"As they *approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He *sent two of His disciples, and *said to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here." They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they *untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. They *brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:
"Hosanna!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David;
Hosanna in the highest!"
Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late."
Good Morning my beloved,
It's as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:16, "For if I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is
me if I do not preach the gospel!"
Not having kings in America, most of us are not accustomed to the coronation ceremony that takes place in the royal family, with the bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head to establish and affirm the sovereign right of a king. That is until the coronation of Prince Charles being installed as king, after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned on the throne for 70 years. Throughout history, many kings have imagined themselves to have divine rights, an unrealistic sense of superiority to rule as sovereigns, a word often used but not always understood. Sovereign means absolutely nothing can happen without direction or permission. Jesus is no ordinary king, He is the King of kings! In spite of that, His triumphal entry is unlike any other coronation of any other king. Jesus has already demonstrated that He is the true King, but this is certainly not an official coronation in any sense, it's more like a parade procession. I say parade because His true coronation on earth hasn't happened yet, although He's already taken His seat, and is reigning at the right hand of the throne of God.
This fits with what He said to Pilate in John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm."
When the Lord Jesus returns to earth to establish His kingdom, it will be anything but humble, still, this is a very important event in God’s plan of redemption, it marks the beginning of the end of Jesus' time here on earth. This is the week leading to the cross and the resurrection, and Jesus is determined to go to Jerusalem, even though those closest to Him have been advising Him against it. It's Passover week, and on Friday, tens of thousands of lambs will be slain, offered as a sacrifice for sin, none of which can actually take away anyone’s sin. However, this Passover, there will be one true sacrifice made, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, that will take away the sins of the world, those who have believed throughout all of human history!
This is week of many contrasts for Jesus, His popularity throughout the area had significantly increased, His ministry had never been more successful and at the same time, so had the hatred of the religious leaders who Him from the beginning and wanted to see Him dead, for attacking their apostate false religion. However, they weren't prepared to execute Him on the Passover, that is until their desire to kill Him escalated, leaving them no choice. At the beginning of the week the crowds are enthusiastically declaring Him to be the Messiah and by the weeks end, they're hostilely shouting "Crucify Him!" So He would become the true Passover Lamb, exactly the way God designed it, on His divine schedule!
That's the way it's always been with Jesus Christ; there are those who faithfully love and adore Him, and those who have their own agenda, their expectations of what they want Him to do, and those that love their sin that despise Him.
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father,
Father, thank You for the profound of Your Word. Help us to see You as You are, not who we perceive You to be, and what You have done for us and know what You expect from us, that we might pursue sanctification with all our hearts and not superficially, so that we may serve You more faithfully. Lord, I pray anyone here who is pretending to be obedient, but has a rebellious heart, work in their hearts and grant them repentance and transform their life, for Your glory.
In Jesus' precious name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: The Coronation of the Messiah
Open your
Bibles, if you would, to the eleventh chapter in the Gospel of
Mark, verses one through eleven. Follow along with me, if you will as I read these verses to you. I invite you to open your hearts and your minds, to hear what God has to say for us today, as we look at the mock coronation of the true King.
"As they *approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He *sent two of His disciples, and *said to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here." They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they *untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. They *brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:
"Hosanna!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David;
Hosanna in the highest!"
Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late."
You will recall, up to this point Jesus didn’t allow any public declaration that He is the Messiah to happen, in fact, while He had been ministering to people, and performing miracles, He repeatedly instructed be people not to tell anyone about who He is. In Mark 8, after Peter had confessed "You are the Christ," He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day."
There was the one occasion when people saw the miracle which He had performed, He perceived that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He fled to the mountain by Himself to be alone, because He knew the negative implications it would have on the Jewish religious leaders, who already wanted Him dead, and the time had not yet come for Him to die. Now, that time has come to incite His enemies to aggressively act at precisely the right time, with the largest crowd possible present, so that He would be crucified on exactly the right day, so the He would die as the Passover Lamb, slain for the sins of His people, according to God's divine schedule. In those days, there would be a massive crowd in Jerusalem at Passover, as many as two million people going to all the feasts and festivals with more than a quarter of a million lambs slain.
So, as this chapter begins, Jesus is moving closer to Jerusalem, as He often did, however, this Passover, will be much different, as it would be His last. This is going to be a time of decision for a lot of people, for the disciples, they would have to decide if they would go with Him,
putting their own lives at risk, or if they would wait to see how things
work out. For the religious leaders, they would have to decide to expedite their plans to arrest Him, try Him and kill Him with large gathering crowds around Him, which they previously sought to avoid because they were afraid of the people. The truth is, they really didn't have a choice. God’s perfect timing would reach it's culmination through the series of the coming events, even though none of them would have understood that.
