Luke 19:28-48:  “Jesus’ Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem / Weeps Over Jerusalem & Pronounces Judgment / Drives Money Changers From Temple

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1.     INTRO:

 

1.1.                     In our last study, we looked at verses 1-27 of chapter 19.

 

1.1.1.  A chief tax gatherer named Zaccheus determined that he wanted to try and see Jesus however because he was small he was afraid that he would not be able to see Jesus, so he climbed up in a Sycamore Tree and waited up the road for Jesus to come to him.  We saw that Jesus walked right up to the tree and called Zaccheus by name and told him to come down for he must stay at Zaccheus’s house that day.  We saw how that Jesus was in the business of initiating relationships with people for the purpose of leading them to salvation.

 

1.1.2.  Jesus taught the Parable Of The Minas which is very similar to the parable found in Matthew’s gospel called, “The Parable Of The Talents.”  We talked about the stewardship that the Lord wants and expects us to have.

 

1.2.                     In this study we will look at verses 28-48 of chapter 19.

 

1.2.1.  Jesus will make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem seated upon a donkey as the crowd welcomes Him and declares, “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”

 

1.2.2.  Jesus will weep over Jerusalem and pronounce judgment over her for not knowing the hour of her visitation from the Lord.

 

1.2.3.  Jesus will drive the money changers from the temple.

 

2.     VS 19:28-34  - 28 After He had said these things, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; there, as you enter, you will find a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. 31 “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ” 32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They said, “The Lord has need of it.” -  Jesus sends two of His disciples to go and to procure and bring to Him a donkey

 

2.1.                     We have now entered the last week of Jesus’ life.  Jesus will be crucified during the Passover at the end of this week. 

 

2.2.                     Jesus’ enters into Jerusalem on this week before the Passover knowing full well that He has come here to fulfill that which scripture foretold concerning the Messiah and that which He has prophesied about Himself at least six times:  He will be rejected by the religious leaders, suffer at their hands, be crucified and die, and then be raised up from the dead three days later. 

 

2.2.1.  What great love for mankind Jesus displays by His brave actions this last week of His life.

 

2.2.2.  What determination Jesus shows as He keeps to His purpose of being the sacrifice that will make the full payment for the sins of all mankind.

 

2.3.                     Evidently without cluing in His disciples, Jesus is setting up conditions in preparation for His own triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  The events in these immediate verses reveal to us that Jesus is “omniscient,” or “all knowing,” and that He is in control of every situation in life, even when sometimes it seems that this is not true. 

 

2.3.1.  Jesus tells two disciples that they are to go up to the village ahead and that they would find there ‘a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat.’  Then, if anyone asks them why they are untying the donkey they are simply to tell them that ‘The Lord has need of it.’  Every detail and event then came about just as Jesus said that it would, they find a colt who had never been mounted, untied it and told its owners that the Lord had need of it, and the owners let them have the colt.

 

2.4.                     What a comfort it is for us who are Christians to reflect upon the fact that nothing takes our Lord by surprise.  He is prepared for every situation in our life before it even occurs.  He knows how He will provide for us, from where our protection will come, what resource we will need at every moment in order to survive, what knowledge we will need to gain in preparation for every task, etc., etc.  We just need to trust the Lord in every situation and look to Him so that we will be able to see what He has planned to supply us and how He wants to work with and in us.

 

2.5.                     J.C. Ryle has written the following, “The thought of Christ’s perfect knowledge should alarm sinners and awaken them to repentance.  The great Head of the Church knows them and all their doings.  The Judge of all sees them continually, and marks down all their ways.  There is “no darkness where the workers of iniquity can hide themselves.”  (Job xxxiv. 22.)  If they go into the secret chamber the eyes of Christ are there.  If they privately scheme villany and plot wickedness, Christ knows it and observes it.  If they speak secretly against the righteous, Christ hears.  They may deceive men all their life long, but they cannot deceive Christ.  A day comes when God “will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel.”  (Rom. Ii. 16.)

 

2.6.                     Another thing that was happening on this day as these disciples were procuring this donkey for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem upon is that scripture was being fulfilled, for the following was long before prophesied to occur in Zechariah 9:9, “9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

 

2.7.                     Many people also see Daniel 9:25 fulfilled by Jesus.  That prophesy gave a precise date for when the Messiah was to first appear, and some have taken what we know as the date of Cyrus’ decree to rebuild Jerusalem and by using Daniel’s formula of seven years equals a prophetic week, determined that Jesus appeared exactly to the day 483 years ( (62+7)weeks  x  7 = 483) after Cyrus decree, right on schedule for the fulfillment of the prophesy. 

