The Palm Sunday Prophecy (Fulfilled)

The Palm Sunday Prophecy (Fulfilled)                                                By Kelly Durant 3-24-24

 

Zechariah 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.

 

2. How many of you have been around young people when they get excited about their favorite group coming to town? I recall Renee a few years ago talking all the time about the British band ‘One Direction’, how I had to take her to see them, how they were the greatest, and on and on! (She will probably hate me now for mentioning it since that was ages ago in her mind!) The visit of a rock star, a movie star, a sports star, or of someone of political fame seems to always draw cheering crowds. People love to celebrate those that bring them some kind of inspiration or some kind of words of hope in this life! Isn’t that true? The sad part about praising people though is often people cheer only to get a huge let down once their true self is exposed!

 

Let’s go back about 2,000 years, who were the rock stars then for the people of Jerusalem? It certainly wasn’t any political leader with ties to Rome! They were the enemy, the cruel oppressors! As with many of the world leaders today! Music, sports, and movies were not marketed so what was left? Any prophet or teacher that could bring them hope, a hope of establishing them into power, to be free from the dominance of man, a supernatural person that could bring them honor, salvation, and healing! That was Jesus for them then but He still brings hope, happiness, and inspiration not only just to Jerusalem but to all in the world! The final fulfillment of a world full of love and peace will be in the New Jerusalem Kingdom of God when Jesus returns! 

 

Like an urban legend news about Jesus in Israel had spread from town to town and it spread into Jerusalem that He was the new savior, an amazing miracle worker, a wise teacher, and He even was fulfilling the prophecies of being the expected Messiah! For years and years the Jews were desperate for the Messiah to come and the Rabbis combed over each and every prophecy and the common man got the news that Jesus fit the description of what Zechariah prophesied! And Jesus was arriving in Jerusalem, how world-changing!

 

3. Every Palm Sunday year after year we face the reality that Jesus through His birth, life, and death fulfilled many dozens of prophecies! This is why I could never be a non-believer: the dead Sea Scrolls and unexplained fulfillment of prophecy prove there is a supernatural God behind the scenes who cares for each of us. The prophecy I am focusing in on today is a little one in Zechariah 9:9 but it has great implications.  The Jewish Rabbis and students were familiar with all prophecy; throughout the ages they each learned that the Messiah would fulfill every detail mentioned by every major and minor prophet throughout all the sacred scrolls recorded by their ancestors.

 

So what can we do with this one verse today? Zechariah 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. 

 

This is a very specific verse with 5 points of fulfilment. For those who think the Messiah has not come, then they should rethink how difficult each of these points are to duplicate in concert with one another, especially if you were to try to replicate it in today’s world. The prophetic points are 1) Rejoicing, a shouting and worshipping of happiness for His arrival 2) The entrance of the awaited Messiah specifically going into Jerusalem 3) He is exalted as the King, an implication that He is recognized as the King of the Jews, the chosen Messiah 4) He is just, having salvation, and lowly, all of which means He is a humble man who is fair to all bringing salvation of the soul 5) And finally He is riding on a colt, which is a very unusual specific action strange for an honored King. 

 

4. Let’s explore this more in depth. Matthew 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, Lowly, 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[d] 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?”

 

This report written by Matthew includes the prophecy we are focusing in on today. It is the record of how Jesus obtained the colt (notice that no one yelled out, ‘hey you are stealing my colt’! I doubt that today any person would even be able to go into modern day Jerusalem on a colt with all the traffic! Before I get into the 5 points, let’s consider all the details here. 

 

A separate prophecy was being fulfilled here as well, the one of shouting “Hosanna” at the sight of Jesus. That was a praise to Him and a recognition that He was of the required lineage of David. (Psalm 118:25) Amongst the studious Jews there was no doubt, Jesus was the Messiah. 

 

5. One more thing before getting into the 5 points in the verse. Stand up everybody, yes get up, now take off your tunic or coat…now imagine spreading it out in front of a man on a colt! What an expensive and radical gesture to show honor, right? The rocky and muddy streets of Jerusalem were not too pretty! I doubt the dirt would have even washed out after the tunics got hoof prints and mud embedded in them. 

