The Significance of Palm Sunday
Matthew 21:1-11 (spread cloaks on road and cut branches from trees - Hosanna)
Mark 11:7-10 (cloaks on road and leafy branches they had cut from the fields – Hosanna)
Luke 19:37-40 (“disciples” praised the mighty works, stones would cry out)
John 12:12-19 (branches of palm trees, Hosanna, crowd came because of Lazarus)
Palm Sunday is recorded in all four gospels. It’s called Palm Sunday because people cut down palm branches and waved them before Jesus as He rode into Jerusalem. The event is often overshadowed by what happened a week later on Resurrection Sunday – but it is no less important for at least four reasons.
Was Palm Sunday an accident? Did Jesus wake up one day and say “let’s go to Jerusalem today – why not?” No – it was very very purposeful. We find Palm Sunday in Matthew 21, but all the way back in chapter 16 Jesus was telling His disciples to expect it:
Matt 16:21-22 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
Jesus had an appointment to keep – an appointment written in Israel’s Day Planner nearly 500 years before.
It signaled Jesus as the Messiah (Daniel’s 70 weeks – Daniel 9:23b-27)
70 weeks = 490 years
7 weeks, or 49 years, was spent rebuilding the Temple
62 weeks, or 434 years, later – an “anointed one” comes – anointed one is the Hebrew word: Mashiyach – or – Messiah.
“Most learned men agree that the death of Christ happened at the passover in the month Nisan, in the four thousand seven hundred and forty-sixth year of the Julian period. Four hundred and ninety years, reckoned back from the above year, leads us directly to the month Nisan in the four thousand two hundred and fifty-sixth year of the same period; the very month and year in which Ezra had his commission from Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of Persia” (Ezra 7:9 was the commission)
(from Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
If you do your math you will find one week remaining – one 7 year period of time until the rest of Daniel 9 is fulfilled.
For much of Jesus’ ministry He urged people to be quiet about who He was. When He healed he told people not to say anything, when He confronted demons who recognized Him as the Son of God He told them to shut up. That’s because it wasn’t time for Him to declare Himself as the Messiah. On Palm Sunday the time had come.
It meant God’s timetable for Israel was put in pause (Daniel’s 70 weeks) and signals the end of the Jewish system (John 12)
The same people who hailed Jesus as Messiah would go along with the Pharisees later in the week and have Him crucified. Jesus said in Mathew 24:2 that the city of Jerusalem, and it’s Temple would be torn down. In Matthew 21 He talked about a mountain being pulled up and cast into the sea. Both of these can easily refer to the fact that Judaism as a way to approach God was now finished – fulfilled really – in the Person of Jesus Christ.
In many places, including Romans 3, for instance, it becomes clear that the system of the Law cannot save anyone – but only points to one who can save, Jesus Christ. The destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple confirms that. In fact, Old Testament sacrifices did not really cleanse someone from sin – OT saints were sort of saved “on credit” in that the sacrificial system looked forward and pictured the only real sacrifice – Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9).
Luke 19:40 tells us that the leaders told Jesus to quiet the crowds – they knew what it meant for them to cry “Hosanna.” (a reference to Habakkuk 2:11). Habakkuk said the stones of Jerusalem would cry in judgment over the city’s sins just prior to its overthrow by Babylon. Here the stones of the city wall would bear witness to the rejection of Jesus by the Jews
It doesn’t mean that God is done with Israel. In Revelation 7 we see God move again mightily through a born-again Israel. Zechariah 12:10 says that the Jews will look on the Messiah “whom they have pierced” and will mourn.
I believe that when two things happen: the coming of a replacement Christ making a 7 year peace treaty with Israel, and the snatching away of the church – God will start the clock going again – like a hold in the countdown of a rocket – we are waiting to resume Daniels 70 weeks for Israel.
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The crowd recognized the importance of the event, but not it’s purpose
The crowd came because Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead but it was not to them He came.
They cried out a Messianic Psalm – 118.
