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Sunday 3/29/26
Title: Messianic Expectations
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Messianic Expectations
I will begin today with a very well known quote which I will use to drive home a point at the end of today’s teaching.
It is found in Jeremiah 29:11, and is perhaps one of the most highly quoted verses of our generation.
“For I know the plans I have for you”–this is the LORD’s declaration–“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Hope! Well that’s good, we’ve been talking about Hope, in its relation to faith for weeks! But today is Palm Sunday!
Now, I’m not really a rinse and repeat pastor.
While I may revisit past messages in order to obtain a quote, or a specific wording (which in fact I will do today), I’ve never really “retaught” a message. I also do not tend to teach what is necessarily expected of me due to the flow of events on the calendar.
If I feel we need to go a certain direction, I’ll go that way even if it is Christmas morning or eve.
Today however, what we have been covering for a little while now regarding ‘Faith and Hope’, is in perfect step with ‘Palm Sunday’ – IMO.
As many of you know, I do have a real tendency to approach the Sunday of Jesus’ “triumphant entry into Jerusalem” from a very similar perspective almost every year. That’s because I honestly believe the most important and obvious lessons of that week all point to the same thing.
Conveniently THIS year, that just happens to coincide with what we have been studying here for the past few months – in particular “what we can rightly expect of God”.
We know from Hebrews 11:6 that faith (which is to say, trust in relationship) is something which deeply pleases God. We also learn from the Psalms that God is pleased when we expect in His mercy, faithfulness and deliverance.
Psalm 33:18-22, “(18) Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy, (19) To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine. (20) Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. (21) For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name. (22) Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You.”
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Psalm 147:11, “The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.”
How faith & godly hope connect with the ‘Triumphant Entry’ is because it was anything but triumphant – at least not in the way in which it transpired or the way it is often presented.
There really is no great mystery as to why the Jews in Jerusalem reacted to Jesus the way they did that day. Jesus had celebrated many Passovers, and at least 3 since He had been in active Messianic ministry and the crowds had never responded this way before – so why now?
Well at least three reasons I can think of. Two were profound and the other more incidental.
First, there seems no doubt many Jewish people had worked out the 69th week of Daniel’s vision to coincide with that very day. Daniel 9 said on that day the “prince” would come which to them marked the day where Israel would overthrow their Roman oppressors and establish national sovereignty over Canaan with Jerusalem being its principal city.
Second, Jesus had just risen Lazarus from the dead which was a miracle in its own rights, but even more so since Lazarus had been dead for 4 days. Now, you have to remember that people raising from the dead had occurred several times in Israel’s past as was recorded in the scriptures. Even Jesus had raised the dead before in His ministry. But the raising of Lazarus was different! According to Jewish tradition, the spirit of a person only stuck around the corpse for 3 days, after which raising them to life would be impossible since then the body would begin to decay. So any prophet who could raise the dead even after decay had set it truly stirred the masses.
Third, Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey which just pushed it over the top. You see this not only looked like, but was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah (See Zechariah 9:9), which was also directly connected to the Messiah coming as a humble king.
Let’s read it,
“(9) Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (10) I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. (11) As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.”– Zechariah 9:9-11
You can see how this, taken together with the timing of Daniel’s prophecy and the raising of Lazarus was all it would take to convince the Jews that their Messiah had come.
And you might think, well that’s good isn’t it? I mean, He had come!
True! They saw Jesus as their Messiah Prince. That is why the account in the Gospel of Mark, shows them crying aloud -,
“Hosanna! ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ (10) Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
But we all know that as the next 4 days unfolded – the Messiah they witnessed was not the Messiah they expected – and THAT is the message of the ‘triumphant entry’.
You see, Passover was a commemoration of Israel’s liberation from slavery to Egypt and throughout scripture, Egypt is used metaphorically as a symbol for the world, sin and death.
You may not remember, but the paschal lamb was to be brought into the home for examination of purity for 4 days prior to it being sacrificed on the night of Israel’s departure from slavery to the world (sin). These 4 days began on Nisan 10th and ran through to the 14th.
TIMING
Now, we learn from John 21, that Jesus went and stayed with Lazarus, Mary and Martha in Bethany 6 days before Passover.
Now this means Jesus’ first night in Bethany was on a Friday which also means He observed Sabbath there and did not go to Jerusalem until Sunday which was the first day of the week.
THIS WAS THE DAY OF THE TRIUMPHANT ENTRY. It was also the day of the 69th week in Daniel, Jesus riding into town on a donkey further proved this was Messiah whose mission was to deliver Israel and it was also Nisan the 10th – precisely 4 days prior to Passover and Jesus’ crucifixion.
So without Israel even knowing, God in His sovereignty, had Jesus come into Jerusalem the house (as it were) of Israel to be inspected for four days. To see if He was clean and worthy to be offered as the Lamb from heaven.
During this time Jesus really doubled down on His message making it clear that the kingdom of God was about to break forth in this Earth beginning in Jerusalem – that He would have to be crucified, die and be buried – something NOBODY, not even His disciples believed was predictive of the Messiah and for this – they cried out “Crucify Him”!
The 4 days were complete and the verdict was in – He was judged worthy to be their paschal lamb – but for all the wrong reasons and they didn’t even know that this is what they had done!
