Jesus Enters Jerusalem ... On a Donkey?

[0:00] Mark chapter 11 and while you're opening up your Bibles to Mark chapter 11 I'm going to have some helpers I've got some visuals today anybody like pictures yeah pictures sometimes can be very helpful I wish we had a projector you know and we kind of do but it's hard to see in the back and so I decided let's print some things off here and so go ahead guys take one of you on each aisle and just raise your hand I've got about 50 of these that's probably enough for everybody to have one but it's possible some people might need to share so yeah just raise your hand if you'd like one of these and they'll pass them out and guys if we run out at the end maybe we can can figure out how to get to get some to to the rest this is a so what you'll see here and as you get this is a picture of this is a mount of olives amount of olives as it looks today and then on the other side is a kind of an overview map a topic what do you call it a topographical map it shows the the heights of things I thought it was interesting of Jerusalem and the mount of olives and so we'll be referencing this as we go along so as uh as they're passing that out just a quick overview so we're going to be looking we're again we're in mark chapter 11 Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem he's been spending most of his ministry up in Galilee he has been to Jerusalem before we'll talk about that as we go along this story this account many times called the triumphal entry of Jesus is in all four gospels it's one of the few accounts that is in all four there's a lot of overlap especially among the three Matthew Mark and

[1:56] Luke but John seems to have a lot of different accounts that aren't in the others but this is one account that is in all four Matthew Mark Luke and John this is the start of Jesus's final week which he spends in Jerusalem before he is crucified and rises from the dead he is at this time going to intensify his conflict with the Jewish leaders it's kind of been coming to a boil now it's going to come to a head and Jesus as we will see is going to be very intentional about causing this clash up to this point he's been a little bit careful about how he goes about in his conflict with with the Jewish leaders but now it's kind of no holds barred in this triumphal entry really and we'll see that the Pharisees see what's happening he is announcing himself as king though not with his own mouth the other people will be kind of doing that for him and like I said in fact in your your bible you might have a heading that says the triumphal entry and it's an interesting label that's not a term used in this passage itself there's no word triumph though it does mention him entering the city but why would it be called a triumphal entry you know Jesus here is going into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey doesn't seem like very triumphant there is a lot of you know we might call it pomp and circumstance but it's from kind of a ragtag crowd of people not exactly there's not a lot of sold there's not soldiers or royalty or anything like that and in in a large sense there is no triumph because the Romans are still in charge the hypocritical Jewish leaders are still ruling and so what's up with the this term triumph really Jesus and the intention of I think this display is to show Jesus coming in in a lowly manner and that comes out in the text but let's go ahead and read this chapter 11 verse 1 through 11 and then we're going to go through verse by verse by the way thank you for the cards that you submitted last week and if you didn't get a chance to or maybe you filled it out during the week please maybe just stick it in the offering box or if you if you want to grab another card in front of you we're just looking for questions you might have about the Bible things that we've read or gone through in the book of Mark or just other things in the Bible or else kind of biblical topics that are maybe confusing or on your mind or just trying to get a gauge of kind of what people are thinking and where people are at as we teach through these scriptures and look for other things to teach on in the future so but one of the comments that came up with was about making sure you don't skip any verses and it's actually very important to me I want to make sure that we're looking at every word that God that God gave us and so that's what we're going to do this morning so chapter 11 verse 1 now when they drew near Jerusalem to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives he sent two of his disciples 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 has sat loose it and bring it and if anyone says to you why are you doing this say the Lord has need of it and immediately he will send it here so they went their way and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street and they loosened it but some of those who stood there said to them what are you doing loosening the colt and they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded so they let them go then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it and he sat on it and then he spread their clothes on the road and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road then those who went before and those who followed cried out saying Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest and Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple so when he had looked around at all things as the hour was already late he went out to Bethany with the twelve so there we are this is the triumphal entry now I want to set the stage set the scene Jesus is coming we talked about last week from Jericho and Jericho is just on the other side if you picture Israel it kind of goes north to south and on the eastern side of Israel is the a border at least for most of Israel is the Jordan River and they had crossed the Jordan River into Judea and came to Jericho and that's where we looked at the story of blind Bartimaeus and also Zacchaeus that story or that account happened there as well but they're continuing on from the road to Jericho to Jerusalem so there's a road between Jericho and