“Hosanna” comes from Psalm 118:25. Notice a few important things from that Psalm if they had but paid attention:
:08 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man (yet in man they would trust)
:14 The LORD is my strength and my song, He has become my salvation (Jesus would become our salvation)
:19 Open to me the gates of righteousness ... this is the gate of the Lord (Jesus entered through the Eastern Gate. This gate would be shut by the Turks years later trying to stop Jesus from coming back)
:22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone (Jesus would be rejected by the Jews but became the cornerstone of all salvation)
:25 Save us we pray O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! (They wanted military and social and economic success – Jesus provides success in life by saving us)
They thought He was coming as a king to free them from Rome, instead of a Savior to free them from sin. The same people who welcomed Him on Palm Sunday rejected Him just days later at the insistence of the Scribes and Pharisees.
God came in peace
In the past, meeting God meant death. But the fact that He came on a donkey meant He was coming to make peace with us, not war. All throughout the Old Testament, we find instances of fear when people realized they had come into God’s presence – fear for their life. We see it in Exodus, in the story of Gideon, of Samson’s parents and others. But this time, God comes in peace, to save life, not to take it. How? By riding in on a donkey.
The riding of a donkey by the King of Israel was prophesied by Zechariah:
Zechariah 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 . ESV
His position (king), his character (righteous), his purpose (salvation), and his attitude (humble – Hebrew = afflicted)
A king riding in on not just a donkey, but a foal, would not be a military threat. He is proclaiming Himself as the king of Israel (later He would confirm that to Pilate (Luke 23:3 – and the inscription over the cross). But despite being King, He comes not with a sword, but to offer His own righteous body to be afflicted for the salvation of others.
Compare this coming of Jesus as King to another time when He will arrive in Jerusalem:
Revelation 19:11-16 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. ESV
This is the Second Coming. Now Jesus doesn’t ride a lowly donkey – He is seated on a white horse. He is still righteous, but this time in that righteousness He isn’t bringing salvation but judgment, not peace, but war. His clothing now is dipped in the blood of His enemies, and instead of a crowd of well wishers who don’t really know what they are celebrating, He brings an army of saints. Instead of palm branches Jesus brandishes a sword that will strike down His enemies.
When does this coming take place? It happens after every chance is given to man to repent – natural disasters, wars, plagues, demon attacks, miracles and direct judgments on a sinful world – all the while the gospel being proclaimed. In the end man will attack Jerusalem to try to wipe the followers of Jesus off the face of the earth and Jesus will say “enough!”.
The question is: which Jesus do you want to meet? Right now He is still the King on the donkey, coming in peace, offering to you salvation, offering to you His righteousness, offering to you His life.
Understand why He came, what He gave, and what He requires of you – that is to humble yourself as He did, and come to the cross that He died on – recognize that you are there with Him, dieing to yourself, and then rejoice with His rising as you rise to new life.
And also recognize that if you belong to Him then He is at peace with you for all of eternity. Can you disappoint Him? Sure. Can you even grieve Him? Yes. But will He abandon you? Never. He may discipline you, but you belong to Him - so rest in that peace.
We sometimes look for Jesus the warrior to descend on our lives and cut us to pieces – instead picture Jesus – righteous, but humble and giving to you, making peace with you forever.
So – Which part of the group watching Jesus are you?
From the people we see in these accounts there are basically three types of people with three different reactions.
Crowd – the crowd got caught up in the moment, each one thinking there was something in it for me – Jesus coming to set me free from my current physical difficulties (with Roman occupation). They feigned allegiance but when the reality of what Jesus was trying to do came out, many of them turned against him.
Pharisees – The Pharisees saw Jesus’ coming as a threat to their way of life. They had a pretty good thing going running the show. To welcome in a new king meant they were no longer “numero uno”
Disciples – in John’s account we see the disciples lifting up praise as a recognition of who Jesus was and what He had done.
As Jesus approaches your life – what is your reaction? Do you give false praise – just hoping to get something good from Him but not really recognizing what it means when Jesus says “If you want to follow me pick up your cross?”
Do you get fighting mad when Jesus touches an area of your life and says “I want to be King here.” Do you see His Lordship in your life as a threat?
Or do you fall on your knees, acknowledge your lack, and His Lordship – giving Him praise for His great works and welcoming Him in as Lord and King.
Boo, blast, or bow – those are our choices. Which will it be for you?
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