Let it be noted that our Lord does not say, " thou wouldest not," but " ye would not." — By this mode of speaking, He makes it plain, that He charges the guilt of Jerusalem on its inhabitants, the men and women who dwelt there, and specially on the priests, and Scribes, and Pharisees who govemea the city. They were neither willing to be gathered themselves, nor to let others round them be gathered. They neither entered in themselves into the kingdom, nor allowed others to enter. Christ was willing, but they were unwilling.
We must be careful however, not to confine " ye would not," to the Scribes, Pharisees, and rulers. The verse which follows shows clearly that our Lord includes all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
36. — [Your house is left, ..desolate."] These words mean, "Your temple, in which you glory, your holy and beautiful house, is now deprived of its gloiy. God has departed from it, and has no longer any pleasure in it."
[ Ye shall not see me until, do.] The meaning of these words, and the manner of their fulfilment, are points on which com- mentators are not agreed.
Some think that our Lord refers to His own triumphal entiy into Jerusalem, when He rode in upon an ass, just before His crucifixion, and all the city met Him, crying " Hosanna ! "
Some think that our Lord refers to the approaching destruc- tion of Jerusalem, when the ^Ifilment of all His predictions would oblige the Jews to confess that He was the Messiah. Bishop Pearce says, ** They will then remember what they did to me when I was among them, and will acknowledge that I am the Christ, the person who came in the name of the Lord. Accordingly, Eusebius tells us, that upon seeing that destruction, vast multitudes came over to the faith of Christ."
Some think that our Lord's words are not yet fulfilled, and that they refer to the last times, when the Jews after their last tribulation shall " look on Him, whom they pierced," and be- lieve, at the time of His second advent in glory.
I decidedly adhere to this last opinion. The triumphant entry into Jerusalem was a faint type, no doubt, of the honour which Christ will one day see in Jerusalem. But the Jewish nation, as a nation, never saw our Lord and honoured Him as the Messiah, during the whole period of His first advent. But "when He cometh with clouds every eye shall see Him, and tliey also which pierced Him." (Rev. i. 7.)