Jesus Enters Jerusalem

God has a plan, a plan that includes Jesus ministering to the world. Paying our debts in full for His selfless act of being crucified on the cross plus much more. During Jesus' three year ministry He developed a message of Love, of grace, of mercy and hope for a life spent with God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit for eternity to all who will receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Jesus fulfilled God's plan through many Old Testament prophesies such as: He would be born of a virgin birth, born in Bethlehem, being hung on a tree, His clothes divided up etc.

Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey was also prophesied by Zechariah hundreds of years prior to Jesus entry into the city. So the Pharisees knew very well of the Old Testament teachings and prophesies. It was their duty to know and to teach but yet they still rejected Jesus. Why? Several reasons being they thought the Messiah would come on a white horse and eliminate the Roman Empire while protecting and lifting the Israelites above all others. Because of this teaching, it drove the Pharisees to reject Jesus as the Messiah while undercutting His message from almost the beginning of His ministry.

This leads us to Jesus' entry in Jerusalem and the reaction of the people. His disciples and others knew He was the Messiah and rejoiced with song, laying clothes and palm leafs before Him as He entered the city, while others including the Pharisees angrily rejected Him asking to quiet His disciples. I believe Jesus was threatening their circle of influence along with the power they had yielded over others and this anger and hatred drove them to the arrest, beating and crucifixion of Jesus.

To paraphrase Jesus words to the Pharisees, the temple and city would be destroyed because they could not see the Messiah right in front of their own eyes and they could not capitalize on the opportunity He was giving to them (Luke 19:44).

Have you ever had an opportunity that you were reluctant to react to? In other words a missed opportunity. There are many reasons why we miss opportunities like uncertainty, short sided thinking, risk adverse, paranoid, bad timing, lack of confidence, untrusting. Because we are once again living in the days of Noah, there are people out there that will prey on us and our vulnerabilities with evil intentions trying to yield power and influence to control us which cause us to be untrusting and isolated. This is Satan's tactics!

If we don't have a close personal relationship with Jesus, our vulnerabilities dramatically increase because we are making our own decisions without first consulting the Lord in seeking solutions through prayer and waiting on the Lord for the best response.

But we can overcome these tactics by putting God first in our life, including Him in our decision making process, praying and seeking His knowledge and wisdom while acknowledging that He is our only hope to survive in this messed up world. God gives everyone of us the opportunity to have a close personal relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ.

My prayer is that we don't act like the Pharisees and we all would receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That we would seek forgiveness and repent of our sins. That we would live the life that God has set before us to live more righteously every day until the Lord calls us home. In Jesus Mighty Name Amen! Amen!