Sunday
Morning Bible Study
March
24, 2013
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church?
Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved?
Luke Week
Palm Sunday: Luke 19:28-44
Thursday Night: Luke 22:1-53
Friday noon: Luke 23:26-56
Easter Sunrise: Luke 24:1-12
Easter Morning: Luke 24:13-32
Since we’ve finished Jude, I thought before we start into our next book
(Daniel), we would
take this opportunity and look at the events of Jesus’ last week, the “Holy
Week”. In particular, I thought we’d
just focus on the text in Luke’s gospel for continuity.
This morning we
will look at the events of Palm Sunday.
Thursday night
we will look at the Last Supper.
For our Good
Friday noontime service we will look at the cross.
At our Easter
Sunrise service we will look at the resurrection.
During the
regular morning services on Easter we will look at the Road to Emmaus.
19:28-44 The Triumphal Entry
:28 When He had said this, He went on ahead, going
up to Jerusalem.
:29 And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage
and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His
disciples,
:29 Bethphage
and Bethany
Two villages on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem.
Bethphage
(bayt phagee) means
“house of figs”.
Bethany (bayt anee) means
“house of olives”.
:28 going up to Jerusalem
Play Google map
clip of the way to Jerusalem
It is the time of the Passover, and many Jews would be making their way to
Jerusalem to celebrate the feast. One of
the common roads to Jerusalem ran through the Jordan River valley where you
find the city of Jericho.
Jesus had just come through Jericho.
Though Jericho is about fifteen miles from Jerusalem as the crow flies,
the road to Jerusalem is a winding, steep road rising from 1500 feet below sea
level (Jericho) to 2000 feet above sea level (Jerusalem)
:30 saying, “Go into the
village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on
which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here.
:30 find a colt
Matthew tells us that they would
find the mother donkey and her colt and that they would bring both to Jesus.
(Mt 21:2 NKJV) 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.
:30 on which no one has ever sat
This is not a used donkey.
:31 And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the
Lord has need of it.’ ”
:32 So those who were sent went their way and
found it just as He had said to them.
:33 But as they were loosing
the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing
the colt?”
:34 And they said, “The Lord has need of him.”
:33-34 owners … The Lord …
Both words are
translations of the same word – kurios – he to
whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master,
lord
This little
donkey colt is going to get a new “lord”. More on this
at the end…
:35 Then they brought him to
Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.
:30 you will find a cold tied
Lesson
Tragedies
The way each of the gospel writers mention this incident, it would seem
that there was something unusual that was going on, as if Jesus supernaturally knew
there would be a donkey He could ride that would be tied up.
(Mt 21:2–3 NKJV) —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.”
(Mk 11:2 NKJV) and He said to them,
“Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will
find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it.
(Jn 12:14 NKJV) Then Jesus, when He
had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:
The disciples
will look back at this week and be tempted to think that it was all a tragic
mistake.
They might tell themselves after Jesus was put to death that they should
have never gone to Jerusalem.
Yet this incident alone will reassure them that this was all part of a
grand plan.
Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t some tragic accident.
It was the very reason He had come to this planet.
He came to die in our place, to pay the price for our
sins.
John the Baptist knew this from the beginning of Jesus’
ministry,
(Jn 1:29 NKJV) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold!
The Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world!
Not every tragedy is as tragic as it seems.
Some things are indeed tragedies for which we have no answer.
But some things are more than what they seem at the time.
We have a great promise:
(Ro 8:28 NKJV) And we know that all
things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are
the called according to His purpose.
:36 And as He went, many
spread their clothes on the road.
:36 spread their clothes
This is kind of
like giving somebody the “red carpet” treatment, treating them special.
John tells us
that they also brought palm branches (“Palm Sunday”) (Jn.12:13)
(Jn 12:13 NKJV) —13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and
cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!”
Palm branches are one of the
symbols of the nation of Israel.
They are also a symbol
of victory, things to wave before a conquering king.
:37 Then, as He was now
drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the
disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty
works they had seen,
:37 near the descent of the Mount of
Olives
Play “Palm
Sunday Road” clip
Walking from the top of the Mount of Olives along a path similar to what
Jesus walked is not quite like some of the movies. It’s more like walking down Acacia hill, a
pretty steep hill.
On the way down, you’ll usually see a donkey along the way, not sure it’s
the same one that Jesus rode.
It’s kind of interesting that the tops of the modern walls are covered with
broken glass … a self-activated alarm … ouch!
