Bible Truth #374 - Luke 19:41-42

Luke 19:41-42

41  And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
42  Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

This was spoken by Jesus on the day He was entering Jerusalem on a colt upon which no one had ever ridden, the event many know as “The Triumphal Entry.” He was fulfilling prophesy (Zechariah 9:9) and that prophesy was actually quoted by two other Gospel writers (Matthew 21:5, John 12:15). However, this account in Luke is the only one that tells us that Jesus wept this day, He wept over Jerusalem before entering it.

The important part of the story to which I want to call attention is that as He is weeping He said if only Jerusalem had known the things that would bring peace, but now they are hid from it. What did He mean when He said “...but now they are hid from thine eyes.” ?? Did He mean that they could be seen earlier but because of the sinfulness or stubbornness of the people, or the religious leaders, that the things which would bring peace are now hidden from them? No.

God in His sovereignty had planned from the foundation of the world that He would hide these things and would always hide them until a point in time that suited His purpose. The things that would bring peace are STILL hidden from Jerusalem - which is why there is still no peace in the Holy Land!

The point is that Jerusalem and the people of that city could not understand or accept the things that would bring them peace if God had them hidden. The same is true today in that the man without the Spirit, i.e. a lost man, does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). So in effect, the spiritual truths of God, which includes salvation, are hidden today from a lost man, and have always been hidden. But they have been revealed to those whom God has chosen (Matthew 11:27).

We become children of God NOT by human decision (John 1:13).