By Jesus’ day, the Israelites had been under foreign control for more than 600 years. They had a brief period of independence under the Maccabeans, but it came at the cost of eventually falling under Roman rule. A promise was made to David that he would have a son forever to reign in his place. This son of David came to be called Messiah or Christ, meaning the Anointed One. Now Jesus comes on the scene, a mighty prophet, working miracle after miracle and teaching about the kingdom of God! Could He be Messiah?
Scripture quotations from the New International Version (NIV) (1984)
Jesus had gone with His disciples to Jerusalem for the Passover several times before, and apart from the usual teaching and miracles, nothing unusual happened. But this time, the crowd of disciples around Jesus were both “astonished” and “afraid” (Mk 10:32, NIV). Word had spread that the religious leaders, and maybe even the government leaders, were out to kill him. (John 11:51-54, Luke 13:31-35).
If Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, would that trigger another war? According to the prophecies, the real Messiah would be able to destroy His enemies all by Himself!
Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters." The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery." Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:1-12, NIV)
Jesus and His crowd of disciples left Bethany for Jerusalem, Jesus sent two of his disciples ahead. They brought back a young donkey, laid their coats on it and Jesus sat on it. Jesus was riding to Jerusalem on a donkey! That’s what David did for his son Solomon (1Ki 1:28-48)! That’s what the humble kings of David’s line were supposed to do as they came to take the throne! Was Jesus doing this on purpose?
The crowds that followed and those that had already arrived in Jerusalem for the Passover couldn’t hold back. This had to be it! This was what the prophet Zechariah had said would happen: “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9, NIV)
The crowds erupted in celebration! “They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, ‘Hosanna!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Blessed is the King of Israel!’” (John 12:14, NIV).
“Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’ ‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out’ (Luke 19:36-40, NIV). Jesus was announcing Himself as Messiah! If His disciples hadn’t celebrated, the rocks would have!
Many were hoping this would be the day Jesus set up His kingdom. But that wasn’t the purpose of this visit, at least not in the way they expected (Luke 19:11). So He laid out His Father’s plan in a parable:
He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. 'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.' But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be our king.' He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. (Luke 19:12-15, NIV)
He had already told the Twelve His Father’s plan for this trip to Jerusalem:
"We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again." (Luke 18:31b-33, NIV)
Apparently, no one was listening to Him, so great was their desire for Him to be king! Worse, they weren’t even listening to all Scripture! They were just picking and choosing their favorite prophesies, the ones that spoke of a victorious king.
Later in the week, Jesus would explain His current purpose, and reveal where the crowd and their teachers got it wrong.
“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. The crowd spoke up, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this 'Son of Man'?" (John 12:32-34, NIV)
The people understood what it meant to be “lifted up from the earth.” He would be killed rather than “remain forever.” How had they missed that? Was Isaiah 53 really so hard to understand? Daniel even gave a timetable (Daniel 9:25-26, NIV)!
"Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
Every step of the way, Jesus was fulfilling prophecy. First, He had to fulfill the prophecies of the “suffering servant” who takes away the sins of the world. Then, He would fulfill the prophecies of the righteous king who rules the nations from Jerusalem! The one had to come before the other, or else no one would be saved!
His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem was just a beginning. He came to judge the world and the prince of this world (John 12:32), but not yet to set up His kingdom and judge the nations. There is a second judgment coming, but not yet. Jesus said, “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day” (John 12:47-48, NIV).
Rather, His first task was to open the gates of the kingdom of Heaven to any who would like to enter! The beginning of His kingdom comes not with fortresses and armies. “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because the kingdom of God is within you’” (Luke 17:20-21, NIV).
For the last 2,000 years, the gates to Jesus’ kingdom have been open to any who would willingly renounce their citizenship in this world for the citizenship of Heaven. In 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, Paul warns us that “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (NIV). If we only belong to Adam, we are doomed. But if we flee to Jesus and accept Him as God and Savior, we will be saved.
There is only one way to enter this kingdom, to transfer your citizenship to Heaven. Peter, chief among the Twelve, told the crowds in Jerusalem,
“Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:17-21, NIV).
There are those who will enjoy the kingdom, but they will not belong to it, and they will not remain in it. Illegal immigrants, if you will. You cannot belong to the Kingdom of Christ without accepting Jesus as King! In Jesus’ Parable of the Wedding Feast, He made this clear:
Then [the king] said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are invited, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:8-14, NIV)
“Weeping and gnashing of teeth” is Jesus’ description of Hell. You don’t get into the Kingdom of Heaven without changing into the proper clothing, which in truth, only Jesus provides (1 Corinthians 5:17)!
Jesus isn’t done. There is another Triumphal Entry coming, and even unbelievers in that last generation will have a part in it, but not as permanent residents, rather as participants in completing unfinished prophecies. In Revelation 19:11-21 (NIV), John describes Jesus’ Second Triumphal Entry:
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.” Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
Those who believe in Jesus here and now will reign with Him forever and ever (2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 5:10, 20:6 and 22:5).
The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem affirms that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Son of David, the promised eternal King. At that time, He came to save us from our sins, so He needed to be “handed over to the Gentiles,” who would “mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again” (Luke 18:31-32, NIV). The next time He comes, He will come to destroy all those who reject and oppose Him, and He will set up His kingdom over all the earth. Then He will judge all nations. He will condemn all who did not believe in Him before He returns this second time (Revelation 20:11-15).
Something often overlooked at Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem is His weeping over the city.
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you.” (Luke 19:41-44, NIV)
Do you “recognize the time of God’s coming to you”? Does Jesus weep over you because you hear these things but do not cast yourself on Jesus’ mercy and beg for His forgiveness? Do you receive Him or reject Him as your King? Will you weep and gnash your teeth one day because you didn’t believe these things were real or had anything to do with you?
As long as it is called today, you can choose to humble yourself and bow your knee before Jesus. Receive Him today as your Lord, the only one who can forgive your sin and fit you for His eternal kingdom.