Latest / Journey Elgin / Sunday Message March 29, 2026- Jesus Enters Jerusalem just as Revealed in Scripture
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: Well, I kind of got distracted, which that's not a good thing. You know how sometimes your mind goes somewhere else and you're like, wait, we're supposed to be singing and worshiping and I'm thinking about something else. Well, but it was connected to what we're going to talk about. So, you know, we've been talking about the salvation arc of history and of how ⁓ God has been working from the beginning. One thing that was interesting in the video, the Lenten video, it talks about Christ coming from the Eastern Gate. Well, the East was, whenever Adam and Eve kicked out of the garden, they are now East of Eden. There's kind of a connection with moving East is kind of representative of the sinfulness, our separation from God. Right? And you see that in many places in the Old Testament it uses kind of that. It's kind like the 40 days is kind of representative of something, you you see that kind of repeated, that theme. Well, isn't it interesting that, you know, that we, when we left the Garden of Eden due to sin, we, that phrase, East of Eden, well now Jesus enters in through the Eastern Gate and is bringing fulfillment and is bringing redemption and bringing us back to that place where he originally wanted us. ⁓ And I think it's just incredible to see all of that. And I hope that you're getting a ⁓ broad picture of how God has been working throughout history. And you may say, well, why did he move so slow? Why did he take so much time? Valid questions. It's okay to ask those types of questions, but God actually works within human history. He's outside of time and space. This really can kind of blow your mind, right? He's creator. He's outside of that, but he actually works within it. He's not always doing miraculous things that break the laws of physics. And whenever we talk about laws of physics, some people, ⁓ well, that's science. No, no, God created this world with order and with function. Remember, we talked about that. That's why we can have laws of physics. Why is the law of gravity an actual law? Well, because God created this world with gravity, right? You can't pretend that that doesn't exist, right? And so God works within human history. And so, as God is reaching out to the people, thousands of years ago, He was reaching out to them in a way that they would understand. That's why He created the people group. He called the people group that we now call Jews, the nation of Israel. He called that people group and equipped them and empowered them. Why would He do that? Because other nations... would then see the power of this nation and would recognize, whoa, there's something behind them. There's something, this is not normal that this nomadic nation in a tiny little part of the world could become relevant, right? Except that maybe there's something to their God. And by the way, all for the most part, I think this is a safe statement, back then everyone believed in some sort of deity, some sort of God. The idea of atheism, that's a relatively new thing. ⁓ Now, there's people that didn't care about it. They didn't care about the gods. But the vast majority of people believed, there's something out there. So whenever God uses this ragtag group of people group and does some amazing things, It starts to reveal, whoa, there is a one true God. And so God is working through history. He could have created the internet back in the year 1500 BC and could have gotten the word out a lot quicker. But guess what? The internet wasn't created back then. It hadn't come about. So he didn't just create things. He allows humans to do things, to be part of that creative process. feels like God's like, why are you taking so long? Well, he was working within the bounds of history. Last week, we left off with looking at ⁓ Daniel. basically, you look at ⁓ in the book of Daniel, and you could pinpoint the decade, essentially, timeframe of when the Messiah was going to come. Right? Now, the reason that that's not talked about a whole lot is because through our academics, we have decided that, the book of Daniel probably was written kind of after the fact, right? You know, that it was written closer to about 100 BC, which still, it's still predicting in front of you. But the reason that they say this is because if you actually look at the book of Daniel, and you read it, it gives you a timeline of ancient history that then spans into today. And that makes a lot of people, especially with our 21st century mindset, very uncomfortable. So one of the things that Daniel does, so this period that we talked about last week, so you're looking in the 400 BCs, it's projecting out. to when Christ would come and he did come. Some people consider that gap then 400 years of silence. You may have heard that. we don't have, there's nothing really in the Old Testament written in that 400 years. Well, the reality was is that in Daniel, it actually laid out what was going to be happening in that 400 years. So if you remember, you have, Babylon is the main power. They're the ones that first take over and bring the people, the Jewish people into exile. That's where Daniel is right whenever he writes this. And he also has a vision, actually King Nebuchadnezzar has a vision and it's about this statue and the statue has a head of gold, has arms and chest of silver, has a kilt. of bronze, right, midsection of bronze, and then two iron legs, and then feet made of iron and clay, right? And then Daniel starts breaking down what all of that means. And it is literally the geopolitical events that are going to take place over the next few hundred years. Now this is really important. So if you think that this was written in like 100 BC, then then you can say, they were just piecing together all of this and they wrote it looking back. Does that make sense? It's like me writing today about the events of 9-11. And then 500 years from now, someone reads that and they think that I wrote it hundreds of years before 9-11. So that's kind of what our academics have done with the book of Daniel. And it makes sense because then you don't have to wrestle with maybe this Bible thing is actually real. You can just view it from an academic standpoint. But here's what Daniel laid