I remind you that the suffering and
crucifixion of Jesus occupies a major part of the gospels - at least 1/3 of
Mark’s Gospel and ½ of John’s Gospel. These cover the last seven days of Jesus’
life. This is the time on which we now
wish to focus in the next 7 days.
Today is Palm Sunday - the day on which we remember that Jesus had entered Jerusalem for the last time (Matt 21: 1-11) before He died on the cross. “The hour had come!” (Jn.17:1). The hour had come and His death would accomplish the salvation of an innumerable multitude from every nation and from all tribes and peoples and languages.
Paul reminds
the Galatian Christians,
“but when
the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born
under the law, to redeem those who were
under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons…” (Gal. 4:4,5). We learn
that God has a perfect time table … the
hour had come … the fullness of time had come … .
There was nothing arbitrary about
Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. He was
sent by the Father. Matthew 16:21 (cf. Mk 10:33,34) records His determination:
“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” . He MUST go. He WILL go
up to Jerusalem – to die.
Ten years ago, to be precise, on the 24th
March 2015, a terrible tragedy unfolded as Andreas Lubitz, a
28 year old co-pilot of a
German airline, en route from Düsseldorf in Germany to Barcelona in
Spain, deliberately caused
an Airbus 320,
with 144 passengers on board, to
crash into the French Alps. A German magazine, “Der Spiegel” (27/03/2015)
reported that he had been suffering from depression. The investigators found
torn up sick leave notes from the doctor in his home. He never informed his
employer of his condition. On that fateful day he
must have decided ‘that his hour had come to die’, and so, after the pilot had left
the cockpit, he locked the
cockpit and sent the plane into
descent and its passengers into death.
Jesus, deliberately heading to Jerusalem knew that His hour had come, but unlike Andreas Lubitz He had the very opposite in mind. By heading into His death He would not destroy, but save so very, very many lives, so many that Revelation 7:9 can speak of a great multitude that no one could count, standing before the throne of the Lamb in heaven in thankful, adoring worship. They worship Him for the fact that by His death He had saved them all from the wrath of God which was awaiting them, were it not for Him who rescues us from the coming wrath (1 Thess. 1:10).
Truly, it was the death of
our death in the death of Christ. (John
Owen)
Today, on Palm Sunday we remember at
least 4
purposes why Jesus came into
Jerusalem.
1. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem He had
come to die! “When they drew near to Jerusalem…” (11:1). Jesus, on at least
three occasions preceding our text in Mark 11 (8:31-32; 9:31; 10:32-34) had told His disciples that this
would happen. Now, getting back to my earlier story, it appears that Andreas Lubitz did apparently mention to his
ex-girlfriend, “one day everybody will
know my name”. I can assure you that hardly anyone is remembering him
fondly, or praising him today for what He did in sending so many people to their death. By
way of contrast we remember Jesus, riding into Jerusalem, into His death to save us from that dreadful lake of fire! Those already in in heaven, and those
here on earth are so thankful for His work on the cross on our behalf, knowing that we all have have escaped the
second death , the lake of fire spoken of in Revelation 20:14.
2. Jesus had to die, for He needed to fulfil the Scriptures. Mark doesn’t say this, but Matthew’s account in Matt. 21:4,5 quotes the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 in support:
“This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden’”.
Jesus was
showing that He was indeed the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. He came
to fulfill the prophesies of the OT. If
Jesus had not come, the mystery of this king riding on a donkey, or the mystery
of the identity of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53
might never have been resolved-
and indeed to this day they are not resolved for the Jews who refuse to believe
in Jesus, the Messiah. But Jesus did come, and He fulfilled all that is written
in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms (Lk. 24:44). And so the
eunuch of Acts 8:26-40 on his
return from Jerusalem to Ethiopia in Africa, reading
Isaiah 53, wondering who Isaiah
was talking about, was helped when
Philip, sent by the Holy Spirit helped
him to see that this suffering servant was indeed the Lord Jesus. The result was that the Ethiopian believed in
Jesus and he was baptised. Therefore we can expect to meet him in heaven!
3. Jesus had to die to take away the
sin of the world. In 11:9 you will
notice the crowd shouting “Hosanna”,
which translated means “save we
pray!” Save from what? Matthew
1:21 helps us here. The Lord was named “Jesus” by the angel, for that is
what His Name means - Yahweh saves! It was said concerning Him
that “He
will save His people from their sins“. So, here is a major reason why we
celebrate Easter. Jesus came to die to
save His people from
their sins. John the Baptist said this concerning Him when he saw Him, “Look,
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world” (Jn. 1:29). We need to
briefly explain what is meant by “Christ
taking away the sin of the world “, for
this is one of the most misunderstood and misapplied texts in the Bible. We will consider this in a more detailed way
on Good Friday, when we shall ask the
question, For whom did Jesus die? This cannot mean that all the people of this world, past, present and
future are automatically freed from
the curse of sin, and are forgiven for their sins, just because Christ died.
It is clear that many people in this
world do not believe in the Lord Jesus.
It is also clear that many people in
the world do believe in the Lord Jesus, having placed their faith in Him,
having repented from their sin and having
asked Him for forgiveness from their sin.
It is clear that there remains a
great work to do in the world to
make the gospel of Jesus Christ known in the world. That is why the
task of evangelism and missionary
service to the world remains an
imperative for the church, because so
many are not yet saved
from the coming wrath!
In what sense then has Jesus come to
take away the sin of the world? We need to understand the “world” in terms of “worldwide” and
not in terms of “everyone
in the world”. We see this explained by Jesus in John 10. There He explains that He is the Good Shepherd, and there
He speaks about His sheep hearing His voice (10:3,4). The sheep are those whom the Father had given Him out of
the world (Jn.17:6). In Jn.10:11,15 He explains
that here in Judea there are His
chosen sheep among the Jews, but there are also
His chosen sheep in the world among the gentiles (Jn.10:16). The church is ultimately made
up of Jews and gentiles. The church is ultimately made
up from all the nations in the world.
It is in that sense Jesus lays
down His life for His sheep from all over the world.
4. Supremely, Jesus had to die to do His Father’s will. He rides into Jerusalem in the Name of the Lord – His Father (Mk. 11:9; Matt.21:9).
Ultimately Jesus comes, because it is His Father’s will. His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane leaves
us in no doubt about that! “My Father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as
you will.” (Mk 14:36; Matt. 26:39,42,44).
The writer to the Hebrews says in Hebr.10:5-10:
Consequently, when Christ came into the
world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have
you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no
pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have
come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the
book.’” When he said above, “You
have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt
offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he
added, “Behold, I have come to do
your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the
second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all.
That means that God the Father has
willed that Jesus should die to save God’s elect people - loved before the
foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4,5).
Today, if you are a born again, saved by
the blood of Jesus, you can praise your heavenly Father for the active obedience of His Son,
riding into His death for your sake- to save you from the Father’s just wrath.
SUMMARY
1.
Jesus came to die
2.
To fulfil the Scriptures
3. To
take away the sin of the world
4. To
do the will of the Father
John 3:16 summarizes the purpose, “For God so loved the world, that He gave
his only Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have eternal life.”
The answer to the
question “Why did God sent His Son into
Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to die on Good
Friday?” is now answered : Because
God loves His chosen people!
Thank God for Palm Sunday!
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