Man's World

This is the mind of this present generation-like those who, in this chapter in Luke, "thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear." Things are so advanced, so refined, so cultivated by a multitude of fresh energies—moral, religious, and scientific—that under the success and progress of such energies, the world will be fit for Christ in a very little while. But no, it is man's world still, and this will never do for Christ. You may sweep and garnish the house, but it is the house of the old owner still. And for all the pains spent upon it, it is only the more fit for the old owner's designs, and in no way one single bit more suited to God's great and glorious purposes.
Jesus goes up to Jerusalem, but He found there a field of thorns and briars. There were money changers and sellers of doves in the temple of God. The house of prayer was a den of thieves. The rulers, chief priests, and scribes were seeking to destroy the Just One. The religion of the place was chief in the offense. Jesus wept over it. Instead of all being ready for the kingdom appearing immediately, all was ready for judgment, for the stones crying out immediately. And thus the city, as Jesus said of it, was soon to be entrenched and encompassed and laid even with the ground, instead of being the habitation of glory and the witness of the kingdom of God.