[7:34] Jerusalem and as they're on this path they come up to this mount this this hill now it's called the mount of olives but when we think of a mountain today we think of something very very large think of mount st helens or mount kilimanjaro or something to that effect the mount of olives might think of more as a just a giant hill and when you read and that term mount or mountain in the Bible a lot of times that's that's what it's referring to and so as you're coming from Jericho you're going to come up to this mount the mount of olives and you're going to crest over the hill and as you come to the top of the mount of olives that's when you see Jerusalem the holy city the city of God the city of peace and so just imagine in your mind they're traveling from Jericho and many travelers came this way and you get to the the top of the crest of that mountain and they're laid before you down below

[8:46] Jerusalem is the city of Jericho excuse me Jerusalem so they're coming to Jerusalem for the week of Passover and so Jesus is going with his disciples not just the 12 but many of his disciples there's a multitude coming with him and they're going ostensibly to for the feast the Passover feast which many came to Jerusalem for the feast in fact in that day it was generally a requirement at least for the men to go down for the feast of Passover now Jesus had been to Jerusalem a few times before we know that he was actually dedicated there as a baby in the temple but remember the account when he was 12 years old and they had made a trip for one of the feasts I think it was the feast of tabernacles with Jesus and that's when he got left behind and they lost him for a few days imagine losing your 12 year old for a few days but he was actually in the temple probably in the temple courtyard there with with some of the rabbis I guess discussing the scriptures that's talked about in Luke chapter 2 but another thing of interest is Jesus had actually gone as an adult during his three-year ministry to Jerusalem and we read about this in John chapter 7 and but he had gone in secret and so if you if you want to turn there John chapter 7 we'll read about this because I think it it really contrasts the difference between the last time he went and and his trip into Jerusalem now so John chapter 7 verse 1 it says this after these things Jesus walked in Galilee for he did not want to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him see he spent most of his time in the north because it was away from the Jewish leaders they were looking to kill him fairly early on in his ministry so he avoided the area verse 2 John 7 2 now the Jews feast of tabernacles was at hand his brothers therefore said to him and I think these were his biological brothers depart from here and go into Judea that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing he's like they're like hey you should spread the word about what you're doing you know obviously you're some kind of prophet so let's go down to Jerusalem during this feast and and spread the word that you know what it is that you're saying and doing and the miracles you're performing for no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly if you do these things show yourself to the world for even his brothers did not believe in him so there was still some suspicion about him but anyway then Jesus said to them my time has not yet come but your time is always ready the world cannot hate you but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil you go up to this feast I'm not yet going up to this feast for my time has not yet fully come so he's telling them you guys go ahead without me

[11:56] I'm not going to come because my time has not yet come and what's he talking about his time well he's talking about this last week where he's going to be where he's going to suffer and be killed but then it goes on and it says in verse 9 when he had said these things to them he remained in Galilee so he did remain but when his brothers had gone up then he also went up to the feast not openly but as it were in secret so he he went up and that you know if you continue reading on it talks about some of the things that he did but he was trying to keep it on the down low he didn't want the the Jewish leaders to know that he was there and why because he didn't want to create this confrontation too early his time had not yet come and there was actually another time this is actually in John chapter 6 so just one chapter earlier from what we just read when he fed the 5,000 and it says and this is John 6, 15 it says therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king he departed again to the mountain by himself alone that was right after he fed the 5,000 there was such a fervor about him as the Messiah that people wanted to take him by force and make him king of Israel but his time again was not ready he wasn't ready at that time but now it's time and that's what this this whole not just chapter 11 but all the way through the end of Mark now is the time this is his final week in which everything comes to a head it mentions here in this scripture back to Mark chapter 11 the towns of Bethphage and Bethany these are just two small villages really one really right on the Mount of Olives another just adjacent to it just south but let's talk about the Mount of Olives and so if you look at this this page the map one you'll see on the right hand side over here which by the way this is all so north is above south is below just like a regular map and so to the east on the right side that's where they were coming from that's where the Mount of Olives is and you can see the red trail that's kind of the trail that they were walking along and it also shows you know the path that you would go into the city of Jerusalem but the Mount of Olives it was called the Mount of Olives because it was just filled with olive trees like I said it's not really a huge mountain it's about what did I read 330 feet above the city of Jerusalem and that's about the size of a football field so that's a pretty big hill right it goes up pretty high and from that Mount of Olives you can overlook and see the city of Jerusalem which by the way is also on a mount called in the Old Testament

