And when they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them, and bring them to Me. And if anyone says something to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them." Now this took place that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,Now, on several occasions during Jesus' ministry he had refused to allow his disciples or the people to proclaim him the Messiah or King because it was not the right time (see John 7:6). But now the day had come, and by the end of the day, the hour had come. So in concert with his Father and the prophets Daniel, Isaiah, and Zechariah, Jesus had begun planning to finally present himself officially to the nation of Israel as their long-awaited Messiah. The Lord God had spoken through his prophet Daniel (9:24-27) and told him that Jewish history would be given some 490 years or 70 weeks after the Babylonian captivity and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (445 BC). After 483 years, or 69 weeks, Messiah would be presented to his people (Palm Sunday) and then would be cut off, which completed the 69th week. This will be followed by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, which we now know was accomplished by the Roman army under General Titus in 70 AD. We are now living between the 69th and 70th week for Israel; history will begin at the start of the great tribulation (Matthew 24:21) and end in seven years with Christ's second coming.
"Say to the daughter of Zion,
'Behold your King is coming to you,
Gentle, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"
And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had directed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid on them their garments, on which He sat.
"Say to the daughter of Zion,And Zechariah had written (9:9) some five hundred years earlier,
"Lo, your salvation comes;
Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him."
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!The daughter of Zion was the faithful remnant who were truly looking for their Prince of Peace, men and women who understood the prophecies of Messiah's coming. And they understood that he would approach the gates of the city of Jerusalem as a humble Jewish King as symbolized by the donkey colt. He would not be a foreign king who would terrorize the people, but his heart would be set on serving his people and offering all of them the gift of salvation.
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."
...His Hour had come. It was time now for Him to make the last public affirmation of His claims. He knew it would lead to Calvary and his Ascension and the establishment of His Kingdom on earth. Once He acknowledged their praise, then there were only two courses open to the city: confess Him as did Peter, or else crucify. Either He was their king, or else they would have no king but Caesar.Anne Marie and I have become friends with a delightful couple in our area. And over the last fifteen years or so we have gotten together on several occasions with them and their children. In all that time they have felt free to share some of their joys and a few of their sorrows and stresses. But in this last year they have had their back to the wall. The husband appears to have been falsely accused of breaking the law. The investigation is being strung out, and it has caused great emotional and mental stress for both of them. Knowing that neither of them had a personal relationship with the Lord, I asked them if I could pray for them, and they both agreed.
And most of the multitude spread their garments in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees, and spreading them in the road. And the multitudes going before Him, and those who followed after were crying out, saying,As Jesus moved down the hill from Bethany toward Jerusalem, the crowds coming out of the city began to grow. The Jews of Bethany coming down the hill were merging with the Galilean believers who were coming out of the Holy City on their way to visit Jesus and Lazarus (see John 12:17-18). The latter crowd took the branches of the local palm trees and went out to meet him. These palm branches were a symbol of victory offered in a parade of triumph for a conquering general. In Jewish history nearly this same scene had occurred after Judas Maccabees defeated the hated Syrian king Antiochus in 175 BC, and then went into Jerusalem and cleansed the temple that the king had desecrated with a pig (2 Maccabees l0:7).
"Hosanna to the Son of David;
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest!"
"The stone which the builders rejectedBut they quoted the praise and prayer of verse 26 as they sang:
Has become the chief corner stone.
This is the LORD's doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the LORD has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
O LORD, do save, we beseech Thee...."
"Hosanna [save now] to the Son of David [Messiah];Clearly the crowds were proclaiming the hope of the restoration of the kingdom of David at this time, implying deliverance from the yoke of the Romans and the re-establishment of Israel as a great and independent nation. As the crowds saw it, God was at peace with the human race, particularly with Israel, and in turn they shouted with joy to God for his grace toward them.
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord [adoration];
Hosanna in the highest [Messiah is a gift from God]!"
And when He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, "Who is this?" And the multitudes were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee."Jesus' heart was broken because he saw the hearts of the majority of the people that he had come to love already rejecting him and all the blessings he was to bring. Luke tells us in 19:41-44, "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, 'If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace---but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you.'" We now know that all this occurred in 70 AD under the mighty hand of Rome. Jesus wept because he knew that their human hearts hungered to hear a word from God through his prophets, cried out for a king to lead them in righteousness, and sighed for a priest to stand before God on their behalf. And yet while most of the people at this moment sang out to him as Savior, their hearts were hardened to bowing to him as their King.
And Jesus entered the temple and cast out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a robbers' den." And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became indignant, and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes Thou hast prepared praise for Thyself'?" And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there.
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