What if they all have missed the most important moment in history?
All the signs showed that this was it.
Every prophecy lined up. Every arrow pointed to this date. Every clock had ticked down to - NOW.
Yet Jesus looked across from the Mount of Olives at the walls of the old city and wept because they all failed to see that this was it. He was the One. Their Messiah had shown up on time, and they saw Him as just another interruption to their religious machine - another sad figure ground up in the cogs of the Roman Empire and the jealous, power-hungry fear of the Jewish leadership.
Of course, many, over the centuries, have contributed to this misrepresentation. As I'll discuss in the next post, the name of Christian, and the cause of Christ have been hijacked and misused over and over. And usually, the Jewish people paid the price.
Our final concert of our trip
took place in the theater of old Caesarea, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. As the sun set, we took our seats in the very same tiers of stone on which confused genius Herod, and doubting King Agrippa sat when the Apostle Paul gave his defense before being shipped off to Rome to speak to Caesar, himself.
The king, after listening to Paul responded with interesting comments. One said, probably in an effort to convince himself that he was superior, "Your great learning has driven you crazy."
And the other commented, "Keep it up, and soon I'll start to believe in this Jesus, myself."
Oh, how we believers pray that all hearers will believe so.
Eternity itself depends on it.
Our concert welcomed all into the glad, warm, abandoned worship of the living, once-crucified Messiah. Our tour guide, too, was drawn in to the welcoming joy of a real, living hope - a hope of the reality of a spiritual world that really does touch and influence people. A hope of actually owning a relationship with a living God.
The worship, aimed at the real, historic, man/God, Jesus, invited and demanded a response from each person who hears.
If you would like to read and consider the claims of the Bible, I invite you to get a copy of my book (17 Questions) Here
They missed that moment, but fortunately for some it won't have eternal consequences. They wanted their Savior to deliver them from Rome, but Jesus came to deliver people from the bondage of sin. Jesus was disappointing, but as long as they stay away from wicked deeds they will see him again, or if they should enter into wickedness and then repent, they will see him again.
Many who heard him shrugged him off, and kept on with their wicked deeds. They won't get a good hearing at the Judgement. Jesus could have given them salvation in this world by giving them freedom, and in the next world by giving them eternal life.