"Bill Wilson pastors an inner city church in New York City. His mission field is a very violent place. He himself has been stabbed twice as he ministered to the people of the community surrounding the church. Once a Puerto Rican woman became involved in the church and was led to Christ. After her conversion she came to Pastor Wilson and said, "I want to do something to help with the church’s ministry." He asked her what her talents were and she could think of nothing---she couldn’t even speak English---but she did love children. So he put her on one of the church’s buses that went into neighborhoods and transported kids to church. Every week she performed her duties. She would find the worst-looking kid on the bus, put him on her lap and whisper over and over the only words she had learned in English: "I love you. Jesus loves you."
After several months, she became attached to one little boy in particular. The boy didn’t speak. He came to Sunday School every week with his sister and sat on the woman’s lap, but he never made a sound. Each week she would tell him all the way to Sunday School and all the way home, "I love you and Jesus loves you."
One day, to her amazement, the little boy turned around and stammered, "I---I---I love you too!" Then he put his arms around her and gave her a big hug. That was 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon. At 6:30 that night he was found dead. His own mother had beaten him to death and thrown his body in the trash......."I love you and Jesus loves you." ....Those were some of the last words this little boy heard in his short life---from the lips of a Puerto Rican woman who could barely speak English. This woman gave her one talent to God and because of that a little boy who never heard the word "love" in his own home, experienced and responded to the love of Christ.....
What can you give? What is your "colt". You and I each have something in our lives, which, if given back to God, could, like the colt, move Jesus and His message further down the road.
-Mark Adams, "The Roads He Walked - Palm Avenue." Illustrations for April 13, 2003. www.esermons.com.
In this series we’ve been examining key moments in the life of Jesus. We’ve looked at the raising of Lazarus, the sermon on the mount, the transfiguration, and the last supper. Today we consider the great moment when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.
Jesus carefully managed the rise of his fame and the excitement around his ministry. He knew if he allowed things to spread too quickly things would spiral out of control. He was careful to perform a miracle secretly, then instruct the person not to tell anyone. He would preach to crowds of thousands, then disappear again for days into the wilderness. He had carefully avoided the capital of Jerusalem until the exact right moment.
News of what Jesus had been doing had spread though, across the entire nation. The messiah had came. The savior had arrived. Many believed Jesus was the one, others doubted and argued against him vigorously.
Jesus and his group of followers were headed toward Jerusalem at last, near the end of Jesus’ three year ministry.
It says this in Matthew 21:1-3: As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
Jesus instructs his disciples to ahead of them, and find a donkey. The disciples are probably thinking to themselves, you want us to go and take someone’s donkey? But, he’s the master, so they of course obey Him.
Similarly, we should obey Jesus even when we don’t fully understand why. Jesus may challenge us to do something we don’t understand, or to follow Him in a direction you didn’t expect. Trust Him. That isn’t always easy. But we can trust our master. He is the king of the universe. He knows what is best.
God has setup situations that we don’t fully understand. I experienced this recently when we visited a nursing home in Gary. It was like God has setup the entire experience for us. It was amazing. We didn’t know what to expect when we came, but we found a place God had prepared to receive prayer and healing.
Next, verses 4-5: This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 “Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
Numerous events in Jesus’ life were fulfillments of prophecy. What is prophecy? In biblical terms, a prophecy is something that was predicted in the Bible to happen at some point in the future.
Numerous scriptures in the old Testament were prophecies written about the days when Jesus would walk the Earth. Once Jesus did it, then it was considered a fulfilled prophecy, a prophecy that came true.
Other prophecies in the Bible have not come true yet, like many things in the book of Revelation and Daniel that talk about the end times and the return of Jesus to the Earth.
This event we discuss today has already happened, it is fulfilled prophecy. It was predicted by the Zechariah, in about 518 BC. It came true in about AD 29-30. Meaning it was predicted by scripture about 550 years before it took place.
Prophecy is one form of evidence that the Bible is really God’s word. The bible accurately predicts future events. When you study the scriptures that predicted the coming of Jesus, they are astonishing. It proves that the Bible is of divine origin.
Next, verses 6-7: “The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.”
The disciples did as Jesus instructed them. They didn’t understand why. They didn’t know exactly what place they were looking for. But they had instructions from God and they acted on them.
They served their master. They took off their own cloaks and laid them on the animals for Jesus to sit on.