 

2.7.1.  Daniel 9:24-29 gives us the prophetic timetable for the events of Biblical prophesy related to the end times, “24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25 “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

 

3.     VS 19:35-40  - 35 They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. 37 As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, 38 shouting: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” 40 But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” -  Jesus’ makes His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

 

3.1.                     In Jesus’ day, kings would enter a land to make peace riding upon a donkey.  This is the means by which the Messiah was prophesied to make His entrance to Jerusalem.

 

3.2.                     We see here that it was Jesus’ disciples who placed their coats on the colt as a saddle and then placed Jesus upon the colt.  Then, other disciples and a multitude who was there with Jesus on this day placed their coats on the road for Jesus to ride over into Jerusalem, and in this way gave Him the “red carpet” treatment, so to speak.  They were welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem to be their king!

 

3.3.                     The place where the people were spreading their coats on the road is ‘near the descent of the Mount of Olives.’  The Mount of Olives is a very important place in God’s purposes as we will see that it is here that Jesus gives us His prophetic Olivett Discourse about what signs will proceed His “porousia” or “appearing” (Luke 21), it is here that Christ ascended to heaven forty days after His resurrection (see Acts 1), and it is here that the scripture has prophetically foretold that when Christ returns to the earth that He will first touch down:

 

3.3.1.  Acts 1:9-12, “9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.” 

 

3.3.2.  Zechariah 14:4, “4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.”

 

3.4.                     In Matthew’s and Mark’s account of this event, Matt. 21:8 and Mark 11:8, we read that the people were placing “palm branches” along with their garments on the road on this day for Jesus to ride on.  For whatever reason, Luke does not include the palm branches.

 

3.5.                     In 2 Kings 9:11-13, we read that when the people made Jehu to be their king that they placed their coats under him also at that time.  Perhaps the disciples were remembering that incident in the Old Testament as they were preparing for Jerusalem to receive King Jesus on this day of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry.

 

3.6.                     This phrase that the disciples and multitude were chanting on this day is a Messianic passage from Psalm 118:22-26 and was part of prayers that were prayed in anticipation of the Messiah each year during the “Feast Of Tabernacles,”  :  22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! 26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.

 

3.7.                     The “Infoplease” website has the following encyclopedia entry for “Feast of Tabernacles,” and note the tie in to the people on this day placing palm branches on the road for Jesus as He was entering Jerusalem, the City Of God :

 

Tabernacles, Feast of, one of the oldest and most joyous of Jewish holidays, called in the Bible the Feast of Ingathering and today often called by its Hebrew name, Sukkoth [Heb.,=booth]. The holiday begins on the 15th day of Tishri, the seventh month in the Jewish calendar, and lasts for eight days (seven days in Israel). The Feast of Tabernacles, which marked the closing of the harvest season for the Jews of ancient Palestine, is today celebrated by the taking of all meals in a lightly constructed booth roofed with thatch (a sukkah) to recall the shelters of the Jews when they wandered in the wilderness. The palm branch (lulav or lulab) and citron (etrog or ethrog) used in conjunction with prayers of the Feast of Tabernacles possibly go back to the harvest festival associated with the holiday. The day after Sukkoth is Simhath Torah [Heb.,=rejoicing of the law], which celebrates the annual completion of the reading of the Torah. Ex. 23.16; Lev. 23.33–44; Num. 29.12–40; Ezek. 45.25.

3.8.                     Matthew in his gospel, Matt. 21:9, has the multitude on this day crying out to Jesus, saying “Hosanna”  :  9 The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!”

 

3.8.1.  The Greek word translated ‘Hosanna’ in Matthew’s passage is a word that means, “Save us!”  Using this word implies that the people understood the significance of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  They understood that He was entering God’s city as the Messiah, the Savior.  They were crying out to king Jesus to save them.

 

3.8.2.  A secular source, the Columbia Encyclopedia, has the following entry for this word ‘Hosanna’ used by the people here:

 

(hz) (KEY)  [Heb.,=save now; Psalm 118], an intensified imperative, a cry, addressed to God, particularly used in the Feast of Tabernacles, when prayers for rain were offered. In the New Testament the crowd shouted it when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It is used as an acclamation in Christian worship, e.g., in the Sanctus.

 

3.9.                     Luke doesn’t use this word “Hosanna” which the people were crying out, however he does use a phrase that reflects the role of the Messiah in the latter days, ‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.’

 

3.10.                The Pharisees who were present with Jesus on this day are offended that the people would give praise to Jesus the acclaim that was deserving of the Messiah.  These Pharisees refused to see the truth that Jesus was indeed fulfilling all of the Old Testament scripture which prophesied the events that would occur during Messiah’s ministry, and thus they were also blinded to what God was doing in Jesus’ life.  Jesus refuses to rebuke His disciples and tells these Pharisees that if His disciples didn’t give Him praise that inanimate objects such as ‘rocks’ would cry out in testimony of praise to Jesus.