[15:08] Mount Moriah which is actually the place where remember that Abraham took his son Isaac to sacrifice him that's where the city of Jerusalem sits on Mount Moriah a small mount a small hill today called the Temple Mount between the the the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem is a valley and they call that the Kidron Valley and so you you descend down from that Mount of Olives and into a little valley and then right back up into a smaller mount the the Temple Mount up into the city of Jerusalem if you'll look at the other side this is a this is a picture of the Mount of Olives from the south southeast side so if you look up in the upper left hand corner just in that corner you can actually see parts of the city of Jerusalem parts of the city of Jerusalem and so really that far side of the Mount of Olives is where Jesus would have walked down to go towards the city of Jerusalem you'll look at this picture and you're like well it's not very green right what is the deal with with this with this mountain and what it's covered in is graves it's filled today and has been a cemetery for thousands of years in fact there were it was a cemetery or at least there were many graves even during the time of Jesus it's the oldest and largest

[16:45] Jewish cemetery in the world there are over 150,000 graves on the Mount of Olives going back over 3,000 years some people say that some of the Old Testament prophets are buried there I don't know you know sometimes it's hard to know those things when you look at history but the graves are more like you know we have like buried coffins right here in America and really in the west and then we'll put up like a cross or a gravestone there they have what I think you might call a sarcophagus basically these are coffins that are made out of stone that are above the ground and they're just all over that Mount of Olives why would people want to be buried on the Mount of Olives like that well it's actually intentional on purpose there is a passage and let me see if I wrote this down in the book of Joel

[17:52] Joel chapter 3 there's a prophecy in the book of Joel we won't just for time's sake look at there but if you want to look at that later that says that there is a valley called the Valley of Jehoshaphat and it would be the place where God when the Messiah comes will judge the nations that's the place where God will sit and judge the nations probably from the Mount of Olives looking down below where the people will be there to be judged down in the Valley of Jehoshaphat or what's today called the Valley of the Kidron Valley and so this became a popular place for people to be buried and so there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of mostly Jewish graves there on the Mount of Olives this Mount of Olives is a huge location in the Bible in other places we're going to see later in Mark chapter I think it's 13 the Olivet

[18:54] Discourse it's called the Olivet Discourse and this is a discourse it's a very actually a very long discourse in Matthew it takes up two full chapters in which Jesus talks about the time of the end what will happen in the end times and that happened as he sat on the Mount of Olives Jesus' betrayal to Judas and his abandonment by the disciples happens there on the Mount of Olives and then when Jesus dies and he rises from the dead he ascends from where the Mount of Olives and the angels say that why are you still looking up Jesus he's coming back and he's going to come back in the same way that he left and according to Zechariah the Old Testament prophet he's going to the Messiah will stand with his feet on the Mount of Olives when he comes to rule over Israel and Jerusalem

[19:55] Zechariah 14 verse 4 Zechariah 14 verse 4 says this and in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem on the east there's a prophecy about the Messiah coming standing on the Mount of Olives in order to come and conquer and take over to rule Jerusalem Israel and really the rest of the nations so that's the Mount of Olives this is where they're standing this is where the stage is being set now when they drew near Jerusalem to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives he sent two of his disciples 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 so he tells his disciples go to this village nearby now it doesn't say which one could be Bethany could be Bethphage it could be possibly something else but there's going to be a colt there and I want you to untie it now what's a colt well we think of a colt as a young horse right a young horse is a colt fairly

[21:05] I don't know what the age limit Matthew actually brings this out more specifically in Matthew 21 verse 2 and this is the parallel passage in Matthew this is what Jesus says 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 so he actually mentions not just the colt but also the mother probably right so you are going to find a donkey and then a young colt with the donkey bring them to me and so he is asking his disciples to go get a donkey and then he gives this explanation on how to handle it because he is not saying go steal or pay even pay for a donkey

[22:09] I want you to go and just take it and then he explains to them what to do if somebody asks them what are you doing and basically he says if somebody says that to you just tell them well the Lord has need of it said that that that is that that is what is going on it says this is what they did they went and that is exactly what happened of course somebody is like why are you taking our donkey and all they said was the Lord has needed it and they said okay there you go so I you know I think there are a couple of different ideas now the first one is and I think of I don't always like to do movie references but is this some kind of like Jedi mind trick you know you say these are not the donkeys you're looking for you know is that what Jesus is asking them them to do you know the Lord has need of it and they're like okay well yeah we're going to just do whatever you say

