THE TRIUMPHANT ENTRY

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on September 1, 2021 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: September 1, 2021 from Luke 19:28-40

Theme: Our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem to present Himself as the King of the Jews was a pivotal event in history.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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Over the past several weeks, we’ve been looking at the Gospel of Luke; and at how the Lord Jesus made His way to Jerusalem. That journey began in Chapter 13; and it comes to its completion in Chapter 19.

In the previous passage, He had just gotten through telling the parable of the ten servants who were entrusted with a treasure to put to use for Him. It was a parable that was meant to teach us that our Lord would leave His followers on this earth to do ‘business’ for His kingdom until the time that He returned. And now, in Luke 19:28-40, we’re told;

When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 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, 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. And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. 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, saying:

“‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:28-40).

Now; traditionally, we call this our Lord’s ‘Triumphant Entry’; and it was probably first given that traditional name because of the way that the crowds of people were celebrating at the time. But have you ever thought the name ‘triumphant’ might actually seem rather misapplied? After all, His entry into the city resulted—not in a coronation and enthronement and the beginning of a glorious reign—but rather in His betrayal and arrest a few days later, and then His trial, and then His crucifixion. He came as the King of the Jews; but the Jewish people rejected their King. Many who were cheering Him at His entry would shortly be crying out “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” How, then, is it proper to call it ‘triumphant’?

It’s important to remember that the nature of this entry had been described long before in the Gospel of John. In John 1:10-11, we’re told;

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him (John 1:10-11).

So; His rejection was not an unexpected thing. But there was more to it than just the rejection alone. John 1:12-13 goes on to say;

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (vv. 12-13).

His rejection was actually a purposeful thing in the plan of God; because—as the sinless Son of God—He presented Himself to be crucified as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. As we saw throughout our study of Luke’s Gospel, this was very much in His mind as He made His way to the city. And He declared it to be essential to ultimate victory. Do you remember how the Pharisees once confronted Him along the way and warned Him that Herod wanted to kill Him? He told them;

“Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’ Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem” (Luke 13:32-33).

He went to Jerusalem to die. He made that clear. But He also referred to His death as His ‘perfection’—or as the word in the original language might be translated, His ‘completion of purpose’. A little while later—in Luke 18:31-33—He took His disciples aside and told them;

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again” (Luke 18:31-33).

They didn’t understand these things at the time. But they understood them later. So; there was a twofold sense to this ‘Triumphant Entry’ in that He came to present Himself as the King of the Jews—in the lineage of King David—according to the promise of Scripture; and also in that He came to suffer and to die in order to bring about the great victory of our salvation. And that first sense of His ‘Triumphant Entry’ was not a failure; because He will one day return to this earth in power and great glory to take the throne of David in Jerusalem and physically reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem to present Himself as the King of the Jews truly was a pivotal event in all of human history.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; as we look more closely at the details of this story, as it’s told to us in Luke’s Gospel, we learn a few things about this ‘Triumphant Entry’. First, we learn that …

1. IT WAS UNDER HIS SOVEREIGN CONTROL (vv. 28-36).

We should never suppose—as some have irreverently suggested—that Jesus’ crucifixion was an unexpected turn of events. Our Lord was exercising complete rule over all that occurred. Luke tells us that as He was making His way up to Jerusalem, He drew near to a couple of small towns called Bethpage and Bethany—located on the eastern foothills of the Mount of Olives, just a short walking distance from Jerusalem. Bethany was the town in which Jesus’ friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived. As He drew near to these villages—just before going up and over the Mount of Olives into the city of Jerusalem—He called two of His disciples and told them,

“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. And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it’” (vv. 30-31).

Now; that’s a very remarkable thing for Him to have commanded His disciples to do. Would you simply walk up to someone else’s colt and simply take it? What do you suppose would happen if you tried it? Wouldn’t it be a little like hopping into a complete stranger’s car in order to drive it away? But Jesus told them that all they would need to say was that He needed it.

And so they did. They came into the village and found the colt just as He had said; and as they were loosening it to take it way, the owners said, “Why are you loosing the colt?” When they said, “The Lord has need of him”, then the owners allowed them to take the colt. And again; I invite you to try that sometime. Hop into someone’s car and fire it up to drive away; and if they ask what you’re doing, simply say “The Lord needs it.” See what happens.

