Six Misconceptions about the Triumphal Entry

If you have your Bibles, if you would, turn to the Gospel of Luke, we will begin there.

Luke chapter 19 is where we will start our thoughts this morning.

I'm going to read a passage that is one of the main passages that is considered and thought of this day.

This day being a day in which we remember Palm Sunday, and we will read that, but ultimately our thoughts will come out of not only that passage, but that which is recorded in Luke chapter 24.

But I do want to read at least these few verses concerning the triumphant entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, or that which has been called that triumphant entry.

And I'll just read a few verses from verse 36 through verse 39, and then ask God's blessing.

As he went, they spread their clothes on the road.

Then as he was 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 that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

Let us pray.

Our Father in God, again, as we thank you for this day, we now come to your word, Lord, that as was prayed and as will always and ought to be prayed, that you would do only what you can do, Lord.

Take your word, make it real to us, that it might transform us, that we might see Christ high and lifted up, that we might learn to worship him more and more and more, that we would see him for who he really is.

Be with us at this time, Lord, be with our minds, our thoughts, our hearts, and in our lives.

Again, Lord, come now, bear your arm and bring your word to us in truth and in power.

In Jesus' name, amen.

As we remember this day, and again, remind us that some regard one day above another, and certainly the Apostle Paul says that whether we regard one day or not, technical issues, that we should be fully convinced in our own mind, but as we remember this day, to consider what took place, if you think about it, over 2,000 years ago.

And I believe it's a good time for us to reflect on the immensity of this historical event, for certainly the entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem is a historical event.

It did take place.

Not only did it take place, but it took place once in the history of this world.

And you and I think about that, and again, anything that we read about in God's word is not only to be considered as God's revelation, but to be that which should encourage us, teach us, and provoke us to remember those things that God has given to us.

And so, as we look at this passage, and as we consider this week, with this being considered as Palm Sunday, and ultimately Good Friday, and of course, certainly in the resurrection that we remember on the Lord's day next week.

And again, never again to be repeated.

And if you think about it, it was a long time coming.

It was anticipated for centuries.

It wasn't something that just was schemed up at the last minute.

It wasn't a reaction on the part of the Lord Jesus Christ, nor of the Father, nor of the Spirit.

But in reality, this entry into Jerusalem was set in motion even before the foundation of the world.

And again, that should cause us to understand the significance of that.

That it had been foretold in bits and pieces, as you consider the prophecies that were laid out, particularly through the Old Testament.

And with that thought, I wanted to ask us to think about what should have been in the mind of those who viewed this triumphant entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.

And I would say this, if you just read it as if you've never read it before, it appears as if there was great joy.

It appears that there was great desire to see this taking place.

And certainly, by a number of disciples, this is true.

There was a great desire on the part of some to see the Lord Jesus Christ enter into Jerusalem.

But I also would ask you to think, and if you read the accounts of the triumphal entry in Matthew and Mark and in John, you will begin to understand that not everyone was a desirous to see that take place, because many had a wrong understanding of what was to happen in that entry and ultimately at the point of the cross.

And of course, also the cross, the burial, and then the rising again, and then the Ascension.

So I want to kind of take this down a different path.

One of the things about preparing a message is that not only do you need to look at the text and try to understand what the text is saying, but there is also, you have to form an outline in your mind of what it is that you want to convey at a particular time.

And so certainly at one time, you might have this emphasis in mind, and another time that emphasis, and so what I thought of doing this morning was to consider some of the misconceptions that many had concerning this entry of Christ into Jerusalem, and of the things that were behind it, and the things that you and I need to consider.

That it's not just what it always appears to be, but there are many other things that are going on.

And again, I would ask you if you wanted to think about that, to read the other accounts, and you will see that there was sedition going on, there was plots being drawn out.

In one sense, as Christ enters into Jerusalem, there's a desire to kill Lazarus, there's a desire to undermine the work of Christ, there are many, many things that took place.

But I will also say this as we begin to consider it this morning, that you would think that since this reality of a coming king was laid out in bits and pieces from the very beginning, even as there was that great promise in the Garden of Eden after the fall, that God would then again send someone to redeem, and certainly we know that that was the promised seed that ultimately would crush the serpent's head.

And so, one might think that as these prophecies were laid out in the Old Testament, here a little, there a little, that some would have at least had a right understanding of what was about to take place.