[23:22] I don't know that that's what's going on some have said well maybe this is something that Jesus had set up beforehand maybe he knew the owners of the donkey they lived in this town whether it was Bethany or Bethpage or whatever and he said hey I'm going to be coming to Jerusalem soon and I want you to repair a donkey for me a colt that's never been ridden will you do that and you say oh yeah sure I'll do that and and then maybe there was a secret passphrase you ever seen that in spy movies right secret passphrase you go in to talk to somebody and how do they know that you're a good guy or a bad guy and you have to say something seemingly somewhat normal right you don't want to give yourself away if you're not talking to the right person you might say something like the spring and rain is especially light this year and that's the secret phrase and now you know who who each other are is that what's going on this was Jesus said somebody will come to you and they'll take your colt and they'll say the Lord has need of it and that's the sign that you should you know send send send the colt along with them I don't know it doesn't it doesn't really tell us so just just two two possible ideas I kind of tend to think that probably the Lord had had planned this beforehand and had to talk to somebody and and set this up but the other thing to note is that this phrase the Lord has need of it what is he talking about the Lord the Lord has need of it is this something where they were referencing Jesus Jesus specifically has need of it or is this the Lord is in the Lord God well the word Lord here is used frequently by the Jews as the Lord Jehovah Lord the

[25:13] Lord God of Israel but we actually also see at least by his disciples the disciples themselves called Jesus Lord and the word Lord Lord here just means master it means master and so it was used by others of just somebody who was in charge of a group of people or just really a term of honor to honor somebody but they could just be saying hey God has need of it or maybe Jesus the Lord has need of it what's the significance of a donkey why a donkey well if we go back to Matthew chapter 21 there's actually a reference to why the donkey and it says this in Matthew 21 verse 5 again this is the same account in in the in the gospel of Matthew and it says this tell the daughter of Zion behold your king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey a colt a fowl of a donkey and so there Matthew anyway tells us the purpose behind this this was to fulfill something that the prophets had spoken probably a thousand years ago I'm not sure when Zechariah but at least probably 700 years earlier tell the daughter of Zion behold your king who is a king

[27:07] Messiah the king your king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey a colt the fowl of a donkey and so that is a that's a reference to an Old Testament passage from Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9 that says about the same thing I think what Matthew said is is almost there but I'll read for you real quickly what it says in Zechariah chapter 9 at least in the new King James Zechariah 9 9 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 fowl of a donkey now many other passages about the coming king from the prophets were not about a lowly one they were about a high and mighty one someone who was a conquering king but this one in particular is about a king who would come in a lowly manner not in a high and mighty manner there's also a historical allusion to a story we read about regarding King David and his son Solomon that I think is also relevant back during the time of David David was king for many years

[28:34] I'm not sure how long his reign was but he was coming to the end of his life of old age his eyes were growing dim he was becoming weak he was spending most of his time in bed and it discusses this event in first the first chapter of first kings he had told his wife um Bathsheba that her son their son Solomon would be made king but he had another son um let's see how do I say his name Adonijah Adonijah and Adonijah decided hey dad's old and here's my opportunity I am going to make myself king of Israel I'm sure he had heard that David had intended to make Solomon king but he decided I'm going to take this opportunity David hasn't done anything Solomon has not been crowned king I am going to make myself king and so if you read through that whole passage it kind of sets up the story and Adonijah does this kind of in secret he makes sure there's certain people kind of the closest people Nathan the prophet

[29:39] Benaiah and I think Zadok the high priest he keeps them out of it he keeps them excluded from what he's going to do but he brings in some of his other people people in his tighter circle and he sets himself up as king and I think it was his or not not his but David's wife Bathsheba found out about this and she goes to David and say what's going on do you know about this Adonijah has set himself up as king and so David gives some instruction he says okay we're going to take care of this and he said like I promised you we're going to make Solomon our son Solomon king and so he gave some instructions to some folks Benaiah and I think Zadok as well and told them this is what I want you to do and I'm going to read this from 1 Kings 1 verse 33 the king also said to them take with you the servant of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule and take him down to Gihon this is one of the valleys right around the city of Jerusalem there let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel and blow the horn and say long live king Solomon then you shall come up after him and he shall come and sit on my throne and he shall be king in my place for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah so you see with this story there's a similarity here

