Now Behold the Lamb

Today is a special day, as we congregate as brothers and sisters in this building. As we, the ecclesia, (a called-out assembly or congregation), a.k.a. the CHURCH, come together in worship of our Lord and savior.

Just a quick reminder to all that are present today. When you say that you are going to the church to worship, that could mean anyplace, anywhere! The true church is the assembly of the believers; their gathering or congregating. It is not where the building is located, but rather, where the children of God are assembled for worship! The building is just geography! If there were no walls around us and no roof over us, the church still exists, the church still exists right here, because we are gathered!

You and I are corporately called the Body of Christ; that is the church members are the body, (not the building!) The only recognized building of the NT ecclesia, is the living and breathing temple of Holy Spirit. And there again, that living breathing temple is every true blood bought saint of almighty God!

Turn to somebody and say, “You are a good looking temple!”

If nobody looked at you and said that you’re a good looking temple right then, the I’ll state it over the whole body this morning! (“You’re a good look......ummmmm…you’re a really good.....wow, what a nice building we have here!”)

Just kidding you are a tremendously good looking group of people! AMEN!!

So, back to what I started off mentioning, in terms of this being a special day for the church body.

Today is what we recognize as......? Yes, PALM SUNDAY!

What is so special about Palm Sunday for the church?

It is the day that we read of and remember Jesus making His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, right?

Why was this entry any more different than the other times that He would have entered into the city? That is, why is this one called the Triumphant Entry?

What was so Triumphant about it?

Well, that is what we are going to look at this morning.

I spoke at our men’s breakfast yesterday and in the message, I was speaking on the Olivet Discourse from .

Within this message, I referred to last week's sermon and of how we were down to the last couple of weeks of Jesus regular earthly ministry before His arrest and crucifixion.

In the lesson from yesterday, we find Jesus doing everything that He can to teach and prepare His disciples for what was to come after His departure and also knowledge of the ages to come before His return.

Yesterday’s lesson was on the parable of the Ten Virgins and the instructions given by Jesus for the church (the bride of Christ) to be ready for His return at all times!

In yesterdays message, I explained of how the Jewish marriage process worked and how different it is from our culture and dating process today that we have in this country. (Basically our culture today is date and keep giving yourself away over and over again with multiple scars and wounds, until you finally say, “this is it”, and you get married.

Then your marital partner inherits all of the past pain and grief and you spend the next few years working through it together!)

Anyway, I mentioned that the Jewish culture worked, primarily off of arranged weddings, that were orchestrated between the fathers of the prospective groom and bride.

Within this process, the father of the groom to be, had to negotiate a price with the father of the bride to be for her hand in marriage to his son. (Because if the father of the bride to be was getting ready to lose a set of hands around his house and property, then this meant that he was losing help to keep everything running and operating smoothly!

So, a price, or what we refer to as an dowry (in the Hebrew, a mohar), was set and agreed upon between the two fathers.

The father of the groom to be, thus paid a negotiated price for the young lady’s hand in marriage to his son. (Basically, the father paid the price for the bride of his son up front and no payment was made by the groom for the rest of his life. Nowadays, its the opposite; no payment is made up front for the bride and then the husband pays for it the rest of his life!)

Just kidding! Put the knives and guns back up ladies!

The point was this, that the understanding of the Jewish culture and the times in which they lived, were very relevant to understanding a lot of what Jesus said as well as what took place within the gospels and the epistles. You will see this at the end of today’s message. AMEN?!

So knowing this makes the whole bride and bridegroom story of Jesus and the church more beautiful. The Father had already orchestrated the price that was to be paid for the bride and now, we are getting set to witness the payment for that marriage, that starts from today’s message!

Which, in fact, ties in with why this story is known as the Triumphant Entry!

Matthew 21:1–11 ESV

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Three of the four gospels record the initial part of this account with Jesus instructing two of His disciples to go into the village they were coming up on and they would find a young donkey that had never been ridden before and they were to untie the colt and the mother and bring them to Him.

He instructed them that if anyone questioned this, they were to simply say, “The Lord needs them” , and that would be sufficient, the person would send them at once. (Many people say that this wasn’t miraculous, that Jesus had just prearranged the whole deal with someone ahead of time and didn’t mention this to His disciples.)

Please! In my opinion, if you can create the world and all the science that governs it, if you can speak human life into existence and breathe/impart a living spirit into it, if you can part the waters and control the natural elements, if you can heal all manner of diseases and raise the dead and dictate to the spiritual realm their boundaries and they completely obey out of fear of your omnipotent power! If you can do all of that, do you seriously think that Jesus had to go in secret and prearrange having a donkey to ride?!! PLEASE!

Can you imagine the same scenario taking place today though?

Ummm, excuse me dude, but what do you think you’re doing getting into my car? (Oh, uhh, the Lord needs it!)