That is radical humility. Second point today, humility. So often we want details. We want to know why. We want more info. We want an address, a timetable, a name, and so on. And if we don’t get it, we refuse to obey God. We want it our way. But the disciples are so very humble, they are like children, they lay aside what they want, and go and humbly do the will of God. And when they do, it’s not about them, they don’t hop on the donkey. They bring it to their master and even lay their cloaks on it for the master to sit on.
Next, verses 8-9: “A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
A very large crowd, I’m sure tens of thousands of people, gathered along the road leading into Jerusalem. Many cut branches from palm trees and others threw their cloaks along the road.
It says in the Old Testament, predicting the triumphal entry, that “The trees will clap their hands.” When Jesus entered Jerusalem, seated on the donkey, they waved palm branches to celebrate. I get chills when I think about the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. This was a revolutionary moment in history. It seems so many times in our society the rich and the powerful control everything that happens. They manufacture evil and keep good people from the lime light, they keep the message of purity and truth down in the pits. And in the same way the Pharisees fought Jesus every step of the way, but Israel was bursting at the seams, and finally the revolution had begun, and Jesus Christ was cheered by the whole city as he triumphantly entered, the king of kings, Satan couldn’t shut down the crowd, they had to cry out in joy for the coming of the messiah into the city of God. It makes your heart sing when the outsider finally achieves victory over the entrenched establishment and moneyed elite.
The rise of Jesus could not be stopped. Satan was scheming and plotting to prevent it to, to overthrow it, to get the authorities to work against Jesus. Satan had total authority over the Earth, he still is the prince of this world, but Jesus’ is seen as the coming king and Lord in this key moment in human history.
Indianapolis is the capital of Indiana. Washington DC is the capital of the United States. But Jerusalem is the capital of planet Earth. It’s the place from which Jesus will reign as king over the Earth during the one thousand year millennial reign, which will occur after the great tribulation spoken of in the book of Revelation.
Jesus entered Jerusalem two thousand years ago and the crowds shouted Hosanna. Hosanna is a way of declaring praise or adoration, yet it is primarily a cry for help. Essentially it means, “Save us please!”
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
We see three phrases used here: The first is Hosanna to the Son of David. Please save us, to the Son of David. Everyone in Israel knew that the messiah they were all hoping and praying for would be born in the lineage of King David. The messiah would be an ancestor of David. And from Jesus’ lineage we know that’s true about him. King David was born in Bethlehem, and similarly, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. This phrase though points to the manhood of Jesus, that he is fully human. He is the Son of David.
The second line is a phrase from Psalm 118 which again refers to the coming of the messiah. This phrase helps us understand that though Jesus is a man, he comes in the power and authority of God.
Third is Hosanna in the highest heaven, again this points to Jesus’ divinity, they are calling out to Jesus that he is in the highest heaven, meaning they are declaring Jesus is one with God. This means that Jesus is not just a man, nor is he simply a man coming in the authority of God, but that Jesus really is God, God in human form.
These three phrases the crowds shout perfectly illustrate the humanity, calling, and divinity of Jesus Christ.
Who is Jesus to you? He is another human being like you. He is one who walked in authority from God, just like you as a believer walk in authority from God. Yet Jesus is also the infinite God, the one we should all love and worship and serve faithfully.
Next, verses 10-11: When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Jerusalem would’ve been very busy at this moment in history, with over 1 million visitors from all over the country and surrounding parts of the roman empire, they were all there to celebrate the Passover festival. And Jesus chose this vital moment to enter the city, and the crowds worshiped him. Yet so many there did not know him. They asked who is this man? And the people who knew him told everyone, he is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.
Now we see again the crowds still don’t fully understand who Jesus is. They don’t call him the son of God, they don’t call him the messiah. They still refer to him as a prophet only. So it’s clear their understanding is incomplete, and more will be revealed.
The entire city is not worshiping Jesus, many don’t know him, many will try to oppose him as he teaches. But, the faithful followers could sense deep within themselves, when they cried out Hosanna, to Jesus, that he was not a mere man, but something much more.
For us today, I want this to remind you that your actions have the power to change an entire community. Everything we do, whether good or bad affects the people around us more than we might realize. One action you take can change someone’s life forever. Either for good or bad.
If you faithfully follow Jesus, share Jesus, and get his word out there, if you’ll pray with people, speak the word of God, and mentor other believers in the faith, you may one day have the whole city saying, “Who is this? Who is this Jesus we’ve heard about?”
Jesus made a series of choices in his life, praying, healing people, preaching sermons, having conversations with people, and by the end of his three year ministry, the entire capital was talking about him, wondering who he was. If you will faithfully do the same things, you may just have a city asking who is Jesus!