It must be that this was a part of the provision that the Lord had made well in advance—perhaps by actually talking to the owners beforehand, or by leading them through the influence of the Holy Spirit. But when the disciples arrived in obedience to the Lord, they found that everything was under His control. They brought the animal to Him, placed their clothes upon it, and sat Him upon it. As He rode down the mountainside to Jerusalem, the people spread their clothes before Him in regal welcome.

This is just a little incident that shows us that this significant event was under our Lord’s sovereign control in fulfillment of God’s plan. As Zechariah 9:9 says—a little over five centuries before Jesus sat upon that colt;

“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” (Zechariah 9:9).

Now; this also shows us another thing about the Triumphant event; that …

2. IT WAS IN KEEPING WITH GOD’S PROMISE IN SCRIPTURE (vv. 37-38).

Luke goes on to tell us that as He was drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the crowds of His disciples and followers rejoiced and celebrated and praised God with a loud voice “for all the mighty works they had seen …” Luke tells us that they were quoting Scripture; saying, “’Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Those words come from Psalm 118. That is a messianic psalm that prophetically celebrates the triumphant arrival of the promised Son of King David into the city. In Psalm 118:19-20, it says;

Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them,
And I will praise the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord,
Through which the righteous shall enter (Psalm 118:19-20).

It even speaks of His reign that would follow after His rejection. It speaks of His entry after His second coming. It says in 22-23—in words that the Lord Jesus would apply to Himself after He entered the city—

The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the Lord’s doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes (vv. 22-23; see Luke 20:17).

And this psalm even speaks of the very words that the crowds were then shouting; saying in verse 26,

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord (v. 26).

Later on, the people who had shouted those words of Scripture in Luke 19 might have remembered how they were fulfilled by Jesus before their very eyes. There’s even something else that I wonder if anyone at that time might have noticed. Do you remember the sad period in the life of King David when his son Absalom rebelled against him and became a traitor to him? David had to flee for his life from Absalom. 2 Samuel 15 and 16 tells us that David—along with his royal household—fled from the city, crossed over the Brook Kidron, and made his ascent up the Mount of Olives; weeping as he went. And did you know that, when he crossed over the top of the mountain, he found that someone had arranged for a couple of donkeys to be waiting for him to ride on. Did you know that the Lord Jesus—on this triumphant day—was riding on a donkey’s colt back into the city along the same path that His royal descendent David rode a donkey upon?—in the opposite direction?—not amidst weeping, but with triumphant cheers?

Surely, our Lord’s entry into the city was a testament to the fact that our mighty God keeps the promises that He made in the Scriptures about Jesus!

And finally, note one more thing about this entry; and that is that …

3. IT WAS AN EVENT THAT ABSOLUTELY MUST BE DECLARED (vv. 39-40).

We’re told that the Pharisees—the strict protectors of the law of God—complained that the crowds were celebrating Jesus as if He were the fulfillment of the messianic promises in Scripture—shouting, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” The Pharisees were urging Him to rebuke His disciples for saying such things.

But Jesus didn’t rebuke them. In fact—quite the opposite—He said, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” What did He mean by that? I think a clue is found in what He said next. In verses 41-44, we read;

Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 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. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, 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” (vv. 41-44).

The triumph of His entry was not in the fact that the people of the city received Him and celebrated; because they soon would be rejecting Him and calling for His death. Rather, its triumph lies in the eternal determination and plan of God. His Son would be rejected, would be crucified, would raise, and would return to reign. And even if the crowds themselves did not cry out in declaration of who He is and what He was about to do, the dumb rocks that lay on the ground would do so. It’s because His coming, His sacrifice, and His eventual return in glory to reign, are things that are determined by God—and that must and will be declared.

* * * * * * * * * *

The entry of our Lord Jesus into Jerusalem—to present Himself as the King of the Jews; to be rejected, betrayed, arrested, crucified, buried, and raised in glory; and to return in power and glory to take up the throne that is rightfully His—is a central event in human history. In Revelation 5, we’re told that the hosts of heaven will declare with a loud voice;

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12);

and that every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth and in the sea will declare;

“Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” (v. 13).

Our Lord’s ‘triumph’ is the joyous theme of creation. May it be central in our hearts too.

EA