The Triumphal Entry
Bible Study Time 4-1-07
Church links:
Bible Study Time 4-1-07
Last week we looked at the parable of the ten minas in Luke, Chapter 19. In that parable the Lord Jesus indicated that He was going to be going away so that He could be crowned as the King. The devil could not give the kingdoms of this world to Jesus, and the people did not have the authority to crown Jesus as their king, at least not in the same sense that the Father was going to crown Him King. No, the Lord Jesus would have to ascend into heaven for His coronation as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Luke said that when Jesus finished telling this parable, He “went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.” At this point, Jesus set His sights on Jerusalem, knowing that he would be falsely accused and crucified upon the cross.
Matthew 20 says that Jesus told His disciples:
Matthew 20:18-19 (NKJ)
18 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,
19 "and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again."
Then, according to Matthew 21:
Matthew 21:1-9 (NKJ)
1 . . . when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, . . . Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.
3 "And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."
4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"
6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.
8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' Hosanna in the highest!"
Here, Matthew tells us that the people took tree branches and spread them on the road, but it was John who revealed that these tree branches were from palm trees. Hence, we observe Palm Sunday, which commemorates the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Well, the triumphal entry is a name which is filled with paradox. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He was hailed as the Messiah, the Son of David, but He was actually on His way to suffer and die on the cross of Calvary. However, His death would be the means by which He would lead all believers to victory over death, hell and the grave, and it was the means by which He would claim His position as King over all of heaven and earth.
It was the prophet Zechariah who, four hundred years before the event, predicted that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem riding on the colt of a donkey. In Zechariah 9, we read:
Zechariah 9:9 (NKJ)
9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
How could Zechariah have known 400 years beforehand that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey? There’s no explanation for this prophesy except that God told Zechariah what was going to happen, and Zechariah simply wrote what God told him to write.
Anybody who denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins must deal with this issue of fulfilled prophesy. Fulfilled prophesy gives believers confidence in the word of God, but it also leaves unbelievers without excuse.
It will be a sad day when unbelievers come before the Lord on the Day of Judgment. They will hear the Lord say, I gave you my word. In black and white my prophets foretold the future. They gave the details concerning events that would happen hundreds of years in the future, and every one of those prophesies was fulfilled to a tee.
What response do you suppose unbelievers will have at that time? They will have no response because there will be nothing to say. They will be speechless before the Lord as the Lord says, “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.”
Immediately after Zechariah spoke of the Lord riding into Jerusalem on a colt, he spoke for God and said:
Zechariah 9:10 (NKJ)
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; his dominion shall be 'from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.'
Zechariah knew that the One who would come riding the colt would be the King who would speak peace to the nations and whose dominion would be from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
In this passage, Zechariah went straight from the Messiah’s triumphal entry to the kingdom, but that did not mean that he was unaware of the crucifixion. In Chapter 11, Zechariah said:
Zechariah 11:12-13 (NKJ)
12 . . . "If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain." So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"-- that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter.
Is it not true that Judas betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver? In Chapter 13, Zechariah wrote:
Zechariah 13:6 (NKJ)
6 "And one will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will answer, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'
Jesus came unto His own, but His own received Him not. He was wounded in the house of His friends, so to speak. But then Zechariah goes straight from the death of the Messiah to the tribulation period and then to the kingdom. He says:
Zechariah 13:7-9 (NKJ)
7 "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion," says the LORD of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; then I will turn My hand against the little ones.
8 And it shall come to pass in all the land," says the LORD, "That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it:
9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'This is My people'; and each one will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"
Zechariah predicts that after the Messiah is killed, the children of Israel will be scattered throughout the world, but then he says that when they return to the land, they will go through a terrible time of tribulation. Only a third of those people who are in the land at that time will be brought through this time of fiery tribulation, but their faith will be purified as a result of this fire. Those whom the Lord brings through the fire will call upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord will say, “This is My people.”
At this time the Lord will return to the earth to defend His people. Zechariah 9 says:
Zechariah 9:14-16 (NKJ)
14 Then the LORD will be seen over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and go with whirlwinds from the south.
15 The LORD of hosts will defend them . . .
16 The LORD their God will save them in that day, as the flock of His people. For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, lifted like a banner over His land--
Then Zechariah 12 says:
Zechariah 12:9-10 (NKJ)
9 "It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
When the Lord returns to the earth to defend the believing remnant, He will come with the sound of a trumpet, and His coming will be as the lightning which flashes from the east to the west. At that time, the believing remnant of Israel will at last look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they will morn. They will mourn, and they will repent. They will become the jewels in the crown of Jesus Christ, and they will rule with Him over all the earth.
Zechariah knew that the Messiah would come, riding on a donkey. He knew that the Messiah would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. He knew that the Messiah would be killed and that after His death, the children of Israel would be persecuted and scattered. He looked forward to the day when the believing Jews would rule and reign with Christ over all the earth.
