This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday and we are going to take a break from our study in Genesis to talk about Easter and the events surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Old Testament has lots of prophecy about the Messiah that God promised to send to the Jewish people.
Messiah
Messiah means savior and Jesus is the Messiah whom God promised to send to Israel. His purpose in coming was to save all people from the punishment of their sins and deliver them from the power of sin itself.
Jesus demonstrated through his teachings and the miracles he performed that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him. However, it is through his resurrection that we celebrate at Easter that we know without a doubt that he is the Messiah, the Son of God.
Jesus also fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about the promised Messiah. There were five important prophecies about the Messiah that Jesus fulfilled.
- Jeremiah 23:5 says that the Messiah would be from the line of King David who was the greatest king of Israel and a man after God’s own heart. Jesus was descended from David.
- Isaiah 7:14 says that a virgin, a woman who has never been married and hadn’t had relations with a man, would give birth to a son. The baby was to be named Immanuel which means “God with us,” implying that God would come in the flesh to dwell among men. Mary, Jesus’ mother was a virgin and Jesus is the Son of God who came to dwell among men.
- Micah 5:2 says that the Messiah would come from the insignificant little town of Bethlehem. The origins of the Messiah would be ancient as God has always existed and was there at creation. Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem.
- Isaiah 9:6-7 says that the Messiah would be born as a man but the names by which he would be called tell us that he is God. Jesus was conceived as the son of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. He had no earthly father as he was the Son of God.
- Malachi 4:5-6 says that before the Messiah came God would send the prophet Elijah to turn hearts back to him and restore right relationships within families. Scripture makes it clear that John the Baptist fulfilled this prophecy. He came before Jesus to prepare the way and make hearts ready for the Messiah.
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the last week of Jesus’ Life. It is called Palm Sunday because in the account of it in the Gospel of John, John says that the people took palm branches as they went to meet Jesus coming into Jerusalem. The account in Luke begins with Jesus sending two of his disciples into Jerusalem to get a colt for him to ride on.
Luke 19:29-40
29As [Jesus] approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30“Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
35They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
When the two disciples entered the village they found everything was just the way Jesus said it would be. Because he is God, Jesus had understanding of all the things that were going to happen.
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem also fulfilled Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah from Zechariah 9:9. 9 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.
An Unusual Prophecy
This was an unusual prophecy because a king wouldn’t normally ride a donkey. He would ride a regal horse. This shows that Jesus came as a humble servant to bring people back into a right relationship with God and save them from their sins. He wanted them to see their personal need for a savior.
Because Jesus had been performing miracles and teaching the people throughout the countryside for three years, the people were all excited about him coming to Jerusalem. Many of them wanted to honor him like a king so they took off their cloaks and laid them on the ground while others cut down palm branches and then spread them out on the road. The people were all gathered around him shouting: (Matthew 21:9) “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
Hosanna means “save” in the language that the people spoke and they shouted it as both praise and a prayer. That was the term that the Jewish people used to talk about the promised Messiah (Savior) that God was going to send. It seems that as Jesus was entering the city the people could see who Jesus was and were giving him the praise and honor that he deserved. That was to quickly change, however, because in just a few days the crowd of people would be shouting something very different
The Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders told Jesus to rebuke his disciples. They wanted Jesus to make them stop, as they didn’t like the implication of what the people were doing. They wanted Jesus to correct the people and say that he wasn’t the king. They didn’t acknowledge Jesus’ authority. They were blind to who Jesus was.
Jesus said that if the people wouldn’t praise him then the stones would cry out. If the people didn’t acknowledge him as Lord then another part of his creation would. He would in some way be acknowledged for being God.
The people in greeting Jesus were both using the words from Psalm 118: 26-27 to praise Jesus and doing what it said. 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you. 27 The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.
Later that week, they would go from praising Jesus to wanting the officials to hang him on a cross and crucify him. This shows how crowds of people are easily influenced and follow whatever seems to be the feeling of the moment. From that we should recognize that it is not a good idea to follow the crowd. We should know and understand the Bible and follow what God says rather than what other people are doing.
Need vs. Want
The people wanted a worldly king who would save them from the oppression of the Romans who occupied their land. They knew the power Jesus had and thought he could overcome their Roman rulers. They were focused on their outside circumstances, not on their own hearts and their need to be made right.
The things that happened to Jesus were spoken about in the Old Testament long before his birth. As Jesus taught his disciples during the time he was with them, he also told them what would happen to him. He wanted them to understand who he was and be prepared for his death.
A lot of what Jesus said to them they didn’t understand until after he rose from the grave. Jesus wanted his followers to be firm in their faith and stand against the wrong ideas people believed about him. His disciples, in turn, have taught us through the words they wrote down. John wrote (1 John 1:2), “The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.”
We, too, can stand firm in our faith and not follow the crowds down the wrong path. We can see Jesus for who he really is, our Lord and King who has delivered us from both the power and penalty of our sin, bringing us into eternal life with our heavenly Father.
Because we know Jesus is our Lord and Savior we can also shout, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
- Overview Questions: How did Jesus enter Jerusalem? How did the people respond to him? Why did they do this?
- Thought Questions: Why was it important for Jesus to enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey? Why were the people praising Jesus as he entered the city? Why would their attitude be different toward him at the end of the week? What does their change of heart toward Jesus tell you about people? Does your heart toward things change? How? Does God’s heart toward you ever change? In what way? Why is it important to understand who Jesus is?
- Prayer: Thank Jesus that he is your Lord and Savior. Pray that your heart would remain faithful to him and that you would learn to praise him more. Thank him for his great love and faithfulness and for coming to earth as a man to save you and bring you into a right relationship with your Heavenly Father.
- Memory Verse: Zechariah 9:9
How did Jesus fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah?
Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey.
“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.”