It’s Palm Sunday – and our series on ‘From Faith to Faith’ was a perfect fit for the day! As one looks back on Jesus’ ‘Triumphant Entry” into Jerusalem, the conclusion that it was anything but ‘Triumphant’ is hard to miss.

The Jewish people DID recognize their Messiah, primarily from 3 major clues…

Jesus entered Jerusalem on one of the most pivotal dates in the progression of Daniel’s prophecy of 70 weeks in Daniel 9:25-26. The date landed on Nisan the 10th, precisely 4 days before the offering of the Pascal lambs for Passover.
Jesus’ entering Jerusalem immediately followed His having raised Lazarus from the dead AFTER decay had already begun to set in – a miracle which was of great significance to the Jewish people of that day.
Additionally, Jesus entered the city just as Zechariah had predicted, riding on a donkey (Zech. 9:9).

So the Jewish people had great reason to see Jesus as the Messiah.

For the next 4 days, Jesus was under the scrutinizing gaze of all Jews in Jerusalem. Jesus’ actions and teaching that week laid an axe to all their unscriptural expectations of the Messiah which led to their rejection of Him by week’s end.

Little did they know that in their unjust judgment, they were actually judging Him worthy to be the Passover Lamb of God, sacrificed for all of Israel and the world itself.

How this fits our teachings on Faith, is that Israel had all the prophetic foretellings before them. That word was near them, in their mouths and hearts and yet they missed it due to their selective reading of these passages. Their desires dictated their understanding and their unscriptural understanding gave them expectations which were out of step with the divine order of God’s plan.

The cure? Reverence for God which is stronger than our natural desires and seeking God with all, NOT PART, of our hearts. It isn’t enough to know the scriptures – we need to know and respect the God of who inspired them.