But there was one thing that Zechariah did not know. He did not know that the resurrected Christ would be rejected by the nation of Israel, and neither did he know that God would temporarily set aside Israel’s kingdom program so that He could call out the Church of our present age.
For nearly 2000 years now, the Lord has been calling out the Church which is the Body of Christ. This church is made up of all those who come to Jesus and believe that He died on the cross for their sins. For the Church, this is the way of salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike.
As members of the Body of Christ, we are waiting for the time when Christ will catch us up to be with Him in heaven. Even saved Jews are not to be looking for the earthly kingdom. Our hope is the rapture of the Church, not the earthly kingdom.
This truth concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ was a great mystery which was never revealed to the prophets of old. In fact, it was never revealed to anyone until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul. Paul said that it was his greatest privilege to be able to reveal this secret to the world. He said:
Ephesians 3:8-9 (KJV)
8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Ephesians 3:3-6 (NKJ)
3 (For God) made known to me the mystery . . .
5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:
6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,
Well, as the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that colt, the people shouted,
Matthew 21:9 (NKJ)
9 . . . "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' Hosanna in the highest!"
This is quoted from Psalms, Chapter 118, where the Psalmist says:
Psalms 118:22-24 (NKJ)
22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This was the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
The Psalmist knew that the Messiah would be rejected, but he also knew that the rejected Messiah would become the cornerstone of the kingdom. “The day the Lord has made” is the Day of the Lord. It is the day in which the Lord rules over all the earth through the nation of Israel. Therefore, the Psalmist said, “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”
Only the Lord of glory could come up with such a marvelous plan to provide salvation for mankind and at the same time provide the means by which the kingdom could be established. No one could bind the Lord of glory and crucify Him. This was the Lord’s doing. The Lord Jesus said:
John 10:17-18 (NKJ)
17 " . . . I lay down My life that I may take it again.
18 "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."
The Lord Jesus laid down His life and then took it up again so that He could provide redemption for all of His creation. As the Psalmist reflected upon these wonderful truths, he said:
Psalms 118:26-27 (NKJ)
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.
27 God is the LORD, and He has given us light; bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
Jesus Christ is the light of the world, but He came to provide the sacrifice for sin. Therefore, the Psalmist said, “Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.”
Luke says that when the Pharisees heard the people praising the Lord and saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord,” they told Jesus to rebuke His disciples:
Luke 19:40 (NKJ)
40 But (Jesus) answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."
Isn’t it wonderful to know that the Lord Jesus can take even the most hardened heart and make it a heart that sings praises to His name? If you have resisted the call of the Holy Spirit upon your life, today is the day of salvation. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and call upon His name. Jesus died for your sins, and if you only believe, He will fill your heart and your mouth with praise.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’s been a pleasure studying with you, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Luke said that when Jesus finished telling this parable, He “went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.” At this point, Jesus set His sights on Jerusalem, knowing that he would be falsely accused and crucified upon the cross.
Matthew 20 says that Jesus told His disciples:
Matthew 20:18-19 (NKJ)
18 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,
19 "and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again."
Then, according to Matthew 21:
Matthew 21:1-9 (NKJ)
1 . . . when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, . . . Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.
3 "And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."
4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"
6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.
8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' Hosanna in the highest!"
Here, Matthew tells us that the people took tree branches and spread them on the road, but it was John who revealed that these tree branches were from palm trees. Hence, we observe Palm Sunday, which commemorates the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Well, the triumphal entry is a name which is filled with paradox. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He was hailed as the Messiah, the Son of David, but He was actually on His way to suffer and die on the cross of Calvary. However, His death would be the means by which He would lead all believers to victory over death, hell and the grave, and it was the means by which He would claim His position as King over all of heaven and earth.
It was the prophet Zechariah who, four hundred years before the event, predicted that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem riding on the colt of a donkey. In Zechariah 9, we read:
Zechariah 9:9 (NKJ)
9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
How could Zechariah have known 400 years beforehand that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey? There’s no explanation for this prophesy except that God told Zechariah what was going to happen, and Zechariah simply wrote what God told him to write.
Anybody who denies that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins must deal with this issue of fulfilled prophesy. Fulfilled prophesy gives believers confidence in the word of God, but it also leaves unbelievers without excuse.
It will be a sad day when unbelievers come before the Lord on the Day of Judgment. They will hear the Lord say, I gave you my word. In black and white my prophets foretold the future. They gave the details concerning events that would happen hundreds of years in the future, and every one of those prophesies was fulfilled to a tee.
What response do you suppose unbelievers will have at that time? They will have no response because there will be nothing to say. They will be speechless before the Lord as the Lord says, “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.”
Immediately after Zechariah spoke of the Lord riding into Jerusalem on a colt, he spoke for God and said:
Zechariah 9:10 (NKJ)
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; his dominion shall be 'from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.'