out, I believe, 500 years before the birth of Christ and laid out what was going to happen for the next 400 years. Laid out that there would be a kingdom of Babylon and then that that kingdom, would be overtaken by two kingdoms that would merge. It was called the Medio-Persian Empire. That actually happens. You don't have to read the Bible to do that. But the Bible specifically says Medio and Persia would then come together. Now you could say, well, though Daniel would have known that those countries existed. And so maybe he could piece together that they were going to merge and then that they would kind of overtake. And we're talking about this general area of the Middle East. We're talking about the kingdoms of that era and of that area. So Babylon has that area. Then Mediopersian comes and that was connected with the silver, with the two arms, right? Because there were two nations coming together. And then you have the bronze. And it specifically, there's a place where it actually says from Greece. It says someone will be coming from the East and will overtake. And then it specifically even says that there will be a, ⁓ that it will be an amazing ruler. It is talking about Alexander the Great. It is talking about that conquest. Guess when that happened? That happened within this 400 years. So you have that, that the Bible says, and I promise you, Daniel would not have known what Greece was. But yet, he wrote that, and I believe wrote it hundreds of years before this actually happened. The Bible actually predicts that the leader of that group would die and that four would replace him. What happened when Alexander the Great died? either murdered, died, we don't really know. But he dies, doesn't really have a succession plan. So four of his generals break up that land area. the Seleucids, Cleopatra, they come from Egypt. That was one of the generals. And so all of these areas now are broken into four. Then what happens? Those kingdoms then are united again as Rome. So the iron is connected with Rome. And then there's the two legs because the Roman Empire actually splits. So we could go even further. But it's quite incredible. if the book of Daniel was written around 500 BC, God literally laid out the geopolitical events of the next 500 years and beyond because then that is actually brought into revelation. It is incredible. I believe it happened. If you want to believe the pinheads at our universities, and I'm sorry, I've become very cynical. I was a pinhead. I went to university, I went to seminary. ⁓ I used to think that they were smart and some of them are, but we have been under spiritual attack for a long time. And our universities and things like that, were one of the things that made this country great. And guess what? They were founded on biblical principles. ⁓ Harvard, their tagline is something about truth, and it is straight from scripture. Harvard is a bastion of demonic activity now. It makes sense that it was because of our Christian faith that we wanted to educate people. to show them and point them to Christ. And so we created these wonderful universities. And that was one of the places that Satan targeted the most and that we didn't even realize how dark it has become. But it is dark in that realm. And it's extended to the seminaries as well. Princeton used to be the top seminary in all of America. Now, I promise you. they wouldn't even believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite guys is Johnston is his last name. He did his PhD at Oxford over in England, which again was one of these. He did his PhD on the resurrection and the reality of the resurrection, the proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that he actually rose from the dead. Now to me, I've always assumed that's a pretty basic key understanding to have if you're going to be a Christian, right? So he goes to the seminary for his PhD and that's what his dissertation is on. And the person, the professor who is running that department tells him, you don't really believe that he actually rose from the dead, do you? And Josh was like, well, yeah, I do. And of course, whenever he's telling this, I heard him interviewed. He's like, well, I'm going to fail, right? I'm not going to path, but. He did such a good job. He was complimented. He does a great job. He does some wonderful things. But can you imagine the leader of a seminary on the level of Oxford does not believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead? Tell me that there aren't demonic forces at play here. People are being blinded and we think it's because we're smart, but we're just dumb. We think we have become like God and it's infiltrating everything. And I had not planned on saying any of this. So we're going to move really quickly now. But it actually, it's important because it brings us up to the time that Christ enters in to Jerusalem. And I want to read just two passages on that. So Matthew 21, again, this has been, Jesus has been or God has been moving to this point. And so you have Matthew 21, it says, Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied in a colt with her. Untie them, bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord needs them. and He will send them at once. This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your King is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey on a colt, the fossil of a beast of burden. The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put them on their cloaks. And He said on them, most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the ground on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. and the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, who is this? And the crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. All right, so we have the fulfillment again of scripture that is... talks about the king, the one who would bring salvation, would enter in ⁓ on a colt or on a donkey. And so we have this event happening. And ⁓ going back to kind of what we were talking about is, did Jesus, why did God take so long? What's the reason for that? If you look at how history worked and what happened as Alexander the Great, He actually started bringing a connection with the whole world. There were connections now between the East and the West, from all of what we now call Europe now to Asia. There's