The Day the Lamb Rode a Donkey into Town.

Jesus Christ prepares for his final Passover in Jerusalem. He sends two disciples to find a donkey and its colt, which he predicts will be tied up in a nearby village. Jesus rides the colt into Jerusalem, fulfilling a prophecy. This event shows his deity and authority before his crucifixion. The Passover symbolizes the lamb's sacrifice for sin, and Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Brother Phillip this morning picked out some good songs and kind of gave away my punchline, but I finally titled a message. I don't hardly ever title messages, but this one's been on my mind all week long, the day that Lamb rode on a donkey into town. And we know who that Lamb is as we've sung about him all morning long. But in Mark chapter 11 in verse 1, it says, And when they came nigh to Jerusalem unto Bethpage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples. And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you, and as soon as you be entered into it, you shall find a colt tied whereon never man set loose him, and bring him. And if any man say unto you, Why do you this? Say ye that the Lord hath need of him, and straightway he will send him hither. And they went their way, and found the colt tied to the door, but without a place where two ways met, and they loosed him. And certain of them that stood there said unto them, Why do you loose the colt? And they said unto them, Even as Jesus hath commanded, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him, and he sat upon him. And many spread their garments in the way, and others cut down branches off of the trees, and strawed them in the way. And they that went before, they that followed, cried saying, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest, Hosanna in the highest. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple, and when he had looked around about upon all things, and now the evening tide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. I want us to look at this passage of Scripture this morning, the day the lamb rode a donkey into town. And I want us to kind of give the whole point of this day before we begin. If you kind of set the historical context of what was going on, it has been less than a week since Jesus Christ has raised Lazarus from the dead, Passover is now fixed to be here, and now Jesus Christ has said over and over that you had to make it to Jerusalem by this Passover. This Passover was the Passover that he would be crucified and that he would be buried and rose again. And we saw in Exodus already this morning, the Scripture reading that this was the tenth day of the month of Nisan, and so they were to do what? They were to go and pick a lamb, they were to choose a lamb out of the flock. He said that lamb had to be without spot and without blemish, and they were to be of the firstborn, and they were to take him, and they were to put him up and observe him. And then on the fourteenth day, and that month, the whole assembly of the congregation, that afternoon right before dark, they were to kill that lamb. Then they were to take that lamb inside, and they were to take the blood and to put it on their doorpost. They were to eat this lamb with unleavened bread and with the bitter herbs as they eat it. And then we come to John, and John chapter 1, John the Baptist said the next day, John sees Jesus coming unto him and says, Behold, the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world. And you go all the way back to that Passover, and God told them every year on the month of Nisan, on the tenth day, they were to choose a lamb. On the fourteenth day, they were to sacrifice that lamb, and why did they do that? Because they did that when they were leaving out of Egypt. Remember God had called many plagues to come upon Egypt and everything, but finally He comes at the tenth and final plague, and He said, Take that lamb, and it was going to be a substitute. And if you did not kill, take a lamb, and you did not kill that lamb and apply the blood to the doorpost, then God was going to require the firstborn of your family, and that child would be taken and would die that night. And this is a remembrance that Israel has done every single year to commemorate the fact that God brought them out of bondage and sent them to go to a land where they would have as their own, as His chosen people. And so they did this over and over and over. And then all of a sudden, Jesus Christ comes onto the scene, and in John here, that's what John the Baptist looks at Jesus Christ and says, Behold, here is our lamb. Every year we have to choose these lambs, but now God has provided a lamb. This is the lamb that would take away the sins of the world. You see, every year before that, that lamb would not take away their sins, that lamb would just cover their sins until the next year when they would come and they would sacrifice another lamb. But when John the Baptist said, The Lamb of God cometh to take away the sins of the world, Jesus Christ, that lamb, was not covering our sins, that lamb was removing our sins and forgiving us of our sins. And so we find that this was the time of Jesus was publicly would come to Jerusalem. This is one of the three feasts that God requires every man age of 21 and older to come to Jerusalem to participate in. And so, man, this large crowd of people was gathering and were on their way and making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, you see, according to the Gospels, that he hung out in Bethany, which if you're kind of familiar with that area, you have the Temple Mount out in front of that. You have the Mount of Olives. Bethany and Bethage was just on the other side of the hill, about less, right at a mile on the other side of the Mount of Olives out