The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible quotes are from the Legacy Standard Bible, © 2021

Luke 19:28-44

The account of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, is found in Luke 19:28-44,
when He was entering Jerusalem for the last time. Verse 28 says, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. Why Jerusalem?
Jesus knew that He was going up to Jerusalem to die. We saw in the previous
chapter, in Luke 18:31-33, that He told His disciples,

³¹  . . . Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are
written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be completed.
³²  For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and
mistreated and spit upon,
³³  and after they have flogged Him, they will kill Him . . .

Jesus was returning to Jerusalem to officially present Himself as their King so that the Jews could reject Him. He had previously told His disciples, in Luke 9:22, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed . . . He makes an even more derogatory remark in Luke 13:33, when He said, . . . it is not possible that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem. The very next words out of His mouth, in verse 34 were, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets . . .
This theme is extremely important in the gospel narrative. As I’ve pointed out many, many times in my works, a major theme through the Gospels and Acts is Israel’s rejection of Messiah and the Gentiles’ acceptance. Israel had to reject Christ so the Gospel would go to the Gentiles, and then God’s promise to Abraham would be fulfilled, that in his seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 22:17).
Without this backdrop, many New Testament passages are sure to be mis-interpreted, including this account of the Triumphal Entry. It’s important enough in God’s redemptive plan to be included in all four gospels, appearing also in Matthew 21:1-17, Mark 11:1-11, and John 12:12-19. We will refer to these other accounts as needed. But this constitutes a major turn of events in redemptive history. Jesus officially presents Himself as the king of Israel, and Israel officially rejects Him—to their doom. They are beginning to pound the final nail into their coffin.
This passage marks the beginning of what we call “Passion Week,” beginning with “Palm Sunday,” which commemorates this event of the Triumphal Entry.

JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM

Luke 19: 29-40

Our story starts in verses 29-31 with Jesus sending His disciples after a colt.

²⁹  And it happened that when He approached Bethphage and Bethany,
near the mount called “of Olives,” He sent two of the disciples,
³⁰  saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; in which, as you enter, you will
find a colt tied, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here.
³¹  And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this,
‘Because the Lord has need of it.’”

Before we go any further though, I’ve got to show you something that’s too good to ignore. Whenever we see the word “beth” in a name, it means “house.” Some Christian denominations refer to their church buildings as “Bethel,” meaning “House of God.” The name Bethphage means “house of figs,” and Bethany means “house of dates.” Then they approached the “Mount of Olives“. Is anybody getting hungry yet? When Jesus approached the next day, it says in Mark 11:12, He became hungry! Isn’t that cool? With all these names of food, it was the 1st Century version of driving by a bakery!

ISRAEL’S WARNING

But speaking of food, this actually is appropriate, because Jesus came to Jerusalem to find spiritual fruit, but all He got was empty branches. That’s what the people were waving at Him. Only John mentions that they were branches of the palm trees (Jn. 12:13). As we will see, their hearts were just as empty.
Jesus illustrated this idea many times, especially in the parables. For example, He told the Parable of the Fig Tree in Luke 13:6-9.

⁶ . . . “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he
came seeking fruit on it and did not find any.
⁷  And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come
seeking fruit on this fig tree without finding any.  Cut it down! Why does it
even use up the ground?’
⁸  And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until
I dig around it and put in manure,
⁹  and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”

A good Bible interpreter asks questions. Why did Jesus tell this parable? Jesus uses the fig tree to depict Israel’s unfruitfulness. Jesus sought fruit in Israel for three years, finding none. Israel was on probation. Jesus illustrated this with an object lesson when He cursed a fig tree in Mark 11:12-14.

¹²  And on the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry.
¹³  And seeing at a distance a fig tree that had leaves, He went to see if
perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found
nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
¹⁴  And He answered and said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you
again!”  And His disciples were listening.

This follows directly after our account of the Triumphal Entry, and it is related. Why did He curse the fig tree? Jesus never used His miracles to serve Himself. We saw this when Satan tempted Him to turn stones into bread because He was hungry. And neither was it out of anger, because He knew it wasn’t the season for figs. Obviously, this was a message to Israel, that they would never again be the covenantal capital of the world. Conditional privilege—which Israel rejected—was transferred to the Church—the Gentiles’ acceptance.
Three and a half years earlier, John the Baptist had already warned the Jewish rulers, in Luke 3:9, the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. He said is cut down, as if it were already cut down—you can count on this. Judaism of the 1 st Century had become an apostate religion. They totally missed the mark. They wanted the covenant without the Messenger of the covenant, which they could not have. Now, as Jesus returns to Jerusalem, He finds that they did not heed the warning.

