Living Words
"Living Words" is a weekly podcast that explores the transformative power of scripture across a diverse range of Biblical books, guided by insightful devotionals from the author's own works. Each episode seeks to deepen faith and understanding, connecting listeners with the enduring wisdom and relevance of the Bible in their daily lives.
Living Words
In His Footsteps Week 20: The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
What if you could witness the pivotal moments of Jesus' ministry through a lens of personal reflection and prayer? Join me, Charles Vance, as we step into Week 20 of the "In His Footsteps" devotional series. This week, we focus on the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, exploring the rich symbolism and prophetic fulfillment captured in John 12:12-19. Drawing from my own spiritual journey, from a Baptist upbringing to a deeper understanding of biblical feasts, I'll share unique insights and reflections. Using the New King James Version for its clarity and accessibility, we embark on an exploration of Jesus' entry during the Passover festival and its significance for believers.
In the second half of our time together, we open our hearts to prayers for humble leadership and understanding. I'll guide you through various prayers to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each designed to deepen your spiritual walk and connection with God. Seeking Yeshua's example of servitude, we'll pray for the strength to embody His humility in our daily lives and communities. We'll also ask the Father for a deeper understanding of His sovereignty and the Holy Spirit for discernment and faithfulness. This episode is a heartfelt invitation to enrich your faith and embrace personal revelations from scripture.
Get a copy of the In His Footsteps devotional here.
Good morning and happy Sabbath. I'm Charles Vance, your host for Living Words podcast, and we're currently doing the devotional series in his footsteps. It's 52 weeks in the Gospel of John. If you're interested in a copy, you can find the link to it in the show notes. I'm going to do something a little bit different this week Now. I always do these from the New King James Version just because I want to have a lot more clarity and have a book that everybody's comfortable with and familiar with. Most people understand and know the King James Bible, although there are a lot of different versions out there. Please feel free to use whatever version you want. Again, I just I like the King James, but the New King James is a little less stilted in the language, so I want to talk about this week we're going this is week 20, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:Before I actually get into the reading of the devotional and going through the questions and the prayers and so forth, we're going to open with prayer. So, father, god, we thank you for this day, for this day. We thank you for this Sabbath and your mercy and compassion, that you do not see our sin or our selfishness and our own internal things that block us from knowing you better. You don't see those things. You see us through the clear eyes of Yeshua HaMashiach. Jesus Christ, and we thank you that you have given us the power to be priests and kings in your kingdom and that we have been empowered with the rock, the spirit of the living God, and that you have given us victory over demons, victory over hell, victory over sin, and that we have but to claim it in courage. I thank you for that and I pray that you would open our ears, our spiritual ears, our spiritual eyes, open up our heart to perceive and to understand the word that you give us, because every reading of the living word is a revelation of a new moment in the spirit, because everything is divinely inspired and given anointedness, and so this the triumphal entry. You know this book.
Speaker 1:When I did a devotional, I was curated from a viewpoint of fairly generic Christianity. Okay, because I want to be able to reach the broadest audience. I don't want to offend anybody's specific doctrinal viewpoints. You know your particular religion. Whether you're a Methodist or a Baptist or Nazarene or a Catholic, it doesn't. That really doesn't have any significance. We're all believers in Christ, and I personally came to a different understanding.
Speaker 1:I was raised a Baptist, good Christian theology, and I believed all the right things, and then, in 2015, I had a question about Passover and Easter, and so that question led me on a discovery journey to my faith. It rocked me to the core in a lot of areas. I realized that things I had held on to and things I had believed fully were not correct. They were, in some cases, outright deceptions. But each person has to come to that realization on their own, and that's why you really shouldn't just go by what the preacher tells you out of the pulpit. You shouldn't really just go by some commentary or what some theologian has said. You really need to ask God for an understanding, for your truth, and I mean that's not to say a wokeness truth, where it's just whatever you want it to be. You don't get an individual truth. There's only one truth. But ask the Holy Spirit to show you his truth, because really that's the only truth that matters is the truth of God, the truth of Yeshua HaMashiach, yahweh Zavaot, commander of the hosts of the armies of heaven, the king of kings. It's his opinion that matters. It's what he thinks that matters. Nothing else matters ultimately, and this triumphal entry leads up to a time we're talking about Passover, because that was his last entry into the city before his death and his resurrection and it's important to understand. So the devotional itself is going to go through a fairly generic common understanding. But as I'm inspired, if I'm inspired, I may deviate from the text and speak from my heart. Inspired, I may deviate from the text and speak from my heart and I hope that you can use this in your own devotional and even though it's brief, it can set the tone for the day and for the week. So John 12, 12 through 19 recounts the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It's an event celebrated by Christians around the world as Palm Sunday.
