About three more weeks before Easter coming out next month. So it is a very appropriate time. I want to talk about one major statement that’s so powerfully uttered from the lips of Jesus that that really just. The consolidated a lot of thoughts in Christianity and the Christian should really take heed of what he said in this statement in : Luke 23: ²⁸ But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

They led Jesus away and seized Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross behind Jesus who was badly whipped, wounded, dripping with blood and too weak to carry the cross.  And verse 27 they that followed him was a great multitude of the people and women were mourning and lamenting for him.

Jesus said daughters of Jerusalem. “Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”  When I read that, I just like choked. And you know what? When he said that he was actually bleeding badly on his hair forehead. The thorns was already pierced into his skull and he was whipped so badly. Literally there were just a body with the marks of the whips and blood just flowing from her body from his body. And then he had to carry the cross but Simon of Cyrene helped him to carry the cross. And you know, and its like public parade, public shame and people, great multitude of people followed him, crying and mourning for him.

And people were just totally confused about this man whom they thought was the Messiah who’s going to redeem Israel and set Israel from the bondage of Rome. He raised the dead even walked on stormy water, and opened the eyes of the blind, raised the crippled cleansed the leprous. What else he can do; you know he will. He calmed the storm. He rebuked the winds. Everything he did was supernatural. He fed 5000 thousand 15,000 men and women with two fish and five loaves of bread just like that. And his speech was full of authority and grace.

This man, Jesus Christ, was full of truth and grace, and people loved him and he loved little children. He said, let the children come to me with the Kingdom of God belongs to people like the little children. He said that unless you become a little children, you can’t enter the Kingdom of God. I mean, listen to this man. Oh graceful words were falling out of his mouth, you know, and he’s  teaching us. On the Kingdom of God , he said that the smallest seed eventually become the biggest tree you know. Kingdom of God is always the antidote antithesis to what is perceived strong.

Strong in the world, and he is the man, he said, daughters, and don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. Why?

²⁹ For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ ³⁰ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ ³¹ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

OK, now this is substantially this is a Jesus is actually quoting  old Testament Hosea, saying, this is the time God’s judging the idolatrous Israel to the point that it was judgment so bad that people were crying out to the mountains, “fall upon us, fall upon us”, we can’t take this. This judgment from God is too severe, it’s just they rather just die now.

You know there’s a such horrific so I want to bring a couple of things here number one the end time judgment is going to be so horrific for those people without God who rejected God, rejected the divinity of Christ and rejected his redemption. Is he saying as a Messiah, the savior of the world? I mean, the judgment is going to be absolutely one heck of a horrific incident, the last forever and ever.

The judgement got so strong because the grace of God is so strong. Do you see the contrast? God is not just to pour on such great rough on the day of judgement, if he had not already poured us such great grace on the cross. Because of such horrific wrath coming, Jesus was prepared to die a horrific death for the sake of saving us and opening up an opportunity for us. But many people rejected him today. But many people have received him. The call is yours, the core is ours. There’s not going to be like sort of. I tried. I don’t want it, you know? You just have to believe and trust in him. OK, this first is horrific judgement and wrath of God coming.

The second thing is: When Jesus says, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, weep for yourself”,  you know who is He speaking. This is God-Man.

Because he sees what’s coming. What is happening to him now is nothing compared to what is coming. In the eschatological age, when the end time comes. Is going to be 1000 * 1,000,000 times more horrific than what you see on the cross. And but even what Jesus experienced on the cross is already absolutely horrendous and horrific to any sane person. The crucifixion could have caused any man to be insane and died on the spot, or somebody excruciating pain.

But for Jesus, he was willing to suck it up, endured the deep pain, anguish, shame. Don’t weep for me. It’s like transforming. I believe that he was able to suck it up and turned around, said, “Don’t weep for me, weep for yourselves”. He looks for no pity. In front of his shows his compassion to other people, to us, even at the point of death!  This is literally hours before his death. He was already half dead. Physically, he was just drenched. Emotionally drenched. Publicly shamed with saliva on his body, blood all over his body, the shame and pain. He went through, he could take that. It is amazing. I don’t think anybody with any normal human ability will be able to take it. Its astounding, its beyond human capacity. You can’t say he’s God at that moment because God doesn’t suffer this way. He’s fully man. So I’m just saying that he sees the glorious future. He’s going to go through it. Don’t weep for me. Don’t cry. Almost reminds me of the song don’t cry for me Argentina. Don’t cry for me. Don’t weep for me. Weep for yourselves.

Number 3:  people must see which is the real number deal:  Jesus is saying: You see what is horrific, but what you don’t see is the horrific, even much more horrific things on yourselves.

If you don’t repent and put your trust in what I’m doing now on the cross for you? Under the shame & death?

No more. Three days later, back to normal and back to health. Back to fully human and fully God again, as usual, he’s still fully God. And in three day’s time he’s human and came back to life. And that he’s going to proclaim the Gospel, empower his disciples and then go back to heaven. He said that’s what happened. Three more days, “Give me three more days, it shall be done.” Hallelujah. That’s why Jesus told the messenger who informed Jesus that Herod wanted to arrest him and kill him, “Go and tell that fox to destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up.”  This precisely what it means. He is speaking by himself. He is the temple. Three more days. Don’t weep for me. Weep for yourself, folks. Amen.