Zechariah knew that the One who would come riding the colt would be the King who would speak peace to the nations and whose dominion would be from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
In this passage, Zechariah went straight from the Messiah’s triumphal entry to the kingdom, but that did not mean that he was unaware of the crucifixion. In Chapter 11, Zechariah said:
Zechariah 11:12-13 (NKJ)
12 . . . "If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain." So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"-- that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter.
Is it not true that Judas betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver? In Chapter 13, Zechariah wrote:
Zechariah 13:6 (NKJ)
6 "And one will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will answer, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'
Jesus came unto His own, but His own received Him not. He was wounded in the house of His friends, so to speak. But then Zechariah goes straight from the death of the Messiah to the tribulation period and then to the kingdom. He says:
Zechariah 13:7-9 (NKJ)
7 "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion," says the LORD of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; then I will turn My hand against the little ones.
8 And it shall come to pass in all the land," says the LORD, "That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it:
9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'This is My people'; and each one will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"
Zechariah predicts that after the Messiah is killed, the children of Israel will be scattered throughout the world, but then he says that when they return to the land, they will go through a terrible time of tribulation. Only a third of those people who are in the land at that time will be brought through this time of fiery tribulation, but their faith will be purified as a result of this fire. Those whom the Lord brings through the fire will call upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord will say, “This is My people.”
At this time the Lord will return to the earth to defend His people. Zechariah 9 says:
Zechariah 9:14-16 (NKJ)
14 Then the LORD will be seen over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and go with whirlwinds from the south.
15 The LORD of hosts will defend them . . .
16 The LORD their God will save them in that day, as the flock of His people. For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, lifted like a banner over His land--
Then Zechariah 12 says:
Zechariah 12:9-10 (NKJ)
9 "It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
When the Lord returns to the earth to defend the believing remnant, He will come with the sound of a trumpet, and His coming will be as the lightning which flashes from the east to the west. At that time, the believing remnant of Israel will at last look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they will morn. They will mourn, and they will repent. They will become the jewels in the crown of Jesus Christ, and they will rule with Him over all the earth.
Zechariah knew that the Messiah would come, riding on a donkey. He knew that the Messiah would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. He knew that the Messiah would be killed and that after His death, the children of Israel would be persecuted and scattered. He looked forward to the day when the believing Jews would rule and reign with Christ over all the earth.
But there was one thing that Zechariah did not know. He did not know that the resurrected Christ would be rejected by the nation of Israel, and neither did he know that God would temporarily set aside Israel’s kingdom program so that He could call out the Church of our present age.
For nearly 2000 years now, the Lord has been calling out the Church which is the Body of Christ. This church is made up of all those who come to Jesus and believe that He died on the cross for their sins. For the Church, this is the way of salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike.
As members of the Body of Christ, we are waiting for the time when Christ will catch us up to be with Him in heaven. Even saved Jews are not to be looking for the earthly kingdom. Our hope is the rapture of the Church, not the earthly kingdom.
This truth concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ was a great mystery which was never revealed to the prophets of old. In fact, it was never revealed to anyone until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul. Paul said that it was his greatest privilege to be able to reveal this secret to the world. He said:
Ephesians 3:8-9 (KJV)
8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Ephesians 3:3-6 (NKJ)
3 (For God) made known to me the mystery . . .
5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:
6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,
Well, as the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that colt, the people shouted,
Matthew 21:9 (NKJ)
9 . . . "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' Hosanna in the highest!"
This is quoted from Psalms, Chapter 118, where the Psalmist says:
Psalms 118:22-24 (NKJ)
22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This was the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
The Psalmist knew that the Messiah would be rejected, but he also knew that the rejected Messiah would become the cornerstone of the kingdom. “The day the Lord has made” is the Day of the Lord. It is the day in which the Lord rules over all the earth through the nation of Israel. Therefore, the Psalmist said, “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”
Only the Lord of glory could come up with such a marvelous plan to provide salvation for mankind and at the same time provide the means by which the kingdom could be established. No one could bind the Lord of glory and crucify Him. This was the Lord’s doing. The Lord Jesus said:
John 10:17-18 (NKJ)
17 " . . . I lay down My life that I may take it again.
18 "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."
The Lord Jesus laid down His life and then took it up again so that He could provide redemption for all of His creation. As the Psalmist reflected upon these wonderful truths, he said:
Psalms 118:26-27 (NKJ)
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.
27 God is the LORD, and He has given us light; bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
Jesus Christ is the light of the world, but He came to provide the sacrifice for sin. Therefore, the Psalmist said, “Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.”
Luke says that when the Pharisees heard the people praising the Lord and saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord,” they told Jesus to rebuke His disciples:
Luke 19:40 (NKJ)
40 But (Jesus) answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."
Isn’t it wonderful to know that the Lord Jesus can take even the most hardened heart and make it a heart that sings praises to His name? If you have resisted the call of the Holy Spirit upon your life, today is the day of salvation. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and call upon His name. Jesus died for your sins, and if you only believe, He will fill your heart and your mouth with praise.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’s been a pleasure studying with you, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
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