“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9, NASB95)
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem He came to the city Just as the Prophet Zechariah said He would. The Jews would celebrate His entrance shouting, “Hosanna” which is basically a cry for help in that it translates, “save now”. The cry of the people was not for spiritual deliverance but for political deliverance from Rome. They wanted Jesus to overthrow Rome and restore Israel as the national power of the day. Jesus didn’t come to conquer a nation but to conquer hearts, to defeat and deliver us from sin, death, Satan, and self.
Luke 19:41 tells us that, “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it” because the people failed to recognize that Jesus was the Messiah they had been hoping for and the deliverer they so desperately needed. They wanted to rule a world that Jesus came to deliver them from; they wanted a better life on earth and He came to give them a new life for eternity.
I would like to encourage you to read Matthew 21:12-16 as you prepare your hearts for what Christians know as “Holy Week”. Jesus got off the donkey, entered the temple and immediately started cleaning it out. To gain clarity on the importance of what we, as Christians are celebrating and remembering this week, take some time and clean your temple (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
- Clean our heart and mind of those things that are robbing God of our worship of Him. This happens when we confess their presence and repent (turn away; change the way we think about them) from allowing them to steal our affection and worship of God.
- Allow God’s word to be the authority in our lives; Jesus acted in accordance to the word of God, “It is written.
- Expect and enjoy a fresh work of God in your life.
- Don’t let the critics steal your joy.
- Celebrate Jesus with the excitement and enthusiasm of a child.
Remember, Jesus didn’t come to give us a better life, He came to give us His life for now and eternity! When I unite in His death, I find my identity in His life.