That they would have understood not only what took place as he entered into Jerusalem, and as they put their palm branches down on the road, and they waved their branches, and as I did a little bit of background in that, that they had a very, the palm branches were not just an arbitrary thing that they used, but that the palm tree itself was in some ways a symbol of their patriotism towards Israel, and they used them almost as flags, almost as if you would think about a current day parade as whatever would be coming down the road, and people would be raising their flags, that they used the palm trees in some ways to show for that, but that people might, should have, could have understood his entry into Jerusalem, that what would to take place forward after that would be the betrayal, and then of course the mistreatment of Jesus, and then his being handed over to the high priest, and then to Herod, and then to Pilate, and ultimately that that would lead to the crucifixion, to that horrible day, and of the burial, and again as I said, the resurrection, which we shall hear more of next week, and then ultimately his ascension, that there should have been some that had a right understanding, but I want to caution us to think about this, and this is a little different this morning, because I'm not really going to, as we've been going through Genesis, and it's been great, Brother Keith has been taking us through Genesis, and he's been preaching through a narrative, this morning it's a little different, I'm not going to go through a narrative, but I want to try to give us a wider thought of some of the things that could have been understood, and should have been understood concerning this entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, but certainly without the events taking place, and without the New Testament scriptures, it would be very difficult to fully understand the impact of this entry into Jerusalem, and those things that were to take place following, as I said, of the mistreatment of the cross, of his burial, his resurrection, his ascension, and ultimately his coming again, and that is one of the reasons why many of us hold to the thought of the preeminence of the New Testament scriptures, because solely from the Old Testament scriptures one could have had a right understanding, but many of those that looked at the Old Testament scriptures did not have a right understanding, and those are the very things that I will consider this morning.

So, Nate, if you put up that screen, what I want to do is to lay out six misconceptions of this triumphant entry of Jesus, not on the part of Jesus certainly, but on the part of those that were witnesses to it.

I also want to say that the scriptures themselves laid out a clear path to King Jesus, I hope you would agree, in bits and pieces, in one prophecy, in another prophecy, but ultimately, the misunderstandings that people had concerning this entry of Christ in Jerusalem was not due to a lack of scripture, it was not due to a lack of information and revelation given by God, and in fact, actually there was much that could have been taken from the Old Testament and understood so that as Jesus enters into Jerusalem, there should have and could have been a right understanding of the things that took place.

So, it wasn't because they didn't have the scriptures, it rather was because they resisted the scriptures.

They rebelled, they refused, remember even in the Old Testament, even in that thought, they did not want to have a king to rule over, even though they asked for a king.

The prophecy was that as this royal king came, that they would not be happy and content to have him rule over them.

Thank you, Nate.

So, this morning, I want to look at these six misconceptions, and I will say this to you, I am biting off a lot of thought this morning.

So, but I think it's important, I think at times it's important for us to think about things that we might not fully be able to get our hands around or our minds around, but nevertheless, it helps to lay some foundational understanding.

And as we move along in the Christian life, and as we move along in our study of God's word, those things can be used by God.

And so, that's certainly our prayer this morning is not the words that I speak, but it's the truths of God that will make us wise and wiser and understanding in this event, in this triumphant entry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, let me ask you to think about that, and I'm going to make some remarks under each of these sections, and there they are listed, that there was a misconception of the triumphal entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, because they had a misconception of the suffering servant.

We will look at some scriptures.

And that not only did they have that misconception, they had a misconception about the extent of the kingdom that the king came to establish, and we need to consider that briefly.

And then the nature of the kingdom, what was it that they, what kind of kingdom were they expecting when Jesus entered into Jerusalem? And then we will spend just a thought or two on the work of the Spirit of God in the kingdom that He came to establish, and some misunderstandings of not only the nature of the kingdom, but what was that, what was going to be the one, who was going to be the one to establish that kingdom and to make it a reality.

And then, as I said, if you know anything about the Bible this morning, anything about theology and thinking, you look at those six things and you would say, Brother Andy, you're out of your mind.

You're not going to get through that this morning, but I'm going to give it a shot.

I also want to ask us to consider the misconception that was had concerning the Son of David, because if you read in the Gospels, and if you read in Matthew's Gospel, and I will read it to you in Matthew's account of the triumphant entry, the cry, the multitudes, this is Matthew 21.9, the multitudes who went before and those who followed cry out, Hosanna to the Son of David.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.

