Untitled Sermon (6)

Lamb of God

Luke 19:28-38 28 And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.29 And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,30 Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.31 And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.32 And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.33 And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?34 And they said, The Lord hath need of him.35 And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.36 And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.37 And when he was come nigh, even now at 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 that they had seen;38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.

1.     His Entry

Jesus was in the city of Bethany. This is where Lazarus and his sisters, mary and Martha lived.

Jesus would often stay in their home, it was about 2 miles outside of Jerusalem.

So he is making his way from Bethany, then he tells his disciples to go to the city, that was in between Bethany and Jerusalem, it was a city called Bethphage.

He said, when you get there, you will find a young donkey, a colt, tied. Tell the owner that the Lord has need of him and bring me the donkey.

a.     As King

As Jesus begins to enter the city, he is at a higher elevation, he is now in the mt. of Olives. This location right outside the city is slightly elevated, so he would have to descend into Jerusalem.

This gate was the “Eastern Gate or the Golden Gate.”

This was the gate that kings would use to enter into the city.

People gathered outside the gate.

I can imagine what he saw, as he is above the city, seeing the crowd of people gathered and shouting.

He then descends from the Mt of Olives, into the Eastern Gate and the crowd is shouting “Hosanna” which means “Save us.”

John 12:13 13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Here is where this gets cool.

And Jesus riding a donkey was not just for convenience, he was doing 2 things at once.

1. Making a statement

The statement he was making was that he was in fact a king.

However, when a king in that time period would enter a city on a donkey, it meant that he was coming in peace.

When the people were shouting “Hosanna, Save us.”

-         What they were wanting to be saved from was the Romans.

However, what Jesus came to do, was not start a war, he didn’t come to overthrow governments, he came to save the people from their sins.

He was coming in peace.

2. Fulfilling prophecy

 Zechariah 9:9, "Rejoice! Daughter of Zion. Shout! Daughter of Jerusalem! A righteous king, who brings salvation, is coming. He is humble and rides a donkey or even a young donkey."

-         This prophecy was written 500 years before the birth of Jesus.

But not only is Jesus fulfilling a prophecy, he is also setting the stage to fulfill a future prophecy, that has not yet come.

Ezekiel, a prophet that lived about 600 years before the birth of Christ, writes an interesting prophecy about the end times.

Ezekiel 44:1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.2 Then said the Lord unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.

What’s interesting about this verse is that Ezekiel, the prophet is being given a supernatural tour of the future.

Well guess what.

The Eastern Gate has been sealed shut for 500 years now.

The Jews and the Muslims believe that the Messiah will come through the Eastern gate.

The Muslims, were the ones that walled up the gate and then they put a cemetery in front of it, because Jewish Old Testament temple laws say that a Jew cannot be pure if they come in contact with the dead.

So, the Muslims, in an attempt to keep the prophecy of the Messiah from coming true, actually fulfilled prophecy that was already spoken about the Messiah, that the entrance will be shut.

The walls of Jerusalem have 8 gates and the only one that is sealed is the Eastern Gate.

If you look at the first triumphal entrance. Jesus comes from the mount of olives, down the kidron valley, up to the eastern gate, where he entered the temple.

-          As he made that ride, the Kidron valley was filled with thousands of people who heard about his miracles and about the resurrection of Lazarus.

-          They waved palm branches and shouted, “Hosanna.”

Then, in Revelation 19, we see that when Jesus returns again, he will come with as a victorious military conqueror, riding through the air on a supernatural white horse. .

In Isaiah 63:1 we are told he will come in from the east.

In Zechariah 14, we are told that he will touch the ground on the Mount of Olives.

Revelation 19:14 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

-         Who are the armies of the Lord?

-         The believers, saints of God.

-         Throughout the New Testament, believers are referred to as “Soldiers.”

Why is this so important.

Because, in Jesus’ first entry, the people shouted “Hosanna” which means “save us”

On Jesus’ second entry, all those that Jesus “Saved” will be in attendance as he destroys the anti-christ and takes his place as King.

We will be in attendance as Jesus takes his last triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

With angels hovering above

Millions of redeemed filling the Kidron valley.

Jesus will ride up to the Eastern Gate, not on a donkey, but on a white horse, and as he approaches the eastern gate, it will blow open.

He will enter the City of David and will be crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

-         As a Lamb

The timing of Jesus’ entrance is significant.

Jesus arrived in Bethany, 6 days before the Passover. There he stayed and spent the Sabbath.

4 days before the Passover, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem.

This is when he rides the donkey into town.

This day is significant, this day is known as Shabbat HaGadol, or “Lamb selection day.”

To understand the significance, we have to travel back to when the Passover originated.

The Passover originated in Exodus, when Israel was enslaved to Egypt.

God used Moses to help deliver the people out of Egypt.

God gave instructions to Moses to give to Israel and he told them that 4 days before their release, they had to go and select a lamb.

Exodus 12:3 3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

Now, for lamb selection day, the Father would be the one that would choose the lamb and then the lamb would be inspected by the family.

They get a lamb, 4 days before Passover and they would inspect it and keep it, to make sure it was without blemish.

