“耶稣快来到耶路撒冷看见城，就为它哀哭，说：巴不得你在这日子，知道关系你平安的事！无奈这事现在是隐藏的，叫你的眼看不出来。因为日子将到，你的仇敌必筑起土垒，周围环绕你，四面困住你，并要扫灭你，和你里头的儿女，连一块石头也不留在石头上；因你不知道眷顾你的时候”（路19:41-44）。{GC 17.1}
耶稣从橄榄山顶上眺望耶路撒冷城。展开在祂面前的景象，乃是美丽而宁静的。那时正逢逾越节的佳期，雅各的子孙由各地前来庆祝这伟大的国庆。在花园与葡萄园之中，以及碧绿的山坡之上，都支搭着巡礼者的帐幕。在周围的几个山上，巍立着堂皇的宫殿，及拱卫以色列国京都的坚厚堡垒。锡安的女子似乎在骄傲地说：“我坐了皇后的位，……决不至于悲哀；”并且显出可爱的样子，自以为得天独厚，正如古时皇家乐队所唱的歌：“锡安山，大君王的城，在北面居高华美，为全地所喜悦”（诗48:2）。在这全部风景之中，那庄严伟大的圣殿，尤其是巍然的奇观，在夕阳余辉的照耀之下，圣殿云石的墙壁反映出皎白如雪的光影，还有那黄金的门，楼，和尖阁也都反射出万道金光来。这种雄姿堪“称为全美的，”并为犹太全国所夸耀。当每一个以色列的子民注视这一幅景象的时候，谁不感到欣慰赞叹呢！但这时耶稣心中的感想则远非如此。当祂“快到耶路撒冷看见城，就为它哀哭”（路19:41）。在这万头攒动，庆祝祂凯旋进城，棕树枝条挥舞，赞美歌声山呼谷应，万口同声拥护祂为王的时候，这位救世主的心，却被一股突然的、神秘的忧伤所压倒了。祂是上帝的儿子，是上帝向以色列人所应许的那一位。祂的权力曾胜过死亡，并从坟墓中召出死亡的俘虏；祂这时却哀哭了，况且祂的忧伤并不是普通的忧伤，而是一种强烈的，抑制不住的惨痛。{GC 17.2}
祂虽然深知自己面前的遭遇如何，但祂这一场哀哭却不是为了自己。这时客西马尼园就在眼前。那里是祂将要受苦的地方。祂还看见了羊门，就是历代以来一切被献的祭牲所经过的门。这门也将要为祂而开；届时，祂必须“象羊羔被牵到宰杀之地”（赛53:7）。髑髅地离那里不远。那就是十字架的刑场。当基督把自己献上为赎罪祭的时候，必有大黑暗的恐怖笼罩在祂所必经的路上。虽然如此，在这欢乐时辰中给祂投下悲惨幽郁的，还不是因为祂想到这些情景；也不是因为祂预知自己所要受的非人惨刑，以致祂那无私的精神受到影响。祂乃是为耶稣撒冷城内将要遭劫的千万人民而哀哭──因为祂来是要赐福给他们，拯救他们，而他们却盲目无知，不肯悔改。{GC 18.1}
上帝特别眷顾祂自己的选民，保护他们，向他们显现，已经有一千多年了。这一页历史现在展开在耶稣面前。在那里有摩利亚山。那由于应许而得来的儿子以撒曾在那里成了一个不抵抗的牺牲，被捆绑在祭坛上，作为上帝圣子被献的表号（见创22:9;16-18）。在那里，上帝与有信心之人的父坚定了赐福的约，就是弥赛亚降生的光荣应许。在那里，有献祭的火焰，从阿珥楠的禾场上升到天庭，阻挡了行毁灭天使的刀（见代上21章 ）。这是救主牺牲并为罪人作中保的一个恰当的表号。耶路撒冷曾为上帝所重视，超过地上的一切城邑。“因为耶和华拣选了锡安，愿意当作自己的居所”（诗132:13）。在那里，历代都有圣先知发出他们的警告。在那里，有祭司摆动他们的香炉，烟云缭绕，与会众的祈祷一同升到上帝面前。在那里，每天有人献上被杀之羔羊的血，预指上帝的羔羊。在那里，耶和华曾亲自在施恩座上的荣耀云彩中显现。在那里，有贯通天地的神秘梯子树立（见创28:12;约1:51）。在梯子上有上帝的使者上去下来。这梯子也向世人显明那通达至圣所的道路。以色列国如能对上天保持忠顺之心，耶路撒冷城就必坚立直到永远，成为上帝所特选的圣城（见耶17:21-25）。然而这蒙眷爱的子民所有的历史，却是一篇退后与悖逆的记录。他们抗拒了上天的恩典，滥用了自己的特权，并轻看了自己的机会。{GC 18.2}
以色列人虽曾“嬉笑上帝的使者，藐视祂的言语，讥诮祂的先知”（代下36:16），但祂仍亲自向他们显现，“是有怜悯，有恩典的上帝，不轻易发怒，并有丰盛的慈爱和诚实”（出34:6）。他们虽然屡次拒绝祂，而祂仍然发出怜悯的召请。上帝的爱胜于父母疼爱儿子的爱，祂“因为爱惜自己的民，和祂的居所，从早起来差遣使者去警戒他们”（代下36:15）。及至劝告，恳求和责备全归无效之后，祂便把天庭最佳美的恩赐送给他们；不但如此，在这一个恩赐中，祂简直把天庭所有的一切都倾赐给人类了。{GC 19.1}
上帝的儿子亲自奉差遣到这个顽梗的城邑，发出恳劝。昔日引领以色列子民如同从埃及挪出一棵好葡萄树栽上的一位，就是基督（见诗80:8）。祂亲手在它面前驱逐了那里的异邦人。祂曾经把它栽植在“肥美的山岗上。”祂对它的爱护看顾，犹如藩篱。祂又差遣祂的仆人们去培植它。祂诚恳地问道：“我为我的葡萄园所作之外，还有什么可作的呢？”虽然如此，但到了祂“指望结好葡萄”的时候，它“倒结了野葡萄”（见赛5:1-4）。然而祂仍然抱着丰收的希望，亲自来到祂的葡萄园中，以为这样或许可以救它免遭毁灭。祂把葡萄树周围的地土掘松，加以修剪栽培。祂不息不倦地努力挽救自己所种植的葡萄树。{GC 20.1}
这位光明与荣耀的主在祂的子民中间出入，达三年之久。祂“周流四方行善事，医好凡被魔鬼压制的人”（徒10:38），去安慰伤心的人，叫受压制的得自由，瞎眼的得看见，瘸腿的能行走，耳聋的能听见，长大麻疯的得洁净，死了的人复活，并传福音给贫穷的人（参看路4:18;太11:5）。祂向各阶层的人发出同样的慈声：“凡劳苦担重担的人可以到我这里来，我就使你们得安息”（太11:28）。{GC 20.2}
虽然祂所得到的是以恶报善，以恨报爱（见诗109: 5），但祂还是毅然决然执行祂恩惠的使命。凡向祂求恩的人，祂从来没有拒绝。祂作为一个无家可归的流浪者，每日忍受着辱骂与贫乏。祂生在世上是要服务穷苦的人，减轻他们的愁苦，邀请他们接受生命的恩赐。这恩典的波涛，既被刚愎的心所抗拒，就再度以更热烈而无可形容的怜爱涌流回来。但以色列人已经离弃了他们最好的朋友与唯一的援助者。祂的爱心所发出的恳劝被人藐视了，祂的忠言被人拒绝了，祂的警告被人讥诮了。{GC 20.3}
希望与赦罪的时辰快要过去；上帝长期容忍的忿怒之杯快要满溢了。历代以来，背道与叛逆所积累的凶恶乌云，这时已经布满天空，即将倾降在这犯罪作恶的子民头上；而那唯一能救他们脱离厄运的主却被他们轻视，侮辱，拒绝，并快要被钉在十字架上了。及至基督被挂在髑髅地十字架上的时候，以色列国蒙上帝恩眷与赐福的时日也就到了尽头。原来一个人的沉沦已经是莫大的不幸，因为一个人的性命比全世界的财宝还要贵重得多；何况当基督俯瞰耶路撒冷时，全城与全国的厄运都呈现在祂面前，更何况这个城市，这个国家，曾一度被上帝拣选作为祂特别的产业。{GC 21.1}
先知们曾为以色列的背道，以及他们的罪所招来的悲惨荒凉而哀哭。耶利米巴不得他的眼为泪的泉源，以便为他百姓中被杀的人昼夜哭泣，因为耶和华的羊群被掳去了（见耶9:1;13:17）。何况救主的慧眼不但见到数年的事，而也见到历代的事。祂所感到的是何等的忧伤啊！祂看到那行毁灭的天使拔出刀来，要攻击这久已成为耶和华居所的城邑。从橄榄山顶上，就是日后提多及其军队所要驻扎的地方，祂望到山谷对方的神圣殿宇和廊坊，在祂泪眼朦胧的观察下，有凄惨的情景出现，城墙都被敌军包围了。祂听见军队出动的步伐声。祂听到被围困的城中妇孺的啼饥号食声。祂看到神圣而美丽的殿宇，宫院与阁楼，都付诸一炬，化为废墟。{GC 21.2}
祂又展望到未来的年日，只见这与自己立过约的子民分散到各地，“象荒凉海岸上的破船一样。”祂看出他们今生所要遭受的报应，不过是他们在最后的审判大日所要喝的忿怒之杯的第一口苦汁而已。祂神圣的怜悯，热切的爱情，发出了悲哀的叹息，说：“耶路撒冷啊，耶路撒冷啊！你常杀害先知，又用石头打死那奉差遣到你这里来的人；我多次愿意聚集你的儿子，好像母鸡把小鸡聚集在翅膀底下，只是你们不愿意”（太23: 37）。唉，你这特蒙眷爱超过万国的子民阿，巴不得你知道眷顾你的日子，和关系你平安的事！我已经阻留那执行赏罚的天使，我已经呼召你们悔改，但都是徒劳无功。你们所反对所拒绝的，不但是仆人，代表和先知，而是以色列的“圣者”，你们的救赎主。如果你们遭到毁灭，那是咎由自取，因为“你们不肯到我这里来得生命”（约5:40）。{GC 21.3}
基督以耶路撒冷代表全世界，就是这在不信与叛逆之下顽梗刚愎，并即将遭受报应的世界。堕落的人类所要遭遇的祸患压在主的心上，从祂口中逼出极惨痛的呼喊。在人类的痛苦与血泪之中，祂看到罪恶的惨史。祂的心受到无穷之爱的激动，怜悯地上受苦受难的人。祂渴望要拯救他们每一个人。然而这时连祂的手也无法挽回人类祸患的狂澜；因为来向这唯一援助之源求助的人实在太少了。祂极愿舍弃自己的生命，将救恩带给他们。但是很少有人肯来就近祂，以便得到生命。{GC 22.1}
天上的大君流泪了！无穷上帝的圣子心中忧伤，因剧痛而垂头了！这种情景使全天庭充满了惊奇，并向我们说明罪的极度凶恶；使我们看出拯救罪人脱离干犯上帝律法的后果是多么的艰难，甚至无穷能力的主也感到棘手。耶稣展望到末世，看到世人受了一种欺骗，正像那造成耶路撒冷毁灭的欺骗一样。犹太人所犯的大罪，就是拒绝基督；今日基督教世界所犯的大罪，就是拒绝上帝的律法。这律法乃是祂天上与地上之政权的基础。耶和华的诫命将要被人轻视，被人废弃。成千上万的人虽然受了罪恶的捆绑，作了撒但的奴仆，注定要受第二次死亡的痛苦，但在蒙眷顾的日子，他们竟不肯听从真理的道。惨哉他们的盲目无睹！异哉他们的执迷不悟！{GC 22.2}
在逾越节的前两天，基督末次离开圣殿，并痛斥犹太领袖的虚伪之后，祂又同门徒出去到橄榄山上，与他们一同坐在绿草如茵的斜坡上，眺望着耶路撒冷城。祂再度注视着城墙，城楼和宫殿。祂再度看到那眩目的辉煌圣殿。这殿像是圣山上的一顶极光荣美丽的冠冕。{GC 23.1}
在一千年前，诗人曾颂扬上帝眷爱以色列人，以他们的圣殿为自己的居所，说：“在撒冷有祂的帐幕，在锡安有祂的居所”（诗76:2）。祂“却拣选犹大支派，祂所喜爱的锡安山；盖造祂的圣所，好像高峰”（诗78:68-69）。这第一个圣殿是在以色列最强盛的时候建造的。大卫王曾为这工程收集巨额的财富，而且建造圣殿的计划乃是圣灵所指示的（见代上28:12,19）。以色列国最聪明的王所罗门完成了这项工程。圣殿的壮丽乃是空前的。但上帝却藉着先知哈该预言到第二个圣殿说：“这殿后来的荣耀，必大过先前的荣耀。”“我必震动万国；万国所羡慕的必来到；我就使这殿满了荣耀，这是万军之耶和华说的”（该2:9,7）。{GC 23.2}
及至尼布甲尼撒毁灭圣殿之后，这殿在基督降生五百多年前重新建造起来，是由那些终身被掳而后回到荒废故乡的犹太人所负责的。在这些人中有若干曾经见过所罗门圣殿之荣耀的老年人。他们在重奠新基的时候痛哭流涕了，因为他们认为这后来的建筑必远逊于昔日。先知曾生动地描写当时一般人的伤感，说：“你们中间存留的，有谁见过这殿从前的荣耀呢？现在你们看着如何？岂不在眼中看如无有吗”（该2:3;拉3:12）？随即先知便向他们应许说，这殿后来的荣耀必大过先前的荣耀。{GC 23.3}
但这第二个圣殿到底比不上第一个圣殿的壮丽，也没有什么现象证明上帝临格，使之成圣，如同前一个圣殿那样。在落成奉献典礼中，没有什么超自然权能的表现。没有荣耀的云彩充满这新建的圣殿。也没有火从天降下，焚烧坛上的祭牲。在至圣所内的基路伯之上也没有荣光显现；里面没有约柜，施恩座，和法版。天上也没有发出声音来，使供职的祭司能知道耶和华的圣旨。{GC 24.1}
几百年来，犹太人曾枉费心机，想要说明上帝藉哈该所发的应许是怎样应验的。但他们的骄傲与不信蒙蔽了他们的心，以至不明白先知之话的真意。这第二个圣殿虽然没有耶和华荣耀的云彩降临，却有“上帝本性一切的丰盛”居住其中的主，就是藉着肉身显现的上帝亲自莅临。当拿撒勒人耶稣在圣殿的院宇中教训百姓并医治病人的时候，真可以说是“万国所羡慕的”来到祂的殿中了。在基督亲临圣殿的这一件事上，而且只有在这件事上，可以说第二个圣殿比第一个圣殿更有荣耀。但以色列人却把上天所赐的恩典弃绝了。在那一天，当这一位谦恭的教师走出圣殿的金门之时，那荣耀便永远离开这殿了。救主所说“你们的家成为荒场，留给你们”的话，当时就应验了（太23:38）。{GC 24.2}
门徒听见基督预言圣殿将要遭毁灭，便满心恐惧和惊奇，并渴望要更充分地明白祂话的意义。过去犹太人为增进圣殿的光彩，曾用了许多财力，劳力和技巧，以及四十余年的光阴。大希律曾把罗马人与犹太人的财物大量投在这个工程上，甚至罗马皇帝也曾赠送礼物来增进圣殿的富丽。有巨大的云石，大得几乎令人难以置信，从罗马运来，作为修殿材料的一部分；门徒曾指着这些石头来引起主的注意，说：“夫子，请看，这是何等的石头！何等的殿宇”（可13:1）！{GC 25.1}
对于这些话，耶稣作了一个严肃而惊人的回答，说：“我实在告诉你们，将来在这里，没有一块石头留在石头上不被拆毁了”（太24:2）。{GC 25.2}
从耶路撒冷必遭毁灭的事上，门徒联想到基督将要带着属世的威荣复临，登上普世大帝国的宝座，为要惩罚那些顽梗的犹太人，并折断罗马帝国的轭。主曾告诉他们，祂要再一次降临。所以他们一听到耶路撒冷所要遭受的惩罚，就想到主的复临；故此当他们围着救主一同坐在橄榄山上的时候，便问祂说：“什么时候有这些事？祢降临和世界的末了，有什么预兆呢”（太24:3）？{GC 25.3}
主凭着祂的慈怜把未来的事隐蔽了一部分。假使门徒当时能充分明白这两件可怕的事实，就是救赎主的受难受死和圣城与圣殿的毁灭，他们便要被惊惶所压倒了。基督只向他们提及末日之前大事的概略。祂的话在当时不为人所充分了解；但在祂的百姓需要其中的教训时，这些话的意义便要显明。祂所说的预言具有双关的意义：一方面是预示耶路撒冷的毁灭，同时也预指末后大日的惨剧。{GC 25.4}
耶稣向侧耳倾听的门徒讲说那将要临到悖逆之以色列人的刑罚，尤其是因为他们拒绝弥赛亚并把祂钉在十字架上、所要临到他们的报应。在这可怕的高潮未来之前，必有一些不容误会的预兆出现。而那可怖的时辰将要突然而迅速来到。因此救主警告祂的门徒说：“你们看见先知但以理所说的，那行毁坏可憎的，站在圣地；（读这经的人须要会意）那时，在犹太的，应当逃到山上”（太24:15-16;路21:20）。当时的耶路撒冷城内和近郊地带都为犹太人视为圣地，所以当罗马人带有偶像的军旗竖立在城外的圣地时，基督的门徒就应当逃跑，以求安全。当这警告的预兆出现的时候，凡要逃跑的就不可耽延。在犹太全地的人，也要像耶路撒冷城中的人一样，立时遵照那信号的警告而逃跑。凡在房上的，决不要下来进到家里，去抢救他最宝贵的财物。凡在田间或葡萄园中作工的人，决不可跑回家去取那因天热而脱下的外衣。他们切不可踌躇片刻，免得被卷在这场普遍毁灭的漩涡中。{GC 26.1}
在希律王统治之下，耶路撒冷不但大为美化了，同时也建有城楼，城墙和堡垒，再加以该城所坐落的有利地势，所以被认为固若金汤，牢不可破。这时，若有人公开预言这城要遭毁灭，那简直是像挪亚的时代一样，要被人讥为痴人说梦。但基督却说：“天地要废去，我的话却不能废去”（太24:35）。耶路撒冷因为罪的缘故，已经是上帝忿怒的对象，又因它顽梗不信，它是在劫难逃的了。{GC 26.2}
上帝曾藉着先知弥迦宣告说：“雅各家的首领，以色列家的官长啊，当听我的话；你们厌恶公平，在一切事上屈枉正直。以人血建立锡安，以罪孽建造耶路撒冷；首领为贿赂行审判，祭司为雇价施训诲，先知为银钱行占卜；他们却倚赖耶和华，说，耶和华不是在我们中间吗？灾祸必不临到我们”（弥3:9-11）。{GC 27.1}
这些话真实地描写到耶路撒冷居民的腐败和自以为义的情形。他们一面自称严格遵守上帝律法的条例，一面却干犯了全部律法的原则。他们恨恶基督，因为祂的纯正与圣洁显明他们的不义；他们谴责祂，并把自己犯罪作恶所招来的一切困苦烦恼都归咎于祂，以祂为祸首。他们虽然明知祂是无辜的，但他们却说，为了全国人民的安全，必须把祂处死。犹太人的领袖也说，“若这样由着祂，人人都要信祂；罗马人也要来夺我们的地土，和我们的百姓”（约11:48）。他们以为如果牺牲基督，他们也许可以再度成为一个强盛而统一的民族。他们这样推论之后，便都同意照着大祭司的决定而行，宁可让一个人死，免得通国灭亡。{GC 27.2}
这样，犹太的领袖们便“以人血建立锡安，以罪孽建造耶路撒冷”了。可是，他们虽然因救主指责他们的罪而把祂杀了，他们还以为自己是正义的，甚至看自己是上帝所宠爱的子民，并盼望上帝来拯救他们脱离仇敌的手呢。因此先知便接着说：“所以因你们的缘故，锡安必被耕种象一块田，耶路撒冷必变为乱堆。这殿的山必像丛林的高处”（弥3:12）。{GC 27.3}