 

3.10.1.                     I’ll bet they didn’t like being made by Jesus to feel dumber than a rock!  

 

4.     VS 19:41-44  - 41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” -  Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and then declares God’s coming judgment over her

 

4.1.                     We see in these verses Jesus weeping over the people of the city of Jerusalem because they had been blind to the things that God was doing in her midst in bringing to them the Messiah, and now judgment was determined for them.

 

4.2.                     Jesus’ weeping for the people of the city of Jerusalem is even more intriguing when we consider the fact that He had known all along that these same people would in just a few days unjustly condemn, torture and punish Him in the most horrible and painful of ways, by crucifixion unto death.  This just reveals to us the fact that God doesn’t hate His enemies, those who reject His rule over their lives, but rather He still loves and reaches out to them in hopes of their coming to salvation through Christ.  We read about how the Lord feels about those who are lost and rebellious in sever places in scripture, including:

 

4.2.1.  In Ezek. 33:11 we read that the Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, “11 “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’

 

4.2.2.  In 2 Peter 3:9, the scriptures tell us that the Lord does not desire for any to perish, “9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

 

4.3.                     We Christians ought to have such love for the lost as Jesus.  We ought to ask the Lord to give us a great love for the souls of men that we would desire more than anything that men should be saved.  We should also desire to be like the apostle Paul who loved the Jews, his countrymen, to such an extent he wrote that he would gladly be condemned to hell if his countrymen would be saved.

 

4.4.                     From these verses, we see that the Lord does not exempt from judgment those who are blind from the truth if they have had the chance to hear it and yet have instead willfully refused to hear, especially those who call themselves the Lord’s people.  Willful ignorance of the truth always leads to judgment from God. 

 

4.5.                     These verses also reveal that after a person refuses to hear the truth that eventually the Lord in judgment hides the truth from them so that they can’t see it, for He says to the people concerning the truth, ‘now they have been hidden from your eyes.’

 

4.6.                     Notice how thorough the coming judgment is that is promised against the people of Jerusalem and Israel, it is complete devastation that will occur:

 

4.6.1.  Your enemies will throw up a barricade against you.’

 

4.6.2.  Your enemies will ‘surround you and hem you in on every side.’

 

4.6.3.  Your enemes will ‘level you to the ground and your children within you.’

 

4.6.4.  Your enemies will ‘not leave in you one stone upon another.’

 

4.6.4.1.      All of the buildings will be leveled in Jerusalem.

 

4.7.                     These judgments against Israel were fulfilled in history past when Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the Romans under General Titus in 70A.D.  Darrell G. Young in his web page “Focus On Jerusalem” emphasizing Biblical prophecy has written the following concerning the destruction of Jerusalem that occurred in 70AD and which was prophesied here by Luke and in Matt. 24:1-2 ("And Jesus went out, and departed from the Temple: and His disciples came to Him for to shew Him the buildings of the Temple. And Jesus said unto them, "See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.")  :

 About 40 years later, (32AD-70AD) and exactly as prophesied by Jesus Christ, the magnificent "Herod's Temple" was completely destroyed, leaving not one stone upon another. It was an event that marked the beginning of the long and arduous Jewish Diaspora. Yet, it was definitely an event foreseen in Bible prophecy. Jesus not only prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem and its Holy Temple, but added the following statement: (Luke 21:24; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.)

The Jewish zealots, reacting in opposition to Caligula’s campaign began a revolt against Rome, a revolt which led to Roman legion soldiers from Syria destroying the food stocks of the Zealots and the local Jewish population. The inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem died in great numbers via starvation. (Luke 21:20-23) Roman General Titus encircled the city, (later became Caesar) and began the siege of Jerusalem in April, A.D. 70. He posted his 10th legion on the Mount of Olives, directly east of and overlooking the Temple Mount. The 12th and 15th legions were stationed on Mount Scopus, further to the east and commanding all ways to Jerusalem from east to north. On the 10th of August, in A.D. 70 – (the 9th of Av) -- in Jewish calendar reckoning, the very day when the King of Babylon burned the Temple in 586 B.C., the Temple was burned again. Titus took the city and put it to the torch, burning the Temple, leaving not one stone upon another.

