TRIUMPHAL ENTRY

TRIUMPHAL ENTRY  John 12:12-19; Matt. 21:1-11

My Bible is about my King - JESUS.

HE is The LAMB who came

to be the world’s SAVIOR!

The Old Testament is the Framework

to show how and why God’s LOVE

set in motion His Act In Christ Jesus

to Put Us Right with Himself.

The sign of Jonah – 3 days in the deep.

The sign of the brazen serpent – lifted up.

Abraham sacrificing Isaac his promised son.

Angels going up and down from heaven.

What does Christ Jesus mean to me!

 

    Holy Week changed the world, with the Cross as the turning point for all humankind. But it is also six days of amazing contrasts—from the joyful celebration of the Triumphal Entry to the Passion only days later. In between are days of both high drama—as in the confrontations in the temple—and high sorrow—as in the Upper Room and Gethsemane.

    The final week of Jesus’ ministry covers a wide range of emotions and events. We see Jesus overturning tables in the temple; people hanging on Christ’s every word; cloak-and-dagger deals made to kill the Messiah; and fervent 11th-hour prayers offered. But before any of that happens, Jesus must first get to Jerusalem.  It starts with Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem, where a hero’s welcome awaits him. The streets are lined with people waving palm branches and singing. They’re ready for Him to be their King—but Jesus’ purpose is far more significant than gaining political status and power.

    Being a Jew was expensive.  People were expected to come to Jerusalem for the Passover Celebration.  More than two million Jews flooded into Jerusalem for this.  With travel being difficult, they had to come early and then stay late.  So there was a huge crowd of people in Jerusalem when Jesus made His Triumphal Entry.  They took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him.  They shouted: "Praise God!  Bless Him who comes in the name of the Lord!  God bless the King of Israel."

    Churches of Christ have mixed feelings about "Easter" yet we carefully celebrate His body & blood in the Lord's Supper.  Satan has tried to confuse the issue but he cannot do away with the essential messages of Christmas and Easter.  The Eternal Word came into our world as a human being.  He lived, suffered and died, rose to life the third day, and is alive forevermore.  "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself."  This calls on us to bear witness to our Faith.  “We believe, and therefore we speak.”

    TRIUMPHANT ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM

    Hosanna!  God bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  "Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King who comers in the name of the LORD!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"  Luke 19:37-40.  

    The Pharisees complained.  "And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, 'Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.'  But He answered and said to them, 'I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.'"  Luke 19:39-40.  [Habakkuk 2:11]

    “In humility, Jesus shows He has not come to reestablish the earthly kingdom of David.  He does not ride in a chariot but upon a donkey, an animal of peace.  This is no mere earthly king, but the King of Glory who has come to reveal the Kingdom of God.  Thus, the Church sees the Son of God entering not the earthly Jerusalem only, but more importantly the celestial Jerusalem, to establish His Reign and His Kingdom (see Mark 11:10; Luke 19:37-38).  He is taking the New Jerusalem to Himself as a pure Bride, and the children celebrate His entrance as if it were a marriage (verse 15).”  Wallerstedt

    "Now this he (Caiaphas) did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad."  John 11:51-52 

    "Indeed He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth."  Isaiah 49:6 

    "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is , not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption."  Hebrews 9:11-12