As the Lord Jesus drew near to Jerusalem, He was not joyful. Instead, He lamented over the city. Of all those in the crowd, He must have been the only one who lamented. All the others were celebrating, rejoicing, and shouting praises to God. The disciples may have said to one another, “What a celebration this is! Our King will soon take over the country. We are His followers, and we shall participate in His ruling.” This may have been the thought of the Lord’s followers, but it certainly was not His thought. “As He drew near, seeing the city, He wept over it” (v. 41).
In 19:42-44 we see what the Lord said as He wept over the city: “If you knew in this day, even you, the things that are for your peace! But now it has been hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a rampart before you, and will encircle you, and will press you in on every side, and will level you to the ground, and your children within you, and they will not leave a stone upon a stone in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” The peace in verse 42 will be in the restoration of Israel (Acts 1:6) after the Savior’s return. The Greek word rendered “level” in verse 44 may also be translated “dash.” Jerusalem was leveled, dashed, to the ground in A.D. 70 by Titus with the Roman army. The word “visitation” in verse 44 refers to the Savior’s first coming to visit them in grace in the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 2:10-14; 4:18-22).
In His lamentation the Lord seemed to be saying, “O Jerusalem, poor Jerusalem! I wish that you knew your days. This is the day of your visitation, but you do not recognize it. You are not grateful for the visitation I am rendering you. You need to realize that not long after I die and am resurrected and ascend to the heavens, a different day will come upon you. In that day you will be leveled to the ground.” Later, the Roman army destroyed the city of Jerusalem. The narration of Josephus shows in detail what a terrible destruction that was.
In the midst of the celebration the Man-Savior had sorrow instead of joy. He was about to make a triumphant entry into Jerusalem, but He was moved with compassion for the city.
Luke 19:45 and 46 say, “And entering into the temple, He began to cast out those who were selling, saying to them, It is written, And My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a robbers’ cave.” The Lord entered into the temple for the purpose of cleansing it. Do you know what was in the temple? The temple was filled with mammon and material things, filled with the matters of buying and selling. This was the reason the Lord cleansed the temple.
On His journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, the Lord emphasized the need to overcome mammon and material possessions. He even said that in order to follow Him we need to renounce our possessions and stay away from the stupefying effects of material things. Because what He required His disciples to renounce was prevailing in the temple, He went into the temple to cleanse it.
The Lord’s cleansing of the temple indicates that His presenting of Himself on the cross to God was for the producing of a cleansed temple. This means that His death has the effect of producing a church that is a purified, cleansed temple. Our basis for saying this is the clear revelation in the New Testament. The New Testament reveals that the Lord Jesus died to produce many grains that would be formed into one loaf, which is the Body (John 12:24; 1 Cor. 10:17). This Body is the church (Eph. 1:22-23), and the church is the temple of God (Eph. 2:21; 1 Cor. 3:16). This temple, in contrast to the robbers’ cave, is a purified and cleansed house for God’s dwelling place.
The Man-Savior’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem was not for the purpose of taking over the country. The Lord entered into Jerusalem to present Himself to an all-inclusive death, to the death ordained by God. This death would not merely bring in the jubilee; it would also produce a cleansed and purified dwelling place for God.
When I was young, I knew only that the Lord entered into Jerusalem and cleansed the temple. I did not know the significance of these things. Now I can declare strongly that the Lord’s real concern was to take care of the temple. When He was twelve, He was found in the temple (Luke 2:46), and when He came forth to minister at the age of thirty, He cleansed the temple (John 2:14-16). Because He was concerned with His Father’s interests, He said to His parents, “Did you not know that I must be in the things of My Father?” (Luke 2:49). This indicates that He cared for the temple, God’s dwelling place composed of His chosen ones according to His eternal economy. Therefore, the temple is the central point, the focal point, of God’s economy. The Lord was concerned for this when He was twelve, when He began to minister at the age of thirty, and when He reached the end of His earthly ministry. The Man-Savior entered into Jerusalem to present Himself to God as the all-inclusive offering. But before presenting Himself in this way, He once again expressed His concern for the interests of His Father, for the Father’s dwelling place.
In contrast to the disciples, the Lord Jesus was not concerned with gaining a kingdom for Himself. His only concern was that God’s people become God’s dwelling place. According to the full revelation of the New Testament, the Lord’s concern in entering into Jerusalem was to produce a purified temple for God’s dwelling place.