Let's look at at verse 1, "As they *approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He *sent two of His disciples." According to John chapter 12, it was six days before the Passover, so it was Saturday when came to the area of Bethphage and Bethany, Bethany was the little village where Lazarus Mary, and Martha lived, where He recently raised Lazarus from the dead, near the Mount of Olives which is on the east side. By the way, it is no longer called Bethany, it’s called Al-Eizariya; named after Lazarus. So He would have stayed with Lazarus Mary, and Martha that Saturday, and John tells us "they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. And Mary then took a pound of very costly
perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet
with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the
perfume." It's interesting that Judas Iscariot was the only one who had problem with her anointing His feet with the expensive perfume because he couldn’t imagine such a waste of money. Not because he was concerned about the poor, He was already intending to betray Him, and he wanted to get as much money as he could.
The word was spreading about Lazarus being raised from the dead, because John says on Sunday, the next day, a "large crowd of the
Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake
only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead." It's shocking that the chief priests wanted to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus. I mention this to show you just how hard-hearted they really were.
With that background story, let's go back to the end of verse 1 and verse 2, "He *sent two of His disciples, and *said to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here." By the way, "the village opposite you" is referring to Bethphage, a smaller but we don’t know anything more about it, other than it's close to Bethany and the Mount of Olives, which is directly east of the temple mount in Jerusalem. Keep in mind, all this is very important, to make it look like everybody is going after
Jesus, which is going to anger the scribes, the Pharisees and the
Sadducees, the whole Sanhedrin, setting in motion a huge crusade, so He
will be crucified on the day of Passover. This is the omniscience of God perfectly orchestrating every detail of the exact day and time of His death for His own divine purposes. His riding into Jerusalem Monday on a young animal that had never been ridden was a mark of special honor, this is a trigger event to anger the Jewish religious leaders of Jerusalem.
I believe it was very likely Peter and John who were sent to begin to stage the coronation for Him, because Luke 22:7-8 says "Then came the first day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. And Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it."
Verse 3, Jesus said "If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here." For the record, Jesus
was not stealing these animals as some have suggested, He had no intention of keeping them, He simply needed them to fulfill the
Old Testament prophecy, Jerusalem’s king coming on a donkey’s foal. By the way, Matthew’s Gospel is the only the only record that mentions the two donkeys, the mother and her young colt or foal, the mother will lead the colt, until the colts goes on its own. In ancient Israel, it was very common for kings and their families to ride donkeys during time of peace rather than horses. Kings riding on horses was typically reserved for times of war. Jesus, the Prince of Peace came as Suffering Servant Messiah, not Conquering King Messiah. This King is coming endowed with humility, meekness and salvation, to lay down His life. Didn’t David ride a mule? This King is Israel’s own King. Physically, donkeys resemble horses, except they are typically stockier, having shaggier coats and large ears. Despite the popular misconception, donkey's are actually very intelligent, versatile animals, and they tend to be stronger than a horse of the same size.
"The Lord has need of it" is not much of an explanation, but obviously no further explanation is needed, because he’s going to let them have them. And, it does imply that Jesus may have known whoever owned the animals or was in charge of them, because Jesus says "and immediately he’ll send it back here." How does He know where the animal is, and what the man will do? Because He’s God, Who knows everything there is to know, even the number of hairs on your head! Or in some cases, the lack of them.
Verse 4, "They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they *untied it." The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them and just as He predicted some of the bystanders were saying to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission."
You can almost feel the anticipation beginning to build, as Jesus is preparing for His faithful arrival into Jerusalem right at the time of the Passover festival, to show that Jesus is God’s promise of an Old Testament prophecy is fulfilled. Can you imagine the King of kings having to stage His own coronation, but that's exactly what happened. By the way, there were several prophecies fulfilled during Passion week, His Triumphant Entry, His
crucifixion, the prophecies fulfilled on the cross, His burial, and
resurrection. His Triumphant Entry is the primary focus here, to demonstrate that Jesus is much more
than a prophet, more than a good teacher, more than a miracle healer or a righteous man. Jesus is Messiah! He is
King! This is to fulfill Zechariah 9:9, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Though I'm pretty certain that His disciples didn't understand that He is fulfilling the details of Old Testament prophecy at the time because in writing of this same event, John says in chapter 12, verse 16, "These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him." By the way, "Daughter of Zion" refers to the city of Jerusalem, the location of Mount Zion. Zion, the symbol of Jerusalem, was the highest mountain in Jerusalem. It's a very familiar figure of speech in Hebrew.
Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Though I'm pretty certain that His disciples didn't understand that He is fulfilling the details of Old Testament prophecy at the time because in writing of this same event, John says in chapter 12, verse 16, "These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him." By the way, "Daughter of Zion" refers to the city of Jerusalem, the location of Mount Zion. Zion, the symbol of Jerusalem, was the highest mountain in Jerusalem. It's a very familiar figure of speech in Hebrew.