Now this is amazing given the extraordinary prophecies Israel had received regarding the Messiah over the centuries. His death and subsequent reign were all predicted hundreds of years before His birth!
Turn with me to Isaiah 53. This passage was traditionally understood as a Messianic passage all the way up until the Middle Ages. But around the 11th century there was a “reinterpretation” of the text which side stepped Jesus entirely. Whereas up until that time, the Messiah had been identified as the “suffering servant”, now that was identified the Jewish people as a nation.
Knowing that is important because it introduces one of our main points this morning. Because this means that in Jesus’ day, Isaiah 53 was considered Messianic – yet, they had NO ROOM in their theology for the Messiah, suffering and dying at all!
Isaiah 53:1-12, “(1) Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
(2) For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
(3) He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
(4) Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. (5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
(6) All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
(7) He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
(8) He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. (9) 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.
(10) Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
(11) He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.
(12) Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.”
In addition to this is Psalm 22. While not traditionally understood as referring to the Messiah, Psalm 22 has the clearest depiction of crucifixion and the sufferings one sustains on a cross than anywhere in the Bible – so it isn’t because they didn’t hear! It is because it isn’t what they wanted to hear!
Paul said the same thing and I want this to be illustrative of the dangers of not really knowing God as the clarifying basis for your hope. Turn with me to Romans 10.
You see Israel had all the signs.
They had heard prophecy after prophecy regarding the person, the time, the acts and the purpose of the Messiah when He came, and yet for all that they did not see Him – they would not receive Him.
So if that could happen to Israel – what about us?
We are living in a day of profound Biblical ignorance. I don’t believe that a time has ever existed, other than the first century, when the church ever was particularly well versed. But this is the most dangerous day to be ignorant.
All one has to do is turn on a movie or TV show, read a newspaper of scroll through social media to find example after example of people making very developed claims regarding scripture which are blatantly wrong, but most Christians don’t know the very scriptures these non-believers are drawing from and so they are powerless to respond or even protect their own hearts against the lies suggested.
Christians ought to know the scriptures – but more than that, they need to know the God of scripture intimately and with passion!
Romans 10:1-21,
“(1) Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
(2) For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
(3) For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.”
I’m not big on formulas but there’s one for you!
Agendas and Zeal outside of knowledge and understanding is dangerous. It tempts you towards control and away from the humility of submission. Humility is the ONE requirement for grace and this keeps it out of reach for the human heart! THAT IS IMPORTANT!
“(4) For Christ is the end of the law for righteousnesstoeveryone who believes.
(5) For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law,
“THE MAN WHO DOES THOSE THINGS SHALL LIVE BY THEM.”
(6) But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way,
“DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) (7) or,
” ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
(8) But what does it say?
“THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”
Here Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy 30:11–14 where Moses tells Israel that God’s commandments are not too difficult or distant, but near them – and it had been for generations, but it did them NO GOOD.
Jesus told the Jews in John 5:39-40,
“(39) You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. (40) But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
What did He say? You SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. Yet just before this in verse 38 we see Jesus telling them, “…you do not have His (God’s) word abiding in you, because Whom He sent, Him you do not believe.”
But the verse before that explains everything! He said, “…the Father Himself, Who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.” – John 5:37.
This is essentially the same testimony Jesus gave of the Jews in John 8 & 10 –
John 10:23-30, “(23) And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. (24) Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him,
“How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
(25) Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. (26) But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. (27) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (28) And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. (29) My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (30) I and My Father are one.”
John 8:43-47, “(43) Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
(44) You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (45) But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
(46) Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?
(47) He who is of God hears God’s words; THEREFORE YOU DO NOT HEAR, BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT OF GOD.”
So going back to Romans 10:8 again,
“ (8) But what does it say?
“THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”
“(that is, the word of faith which we preach): (9) that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
(10) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
(11) For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.”
(12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
(13) For “WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED.”
“(14) How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
(15) And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
As it is written:
“HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF PEACE, WHO BRING GLAD TIDINGS OF GOOD THINGS!”
(16) But they have not all obeyed the gospel.
For Isaiah says,
“LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?”
(17) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
(18) But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed:
“THEIR SOUND HAS GONE OUT TO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.”
(19) But I say, did Israel not know?
First Moses says:
“I WILL PROVOKE YOU TO JEALOUSY BY THOSE WHO ARE NOT A NATION, I WILL MOVE YOU TO ANGER BY A FOOLISH NATION.”
(20) But Isaiah is very bold and says:
“I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME; I WAS MADE MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.”
(21) But to Israel he says:
“ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND CONTRARY PEOPLE.”
Now what does all of this have to do with us this morning? Everyday that we do not press into God, seeking Him, genuinely desiring to know Him – we stand the very great likelihood of being not only as bad, but worse than Israel in their blindness which led to being devoid of faith!
HOPE – what might rightly be expected of God is found only in His presence and then only when HE (not what He offers) is sought with all our hearts.
Like the Jeremiah – rightly called the weeping prophet said,
“(10) For this is what the LORD says: “When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm My promise concerning you to restore you to this place. (11) For I know the plans I have for you”–this is the LORD’s declaration–“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (12) You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. (13) You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:10-13
Blessings!
Blessings!