[31:22] David King David who what did what did Jesus just get called in last week that we looked at son of David have mercy on me blind Bartimaeus said and we see another reference as the crowd shouts regarding Jesus a reference to David you see the Messiah was coming from the lineage of David and Solomon was the first son of David who was crowned king after him but the Messiah Jesus was another son of David coming to be crowned king and so we see this similarity he tells Solomon I want you to get on my mule now not exactly the same as a donkey but you know a mule is a mix between a donkey and a horse I'm getting that right aren't I a donkey and a horse and so get on my mule and I want you to start anoint him in the valley and then he's going to ride up into Jerusalem where he'll sit on my throne and this is what we see

[32:26] Jesus doing it's a very interesting allusion to history but the big picture is Jesus is coming in a spirit of humility he's not coming with horses and chariots he's coming as a humble servant and just as we read there in the last chapter Jesus said I did not come to be served but to serve and lay my life down as a ransom for many so Jesus' first entrance into Jerusalem his first coming as we'll call it is in a lowly state in a spirit of humility but we do know that there is another coming in which Jesus will do the same thing he'll come down from the sky just like he ascended he'll come down on that Mount of Olives he'll enter he'll go down on that same path and enter Jerusalem but this time it won't be in a lowly manner in fact we read about this in the book of Revelation

[33:36] Revelation chapter 19 and this is what it says Revelation 19 11 now I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse notice it's not a donkey horses are animals of what animals of war I saw a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and he makes war his eyes were like a flame of fire and his head were many crowns and on his head were many crowns he had a name written that no one knew except himself he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God and the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen white and clean followed him on white horses now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron he himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God and he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written king of kings and lord of lords see Jesus' first coming was in a spirit of humility he's coming to offer something salvation to Israel forgiveness of sins to demonstrate lowliness lowliness of heart a contrite spirit we know that he maintains this attitude the whole week as we read about in Isaiah

[35:05] Isaiah 53 as a sheep before his shears is silent so the Lord was silent before his persecutors before those who attacked and killed him but the second coming will not be in the same way Jesus is coming again in the same manner but this time to conquer the world we'll continue on here in Mark 11 verse 7 then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it and he sat on it and many spread their clothes on the road and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and they spread them on the road so we see a laying down of both clothes garments and of palm tree branches and it's common right the week before the Sunday before Easter we call Palm Sunday and that's why it's in remembrance of this which actually did happen on a Sunday the first day of the week the first day of the Jewish week and so what's the significance here laying down clothes laying down palm branches well you think of it like today we have and usually we see we don't see well we see this sometimes in royalty we don't have royalty here in America right we don't do kings and queens and all that but out in England right that's what we're probably most familiar with you see what do you call it when you you roll out the red carpet right now we do kind of have kings and queens here in America what do we call them

[36:33] Hollywood actors and actresses right they like to think a lot of themselves so they'll roll out the red carpet for the Hollywood stars there are kings and queens today but this is a way to kind of roll out the red carpet as we would call it today laying down your garments so they laid some garments on the donkey they laid it on the road for Jesus on his path into Jerusalem there's actually a reference to something similar to this when Jehu was anointed king of Israel you probably you know it's hard to keep track of all the kings but Jehu was anointed king during the reign of the false king Ahab who had set himself up as king without God's approval and Jehu was anointed king to basically take over Ahab was eventually killed but in 2nd Kings chapter 9 verse 13 it mentions how after

[37:36] Jehu was anointed king this is what happened then each man hastened to take his garment and put it under him on the top of the steps and they blew trumpets saying Jehu is king and so there's this other example in the Old Testament of people laying down their garments as Jehu ascended these steps to take his throne and then palm branches actually were a common part of Jewish celebrations specifically it was instructed I think in Deuteronomy or actually Leviticus I got it written down Leviticus 23 verse 40 if you want to write that down there's a mention of using palm branches as part of your celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles and so palm branches were used as part of priestly or not priestly of festivals Jewish festivals and so palm branches garments laid down as kind of a red carpet for Jesus to enter Jerusalem and then this is what they they shout they say