Speaker 1:Jesus into Jerusalem. It's an event celebrated by Christians around the world as Palm Sunday. This passage captures a pivotal moment in his ministry, signaling the beginning of his journey towards crucifixion, rich with symbolism and prophetic fulfillment. Keep in mind, in the Jewish and I want to say not even Jewish in the Hebrew feast cycle, the Jewish people, the true Jewish people, are descendants of Abraham and Abraham had 12 children that are named as the tribes of God, and Judah, from which the Jewish family comes, was one of the 12. So in the heart in the mind of Elohim. There are 12 tribes on the earth, though today they are mostly in dispersion, which means we don't really know who they are or where they are, certainly the 10 northern tribes. They were taken into captivity, into Assyrian captivity, captivity into Assyrian captivity, never to be seen again, but only known as the Lost Tribes. So as Jesus enters Jerusalem, he's greeted by a large crowd that's come out for the Passover festival.
Speaker 1:So this is the 10th day of Aviv. As he's entering the city, the lamb is being selected. They lay palm branches on the road and shout Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed is the king of Israel. He rides on a young donkey, fulfilling a promise from Zechariah 9-9, which speaks of a king who comes in humility and peace. And there are some other things that are significant about him being on the young foal of a donkey. Significant about him being on the young foal of a donkey. There are some Passover significances that the donkey basically represented the beasts when the beasts were also covered in the death of the firstborn, when the death angel passed over in Egypt before they came out, the donkey had to be shed In Egypt. Before they came out. The donkey had to be shed. It had to do with the salvation of the animals. A lamb had to be sacrificed for the donkey, which was representing the beasts. Okay, there we go, donkey, which was representing the beasts. Okay, there we go. So I just wanted to say that, to say this, that there is other prophetic significance just in the fact that he's coming in humility and peace. So the key themes and theological significance of this passage is fulfillment of prophecy.
Speaker 1:His choice of a donkey for entry into Jerusalem fulfilled an ancient prophecy which underscored his identity as the Messiah and his mission. His act contrasts sharply with the expectations of a military leader who would overthrow the Roman rule and come and bring his kingdom. That way, he didn't come as a conquering king. He came as a humble servant. It was the declaration of his kingship. The crowd's exclamation blessed is the king of Israel acknowledges his royal status.
Speaker 1:However, this form of kingship challenges the prevailing notions of power. Again, it's his kingdom, his rule that was one of servanthood and humility. So, while the crowd, there was this misunderstanding of his mission. So while the crowd celebrated him as the anticipated political liberator, there was a fundamental understanding about his nature, of his kingdom and his mission. At that moment, his triumph looked like weak suffering and sacrifice, but it illustrated the paradoxical nature of his kingship. So the sovereignty of his mission. The event underscores God's sovereignty. In the unfolding of redemptive history, and despite the crowd's limited understanding, every action of Jesus during the week was part of a divine plan.
Speaker 1:The lessons we can learn from this passage is the nature of his kingship His entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, the symbol of peace and humility, so contrasted with the expectation of conquering a political Messiah, that it revealed his kingship as one characterized by humility, peace and service, rather than power and dominance. It invites us to redefine our understanding of leadership and authority in the light of his example. Begin to think about kings, rulers, managers, these people in the perspective of God. They should be serving others, not trying to dominate. And it's the fulfillment of prophecy and divine sovereignty. His deliberate fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy about the Messiah's entry into Jerusalem on a donkey underscores the divine sovereignty at work in his ministry. It reaffirms his actions and the events leading up to his crucifixion and that they're all in alignment with God's redemptive plan, highlighting the importance of Scripture in understanding His mission.