在基督亲自宣布耶路撒冷的劫运之后，祂迟延着不向那城和那国降刑罚，约有四十年之久。上帝在拒绝祂福音而又杀害祂圣子的人身上所显出的耐心，真是令人惊奇。那不结果子之树的比喻，足以显明上帝怎样对待犹太国。命令已经发出了，“把它砍了吧，何必白占地土呢”（路13:7）？但上帝的慈悲还要宽容它一个时期。在犹太人中还有许多未认识到基督的品德与工作的人。还有后一代的儿童没有得到机会接受他们父母所弃绝的真光。因此上帝便藉着众使徒和他们同工传道的工作，使真光照亮他们；让他们看出先知的预言是怎样地应验了：不但是基督的降生与生活，就是祂的死与复活都已应验了预言。儿女不能因为父母的罪而被判罪；但是及至他们明白那赐给他们父母的全部真光之后，他们又拒绝了那补赐给他们自己的真光，那么他们就要与他们的父母的罪有分，自己也就恶贯满盈了。{GC 28.1}
上帝对于耶路撒冷城所存的忍耐只有增强了犹太人的顽固刚愎。他们既憎恶而又残害了耶稣的门徒，就拒绝了恩典的最后召请。因此，上帝便撤回祂所给予他们的保护，并收回那遏制撒但和他使者的能力，把全国交给他们所拣选的首领去管理。这个国家的人民已经弃绝了基督的恩典。这恩典那本来可以帮助他们制服自己恶性的冲动，而今这些邪恶的冲动反而占了上风，胜过了他们。撒但鼓动人们心中最狂热与最卑鄙的情欲。那时人不再讲情理；他们已失去理性，被情感与盲目的狂怒所支配了。他们简直变成一群恶魔，极度残忍暴虐。在家庭里，在国家内，在富贵贫贱的各阶层中，都是猜疑，嫉妒，仇恨，纷争，叛逆，凶杀。到处没有平安。朋友亲属彼此出卖。父母杀儿女，儿女害父母。民间的官长连自己也无力控制。放荡不羁的情欲使他们横行霸道，无法无天。犹太人曾凭着假见证把上帝无辜的儿子定罪处死。这时他们自己的性命也因虚假的控告而得不到保障。他们早已用自己的行动声明：“不要在我们面前，再提说以色列的圣者”（赛30:11）。这时他们的愿望果然实现了。敬畏上帝的心，再不拦阻他们了。撒但已在领导全国。国内政治与宗教的最高权威都已在他的统治之下了。{GC 28.2}
彼此对立的各党派领袖，有时联合起来，强掠并虐待同一个可怜的对象，但过后又彼此以武力相见，互相残杀。连圣殿的神圣性也不足以遏制他们的残酷与凶狠。有许多前来敬拜的人都在祭坛之前被杀害，圣所便被许多尸体所污秽了。但在盲目而亵渎的狂妄之下，这些残杀凶恶之事的煽动者竟公然宣告说，耶路撒冷没有被毁灭的危险，因为这城乃是上帝自己的城。为了巩固自己的权力，他们在罗马军兵已经包围圣殿的时候，还贿买假先知出来说话，劝告百姓，要等待上帝来搭救。直到最后的一天，群众还坚信，至圣者必要下来干涉，击败他们的敌人。但是以色列已经弃绝了上帝的保护，现今是得不到保障了。哀哉，耶路撒冷！内讧内乱，彼此残杀，血染市街，同时有敌军攻陷了她的堡垒，杀死了她的战士！{GC 29.1}
基督所说关乎耶路撒冷毁灭的预言，字字都应验了。犹太人亲身体验到祂所警告的真理：“你们用什么量器量给人，也必用什么量器量给你们”（太7:2）。{GC 30.1}
先有许多的时兆与奇事出现，预指将有灾祸与刑罚的来到。在深更半夜，有一道奇异的光芒照射在圣殿与祭坛之上。在太阳下落的云端，出现了战车战士聚集备战的幻象。夜间在圣所中值夜的祭司们，被神秘的响声所震惊了；大地摇动了，随后听见群众的呼喊声：“我们快逃开吧！”巨大的东城门本是极沉重的，需要二十个人才能把它关上，还有巨大的铁条把它稳稳地闩在坚固的基石中，但在半夜的时辰，竟然不假人力而自行敞开开（米尔曼《犹太人的历史》第13卷，Milman, The History of the Jews, book 13）。{GC 30.2}
有一个人在耶路撒冷的各街走来走去，宣告那将要临到这城的灾祸。他一直传了七年之久，日以继夜地唱着癫狂的悲歌：“东方之声兮！西方之声兮！四方之声兮！攻击耶路撒冷和圣殿之声兮；攻击新郎和新妇之声兮！攻击全民之声兮！”这个怪人曾被捕入狱并受了鞭打，但他的口中却不出怨言。他对于所受的羞辱和虐待只回答说：“祸哉，耶路撒冷！祸哉，其中的居民！”他警告的呼声没有停止，直到他在自己所预言的灾祸中被杀的那一天。{GC 30.3}
在耶路撒冷的毁灭中没有一个基督徒遭害。基督早已向祂的门徒发出警告了。所以凡相信祂话的人都等候所应许的兆头。耶稣说：“你们看见耶路撒冷被兵围困，就可知道它成荒场的日子近了。那时，在犹太的，应当逃到山上；在城里的，应当出来”（路21:20-21）。在薛提亚统率罗马军兵围攻耶路撒冷之后，正在可以立即进攻的时候，却出人意料地突然解围了。这被围的城正苦战绝望，想要屈服投降，罗马将军却毫无理由地下令军队撤退了。其实这是上帝的慈悲安排，为了帮助祂自己的子民。主所应许的兆头已经向那些等待着的基督徒显现了。这时也是给一切顺从救主警告的人一个机会。上帝掌握了当时的局面，使犹太人和罗马人都不能拦阻基督徒的逃亡。在薛提亚撤兵的时候，犹太人从耶路撒冷出去追赶撤退中的敌军。正当两军相遇全面交锋的时候，基督徒就得了一个出城的机会。在这时，四乡里也没有那些会阻拦他们的敌军了。在耶路撒冷被围的时候，犹太人正聚集在城里守住棚节，因此全地的基督徒尽可以逃走而不受阻扰。他们赶快逃跑到一个安全的地方，就是约但河外比利亚地的柏拉城。{GC 30.4}
犹太军队在追击薛提亚和他的军队时，猛然突袭他们后面的部队，几乎把他们全部消灭了。罗马人好不容易才把军队撤回。犹太人可以说是毫无损失地押着战利品凯旋耶路撒冷。然而这次表面上的胜利，只有不幸的后果，鼓励他们顽抗罗马人，终于使那无法形容的灾祸迅速地临到这注定遭劫的城邑。{GC 31.1}
在提多大将再度包围耶路撒冷城的时候，该城所遭的灾难是极其悲惨的。那时正当逾越节，有数百万的犹太人聚集在耶路撒冷城内。他们的粮食若是善予保藏，原可以供应城中居民数年之用，但城内敌对的党派在嫉妒分争之余，早已把存粮破坏糟蹋了。过了不久，饥荒的种种惨剧都演出来了。一升小麦售价一他连得。饥荒的灾情极其惨重，以至人们啮食自己的皮带，鞋履和盾牌上所蒙的皮。许多人在夜间偷跑到城外，觅取野草。其中有不少人被敌军捉去后用惨刑处死。即使能有人安然回来，但他们冒极大危险所得来的一点食物却往往被人抢夺走了。当时有权的人施用极惨酷的拷刑，迫使困疲欲死的平民交出他们所藏的最后一点食物。而且这样的惨事往往是少数衣食温饱的人所为，意在囤积，以备后用。{GC 31.2}
成千上万的人因饥荒和瘟疫而死亡。普通的天理人情似乎已经消失了。丈夫抢妻子，妻子抢丈夫。儿女从他们年老的父母的口中抢取食物。先知所发的问题，“妇人焉能忘记她吃奶的婴孩”（赛49:15）？在这遭劫的城内所得到的回答是：“慈心的妇人，当我众民被毁灭的时候，亲手煮自己的儿女作为食物”（哀4:10）。再者，一千四百年前所预言的警告也应验了：“你们中间柔弱娇嫩的妇人，是因娇嫩柔弱不肯把脚踏地的，必恶眼看她怀中的丈夫……与他所要生的儿女，她因缺乏一切，就要在你受仇敌围困窘迫的城中，将他们暗暗的吃了”（申28:56-57）。{GC 32.1}
罗马的军长尽力设法用恐怖手段恫吓犹太人，迫使他们投降。他们把倔强的俘虏提出来，施以严刑拷打，随后把他们钉在十字架上，竖立在城墙外面。每天这样被处刑的有好几百人。他们继续这恐怖的工作，直到约沙法谷及髑髅地到处都竖满了十字架，甚至人在其中几乎无法走动。这就悲惨地应了犹太人在彼拉多审判台前所发的可怕誓言：“祂的血归我们，和我们的子孙身上”（太27:25）。{GC 32.2}
提多大将本来很愿意结束这场可怖的惨剧，使耶路撒冷免于遭受全面的毁灭。当他看到满山谷堆积的尸首时，心里充满了惊惶。从橄榄山顶上，他遥望着那壮丽的圣殿，欣赏得出神了，便发出命令，不许他的部下毁损圣殿的一块石头。他在试图攻入圣殿的坚城之前，曾向犹太的首领们发出一个极恳切的劝告，叫他们不要迫使他在圣殿境内杀人流血。如果他们肯出城，在另一个地方交锋，罗马人便不会侵犯圣殿的神圣。约瑟弗斯也曾亲自发出一个极动人的请求，劝他们投降，以便救自己的性命，城邑和敬拜之所。但他们却以苦毒的咒骂回答他。当这最后一个调停人站在他们面前发出恳劝的时候，他们竟用镖枪投刺他。犹太人已经拒绝了上帝儿子的请求，所以这时的劝谏与忠告只有使他们更加坚决，顽抗到底。提多为保全圣殿所作的努力终归于徒然。那位比他更伟大的主已经宣布过了，在那里必没有一块石头留在石头上。{GC 33.1}
犹太领袖们的盲目顽梗，以及围城之中所有残忍的罪恶，煽起了罗马人的憎厌与愤怒，最后提多便决定要猛攻圣殿，将它占领。虽然如此，他还是定了主意，无论如何要尽量保护圣殿免遭毁灭。然而他的命令竟被违犯了。在他夜里回到营帐休息之时，犹太人从圣殿中突然冲出，袭击外面的阵地。在这次作战中，有一个兵士将一个火把丢进了圣殿廊前的一扇门内，于是圣所四围的香柏木厢房立刻着火了。后来提多赶到那里，有许多的军长和士兵跟着他。他命令兵士去救火，但没有人听他的话。这些兵丁在愤怒之下，纷纷将火把丢进那接连着圣殿的房间内，然后他们用刀剑杀戮许多在圣殿中避难的犹太人。从圣殿的台阶上，鲜血象河水一样流了下来。成千上万的犹太人死亡了。人们听见了一阵大喊声，比交战杀伐的声音更为响亮，说：“以迦博！”思就是“荣耀离开了！”{GC 33.2}
“提多无法制止士兵的狂怒，便同几个手下的官兵一齐进入圣殿，观看这神圣建筑的内部。殿中的辉煌景色使他们惊讶不已。这时火焰还没有烧尽圣所，于是他便作最后的努力，要挽救这殿，他一跃而出，再吩咐兵士防止大火的蔓延。百夫长力勃拉利还用指挥杖去迫使他们服从；但那些拚命攻击犹太人的疯狂兵士，因了战争的兴奋，和抢夺劫取的无餍欲望，这时，连指挥杖所象征的皇帝权威也视若无睹了。兵士看见周围每一样物件都发出金光，在熊熊烈火中光耀夺目；他们以为圣殿内必是藏有无数的财宝。有一个士兵趁人不防备，把一个烧着的火把塞进殿门的枢纽里；全部建筑在一刹那间便燃烧起来了。浓烟和烈火迫使那几个军官退出圣殿。于是这座壮丽高大的建筑物，到此只好任其遭劫了。{GC 34.1}
“这场大灾，在罗马人看来，已经是一件骇人听闻的惨事；而在犹太人看来，又是怎样呢？圣城所坐落的整个山头，象火山一样烈焰熊熊，火光冲天。房屋一座一座地倒塌了，发出惊人的响声，被烈火吞没无遗。香柏木的屋顶成了一片火焰，镀金的尖阁看上去好像烧红的大铁锥一样；城楼上火焰与烟云直升天空。邻近的山头映得通红；照出黑暗中的人群正在恐怖焦急中注视着这一场大劫。在上城的城墙上与高处站着许多人。他们脸上有的露出失望苦恼的灰白色，有的显出有雠难报的怒容。罗马兵士跑来跑去的呐喊，倒在烈火中的叛徒的哀鸣声中，混杂着大火焚烧的怒吼声，和梁柱倒塌的轰隆声。四面山谷中的回声响应，带来站在高处之人的尖锐叫啸；沿着城墙一带回应着哭泣号啕的声音；饥饿垂毙的人们重新鼓起残余的一点力量，发出痛苦绝望的哀鸣。{GC 34.2}
“城内的屠杀比外面所见到的情景更惨。男女、老少、叛徒、祭司、以及顽抗的和求情的，都一律在这场不分青红皂白的大屠杀中被砍倒了。被杀之人的数目超过杀人者的数目。军兵只好在死人堆里爬上爬下，进行毁灭的工作”（米尔曼《犹太人的历史》第16卷，Milman, The History of the Jews, book 16.）。{GC 35.1}
在圣殿被毁之后，不久全城就陷落于罗马人手中，犹太的领袖们放弃了他们那些牢不可破的堡垒。提多大将进去占领的时候发现它们都是空的。他惊异地望着这些防御工事，并宣称这是上帝将城交在他手中；因为这样雄伟的堡垒，原非任何猛烈的武器所能攻陷的。结果，全城和圣殿都被夷为平地，连根基也被挖出来了。至于圣所坐落的地基也“被耕种像一块田”一样（耶26:18）。自从圣城被围直到这场大屠杀为止，死亡的人数超过一百余万；剩下的人都被掳去了，或被贩卖为奴，或被带到罗马，用以增添胜利者凯旋的光荣，也有的人被带到圆形戏场，投在野兽群中，此外还有一些人则分散到世界各地，成为无家可归的流浪者。{GC 35.2}
犹太人已经为自己铸成镣铐，并为自己盛满了忿怒之杯。这个国家所遭遇的毁灭，以及此后在困苦流离中所受的一切祸患，都不过是他们亲手所撒之种的收获而已。先知说：“以色列啊……你自取败坏；”“……你是因自己的罪孽跌倒了”（何13:9;14:1）。他们所受的灾难，往往被人看为是上帝所直接判决的刑罚。那个大骗子正在利用人的这种看法来掩饰他自己的工作。犹太人因为顽固地拒绝了上帝的慈爱与恩典，上帝就撤回祂保护的手，撒但便可任意管理他们了。在耶路撒冷遭毁灭的巨灾浩劫中，撒但在那些服从他管理之人身上所施用的毒辣手段，可见一斑。{GC 36.1}
我们享受基督所赐的平安与保护真不知有多少。那使人类不致完全屈服于撒但权下的，乃是上帝约束撒但的能力。上帝的慈悲与忍耐常遏制那恶者残忍恶毒的权势，这就是世上背逆与忘恩之徒所应该感激上帝的地方。但何时人越过了上帝忍耐的限度，祂就要把约束的能力收回。上帝并不以执行审判者的姿态看待罪人；祂只是让那些拒绝祂恩典的人自食其果。人每一次拒绝一线光明，轻视或忽略一道警告，放纵一次情欲，干犯上帝的一条律法，就是撒了一粒种子，后来必要得到收获，毫厘不爽。上帝的灵若是一直被罪人拒绝，最后只好从他身上收回；此后这人就再没有能力控制自己心中的邪情恶欲，也没有保障使自己可以脱离撒但的凶恶与仇恨了。对于一切轻忽上帝恩典的邀请，并抗拒上帝慈悲恳劝的人，耶路撒冷的毁灭乃是一个可畏而严肃的警告。再没有什么能比这个警告更确切地说明上帝对于罪恶的憎恨，和有罪的人所必受的刑罚了。{GC 36.2}
救主所说有关耶路撒冷遭受刑罚的预言，将要应验在另一件事上；对于这件事，耶路撒冷的凄凉荒废只可算是一个隐约的预表。从这蒙拣选之城的厄运上，我们可以看出这个拒绝上帝恩典并践踏祂律法的世界所必遭受的灭亡。在这犯罪作恶的数千年中，人类祸患的记录黑暗悲惨，不堪设想。世人拒绝上天权威的结果真是可怕。虽然如此，那有关将来之事的启示，却提供了一幕比这更为黑暗的景象。这以往的记录──骚扰，斗争，革命，“战士在乱杀之间所穿戴的盔甲，并那辊在血中的衣服，……”（赛9:5）等等，固然形成漫长的行列，但若与上帝约束之灵从罪人身上全部撤回，不再抑制人类情欲和撒但忿怒之时的恐怖状态相比，那真是算不得什么了！到那时，世人就要看到从来未曾见过的事，就是撒但统治的最后结果。{GC 37.1}
但在那日子，正如耶路撒冷遭毁灭的时候一样，上帝的子民，就是一切“在生命册上记名的”（赛4:4）必蒙拯救。基督已经宣布，祂要第二次降临，招集祂忠心的百姓。那时“地上的万族都要哀哭；他们要看见人子，有能力，有大荣耀，驾着天上的云降临。祂要差遣使者，用号筒的大声，将祂的选民，从四方，从天这边，到天那边，都招聚了来”（太24:30-31）。那时，那些不顺从福音的人，要被祂口中的气所灭绝，并被祂降临的荣光所废掉（见帖后2:8）。像古时的以色列人一样，恶人要自取灭亡。他们要被自己的罪孽所绊倒。他们因罪恶的生活，使自己与上帝不能相容。他们的天性因罪恶而极其卑劣，以至上帝荣耀的显现对他们成了毁灭的烈火。{GC 37.2}
但愿人人儆醒，免得疏忽基督所给予他们的教训。祂曾警告门徒，耶路撒冷城要遭毁灭，又给了他们一个预兆，使他们知道毁灭何时临近，以便逃命。照样，祂已经警告世人关于最后毁灭的日子，又给了他们许多兆头，使一切愿意的人都可以知道毁灭的临近，并逃避那要来的忿怒。耶稣宣告说：“日月星辰要显出异兆，地上的邦国也有困苦”（路21:25;太24:29;可13:24-26;启6:12-17）。凡看到祂复临各种预兆的人，应“该知道人子近了，正在门口了”（太24:33）。祂向世人发出忠告说：“所以你们要警醒”（可13:35）。凡注意这警告的人，不致被丢在黑暗之中，那日子也不至出其不意地临到他们。但对于那些不警醒的人，“主的日子来到，好像夜间的贼一样”（帖前5:2-5）。{GC 38.1}
今日世人不相信那向现代所发的警告，正如昔日犹太人不接受救主论到耶路撒冷所发的警告一样。无论如何，上帝的大日早晚终必在恶人不知不觉之时临到。当人的生活照常进行的时候，当人专心于享乐，营业，经商，敛财的时候，当宗教领袖正在夸大世界的进步与文明，而众人却醉生梦死于一种虚伪之安全感中的时候，──那时，像半夜里的盗贼偷进没有防备的居所一样，突然的毁灭必要临到一切不警醒与不敬虔的人。“他们绝不能逃脱”（帖前5:3）。{GC 38.2}
