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In Hosea 5:14-15, God said,
“I will tear them to pieces and
go away… I will go back to my place until they admit their
guilt.”
In Matthew 23, Christ mourns,
“O 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, but you were not willing.
Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will
not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord’”
(Matt. 23:37-39).
He also said about the temple building,
“I tell you the
truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will
be thrown down”
(Matt. 24:2). Christ spoke these words in 30
A.D., and the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.
On the cross, Jesus said,
“Father, forgive them, for they do
not know what they are doing”
(Luke 23:34). The Father an-
swered the Son’s prayer, and judgement was not brought im-
mediately, but was postponed forty years.
The number 40 is God’s number of probation. Moses was
on probation 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the desert, and 40
years (along with Israel) in the wilderness. The reigns of Saul,
David, and Solomon each lasted 40 years. Nineveh was given
40 days to repent. Christ was tested 40 days by Satan, and was
with his disciples after his resurrection for 40 days.
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