Thus, Jerusalem was totally destroyed as Jesus had predicted, and not one stone was left upon another. When the Temple was set on fire the Roman soldiers tore apart the stone to get the melted gold. The Menorah and vessels were carried to Rome and the treasury was robbed. But perhaps the most astonishing prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome is that it happened just as Daniel had predicted, in that the Temple was destroyed only after the Messiah had come, and not before he had presented himself to Israel! (Daniel 9:26) (Luke 19:41-45)

…By 70 A.D., Jerusalem and Judea were left desolate, most of the people either killed or being held in captivity, or had become refugees fleeing to remote lands. All that remained in Israel was the defiant little garrison atop the mount at Masada, a fortress complex south of the Dead Sea, which was built by Herod the Great. Thus when the Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 the period of the second exile began. (Diaspora) The Jewish people were soon to be scattered throughout the earth. For the next 1900 years the Jews would have no authority in the land God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

 

4.8.                     Jesus tells His disciples that these judgments would come against the people of the city of Jerusalem because ‘you did not recognize the time of your visitation.’  The ‘visitation’ that Jesus refers to in this case is not a ‘visitation’ of judgment but rather a ‘visitation’ of mercy and grace.  God sent His Son to procure salvation for and redeem His people, making completion of that perfect sacrifice that every other Jewish sacrifice pointed to and depended on. 

 

4.8.1.  The Lord sometimes comes and “visits” His people and He expects that they will hear His voice and respond to what He is doing when He visits them.  Every people of God sometimes has God visit them.  God visits every family.  He visits every church.  When He comes to us we must be found having ears to hear and respond to what He is wanting to teach us, and do with us and in our midst.

 

5.     VS 19:45-48  - 45 Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘And My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a robbersden.” 47 And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, 48 and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every word He said.” -  Jesus drives the money changers from the temple

 

5.1.                     The Jews in Jesus’ day had taken the Court of the Gentiles in the temple where Gentiles were to come and worship, and had allowed people to sell animals for sacrifice there as well as other merchandise.  I surmise that it probably wasn’t the fact that people sold animals there for sacrifice that bothered Jesus, but rather it was the way that they did it.  The people selling the animals told the worshippers that only the animals that were sold in the temple were certified as being without spot or blemish and therefore they were the only animals that anyone could sacrifice.  Then, they charged a huge price for these animals.  People who came to the temple just to pray, worship, and learn about the Lord ended up instead being defrauded and robbed.  Plus, where were the Gentiles to worship?  This was a travesty.

 

5.2.                     In the gospels we see that this is really the second time that Jesus scourged the temple and drove the money changers out of it.  He did this when He first began His ministry (John 2:13-17), and He did it at the end of His ministry (as recorded here).

 

5.3.                     Jesus had such great zeal and love for the Lord that He was deeply troubled and offended when the Lord’s Name was profaned.  It bothered Him also that Gentiles who would come to the temple in order to get to know the God of Israel were hindered from coming to the Lord because of the sinful actions of God’s people.

 

5.3.1.  We in the church need more people today who really care whether or not the Lord is worshipped and honored or not.  A stinging rebuke that comes from godly zeal is appropriate at times and the Lord can use it to purify His people.

 

5.4.                     Notice that Jesus says to those whom He is driving out of the temple that they are robbers and that instead of the temple being a place where God is worshipped and people brought to salvation in the Lord, instead it had become a ‘robber’s den.’

 

5.5.                     It was a tremendous miracle of God also that one man could drive all of those who were money changers and selling various merchandise out of the temple with ease?  Someone has said that this may well have been Jesus’ greatest miracle.

 

5.6.                     Notice here that it says that during this last week of His life after entering into Jerusalem that He was in the temple daily teaching people and that though the Pharisees wanted to find a time to be able to catch Him and have Him put to death that there were always so many people around Him that the Pharisees were not able or willing to approach Him.  Jesus will be crucified but it will only occur at the proper time and when the Lord has willingly “laid His life down.”

 

5.7.                     Notice that Jesus had such popularity with the people that it says here that they were ‘hanging on to every word He said.’  It will only be when the religious leaders have sufficiently poisoned the minds of the people that they will in just a few days be crying out to have Jesus be crucified.  The people reveal just how fickle they really are for one day they are laying their coats and palm branches down in the road for Jesus to ride over upon His donkey as He is making His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and just a week later they are asking for a robber named Barabas to be released to them so that Jesus could be crucified.

 

6.     CONCLUSIONS:      

 

6.1.                     As we consider the events of Jesus’ life covered in this study, we need to think about the things that the Lord wants us to apply to our own life.  As we consider Jesus’ omniscience being in total control of the events on this day as seen by sending His disciples into the city to get a donkey for Him, we need to rest in our God and His abilities and provisions for our life.  The Lord knows all about our goings out and coming in, including all of our very needs, and He already knows how He will provide for each and every need.  Look to Him and His resources.

 

6.2.                     As we consider the great love that Jesus had for Jerusalem that even though He knew that the people were soon going to beat and kill Him that He still weeps tears of sorrow for them because of the judgment that is going to come upon them, we too need to be challenged to love the lost and the unloveable with such a godly love of their souls.

 

6.3.                     As we consider Jesus’ scourging of the temple because of His great zeal and love for the Lord, we Christians ought to be challenged that we too should have great love and zeal for the Lord and desire more than anything that the Lord be properly honored and worshipped at all times.

 

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