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. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. Luke 19:42-44. {GC 17.1}[1]
From the crest of Olivet, Jesus looked upon Jerusalem. Fair and peaceful was the scene spread out before Him. It was the season of the Passover, and from all lands the children of Jacob had gathered there to celebrate the great national festival. In the midst of gardens and vineyards, and green slopes studded with pilgrims' tents, rose the terraced hills, the stately palaces, and massive bulwarks of Israel's capital. The daughter of Zion seemed in her pride to say, I sit a queen and shall see no sorrow; as lovely then, and deeming herself as secure in Heaven's favor, as when, ages before, the royal minstrel sang: "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, . . . the city of the great King." Psalm 48:2. In full view were the magnificent buildings of the temple. The rays of the setting sun lighted up the snowy whiteness of its marble walls and gleamed from golden gate and tower and pinnacle. "The perfection of beauty" it stood, the pride of the Jewish nation. What child of Israel could gaze upon the scene without a thrill of joy and admiration! But far other thoughts occupied the mind of Jesus. "When He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it." Luke 19:41. Amid the universal rejoicing of the triumphal entry, while palm branches waved, while glad hosannas awoke the echoes of the hills, and thousands of voices declared Him king, the world's Redeemer was overwhelmed with a sudden and mysterious sorrow. He, the Son of God, the Promised One of Israel, whose power had conquered death and called its captives from the grave, was in tears, not of ordinary grief, but of intense, irrepressible agony. {GC 17.2}[2]
His tears were not for Himself, though He well knew whither His feet were tending. Before Him lay Gethsemane, the scene of His approaching agony. The sheepgate also was in sight, through which for centuries the victims for sacrifice had been led, and which was to open for Him when He should be "brought as a lamb to the slaughter." Isaiah 53:7. Not far distant was Calvary, the place of crucifixion. Upon the path which Christ was soon to tread must fall the horror of great darkness as He should make His soul an offering for sin. Yet it was not the contemplation of these scenes that cast the shadow upon Him in this hour of gladness. No foreboding of His own superhuman anguish clouded that unselfish spirit. He wept for the doomed thousands of Jerusalem--because of the blindness and impenitence of those whom He came to bless and to save. {GC 18.1}[3]
The history of more than a thousand years of God's special favor and guardian care, manifested to the chosen people, was open to the eye of Jesus. There was Mount Moriah, where the son of promise, an unresisting victim, had been bound to the altar--emblem of the offering of the Son of God. There the covenant of blessing, the glorious Messianic promise, had been confirmed to the father of the faithful. Genesis 22:9, 16-18. There the flames of the sacrifice ascending to heaven from the threshing floor of Ornan had turned aside the sword of the destroying angel (1 Chronicles 21)--fitting symbol of the Saviour's sacrifice and mediation for guilty men. Jerusalem had been honored of God above all the earth. The Lord had "chosen Zion," He had "desired it for His habitation." Psalm 132:13. There, for ages, holy prophets had uttered their messages of warning. There priests had waved their censers, and the cloud of incense, with the prayers of the worshipers, had ascended before God. There daily the blood of slain lambs had been offered, pointing forward to the Lamb of God. There Jehovah had revealed His presence in the cloud of glory above the mercy seat. There rested the base of that mystic ladder connecting earth with heaven (Genesis 28:12; John 1:51)--that ladder upon which angels of God descended and ascended, and which opened to the world the way into the holiest of all. Had Israel as a nation preserved her allegiance to Heaven, Jerusalem would have stood forever, the elect of God. Jeremiah 17:21-25. But the history of that favored people was a record of backsliding and rebellion. They had resisted Heaven's grace, abused their privileges, and slighted their opportunities. {GC 18.2}[4]
Although Israel had "mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets" (2 Chronicles 36:16), He had still manifested Himself to them, as "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6); notwithstanding repeated rejections, His mercy had continued its pleadings. With more than a father's pitying love for the son of his care, God had "sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling place." 2 Chronicles 36:15. When remonstrance, entreaty, and rebuke had failed, He sent to them the best gift of heaven; nay, He poured out all heaven in that one Gift. {GC 19.1}[5]
The Son of God Himself was sent to plead with the impenitent city. It was Christ that had brought Israel as a goodly vine out of Egypt. Psalm 80:8. His own hand had cast out the heathen before it. He had planted it "in a very fruitful hill." His guardian care had hedged it about. His servants had been sent to nurture it. "What could have been done more to My vineyard," He exclaims, "that I have not done in it?" Isaiah 5:1-4. Though when He looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes, yet with a still yearning hope of fruitfulness He came in person to His vineyard, if haply it might be saved from destruction. He digged about His vine; He pruned and cherished it. He was unwearied in His efforts to save this vine of His own planting. {GC 19.2}[6]
For three years the Lord of light and glory had gone in and out among His people. He "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil," binding up the brokenhearted, setting at liberty them that were bound, restoring sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk and the deaf to hear, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and preaching the gospel to the poor. Acts 10:38; Luke 4:18; Matthew 11:5. To all classes alike was addressed the gracious call: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. {GC 20.1}[7]
Though rewarded with evil for good, and hatred for His love (Psalm 109:5), He had steadfastly pursued His mission of mercy. Never were those repelled that sought His grace. A homeless wanderer, reproach and penury His daily lot, He lived to minister to the needs and lighten the woes of men, to plead with them to accept the gift of life. The waves of mercy, beaten back by those stubborn hearts, returned in a stronger tide of pitying, inexpressible love. But Israel had turned from her best Friend and only Helper. The pleadings of His love had been despised, His counsels spurned, His warnings ridiculed. {GC 20.2}[8]
