Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm19981230.htm

LUKE: GOSPEL OF CERTIFYING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Part LXV: Certifying Christianity By Exhibiting Christ's Truly Messianic Actions In His Triumphal Entry
(Luke 19:28-44)
  1. Introduction
    1. A serious examiner of the Christian faith often needs more than just Matthew's explanation of a post-poned Messianic Kingdom if he is to be settled that Jesus is the Messiah though He did not set up a reign on earth. Such an examiner needs Jesus' explanation to that end and some genuine indication in Jesus' actions that support such a thesis before he can logically adopt the faith as true.
    2. Luke's Gospel provides Jesus' explanation that the Kingdom was postponed in Luke 19:11-27, but goes beyond that explanation to expose a revealing indication of that conviction on Jesus' part in his actions pertaining to His famous "Triumphal Entry" in Luke 19:28-44:
  2. Certifying Christianity By Exhibiting Christ's Truly Messianic Actions In His Triumphal Entry.
    1. Luke's Gospel was written to reveal the credibility of the Christian faith to Theophilus, Luke 1:3-4.
    2. In the process, Luke recorded the genuinely Messianic actions of Jesus in His Triumphal Entry as follows:
      1. As we discovered in our last study, Jesus explained to those who expected the Kingdom to be set up immediately that the Kingdom would be postponed in the Luke 19:11-27 parable.
      2. Well, immediately following this explanation of a postponed Kingdom, Jesus began to ascend up to Jerusalem and prepared to acquire a small donkey for His famous Triumphal Entry, 19:28-31.
      3. He demonstrated His supernatural control of the event by way of the fulfillment of three prophecies regarding the use of the donkey colt, Luke 19:30-35:
        1. Jesus predicted the disciples would find a donkey colt tied as soon as they entered Bethphage, 19:30.
        2. He predicted that the colt would not be broken, having never been ridden, Luke 19:30b.
        3. He predicted that if its owners naturally questioned why other men were unloosing the colt, the disciples were to explain that the Master had use of it, and they would by way of implication let them take the colt, Luke 19:30c.
        4. He also implied that He would be able to ride this colt that was unbroken, another miracle.
        5. All of these predictions and Christ's miraculous ride came true in Luke 19:32-36.
      4. In keeping with His supernatural control of the Triumphal Entry, Jesus told the Pharisees who didn't like the crowd's claim of Jesus being the King coming in the name of the Lord that if the people were to be quiet, the very stones would cry out, Luke 19:39-40. This could only be true if prophecy were being fulfilled, something involving a divinely controlled event, and Zechariah 9:9 proves this to be the case.
      5. Finally, were Jesus the Messiah of a sadly postponed reign, we should expect this Triumphal Entry that presented Jesus as King to end in immediate futility, and that to create a sense of grief in the real Messiah. Luke 19:41-44 presents that scene exactly as follows:
        1. As He drew near the city, instead of being happy like the throngs about Him, knowing the Triumphal Entry would end in short-term failure, and knowing of Israel's continued sufferings as a result, Jesus, as the Messiah, wept over Jerusalem, Luke 19:41.
        2. He explained His feelings to be His intense grief over the postponed Kingdom and the sufferings it would produce in Israel in spite of His wish to help the nation to the contrary, Lk. 19:42-44.
        3. The reference to "this thy day" refers to March 30, A.D. 33, the day of the Triumphal Entry that was predicted in Daniel 9:25-26, cf. Harold Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, p. 139.
        4. What adds credibility to this scene is the accuracy whereby Christ's predictions of Rome's siege in Luke 19:43-44 were so accurately fulfilled in A.D. 70, 37 years later! (Ryrie St. Bib., KJV ftn.)
Lesson: Not only did Jesus EXPLAIN the Kingdom's postponement in Luke 19:11-27, He REVEALED it by His ACTIONS: (a) He controlled Triumphal Entry events (b) only to WEEP as others REJOICED (c) while ACCURATELY saying the event would end i n short-term failure!

Application: Jesus EXHIBITED truly Messianic ACTIONS as King of a postponed Kingdom in the events surrounding the Triumphal Entry! He is the true Messiah of a truly postponed Kingdom, so the Christian faith is GENUINELY believable as the faith tha t comes from the Bible's God!