Chapter 75. The Fifteenth Argument: Manifesting the Exceeding Willingness of God to Be Reconciled to
Chapter 75.
The Fifteenth Argument: Manifesting the Exceeding Willingness of God to Be Reconciled to Sinners But further, the Lord shows his willingness to be reconciled to sinners in this: that when one way will not prevail, and you might think there is no other way to be found, yet there is another. When
God deals in a familiar way, as man to man, when he has presented his arguments, answered objections, been importunate, and pleaded, then, sometimes (if it is a tender-hearted person), his heart might even break within him, and he is ready to burst into tears because of the stubbornness and wilfulness of such a one who is set on ruining himself and standing out against so much reason. This tends to prevail more than all other arguments, especially when he is speaking to someone he has a relationship with, such as a father to a child.
The father may persuade the child, answer what the child has to say, be importunate, and appeal to the conscience of the child, yet the child remains stubborn. Eventually, the father or mother can no longer hold back and bursts into tears, lamenting the hardness of heart in such a one. Now, if a stubborn child were to look in through a keyhole and see his father or mother shedding tears because of his hardness of heart, that child would surely be convinced of this: "Now certainly, my father loves me, and all he does is for my good."
Certainly, this is what Christ did when he came to Jerusalem; he wept over it. On what grounds? "Oh, that thou hadst known, in this thy day, the things that concern thy peace! Oh, that thou hadst known!" And Christ began to weep.
We must understand that Christ's tears at that time concern sinners now, as truly and verily as they concerned sinners at that very moment. We are to view Christ's behaviour towards sinners in former times as still relevant to us today, among us and concerning us.
Now, I would appeal to you: suppose Christ were born into this world in the flesh once more, as he was before, and he came and looked towards this commonwealth. Suppose he came here and said, "Oh,
England, England, oh, that thou hadst known the things that concern thy peace," and he wept over London or wept over Westminster, just as he wept over that city of Jerusalem. Would this not break our hearts? Would we not take this as a great argument that Christ was truly desirous of the peace of this city or place?
Now, concerning every particular soul, this is true. Everyone should apply that Scripture to themselves, as if Christ stood weeping over them and saying, "Oh, that thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things that concern thy peace." Would this not break your hearts
—this town to which Christ sends his Gospel? Suppose you could see him bodily, standing here, with one tear trickling down after another, saying, "Oh, that this people knew the things that concern their peace, at least in this their day when they have an opportunity in their hands, before the Gospel sun goes down or is eclipsed!" Surely, we would say that Christ's tears demonstrate the deep compassion of his heart towards them, as if their time might not continue long. "Oh, that they knew it now!"
If you saw Christ thus weeping, I believe this would be a powerful argument to you that Christ is willing to be reconciled to you. We are,
I say, to consider that Scripture as if it were happening now. And though Christ does not shed tears now in heaven, there is as much