there. And that's where Jesus Christ would return. Why did he keep going back and forth back there? Because there was no room in Jerusalem. It was packed. According to Josephus, there was close to two and a half to three million people that come into Jerusalem at that time. So they're staying in all of the cities out around. They're staying everywhere. And we've kind of been warned about that coming up here in a couple of weeks in Arkansas, right? There's supposed to be like 1.5 million people coming into Arkansas. Do you realize that Arkansas, I looked up its population this week, and we have like three million population in the entire state. And we're going to almost get half of that over one weekend. And so, man, it's going to be crowded. They're talking about, don't be eating out, don't be going doing all of this. I know churches that are providing meals for people, we'll call restaurants, that are going to be overflowed. And can you just imagine the chaos of everything that is going, that was happening and that was taking place at that time. Zechariah 9, in verse 9, prophesied of this exact moment in verse 9, it says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon a donkey, and upon the foal of a donkey. And so, man, all of a sudden, this is why Jesus Christ was going, because Jesus Christ could not be crucified on just any particular day. He had to do it in fulfillment to the Old Testament because he was the Lamb of God. And so it was very important that Jesus was in Jerusalem at this particular time. It's very important that Jesus Christ was not only chosen on the 10th, but that he was also crucified on the 14th. And so these are, because these things were done in order to fulfill scripture. And so it proves to us who Jesus Christ is and who God is. And so, as Jesus Christ has already made preparations to be there during this particular Passover, we know this is his third Passover to attend, his first Passover, the second Passover, and now this is the third. This will be his final Passover to attend here on the earth. And so he makes preparation for this day. And so how does he prepare? Well, he tells his disciples that as the morning breaks and the sun begins to rise, he is in one of these two villages, Bethany or Bethany, which are right there close together, kind of like telling the difference between Benton and Bryant, where does Benton stop and Bryant start? We don't know. That's kind of the way Bethany and Bethany were. They were kind of right there together. Bethage means the house of unripe things. Bethany is where he often went. Bethany was the town of Mary Martha and Lazarus. Bethany was where Lazarus was raised from the dead. And so we have a lot of significance and a lot of ties with Jesus Christ to Bethany. But yet it was just barely a mile from there to Jerusalem. And so they would get up, they would walk into Jerusalem, they would stick around and they would come back in the evening to the place that they were staying. Why did Jesus Christ do what he did? He prepared to show them two things. First of all, he wanted to show them his deity. And also he wanted to show them his authority before he was crucified. And as we look at this in the scripture, notice his display of his deity. It says in verse 2, And saith unto them, these two disciples, go your way into the village over against you, and as soon as you be entered into it, you shall find a cold pad, whereupon never a man sit, loosing them, and bring him. Now notice what Jesus Christ is doing, because if you kind of read through this, you'll kind of skip over, but notice what he is telling his two disciples. He's telling his two disciples to go on in to Bethlehem, I mean into Jerusalem, and when you get there, you're going to know exactly what you're going to find, because there's going to be a horse, a donkey, with a colt tied up right there beside him. A colt that has never been ridden before. And notice what Jesus Christ is doing. Jesus Christ is predicting and telling the disciples everything that is fixing to happen this day. You know, I read commentaries that came up with this wonderful idea, well, Jesus had made arrangements, I've heard preachers preach, you know, Jesus made arrangements ahead of time, with this guy to have these donkeys sitting there tied up to a post, and that he was going to sin. I don't think so, I think Jesus Christ has proven his deity here. The same way that when Peter, you remember Peter, was one time told by Jesus Christ to go down to the Sea of Galilee and to catch a fish? And then he told them what? He said, when you catch that fish, then open its mouth. And when you open that mouth, look inside of that mouth, and guess what? There's going to be a coin in that mouth. Take that coin and pay your taxes. And so Jesus Christ didn't go and prepare this fish with this coin, but what's he doing? He's showing that he is God. And he was saying, this has already happened. This is already laid out. That's the sovereignty of God. And Jesus is telling his disciples, listen, you're going to go into Jerusalem and you're going to see this donkey. You're going to see this colt. And he goes on and he tells them there not only does he display his deity, but also his authority. Notice what he says in verse 3. And if any man say unto you, why do you this? Say you that the Lord hath need of him, and straightway he will send him either. What he is doing now is asserting his authority. Notice the word there, the Lord hath need of him. Now remember that Bethany and Jerusalem are two places that Jesus Christ was very familiar with and that the people of that community was very familiar with. As a matter of fact, it was just a week ago that he raised Lazarus from the dead. And all of these people had come to see him. All of these people have now