Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
The next day, the news that
Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of
Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him.
They shouted,
“Praise God! Blessings on the
one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!”
Jesus found a young donkey and
rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said:
“Don’t be afraid, people of
Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.” John 12:12-15
NLT
In 1994, Baltimore,
Maryland became home to a Canadian Football League professional grid iron team.
The lead up to the first game was filled with pomp and circumstance and the
team went on to have a very successful year becoming the very first team
outside of Canada to vie for the Grey Cup. The next year, this very same team
took on the Calgary Stampeders in the final game of the season and claimed the
Grey Cup setting another set of firsts; first team from the United States to
take the Cup and the most successful American expansion team in the CFL’s
history. They came home to great fanfare and the crowds lined the streets to welcome
the champions. All hail the kings of the grid iron! There were promises of
bigger and better in the future yet this was not meant to last. Three of the
five southern teams dissolved and another millionaire brought an NFL team to
Baltimore and the Stallions all but disappeared to become the seed for the
resurrection of the Alouettes of Montreal. They went from victors to death in a
matter of three short years.
Who would have predicted decades before that an American
team would hoist the coveted Grey Cup on foreign soil, yet it happened and some
still say they were the miracle team of the Canadian Football League? So, let’s
take a look back to the first Palm Sunday. Who would have predicted that a simple
man who was considered the son of a carpenter would be proclaimed by the masses
as the King, the Greatest of all time and the Champion of Israel? I would
suggest that hundreds of years earlier, a prophet named Zechariah declared the
coming of Zion’s King and that He would enter victorious riding on the foal of
a donkey (see Zech 9:9). The multitudes lined the streets, cut palm branches
and laid out cloaks in His path and proudly declare with voices raised “Praise
God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the
King of Israel!” Many who proclaimed Him King were, just a week later, most
likely the same ones who called for His death on the cross when the fear of
death would take control of their fickle ways and they jumped ship to preserve
their own skin. But, for that moment in time, the City of Zion declared their
support for the true King and the world rejoiced.
There is a message in this for me and let me share this if I
could. Christ came to this earth, He taught the nations that peace and grace of
the Master rules both Heaven and Earth. When the worldly took exception to the
teaching of the Son of God and had Him put to death, the King of all kings
declared victory over the ways of man and over death. The grave could not hold
Him, mankind could not kill Him and the bonds of our understanding could not
contain His greatness. The difference between the earthly victories we celebrate
and the victory in Christ; we can rest assured that victory in Jesus is forever.
This Sunday, we celebrate the victory of Christ as we
remember His triumphant arrival in Jerusalem. We invite you to join us either in person (we are limited to
numbers inside the building) or online. Should you wish to join us online,
click on either link below to join us live:
Facebook
Live - https://www.facebook.com/main.ave.31
YouTube
Live – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs9LIkN_QTdVM6eVXEgy9QA
See
you all Sunday.
Blessings,
Pastor
Todd
www.mainavefellowship.blogspot.ca
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