 

Now imagine laying down the palm branches…this was a gesture of bowing down to share a small gift, a token gesture of honoring a person with the green carpet treatment (before the red carpet came into fashion, ha!).  The entire city was there to see what was going on!

 

As mentioned here in verse 10, “all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” The ones who knew “who He was” were shouting and praising God with all their lungs! The rest of the city had never seen such a welcoming! The welcoming of a Roman leader was done out of formality and obligation, but never had people seen such a positive welcoming like this one!

 

6. So the rejoicing of the people of Jerusalem was unprecedented! This praising is the first point, now on to the second one, how is it that this explosion of praise happened in such a small city as Jerusalem? Why didn’t God and His Son not decide to enter into Rome, the capital of the world at that time?  First of all, Jesus was a Jew who came to reach those of God’s own house first, but we know now that His love was intended to extend into all the world, to every tribe, tongue, and race as well. (As it soon did and continues to do) Jerusalem historically is a sacred city, a chosen city, the City of David, the place of peace and blessings. 

 

There were many prophecies over Jerusalem, one is that they were being like a rebellious chick that the Father wanted to protect under His wings but they refused and rebelled (Psa 91:4). Jesus knew the Jerusalemites would reject Him despite their initial praise and acceptance. Notice what Jesus cries out here,Matthew 23:37  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”  God wanted them to see the light! They were given the first chance with the sign of loud rejoicing.

 

Jerusalem was where the blessings flourished with God’s chosen bloodline, but it also was where God’s blessings of peace (Salem=peace) ceased. Jerusalem about 40 years after Jesus entrance fell to their enemies, and then many times over were invaded and occupied by others dozens of times over in the past 2,000 years! Jerusalem has seen more war than peace and this conclusively is connected to their rejection of the King or Prince of Peace! (See Isaiah 9:6)

 

7. Now on to point 3, (‘Behold your King’) He was exalted as the King of the Jews there on that first Palm Sunday. The whole city proclaimed it! What was written on His cross by Pilot? Matthew 27:37 “And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” At first they accepted Him as King in truth, but later they retracted their praise accepting the lie of the false leaders instead!

 

The act of crying out the word “Hosanna” was special as it was a Hebrew word to express a deep worship and praise. No Hebrew should have worshipped any man this highly, only God, so the fact that all shouted “Hosanna” to Jesus indicates that they knew He was the true anointed Messiah or King. Otherwise, what they were doing would have been considered blasphemy!

 

We know today that Jesus, by His life, death, and resurrection is the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords! In Jerusalem they worshipped Him as King fulfilling prophecy, recognizing Him for the fulfilment of the prophecies and for the miracles He had done. For a moment they instinctively knew He was King! But Jesus was not finished in demonstrating His power and authority. The ultimate miracle proving His worthiness and Kingship was His resurrection!

 

8. Point 4, The Messiah needed to possess certain characteristics, those of being just, having salvation, and being lowly. For one, Jesus was not elitist, claiming to be of blue blood, or of a special class imposing His superiority and arrogance (contrary to the world’s rulers back then and today). He was the most fair and loving person ever offering justice and equality of salvation and healing to everyone without discrimination. How shocking He was as He even offered healing and salvation to the despised Sumerians and gentiles!  Today he still saves “whosoever will”; all one needs to do is worship and accept Him as savior and as the Son of God, as the King of Kings! 

 

Lowly means humble and Jesus was the ultimate example of it! It hurts me to observe some Christians today who desire riches, praise, or arrogant power. They are damaging the cause of Christ and in my view do not know Jesus! Jesus served all without discrimination not just Jews. He mixed with publicans and sinners, forgave prostitutes, washed the feet of His followers and did unprecedented acts of humility that no other priest or man of God had ever done before. 

 

For me any follower of Jesus must exemplify humility! Some pastors will not even take out the trash!  Serving one another in love to me proves the authenticity of Christlikeness in a person!   