Well, let me tell you something Skippy John Jones, you are about to go meet the Lord in the next few seconds if you don’t get out of my car!

Ain’t coming up into my space saying, “the Lord needs your car”, and then just driving off! You and the Lord best have some cash on hand and I’m not talking about some widow’s mite either!

I just really think it works best in their day and time, you know!

Possibly, one of the natural reason why the young donkey was needed, was related to the large crowd that had developed around Jesus as He was making His way towards the city.

You see, just before the Triumphant Entry, in John’s gospel, we read of Jesus performing that amazing miracle of raising His friend, Lazarus from the dead and many people had witnessed this, or had heard a first hand account of it.

This drew a large number of people to the city; including many Greeks (gentiles), who wanted to see, (or, experience) , this Jesus!

So, you couple the understanding of many coming to the city, because of what they have heard, along with the usual large crowd, and things get busy, pretty quick!

Estimates, from the likes of writers such as Josephus, tell us that there may have been well over 1 million people in Jerusalem at that time for the observance of the Passover celebration!

And many of these wanted to see and/or hear this “JESUS” talk and teach!

So, when Jesus saw that the crowd was gathering like crazy, coupled with the fact that they were shouting and praising and rolling out the proverbial “RED CARPET” for Him as He was making His way into the city, and that they were thinking, “this is it, this is where He assumes the role of the MESSIAH and sets up His kingly authority and establishes the new kingdom for us!”

So, Jesus calls for the donkey. (You see, the people would be looking for an authoritative position, like the new king, if He was going to be riding on something, to come rolling in on a big, powerful steed, a war horse, and make a grand entrance!

Maybe, maybe a chariot with a team of large, gallant horses pulling it for the grand kingly entrance. That is more like what the people were looking for.

Jesus, didn’t desire their accolades for a mighty warring king to overthrow Rome, He came to fulfill the will of His Father; and in the process, to fulfill the prophecies dealing with His entrance.

Zechariah 9:9–10 ESV

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

You see, Jesus was to ride in as a humble, suffering servant, on a lowly donkey (which was a symbol of peace, not war and triumph!). He wasn’t meant to ride in a chariot with all the regalia, or upon the fancy noble steed, as the crowd was looking for!

You could probably hear some of them saying, “Whats the deal; why is He sitting on a donkey? What kind of king does that?”

Prophet Zechariah spoke accurately of the fact that the people’s King was coming; just not the king that they were looking for!

How true TODAY this statement is for so many! We are looking for a savior; but not a LORD over our lives and whose presence changes our wants and desires!

Mark 11:7–10 ESV

And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

The people were waving the palm branches and laying them upon the road before Jesus, but why?

Well, in ancient times, palm branches symbolized goodness, well-being, and victory. So, since the people were looking for this great and mighty king/messiah to enter the city, they lauded Him with the praise that was due to a victor! (They laid their branches and their own cloaks on the ground before Him, as was done for great kings and rulers coming through!)

The One Sunday that Jesus Shows Up

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, dad?” “You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, and so we got Palm Branches today.” The little boy replied, “Aw Shucks the one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up”

The waving of the palm branches was used as a symbol in a military victory!

They were right in celebrating a great victory, but they didn’t have a clue as to what the victory really was, nor what it was about to cost the victor!

, where Elisha, the prophet, anointed Jehu as king.

2 Kings 9:13 ESV

Then in haste every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”

The people were doing the same thing with Jesus, by laying their cloaks on the ground before Him and thus honoring the king, the messiah!

The people were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

This is from Jewish Hallel, the passage from , that was a prayer that the people would memorize and say at certain religious festivals and times, such as the Passover celebration.

The word HOSANNA, is actually a derivative from two Hebrew words that combined, mean, “save, now/please.”

So, literally it was a cry for salvation to the Lord! (Within the context that the people were saying it before Jesus, was probably a celebratory decree for the new king to deliver them from Roman rule!)

How many of you today, could say that you have cried that name out for that very reason, Hosanna, save me now; PLEASE!!

The main reason that I am going through all of the details of the triumphant entry is this; there were different reasons that the people were gathered and cheering and celebrating as Jesus was making His way into the city.

The city was full of a large gathering of people because of the Passover celebration, as it was each year. However, there was no doubt, an increase in people, simply due to the nature of the prophesied Messiah being on the scene and speculation that He was going to show up and start His reign and rule!

There was no doubt tension in the air, as the religious zealots knew that such a large following in the hands of a man that was looking for power and prestige could spell trouble for them and their positions, not to mention what the outcome could be if a revolt against Rome broke out; simply upon His spoken command to do so!

There were those there at the Triumphant entrance celebration who had witnessed the raising of Lazarus and had no doubt told others of this man’s ability to control life and death.

There were those there celebrating because they had heard of His power from the Lazarus account.

