it meant that He would be forsaken by His Father since He would take the sins of the people on Him. Jesus could take anything but to be far from His Father was unthinkable for Him that's why He cried with fear and sweating.

The second incident that Jesus cried was when He visited the grave of Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha. People like the Jews there thought Jesus cried because He was very close to Lazarus. If one looks closer at scriptures, Jesus knew of Lazarus' death days back. He told His disciples about it; forget of Jesus being moved emotionally He did not move physically. Jesus was aware He would bring Lazarus to life again that is why He waited for 3 days and reached there only on the fourth day.

The reason He cried was due to what He saw when He reached there. He did not weep for the dead Lazarus but for the people alive, who were spiritually dead. When He came He saw the women crying aloud. These women were not relatives or people who knew Lazarus. They were hired, they were professional weepers. Think of it, at your birthday party would you hire people to clap? It only takes an insane person to do that. But for the dead they thought it good to show mourning and weeping to show people the love they had for the dead so they hired professional mourners.

The second thing that disturbed Him was when Jesus saw the little faith of Mary. Mary thought it was too late for Jesus to bring Lazarus all because she believed in the beliefs of the Egyptians traditional belief of afterlife. The Egyptians though when a person died 3 days the soul would be on earth and would roam the earth and then the soul would cross the river of death. According to their belief if a person was to be brought to life it had to be done in the 3days and after 3 days it would be impossible to bring a person to life. The Egyptians would put 2 coins on the eyes of the body when they embalmed the person these coins were for the boatman who would take the person across the river.

The third thing that the funeral that disturbed Jesus (it was the last straw), was the things that they did to Lazarus. One should know embalming the body was the traditions of Egyptians and the Jews took this as part of their tradition after their stint in Egypt. The Egyptians believed the natural body was part of the life after death therefore preserved it. We as Christians need to note the promise of resurrection in the physical body was given only to Jesus alone (via David) for Jesus alone was without blemish in His natural earthly life. Every one of us resurrect only in spirit and not in our natural body.

Jesus was aware of how this belief had a strong hold on the Jews and therefore waited 3 days before He visited Lazarus. He knew if He bought Lazarus back to life just after his death it would not have had much effect on the people, like all those other dead people He bought to life. That is why even though Jesus said this sickness (death) is not unto death yet he waited. Jesus’ bringing Lazarus back to life after 3 days really shocked the people because it crushed their pagan belief. The caused even the Jew Priest to see an end to everything.

Jesus cried at that time because He saw the faithlessness of the people close to Him. People whom He taught whole heartedly, people He considered close.

The third time Jesus cried was before entering Jerusalem city during His last visit to the city. He spoke of a time when this city would be utterly destroyed by its enemies. He said its enemies would surround it from all sides and consume its people including its children. Again here too people think Jesus cried because of what would happen in 70AD.

In 70AD we did see the Romans surround Jerusalem and utterly destroyed the city not leaving a structure in its place. They killed all the Jews there including the children by hanging them on wooden stakes. It is written by historians that they ran out of wood because of the numbers of people they killed that day. Only those who were aware of the warning given in the Bible climbed the roofs of their houses and jumping from roof to roof escaped to the mountains just in time to be saved.

We need to note Jesus spoke of this when He was addressing a question concerning the last days when the end would come.

We need to understand what happened in 70AD is a shadow of what is yet to come and would happen before the end comes. In the end it is written Satan (the dragon) would be set free from Hell at the end of his thousand years are over. He along with his army would attack all the believers and utterly destroy them. Like during 70AD only those who were aware beforehand and did as instructions were saved so also in that time only those who have the understanding of the warning and prepare beforehand would be saved from this.

Like the people climbed the roof and escaped so also these people would escape. There would be no earthly mountain to which they would escape but to a spiritual mountain to which they would escape. The Bible says they would rapture to escape these terrible times.

The weeping of Jesus gives an idea of what will happen to this Jerusalem with is people of God. And the reason they go through this is because they do abide by the warning given.

Today we see almost every Christian talking of the rapture but sadly they do not know when and why. Many think tomorrow they would rapture and the end would come. They forget until all prophecies are fulfilled the end would not come. They also forget Jesus said until the Gospel is preached to every soul on earth the end would not come.

In India which is a developing country and satisfactorily having a decent communication network, yet we have many villages where people do not know about Jesus leaving aside what He did; I can imagine the state in counties that are under developed.

Today's message reminds us we will suffer if we lack knowledge and understanding of scriptures. Let us not take them likely but study them thoroughly and abide by them.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord Jesus the things that make You very sad is our faithlessness, our lack of importance to study your Word and being far from You due to our sinful nature. You yourself as man wept before You were forsaken by the Father. You cried when You saw the faithlessness of those whom You taught with all your heart. Today it is your Spirit who teaches us, we can imagine how it hurts You when we show lack of faith and immerged in vain traditions of men. Lord, we pray You prepare your people before the end come, such that they abide and be saved...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference ]
Luke 22:41-44
41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
42 Saying, Father, if you be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.
43 And there appeared an angel to him from heaven, strengthening him.
44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Matthew 26:36-39
36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto his disciples, Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray.
37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled.
38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: abide ye here, and watch with me.
39 And he went forward a little, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.

John 11:1-48

Luke 22:17-28
17 And you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
19 In your patience possess you your souls.
20 And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is near.
21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the middle of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
23 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath on this people.
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near.

Matthew 24:15-22
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Daniel 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

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