The Last Eight Days, Part 1
This Week's Feature Article by JackKelley
Palm Sunday, 10 Nisan
Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “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 18:31-33)
The time had come for the Lord to make His official
appearance in Jerusalem. Having spent
the bulk of His ministry in and around the Galilee, He now set His sights on
the Holy City for what He knew would be His final showdown with the religious
leaders. It was a long walk and would
require most of the day.
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)
As they came to the twin villages of Bethpage and Bethany on
the Eastern slope of the Mt. Of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples ahead to fetch
the donkey He knew would be waiting there, and as He crested the Mt. Of Olives
he saw the beautiful city spread before Him.
Large crowds were arriving for the Passover and many of them had already
heard that He had raised Lazarus from the grave. Surely this was the long
awaited Messiah. Some spread their
cloaks on the road while others cut palm branches and laid them in front of Him
as He rode down the western slope, across the Kidron valley, and into the
city. There were large joyful crowds
both in front of and behind Him spontaneously shouting the portion of Psalm
118 that was reserved for the entrance of the Messiah into the city.
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our
father David! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark
11:9-10)
A contingent of the ever present Pharisees was there, and
some of them instructed Jesus to rebuke His followers. If Jesus was not the
Messiah, and they didn't think He was, the crowds were committing blasphemy.
“I tell you,” He replied, “If they keep quiet the stones
will cry out.” (Luke 19:40)
It was 483 years from the day Persian King Artaxerxes had
issued the decree authorizing the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem after the 70 year
Babylonian captivity (Nehemiah 2:1-10).
It was the day ordained in history for the Messiah King to officially
present Himself to Israel (Daniel 9:25), and instead of rebuking His
disciples He rebuked the Pharisees for not knowing this.
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)
It was also the 10th day of Nisan, the day when
God commanded the Jews to select the Passover lamb. Then for three days they were to carefully inspect it to make
sure it had no spot or blemish that would prevent it from being used in the
Passover celebration on the 14th.
(Exodus 12:3,6). Over the
next three days Jesus would be subjected to the most intense scrutiny of His
ministry as the Jewish leadership tried to find some proof against Him.
Matthew and Luke take us right into their accounts of the
Temple clearing, leaving the impression
that it might have happened on on that first Palm Sunday. But Mark makes it clear that when Jesus
finally entered Jerusalem He went to the Temple and looked around at
everything, but since it was late He took the disciples and went back to
Bethany where they were staying (Mark 11:11).
Clearing The Temple. Monday 11 Nisan
In the morning Jesus left Bethany in the company of His
disciples. He was hungry and seeing a
fig tree went to pick some its fruit, but there was none. He cursed the tree
saying, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again” (Mark 11:14).
Much has been made of this, the only negative miracle Jesus ever performed.
Some scholars see it as a prophecy that Israel would soon wither and die, never
again bearing fruit for the Kingdom. History has given evidence supporting the
validity of their interpretation.
Upon reaching Jerusalem, the Lord headed straight for the
Temple and when He got there He began driving out those who were buying and
selling, overturning the tables of the money changers. He said to them, “It is written, My house
will be called a house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7), but you have
turned it into a den of robbers (Jere. 7:11).”
He was referring to the fact that the pilgrims who traveled
a great distance found it safer to buy animals for their sacrifices in
Jerusalem than try and bring them from home.
The priests would only accept Temple coinage in payment for these
animals and for offerings the people made.
Some say they charged exorbitant prices for the animals and also
maintained an unfavorable exchange rate for foreign currency. Most likely, this is what prompted the
Lord's accusation.
Word that Jesus was at the Temple spread quickly. The blind and lame came to Him and He
healed them. The children who had also
gathered around began shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David”, a Messianic
reference. The chief priests and
teachers of the Law were indignant but Jesus said, “Have you never read,
'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise' (Psalm
8:2)? Then He left the city and
returned to Bethany. (Matt. 21:14-17)
A Long Day Of Teaching And Confrontation. Tuesday 12 Nisan
The next morning Jesus set out early for the Temple. After being challenged by the Pharisees
again, He launched into a series of parables.
A parable is a fictional story placed in an Earthly context that's
designed to convey a Heavenly truth.
Every character or event is symbolic of something else. Understanding what they symbolize helps us
discover the Heavenly truth.
He began with the
parable of the 2 sons, one obedient and other not. One son said he would
obey then didn't. He represents the
Pharisees. The other son said he would
not obey but then did. He represents
the tax collectors and prostitutes. Jesus
said to the Pharisees, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the
prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of
righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes
did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him” (Matt.
