Hosanna Series

After this week’s English and French Federal political leader’s debates, many commentators are noting what is not taking place. From Provincial politicians, to economists, historians to social activists, there is much lacking in all the talk of specifics. People are looking at the demographic greying tsunami that is coming and asking government to help them. When statistics show that there is going to be more and more people drawing on a reserve of less and less something has to change. Perhaps we can’t expect government to save us from what is coming.

As crowds gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast, they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. They went out to greet Him. The crowd shouted, “Help!” and “Save!” and Jesus has come precisely to help and save them, though it will not be through the political liberation the crowd expects (cf. Psalms of Solomon 17:21–25) (Whitacre, R. A. (1999). Vol. 4: John. The IVP New Testament commentary series (303–304). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.).

If our greatest problem was government, God would have sent a politician. If our greatest problem was money, God would have sent an economist. If our greatest problem was a need for happiness, God would have sent an entertainer. Since our greatest problem is the burden is sin, God sent a saviour.

In John 12:12-16, which describes the event commonly known as the triumphal entry, Jesus officially presented Himself to Israel as the Messiah and Son of God. By so doing, He set in motion the chain of events that would quickly lead to His death at the exact time foreordained by God. As the King came to die, He did so: 1) At the Proper Moment (John 12:12a), 2) With the Passionate Multitude (John 12:12b-13), 3) In the Predicted Manner (John 12:14-15), and 4) To the Perplexity of His Men (John 12:16).

Jesus, the King came to die:

1) At the Proper Moment (John 12:12a)

John 12:12a [12]The next day (the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem). (ESV)

Jesus had arrived at Bethany on Friday. The dinner, the anointing, and the gathering of the crowd took place after his arrival, with the Sabbath (Friday dusk to Saturday dusk) intervening. On the next day (Palm Sunday), the ever-growing crowd that had arrived in Jerusalem for the festival learned that Jesus was on his way there. They cut palm branches and went out to meet him (Baumler, G. P. (1997). John. The People’s Bible (175). Milwaukee, Wis.: Northwestern Publishing House.).

The next day was the tenth day of the Jewish month Nisan, on which the paschal lamb was set apart to be “kept up until the fourteenth day of the same month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel were to kill it in the evening” (Ex 12:3, 6). Even so, from the day of this solemn entry into Jerusalem, “Christ our Passover” was virtually set apart to be “sacrificed for us” (1Co 5:7) (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (Jn 12:12). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.).

Passover was one of the three feasts that Jews were supposed to attend in Jerusalem, and consequently the population of Jerusalem swelled enormously at this time (Whitacre, R. A. (1999). Vol. 4: John. The IVP New Testament commentary series (303). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.).

Passover was near at hand, in commemoration of the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. At such occasions deliverance from foreign subjugation was always one of the main themes of conversation (Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953-2001). Vol. 1-2: New Testament commentary : Exposition of the Gospel According to John. New Testament Commentary (Jn 12:13). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.).

Please turn back to Daniel 9

The exact day that the Lord chose to enter Jerusalem fulfilled one of the most remarkable prophecies of the Old Testament, Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks (Dan. 9:24–26). Through Daniel, the Lord predicted that the time from Artaxerxes’ decree ordering the rebuilding of the temple (in 445 B.C.) until the coming of the Messiah would be “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks” (Dan. 9:25; cf. Neh. 2:6), that is, 69 weeks total. The literal translation is “seven sevens and sixty-two sevens,” seven being a common designation for a week. In the context of the passage, the idea is 69 weeks of years, or 69 times 7 years, which comes to a total of 483 Jewish years (which consisted of 360 days each, as was common in the ancient world).

Daniel 9:24-26 [24]"Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. [25]Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. [26]And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. (ESV)