At the bottom of the hill, before you cross over the Kidron
valley and enter the city, you will pass through the Garden of Gethsemane,
where Jesus will spend His evenings camping out during this last week.
:37 for all the mighty works they
had seen
Bethany was the
town where Mary, Martha and … Lazarus lived, and John tells us that Jesus had actually spent
some time recently at Bethany.
John records
that Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead.
Jesus had then had a meal at the
home of Mary and Martha, with Jesus and Lazarus as the important guests.
It was at this meal that Mary had
poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet, and Jesus connected the perfume with
His coming death:
(Jn 12:7 NKJV) But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day
of My burial.
At this time in Jesus’ ministry, the crowds were going especially wild over
Him because He had just raised his
friend who had been dead for four days.
John tells us that this is part of the reason for the red carpet treatment
and the palm branches.
(Jn 12:17–18 NKJV) —17
Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out
of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. 18 For this reason
the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.
Lesson
Nothing is impossible
He can raise
the dead.
The problem is never about what God can do concerning my problems, the
problem is always on my end.
I struggle
because of:
My lack
of trust
I don’t have peace because I don’t trust He can handle
this.
My lack
of submission
God may not want to make my problem magically disappear.
What if He wants me to grow through my difficulty?
:38 saying: “ ‘Blessed is the
King who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
:39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from
the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”
:39 Teacher, rebuke Your disciples
There seems to be a hint of
jealousy with the Pharisees. John records,
(Jn 12:19 NLT) Then the Pharisees said to each other, “There’s nothing we
can do. Look, everyone has gone after him!”
They think that the crowd has gone
too far in giving this kind of praise to a human person. They’re right. But this isn’t a normal human person. This isn’t a normal day.
:40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you
that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”
:41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept
over it,
:42 saying, “If you had known, even you,
especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!
But now they are hidden from your eyes.
:42 in this your day
There is an interesting prophecy in the book of Daniel where he predicts
the coming of the Messiah:
(Da 9:25 NKJV) “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth
of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There
shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again,
and the wall, Even in troublesome times.
The prophecy is about groups of “weeks” or “sevens”. We
believe this to mean groups of seven years.
If you follow Daniel’s thinking, there will be a total of 69 (7 + 62) “weeks” of years, or 483 of these years between a decree to build the city and the
coming of “Messiah the Prince”.
The decree is found in Nehemiah
(Neh. 2:1,5) and it takes place in the month of Nisan
in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes.
(Ne 2:1 NKJV) —1 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth
year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took
the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence
before.
(Ne 2:5 NKJV) —5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your
servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the
city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”
To know when the Messiah would come, you need to add these 69 “weeks” of
years to the time of the decree.
When Daniel wrote his prophecies, he was under the Babylonian calendar, which was not like our
calendar, called the “Gregorian” calendar.
The Babylonians had 360
days in each year.
If you multiply
483 years by 360 days, you come up with 173,880 days, or roughly 476 of our Gregorian
years.
But here’s where I have to confess it gets a little confusing when you try
to calculate this …
Going from BC
dates to AD dates is messy. There was no
year “0”.
Changing from
Hebrew dates (“Nisan”) into Gregorian dates (“March”) is also confusing because
the Jewish calendar is another completely different animal altogether.
To make things more confusing, there are several attempts published that
seem to contradict each other.
In 1894, Sir Robert Anderson of Scotland Yard published
his book “The Coming Prince”. Using the
best material available to him at the time, he set Artaxerxes’
decree at March 14 445BC and concluded that 173,880 days later concludes with April
6, 32AD.
The most recent
scholarship (Josh McDowell) has concluded that Artaxerxes’ decree was on March 5, 444BC. When you add 173,880 days to this, you end up on March 30, 33AD. What happened on that day?
From Josh McDowell, “Evidence for
Christianity”
Multiplying the
sixty-nine weeks by seven years for each week by 360 days gives a total of
173,880 days. The difference between 444 b.c.
and a.d. 33 then is 476 solar years. By multiplying
476 by 365.24219879 or by 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45.975 seconds [there
are 365 1/4 days in a year], one comes to 173,855 days, 6 hours, 52 minutes, 44
seconds, or 173,855 days. This leaves only 25 days to be accounted for between
444 b.c. and a.d. 33. By adding the 25 days to March 5 (of 444 b.c.), one comes to March 30 (of a.d. 33) which was Nisan 10 in a.d.
33. This is the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. (Hoehner,
CALC, 138)[1]
Play
Triumphal Entry clip from the Gospel of John
Lesson
Time to Believe
When Jesus said,
If you had known, even
you, especially in this
your day, the things that make for your peace!