Speaker 1:There is a misunderstanding of His mission. The crowd's enthusiastic reception of Jesus, shouting Hosanna and hailing Him as the King of Israel, reflects the misunderstanding of this nature that he was going to come in as a conquering king. He was not. The situation illustrates the challenge of discerning and embracing spiritual, eternal kingdom he came to inaugurate, which often contradicts with world's expectations and desires. So reflect on the symbolism of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and how does this contrast with the worldly expectation of leadership and power? Well, what is the worldly expectation of leadership and power? Well, what is the worldly expectation of leadership and power? It is that a man, he would be coming in on a stallion, on a charger, with a sword and as a king, you know, with a crown and a robe and in full authority, and expecting people to bow down before him as he entered authority, and expecting people to bow down before him as he entered. This was not what he did, though. This was the opposite. So it was that he came in on a donkey, humble, and he came in as the lamb of God to be sacrificed on the 14th day, just four days from here.
Speaker 1:So discuss the significance of the crowd's response. What does that reaction reveal about the hopes and understandings? Well, for starters, this was the triumphant entry is a feast. So you have thousands, hundreds of thousands of Jewish believers in the city as part of a feast that they have been celebrating for a thousand years. Everything was always rehearsed. It came the same way.
Speaker 1:At this point, the lambs on the 10th day of Aviv, the lambs are selected. So the high priest is going down to the Bethlehem Bethlehem, the house of bread in Hebrew. He's going down to the house of bread to get the bread of life. He's going down there, but he doesn't know that's what he's doing. He's going down, he's doing the same thing he did last year and the year before and his fathers and his grandfathers before him. He's going, they go down, they select the best spotless lamb and they bring it back to the city. And as they bring it back, there's the Hosanna, the Hosanna and the palm leaves and it's all there for the lamb and the priest.
Speaker 1:But this year you have Jesus on a donkey instead of the high priest coming up, and that's why they were telling him to shut up. They were telling the people to shut up because the people begin to shout Hosanna in anticipation of Jesus, yeshua coming in on donkey and the high priest is obviously probably right behind him with the lamb, and they're supposed to be doing it for him, and so they're. They're telling the people to shut up, and that's when they. That's when you get the verse said well, if the people, jesus said, if the people shut up, the stones will cry out. So you have this picture, you know, of the Lamb of God this year. So this thing they've been rehearsing for a thousand years was all leading up to one moment the moment when the Lamb of God, yeshua HaMashiach, rides in on the city, into the city, on the foal of a donkey on the 10th day of Aviv.
Speaker 1:Now consider the fulfillment of prophecy in the triumphant entry. And how does it affirm his messianic identity? I mean, that's a silly question, I know, but it's there. He's the Lamb of God. That's his identity and the fact that he's the one that's being recognized by the people as the Lamb of God, the King of Israel, the sacrificial Lamb. That's enough.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to here's some suggested prayers, and if you have the book, you know there's more of these questions, and and feel free to go through that and use these to examine your own heart, to prompt thought that maybe ideas and things you weren't thinking of. As with the suggested prayers, these prayers are just models to help with the. You know, sometimes we don't know how to articulate what we want to say to God, so this is just. These prayers are just there to each of the persons you know the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We're going to speak to all three of them, and here's a prayer for humble leadership to Yeshua himself.
Speaker 1:Lord Jesus, our humble king, in a world that often equates greatness with power and dominance, teach us the way of humility and servitude you displayed as you entered Jerusalem. Help us to embody your example of leadership in our lives, communities and wherever we hold influence. May our actions reflect your love, serving others selflessly and pointing them to the true nature of your kingdom. Amen. And here's a prayer for understanding God's sovereignty in scripture to the Father. Heavenly Father, we stand in awe of your sovereignty and the fulfillment of your word through the life of Jesus. Open our hearts and minds as we study the scriptures, that we may see your redemptive plan woven through every page. Grant us the wisdom to understand the depth of your love and the breadth of your grace as revealed in Jesus, our Messiah and King. Amen.
Speaker 1:And a prayer for discernment and faithfulness to the Spirit. Holy Spirit, in moments of confusion and the clamor of worldly expectations, guide us to discern the true mission and message of Jesus. Strengthen our faith to follow Him, even when the path diverges from what we anticipated or desired. Help us to remain faithful to His call, embracing the spiritual and eternal kingdom he came to establish. May our lives bear witness to his transformative power and love. Amen. I hope this devotional has been enlightening, you know, give you some insight into how you can better access the throne of grace for your own life and living and to connect with God through the spirit and truth and love. And I pray that for you and pray for your week as you go forward. And we ask all these things in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach, amen.