The hour of hope and pardon was fast passing; the cup of God's long-deferred wrath was almost full. The cloud that had been gathering through ages of apostasy and rebellion, now black with woe, was about to burst upon a guilty people; and He who alone could save them from their impending fate had been slighted, abused, rejected, and was soon to be crucified. When Christ should hang upon the cross of Calvary, Israel's day as a nation favored and blessed of God would be ended. The loss of even one soul is a calamity infinitely outweighing the gains and treasures of a world; but as Christ looked upon Jerusalem, the doom of a whole city, a whole nation, was before Him--that city, that nation, which had once been the chosen of God, His peculiar treasure. {GC 20.3}[9]
Prophets had wept over the apostasy of Israel and the terrible desolations by which their sins were visited. Jeremiah wished that his eyes were a fountain of tears, that he might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of his people, for the Lord's flock that was carried away captive. Jeremiah 9:1; 13:17. What, then, was the grief of Him whose prophetic glance took in, not years, but ages! He beheld the destroying angel with sword uplifted against the city which had so long been Jehovah's dwelling place. From the ridge of Olivet, the very spot afterward occupied by Titus and his army, He looked across the valley upon the sacred courts and porticoes, and with tear-dimmed eyes He saw, in awful perspective, the walls surrounded by alien hosts. He heard the tread of armies marshaling for war. He heard the voice of mothers and children crying for bread in the besieged city. He saw her holy and beautiful house, her palaces and towers, given to the flames, and where once they stood, only a heap of smoldering ruins. {GC 21.1}[10]
Looking down the ages, He saw the covenant people scattered in every land, "like wrecks on a desert shore." In the temporal retribution about to fall upon her children, He saw but the first draft from that cup of wrath which at the final judgment she must drain to its dregs. Divine pity, yearning love, found utterance in the mournful words: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" O that thou, a nation favored above every other, hadst known the time of thy visitation, and the things that belong unto thy peace! I have stayed the angel of justice, I have called thee to repentance, but in vain. It is not merely servants, delegates, and prophets, whom thou hast refused and rejected, but the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer. If thou art destroyed, thou alone art responsible. "Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life." Matthew 23:37; John 5:40. {GC 21.2}[11]
Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief and rebellion, and hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of God. The woes of a fallen race, pressing upon His soul, forced from His lips that exceeding bitter cry. He saw the record of sin traced in human misery, tears, and blood; His heart was moved with infinite pity for the afflicted and suffering ones of earth; He yearned to relieve them all. But even His hand might not turn back the tide of human woe; few would seek their only Source of help. He was willing to pour out His soul unto death, to bring salvation within their reach; but few would come to Him that they might have life. {GC 22.1}[12]
The Majesty of heaven in tears! the Son of the infinite God troubled in spirit, bowed down with anguish! The scene filled all heaven with wonder. That scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows how hard a task it is, even for Infinite Power, to save the guilty from the consequences of transgressing the law of God. Jesus, looking down to the last generation, saw the world involved in a deception similar to that which caused the destruction of Jerusalem. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of Christ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God, the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. The precepts of Jehovah would be despised and set at nought. Millions in bondage to sin, slaves of Satan, doomed to suffer the second death, would refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visitation. Terrible blindness! strange infatuation! {GC 22.2}[13]
Two days before the Passover, when Christ had for the last time departed from the temple, after denouncing the hypocrisy of the Jewish rulers, He again went out with His disciples to the Mount of Olives and seated Himself with them upon the grassy slope overlooking the city. Once more He gazed upon its walls, its towers, and its palaces. Once more He beheld the temple in its dazzling splendor, a diadem of beauty crowning the sacred mount. {GC 23.1}[14]
A thousand years before, the psalmist had magnified God's favor to Israel in making her holy house His dwelling place: "In Salem also is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion." He "chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which He loved. And He built His sanctuary like high palaces." Psalm 76:2; 78:68, 69. The first temple had been erected during the most prosperous period of Israel's history. Vast stores of treasure for this purpose had been collected by King David, and the plans for its construction were made by divine inspiration. 1 Chronicles 28:12, 19. Solomon, the wisest of Israel's monarchs, had completed the work. This temple was the most magnificent building which the world ever saw. Yet the Lord had declared by the prophet Haggai, concerning the second temple: "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former." "I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." Haggai 2:9, 7. {GC 23.2}[15]
After the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar it was rebuilt about five hundred years before the birth of Christ by a people who from a lifelong captivity had returned to a wasted and almost deserted country. There were then among them aged men who had seen the glory of Solomon's temple, and who wept at the foundation of the new building, that it must be so inferior to the former. The feeling that prevailed is forcibly described by the prophet: "Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?" Haggai 2:3; Ezra 3:12. Then was given the promise that the glory of this latter house should be greater than that of the former. {GC 23.3}[16]
But the second temple had not equaled the first in magnificence; nor was it hallowed by those visible tokens of the divine presence which pertained to the first temple. There was no manifestation of supernatural power to mark its dedication. No cloud of glory was seen to fill the newly erected sanctuary. No fire from heaven descended to consume the sacrifice upon its altar. The Shekinah no longer abode between the cherubim in the most holy place; the ark, the mercy seat, and the tables of the testimony were not to be found therein. No voice sounded from heaven to make known to the inquiring priest the will of Jehovah. {GC 24.1}[17]