knew about the resurrection of Lazarus. They had seen Lazarus. They had heard from Lazarus. And now what are they doing? They are going to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. And they're wondering if Jesus Christ is going to show up. What's going to happen? But he says, there's going to be somebody that's going to probably ask you, where are you taking that donkey and that colt? He says, when they ask you that, then you tell them, the Lord has need of him. And so the Lord had need of him. He knew everything was alright. He knew everything was going to be taken care of. Have you noticed the paradox in these statements? You know, it's amazing when you study the paradoxes of Jesus Christ that the Lord, it says, has need of him. That is a paradox. Does the Lord need anything? Not if he's really Lord, right? My God, the Bible says, has the cattle on a thousand hills, right? He created all of the animals. Why does he need this one particular donkey? See, the paradox is that he is Lord, and yet Jesus says that the Lord has need of him. How in the world can the Lord have need of anything? But when you look at these paradoxes, you find that Jesus Christ, who was God, what did he do? He became poor. He gave up all of his riches and became poor. He was born in Bethlehem. We don't see him as king of kings riding in Jerusalem on a white horse. What do we see him? Riding in on a lowly donkey. And so he became poor for our sake. Jesus Christ created the stars. He flung them into the places, and yet Jesus Christ needed a place to lay his head down every single night. When you think about Jesus Christ, who created the rushing streams of every river and every fountain in the world, on the cross of Calvary, he said, I thirst. Jesus Christ, who created every rock on top of every hillside, was buried in a borrowed tomb that was chiseled out of the rock. Jesus Christ, whose chariot was the clouds, said, I need a little donkey upon which to ride into the city of Jerusalem. The paradox of the lordship of Jesus Christ. He is Lord, but he says, I need this donkey. You know, have you ever thought about, for just a minute, about that little bitty donkey? You ever thought about that donkey? You know, when you think about that donkey, the fact that he says, I need that donkey. And when I was studying that donkey, if God can use that donkey, don't you think God can use me? Right? And do you realize that God, Jesus Christ, the paradox of life is, is that he needs you and I? He gave us the commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Baptizing them. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And guess what? He needs us. Where is he at? He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He didn't need me for sacrifices. He didn't need me to pay for sin. But what does he do? He needs me to proclaim his goodness. To proclaim his grace. And so Jesus uses human instrumentality, just like he used this donkey. And I think a lot of times about this donkey. You know, if you've ever fooled with donkeys or whatever, they're not the most easily break. They're not easy to break. They're not easy to get along with. As a matter of fact, my wife calls me a donkey a lot of times because I'm hard-headed. I'm stubborn, right? And I'm not easy. And I think about Paul. You remember Paul when Jesus Christ came to him on the road to Damascus? What did he say about this to Paul? He said, doesn't it hurt when you kick against the pricks and the goats? You know, he talked about it in Acts there, but have you ever seen a mule kick and stuff? My papa used to plow with two mules. And man, every once in a while, they would wake up just like we do and they weren't in the best mood. They weren't in the mood to plow. Some days things went great. Other days, it wasn't so great. And I think about this donkey and it said that he needed him. He was going to use that. Go get that donkey. The Lord needs him. And then he said, straightway he will send him hither. Straightway he will send him hither. And I think what this phrase is, when you look at it in the Greek, I think what he's saying is not to bring me the donkey, but I think what Jesus is saying is tell him that when I'm finished with this donkey, I'll give it back. I'm going to give this donkey back to you. I'm going to return it. That was there. And so when I'm finished with this task, he is your property. And so I'm going to return it. And so this was all the preparation to go into Jerusalem, find this donkey, bring it and the colt to me. What was he trying to proclaim on this day? He showed his deity. He prepared to display his authority. But notice in verse 7 his proclamation. And they brought the colt to Jesus and cast their garments on him. And he sat upon him. Notice what they use for a saddle. They take their garments, the disciples, and they lay these garments upon the donkey. And Jesus Christ climbs up there on this donkey that has never been ridden. It doesn't say he's bucked, he's fault, he's kicked, he screamed. No, it says Jesus Christ sat upon him. That's about as easy and smooth of a situation that you can have with an unbroken donkey, right? Jesus sat upon him and began to ride him into Jerusalem. Nobody had ever ridden this donkey. When the Lord of Glory, the Bible says in Psalms chapter 8, that he was given dominion over every beast of the field. Jesus sat on that donkey and when God came, that deity came and sat on top of that donkey, the Bible says that he didn't make a move. To me this is just fascinating because it is showing the control and the sovereignty of God. But why a donkey? A king doesn't ride a donkey. And so why the donkey? In Zechariah chapter 9, and we've already read this as the prophecy, it says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation. And look