 

9. The final 5^th point, Jesus rides in on a colt to fulfill this prophecy. How many of you ever rode on a colt, raise your hand? We all know that donkeys have a reputation for being stubborn, right? They will buck you off!  How would a small colt act then with a big 180 pound body  (about Jesus size?) on it? The expected is for it to kick and fight don’t you think, especially if no one had ever ridden it. 

 

The Roman rulers would ride into cities on elegant horses or in carriages so to imagine Jesus, who is being hailed as King to be on a humble small colt is actually laughable! What humility he had! Jesus didn’t need to always use words to teach with, His actions taught us volumes as well.

 

The other lesson here is that Jesus obviously was not wealthy to purchase a nice horse or animal, but rather He got this colt by appropriation and it appears by the verses the appropriation of the colt was by divine design. Matthew 21:3 “And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” No one said, “Hey you’re stealing my colt!” When God has a job for you, it will all happen in His design, He always supplies by surprising ways, and it may be with something that ministers to your humility.

 

10. As we celebrate today with our palm branches as was done over 2,000 years ago, let’s focus in on what it means for us personally. We are to obey Jesus in all His ways. Here are some questions I have for you just based on the 5 point prophecies in Zechariah.

1) Do you get excited, worship and rejoice when Jesus becomes the subject matter of attention? All nature praises Him! Luke 19:40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

2) Is the spirit of the true Jerusalem worshippers where there is unity with others, present in your heart? Revelation 21:2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (a future Heavenly Jerusalem awaits as we learn here from Revelation)

3) Is Jesus the King of your life? In other words, are you not ‘living as you please’ but living to please Him with Him ruling all things in your life? Romans 14:11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.

4) Are you fair to all? Do you serve in humility without discrimination? Do you offer others salvation as Jesus did?  How humble and lowly in heart are you? Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

5) And finally, to suggest you mount on a colt to imitate Jesus would not serve much of a purpose!  But think of it this way, do you do actions that may put you a position to appear ridiculous to the world? Will you do that if your deeds are humbly fulfilling God’s purpose? 1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time

 

Jesus entry into Jerusalem brought us all these lessons! Let’s pray that we can be as He wants us to be on this Palm Sunday and for the rest of our lives! Praise Jesus, and love Him for His Kingship, salvation and humility! Do you know Him? Let’s pray…

Palm Sunday: Holiness Recognized But Then Betrayed!

Palm Sunday: Holiness Recognized But Then Betrayed   4-10-22.  Kelly Durant

John 12:13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

2. How many of you know what today signifies? It is Palm Sunday, a day of praise! Do you know why we call it that? We read it in the Bible reading, the people were putting down palm branches for Jesus like people rolling out the red carpet today! 

Jesus was returning to Jerusalem: He was the Prince of Peace going into the City of Peace, but that city has had little peace throughout time after His crucifixion! Everyone knows from history the Romans totally destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD to stop the Jewish rebellion, and more war has been there than almost anywhere else on earth! Only now for the past almost 70 years have the Jews had Jerusalem back and there has been a little more peace. But did you know all their neighbors over this period of time have fired over 10,000 mortars into Israel?! The point of this irony is only in heaven will peace exist from the Prince of Peace!

All of the people on the first Palm Sunday recognized Jesus as honorable and supernatural, and they exalted Him as holy and worthy of the highest praise, and they laid down palm branches. Some also laid down their coats for his colt to walk on too! I am sure the Jews and Romans were fuming with anger because after all they never got such honored treatment! But they weren’t holy either, nor the Son of God! People only honored them out of fear of death! What a contrast of how Jesus was honored so much but yet He was to suffer a horrible betrayal and death just a few days later! 

3. Today in history, the entire Christian world re-honors Jesus because He was at the peak of His acceptance and honor on Palm Sunday. Most of the city came out to honor Him, and they made a lot of noise! It was like a riot and out of control mob! They shouted, Matthew 21:9 “And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest”. People were convicted burning inside that He was the Holy One and this exposed their need to honor Him for who He was (is)! How should you and I react to Jesus? We should explode in praise to Him! We should bow and lay down all for Him!