I want to look at some misconceptions about who the Son of David was and what the Son of David would accomplish as it relates, again, to the king and as it relates to the kingdom, and if that's not enough, we'll seek to end this this morning with some thoughts of misconceptions of the seed of Abraham.

Again, may God be pleased to do what only he can do, and that's my confidence in this this morning, because we could spend, honestly, brothers and sisters, friends, we could spend a month of Sundays on each of these six misconceptions and still not have done a true job and a good job at explaining some of the thoughts, and again, remember, they had at this time when Christ entered Jerusalem, they didn't have a Thompson chain Bible.

They didn't even have a John MacArthur study Bible, imagine that.

They didn't even have a New Testament, did they? They had, at best, if they could, pieces, and maybe in rare exception, a copy of the Old Testament scriptures, and that could have contributed to some of the misunderstanding, but again, I say to you, more of the misunderstandings and misconceptions came out of their heart because of their desire to misunderstand, even as I said to you, these six areas, so I will reference 30 portions of scripture this morning.

I'm not going to ask you to turn to 30.

I could have asked you to turn to 300 easily, but I will only reference 30.

I will read most of them to you, but again, a couple of thoughts under each of these that we might begin to get a clearer picture in our mind, because that's not the reality, and I want to try to state my points to someone.

Try not to wander too much.

I even said I won't wander to the left or the right physically, but I don't want to wander too much, but isn't that the end of it all, friends? It's not just to, I've got to be careful how I say this, it's not just that we're saved.

Glory to God we're saved, right? It's that we would know Him, that we would know Him more and more, that we would be captivated by Him, that we would be captured by Him, that it wouldn't just be all I need to know is that I can get inside the gate, that you and I would desire to understand and to have our minds cleansed and opened up to truth that in that sense God spent thousands of years to display, and so I want to ask us to think about it.

So first, let me ask us to think about the misconception as Christ came into Jerusalem, this misconception on the part of many of Him being the suffering servant, Him being the suffering servant.

Now to do this, I'm going to ask you turn in your Bibles, and we'll stay in Luke, Luke chapter 24, and I will use this for the remainder of the morning.

I wanted to read that passage of that entry into Jerusalem, but I also now ask you to turn to Luke chapter 24, and let me read to you from verse 19 through verse 26, and we'll use that as a reference point for these misunderstandings, certainly one of them, the first one being the suffering servant.

So, set in your mind where we're at now.

We read of the triumphant entry in Luke 19, and then He went before Herod, and He went before Pilate, and He was mistreated, and He was crucified, and He was buried, and He did rise again, and so now we have two of His disciples on the road, and the discussion is concerning the things that have taken place, and so I will just ask you to read with me as they are met by Jesus, the risen Jesus.

In verse 19, we read of Christ's conversation with them, and He said to them, what things, because that was what they were talking about, what's going on? How are we supposed to understand all that taking place? And so He said to them, what things? And they said to Him that things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death and crucified Him.

Verse 21 is one of the key verses.

We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel, and indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.

Yes, and certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early astonished us when they did not find His body.

They came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.

And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it, just as the women had said, but Him they did not see.

Then He said to them, O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe to believe in all that the prophets had spoken.

And verse 26 is the other key verse.

Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? So you have both scenes now.

You have the scene of the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem, and now we're on the other side.

And now we have this conversation between two disciples, and we will look at that conversation that's had and use that to try to set out these six misunderstandings.

Not that they were all of them, but certainly in the area of the misconception of the suffering servant.

Because look what it says in verse, what Jesus said in verse 26.

As their confusion is displayed, as their misunderstanding is displayed, what does Jesus say? He said, ought not the Christ to have suffered these things? There was a great misconception of this one who was to come.

That he was indeed not only a glorious king, but that he was a suffering servant.

May I remind you of a couple of scriptures.

May I remind you of what God had foretold concerning the suffering of Christ.

Let me read to you that very familiar portion in Isaiah.

Who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of the dry ground.

And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected by men, man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid as it were our faces from him.

And surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Yet we esteemed him, stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.

We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment, for he was cut off from the land of the living.

For the transgression of my people he was stricken, and they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.

He has put him to grief." There was so many in that day that did not understand that this king that was was coming and this kingdom that was going to be established would be one that was established based upon the truth of a suffering servant.

In Zechariah, we read, "'Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my companion,' says the Lord, "'Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be.' But so many misunderstood, and you'll see it as we go through this.