starting to be connection there. Then as Rome overcomes him, Rome begins building what? Roads. Roads that you can still walk on today. Holy cow. know, man, we can't keep potholes from going in. There's roads that still, no, I'm not saying they're smooth. But the road that you can see today, this was the first time in human history that it became relatively safe to travel hundreds of miles from one part of the world. to the next part of the world. What was the center of the world at that time? It was Rome, right? And so when Jesus is entering in on that Palm Sunday, He's entering in at the perfect time in history for this message to actually be spread and heard. At any other point in history, if it had happened 100 years earlier, before Rome had started connecting all of these things, It would have still been an amazing thing and people would have said, this is incredible. But would Paul have been able to make it all the way to Rome like he did? Would all of those missionary journeys be able to happen the way that they did? No, because the infrastructure wasn't set up. It was the perfect time for the Messiah to burst forth into the world where this message could spread like wildfire. And it did. It completely changed. the whole Roman Empire within a couple hundred years. And we're so spoiled. We use a microwave for everything. If we want to know anything, we push a button and you can have it. That's not how the rest of the world worked. For the world to be transformed in a couple of generations was unbelievable. So it was that God wasn't delaying. He wasn't just taking his time. He wasn't up there just twiddling his thumbs and like, you know, I don't really want people to know about my salvation and the redemption that I have for them. No, he was working within history, working within a fallen world, working within sinful humanity. And then at the perfect, soonest moment that he could enter in the world to have the biggest impact he did. And he told them that he was going to do it and they still missed it. And I love Palm Sunday, but there's so much we need to learn from it and to apply to today. Because Palm Sunday also has one of the biggest warnings ever. Because when Jesus enters into Jerusalem, the crowd begins to gather. And there was buzz about Jesus. It had kind of gone up and down and some of the crowds had become smaller. But there was a lot of buzz, especially because Jesus had healed Lazarus just a few days before, which that's where the religious leaders were like, no, we have to take this guy out. It's like, if he's bringing back dead people, that's a threat to our power. And we've got to do something here. And so that's all starting to happen. Just imagine, because again, all of this happens in real life. This is not just the stories on a page. It's happening. So the religious leaders, they're starting to figure out how they're going to do this. So they're talking about Jesus. Now, if they're talking about Jesus, you know other people are talking about Jesus. So it's like, wow. And then you can just imagine there starts to be rumors. Maybe he's coming to Jerusalem for Passover this year. Maybe he's going to do that. He's done that the last two years. Is he going to do that again? And there's starting to be some buzz about this. And so when the disciples get there, and I don't believe that they were intentionally manipulating, they just began, they realized, man, this is happening. He is the Messiah and he is entering into Jerusalem. They're thinking about that passage in Zechariah. They're thinking about those things that he is the one. It is happening now. And so they began to cry out, Hosanna. And it just, the crowd just grows. You can just feel how that energy would have started permeating among them and people getting excited, right? Because they'd been waiting for this. They'd been looking for a Messiah. There had been false Messiahs before. This was a time, like now, if you look at Jewish ⁓ tradition, ⁓ they still believe that a Messiah, the ones that actually still are faithful, Believes that there still will be a Messiah, but there's there hasn't been any legitimate over the last 2,000 years of someone claiming to be the Messiah That was different back then there had been others who had been and said that they were the Messiah now They were being false and it all fell apart But people were looking for the Messiah And so now Jesus is entering in and the people and His disciples are using all of this language that points to He is the one that going to save us. He is the one that is going to do all of this. And I mean the crowd begins to get all stirred up. I love how Matthew says that the whole city was stirred up. Now imagine if you are the religious leaders. You are now terrified because the mob is on Jesus's side now. There's a great line, I think it's in the movie Gladiator, which is an awesome movie. Other than the fact that people are killing each other in the Colosseum, it's kind of a little immoral, but fun. But they're talking to one of the Caesars, ⁓ and he's talking about how the mob watching the gladiator games really all of sudden supported Maximus, who's the main character. And he does not like the emperor and the emperor does not like him. And so they're talking about this and the emperor's like, wow, just killing. And he says, got to be careful. The mob is powerful. And he says, and the mob is fickle. even though it was all these peasants, right, that had no real power against the emperor, they had power as a mob. That does change things. It challenges things. And it can be used for good or for ill, right? ⁓ And so we see the mob, the crowd, is all behind Jesus and they are shouting. And it's wonderful and that should make us feel good and kind of wish that we were there. To be part of that and say, I would have been there shouting Hosanna, right? Praising the King who was coming to bring salvation. But literally, within four days, this happens. Matthew chapter 27. starting in verse 15. Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted and they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release for you Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ? For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in the dream. Now the chief priest and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, which of the two do you want me to release for you? And they said Barabbas. Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? And they all said, let him be crucified. And he said, why? What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, let him be crucified. ⁓ Again, four days. Four days, the mob completely switches. Am I saying that it was everyone? No, I'm not. But the town of Jerusalem was celebrating Jesus entering in. That was the vibe of the city. Four days later, the vibe was, crucify Him. Because there's power in the crowd. And it is easy to be manipulated when all you are is part of the crowd. I think it is very important for us. think a little bit about how could that have happened? Why did that happen? And the main reason is that the crowd on Sunday, they had a certain expectation of what Jesus, who He was and what He was going to do. Their expectation was their own understanding of what it meant to receive salvation. They were still thinking that God was going to restore the nation of Israel to prominence. which would have meant in that day and time to kick out the Romans and be their own nation again. That's what the Messiah was supposed to do. That's where their minds were. And the religious leaders were fine with that understanding. Why? Because that would continue to give them a seat of power. In fact, their seat of power would even grow. If Israel now is its own nation, who went to talk to Pilate? Who brought Jesus forward to Pilate? It was the religious leaders. They had the political power at that time. So if there was a Messiah that was going to restore the political power of the nation, guess who also would be elevated? The religious leaders. It did not. They had no incentive to point people to the fact that salvation may be more of a spiritual thing. They didn't have the incentive to go back and say, what was it that God said whenever He created the nation? He created the nation to be a light to the rest of the world. That was the purpose. It wasn't to be a great nation themselves. It was to be a light into the rest of the world. And so the Messiah would bring that fulfillment to the rest of the world. But yet there was no incentive for them to do that. And so they kept the people, I believe, intentionally in spiritual darkness. But they still had power, they still had respect. And so whenever they saw an opportunity that all of sudden, the expectation that the people had, the expectation that the crowd had of who Jesus was, And then as they listened to Jesus for the next few days, and it made them really uncomfortable because they were like, how could this guy, you know, go and disrupt the temple? I mean, he started throwing us out and, you know, saying all these mean things to us. And he kind of hurt our feelings and you're not supposed to do that. I thought he was supposed to be a loving God who loves everyone and is always nice and just tells us what we want to hear. No, that's not who Jesus was. And they start hearing what Jesus is saying and they're like, this does not meet the expectation of what we have in a Messiah. And so as things play out and the crowd is now gathered at another time, just imagine the buzz coming in because of what Jesus had done with Lazarus. And now the buzz that that guy has now been arrested by our religious leaders. and he's being taken before Pilate. Imagine the crowd that would have gathered. And then you just have a little bit of a spark. The religious leaders just pushing a little bit. Pushing them to have Jesus crucified. To end this threat. To end all of this. This will be better for all of us. This just disappears. And then Pilate gives the opportunity of a choice because Pilate actually doesn't want to crucify Jesus. He does not want to. So he gives them a choice and they began to call one for Barabbas, a known murderer. They want him. And in addition to that, they began to cry, crucify him. And isn't it amazing? Pilate tries to ask them a question. a rational question. What has he done? Do you notice there is no answer to that? It is just yell louder. I want just for just a couple minutes. Let's bring that into 2026. Do we not see this same spirit of darkness using the crowd, using the mob to bring its darkness into the world today? In how many examples there is power in emotion. There's power in manipulating. And we are being divided up into different crowds intentionally. And then it just takes a spark for that crowd to explode. You go back to 2020 after George Floyd. There were those who were ready to pounce on that event. A legitimate grievance, a legitimate bad circumstance, some legitimate protest that could come, but then you get the instigators and all of sudden cities are burning down. You have January 6th. legitimate grievances, legitimate things that you could want to happen. And then there's a whole lot we could go down to, way too many rabbit holes, but the vast majority of people there were not there to storm the Capitol. Just as the vast majority of people on the George Floyd stuff were not there to burn down cities. The real protest happened during the day. It was what happened at night. And it was organized and it was intentional and it was funded. And I think you can say nearly the exact same thing about January 6th. Look at how those narratives have just torn this country apart. We need to recognize the power of the crowd and we have to step out of it. We have to focus on your relationship with Jesus Christ and Him alone. Do not be moved to emotional height by any earthly person. You can gain information, you can follow, you can listen to, but be careful because Satan will attack from all different sides. It does not matter what your political leanings are. And I think we are going to see more of this in the days to come. That is going to try to divide us into different crowds. Because crowds can be manipulated and the crowd is fickle. And all of sudden, if we are not rooted in who Jesus is and the truth that comes from Him, we may find ourselves following a crowd right off a cliff. It can be a little overwhelming. But what happened three days after the crowd turned and yelled, crucify Him? They were successful for a time. But then Christ overcame sin and death. And He gives us hope. He gives us that foundation. so that we do not have to be moved by the crowd, that we are moved by Him and Him alone.