For centuries the Jews had vainly endeavored to show wherein the promise of God given by Haggai had been fulfilled; yet pride and unbelief blinded their minds to the true meaning of the prophet's words. The second temple was not honored with the cloud of Jehovah's glory, but with the living presence of One in whom dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily--who was God Himself manifest in the flesh. The "Desire of all nations" had indeed come to His temple when the Man of Nazareth taught and healed in the sacred courts. In the presence of Christ, and in this only, did the second temple exceed the first in glory. But Israel had put from her the proffered Gift of heaven. With the humble Teacher who had that day passed out from its golden gate, the glory had forever departed from the temple. Already were the Saviour's words fulfilled: "Your house is left unto you desolate." Matthew 23:38. {GC 24.2}[18]
The disciples had been filled with awe and wonder at Christ's prediction of the overthrow of the temple, and they desired to understand more fully the meaning of His words. Wealth, labor, and architectural skill had for more than forty years been freely expended to enhance its splendors. Herod the Great had lavished upon it both Roman wealth and Jewish treasure, and even the emperor of the world had enriched it with his gifts. Massive blocks of white marble, of almost fabulous size, forwarded from Rome for this purpose, formed a part of its structure; and to these the disciples had called the attention of their Master, saying: "See what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" Mark 13:1. {GC 24.3}[19]
To these words, Jesus made the solemn and startling reply: "Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Matthew 24:2. {GC 25.1}[20]
With the overthrow of Jerusalem the disciples associated the events of Christ's personal coming in temporal glory to take the throne of universal empire, to punish the impenitent Jews, and to break from off the nation the Roman yoke. The Lord had told them that He would come the second time. Hence at the mention of judgments upon Jerusalem, their minds reverted to that coming; and as they were gathered about the Saviour upon the Mount of Olives, they asked: "When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Verse 3. {GC 25.2}[21]
The future was mercifully veiled from the disciples. Had they at that time fully comprehend the two awful facts--the Redeemer's sufferings and death, and the destruction of their city and temple--they would have been overwhelmed with horror. Christ presented before them an outline of the prominent events to take place before the close of time. His words were not then fully understood; but their meaning was to be unfolded as His people should need the instruction therein given. The prophecy which He uttered was twofold in its meaning; while foreshadowing the destruction of Jerusalem, it prefigured also the terrors of the last great day. {GC 25.3}[22]
Jesus declared to the listening disciples the judgments that were to fall upon apostate Israel, and especially the retributive vengeance that would come upon them for their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah. Unmistakable signs would precede the awful climax. The dreaded hour would come suddenly and swiftly. And the Saviour warned His followers: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." Matthew 24:15, 16; Luke 21:20, 21. When the idolatrous standards of the Romans should be set up in the holy ground, which extended some furlongs outside the city walls, then the followers of Christ were to find safety in flight. When the warning sign should be seen, those who would escape must make no delay. Throughout the land of Judea, as well as in Jerusalem itself, the signal for flight must be immediately obeyed. He who chanced to be upon the housetop must not go down into his house, even to save his most valued treasures. Those who were working in the fields or vineyards must not take time to return for the outer garment laid aside while they should be toiling in the heat of the day. They must not hesitate a moment, lest they be involved in the general destruction. {GC 25.4}[23]
In the reign of Herod, Jerusalem had not only been greatly beautified, but by the erection of towers, walls, and fortresses, adding to the natural strength of its situation, it had been rendered apparently impregnable. He who would at this time have foretold publicly its destruction, would, like Noah in his day, have been called a crazed alarmist. But Christ had said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." Matthew 24:35. Because of her sins, wrath had been denounced against Jerusalem, and her stubborn unbelief rendered her doom certain. {GC 26.1}[24]
The Lord had declared by the prophet Micah: "Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us." Micah 3:9-11. {GC 26.2}[25]
These words faithfully described the corrupt and self-righteous inhabitants of Jerusalem. While claiming to observe rigidly the precepts of God's law, they were transgressing all its principles. They hated Christ because His purity and holiness revealed their iniquity; and they accused Him of being the cause of all the troubles which had come upon them in consequence of their sins. Though they knew Him to be sinless, they had declared that His death was necessary to their safety as a nation. "If we let Him thus alone," said the Jewish leaders, "all men will believe on Him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation." John 11:48. If Christ were sacrificed, they might once more become a strong, united people. Thus they reasoned, and they concurred in the decision of their high priest, that it would be better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish. {GC 27.1}[26]
Thus the Jewish leaders had built up "Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity." Micah 3:10. And yet, while they slew their Saviour because He reproved their sins, such was their self-righteousness that they regarded themselves as God's favored people and expected the Lord to deliver them from their enemies. "Therefore," continued the prophet, "shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest." Verse 12. {GC 27.2}[27]
