Matthew 23:39

39. Ye shall not see me In the word ye Jesus still considers Jerusalem as being the same historical and national person through all ages. Till ye In your posterity in a future age. Blessed is he The language by which the children in the temple recognized him as the Messiah. Psalms 118:6.

The meaning of the whole is, that the Jews shall be converted to Christ as a race, and doubtless Jerusalem as a city be restored, before the second coming of Christ.

Thus does this most terrible of all discourses first soften to the language of tender pity, and at last close with a valid promise. He could now bid Jerusalem farewell; to that generation a final farewell. Yet not final to Jerusalem, for she shall see his face again. But before that time one condition was foreseen as to be fulfilled. She should have acknowledged him as her true Messiah. How long the interval between that conversion and that advent, he does not say. In the prospective of the vast distance, the two events seem not now far apart. Yet long ages may intervene between the two. Jesus only declares that the latter shall not take place until after the former. See note on Matthew 24:14.

Our Lord’s public ministry has now closed. He departs from the temple, in whose court he had delivered this last discourse of terror and tenderness. Henceforth he retires to the bosom of his own disciples to prepare himself for the sacrifice.

There is a locality outside the wall which now encloses the grounds of the ancient temple, called, “The wailing place of the Jews.” By paying for the privilege, the Jews of Jerusalem resort to this spot every Friday, and bewail the fall of their nation and temple. This scene of sorrow, mournfully illustrates how truly their house is left unto them desolate. Yet it suggests the hope that Israel is preserved for purposes yet unfulfilled.