Audio from Senior Pastor Vaughn Drawdy on Sunday morning March 25th, 2018.
These sermon notes are made available through the YouVersion free Bible app.
https://www.bible.com/events/383940
Matthew 21:8-11 NIV
8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,“Hosanna to the Son of David!”“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”“Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
1. The Scene
Why was Jesus and other devout Jewish men and even families going to Jerusalem?
- To celebrate PASSOVER:
- Scripture tells us in Deut. 16:16 that God commanded all Jewish males to appear before Him in Jerusalem. (in Jerusalem 2 Chr. 6:6).
Deuteronomy 16:16 NIV
16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed:
2. WHY PALM BRANCHES?
Palm branches were gathered at the Feast of Tabernacles.
- “TO TABERNACLE” means “TO DWELL.”
- The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) - the last feast God gave Israel looks forward to the Messianic Kingdom, when the Messiah will reign, when God will DWELL with man - when the Messiah will reign from the throne of David in Jerusalem.
- The Jewish people - at Passover - were waving branches and laying branches on the ground before Jesus… This was NOT how they celebrated Passover. (like celebrating July 4 fireworks on Christmas. You don’t typically do that)
- They were used 2 centuries before Jesus’ entry by the people who celebrated the victory of Judah the Maccabee in his victory over the Greco-Macedonian oppressors.
- The were also a powerful symbol of victory over oppression
In waving them upon Jesus entry into Jerusalem, they were announcing their belief that their King is here to overthrow Rome - thus they shouted: “Hosanna” which means - “save us” or as “God save us”
3. THE ROUTE: JESUS CHOSE TO ENTER JERUSALEM
- Anytime we see such details: “Ask, why do I need to know this?”
- Jesus is aligning Himself with another story
- Compare 2 Samuel 15-18
- Jesus came as the SUFFERING SERVANT (Matthew 20:25-28)
4. THE DAY - THE TIMING.Why this day?
Why did Jesus choose this day to go to Jerusalem?
- Specifically: the 10th Day of Nisan
What is significant about “THIS DAY”?
- Lamb Selection Day
Exodus 12:3-5 NIV
3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
LAMB SELECTION DAY: Why lambs/goats?
Leviticus 17:11
Atonement: (at-one-with) to cover over, to reconcile. (God covered Adam & Eve’s sin)
For 4 days: Lambs were to be examined (tested) and (proven) to be without spot, blemish, defect
Leviticus 17:11 NIV
11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.
5. JESUS - THE LAMB OF GOD - TESTED
TEST 1 - The Chief Priest and Elders question Jesus about His AUTHORITY (Matthew 21:23-46)
TEST 2- The Pharisees and Herodians question His POLITICS (Matthew 22:15-22)
TEST 3 - The Sadducees question His THEOLOGY of resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33)
TEST 4 - The Pharisees question His THEOLOGY, this time asking which is the greatest commandment. (Matthew 22:34-40)
Matthew 21:23-46 NIV
23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ 29 “ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”“The first,” they answered.Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 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. 33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’ ? 43 “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. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Matthew 22:15-22 NIV
15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” 18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Matthew 22:23-33 NIV
23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?” 29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” 33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
Matthew 22:34-40 NIV
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
JESUS IS THE SPOTLESS LAMB: He was found blameless - without blemish. YET - on the 14th of Nisan, at 9am in the morning, as the animal Passover lambs were being brought into the Temple to be slain, our perfect Passover Lamb was nailed to a wooden cross.
At 3 PM, as the last animal Passover Lamb was killed by the high priest in the Temple, Jesus cried out on the cross, “IT IS FINISHED” - and he died…
JESUS WAS VICTORIOUS:
GUARANTEEING that we who ask Him for forgiveness of our sin, we who have trusted in Him for our salvation - will also be resurrected, have life and have it eternally with our Heavenly Father.
- Jesus is our Lamb of Atonement.
- In Him we are covered, restored, forgiven.