We are continuing a series of teachings leading up to and
including the events surrounding the death, burial, descent into hell, resurrection and ascension to His Glorious Throne of Jesus our King.
Last Sunday those of you who attended Church learned a bit
about Palm Sunday. Here is a recap:
“BLESSED BE THE NAME OF HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!”
“CRUCIFY HIM!”
On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumphant fashion. The day before, He raised Lazarus from the grave and thousands and thousands heard of it, pursuing Him vigorously.
King Jesus had resurrected at least four others first. He had however, instructed them to be silent about it.
Most of the Jews now began to believe that indeed, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Galilean was in fact the Messiah. They were hysterical with joyful expectation that Jesus would ascend His throne and become the ruler of all Israel.
They knew that He would overrule and destroy the Roman government and displace the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees and Sadducees. Surely this was the end of the age, they thought.
This must be the end of their suppression, repression, oppression and depression, servitude, agony, suffering and submission to a foreign government, they just knew it.
Now came Jesus riding on a lowly donkey, an animal of peace, not a horse, an animal of war. This was to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah:
“Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion, Shot aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your King comes to you, He is uncompromisingly just and having salvation triumphant and victorious, patient, meek, lowly and riding a donkey, upon a colt the foal of a donkey.”
(Zechariah 9:9)
So, they celebrated wildly, they threw palm branches at the feet of His pure white donkey. They shouted and danced and sang.
One song was:
“Blessed is He who comes in the Name Of The Lord; we bless You from the house of the Lord, you who comes into His sanctuary under His guardianship. The Lord is God Who has shown and given us light! He has illuminated us with grace, freedom and joy.”
“Decorate the festival with leafy branches and bind the sacrifices to be offered with thick cords all over the priests court, right up to the horns on the altar.”
“You are my God and I will confess, praise and give thanks
to You; You are my God, I will extol You.”
“O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving kindness endure forever.”
(Psalm118:26-29)
This is a confession from David. It was his confession. The Jews on this day recited it as Jesus entered their town.
Here is what happened:
It was the next day after Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. Word of the resurrection of Lazarus had spread like wild fire and the Pharisees were hunting Lazarus to kill him in order to create the appearance that Jesus did nothing.
Throngs were now chasing Jesus to make Him their King. This raising the dead business could cost the rulers everything! They were not having it! Far too much was at stake.
They knew for a fact that Jesus was God in the flesh. Yet, almost inconceivably they denied Him. Instead of worshipping Him and begging Him for mercy, they attacked Him and tried to trick Him into committing a capital crime, so that they could legitimately rid the world of Him.
Jesus was messing up their program. Which was to rob from the poor and give to the rich, them. They had to make Him dead.
They invented this excuse to justify extinguishing God.
“Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, declared, You know nothing at all! Nor do you understand or reason out that it is expedient and better for your own welfare that one man should die on behalf of the people than that the whole nation should perish, be destroyed, ruined.”
(John 11:50)
Meanwhile, back at the festival and parade:
“The next day a vast crowd of those who had come to the Passover Feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.”
“So they took palm branches and went out to meet Him,”
(palm branches were a symbol of peace. This type of greeting was reserved for Kings. Solomon had palm branches carved into the walls of His palace to symbolize His kingship.)
“And as they went they Kept shouting, Hosanna!
(Hosanna in Hebrew means, to save, or savior, or please save.)
“Blessed is He and praise to Him Who comes in the name of the Lord, even the KING OF ISRAEL!”
This phrase, made the Sanhedrin ballistic! The Pharisees exploded with rage. They hated Jesus and now the people were calling Him the KING OF ISRAEL!
The people called Jesus King! He did not. Yet less than a week later they would mock Jesus by nailing those words to the top of the cross on which He was murdered.
A word about false expectation and blocked goals. Nothing generates more frustration, disappointment and anger, than the loss of an expected gain.
During the next few days, they found that Jesus laid claim to one Kingdom and it was not of this earth. They learned that He was not about overthrowing the earthly government.
They learned that He was the Prince of Peace not the commanding general of the Zionist revolution, which would cast out the Romans and the Pharisees.
They Knew that Jesus was the Messiah. They rejected Him entirely though. They did not want a peaceful God!They wanted a warrior king.
The stage was set! The die was cast! Jesus had stepped in it. He restored life to a dead person for the fourth time. This time was different. He did it in front of a large crowd of witnesses.
The people anointed Him their King.
Though He never claimed to be King of the Jews,
The Pharisees could now falsely accuse Him of saying it; and have legitimate grounds to have Him executed for blasphemy and threatening the rulership of the Roman Government.
Just a few days later, the people who so loving and adoringly greeted the King of Kings, rejected Him in favor of a Zionist murderer named Barabbas the zealot.
And what asked Pilot am I to do with this man Jesus in whom I find no fault or crime?
“CRUCIFY HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Today many people are rejecting Jesus the very same way. Mostly because they are unwilling to change; largely, because His gospel seems too good to be true.
Often folk reject Jesus and His teachings because they errantly believe that they are intellectually and morally superior to God and His program.
Folk who want to do whatever they like, have created a bastard religion or philosophy called unitarianism. In this group, the belief is that there are many ways to heaven.
The problem for them and all who reject Jesus is this:
“I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me! If you had known Me you should have known my Father. From now on, you know Him and have seen Him.”
(John 14:6&7)
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