For nearly forty years after the doom of Jerusalem had been pronounced by Christ Himself, the Lord delayed His judgments upon the city and the nation. Wonderful was the long-suffering of God toward the rejectors of His gospel and the murderers of His Son. The parable of the unfruitful tree represented God's dealings with the Jewish nation. The command had gone forth, "Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?" (Luke 13:7) but divine mercy had spared it yet a little longer. There were still many among the Jews who were ignorant of the character and the work of Christ. And the children had not enjoyed the opportunities or received the light which their parents had spurned. Through the preaching of the apostles and their associates, God would cause light to shine upon them; they would be permitted to see how prophecy had been fulfilled, not only in the birth and life of Christ, but in His death and resurrection. The children were not condemned for the sins of the parents; but when, with a knowledge of all the light given to their parents, the children rejected the additional light granted to themselves, they became partakers of the parents' sins, and filled up the measure of their iniquity. {GC 27.3}[28]
The long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem only confirmed the Jews in their stubborn impenitence. In their hatred and cruelty toward the disciples of Jesus they rejected the last offer of mercy. Then God withdrew His protection from them and removed His restraining power from Satan and his angels, and the nation was left to the control of the leader she had chosen. Her children had spurned the grace of Christ, which would have enabled them to subdue their evil impulses, and now these became the conquerors. Satan aroused the fiercest and most debased passions of the soul. Men did not reason; they were beyond reason--controlled by impulse and blind rage. They became satanic in their cruelty. In the family and in the nation, among the highest and the lowest classes alike, there was suspicion, envy, hatred, strife, rebellion, murder. There was no safety anywhere. Friends and kindred betrayed one another. Parents slew their children, and children their parents. The rulers of the people had no power to rule themselves. Uncontrolled passions made them tyrants. The Jews had accepted false testimony to condemn the innocent Son of God. Now false accusations made their own lives uncertain. By their actions they had long been saying: "Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us." Isaiah 30:11. Now their desire was granted. The fear of God no longer disturbed them. Satan was at the head of the nation, and the highest civil and religious authorities were under his sway. {GC 28.1}[29]
The leaders of the opposing factions at times united to plunder and torture their wretched victims, and again they fell upon each other's forces and slaughtered without mercy. Even the sanctity of the temple could not restrain their horrible ferocity. The worshipers were stricken down before the altar, and the sanctuary was polluted with the bodies of the slain. Yet in their blind and blasphemous presumption the instigators of this hellish work publicly declared that they had no fear that Jerusalem would be destroyed, for it was God's own city. To establish their power more firmly, they bribed false prophets to proclaim, even while Roman legions were besieging the temple, that the people were to wait for deliverance from God. To the last, multitudes held fast to the belief that the Most High would interpose for the defeat of their adversaries. But Israel had spurned the divine protection, and now she had no defense. Unhappy Jerusalem! rent by internal dissensions, the blood of her children slain by one another's hands crimsoning her streets, while alien armies beat down her fortifications and slew her men of war! {GC 29.1}[30]
All the predictions given by Christ concerning the destruction of Jerusalem were fulfilled to the letter. The Jews experienced the truth of His words of warning: "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Matthew 7:2. {GC 29.2}[31]
Signs and wonders appeared, foreboding disaster and doom. In the midst of the night an unnatural light shone over the temple and the altar. Upon the clouds at sunset were pictured chariots and men of war gathering for battle. The priests ministering by night in the sanctuary were terrified by mysterious sounds; the earth trembled, and a multitude of voices were heard crying: "Let us depart hence." The great eastern gate, which was so heavy that it could hardly be shut by a score of men, and which was secured by immense bars of iron fastened deep in the pavement of solid stone, opened at midnight, without visible agency.--Milman, The History of the Jews, book 13. {GC 29.3}[32]
For seven years a man continued to go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, declaring the woes that were to come upon the city. By day and by night he chanted the wild dirge: "A voice from the east! a voice from the west! a voice from the four winds! a voice against Jerusalem and against the temple! a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides! a voice against the whole people!"--Ibid. This strange being was imprisoned and scourged, but no complaint escaped his lips. To insult and abuse he answered only: "Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" "woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof!" His warning cry ceased not until he was slain in the siege he had foretold. {GC 30.1}[33]
Not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. Christ had given His disciples warning, and all who believed His words watched for the promised sign. "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies," said Jesus, "then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out." Luke 21:20, 21. After the Romans under Cestius had surrounded the city, they unexpectedly abandoned the siege when everything seemed favorable for an immediate attack. The besieged, despairing of successful resistance, were on the point of surrender, when the Roman general withdrew his forces without the least apparent reason. But God's merciful providence was directing events for the good of His own people. The promised sign had been given to the waiting Christians, and now an opportunity was offered for all who would, to obey the Saviour's warning. Events were so overruled that neither Jews nor Romans should hinder the flight of the Christians. Upon the retreat of Cestius, the Jews, sallying from Jerusalem, pursued after his retiring army; and while both forces were thus fully engaged, the Christians had an opportunity to leave the city. At this time the country also had been cleared of enemies who might have endeavored to intercept them. At the time of the siege, the Jews were assembled at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, and thus the Christians throughout the land were able to make their escape unmolested. Without delay they fled to a place of safety--the city of Pella, in the land of Perea, beyond Jordan. {GC 30.2}[34]