There's a reason why they misunderstood it, but it was ultimately, in my way of thinking, it was the predominant misunderstanding, because had they understood that, I believe they would have been able to understand many of the other things, but they misunderstood that when God sent his son into this world to be a king, that kingdom would come, and that king would come through suffering, through him becoming sin for us, through him bearing the transgressions of his people.

If you read in Psalm 69, I will read it to you, just a portion of it, which is one of the great messianic psalms.

Here's what we read concerning this suffering servant that was to come and ultimately be raised up.

"'Save me, O God, for the waters have come to my neck.

I sink in deep mire where there is no standing.

I have come into deep waters where the floods overflow me.

I am weary with my crying.

My throat is dry.

My eyes fail while I wait for my God.

Those who hate me without a cause are greater than the hairs of my head.

They are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully.' Then we read this, "'Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.

O God, you know my foolishness and my sins are not hidden from you.

Let not those who wait on you, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed of me because of me.

Let not those who seek you be confounded because of me, O God of Israel, because for your sake I have borne reproach.

Shame has covered my face.

I have become a stranger to my brothers and alien to my mother's children because the zeal of your house has eaten me up and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

How few truly understood that the king would become a king through being a servant and not just any servant but a sacrificial servant, that he would be the lamb of God.

There's quite a difference between being a lamb and being a king, isn't there? They missed the reality of Christ's active obedience and his passive suffering, that he would have to get to that place where he was made a reproach for those who reproach God.

And it was a great misunderstanding on the part of so many.

Do you remember immediately after Peter's great confession, remember Jesus said, who do men say that I am? And some say he's Jeremiah and some say he lies and some say this or that or this prophet or that prophet.

And Jesus says, well, who do you say I am? And we have that great confession of Peter, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.

But let me read to you what is given to us immediately after that.

Listen.

From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples how he must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and raised again the third day.

There it is.

Jesus again preparing them that the king and the kingdom would be established through suffering, through bearing the sins of many.

And listen to Peter.

Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not happen to thee.

Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.

Jesus begins to explain further and further the details of the depths of his suffering.

And what does Peter do? Oh, no, that's not going to happen.

The point where Jesus would say, get behind me, Satan.

And the truth of his entry, brothers and sisters, was so misunderstood and ignored by so many and they had descriptions.

Do you know that the Jews still today take those passages, particularly in Isaiah, of a suffering servant, and they misrepresent them and they twist them because they refuse to see in the Messiah and in Jesus the one who came to suffer on their for their sins.

It's a great misunderstanding, friends.

And I say to you, although they spread their clothes on the ground and although some had some understanding, in large part there was a misunderstanding of the fact that Jesus would come and suffer before he would ascend and be seated at the right hand of the Father.

In the second place, I want to just take a moment to ask us to consider another misunderstanding, another misconception, and that is of the extent of the kingdom that Jesus came to establish, that you and I would rightfully understand as Jesus enters into Jerusalem, they have an expectation and their expectation is in many ways incorrect.

I want you to go back to Luke where we were and look at verse 21, as I said to you, and there's the conversation that's going back and forth between the two disciples and now Jesus, and look what their hope was in verse 21.

Look what they say, we were hoping that it was he, who's he, Jesus, was going to redeem Israel.

And indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.

Listen, there was a great misunderstanding of the kingdom that was going to be established by this king and on the part of so many of those of Israel, they thought that he was going to redeem Israel almost to the total exclusivity of anyone else.

That was truly a misconception.

They misunderstood not only his, him being the suffering servant, but they misunderstood the promises of this kingdom that this king would come to establish, that the Gentiles, listen friends, that the Gentiles were to be included in this kingdom that the king came to establish.

And to so many of those in Israel, for all the wrong reasons, they excluded that thought, even though there was much given to them in those Old Testament prophecies to demonstrate that the Gentiles would be included in this kingdom that Christ came to establish.

Let me ask you to think, and by the way, they had some reason, at least in their thinking, and they had some scriptures that easily misunderstood would bring them to this wrong understanding.

Remember what Paul says in the New Testament scripture, but nevertheless, Paul says, as he's speaking about the Jews, and he says, they are Israelites to whom pertain the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is overall the eternally blessed God.

Amen.

And I could supply you, as I said, believe me, I can give you another couple hundred, if you want, if you got the time, I've got the juice of the scriptures that demonstrate that this king, this King Jesus, this son of God, son of man, came to establish a kingdom in which all nations would be included.