Then, 4 days later, they would sacrifice the lamb, eat it and put the blood of the lamb on the door posts of their home.

Then Exodus 12:6-7 6 “ And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

Exodus 12:13 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

The blood on the door posts would be a sign to God, to pass over the home because the last judgement God was going to inflict on the Egyptians was every first born in the land of Egypt was going to be killed.

From that moment on, all of Israel would celebrate the Passover each year by having a meal together and by sacrificing a lamb for their family, to receive forgiveness for their sins.

SO for 1500 years, the people of Israel would celebrate Passover each year, as a reminder of what God did for them to free them from captivity.

And each year, they would select a lamb to be offered as a sacrifice for their sins.

Another Interesting Detail:

-          Jewish tradition holds that many of the lambs used for Temple sacrifices came from the fields around Bethlehem, just a few miles from Jerusalem.

-          These lambs were raised by shepherds specifically for Passover, since they had to be without blemish.

-          Where was Jesus born?

-          It is my belief, that it was these shepherds that were notified of the birth of Jesus because he was said to be placed in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes.

-          Out of all the places in Bethlehem, there was only one field that would have mangers with swaddling clothes and it would be in the special field, reserved the birthing and selection of the lambs that would be sacrificed at Passover.

-          They would take the lamb, wrap it up, then place it in a manger and inspect it for blemishes, deformations, breaks and other issues.

-          If the lamb was pure, it would be put aside for the sacrifice.

-          Even at Jesus’ birth, he was presented as the lamb that would be sacrificed.

On the very day the entire nation of Israel was picking their special lamb, Jesus rode into Jerusalem.

And in a very symbolic way, Jesus was saying, “I am going to be your Passover Lamb; the lamb that will save you. Pick Me! I am going to be sacrificed for the sins of you and your family.”

So on Sunday, Jesus enters Jerusalem, the people cry out “Save Us.”

That was exactly what Jesus was going to do.

But what they wanted was a King, a conqueror, a militant.

But what Jesus wanted them to see was he came to save them from their sins

-          He wasn’t entering as a conquering king

-          He was coming as a humble sacrifice

1 Corinthians 5:7 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

Hebrews 7:27 27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

1 Peter 1:18-19 18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Remember earlier I said that it is the father that selects the lamb for the family.

What does John 3:16 say?

-          For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son…

God, selected His Son to be the sacrifice of the world. And the son, humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

His Explanation

If we fast forward from Palm Sunday, the lamb selection day. To the Last supper, the Passover meal on Thursday.

Matthew 26:26 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

What was Jesus doing here?

He was explaining to His disciples that he was the Passover lamb.

That his sacrifice would be the ultimate and final sacrifice for the sins of the people.

His Examination

Now, for this to make sense, we have to understand how the Jewish people counted a day.

We say a day is from Midnight, 12am-12am.

The Jews went from Sunset, to Sunset.

So, Jesus has the Passover meal Thursday evening with his disciples.

After the Passover meal, he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.

In the Garden, Jesus began to pray.

Jesus was experiencing the great weight of what was to come.

So much so that Luke 22:44 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

-          Sweating blood is a rare occurrence called Hematohidrosis.

-          In which the extreme stress and anguish causes the capillaries in your face burst allowing blood to mix with sweat.

Afterwards, Jesus is met in the garden by roman guards and is betrayed by Judas.

They took Jesus and brought Him before Pilate.

They had false accusations made against Jesus.

But Pilate examined him

Luke 23:4 4 Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.

But the people were not satisfied.

So when Pilate discovered Jesus was from Galilee, he sent Jesus to Herod, who was the governor of Galilee, who also happened to be in Jerusalem at this time.

So Herod examined Jesus.

But Herod found no fault in him either.

So he sent him back to Pilate

When he came back to Pilate, Pilate said

Luke 23:14-15 14 Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:15 No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.

So, here is Jesus, the selected lamb, brought to be examined.

And the ones that examined Him said, “We find no fault. He is innocent.”

His Execution

Now, we are getting to the last moments of Jesus’ life and the last moments before the Passover lambs could be killed.

Mark 15:25- 25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

Matthew 27 45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

Now, I know the king James makes it complicated here,

The 3rd hours is 9am

But the 6th hour is 12pm.

The 9th hour is 3pm.

According to scripture, the lambs on Passover had to be sacrificed on the 14th day of the month by 3pm.

Jesus is now on the cross, on the 14th day of the month, during the Passover week

He was placed there at 9am and died at 3pm, the exact time that all the lambs had to be sacrificed.

His death fulfilled the qualifications of the sacrificial lamb.

And the very moment jesus died, Matthew said vs.51 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

The veil is what separated the people from the place where God was.

Only the high priest could go in once a year and offer a sacrifice on the altar and the blood would be applied on the mercy seat.

But, when Jesus died, that veil that separated that holy place from the people was ripped in half.

Demonstrating that there is no longer any separation from God and man.

Jesus has now become the ultimate sacrifice, his blood has been applied to the lives of those that choose him as savior.

And his death not only forgives our sins, but removes our sins.

There is no need for any other sacrifice.

He is the ultimate sacrifice.