at this next word, lowly and riding upon a donkey and upon the colt, the foal of a donkey. So Jesus Christ is proclaiming Himself that day. And as He is proclaiming Himself, it is a proclamation of lowliness. You remember how many times Jesus Christ said, I did not come to be served? I came to what? To serve. I didn't come to be ministered to. I came to minister. And so notice this proclamation of lowliness. He comes in this very unusual procession. When you study the Roman government and the Roman culture, when their king, Caesar, would come riding into Jerusalem, they would have this huge parade and procession. He would come riding in on a white horse. They would have all kinds of wild animals in cages. They would have tigers. They would have lions. They would have all of these people that were lining the street, that were singing, that were shouting. The whole city would be filled with incense that they were burning. I mean, you talk about a parade. The Romans knew how to do a parade. And here Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, comes and gets on an unbroken donkey and begins to ride into town. Can you imagine what Caesar was doing, laughing when this guy come in here? And you remember, that's why Pilate said, when he did what he did, and they argued, and they presented Jesus Christ before Pilate. Pilate said, you're no threat to me. I mean, you can't even afford a white horse or a procession, right? You come riding in on someone else's donkey. You come riding in with a saddle made up of other people's clothes. And then what did he do? On the cross of Calvary, he put the placard that said, King of the Jews. And he put it in all three known languages at that time. And when the shives of the Pharisees came and said, don't you put that on there. What did Pilate say? What I've written, I've written. See, Jesus Christ wasn't coming to take over Rome. He wasn't coming to take over this world. He came lowly and humble in, and he rides in on the lowest symbol that he could possibly pick with a donkey. If there's coming a day when, guess what? He's not going to come riding in on the donkey. There's coming a day when he's going to come riding in on a white horse, and the Roman Empire will be no more. The Roman Empire will be toppled, and this world will be changed. And so it's a manifestation of his lowliness. But notice this entry is also a manifestation of his loftiness. Now, not only his loftiness, but also his lowliness, but also his loftiness. We talked about this Wednesday night in Psalms chapter 118 and verse 25 and 26. He says, Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. Hosanna means save now. When they cry out, Hosanna, they are saying, here is our Savior. You remember John the Baptist said, Behold, the Lamb of God which does what? Takes away the sins of the world. And they are saying, Hosanna, He is going to save us. He is our Savior. This is our Messiah. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And what they are doing is just lifting up Jesus Christ with His praises. As a matter of fact, if you go and you start looking at all the other Gospels, you go to read the Gospel story of his entry when he goes in Luke. Luke says that the chief priests and the scribes that were standing around there said, Why don't you make your disciples shut up? Why don't you make them quit talking? And Jesus Christ said, If they don't praise me, the rocks will cry out. The rocks will cry out. In other words, they are recognizing his loftiness. And the chief priests and the scribes were shaking with this because they were the ones that everybody looked up to. They were the ones that were in the high position. Not Jesus Christ, this man from Nazareth that comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. But then notice the probe of this day. Notice as we get into the nitty gritty of what is going on. The question of this day. Look at verse 11. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple. And when he had looked around upon all things, and now the evening tide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. You notice what verse 11 says? When he entered into Jerusalem, where was the place that he went? He went to the temple. He went to the temple. Why to the temple? What day of the week is this? Nisan the 10th. The day that everybody was picking out their lambs. The day that everybody was getting ready. This is going to be the one that we are going to sacrifice on the 14th. And so everybody is getting their lambs. A lot of these travelers couldn't bring lambs with them. So where did they go? They went up to the temple where just so happened, the Levites, there was these priests and stuff that was there, that right outside of the temple, they sold their pieces. They sold the lambs. They sold the sacrifices. That people did. And Jesus Christ walks in to that temple, not to get a lamb, but to present himself as the lamb. If you read the other Gospels, you will find that there's kind of a discrepancy that I'm still trying to kind of work out and figure out. But Mark says that he went to the temple and then when it was evening, he went back to Bethany and then he comes back the next day and he goes back into the temple and he overthrows the money changers. Matthew, Luke, and John all say that Jesus Christ, when he rode into Jerusalem and went to the temple, then he overthrew the money changers and the temple guards and stuff. Either way, guess what? Jesus Christ, and he told them, he said, you have turned my father's house into a den of thieves. It's supposed to be a house of prayer. It's supposed to be a place where people come for sacrifice, for forgiveness. For a relationship with God. And you turn it into this place where you're making a profit, where you're making a living off of these people trying to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. And if he presents himself, he's presenting himself as the lamb that takes away the sins of the world. You look over the next four days, Jesus Christ is going to be examined. He's going to be looked upon. The very next thing that is recorded of Jesus Christ is that he's coming back into Jerusalem on the next day, on Monday. He curses a fig tree because they were hungry. And this fig tree looked healthy. This fig tree looked beautiful. This was the time of the year that this fruit tree should have had figs on it. But guess what? When he went to get some figs, there wasn't no fig tree. And he cursed it. And when he came back the next day, guess what? The tree was dead. The tree was completely dead. In less than 24 hours, the tree had completely died. And he had a discussion with his disciples about bearing fruit, showing again his deity, his sovereignty in all of this situation that is there. And then what does he do? Then he is betrayed by Jesus. And then he is taken before Pilate, who takes him and does what? Sends him to Herod. Herod sends him back to Pilate. And they do this rat race. And Pilate says what? I find no fault in this guy. He says, I wash my hands of his blood. And over and over and over, Jesus Christ is examined as the sacrificial lamb that he proves to not have one single spot or one single blemish. In 1 Peter 1, 19-21, it says, But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who barely was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest or revealed in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God. See, Christ was a lamb before you and I or Adam and Eve was ever created. He already had a plan. He already had a solution. When Adam and Eve sinned, guess what? It didn't surprise God. It didn't throw him back. Oh no, I've created this man in my image. And guess what? He sinned. What am I going to do now? No, God already knew when He created Adam and Eve, the choice that they were going to make. He knew they were going to sin. And He had already provided a plan. And now Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is riding down off the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem on this little donkey that has never been ridden before. Why? That we all might have faith and hope in God. God did what He said He was going to do. Only Jesus Christ came in. Only Jesus Christ fulfills Zechariah 9.9. Only Jesus Christ was buried and rose again on the third day. See, this is our hope. This is our excitement. This is our joy. When Pilate looked at them and examined them in John 19, Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you that you may know that I find no fault in him. This is your Lamb. This is your sacrifice. This is the perfect Son of God. There is nothing that I find illegal or sinful about this guy. Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and a purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man. See, look, I've humiliated Him. I have crushed Him. This ain't no king. This is not God. This is not anything spectacular. I mean, He's wearing this crown of thorns. He's covered with blood. And remember, He's already been scourged and whipped. He's got His robe on Him then. And then notice what happened when the chief priests therefore and the officers saw Him. They cried out saying, Crucify Him. Crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them, Take you Him and crucify Him. And again, He says what? For I find no fault in Him. And as we think about this today, I find no fault in Him. There's two questions that we're forced with after reading this story. Number one is, do we recognize Jesus Christ as Lord and King? Are we there, Hosanna, the one that saves, the one that rules and reigns? Do you recognize Him as King of kings and Lord of lords? He said, one of these days, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that what? He is Lord. He is King. But the second question is right under that. Do you recognize Jesus Christ as Savior in your sacrifice? Do you recognize Jesus Christ as Savior in sacrifice? In other words, it's one thing to recognize Him as King. Hosanna, here comes our Savior. But what? When it comes time for Him to be there and to be their Savior, what do they say? Crucify Him. Crucify Him. Get rid of Him. We don't want. But they just recognized Him as being King, right? But then on the other hand, when they came to Pilate, Pilate didn't look at Him as the Savior. Pilate said, Jesus said, this world's not, I'm not a King of this world. If it was, I'd come with soldiers and fight, right? And so Pilate was not threatened by Him as the King, but saw Him as a Savior. And so the question that we need to deal with today and the question that we need to understand is you have to first of all recognize Him as your Savior before you recognize Him as your King. Just making Him a King does not get you eternal life. You've got to recognize that He's your Savior, that He died for your sins. And then when you make Him your Savior, He becomes your Savior. Then guess what? Then you make Him your Lord. Then you do what your Father tells you to do. We close in the verse of invitation this morning. We look at this passage. Ask yourself these questions. Do you recognize Jesus as King? See, this week is going to be very, very telling because this week is going to be about His death. It's going to be about the torture that He had as He goes through this week. But guess what? We're not going to be sorry. He doesn't sin in the grave. He rises again. Why do we have to do all of that for our faith and our hope in God? We believe it. We can trust it. And so as we stand in this morning, as we get older, the more important it is to be your Savior, like we're saying. Page 412.