The believers and followers had heard what was announced about Him, the multitude got the message that he was the Savior, the chosen one son of David, or the Messiah; the wise ones quoted the scripture that was to prove He was the Messiah.

Zechariah 9:9  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.  

4. It is clear the Jerusalemites knew He was the Messiah fulfilling prophecy yelling that He is King of Israel. But even despite that, within the week our Lord was sadly crucified. Palm Sunday exemplifies the fickle populous in general: one week a person may recognize who Jesus is and honor Him, but a few days later they turn their backs on Him and His followers and desire destruction because subverters, mockers, doubters, and evil people persuaded them to. 

This betrayal repeats itself over and over today: when people fear losing admiration and control like the Jewish religious leaders did, then they will always react by evil human nature throwing God’s anointed under the bus! How many congregations have been destroyed by people who didn’t get the leader or members to submit?! Judas, it is speculated betrayed Jesus not desiring His death, but to provoke Him to use His power to dominate the Romans. Jesus was (is) never about earthly power, yet some churches and people have always tried to make His mission into that! 

PALM SUNDAY: Sadly, you and I will always deal with people who think only they are the righteous ones, but often they are seriously lacking in recognizing Jesus’ mercy towards them. These are accusers, not loving as Jesus, but they spew hate to others over politics, religion, or your worship of Jesus as the Savior. Don’t be a hypocrite driven by impulse, manipulated by emotions following these fickle crowds. Hypocrisy is praising Jesus one week, but on the next undoing it all by agreeing to let Him be crucified, not defending & exalting Him as Lord or Lords. 

Haven’t we all been guilty of turning our backs on Jesus sometime or another? Or maybe we have failed to love God or others as we should! And yet Jesus knowing our unfaithfulness still agreed to die for our sins anyway! It was not just the Jews, or the Romans, or the betrayal of Judas that put Him to death; it was you and me for our sins! Never forget how much you (me) have been forgiven of! You, because of your past, present, and future sins, are just as responsible for Jesus death as the ones who put Him to death! That recognition of the salvation of your soul will make you praise and thank Him eternally!

5. How many of you practice lent? How many of you follow the tradition of abstaining from meat this week? That is not a bad tradition but I would like to ask you to apply it in a different way this time. Instead of giving up eating meat a day or two, try giving up one of your flaws and, then fight to give it up for the rest of your life! If your temptation is to get angry fast, to be impatient, to yell bad words, or you fail to love God and others like Jesus, then now is the time to give up your own character flaws and abstain from your way of being so you be more like Jesus! Lent is prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, so try the following…

If you are the jealous type, give it up!

If you enjoy talking about the bad in others (gossip), give it up!

If you are indulgent, and you buy yourself things you don’t need, give it up!

If you are lazy and don’t do very many things for others, change, and give it up!

If you complain a lot or have a negative spirit about your life or your responsibilities, then give it up and start praising God as you are supposed to!

 

Make yourself change and be positive by making new habits and reading God’s word every day and then seeking ways to serve others!  Do it especially this coming weekend if you want to be closer to God in this special time! Giving up a food is not much of a sacrifice at all!  Changing your character to be more like Jesus, now that is a real sacrifice! But that requires hard work and discipline so tell another your faults so they support you and hold you accountable!  The scripture says in James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”.  

 

Stop and seriously recognize where your sins are and ask God to help you! No one has confessed anything to me lately and I don’t expect that, that is between you and God. To feel the exciting presence of the Lord in your life, like the loud praising that went on in Jerusalem, you must obey scripture and crucify your flesh praise and honor Jesus to be more like Him! If you do this, then you will be honoring Him this day and forever more as you should be! 

 

6. And if you see nothing wrong with yourself, then you really do have a problem! Palm Sunday is about you recognizing the holiness of Jesus contrasting against our lack of holiness. If you act upon God’s spirit, and what you learn from the Holy Scriptures, then you must purge yourself of any big or little disturbance that is not right in your life. For many of us it is pride, a lack of submission, and a lack of love.