I think He was talking about that very day, the day
prophesied by Daniel, and that the people were going to miss out on their
Messiah actually coming as promised. If
they would have turned to their Messiah, they would have known God’s peace.
Zechariah wrote 550 years earlier:
(Zec 9:9 NKJV) “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.
Here
comes Jesus riding on a donkey.
A leader riding on
a donkey must have set off alarms in someone’s eyes.
But this leader
was “lowly”. He was humble.
The Psalmist even wrote the script that the crowd was following:
(Ps 118:22–26 NKJV) —22
The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone. 23 This was the Lord’s
doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day the Lord has made; We
will rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed is
he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
Note verse 24:
“This is the day”
In
vs. 25, the Hebrew for “Save now” is “Hosanna”.
The people are quoting this Messianic Psalm.
You may play the skeptic and choose to ignore these prophecies, but I’d say
you were a fool not to take this seriously.
Daniel, Zechariah, and the Psalms
were written hundreds of years before Jesus.
Besides this prophecy, there are over 300 other specific prophecies that
Jesus fulfilled in His first coming.
You have no excuse
to not believe in Him.
:40 the stones would immediately
cry out
This is “the day”. There must be praise.
This is the day that God promised to send His Messiah.
If the people didn’t praise Him, they would have heard the first “rock
band”. I think they might have been
called the “rolling stones”.
Lesson
Praise is a “must”
Don’t wait for the “rock band” to praise.
He is worthy of all praise.
We praise Him for
What He has
done
He has done great things.
Who He is
He is great. He is
merciful. He is wise. He is just.
You may not be able to think of a “great thing” He has
done recently, but you can always praise Him for who He is.
:43 For days will come upon
you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and
close you in on every side,
:44 and level you, and your children within you,
to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because
you did not know the time of your visitation.”
:43 your enemies …
They missed their opportunity and they will face judgment. They may be shouting “Hosanna” now, but in a
few days they’ll be shouting “crucify Him”.
The judgment won’t come immediately.
God will wait for forty years.
The Jews will
try to revolt against the Romans, and in AD 70, the Romans will crush them.
The nation will once again be scattered, but not for 70 years as in
Jeremiah’s day, but this time it will be scattered for 1900 years until 1948.
:44 the time of your visitation
Their Messiah had come. He had ridden
into their city as promised on the day He promised.
And they missed it.
Lesson
My time
Do you know the time of your visitation?
The Bible says,
(2
Co 6:2 NKJV) … Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of
salvation.
Today you have
heard that a great King has given His life to pay for your sins.
Today I declare to you that if you will put your life in Jesus’ hands, you
will be forgiven, you will be saved from your sins.
How will you respond to Him?
You will not be able to say to God,
“I didn’t know the truth”.
Today you have been told the truth
and you will be without excuse before God.
Today is the day for you to open your heart to Jesus. In a moment I’ll give you that chance.
:35 they set Jesus on him
They put Jesus
on the young donkey.
Think a moment about life from the donkey’s perspective.
Remember that the donkey has changed “masters”. He has a new master.
Lesson
Serve Him
You will do your best when you let Jesus take His rightful place as your
Lord and Savior, your Master.
Illustration
Palm Monday Donkey
The donkey awakened, his mind still savoring the afterglow of the most
exciting day of his life. Never before had he felt such a rush of pleasure and
pride. He walked into town and found a
group of people by the well. “I’ll show myself to them” he thought. But they didn’t notice him. They went on
drawing their water and paid him no mind.
“Throw your garments down,” he said crossly. “Don’t you know who I
am?” They just looked at him in
amazement. Someone slapped him across the tail and ordered him to move. “Miserable heathens!” he muttered to himself.
“I’ll just go to the market where the good people are. They will remember
me.” But the same thing happened. No one
paid any attention to the donkey as he strutted down the main street in front
of the market place. “The
palm branches! Where are the palm branches!” he shouted. “Yesterday, you
threw palm branches!” Hurt and confused,
the donkey returned home to his mother. “Foolish child,” she said gently.
“Don’t you realize that without him, you are just an ordinary donkey?”
Just like the donkey who carried Jesus in
Jerusalem, we are most fulfilled when we are in the service of Jesus Christ.
Without him, all our best efforts are like “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) and
amount to nothing. When we lift up Christ, however, we are no longer ordinary
people but key players in God’s plan to redeem the world.
Edited from More
Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks by Wayne Rice. Copyright
1995 by Youth Specialties, Inc.