Sermons - Cornerstone Christian Fellowship

\'Palm Sunday\'

Mar 24, 2024 by: John Herbert | Series: Misc

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Mt 21:1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.

Today we will take a break from the 'From Time to Time' series and look at the scriptural significance of the day that is commonly called 'Palm Sunday.'

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Sunday March 24th 2024
‘Palm Sunday’

1). Mt 21:1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 "And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them." 4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, Meek, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.'" 6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!" 10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" 11 So the multitudes said,  "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

The verses we have just read record the events that took place during the preparation days for the feast of Passover at the end of the Lord’s ministry, and that which we see here, just days before the Lord’s crucifixion, has become known as ‘Palm Sunday’, because of the palm branches which were waved and placed on the ground as the Lord entered Jerusalem - Jn 12:12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: "Hosanna! [save now] 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' The King of Israel!”

Within the Scriptures, we can see that palm branches are associated with the Feast of Tabernacles, the seventh of the seven feasts given to Israel - Le 23:34 "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD….39 'Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the LORD for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. 40 'And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. 41 'You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 'You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 'that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.'"

And because of the association with the Feast of Tabernacles there is an inseparable connection with the Seventh Day, Christ’s Millennial Kingdom, the Day of His Power and glory as well.
			a). The Feast of Tabernacles is also known as the Feast of Ingathering, marking the time when the labor in the field was completed and the fruit from that labor was brought before the Lord. And in this facet of the Feast, we can see Israel’s ‘labor’ in the field, which is the world, picturing the time they have spent since the Babylonian captivity dispersed out among the Gentile nations, and particularly the time spent there during the Great Tribulation. The conclusion of this ‘labor’ will be seen in the day when the nation is removed from the Gentile nations to be ingathered to the land during the seventy-five days that follow the end of the Tribulation, with the Feast of Tabernacles then being fulfilled throughout the Seventh Day.
			b). If we now go back to the verses that we began with, what is it that we see? We see the One born King of the Jews entering the city of the great King in connection with a prophecy in Zechariah.  And that which the people cried out gave all this a Messianic context – 
Mt 21:9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!" 
 
Mr 11:10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" 
 
Lu 19:38 saying:" 'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!' Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 
 
Jn 12:13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: "Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' The King of Israel!"

And the event itself has echoes of the coronation of Solomon, the one whose magnificent kingdom foreshadows Christ’s superlative Kingdom - 1Ki 1:33 The king also said to them, "Take with you the servants of your lord, and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and take him down to Gihon. 34 "There let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel; and blow the horn, and say, 'Long live King Solomon!'

And as we have noted, was prophesied through Zechariah – 
Zec 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Mt 21:5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, Meek, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.'"

There is no doubt that Jesus is the King of the Jews, He was born such, with His right to the throne of David coming through the bloodline of David’s son Nathan via Mary and the regal line through Solomon via His father by law, Joseph and attested to by His own words – 
Mt 27:11 Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, "Are  You the King of the Jews?" So Jesus said to him, "It is as you say."

2). But we should be careful to keep in mind that although Jesus is the King of the Jews, in the same way that He is ‘a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek’, He has not as yet exercised either of these offices. And nor was He about to when He entered Jerusalem the week of His crucifixion.
			a). The Messianic rhetoric that accompanied His entrance into Jerusalem is one thing, but did you note vv10-11 from Matthew 21? 10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" 11 So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

In the question from v10, we can find an echo of the Jews encounter with the manna in the wilderness – Ex 16:15 So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.

Jn 6:31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

And in the record that ‘all the city was moved’, we hear another echo, this time of the city of Jerusalem’s reaction to the announcement of the birth of the King of the Jews – Mt 2:2……….“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

These same individuals who were shouting out the Messianic slogans were the same ones who had sided with the Pharisees when they declared that Jesus had used the power of Satan to heal the demon possessed blind and mute man. The same ones who would cry out for Barabbas to be released to them instead of Jesus and would declare that they had no king but Caesar, just a few days later.
			b). Any Laodicean leftover that may still linger with us that would say that had the Jews accepted Christ as their King on that day He entered Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey, then His Kingdom would have been established, should be thrown out the window. To begin with, such a thought is pure supposition, because it didn’t happen, and as such has no place in the study of Scripture. And secondly, the acceptance of Christ as King as a precursor to the establishment of His Kingdom was never the required, repentance had ALWAYS been, and still is, required – Mt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

And then of course there is the context into which this entry into Jerusalem must be placed – Mt 12:22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”………….30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. 31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

As we know, these events recorded in Matthew Chapter 12 mark the terminal point in the offer of the Kingdom of the heavens to the Jews by the Lord, although the announcement is not made specifically until Matthew 21:43, after the entry into Jerusalem. But that is really neither here nor there. We will note what Jesus said to the Pharisees and therefore the nation in v32. He said that they would not be forgiven for what they had done in blaspheming the Holy Spirit, the tipping point for the Kingdom of the heavens being taken from them, in this age or the age to come. A timeframe that extends to the end of the Tribulation, the end of Man’s Day and to the end of the age to come, the Millennial Kingdom. This pronouncement to the Jews did not change on the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey. And the Kingdom of the heavens could not be reoffered to the Jews until a new entity was brought into existence to receive the Kingdom and make the reoffer, something that could only happen as a result of His resurrection. And then we have – Mt 13:1 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.

