INTRODUCTION:
It was Sunday Morning, March 29th, 33AD. The Sabbath had just ended and THE NEXT THURSDAY AND FRIDAY WAS PASSOVER!
PASSOVER is always on the 14th of Nisan, so PASSOVER for that year was only 4 days away!
PASSOVER was, and still is, one of the two most important Holy Days for the Jew.
Thursday was beginning of the last legitimate PASSOVER, and on that, “Maundy Thursday” Jesus gathered HIS Twelve Disciples in an Upper Room to celebrate the Meal with them.
It was at that Meal that Jesus washed their feet and it was from that Meal that Judas left to betray HIM.
It is vitally important for us to understand that when Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem as the KING, this was a completely legitimate OFFER of the Kingdom to Israel.
Had they repented of their sins and received HIM as their KING, HE would have established the Kingdom of David on earth right then and right there.
But, of course, rather than receive HIM they rejected HIM.
John 19:14-16
(14) “Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. [Pilate] said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” (15) They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” (16) So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.”
The offer was real, the KING was ready; but the same crowds that shouted “Hosanna” on Sunday cried “Crucify” on Friday.
Mark tells us that as Jesus approached HIS City, the crowd cried, “Hosanna!”
Mark 11:8-10
(8) “And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. (9) And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! (10) Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”
“Hosanna” means, “Save Now!”
EXPOSITION:
19:28-34 Jesus is God the Son in Human Flesh. HE is sovereign over all things and HE had, HIMSELF, decreed these events. Therefore, HE was able to tell HIS disciples what would happen with a donkey before it happened.
(28) “And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. (29) When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, (30) saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. (31) If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” (32) So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. (33) And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
(34) And they said, “The Lord has need of it.”
The Biblical Doctrine of “The Aseity of God” teaches that God is eternally self-sufficient and therefore does not need anything.
But Jesus, the Son of Man, needed a donkey and HE needed HIS disciples to go and get the donkey!
What an honor to serve HIM… for them then and for us now!
Fetching a donkey was a small thing, yet it was needed for God’s eternal plan. Many of the things we have the opportunity to do may seem small – and may, in fact be a small thing – but every little thing that we can do for the LORD is needed for HIS will to be fulfilled.
19:35 Since Jesus had decreed these events before the foundation of the world, HE was able to inspire the Prophet Zechariah 550 years before to write in Chapter 9 and verse 9 of his prophecy!
“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.”
(35) “And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it….”
No one states this more clearly than Simon Peter does in Acts 2:22-23
(22) “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— (23) this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”
All things have gone, are going, and will continue to go exactly as Jesus has decreed that they go!
Paul reminds the Ephesians (and us) of this great truth…
Ephesians 1:11-12
(11) “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, (12) so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”
* Spreading one’s garment before a King was considered an act of homage to HIM.
19:36-38 Because HE is God in human flesh, Jesus accepted their worship and came into the City of HIS Father David to offer HIS people their KING and HIS Kingdom!
(36) “And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. (37) 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, (38) saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
(39) The religious hypocrites of HIS day asked HIM to tell the people to stop treating HIM as if HE were the Messiah. Their problem was… HE IS THE MESSIAH!
(39) And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
19:40 Jesus gives HIS people the wonderful honor of praising HIM, but HE does not need our praise. Creation itself continually cries out the praise of Jesus!
(40) He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Psalm 19:1-3
(1) “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (2) Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. (3) There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.”
19:41-44 The price that is paid for rejecting Jesus was – and still is – horrifically high!
(41) And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, (42) saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
(43) For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side (44) and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
The vast majority of the Jews rejected Jesus immediately, completely, and continually.
This prophecy of their destruction was fulfilled in 70AD when Roman General Titus breached the walls of Jerusalem and destroyed the City.
It would be May 14th, 1948 (1,878 years later) before Jerusalem was once again a Jewish City, and even now it is a divided City.
WE MUST NOT MISS THE BROKEN HEART OF JESUS OVER THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WICKED DEMONSTRATED HERE.
It is easy for Christians to seek to be “Christlike” but, if we are to really be like Christ, we must also have hearts that are broken over the destruction of the wicked!
Revelation 20:11-15
(11) “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. (12) And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. (13) And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. (14) Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. (15) And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
AMEN!
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