Captain's Log - The heart of Jesus

Luke 19:41-46 says, "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace— but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you." Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. "It is written," he said to them, "‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’"

Jesus was a man of many emotions. Notice the emotion he has at the triumphal entry. When everyone is singing his praises as he enters into Jerusalem on that donkey, He does not share their Joy because he knows their hearts and what will happen in the next week. He sees the lack of faith and his imminent rejection and crucifixion. He sees 40 years into the future. He foresees and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. He hurts for the lost souls and the destruction of the wicked.

Do we have Jesus heart? Do we, through the eyes of faith, see the fate of all who reject Christ? Do we weep for the inevitable damnation of those who reject the peace Jesus offers? Do we ache for the souls and the eternal destiny of the lost that surround us every day?

Jesus was also angered by how the temple was turned into a "den of robbers." They turned what was to be a "house of prayer" into a place to make a profit. The corruption of the purpose of God's temple angered Jesus, and motivated him to run everyone out. Are we ever willing to drive some people out, in order to maintain the integrity of God's temple? Do we have the compassion for the lost, and zeal for God's purposes that Jesus had?

Jesus cared for the lost souls who would not listen. Listen to how he pined for them in Luke 13:34, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"

Have you "longed" for the lost and rebellious as Jesus did? Do you cry over the people who won't listen? Do you have a passion that is willing to drive people out of the temple who corrupt its purpose? Does your heart break for the spiritual condition of our nation? Do you weep for America's sin and rebellion? Do you have a zeal for the house of God and demonstrate a steely resolve to cleanse the church of people who will not follow the purpose of the church? Does your zeal for the lost consume you?

Do you have the broken heart of Jesus?

Submit a Bible Question to scripturist@hotmail.com