Recognising the time

“They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognise the time of God’s coming to you.” Luke 19:44
In Luke’s account of the Triumphal Entry, we see this unique view of Jesus’ reaction upon seeing the city of Jerusalem and the hardness of the hearts of the Pharisees. This was the only time during Jesus’ earthly ministry that He allowed people to treat Him like a king. On other times He had expressly forbidden them, or removed Himself from that place (see John 6:15, also Matt. 12:15-16, 16:20, Mark 3:11-12, 7:36, 8:29-30, 9:9, Luke 8:56, 9:20-21).
The Triumphal Entry was the fulfilment of Dan. 9:25 – “Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens’ [of years], and sixty-two ‘sevens’ [of years].” Thus, the prophecy says that from the decree to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem (note: not the Temple!), until the coming of Messiah the King, would be 69 x 7 = 483 years. This prophecy was fulfilled to the very day, culminating in the Triumphal Entry: Jesus, the Messiah, entering Jerusalem riding a donkey as per Zech. 9:9 [1]. But the Pharisees criticised Him – they didn’t recognise that this was the time of God’s coming. And as a result, Jerusalem was completely destroyed.
There’s a lesson here for us, too. While the Bible doesn’t give us a prophecy giving the exact day, it does tell us that Jesus is returning again, and it could be at any moment. Are we ready for Him?

[1] Sir Robert Anderson, The Coming Prince.