Sermon Central
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What Was The Real Reason For Palm Sunday? And The Donkey’s Special Part! A Palm Sunday Message Series
Contributed by Ron Ferguson on Mar 7, 2024 (message contributor)
Summary: How does the donkey feature in the Palm Sunday account? Its story is interesting. We look at the prophetic Psalm 118; the entry Jesus made into Jerusalem; Isaac; and how that connects with His yet future Jerusalem entry at the Second Coming when He rides on the white horse not a donkey.
WHAT WAS THE REAL REASON FOR PALM SUNDAY? AND THE DONKEY’S SPECIAL PART! A PALM SUNDAY MESSAGE
Welcome again to all of you and we have a message today that shares some wonderful passages of scripture for this event known as Palm Sunday.
The reason for Palm Sunday separates into four sections and we will consider all four. Shortly we will consider the donkey’s part.
[1]. PROPHECY FULFILLED
Palm Sunday was not a separate event but it was one incident along the continuum for the preparation of Calvary. Every Old Testament prophecy concerning Israel's King and Messiah that was connected with His ministry and death in Jerusalem, was being fulfilled. Let us proceed to the four sections.
[A]. PROPHECY FULFILLED FOR PALM SUNDAY
(a). QUOTES FROM PSALM 118. What a significant Psalm this one is with some well-known verses. There is quite a correlation between this Psalm and Palm Sunday. I want to look at three small passages and then at verse 26.
THE FIRST – {{Psalm 118:19-20 “Open to me THE GATES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. I shall enter through them. I shall give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD. The righteous will enter through it.”}}
Jesus entered in on the donkey through a gate into Jerusalem but the Psalm calls it “gates of righteousness”. This verse does not specifically say it was the Lord Jesus but it certainly would apply to Him as He rode into the city on a donkey’s colt. The one entering into Jerusalem through the gates gave thanks as the Lord always did to the Father, and no doubt Jesus did so as He entered in with the throng of people.
In verse 20 this gate is called “the gate of the LORD”, that is, “The LORD’s Gate. I am sure this is speaking of the triumphal entry through the gate into Jerusalem. It says the righteous will enter through it, and the righteous One did just that along with the hosannas.
THE SECOND – {{Psalm 118:22 “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. Psalm 118:23 THIS IS THE LORD’S DOING. It is marvellous in our eyes.”}}
Many know this verse. Jesus is the Stone of Rejection and Israel is the builders who rejected the Stone. The nation HAD rejected its Messiah BEFORE Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt. The Stone rejected by men has been installed as the Cornerstone in the Church, the Building of the living God as we have confirmed in Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts – {{Matthew 21:42 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone. This came about from the Lord and it is marvellous in our eyes’?}} AND this verse – {{Ephesians 2:20 “having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, CHRIST JESUS Himself being THE CORNERSTONE.”}}
The Chief Cornerstone entered Jerusalem as a humble Servant on a donkey’s colt, but only a few genuine believers recognised who He really was among the crowd hysteria.
Psalm 118:22 ends with two lovely facts. The first is that “this is the LORD’s doing”. The whole of Palm Sunday and the redemption of Calvary is from the LORD. Nothing whatever is from man. The second fact is that “it is marvellous in our eyes.” Everything the Lord does is marvellous in our eyes. It is extra-marvellous that the Lord is the Cornerstone of His Church. On Palm Sunday the Lord was mounted on His way to form His Church, and after five day, His death would bring the Church into being. Pentecost played a part as well.
THE THIRD - {{Psalm 118:24 “THIS IS THE DAY WHICH THE LORD HAS MADE. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”}} I don’t want to take this verse out of context, but the day the LORD has made, can have many applications, but in our thoughts today, I want to apply it to Palm Sunday. It is the day God has made (assigned) for the presentation of the Son, the Messiah, THE King of the Jews. Jesus rode through the streets and there was rejoicing and gladness from those who knew the Person of Jesus.
THE FOURTH – VERSE 26. {{Psalm 118:26 “BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.”}} That is the verse that is directly connected with Palm Sunday and it states what the crowd would say when Jesus rode into Jerusalem in their midst. Jesus came in the name of the LORD but the nation rejected that; refused Him and crucified Him. God though in fulfillment of the prophecy, saw to it that all was executed as prophetically described.