There were those present celebrating that had in the past three and a half years witnessed other miracles that Jesus had performed and knew very well of the authority that He had; though misdirected they may have been as to where this authority cam from.

Then there was those, such as His disciples, who knew that He was the Messiah, and yet still did not understand exactly what that meant for them as well as His direct relationship to the Father. They were, to the truest level of their understanding, celebrating for their new king and messiah! They had a love for Him: maybe somewhat misdirected in their thought processing, but a genuine love non the less!

And what about those who showed up just to be a part of the celebration and not to look different! The sort of “Everyone love a parade” sort of crowd member!

These appear throughout the history of the church and are still present today. They cave under pier pressure and do not want to appear different as the rest, so they will embrace whatever their current cronies, or the masses embrace! They are the part of the lukewarm church, that Jesus warned us about in Revelation chapter 3.

SHORT-TERM ENTHUSIASM The story is told of a minister who was full of energy and enthusiasm for the Lord. One day he went to the hospital to visit one of his parishioners who was critically ill. The minister entered the room and saw the man lying in bed with a whole host of tubes and wires attached to his body. Without any delay the minister strode to his bedside and began to exhort him to be of good cheer. Soon the man started to wave his arms. This encouraged the minister, and so he exhorted him more and more enthusiastically. Finally the minister ended with a rather lengthy prayer. At the final "Amen" the minister opened his eyes just in time to see the man reach for a pad of paper and a pencil. Quickly he wrote something and handed it to the minister. Then the man turned his head and died. The minister was deeply moved to think that his visit to this man had occurred in the nick of time. Then he looked at the pad and read these words: "You are standing on my oxygen tube."

Sometimes it is easy to misread people’s actions. Not all arm-waving is an expression of exuberance. Not all laughter is the laughter of happiness. Not all tears are tears of sorrow. Not all shouting is the shouting of triumph and victory. And not everyone who says, "Lord! Lord!" will enter the kingdom of God.

Also, there was the usual intrigued spectators, who had no dog in the race and just wanted to look and see what all of the hoopla was about!

Regardless of which member was there that day yelling and waiving their palm branches and singing and dancing and lifting up praise to the new king, they only saw what they wanted to see. They missed altogether, the TRUTH of who He was and what He was about to do!

Although He was a King; He was not the king they wanted to see.

The irony/hypocrisy of this crowd that stands and celebrates and lays their cloaks on the ground before Him and yells, “Hosanna, blessed is He who come in the name of the Lord”, would, in a matter of a few days, be yelling, “He is not our king; CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM!”

You see, they had missed, completely who He was and what He was.

They thought they saw a king of deliverance from the tyranny of men, but He was really the King of deliverance from the tyranny of sin. They saw a glimpse of a new kingdom getting ready to start, and yet they missed that His new kingdom would begin in their heart! They noticed the power and the authority that He kept, and yet as He neared the streets of Jerusalem, they missed the fact that He wept! This must be the new king who would rule with an iron rod; but in the end, what they thought to be THEIR king turned out to be the sacrificial LAMB OF GOD!

You see friends, in the original ordinance that God had given for the Passover meal; each family was to pick out a spotless, unblemished lamb and set it aside from the rest of the sheep. This was to be done four days before the Passover meal. It has been said that this process of choosing and setting aside the sacrificial lamb was done to allow the family time to spend with the lamb before its sacrifice on their behalf.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem that Sunday and as the people were lauding and appraising Him and saying yes to Him (they had, in a sense, just chosen or picked out their Passover lamb). The whole city was exposed to Him and and He spent the rest of the time amongst them and then, 4 days later, along with the other lambs of the families that were sacrificed, the spotless lamb of God was sacrificed upon the altar of the cross for all mankind!

They thought they were beholding their new king yet they were really beholding the lamb of God!

In we read this:

Revelation 7:9 ESV

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

Revelation 7:9–10 ESV

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Revelation 7:9 ESV

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

The crowds waved their palm branches on that day, the day of the Triumphant Entry, for the one they thought was the king when He was truly a sacrificial lamb. The Bible shows us that one day, however, we will wave the palm branches before the Lamb of God!

Jesus’ entry was triumphant, because it declared who and what He truly was and it became the final step of His journey to the cross, to become triumphant over sin and death!

The question that I have for you this morning, is where do you fit into the crowd? Are you one of those who is standing and waiving your palm branch and cheering to Him because everyone else is, are you waiving yours because you have your own ideas of who and what you want Him to be to you and for your life, are you singing praise to His name one minute and then yelling “crucify Him” with your actions the very next, or are you truly worshipping the Lamb of God today and everyday for who and what He really is?

He rode into Jerusalem that day on a humble donkey as the Lamb of God, but the Bible says that He is going to return on a white horse with all authority and power; the mighty Lion of the Tribe of Judah!

WILL YOU BE READY FOR THAT RETURN?