The Savior Has Intense Sorrow When We Reject His Love

Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White

The Savior Has Intense Sorrow When We Reject His Love

Today's Text: He came unto his own, and his own received him not. John 1:11

The Message:      Before them [the crowd with Jesus at His triumphal entry] lies the city of Jerusalem, with the temple of pure white marble, which is gilded with glory by the rays of the setting sun. It is a picture of unsurpassed loveliness, and well might the people apply to her the words of the prophet, "A crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." At the entrancing sight, the throng joins with renewed fervor in their shouts of praise.... They suppose that Christ is now to take the throne of David and reign as a temporal prince. Their eyes turn to Him to see how He is impressed by the scene. But lo, the Son of man is in tears!      As Christ's eyes rest upon the temple, so soon to be desolated and its veil rent when the final act of the Jews would consummate His death, He wept over the disobedient city.... In a few short hours the world's Redeemer would be taken by wicked hands and crucified. Not the Roman nation, not the Gentiles, but the people for whom He had done so much, and from whom He had hoped for so much, were to be His murderers....      The grace that bringeth salvation would no longer be heard in the city. This was the cause of the Saviour's intense sorrow.... The tender tears He shed over Jerusalem were the last tears of rejected love.... The glad throng could not understand the cause of the Saviour's sorrow. They did not know that the iniquities of Israel were bringing her final calamities upon her. But a mysterious awe falls upon the procession, and calms in a degree its enthusiasm.... A large number in that throng bear in their own bodies the evidence that divine power is among them, and each has a story to tell of the merciful works of Christ. The relation of those wonderful works increases the fervor of their feelings until it reaches an intensity that is indescribable. Disciples and people join in the songs of praise.      Then came the priests and rulers to Him, requesting Him to silence these acclamations of praise. "Master, rebuke thy disciples," they say. Christ answered them, "If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out."      Christ had come to earth to reveal the principles of the kingdom of heaven. His character as Saviour and Life-giver had been demonstrated only a short time before at the grave of Lazarus, but in their pride the Jews rejected the One who was mighty and having salvation. How different would have been Christ's attitude had the priests and rulers been true to the trust reposed in them.-Manuscript 128, 1899.

Commentary: My friend, it was with great sorrow that Jesus looked upon the city of Jerusalem as He was about to enter the city for the last time before His crucifixion.  His eyes did not look upon the present beauty, but upon the desolation that was to come as the nation, whom He had sacrificed all to save, rejected the One whom they professed to be waiting for.  Satan had so perverted the minds of the Jews that when their Savior had come, whom the prophets of old had foretold, they would reject and crucify Him. As in the time of Christ, so too is it today.  The remnant church of God has been given great light as to the prophecies of the last days, but as Satan had darkened the minds of the Scribes and Pharisees in the time of Christ, so too has he darkened the minds of the leaders of the remnant church today.  By the churches adoption of false doctrines, he has supplanted the worship of the One true God with the triune god of the trinity.  By accepting the trinity as God, the church has rejected the One true God and His Son Jesus Christ in the same way that the Jews rejected Christ. The warning to the church today is found in the message to the Church of Laodicea, given to them by the Faithful and True Witness saying "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" (Revelation 3:15-17).  Their condition before God is sickening to Him.  They believe that they are righteous and holy, but they are blind to their true condition before God. Their belief in the trinity gives them a false sense of righteousness for it has the outward appearance of godliness, but in reality does not transform them.  The trinity is a man-made doctrine and as such cannot transform the heart.  Of this Jesus said "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matthew 15:9).  The remedy for their condition is to "...buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." (Revelation 3:18).  They need to be awakened to their true condition before God that they may see the shame of their nakedness.  They believe that they have the righteousness of Christ but they do not. My friend, the message to the church today is not an easy one to give.  In the time of Christ, John the Baptist said "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 3:2).  This message was offensive to the Jews because they believed that they were saved because they were of the line of Abraham.  This is the same message that must be given to the people of God today, and is equally offensive, but it must be given.  They must repent for they have forsaken the One true God for the false god of the trinity, and unless they repent they will be spewed out of the mouth of Christ.  Of these Jesus would say with great sorrow "Verily I say unto you, I know you not." (Matthew 25:12). May each of us examine our hearts and heed the message given in love from the Faithful and True Witness to us today. God bless,

Video of the Week Laodicea or Philadelphia - by Bill Cave Bill Cave presents a message of how the Seventh-day Adventist church became Laodicea from Philadelphia and that we need to go back to the church of Philadelphia.