“THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY” Luke 19:28-40
FBCF – 3/3/24
Jon Daniels
INTRO – What’s the longest journey or trip you’ve ever been on? For me, Astana, Kazakhstan – 6558 miles.
Today, we begin a journey – a journey to the cross as we consider the final days of Jesus’ ministry on earth. It’s a weeklong journey of the last days of His 33-yr earthly life, the week that is termed Holy Week. That’s why we are calling this series for the month of March, “Those Final Moments.” Each week, we will consider a significant event that took place during that week.
- Today – “The Triumphal Entry” on Palm Sunday as Jesus arrived in Jerusalem for the last time.
- Next week – “The Last Supper” that Jesus had w/ His disciples.
- Mar 17 – “The Garden” experience where Jesus cried out to His Father in prayer right before He was betrayed by Judas, arrested, & dragged before the chief priests & scribes who began to question Him, mock Him, & beat Him.
- Mar 24 – “The Cross” – Need I say more? Lord’s Supper that day
- Mar 31 – “The Empty Tomb” – The greatest day in the history of the universe!
EXPLANATION – Luke 19:28-40
Although we are looking at this last week of Jesus’ life, His journey to Jerusalem, the cross, & the grave started long before His 33 years of life on earth. It started before the foundation of the world. Think about this:
- First time Gospel was proclaimed was out of the mouth of God Himself – Genesis 3:15 – “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
- The Protoevangelium – “The First Gospel” – This verse shows us 2 essential elements of salvation: The curse of sin on all mankind b/c of Adam’s sin & God’s provision of a Savior who would take the curse upon Himself for us. So, God’s plan for our salvation was already in place even in the Garden of Eden.
- Then we see in Genesis 3:21 that “the Lord God made for Adam & his wife garments of skin & clothed them.” The only way that animal skins could be utilized to cover the nakedness of Adam & Eve was by those animals being killed, their blood being shed – the 1st time blood was shed as a covering for their sin – a foreshadowing of the sacrifice that would come through Jesus, the Lamb of God who shed His blood for the sins of all mankind. In fact, Revelation 13:8 says, that the Lamb was “slain before the foundation of the world.”
- God knew that this would happen. He had already planned for it to happen. Before the creation of the universe, before time began, God had predetermined that His only-begotten Son would become the once-for-all sacrifice for sin so that those of us who receive His gift of salvation will be saved for all eternity.
- On the day of Pentecost, Peter would preach these words in Acts 2:22-24 – “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan [according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God - ESV] was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.” (NLT)
So you see, Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem; His journey to the Upper Room for the last supper w/ His disciples; His journey to the agonizing prayer to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane; His journey to the Old Rugged Cross where His flesh was ripped open & the blood flowed out to wash away our sins; & His journey into the tomb which would burst open 3 days later – this journey began before the beginning of time. It began in the mind, the heart, the plan, & the perfect will of God. One writer put it this way:
- “It is as if to say, God had taken out an insurance policy before creating mankind. It is a fully comprehensive insurance that pays for all damages no matter what, & even promises to restore back as new. That insurance is the blood of Jesus. The main strength of the insurance (just like any normal insurance policy) is that it was taken out before the incident. That is why it covers everything. Jesus' death on the cross was not an afterthought by God, rushed through after the event (of mankind falling into sin). No. It had been settled before.” (https://wordlibrary.co.uk/article.php?id=200)
APPLICATION – Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem means that we, too, will one day be triumphant.
JESUS PRESSED ON – v. 28 – “…He went on…” – At least 35 different translations of the Bible say either, “He went on” or “Jesus went on.”
- He didn’t stop.
- He didn’t turn around.
- He didn’t change His mind.
- He didn’t think, “I’ve got a better plan.”
- Jesus went on – on into Jerusalem – on into the presence of His enemies – on into the brutality of His arrest, His flogging – on up on the cross – on into suffering that no one else in the world had every experienced or will ever experience as He took our sins upon Himself – on into the horror of the unabated wrath of God poured out on Him instead of us – & on into the grave.
And He knew that all of this was coming. Several times before His entry into Jerusalem, He told His disciples that He would be delivered up to be crucified.
- Right after He fed the 5000, He told His disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer many things & be rejected by the elders & chief priests & scribes, & be killed, & on the 3rd day be raised.” (Luke 9:22)
- Then right after the Transfiguration – “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men” (Luke 9:44).
- Then during this final trip toward Jerusalem, He again told His disciples what was going to happen, going into more details about being “mocked & shamefully treated & spit upon” & flogged (Luke 18:32-33).
And yet, even w/ this knowledge, He went on. Out of His love for us, He went on. Out of perfect obedience to His Father, He went on. We read in Hebrews 12:2, “For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross…” – In fact, His going on leads us to our next point…
MORE PROPHECIES WERE FULFILLED – v. 29-35 – The very fact that Jesus went on to Jerusalem was a fulfillment of an OT prophecy.
- Luke 9:51 – “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
- Jesus was locked onto His target & would not be deterred. He was going to finish His mission as the OT prophet Isaiah said about the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 50:7 – “Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame”
This is just one of at least 300 OT prophecies that Jesus fulfilled during His earthly ministry (https://www.gotquestions.org/prophecies-of-Jesus.html).
- The colt that Jesus sent His disciples to get was prophesied about int Zech 9:9 – “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.”
- Throwing their cloaks on the colt is a reference to 2 kings 9:13 – “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 proclamation that the whole multitude of disciples shouted is found in Psalm 118:26 – “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.”
As powerful it is that there were so many prophecies fulfilled through Jesus’ earthly ministry, we, as His followers, know that there’s still more to come!
- 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 – “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 – “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
- Revelation 22:20 – “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
THE PEOPLE PRAISED (& IF THEY DIDN’T, THE ROCKS WOULD HAVE!) – v. 36-40 – Unfortunately, their praise was misplaced & misinformed.
- The atmosphere was electric b/c they had seen Jesus do miracle after miracle, even raising dead people to life. They knew that He had the power to do anything, including bringing the K’dom of G to earth.
- They proclaimed Him to be “the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” They thought that the hour had arrived when Jesus would usher in the K’dom NOW, freeing them from Roman rule, setting up His throne in Jerusalem, establishing Israel as the leading nation of the world.
- They failed to see that He was riding a colt as the King of Peace – He was riding a beast of burden b/c He would bear the burden of the sins of all mankind – He was riding an animal that symbolized gentleness, b/c He was the Savior who was “gentle & lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29).
But you & I have the blessing & benefit of knowing the whole story, which means we have ALL the knowledge we need to praise Him like no one else! Don’t let the rocks do what you & I were created to do!!!
- Praise Him b/c He came!
- Praise Him b/c He died!
- Praise Him b/c He rose again!
- Praise Him b/c He’s coming again!
- Praise Him b/c He will save anyone, anywhere, at any time, including right now! He entered Jerusalem back then – Let Him enter your heart right now!