Matthew 13 begins on the same day, immediately following the events in Chapter 12, where we see that Jesus left the house, the House of Israel to go to the sea, picturing the Gentiles, where He then gave a series of parables. Parables that specifically deal with a people other than Israel who would be taken predominantly from the Gentile nations. And this new people group was specifically identified later in 
Mt 16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 
 
This new entity, His church, would be the recipients of the Kingdom of the heavens in Israel’s place, and in conjunction with the church’s introduction, it was from that point on in the Scriptures that the Lord’s suffering, death, and resurrection come to the forefront – 
Mt 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

And although Matthew 16:18 is the first mention in Scripture of His church, the foundational type, making clear the church’s inevitable existence, is found back in - Ge 2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 
 
And because of the type, the church, and most specifically the Bride, could not exist apart from Christ being put into a deep sleep and His side subsequently being opened, that which would provide redemption for those who would comprise His church. But there also had to be resurrection and ascension to make possible the redemption of the soul and the body. Death and shed blood, followed by resurrection was inevitable because of that established in the foundation.  And Israel alone had been given the mandate to slay the Passover Lamb.
			c). And the slaying of the Passover Lamb is inextricably connected to God’s purpose for the Jewish people, typified through the nation’s deliverance from Egypt to occupy the land of their inheritance. And we will remember that it was to the lost sheep of the House of Israel that Messiah was sent, not to the Gentiles, at a time when His church did not exist.

3). This then is the context into which the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem to the reverberation of Messianic chanting must be placed. But we will also note that this day has been singled out from all the other days that the Lord would have entered Jerusalem, with particular attention given to it. So, the question we would want to ask is why? The answer to our question is very simple if we keep a couple of things in mind. To repeat what we had said earlier – Mt 15:24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Jn 1:35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. 36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

Lk 24:25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

The Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem was not about regality that day, it was about His suffering, just as He told His disciples in Matthew Chapter 16, before His crucifixion and just as He later repeated to the disciples on the road to Emmaus following His resurrection. And from John Chapter 1 we see the context in which His suffering would take place, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ A statement that takes us back to – Ge 22:8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

And forward from Genesis to – Ex 12:1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: “On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.

Jesus is the Lamb that God had provided for a burnt offering, He is the Lamb for the household of Israel who was to be killed at twilight. And it is back to the instructions that God gave the first generation of Israel concerning their Passover lambs that we must go to find the significance of this one particular entrance into Jerusalem – 
Ex 12:3 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household….5 'Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 'Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.

We will see then that although Christ entered Jerusalem to the echo of Messianic phrases, His entry was really that of the Lamb chosen to die for the nation who was to be set aside for four days to be observed and tested, to prove beyond doubt that He is God’s Lamb, completely without blemish. 
 	a). And it is during the four days, following His entry into Jerusalem, that He was tested, tried, and proven to be without fault, the Lamb without blemish who would die for the nation – 
Mt 21:23 Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?" 24 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: 25 The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
 
Mt 22:17 "Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? 
 
Mt 22:23 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him………….34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"………………..46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore. 
 
Mt 27:12 And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. 13 Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?" 14 But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

Lu 23:13 Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, 14 said to them, "You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; 15 "no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him.

The Christ had to die for the nation of Israel as their Passover Lamb to make possible the fulfillment of the prophetic calendar contained in the Seven great Feasts given to the Jews that will ultimately lead to the cleansing and restoration of the nation, allowing them to rule at the head of the nations within a restored Theocracy during the Millennial Kingdom. It will be at this time, following the end of the Tribulation that Christ’s regality will come into view. No longer the Lamb but the great King/Priest according to the order of Melchizedek 
 	b). But all had to begin with the Passover. It was all a matter of timing, and as with the first Passover in Egypt, it will only be through faith in God’s provision for sin and the application of the blood that a future deliverance will be brought to God’s people. 
 	c). And because of the Lamb slain at Calvary, Israel will one day be able to exercise that faith and properly apply the blood bringing about their deliverance and their establishment at the head of the nations in fulfillment of their name, Israel, the prince who rules with God – Jer 23:7 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”

And when He comes to His people Israel, that seen in Psalm 118 will be fulfilled - Ps 118:18 The LORD has chastened me [read Israel for ‘me’ throughout] severely, But He has not given me over to death. 19  Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the LORD. 20 This is the gate of the LORD, Through which the righteous shall enter. 21 I will praise You, For You have answered me, And have become my salvation. 22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. 23 This was the LORD'S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day the LORD has made [the Seventh Day]; We will rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save now, I pray, O LORD; O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!

In that day He will return to the earth, to His people Israel, and to the city of Jerusalem in a manner completely different to that seen in Matthew 21 - Re 19:11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

And it is for this soon coming Day that He entered Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey that day. And this is why that day has significance, because of the preparation for the Passover and the Day which the fulfillment of Passover will make possible – Joe 3:18 And it will come to pass in that day That the mountains shall drip with new wine, The hills shall flow with milk, And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; A fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD And water the Valley of Acacias. 19 “Egypt shall be a desolation, And Edom a desolate wilderness, Because of violence against the people of Judah, For they have shed innocent blood in their land. 20 But Judah shall abide forever, And Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21 For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not acquitted; For the LORD dwells in Zion.”

Next week Judd will be speaking if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.

\'Palm Sunday\'

Refresh A Recap from the Sermon

\'Palm Sunday\'

Mar 24, 2024

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: Misc

Category: Sunday Morning

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A Recap from the Sermon