The Jewish forces, pursuing after Cestius and his army, fell upon their rear with such fierceness as to threaten them with total destruction. It was with great difficulty that the Romans succeeded in making their retreat. The Jews escaped almost without loss, and with their spoils returned in triumph to Jerusalem. Yet this apparent success brought them only evil. It inspired them with that spirit of stubborn resistance to the Romans which speedily brought unutterable woe upon the doomed city. {GC 31.1}[35]
Terrible were the calamities that fell upon Jerusalem when the siege was resumed by Titus. The city was invested at the time of the Passover, when millions of Jews were assembled within its walls. Their stores of provision, which if carefully preserved would have supplied the inhabitants for years, had previously been destroyed through the jealousy and revenge of the contending factions, and now all the horrors of starvation were experienced. A measure of wheat was sold for a talent. So fierce were the pangs of hunger that men would gnaw the leather of their belts and sandals and the covering of their shields. Great numbers of the people would steal out at night to gather wild plants growing outside the city walls, though many were seized and put to death with cruel torture, and often those who returned in safety were robbed of what they had gleaned at so great peril. The most inhuman tortures were inflicted by those in power, to force from the want-stricken people the last scanty supplies which they might have concealed. And these cruelties were not infrequently practiced by men who were themselves well fed, and who were merely desirous of laying up a store of provision for the future. {GC 31.2}[36]
Thousands perished from famine and pestilence. Natural affection seemed to have been destroyed. Husbands robbed their wives, and wives their husbands. Children would be seen snatching the food from the mouths of their aged parents. The question of the prophet, "Can a woman forget her sucking child?" received the answer within the walls of that doomed city: "The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people." Isaiah 49:15; Lamentations 4:10. Again was fulfilled the warning prophecy given fourteen centuries before: "The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, . . . and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates." Deuteronomy 28:56, 57. {GC 32.1}[37]
The Roman leaders endeavored to strike terror to the Jews and thus cause them to surrender. Those prisoners who resisted when taken, were scourged, tortured, and crucified before the wall of the city. Hundreds were daily put to death in this manner, and the dreadful work continued until, along the Valley of Jehoshaphat and at Calvary, crosses were erected in so great numbers that there was scarcely room to move among them. So terribly was visited that awful imprecation uttered before the judgment seat of Pilate: "His blood be on us, and on our children." Matthew 27:25. {GC 32.2}[38]
Titus would willingly have put an end to the fearful scene, and thus have spared Jerusalem the full measure of her doom. He was filled with horror as he saw the bodies of the dead lying in heaps in the valleys. Like one entranced, he looked from the crest of Olivet upon the magnificent temple and gave command that not one stone of it be touched. Before attempting to gain possession of this stronghold, he made an earnest appeal to the Jewish leaders not to force him to defile the sacred place with blood. If they would come forth and fight in any other place, no Roman should violate the sanctity of the temple. Josephus himself, in a most eloquent appeal, entreated them to surrender, to save themselves, their city, and their place of worship. But his words were answered with bitter curses. Darts were hurled at him, their last human mediator, as he stood pleading with them. The Jews had rejected the entreaties of the Son of God, and now expostulation and entreaty only made them more determined to resist to the last. In vain were the efforts of Titus to save the temple; One greater than he had declared that not one stone was to be left upon another. {GC 32.3}[39]
The blind obstinacy of the Jewish leaders, and the detestable crimes perpetrated within the besieged city, excited the horror and indignation of the Romans, and Titus at last decided to take the temple by storm. He determined, however, that if possible it should be saved from destruction. But his commands were disregarded. After he had retired to his tent at night, the Jews, sallying from the temple, attacked the soldiers without. In the struggle, a firebrand was flung by a soldier through an opening in the porch, and immediately the cedar-lined chambers about the holy house were in a blaze. Titus rushed to the place, followed by his generals and legionaries, and commanded the soldiers to quench the flames. His words were unheeded. In their fury the soldiers hurled blazing brands into the chambers adjoining the temple, and then with their swords they slaughtered in great numbers those who had found shelter there. Blood flowed down the temple steps like water. Thousands upon thousands of Jews perished. Above the sound of battle, voices were heard shouting: "Ichabod!"--the glory is departed. {GC 33.1}[40]
Titus found it impossible to check the rage of the soldiery; he entered with his officers, and surveyed the interior of the sacred edifice. The splendor filled them with wonder; and as the flames had not yet penetrated to the holy place, he made a last effort to save it, and springing forth, again exhorted the soldiers to stay the progress of the conflagration. The centurion Liberalis endeavored to force obedience with his staff of office; but even respect for the emperor gave way to the furious animosity against the Jews, to the fierce excitement of battle, and to the insatiable hope of plunder. The soldiers saw everything around them radiant with gold, which shone dazzlingly in the wild light of the flames; they supposed that incalculable treasures were laid up in the sanctuary. A soldier, unperceived, thrust a lighted torch between the hinges of the door: the whole building was in flames in an instant. The blinding smoke and fire forced the officers to retreat, and the noble edifice was left to its fate. {GC 33.2}[41]
It was an appalling spectacle to the Roman--what was it to the Jew? The whole summit of the hill which commanded the city, blazed like a volcano. One after another the buildings fell in, with a tremendous crash, and were swallowed up in the fiery abyss. The roofs of cedar were like sheets of flame; the gilded pinnacles shone like spikes of red light; the gate towers sent up tall columns of flame and smoke. The neighboring hills were lighted up; and dark groups of people were seen watching in horrible anxiety the progress of the destruction: the walls and heights of the upper city were crowded with faces, some pale with the agony of despair, others scowling unavailing vengeance. The shouts of the Roman soldiery as they ran to and fro, and the howlings of the insurgents who were perishing in the flames, mingled with the roaring of the conflagration and the thundering sound of falling timbers. The echoes of the mountains replied or brought back the shrieks of the people on the heights; all along the walls resounded screams and wailings; men who were expiring with famine rallied their remaining strength to utter a cry of anguish and desolation. {GC 34.1}[42]