Verse 7, "They *brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it." Luke 19 tells us "And they they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it." Matthew says they "brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats." The coats are like a makeshift saddle, if you will, so that the King can ride on the donkey comfortably. The preparation is now done, Jesus has officially begun His journey from the Mount of Olives, and arrival as the prophesied King of Israel. God’s divine plan is taking place, down to even the smallest of details.
Verse 8, "And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields." The crowd, which has been accumulating along the way, those who followed Him
from Galilee, those who showed in Bethany, joined by those coming into
the city for Passover all merging with those people already in
Jerusalem. This is a massive entourage surrounding Him, spreading their coats on the
road to create sort of a makeshift red carpet, because kings were always elevated above the people, "and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road." You can read more about it in 2 Kings 9. The coats on the road was symbolic gesture, an ancient custom, to demonstrate submission and the palm branches indicate strength, victory, of deliverance. Their large green showy leaves are an
indication of beauty, even in the desolate barren land and joy and
salvation. Their hope for Jesus was really high, the expectation was that the promised Messiah would fulfill all the promises of the Old Testament, delivering them from the Roman oppression, because they were not ruling themselves, they hated the Roman Empire. Their enthusiasm is really growing expecting Him to do what they wanted Him to do.
They didn't understand He came humbly, to die as a suffering servant and Savior. He didn't come to conquer as a sovereign King, that will happen in the future, when He will be the everlasting King and the saints of all tribes,
of all languages of all nations will gather before God, waving palm branches. Interesting, the Judean date palms disappeared by the nineteenth century, and
amazingly after lying dormant for many centuries, several seeds from the
second century AD to the third century BC were found in Judean
archaeological sites were soaked in water and fertilizer, which have
recently produced green palm saplings and were able to grow and produce
their superior fruit. Scientists are still trying to figure how the
ancient seeds, much larger than modern seeds, were able to miraculously
survived in the desert for two millennia and have been able to
germinate!
By the way, this will happen again in the future. Revelation 7:9, says, "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands." I believe we should start practicing worshipping and praising Him now.
Verses 9-10, "Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!" Matthew 21 adds they were shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David." Luke tells us they said "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" The
praise this crowd is shouting from their lips are from Psalm 118, "the
conqueror’s psalm." They knew where it came from, these are all messianic accolades. There is nothing random, the nation of Israel is identifying Jesus as the long awaited Messiah! They know that these things relate to the kingdom of salvation that the Son of David rules, that was spoken through the prophets. These people are shouting, praising God for His King, the problem is, they fail recognize this is not God’s time. God is in full control of everything and often does things that we do not expect.
Now when people celebrate Jesus, you can be sure there will be some people who are not very happy. It's very likely at this point. Luke 19 adds "Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." But Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!" John 12, says "So the Pharisees said to one another, "You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him." I'm sure the Pharisees were wondering how they could possibly get away with killing Him!
But, the excitement of the crowd was not matched by their faithful commitment to Jesus, by the end of the week this same crowd will be shouting "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!," because He didn’t do what they wanted Him to do. They wanted revolution not repentance! It takes time to examine a lamb for blemish. However, He's going to prove that He is indeed the true Lamb of God, all by God’s design.
The details of the prophecy regarding the Jews are given in Daniel chapter 9:24-27, "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And
he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the
middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering;
and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."
Nobody figured out that the Messiah would die in the greatest act of love and the greatest display of power that the world has ever seen. They completely missed that Isaiah 53 says, "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth." Or Psalm 22 prophesied "For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet." God's ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Jesus Christ, God incarnate, personally came to die for our sin and pay the price for our iniquity.
If He never does anything else in this present life, His grace, mercy and forgiveness is
more than enough. For that alone, He deserves our faithfulness, obedience and loyalty.
I always puzzled when people claim "I know exactly when Jesus will return." If He surprised everyone in the first coming, what makes these people think He won't surprise the world again? How ridiculous is that, didn't Jesus say in Matthew 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:14
"But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised."
That brings us to verse 11, "Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late." He came to the temple, looking around, it's the verb "periblépō," meaning to closely observe with high personal interest, He saw the ritualistic religious leadership activities and the
desecration that had turned the temple into a den of thieves. In other words, in He’s checking things out, He didn’t like what He saw. So, He's planning His strategy for the next day. It's sad they were so ignorant of His presence. That won't happen when He comes again, no one will miss Him!
Revelation 19:11-16 says, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
In Closing..
Jesus came to change lives, when Jesus entered your life, what sins were you willing to lay down before Him and not pick it up again? Is it pride? Is it sexual immorality? Is it pornography? Is it apathy? Is it the pain of unforgiveness? Is it addiction? Whatever it is, it keeps you from offering Him the sacrifice of praise that He deserves. When we truly realize everything we have been given, it should be our joy to give up anything He asks!
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved