Calvary Road Baptist Church
“PALM SUNDAY OVERVIEW”
Today, being Palm Sunday is the occasion of our annual observance of the Lord Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem as Israel’s long-awaited Messiah.[1] Since next Sunday is Easter Sunday, and our celebration of the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, I propose that we make use of Palm Sunday as an occasion for a glorious and informative overview.
We have an advantage because we are not eyewitnesses of our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We have a greater advantage of not being eyewitnesses to Christ’s crucifixion and His resurrection three days later. Perhaps you are surprised by what I say, but our advantages can be explained in two ways: First, our distance in time and geography from the events of those days provide us with the opportunity to sift the facts without the cultural and emotional baggage that makes rational consideration of those events so much more difficult. Can you imagine how challenging it would be for us to overcome thousand-year old prejudices as part of a group of people who shouted the Lord Jesus Christ’s praises on a Sunday long ago and then demanded His death the following Friday? As well, our distance in time and geography from the events of those days gives us a historical perspective analogous to standing on a hill and overlooking people’s movements, thereby enabling us to see with the eye of faith as we are informed of those events by the true record of God’s Word. Though we are never completely isolated from the influences of our immediate culture and associations, it is so much easier for us to apprehend by faith what we have not seen than for our sight to be influenced by the prejudices of those who so powerfully hated the Savior. Remember, without faith, it is impossible to please God.[2]
Therefore, let us take a macroscopic look at God’s unfolding plan, imagining ourselves to be atop a spiritual hill overlooking the events in front of us in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and seeing the events leading up to Palm Sunday to one side of our vantage point, with the events following Palm Sunday to the other side of our vantage point. There will be three main portions to my message. From atop our spiritual hill that allows us to survey the present, the past, and also the future, I will first look to the past. I will then take note of the present, which we will all imagine to be the day the Lord Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem on the donkey colt. Then we will look to the future from our Palm Sunday hilltop.
To restate, we are placing ourselves in time on Palm Sunday, so long ago, in the city of Jerusalem. It would be impossible to point out all the things we could see; there simply isn’t time. So, we will take note of only a few of the events that catch our eye.
First, FROM HIGH ATOP OUR SPIRITUAL PERCH WE LOOK TO THE PAST, BEGINNING WITH THE RECENT PAST AND LOOKING ALL THE WAY TO ETERNITY PAST
Yesterday was the Sabbath, Saturday, and is unmentioned in the Gospel accounts. However, it is likely the Savior was in Bethany, resting in the home of His friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, who He had months before raised from the dead.[3]
The day before, Friday was spent walking with His disciples and a host of other pilgrims who had gathered in Jericho. They took the walk from Jericho through what would come to be known in the modern era as the Wadi Qilt to get to Jerusalem before the sunset, and the Jewish Sabbath began.
The day before that, a Thursday, the Lord Jesus Christ met and dined with Zacchaeus, who He first saw up in a sycamore tree, because he was too short to see over the crowd.[4] Earlier, on the same day, He was called out by blind Bartimaeus and his companion, at which time He restored their sight.[5] It was on that occasion that those two blind men publicly addressed the Lord Jesus for the first time as “thou Son of David,” a title that no doubt stirred the multitudes when they were told of it a few days later in Jerusalem.
Continuing to look farther back in time, on the East side of the Jordan River where John the Baptist’s ministry had been conducted before he was beheaded, the Lord preached where He had preached before, where His apostles had preached before, and where John the Baptist had preached. It was the region known as Perea. There was little evidence of the faith among those who had heard the greatest Gospel preachers ever to walk the earth. Luke 11.23-24:
23 Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
Before that there was the cleansing of the lepers, the raising of the dead, the casting out of demons, walking on water, feeding the multitudes, turning the water into wine, and at every step the teaching and preaching of God’s Word. For more than three years the sinless Son of God had walked among men following His baptism by John the Baptist and His temptation in the wilderness by Satan.
“What about before that?” You mean, what about before our Lord’s public ministry began, when He was about thirty years of age? Eighteen years earlier, as a boy of twelve, He astonished the Bible scholars in Jerusalem with the questions He asked them and the answers He gave them.[6] That was when He lived with His family in Nazareth, where they moved after He was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was where He was visited by the wise men from the East who gave Him precious gifts to honor Him as the King of the Jews before his stepfather moved the family to Egypt to escape the attempt by Herod the Great to kill Him.[7]
Before that, of course, are the details of the familiar but glorious Christmas story, Luke 2.7-16:
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
“And before that?” You mean, before the Savior was born? Nine months before that the Holy Spirit overshadowed the young virgin named Mary, as the angel Gabriel informed Mary before that miracle occurred, and as he later told Joseph after that miracle occurred.[8] So, what happened when Mary, who had never known a man, was overshadowed by the Spirit of God and became pregnant with the Christ child, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead, God’s eternal and only begotten Son? What happened was the Creator stepped into His creation and clothed Himself with not only a human body but also with a human (though sinless) nature.[9] That was when He became the God-Man. What an incredible miracle!
Continuing our gaze into the past, we look beyond the overshadowing of the Virgin by the Spirit of God and the Savior’s arrival into the human race from the throne room of heaven. We look back seven centuries to the time of the prophet Isaiah. The record is found in Isaiah 6.1-5:
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Why is this account so impressive? Because the Apostle John informs us in John 12.41 that “the King, the LORD of hosts” referred to by Isaiah is none other than the Savior in His glory in heaven before He was born in Bethlehem seven hundred years later.[10] Incredible!
How about we go back to the beginning of time? What do we see when we look back that far? Genesis 1.1 describes God’s creation event:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
But about this same event of creating the heaven and the earth, John 1.1-3 tells us,
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
And the Apostle Paul writes, in Colossians 1.16-17, also confirming that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator and Sustainer of all things who spoke the universe into existence:
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Impressive, is it not, that the Babe born in Bethlehem, who would as an adult ride into Jerusalem, and who would suffer crucifixion five days after that, had such unimaginable power?
But we can look farther back, seeing into eternity past. What do we see before there was time, before there was space, and before there was matter? As eternal Creator, He must be omnipotent. As eternal Creator, He must be omniscient. What other attributes can be seen by looking into eternity past to see God? When we catch a glimpse of the First Cause, the eternal God, His regal majesty in eternity past, we notice how Solomon poetically personifies God’s wisdom, in Proverbs 8.22-27:
22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there.
What else can we see when we look to the distant reaches of eternity past to catch a glimpse of God? Consider what the LORD says of Himself back then in Isaiah 57.15:
“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy.”
We have limited time, so allow me to point out one more observation about our eternal God, in addition to His knowledge, power, wisdom and holiness. Though we find it in Revelation 13.8, the description of our Lord identifies Him in eternity past, in particular His only begotten Son, as
“the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
The sh’ma declares in Deuteronomy 6.4,
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.”
In the New Testament the Apostle Paul repeatedly claims there is only one God in his writings, in Romans 3.30, in First Corinthians 8.4 and 6, in Galatians 3.20, and in First Timothy 2.5, where we read,
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
That said, when we look to eternity past we see one God. There is only one God. But He is a Trinity, and His eternally begotten Son, Jesus Christ, is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Thus, it has always been God’s grand purpose and design for the Son of God to shed His blood for the salvation of His people.
Next, FROM HIGH ATOP OUR SPIRITUAL PERCH WE LOOK TO THE PRESENT AND TAKE NOTE OF THE EVENTS OF PALM SUNDAY
When they walked to Jerusalem from Jericho on Friday, the Lord Jesus somehow slipped away from the crowd of pilgrims with whom He and His men were hiking. It is likely they went to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus to spend the night and rest the next day since it was the Sabbath.
The next morning, what we call Palm Sunday, they walked toward Jerusalem. Somewhere along the way, our Lord dispatched two of His men to fetch a never-before-ridden donkey colt.[11] The Lord Jesus Christ asserted His deity in three ways when He directed those disciples to fetch that colt for Him to ride: First, He displayed His omniscience by knowing the exact circumstances of the colt’s location and disposition next to its mother, as well as His awareness that His disciples would be challenged when they took the colt. Second, He claimed the honorific title of “Lord” when He instructed His disciples to refer to Him as “the Lord” when explaining what they were doing with the owner’s animal. “Jesus knew the two would be challenged as to why they were leading off the property of another, and He told them to reply, ‘The Lord needs it’ (Mark 11:3). In referring to Himself as the Lord, Jesus was asserting His authority as Messiah, for in Psalm 110:1 this title is used of Israel’s King, David’s Descendant.”[12] Third,
“In riding the unbroken colt, Christ demonstrated His authority as Creator over all creation. By divine appointment (Gen. 1:26) creation was subjected to the authority of man, and that authority would be exercised by the Son of Man (Ps. 8:4-8). Now as the Son of Man Jesus was exercising authority over creation. . . Thus began a procession that would take Jesus from Bethany over the Mt. of Olives, through the Kidron Valley, and into the city of Jerusalem.”[13]
In Matthew 21.3-4 reference is made to two prophecies, the first half found in Isaiah 62.11 (“Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.”), and the later half found in Zechariah 9.9 (“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass”). Do you not think the people in Jerusalem that day were not aware of these two prophecies? Only one person would ever enter into that city riding on the foal of an ass. When Solomon was enthroned, he rode into Jerusalem on his father’s full grown mule.[14] When Alexander the Great entered Jerusalem, he was probably riding his famous horse Bucephalus. You certainly do not think the Babylonians rode anything other than war horses, or the Romans as well when Pompey conquered the region. “The multitude recognized that this incident was a fulfillment of messianic prophecy and responded accordingly, “shouting ‘Hosanna’ to the Son of David (Mark 11:9).”[15] Why are the people so thrilled? Their salvation is coming, whatever they understand that to mean. Prophecy is being fulfilled. That is obvious. God is working in their midst at long last. Are they particularly concerned about being saved from their sins? To some degree, perhaps. However, their delight is also in anticipation that the hated Roman rule will be overthrown. Or so they think.
Finally, FROM HIGH ATOP OUR SPIRITUAL PERCH WE LOOK TO THE FUTURE TO SEE WHAT AT FIRST APPEARED TO BE TRAGEDY BUT WHICH WE RECOGNIZE TO BE THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S PLAN OF THE AGES
Monday through Thursday will be a blur, with the cursing of a fig tree tomorrow, entering the Temple once more to cleanse it again,[16] and being approached by some Greeks who will first approach Philip, who will seek out Andrew, who will arrange an audience with the Savior.[17] It will be somewhere around that time the Savior will pray to His Father, and His Father will answer audibly.[18]
Thursday will be a day of preparation for the Passover in the Upper Room, the washing of the disciple’s feet, the celebration of Passover, instituting the communion of the Lord’s Supper, our Lord’s discourse with His eleven remaining disciples on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane, His prayer in John 17 and in the Garden of Gethsemane, and ending with His betrayal by Judas and His arrest.
Then will come Friday, the day of our Lord’s illegal trials, the day He becomes sin for us Who knew no sin, the day of His crucifixion and His payment for my sins. It is the day He gives up His life. It is the day of His body’s burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, where the tomb will be sealed and guarded by soldiers. Were we there it would seem to us the worst day there ever was. But that is because we would have no thought of God’s perspective, God’s plan, or God’s purpose.
From Friday to Sunday our Lord’s disciples will be disconsolate, caught up in the middle of the events, immersed in them, and overcome by them. We, on the other hand, see from the vantage point of our spiritual hill from a distance of time and space. We know He will rise from the dead. We know He will appear to the women, and then to the men. We know He will eventually appear to hundreds. We also know He will ascend to His Father’s right hand on high. And He did! Praise God, He did!
After His resurrection, His disciples will be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Then, on the Day of Pentecost, John the Baptist’s prediction will be fulfilled, and the Church the Lord Jesus Christ started will be empowered to serve Him. He will accomplish this from His throne in glory, dispatching the Spirit of God and baptizing His disciples in the Spirit to go forth to preach the Gospel to every creature. Thus will the Gospel advance for 2,000 years until now.
Looking farther into the future from our spiritual hilltop, past our present day, when the final soul of this era has turned to faith in Christ and has been saved from sin, the Lord Jesus Christ will catch up believers in the Rapture. Then will come seven years of Tribulation, also termed the 70th week of Daniel and the time of Jacob’s trouble. That brief era will end with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Then comes the Millennial Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Referred to six times in Revelation 20.2-7, I find it incredible that anyone could doubt the specificity of a one-thousand-year time frame that is explicitly mentioned six times in six verses, though many do just that. And then? What comes after the Millennial Kingdom and Christ’s reign on the throne of His father, David?
The Great White Throne Judgment, Revelation 20.11-15:
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 21.8 provides more clarity regarding who will be judged before being cast into the lake of fire for unending punishment:
“... the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
After that comes the eternal state; eternal bliss for Christ’s own and endless torment for those who die without Christ.
I trust our glimpse of history from this perspective on Palm Sunday has been a blessing to you. I hope you will join with me to echo the sentiments written by the Apostle John at the end of his Revelation of Jesus Christ:
20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Unless your head is buried in the sand like an ostrich, you know a ruthless culture war is being waged by the LGBTQ community, by the social justice warriors, by Planned Parenthood, by the leftists, and by the Cultural Marxists. They seek to murder our unborn, seduce our children, and destroy our institutions. Their effort’s aim is to destroy the most economically prosperous culture in the history of mankind, choosing the replace it with a system that gave us the Soviet Union, Fidel’s Cuba, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Hugo’s Venezuela, and the country that forcefully harvests the organs of religious dissidents, Communist China.[19]
What amazes me is that the system they seek to advance is less than 200 years old[20], and has never succeeded anywhere it has been implemented,[21] all the while insisting that the march of history guarantees their inevitable victory.
That said, we must understand that it is more than a culture war. The culture war is merely the presenting manifestation of a spiritual war involving the human race since the Garden of Eden, with the intelligence and energy of Satan as the mastermind behind it.[22] Not to worry. Despite his best efforts and evidence that sometimes suggests the Devil’s advantage, he has already lost the war. Our celebration of victory will occur next Sunday, Easter Sunday, as we recognize our Lord Jesus Christ’s victory as demonstrated by His grand and glorious resurrection. Truth be told, we celebrate Christ’s victory every Sunday, do we not?
Karl Marx was a terrible historian and a very bad political theorist. His followers, who despise the Christian faith so, and the dupes who pretend to be philosophically undecided and open-minded, are actually enemies of God will someday pay a high price for their rebellion and their disloyalty to God in favor of loyalty to Satan. Nevertheless, our honor and privilege as representatives of Jesus Christ are to reach out to God’s enemies with the Gospel. Our objective is to see every sinner come to Christ.
There is yet time to repent of the terrible sin of unbelief. There remains an opportunity to consider the claims of Jesus Christ and to trust Him for the forgiveness of your sins. I urge you to come to Christ today.
__________
[1] A. T. Robertson, A Harmony of the Gospels For Students of the Life Of Christ, (New York: Harper & Row, 1950), page 152.
[2] Hebrews 11.6
[3] John 11.1-44
[4] Luke 19.1-28
[5] Matthew 20.29-34; Mark 10.46-52; Luke 18.35-43
[6] Luke 2.41-50
[7] Matthew 2.1-23
[8] Luke 1.26-38; Matthew 1.18-25
[9] Psalm 40.6; John 1.14; Hebrews 10.5
[10] John 12.37-41
[11] Matthew 21.2-3, 6; Mark 11.2-6; Luke 19.30-35
[12] J. Dwight Pentecost, The Words & Works Of Jesus Christ, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981), page 372.
[13] Ibid.
[14] 1 King’s 1.44
[15] Pentecost, page 373.
[16] Matthew 21.12-13; Mark 11.15-18; Luke 19.45-46
[17] John 12.20-50
[18] John 12.27-28
[19] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKfBOuVhGwE
[20] Ludwig von Mises, Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis, (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, Inc., Second Edition, 1981), pages 5-7.
[21] Thomas Sowell, Marxism: Philosophy and Economics, (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1985), pages 188-189.
[22] 1 John 5.19
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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church