There are a lot of people in churches today that sin in very different ways, of course people always think their own sins are no big deal, but all sin is wrong, but not recognizing your own sin provokes others to stumble. Just ask your closest Christian family members what to change or ask your Major/pastor (I am going to get myself in trouble on this one!), or your best friend what are my faults?

Listen, pray and make a plan to change a bad habit or attitude this coming week. I am sure the Lord will be very pleased with that type of honoring and lent sacrifice crucifying your own flesh, denying being human in your actions. Jesus denied Himself in a huge way when He died on the cross for us!   Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:31 “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” You and I must not only rejoice and praise Christ like they did on Palm Sunday but die daily as well. It’s time to renovate and to grow to be more like Jesus!

7. For this week coming up let’s revisit the Jewish holiday that was happening when Jesus was being tried and crucified. It was The Passover. What was that all about? It was a celebration to remember when the Israelites were freed from being slaves in the land of Egypt, and on this date the final death plague was happening and the Lord commanded everyone to put lamb’s blood over their door entrances. Why, so the angel of death would “Passover” or “protect” that home, and not kill their firstborn son.

So imagine, the Jews were rejoicing the day before the Passover with the blood of a lamb that they would be saved from the plague of death. How coincidental with Jesus atonement! But recall each one had to obey to gain God’s life protection! Palm Sunday is about being obedient to Jesus and honoring Him as honor is due! 

The Lord since the beginning has been preparing the Jews, and everyone, with symbolisms. Let’s look up some useful verses. I John 1: 7 “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Here have confirmed that it is only by Jesus blood that we have forgiveness of sins to be reconciled with God so it is His blood that takes away guilt and punishment and frees the obedient from the curse of death and sets them up for their journey into the promised land of heaven!

8. Let’s learn more about the blood.  (See Ex 12:3, 5). The blood had to be shed from a lamb, without blemish, this represents the blood of Jesus, which is the Lamb of God without blemish. And during His trail remember how Jesus was found to be innocent by Herod, Pilot, and everyone! That is amazing how he was innocent yet condemned anyway?! And the reality is we are the guilty ones! 

(Ex 12:7) Here we see the blood had to be struck on the door, just as when Jesus blood goes on the door of our hearts, it does not go on or wear off easy, and it usually goes on with emotion. Jesus’ blood does not get applied to be un-noticed, it is put on thick to be noticed for protection from death! If He really is there, if His blood has saved us, then all will see Him alive in our lives!

We understand that if the blood is not present, the Lord will execute judgment, and that judgment is death! In other words, those who do not apply the blood of Jesus today in their lives will suffer a second death (a bodily one, then a spiritual one). Not just death in this flesh but also an eternal death, and eternal separation from God! But those with Him have eternal life in heaven where all is peace!

9. Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. Remission is God forgiving us for our sins, we would all be guilty and condemned without Jesus’ blood.

The Israelites, after putting blood on the door were commanded to stay inside and feast on the meat. That is symbolic too that we must take in Jesus’ body into ours in so that symbolically His DNA becomes ours so we become pure love as He is. Can people say of you, wow, he or she just like Jesus made of pure love?

John 6:54 “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day”. From this we conclude that without Jesus being deep inside us we will not have eternal life. Rev.12: 11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death”. Jesus did not get honored on Palm Sunday and then pour out His blood for us to not respond; he bought our salvation with a huge sacrifice and we owe Him everything forever! And He gives us everything as well!

10. And now Jesus sits of the right hand of God getting praise forever! As we reflect on how He was praised, and then on His suffering this weekend, recall that He did it all for his love for You! Yes, you!  Any time you are tempted with your weaknesses, don’t crucify Jesus afresh by sinning. Remember Jesus’ cruel death, and what it cost Him to redeem you and me with God! That’ll make you praise! 

Give up your hidden rebellion and sins and give your life anew to Jesus for Him to use for God’s glory!  Let’s honor and praise Jesus as the angels and Israelites did on that historic day!

Praising Him means not just a “hosanna” but obeying and loving Him totally! Can people say of you; how amazing that (your name) is like Jesus, made of pure love?  Prayer …