The Humble King: Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

“Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, ‘Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. And if anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” say, “The Lord has need of it,” and immediately he will send it here.’” [00:00:16]

“What He is consciously doing is fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament, where on more than one occasion the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah said that the Messiah would enter the city riding on a donkey. We remember how the other gospel writers give a much more expansive report of what happens on Palm Sunday.” [00:07:26]

“But we think for example of Zechariah 9 where it says, ‘Rejoice Jerusalem, your King comes unto you lowly and riding on a donkey.’ And so that prophecy was well known among the people who were waiting for their coming King. Most kings in the ancient world rode on great steeds, magnificent horses, like Alexander the Great, but not so the King of the Jews.” [00:08:07]

“From that day forward throughout the rest of sacred Scripture, the coming Messiah would be called the Lion of Judah. It goes on. ‘Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter,’ that is the sign of royalty, ‘shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.’” [00:10:02]

“And so now Mark tells us that this is happening, and Jesus instructs His disciples, ‘Go and get that colt that is tied there and untie it and bring it to me. Now in the ancient world, including Israel, they had a concept of eminent domain that was much more limited than we have in our country. But one of the prerogatives of the king was to commandeer a beast of burden whenever he needed it.” [00:11:22]

“Now again this detail, that when they brought the donkey to Jesus, His disciples took their garments and put the garments on the back of the donkey as a saddle as it were for Jesus, and then we are told in the other gospels as well that the people, when Jesus began His procession, took off their outer garments and threw them on the pathway of the donkey.” [00:14:42]

“Now we notice also that when Jesus is involved in this procession, this triumphal entry, it begins at Bethany, and Bethany is where the Mount of Olives is, and the Mount of Olives is something of a misnomer. There at the top of the Mount of Olives is the little village of Bethany, and it looks out across the Kidron Valley, down to the city of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives is three hundred feet higher than Jerusalem.” [00:17:55]

“Back in 586 at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of Jerusalem to Babylon, when Jerusalem fell, God gave a vision to the prophet Ezekiel, and the vision Ezekiel has, what he could see in his mind’s eye, Jerusalem and the temple, and in that vision, beloved, he saw the glory of God rise up from the temple. And the glory of God departed from the east side of the city, and the glory of God went up the three hundred feet and then came down on the Mount of Olives.” [00:18:47]

“And now the One whom the Scriptures define as the brightness of the glory of God comes from Bethany, comes from the Mount of Olives, goes into the Eastern Gate, goes to the Holy City, and goes to the temple. Do you see it? In 586, the glory of God left the temple, and now the glory of God comes back, but no one understood it, that the King was the King of Glory, who here is about to meet the destiny to which He was called and for which He was born.” [00:27:23]

“His destination wasn’t just the city in general. His destination was the temple. He was going to the temple. He was going and looking around at the place where historically the sacrifices were offered. He was going to the temple that replaced the tabernacle, which in its own structure and its use was a living prophecy of the Messiah who was to come.” [00:24:38]

“Do you remember in John’s gospel, he begins, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ And then a little bit later in the prologue, ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,… full of grace and truth.’ Right? But that phrase, ‘He dwelt among us,’ literally in the text says, ‘He tabernacled among us.’ Because you see, Jesus is the tabernacle. He’s the fulfillment of everything the tabernacle pointed to.” [00:25:25]

“Our Father, we thank You for the way in which every footstep of our Messiah was prepared in the ages and centuries before, that nothing was done without a warrant or without purpose. But He fulfilled all things perfectly in His person. Father, not just on Palm Sunday, or on Holy Week, but every time we celebrate the first advent of Jesus, give us remembrance of His coming to Jerusalem as our King. Amen.” [00:28:18]