Five hundred years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Zechariah foretold the coming of the King to Israel. He who had so long refused royal honors comes to Jerusalem as the promised heir to David's throne.   Jerusalem had been the child of His care, and as a tender father mourns over a wayward son, so Jesus wept over the beloved city. How can I give thee up? How can I see thee devoted to destruction? Must I let thee go to fill up the cup of thine iniquity? One soul is of such value that, in comparison with it, worlds sink into insignificance; but here was a whole nation to be lost. When the fast westering sun should pass from sight in the heavens, Jerusalem's day of grace would be ended. While the procession was halting on the brow of Olivet, it was not yet too late for Jerusalem to repent.

Jesus gazes upon Jerusalem and the vast multitude hush their shouts, spellbound by the sudden vision of beauty. All eyes turn upon the Saviour, expecting to see in His countenance the admiration they themselves feel. But instead of this they behold a cloud of sorrow. They are surprised and disappointed to see His eyes fill with tears, and His body rock to and fro like a tree before the tempest, while a wail of anguish bursts from His quivering lips, as if from the depths of a broken heart. What a sight was this for angels to behold! their loved Commander in an agony of tears! What a sight was this for the glad throng that with shouts of triumph and the waving of palm branches were escorting Him to the glorious city, where they fondly hoped He was about to reign! Jesus had wept at the grave of Lazarus, but it was in a godlike grief in sympathy with human woe. But this sudden sorrow was like a note of wailing in a grand triumphal chorus. In the midst of a scene of rejoicing, where all were paying Him homage, Israel's King was in tears; not silent tears of gladness, but tears and groans of insuppressible agony. The multitude were struck with a sudden gloom. Their acclamations were silenced. Many wept in sympathy with a grief they could not comprehend. 

 The tears of Jesus were not in anticipation of His own suffering. Just before Him was Gethsemane, where soon the horror of a great darkness would overshadow Him. The sheepgate also was in sight, through which for centuries the beasts for sacrificial offerings had been led. This gate was soon to open for Him, the great Antitype, toward whose sacrifice for the sins of the world all these offerings had pointed. Near by was Calvary, the scene of His approaching agony. Yet it was not because of these reminders of His cruel death that the Redeemer wept and groaned in anguish of spirit. His was no selfish sorrow. The thought of His own agony did not intimidate that noble, self-sacrificing soul. It was the sight of Jerusalem that pierced the heart of Jesus--Jerusalem that had rejected the Son of God and scorned His love, that refused to be convinced by His mighty miracles, and was about to take His life. He saw what she was in her guilt of rejecting her Redeemer, and what she might have been had she accepted Him who alone could heal her wound. He had come to save her; how could He give her up?

There is a mighty work to be done for those who called a horrible curse upon themselves and their children when they cried out "His blood be on us, and on our children." Matt 27:25. Many wonder why it is that the Jews have suffered so greatly over the last 2,000 years. Do we not see that suffering today? The door to each and every Jew is open until they by continually rejecting the truth  harden their heart to the point where they can no longer hear that still small voice calling them to their Messiah.......Jesus Christ. Why do they reject the Word of God as revealed in Isaiah 53? And why is it that so many professing Christians continue to believe God wants the Jews to rebuild their temple and begin sacrificing animals? That would be an abomination when the Sacrifice of our Lord and Savior on the cross put an end to the types and shadows that pointed to His suffering and death on the cross. Did not the ripping of the Most Holy Place veil  from top to bottom  when Christ died confirm the end of the sacrificial offering had come? The light was and is shining brightly upon Calvary's cross where we see our precious Savior's back bleeding from the stripes He took that belong to us. It is by beholding these stripes that we are healed. "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5. Jesus is the Lamb of God that was slain to take away the sins of the world. The blood of animals cannot cleanse from sin. Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse from sin.