The slaughter within was even more dreadful than the spectacle from without. Men and women, old and young, insurgents and priests, those who fought and those who entreated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminate carnage. The number of the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The legionaries had to clamber over heaps of dead to carry on the work of extermination.--Milman, The History of the Jews, book 16. {GC 35.1}[43]
After the destruction of the temple, the whole city soon fell into the hands of the Romans. The leaders of the Jews forsook their impregnable towers, and Titus found them solitary. He gazed upon them with amazement, and declared that God had given them into his hands; for no engines, however powerful, could have prevailed against those stupendous battlements. Both the city and the temple were razed to their foundations, and the ground upon which the holy house had stood was "plowed like a field." Jeremiah 26:18. In the siege and the slaughter that followed, more than a million of the people perished; the survivors were carried away as captives, sold as slaves, dragged to Rome to grace the conqueror's triumph, thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheaters, or scattered as homeless wanderers throughout the earth. {GC 35.2}[44]
The Jews had forged their own fetters; they had filled for themselves the cup of vengeance. In the utter destruction that befell them as a nation, and in all the woes that followed them in their dispersion, they were but reaping the harvest which their own hands had sown. Says the prophet: "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself;" "for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity." Hosea 13:9; 14:1. Their sufferings are often represented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of God. It is thus that the great deceiver seeks to conceal his own work. By stubborn rejection of divine love and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection of God to be withdrawn from them, and Satan was permitted to rule them according to his will. The horrible cruelties enacted in the destruction of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan's vindictive power over those who yield to his control. {GC 35.3}[45]
We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protection which we enjoy. It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under the control of Satan. The disobedient and unthankful have great reason for gratitude for God's mercy and long-suffering in holding in check the cruel, malignant power of the evil one. But when men pass the limits of divine forbearance, that restraint is removed. God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul, and no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan. The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and solemn warning to all who are trifling with the offers of divine grace and resisting the pleadings of divine mercy. Never was there given a more decisive testimony to God's hatred of sin and to the certain punishment that will fall upon the guilty. {GC 36.1}[46]
The Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a world that has rejected God's mercy and trampled upon His law. Dark are the records of human misery that earth has witnessed during its long centuries of crime. The heart sickens, and the mind grows faint in contemplation. Terrible have been the results of rejecting the authority of Heaven. But a scene yet darker is presented in the revelations of the future. The records of the past,--the long procession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions, the "battle of the warrior . . . with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood" (Isaiah 9:5),--what are these, in contrast with the terrors of that day when the restraining Spirit of God shall be wholly withdrawn from the wicked, no longer to hold in check the outburst of human passion and satanic wrath! The world will then behold, as never before, the results of Satan's rule. {GC 36.2}[47]
But in that day, as in the time of Jerusalem's destruction, God's people will be delivered, everyone that shall be found written among the living. Isaiah 4:3. Christ has declared that He will come the second time to gather His faithful ones to Himself: "Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matthew 24:30, 31. Then shall they that obey not the gospel be consumed with the spirit of His mouth and be destroyed with the brightness of His coming. 2 Thessalonians 2:8. Like Israel of old the wicked destroy themselves; they fall by their iniquity. By a life of sin, they have placed themselves so out of harmony with God, their natures have become so debased with evil, that the manifestation of His glory is to them a consuming fire. {GC 37.1}[48]
Let men beware lest they neglect the lesson conveyed to them in the words of Christ. As He warned His disciples of Jerusalem's destruction, giving them a sign of the approaching ruin, that they might make their escape; so He has warned the world of the day of final destruction and has given them tokens of its approach, that all who will may flee from the wrath to come. Jesus declares: "There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations." Luke 21:25; Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-26; Revelation 6:12-17. Those who behold these harbingers of His coming are to "know that it is near, even at the doors." Matthew 24:33. "Watch ye therefore," are His words of admonition. Mark 13:35. They that heed the warning shall not be left in darkness, that that day should overtake them unawares. But to them that will not watch, "the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." 1 Thessalonians 5:2-5. {GC 37.2}[49]
The world is no more ready to credit the message for this time than were the Jews to receive the Saviour's warning concerning Jerusalem. Come when it may, the day of God will come unawares to the ungodly. When life is going on in its unvarying round; when men are absorbed in pleasure, in business, in traffic, in money-making; when religious leaders are magnifying the world's progress and enlightenment, and the people are lulled in a false security--then, as the midnight thief steals within the unguarded dwelling, so shall sudden destruction come upon the careless and ungodly, "and they shall not escape." Verse 3. {GC 38.1}[50]
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