Luke 23:26-31

When they led him away, they grabbed one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it after Jesus. A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”

First of all, I’d like to say that it is good for us to protect the rights of the common man as we are supposed to do in the United States. Here we see that Rome had the right to take over a person’s life on the spot like they did here with Simon of Cyrene. It is interesting that he was a country boy. He probably didn’t know that this thing he was being forced to do would be one of the biggest blessings of his life. I need to remember this when I am forced to do something I don’t want to do. God is always the one in control and all things work out for the good of those who love God and are called by Him.

What Jesus says here continues the theme of what He had been saying before He was captured. The worst for Israel was yet to come and I believe that this is still true today. Not only is the worst to come for Israel but for all of the nations of the earth. Here’s what it says in Revelation:

Revelation 6:12-17

I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood. The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind. The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places. The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”

It will be bad when stars are really falling! It says that every mountain and island will be displaced! That’s one big worldwide earthquake. The strange thing is that instead of wanting to be free from it all, people will be asking for the rocks to fall on them. It is hard to imagine a time so bad, but that is what Jesus says is coming upon a world that rejects Him. Notice that in Revelation it is “the Lamb” who will be taking out His wrath on the earth, and that Lamb is this same Jesus that was warning these people.