[38:39] Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest Hosanna is just a transliteration of a Hebrew word and it comes from a psalm that basically the crowd here is repeating which is probably something that they they actually repeated during a lot of the festivals that they did this is from Psalm 118 118 verse 5 Psalm 118 verse 5 and it says this save now I pray O Lord O Lord I pray send now prosperity blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord we have blessed you from the house of the Lord and so that that first word save now that is a Hebrew two words Hebrew terms Yashana Yashana Yashana save now now

[39:40] Yashana which we transliterate in English as Hosanna save now our God and so that's what they're that's what they're shouting as Jesus comes in Jesus actually mentions and he says and we won't turn there but in Matthew later on while he's there in Jerusalem he's kind of saying some woes over Jerusalem and he's saying hey this temple it's going to be destroyed the time of your visitation you didn't realize you should have but you didn't realize the time of your visitation who it was that was coming and he says in Matthew 23 39 for I say to you you shall see me no more till you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord and that is again going to be repeated when Jesus comes again so one question to ask and for time's sake I think we'll look at this in the future I won't get into it today but there's this big question that I'm asking and I don't maybe you have the same question is who are these people that are shouting this who are these people that are shouting this are these Jesus' disciples are these people who live in

[40:55] Jerusalem are these people who were there who had maybe seen Jesus before but they're here for the Passover who are these crowds that are shouting Hosanna they're excited we find out later that is it the same crowd is it a different crowd that later on shouts a different phrase they shout crucify him crucify him is this the same people or is it different and for the sake of time we won't look at that but we'll look at that later on as we get to that passage I think it's in Mark chapter 15 we'll finish up with this it says this the last verse and Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple so when he looked around so he goes into Jerusalem and then he goes into the temple now the temple had various parts but what he probably entered into was just the court the outer court of Jerusalem or the temple and he just looks around you know all these people these multitudes this kind of pomp and circumstance this shouting this excitement and Jesus on his donkey and then he gets off of his donkey and he walks into the temple into the courtyard and he just kind of looks around surveying what does he see and then he turns around and he's done and you can imagine with all this excitement what's going to happen what's Jesus going to do he's walking into the temple and he looks around and everybody's watching what's going to happen is this it is he going to do it and then he just turns and walks away and he walks back to the

[42:45] Mount of Olives and it says he goes to where is it Bethany all right guys let's go let's go in let's go get some sleep for the night because it was late it says everybody's like oh what's happening they just have to wait till tomorrow to see what's next and we have to wait till next week but there's a lot of yeah I hope you can feel the you know the the the the anticipation of what's going to happen here and things are going to get pretty heated up and Jesus as we're going to find out next week he's going to go back to the temple and it's going to get ugly and his his conflict with the Jews is going to heat up very very quickly I also wanted to talk about this book and I don't have time but in the future we're going to bring this up this is a book by a guy named Sir Robert Anderson written over 100 years ago called

[43:48] The Coming Prince and Sir Robert Anderson was a detective actually a high ranking detective with Scotland Yard if you've ever read the who's the detective from the books Sir Sherlock Holmes thank you by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle thank you this is around the same time period as that of Sherlock Holmes but he wrote this book about the coming prince it's about the prophecies about the Messiah and he looks at the prophecies specifically from Daniel chapter 9 and he looks at the dates and there's just so much information if you read this book there's a lot of things about dating and times and how long is a year a prophetic year and when did this happen and there are specific things and you know the

[44:50] Bible is full of dates and sometimes we wonder why is that really relevant but sometimes we find out why these dates are very very important and he comes to the conclusion that the prophecy about the exact date when the Messiah would come lands on this day that we're reading about this morning the day that some crazy carpenter from Nazareth comes into Jerusalem on a little goofy donkey and that's the day that that prophecy was fulfilled we'll look at that more in the future let's pray Father thank you so much for your word and I ask that the words that are the witness from Mark and Matthew and Luke and John on this account of Jesus entering into the city of Jerusalem and into the temple that we would have the same kind of anticipation what's going to happen next here in the life of

[45:55] Jesus which many of us know we've read already but also anticipation for the second coming your second coming in the future in which you will descend again on that Mount of Olives and enter into Jerusalem a conquering king ready to give Israel the promise that he promised thousands of years before the prophets we look forward to that day wherever we'll be in heaven or whatever but we thank you for your promises and that you're faithful to keep them in Jesus name amen out