SECURING THE COLT AND OUR TRUST

Now, going back to Bethany, Matthew makes it clear that there was both a mother and her colt, though the emphasis of the other gospel writers is on the colt alone. Is this a contradiction? Absolutely not! For this to be a contradiction, the others would have to have said that there was only a colt.
I mention this because this is the way it is with many other apparent contradictions in the Bible. Years ago, I used to listen to the call-in radio program called “The Bible Answerman,” with Hank Hanegraaf of the Christian Research Institute. Many questions seemed to come up very frequently from listeners. Many of those questions were about things like this: apparent contradictions.

If I saw you sitting in a restaurant with a friend, and I came up to you and asked if you were being overcharged for the food, and later I told another friend that I saw you and spoke with you there, would I be lying because I didn’t mention that you were there with a friend? “But there were two people there!” It would be perfectly normal for me to mention you alone, because my emphasis was on the fact that I asked you a question. For it to be somehow deceptive, I would have had to say you were there alone. Skeptics like to see problems where they don’t exist. When in doubt, you can always trust the Scriptures.
Why was it necessary for them to get a colt? Jesus was preparing to publicly present Himself as their king. Remember previously when Jesus healed people, He always said tell no one what you saw. For years I couldn’t figure that one out. Didn’t He want people to know who He was? The fact is, it wasn’t time for Him to be revealed, just like He told His mother Mary at the wedding at Cana, My hour has not yet come (Jn. 2:4).
But this was now changing. Just before the arrival at Jerusalem, in Mark 10:52, Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus. But instead of telling him to tell no one, He allows him to follow in the procession as a witness to the people. This is because Jesus is now officially presenting Himself as their king for the purpose of being rejected. But the way in which He presented Himself was by fulfilling prophecy. In Matthew’s account of this (Mt.21:5), he quotes Zechariah 9:9.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Make a loud shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is righteous and endowed with salvation,
Lowly and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a pack animal.

The people knew the prophecy, but this wasn’t the “noble steed” they were
expecting or wanting of their king. [Like Donkey in “Shrek” said, “Well, so much for noble steed!”] They didn’t want a lowly king. This was a very small colt—of a donkey, so Jesus actually had to bend His legs to prevent them from dragging on the ground—not very regal looking. It may have even looked obnoxious, almost a mockery. This was a pictorial way of saying “I am the king,” and at the same time offending them. After all, kings ride on Stallions!
So the disciples go for the colt in verses 32-35.

This required trust on the part of the disciples. They obeyed, even in light of the
possible accusation of stealing. If I were there, I would probably have asked Jesus, “Uh, don’t you think we should, uh, you know, uh, ask the owner first, maybe?” At times like that, it’s good to know that God is in control of all events—a good lesson for all of us. Everything went according to God’s plan. Everything in your life is also going according to God’s plan.
Even the owners earned bragging rights. They could say, “My donkey’s colt got into Scripture! Wherever the Gospel is preached, people will learn about my colt!”

JESUS’ RECEPTION AND REJECTION

Now Jesus enters Jerusalem, in verses 36-38.

³⁶  And as He was going, they were spreading their garments on the road.
³⁷  Now as soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of
Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God, rejoicing
with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen,
³⁸  saying,
“BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

The crowd was quoting Psalm 118, verse 26, adding, according to Matthew and Mark, the word Hosanna, which means, “praise Yahweh!” John tells us that they also added, even the king of Israel! (John 12:13), so they understood the prophecy and admitted that they knew that Jesus was their king.
Many were following them, as we were told, for all the miracles which they had seen. Many came out to see Jesus because they heard that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead (John 12:17). But what was really on their minds? “If this Man really is our king, He’s going to free us from the yoke of Rome. If this man really is our king, we will never go hungry. He can feed 5000 people with just five loaves and two fishes. He can heal us, and even raise us from the dead! We could really prosper under this guy!”
Unfortunately, this is the reason why many today “come to Jesus”—what’s in it for me? Almost all Televangelists are preaching the health and wealth gospel. “You want to live cushy? Come to Jesus and practice sacrificial giving to this ministry!” At one time Jesus rebuked the multitudes, telling them, Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled (John 6:26).
After this Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, the Bible says Jesus left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there (Mt.21:17). Instead of grabbing a throne and overthrowing the Romans, it was like, “Let’s go back to the cottage and get something to eat.” That was it? That’s all they got from their king? Then Jesus asked them the next day, which follows today’s text, What then is this that is written,

THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,
THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER STONE?