And yet, again, as I say to you, there were many scriptures that could have misled, had people, when people did not truly look at all the scriptures.

I thought of that scripture in Amos.

Remember what it said? Remember what Amos said concerning Israel? And God said, he said, you only have I known of all the families of the earth.

Well, that might, in a wrong way, make someone think, hey, this is all about us.

It's all about us Jews.

But the extent of the kingdom, my friend, was that they did not see the inclusion of the Gentiles.

And if you don't think that's important this morning, you're wrong.

Because I will say to you that for the majority of us, we were Gentiles.

And if that is, if that were true, then many of us, if not most of us, if not all of us, would be excluded from this kingdom of God.

Let me read to you just a couple.

In Psalm 2, I will declare the decree the Lord has said to me, you are my son.

Today I have begotten you.

Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession.

In Isaiah it says, and in that day there shall come a root of Jesse who shall stand as a banner to the people.

For the Gentiles shall seek him and his resting place shall be glorious.

Again, Isaiah says, thus sayeth the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and them that come from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it.

I the Lord have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand and I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles.

To open eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.

I am the Lord, that is my name.

Again, in Isaiah, indeed, he says it is a small thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

I will give you as a light to the Gentiles that you would be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

They misunderstood.

What does Revelation teach us? That in that day what's going to be seen but men and women from what every tribe and every kingdom and every nation and that the king as he entered into Jerusalem there was much more to be understood than just the Jew and those of Israel and that their misunderstanding was great.

These are not small mistakes, misthoughts, these are great areas of error.

Malachi says this, from the rising of the sun even till it's going down my name shall be great among the Gentiles.

In every place incense shall be offered in my name as a pure offering for my name shall be great among the Gentiles says the Lord.

And then even in the New Testament, behold my servant Matthew says I have chosen my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.

I have put my spirit on him and he shall declare justice to the Gentile.

Well if you really want to know who a Gentile is, he's anybody who wasn't a Jew.

That's the easiest way to define it and that you and I would would understand how great this misconception was.

Do you remember that account in the Gospels where Jesus was performing miracles, doing great wonders, gathering multitudes around him? Do you remember what the Jews at one point tried to do? They try to take him by force and make him what? The king.

You see because in their mind this one that was coming forth was going to be the one that would crush everyone but the Jew and set the Jew and the nation of Israel up in a place of preeminence and everything else would be subject to them and that was their expectation and it was a wrong expectation wasn't it? That the Lord Jesus Christ had the ends of the earth in view as I said from those from every kingdom and tribe from the north and the south and the east and the west.

In Psalm 117 it says praise him and laud him all you Gentiles.

Listen again are we not living proof that when Jesus entered into Jerusalem that he had all his people in mind in heart that when he died on Calvary's cross he died to set his people free and it wasn't just the children of Israel that the extent of the kingdom was much wider than any in Israel or many in Israel understood.

Again his disciples had some understanding but I've already demonstrated to you that even his closest disciples even Peter even Peter had possibly they understood in the glass darkly and again I'll just make this as a side note that is why the New Testament scriptures are so predominant and preeminent because without them without that understanding that's given to us post the cross through the New Testament writers by the power of the spirit by the inspiration of the spirit we would still be in many ways under the shadow of those things that were set forth in the Old Testament although God had made these things clear.

So we've looked at the misconception of the suffering servant we've looked just briefly again at the misconception of the extent of the kingdom and I want to ask us just for a moment or two to think about the misconception of the nature of the kingdom that he came to establish.

Is there a difference between the extent of the kingdom and the nature of the kingdom? Absolutely.

One is talking about who was to be part of it the other one is is what was this kingdom to be like and so you go back in your mind again to Luke chapter 24 and what they say when they said that they had hoped in verse 21 that he was going to redeem Israel.

What was in their mind friends? There were many who were really only looking for an earthly king who would set up an earthly kingdom.

That was their expectation a kingdom that would would be given to back to the children of Israel and that they would rule all others and that they even would have their land given back to them and I might add to you that many today still have a wrong understanding of the nature of the kingdom that God through Christ came to establish and that many of them are still looking in the same way that many of the Israelites did they're looking for a kingdom made of stone and brick and a kingdom in which everyone comes to them and they are set up as the rules a kingdom of block and stone and ultimately a kingdom maintained by the sword although that be the sword of Christ.

Listen to what Daniel says concerning the nature of the kingdom.