January 13, 2013
Scripture:
A few words from Luke 7:40 - 42a. This sounds just like us - what a debt we owed. And we were bankrupt. v.42. Forgiven! Though we were debtors we were forgiven all. So now we can say that we have been forgiven. In our poverty our debts were erased. But yet, better than that we were counted righteous and were justified. How rich and vast is our blessing!
Hymn 346 – Jesus who lives above the sky
Prayer
Imagine that two countries are at war with each other, and each army has positioned itself on one side of a valley and is shooting arrows at the other side. Now imagine that one of the army captains started shooting arrows at his own soldiers. That would be strange, wouldn’t it? It’s a captain’s job to protect his men.
In Matthew 9, we see Jesus dealing with several issues. First, He dealt with death when he raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead. Then, He dealt with diseases when He healed the women with an issue of blood. He cured blindness in the two blind men. Finally, Jesus cast a demon out of a dumb man and gave him the ability to speak again.
Matthew 9:34 - 38
These people were accusing Jesus of use demonic power to cast out demons. It’s similar to our example battle: they were saying Jesus was shooting at his own side.
In v. 35, Jesus does three things. He taught; we have read previously that Jesus went into the synagogue and taught from Isaiah, where it was prophesied that He would come. Second, Jesus preached the way of salvation. We see this in John 3, when Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again. Finally, Jesus healed; and in this whole chapter we have seen several situations in which Jesus healed. Even though people accused Jesus of using demonic power, He didn’t give up; He continued to travel and visit cities and villages.
Jesus could see that the Jewish leaders weren’t doing their jobs. This made the Lord feel very sorry for Israel. He likened them to sheep that had no shepherd, and a field of corn that was ready to harvest. But there weren’t enough labourers to harvest it. In closing, Jesus told his disciples to pray for labours for the harvest.
Jesus was on His way to the cross, not on the way to set up His kingdom. However, He entered Jerusalem in a way that the people could hail Him as King. Some of the people that hailed HIm would probably soon be crying, “Crucify Him!”, though.
In history you never find the king arriving on a donkey. Jesus’ arrival on a donkey, however, was prophesied in Zechariah 9:9. Haggai and Zechariah were two prophets who encouraged the remnant to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and the temple. They told the people, “The King is coming!”, and you can imagine the people cleaning up the city, preparing. In Luke the King has finally come, but His people rejected Him.
Zechariah 9:10. One day the King will come in majesty. When will that be? At the start of the Millennium. Zechariah runs from the King coming in lowliness on a donkey to the glories of His kingdom—from His coming to His appearing—without a break. The Church Age is totally missing; hidden from view! The prophets couldn’t see it.
It is touching to see how our Lord accepted coming into Jerusalem on a donkey. It was such a lowly position! He makes the clouds His chariots (Psalm 104:3), but He veiled His official glory while down here. The people responded to His entry with praises as if He was the King; but, of course, the Pharisees rebuked them.
You can preach the gospel from this passage. It’s not the prime interpretation, but it’s an interesting gospel application. It’s as we sing, “There once was a wild little donkey”, etc. When were unsaved, the Lord needed to tame us. Even Zophar realized that man needed taming (Job 11:12-13; see also Job 39:5). Jesus is Lord of all, and that wild donkey colt was totally under His control, just as the wind and the waves were, and yet man will not put his heart under His control.
Jesus told His disciples to go and loose the colt. Mark 11:4 gives us more detail on where they found the colt: “They went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met”. That’s where we were when were unsaved: outside the door, where two ways met. Jesus tells us about those two ways in Matthew’s gospel: one is wide, the other narrow; one broad, the other straight; one leads to life everlasting, one to destruction. John 10 tells us that Jesus is the one Door that we must enter to be saved. People are tied up in Satan’s prison, and—as disciples—we are to loose them and bring them to the Lord.
One of the best phrases in this story is found here in Luke: “The Lord hath need of him.” We were once like that donkey, but the Lord found us and brought us to Himself. You needed Him, but think about it: He needed you! Not just wanted you, but needed you.
Could it be that in the glory,
E'er of Him I had a thought,
Christ was yearning o'er the loved one
Whom His precious blood had bought?
That it was His need that brought Him
Down to the accursed tree,
Deeper than His deep compassion,
Wondrous thought - His need of me!
The Lord can do anything and has everything; so why did He need us? He needed an object for His love, He needed someone to love Him back, and He needed someone to serve Him and do His will.
Verse 38 is interesting because it’s very similar to what the heavenly host said back in Luke 2. These people, however, said, “peace in heaven” instead of, “peace on earth”. Jesus had come to bring peace on earth, but what He was about to accomplish on the cross would make peace for us in Heaven with God.
Hymn 95—I have a glorious Saviour
Prayer