21:28-32).
Then came the Parable of the Tenants. It's about a landowner
(God) who rented his vineyard (His Land) to tenants (Israel). But when harvest
time came they refused to give him his share of the fruit (the salvation of
mankind). They killed the servants he
sent (prophets) and even killed his son (Jesus) in an effort to keep everything
for themselves. Jesus asked them what
they thought the landowner should do to them when he returns. They said he
should bring them to a wretched end and rent his vineyard to other tenants who
will give him his share. Jesus agreed
and said, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away
from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit”
The chief priests and Pharisees understood that Jesus was
talking about them (Matt. 21:33-46).
In the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, which came next,
Jesus spoke of the invited guests refusing to attend a banquet celebrating the
marriage of a king's son. The banquet
represents the Kingdom, the King is
God, His Son is Jesus, and the invited guests are Israel. Enraged, the king sent his army and burned
their city (Jerusalem). Then, as the
time for the banquet approached he sent his servants to collect anyone they
could find to attend as his guests. At
the banquet the king found a guest who was not properly attired and had him
ejected. (Matt. 22:1-14)
Many Christians have misinterpreted this group of guests as
representing the Church. But the Church
is the bride, not a random group of last minute guests. And the guest ejected from the wedding is
not a back sliding believer. Clothing is symbolic of righteousness and our
righteousness is by faith (Romans 3:21-22), not by works. The last minute guests are Tribulation
Survivors, and the ejected guest is an unbeliever trying to gain entrance to
the Kingdom in his own righteousness, which is woefully inadequate.
At the time of the 2nd Coming Jesus will gather
all Tribulation survivors together.
Believers will be clothed in the righteousness of the Lord and ushered
into the Kingdom, while unbelievers will be escorted off the planet to eternal
punishment.
In an effort to trap Him, the Pharisees asked Him if it was
right to pay taxes to Caesar.
Responding with a question of His own, Jesus took a coin and asked them
whose portrait and inscription were on the coin. When they said it was Caesar's Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to
God what is God's”. They were amazed at His answers so they left Him and
went away (Matt. 22:15-22).
Then another group, Sadducees this time, asked Jesus about
marriage in the resurrection. Sadducees didn't believe in a resurrection but
told Jesus a story of a woman who sequentially married seven brothers,
each marriage following the death of
the preceding brother. It was an outlandish exaggeration of the law of leverite
marriage, which provided that the brother of a deceased Israelite marry his
brother's widow and have a child with her to produce an heir for the dead
brother's inheritance (Deut. 25:5-6).
Jesus accused them of not knowing the Scriptures or the
power of God. In the resurrection there
will be no marriage. Then He attacked
their denial of the resurrection. He reminded them that in the Book of Moses
(the Torah) God called Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. “He is
not the God of the dead but of the Living,” He said. The people listening were astonished at His
answers (Matt. 22:23-33)
Then they asked Him which of the commandments is the most
important. He replied, quoting Deut.
6:5 and Lev. 19:18. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest
commandment. And the second is like it:
Love your neighbor as yourself. All the
Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:37-40)
The first 4 commandments explain how we are to love the
Lord, and the last 6 tell us how to love one another. Together they summarize
all of God's word.
Then He asked the Pharisees a question.
“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
“‘The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until
I put your enemies under your feet”’ (Psalm 110:1)
If then David calls him
‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from
that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Matt. 22:42-46)
His examination was complete. They had found no fault in Him.
He was qualified to be the Passover Lamb.
Now It's My Turn
Having defended Himself against all their tricks and
traps, the Lord now went on the offensive with a scathing indictment of their
religious practices. It was pay back time for all the resistance they'd shown,
all the criticism they'd leveled at him.
He called them hypocrites and told the people to obey what they say but not
to do what they do. He said all their
actions are just for show to make themselves look pious and important. Not only
would they not enter the Kingdom, but they prevented others from entering as
well. He called them false teachers and blind guides, saying they were obsessed
with little things but neglected the more important matters of the Law. He said they were like white washed tombs,
all clean on the outside but full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
He called them snakes, a brood of vipers (seed of the serpent) and held them responsible
for the blood of all the prophets their predecessors had killed (Matt.
23:1-36).
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” He cried, “You who kill
the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather
your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you
were not willing. Look, your house is
left to you desolate. For I tell you,
you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord.’” (Matt. 23:37-39)
Then He left the Temple and walked out of the city. But His
day was not over. On the way back to
Bethany the Lord gave 4 of His disciples a critical lesson on End Times
prophecy. We'll pick it up there next
time. 03-24-12
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