“Where is that, Jesus?” “Oh, somewhere in Psalm 118!” He quoted verse 22 of the very Psalm they were quoting the day before. It was actually a Psalm about Israel’s rejection of their Messiah. They were shouting Hosanna, but the same crowd five days later cried out Crucify Him (Lk.23:21), and We have no king but Caesar (Jn.19:15).
They were dead wrong! Jesus was their king, and they knew it, but they didn’t like Him. They wanted a different kind of king—not this one; what a bummer!. They so wanted to suppress the evidence that He was king that the Bible says, the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also (John 12:10).
But God was listening, and on the way to the cross, Jesus said to the women who were mourning and lamenting Him, in Luke 23:28-31,

²⁸  . . . Daughters of Jerusalem, stop crying for Me, but cry for yourselves
and for your children.
²⁹  For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the
barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’
³⁰  Then they will begin TO SAY TO THE MOUNTAINS, ‘FALL ON US,’ AND TO THE HILLS, ‘COVER US.’ [Isa.10:8]
³¹  For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will
happen when it is dry?

They never expected to see Him alive again and punish them for their rejection.
That’s what A.D.70 is all about—their punishment. Compare what He said there to Revelation 6:16 – and they said TO THE MOUNTAINS AND TO THE ROCKS, “FALL ON US AND HIDE from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. . . .
This is why Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans in A.D.70. Jesus (the Lamb) was taking vengeance on those who murdered Him.

They gave good lip service, but their hearts were far from Him, just like Jesus said to them in Matthew 15:7&8, quoting Isaiah 29:13, 7 You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you,

⁸ THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS,
BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

Jesus demands more than lip service during the Easter season. Yet this is the second most commercialized holiday today, just behind Christmas. The world doesn’t give a rip about Jesus, but they love Easter parades, bunnies, eggs, baskets, and candy. [Palms as sacred relics.] Yet it is His resurrection that it celebrates, which is the capstone of the Christian faith.
Jesus doesn’t want to hear, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, but rather, “We have no king but Jesus.” Truly celebrate Jesus’ resurrection in your heart!

OPPOSITION FROM THE PHARISEES

Now here is a real volatile situation. The Jewish rulers are wanting to kill Jesus, and Lazarus too, but here are the crowds welcoming Him as their king. How do you quiet this crowd without causing a riot? After all, He’s being followed by a healed blind man, Bartimaeus, and a crowd that knows about Lazarus, who might even be in the procession. The only recourse they can think of is for Jesus to quiet them Himself. In verse 39, some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”
Jesus’ answer to them is classic. Verse 40 reads, But Jesus answered and said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones will cry out!” There was no way of stopping it. Can you imagine how infuriated the Jewish leaders were now! I’m sure their hatred and exasperation of Jesus grew exponentially at that time. They are now ready to take desperate measures. We know what these measures were, but we’ll wait until we get there later.

JESUS’ LAMENT OVER JERUSALEM

As our narrative continues, we learn that this was not a happy occasion after all.
Verse 41 tells us, And as He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He cried over it. The people were shouting, Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Jesus responds to this in verse 42, If you knew in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! That’s not even a complete sentence, but it shows His exasperation. It’s like He’s saying, “If only you knew—but you don’t!”
Why didn’t they know? Jesus said why – But now they have been hidden from your eyes. Here’s where we need to rethink about the Jesus that has been presented to us of late. The Jews were actually being prepped for rejection. While they were crying Peace, Jesus was saying to them, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” That’s like many people today—talking heavenly with no earthly idea what they are talking about.
But knowing that they were soon going to reject Him, He warned them about the consequences they will face in verses 43&44.

⁴³  For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a
barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side,
⁴⁴  and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and
they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not
recognize the time of your visitation.”

Just like He warned in Matthew 24, the Romans came and decimated Jerusalem and the temple. This too was prophesied. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, wrote in 6:6, For thus says Yahweh of hosts,

“Cut down her trees
And cast up a siege against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished,
In whose midst there is only oppression.”

Jesus lamented, because it really was a sad story. It looked good on the surface—Hosanna! Praise Yahweh! Our King! But all along they were a stiff-necked rebellious people, and they were judged because of it. God, after putting up with them for thousands of years, finally said “Enough!” Forty years later, it was all over for them. Old Testament Judaism came to a screeching halt. The kingdom had been taken away from them and given to the Church.

TO SUM UP