Luke 19:28-40 And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a [donkey’s] colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered,
“I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
This last Sunday, Pastor Obie delivered the Palm Sunday sermon of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, begin Passover and the first day of Holy Week in the Christian faith. He being a first-time father, states that knowing that your child is coming, changes your life because you are preparing for the coming of your son or daughter. The people were not prepared for the coming of the Son of God 2000+ years ago, but we can learn to be prepared because Jesus is coming back and we need to be ready.
Up until this point, Jesus had been ministering for approximately three years, teaching and preaching about the kingdom of God, performing miracles and healing people. He gained a following and created quite a stir with the religious leaders. Everything culminated this week in Jerusalem. It is the tenth day of the Jewish month of Nissan. This event is written about in all four Gospels. One third of Matthew’s Gospel account is about the final week of Jesus’ life. In the Gospel according to John, this final week takes up one half of the book. The Bible is historically accurate; it informs us, we don’t inform it. The primary point of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday was Jesus making the statement that He is the Messiah. His arrival was a “red carpel” debut entrance, fulfilling the messianic prophesies of His coming.
Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” In fulfilling this prophesy, Jesus is stating the He is the King riding in humbly on a colt in a royal gesture of peace. The timing of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem is incredible. Daniel 9:24-27 speaks of the 70 weeks prophesy where he says that the Messiah will come to Jerusalem four hundred and eighty-three years from the day that the decree went out to rebuild and restore Jerusalem. By the investigative research and archeological data, we know that the decree was an order sent out by King Artaxerxes on March 14, 445 BC. Using math and the 360 day Jewish calendar, 483 years amounted to 173,880 days, landing the prophesy of the coming Messiah on exactly the tenth day of the month of Nissan in 32 AD., which is the exact date that Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey. The tenth day of Nissan was also the day that Jewish worshipers selected their sacrificial lamb for the fourteenth day at the Passover pilgrimage. Jesus was the Lamb of God sent to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Jesus was announcing and making an undeniable public statement that He was the prophesied Messiah, the coming King, the Prince of Peace and had arrived, knowing full well that this would set off the domino-effect that would lead to His crucifixion.
Let's continue Pastor Obie's Palm Sunday message in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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