The Word This Week
Palm Sunday…
It was an extraordinary day.
Israel had been waiting for their promised Messiah for 14 generations, (since David.)
That’s a long time to become settled in your ways. Lethargic. Brittle. Unyielding.
This was especially true of those who were the so-called leaders of the Jews. It had been hundreds of years since they had born any Spiritual fruit. Legalism had become the dominant theme of how they chose to represent God. The Law of Moses was held over the people like the blade of a guillotine.
Much as in our day, there was a class of ruling ‘elites’ who determined what was right for the people to do. And just as in our day, since the ruling ‘elites,’ since they wielded all the power, became totally corrupt because there was no one to stop them. Once corruption begins, and once corruption is at the very center of the seat of power, it is very difficult for anyone to change the course of that corrupting influence.
Jesus was the only One capable of overturning the religious system that had been imposed upon the Jewish people since the Hasmonean dynasty 150 years earlier. The roots of dead legalism had been planted even earlier than that, when the Jews returned to Jerusalem from 70 years of exile in Babylon.
It had been during that very period when Judah was exiled to Babylon for their idolatry and their refusal to keep the seventh year Sabbath of the land when God spoke through the angel Gabriel to Daniel the prophet about THIS day – when Messiah would not only enter Jerusalem, but allow Himself to be recognized AS the Messiah, and to be worshiped as the King of the Jews.
Zechariah prophesied Messiah would enter on the colt of a donkey, in humility. A sign of peace.
Of course this would upset the ruling class. It was meant to.
Even if they could have silenced the people on THIS day in human history, (which they couldn’t,) the rocks would have cried out. Praise for Jesus was perfected in the mouths of the babes, and not the rulers.
After 2000 years since Jesus entered Jerusalem, not much has changed. The Church Jesus gave birth to has once again become either stiff and unyielding in its power, or wildly unbiblical in its practice. Only a remnant remains.
A faithful remnant that longs for His return.
Pastor Bill
It was an extraordinary day.
Israel had been waiting for their promised Messiah for 14 generations, (since David.)
That’s a long time to become settled in your ways. Lethargic. Brittle. Unyielding.
This was especially true of those who were the so-called leaders of the Jews. It had been hundreds of years since they had born any Spiritual fruit. Legalism had become the dominant theme of how they chose to represent God. The Law of Moses was held over the people like the blade of a guillotine.
Much as in our day, there was a class of ruling ‘elites’ who determined what was right for the people to do. And just as in our day, since the ruling ‘elites,’ since they wielded all the power, became totally corrupt because there was no one to stop them. Once corruption begins, and once corruption is at the very center of the seat of power, it is very difficult for anyone to change the course of that corrupting influence.
Jesus was the only One capable of overturning the religious system that had been imposed upon the Jewish people since the Hasmonean dynasty 150 years earlier. The roots of dead legalism had been planted even earlier than that, when the Jews returned to Jerusalem from 70 years of exile in Babylon.
It had been during that very period when Judah was exiled to Babylon for their idolatry and their refusal to keep the seventh year Sabbath of the land when God spoke through the angel Gabriel to Daniel the prophet about THIS day – when Messiah would not only enter Jerusalem, but allow Himself to be recognized AS the Messiah, and to be worshiped as the King of the Jews.
Zechariah prophesied Messiah would enter on the colt of a donkey, in humility. A sign of peace.
Of course this would upset the ruling class. It was meant to.
Even if they could have silenced the people on THIS day in human history, (which they couldn’t,) the rocks would have cried out. Praise for Jesus was perfected in the mouths of the babes, and not the rulers.
After 2000 years since Jesus entered Jerusalem, not much has changed. The Church Jesus gave birth to has once again become either stiff and unyielding in its power, or wildly unbiblical in its practice. Only a remnant remains.
A faithful remnant that longs for His return.
Pastor Bill