(Luke 13:34) Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

Here in this lament over Jerusalem, Jesus expresses God’s desire to care for and protect His chosen people, but like so many of us, they refused the call of God.  You can almost hear the sadness in His voice as He recalls the many times, He desired to gather His children to Himself. 

Jesus was just days away from His death on the cross when he spoke these words of lament.  The Son of God was about to take on the sins of those who rejected Him.  We were about to be given the greatest gift that mankind would ever be offered, yet to this day many reject God’s call to repent and receive eternal life.

I have been teaching through the book of Revelations.  As I am coming to the end of the book, I read that those experiencing God’s final wrath against the sins of the world still refuse to repent.  Rather, they curse God clinging to their ungodly ways to the very end.

For those of us who have accepted God’s call to return to Him, we have the promise of eternal life with Him in a sinless and new heaven and earth.  Our sins are forgiven and covered by the blood that Jesus shed.  So, no matter what this world may throw at us, let’s stay close to our God.  In the end, it will all be rewarded if we keep the faith.  How foolish it is to reject the call of God!