The Signs of the Times
August 15, 1878
Proffered Mercy
The tears of Christ on the mount of Olivet, when he was being escorted with triumph and hosannas into Jerusalem just prior to his crucifixion were wrung from a broken heart because his love was spurned, and his mercy despised. He saw just before him, in his coming crucifixion, the consummation of the guilt of Jerusalem. Before him was the sheep gate through which for centuries the victims for sacrifice had been conducted. It was soon to open for the great Antitype, who should be taken by wicked hands and slain for the sins of the world. It rent the heart of Christ to pronounce the doom of the city of his love. His body swayed like a cedar before the tempest. He then uttered in a voice broken by grief, “Oh that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace.” He hesitated, must the irrevocable sentence be pronounced. “But now they are hid from thine eyes.” ST August 15, 1878, par. 1
This sentence of the Saviour and his tears were not alone for Jerusalem that lay before him, its temple flashing in the sunlight, but for those in all time who slight the proffered mercies of Christ, reject present privileges, the voice of admonition and warning, and continue in disobedience to God. Present unbelief and impenitence are welding the fetters which bind souls in the bondage of doubt and despair. The temple of the soul is desecrated by sin, as the courts of the temple at Jerusalem was desecrated by unholy traffic and confusion. The heart of rebellious man is open to robbers, and has become a den of thieves. He who was purchased at the infinite price of the agony and death of the Son of God becomes like the blighted fig-tree, withered to its very roots under the righteous vengeance of a rejected God. ST August 15, 1878, par. 2
We are not responsible for the sin of the Jews in rejecting Christ, but the solemn period of our responsibility is when light, truth and warnings come directly to us. Christ said to Philip, “Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?” It is not the servants of Christ, the bearers of his message whom we reject; but the Master who delegated them to act for him, and sound his warning. Jesus Christ has been a long time with us in mercies and warnings, and yet we have not known him. Christ says, Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life. When entreaties, tears, and patient efforts are in vain, the terrible doom pronounced over Jerusalem must be pronounced over the sinner. ST August 15, 1878, par. 3
While mercy lingers, the golden opportunity still remains to repent and be saved through Christ. Has the temple of the soul been desecrated by unholy shrines? While the sun of righteousness still lingers, loath to remove his rays from those who have slighted his blessings, there is still time to repent, and make your peace with God. Christ calls the sinner, In this, thy day, seek those things which will make for your peace both in this life, and the life beyond the grave. He invites you who are stricken with sin to come with your burdens, and he will relieve you. He will cleanse you from the defilement of sin, and give you moral fitness for his kingdom. Despite your indifference or scorn he urges you to accept his love and mercy. ST August 15, 1878, par. 4
E. G. W.