A word on the authority of scripture: The Bible is a historical book, a book of poetry, it includes eye witness accounts, prophecies, letters to churches, and accounts of the creation of all things. The writings in the Bible were written down by people, people who were inspired by the Spirit of God to write down the knowledge and wisdom of God. The writings of the Bible flow together seamlessly, spanning over 3,400 years. There is no other book like the Bible.
I know that this event, where Jesus road on a donkey into Jerusalem really happened. I know that it was not just some story or myth, but a real historical event.
We can trust the Bible. Historians trust the Bible. Archaeologists use the Bible to unearth ancient treasures. Scientists have trusted the Bible all the way back to Galileo and Isaac Newton. The body of Christ trusts the word of God as our only guide to knowing Christ.
I want to jump all the way back to the Old Testament, in the book of Isaiah. This scripture foretells the coming of Jesus.
Listen to this scripture from Isaiah chapter 53 verses 3-6:
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all."
We all need the redeemer. We all need God to remove our sins, so we can be new. Are your sins washed away in Jesus blood? Don’t assume just because you go to church on Sunday, or watch a live stream that you’re a Christian. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than being in the garage would make you a car. Either we believe in Jesus, or we are lost in our sins. I know what it means to be lost. And so did Israel. In Jerusalem the people celebrated the entry of Jesus. But the leaders of Israel the pharisees were also watching the entry of Jesus. And they were so very angry. They had been trying to stop Jesus, to get rid of Jesus, to keep Jesus quiet. They hated his teachings. And when they saw the whole city celebrating the entry of Jesus, they said, “We are not succeeding at all. Look, the whole world is worshiping Him!”
And the truth is those same Pharisees would work with the Romans, and Judas, to get Jesus crucified. But Jesus knew this would happen. It had all been predicted thousands of years earlier. Jesus, God in human form, would die on the cross, to pay for the sins of the world.
Jesus, God with us, was nailed to the wooden cross for my sins. It was as if I sat in a court room, and a list of my sins was being read off. We all have that list, of things we’ve done, lied, hurt our parents, stolen things, make bad choices, and committed evil deeds. That list is being read off in the court room, and I’m guilty. I know I’m guilty. I deserve to be sent out from God’s presence, to outer darkness, and I know its true. God is so holy, so perfect, and I want that so badly, but I know internally that my sins are too much.
As Isaiah wrote in chapter 59 verses 2-3:
It’s your sins that have cut you off from God.
Because of your sins, he has turned away
and will not listen anymore.
Your hands are the hands of murderers,
and your fingers are filthy with sin.
Your lips are full of lies,
and your mouth spews corruption."
The judge declares me guilty, and I know he’s right. But Jesus walks over to this judge and says no, all of those sins, I’ll take the punishment for him. I’ll receive the sentence that he deserves, I’ll remove those sins that are destroying him, I’ll take them all into my being, and receive the death penalty for him. Jesus sets me free.
Do you know him? Have you really personally made that commitment? make that commitment today. It’s the best choice I ever made in life.
Jesus was victorious. And the truth is Jesus is alive right now. Each of us will see Jesus face to face. We could reach out and touch his hand. Jesus is alive right now. He is seated on his throne, ruling and reigning in heaven. He is also here with us right now. And he knows your name.
Last point for today, when we scope out and look at the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, I see one key theme that rises above all of the other points we’ve mentioned today.
It’s the theme of celebration. The crowds are celebrating. They are excited. They are waving palm branches and worshiping the Lord Jesus.
We too should celebrate that Jesus has triumphally ridden into our hearts and now lives there as our King and Lord.
That is the ultimate reason to celebrate. We should live lives of celebration. Our church services should be expressions of celebration. We’re celebrating, shouting, praising, worshiping, because Jesus has made us clean. He has paid our price. And he has given us new life. And we are on our way to heaven.
If we aren’t excited about that it’s because we don’t fully understand it or we don’t fully believe it. But sometimes I just have to sit back and think to myself, “Look at what God has done, Justin!” You used to be so lost, so depressed, and empty, and now look at you, full of life, becoming each day progressively more and more like what you were always meant to be.
Your sins are gone! Your robed in the righteousness of Jesus. Your royalty, a son of the king.
Jesus has done it all! He is the King! He is our King! And all is well. That’s a reason to celebrate.
Celebrate every day what Jesus has done for you. He’s paid it all, and he loves you more than anything.
