Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem/Jesus cleansing the Temple/Do we question the authority of Jesus?
“I am crucified with Christ”
The days of Lent commence
with Ash Wednesday and are remembered by the churches throughout the world as
the passion of Christ for 40 days. I
grab this opportunity to preach the message of the Cross during this period. As you meditate on the message of the Cross,
I pray that the glory of His Cross be manifested to you.
Ash signifies that a thing, animate or inanimate,
which had existed in a particular shape, does no longer exist because it was
burnt and reduced to a shapeless powder. Our own will must die on the Cross, burn
on its altar in the fire of God and become like ash. Does your life bear His Cross?
You may claim to have been saved by the blood of
Jesus. You may today boast of your
wonderful testimony of how you were saved.
After accepting Christ as your Savior, has your own will died on the
Cross?
Can you say with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and
gave Himself for me” (Gal.2: 20)?
Your Christian life has no meaning at all so long as
you do not identify yourself with the crucified Christ. Are you still doing your own will? Claiming
to be a born-again and Spirit-filled person, do you still live like an unconverted
person? Has your flesh of living in the pleasures of sin been crucified?
These days, we covet the power of God without
attaining the spiritual experience of being crucified with Christ. We covet material prosperity without experiencing
the glory of His Cross. When Jesus was
offered the glory of all the kingdoms of the world by the devil, He chose the
glory of His Cross.
Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem
When Jesus and His disciples drew near Jerusalem,
and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples to a
nearby village and to bring a particular donkey along with its colt to Him. The
disciples brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them and set
Jesus on them.
When Mathew says that Jesus was set on the donkey
and the colt (Mat.21: 7), the other three gospel writers i.e. Luke, Mark and
John say that Jesus sat on the young colt (John 12:14, Luke 19:30 and Mark
11:2). Mark further says that no man sat on this colt.
According to Mathew, the prophecy spoken by
Zechariah was fulfilled in Zech.9: 9.
“Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King
cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an
ass”.
Both the donkey and its young one were there. Though
Jesus sat physically on the colt, prophetically He sat on both the donkey and
the colt. Jesus needs both the donkey and the colt for His ministry. There are
two types of ministries for Jesus. The spiritual elders are likened to the
donkey, whereas the spiritual children are likened to the young colt.
The donkey is leading the young colt in this kingly
march. Seeing the mother donkey by its side, the young colt does not feel the
burden on its back. The mother donkey rejoices on seeing Jesus on the back of
its colt. This shows the true fellowship of His followers. The spiritual elders in the body of Christ
should lead their spiritual children in the ministry. We find these days that
the renowned evangelists do not develop the people under them or the second
line leaders but use them as their colt.
Jesus chooses those people likened to the donkey and
the colt. He does not choose those people likened to the horse, which is used
by the kings or the soldiers. He changes the human method here. He chooses only
the foolish things of the world to confound the mighty. Dearly beloved in
Christ Jesus, you are the donkey Jesus looks for. You think that you cannot
deliver a sermon in your church. You think that you cannot sing a song in the
choir of your church. But you are the one Jesus looks for.
Jesus wants a colt on which nobody ever sat. He is
not looking for a person who is being used in a manner pleasing to men. He is
not looking for a person on whom some people sat for doing a ministry in
accordance with their own will. Dear sister, you are the young colt Jesus looks
for! One day, you will lead thousands to Christ because you are that particular
colt who will carry Christ to many nations of this world.
These days, the ministers of God likened to the
donkey take the glory due to His Name. The great multitudes that attend their
meetings do not see the Christ on the back of the donkey and the colt. In a true revival, God is glorified and the
men take their back seats. In Jerusalem, the great multitudes saw the Christ on
the donkey and the colt and rejoiced.
They spread their garments, and laid the branches of the trees in the
way and cried, “Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the
name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest”. In a true revival, the multitudes
glorify God, and not men.
The insignificant donkey and its colt performed
their assigned role in carrying Christ into Jerusalem where He was to suffer
crucifixion. The title given for this particular passage in many of the Bible
version calls it “ a triumphal entry”!
The triumphal entry would not have been possible without the role of the donkey
and the colt.
The crux of the whole message is that a minister has
to carry Christ on his back. It is not his resources or his oratorical skill,
which presents Christ to the multitudes. It is only his humility or his spirit
of meekness that presents Christ to the multitudes.
Jesus cleansing the Temple
Having made a triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the back
of a colt, Jesus went into the temple of God.
On seeing a crowd of people selling and buying there, He made a whip of
cords and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned
the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves (Mat.21:
12-13 & John 2:13-17)
What provoked the meek Jesus Who even rode on the
colt, to hold a whip of cords in His hand and to drive out them? It was because of His zeal for the house of
His Father, which was made “a house of merchandise” or “a den of thieves”.
This is the lone episode in the gospels, which
depicts the ventilation of the holy anger of the Lord to such an extent that He
physically evicted those people from the premises of the Temple. The sheep, the oxen and the doves were in
fact required for sacrifice at the altar of the Temple. There was nothing amiss with such
merchandise. However, there was
something wrong with those who bought and sold in the Temple.
Jesus was concerned about the sanctity of His
Father’s House, which was a house of prayer, and not a house of
merchandise. The merchandise should
have been kept outside the temple. The people who came to the Temple for
worship and prayer were distracted from their devotion but attracted towards
the merchandise in the temple. Jesus
was not against the merchandise as such but was against the defilement of His
Father’s house. He was against
commercialization of God’s premises. In
place of prayer, He found the tricks of the traders and the bargaining power of
those who bought such merchandise. If
they had brought the merchandise outside the temple and then entered the Temple
for prayer and worship, He would have loved their action.
These days, we commercialize our holy ministries to God. No doubt, a minister has to make a living out of the gospel but should not live in a luxurious manner at the cost of the people to whom he is supposed to minister. He or she is not supposed to make undue profit out of the free will and sacrificial offerings given by the people of God. If God has materially prospered a minister of God, he or she must minister to the poor saints in the House of God.
The other day I was watching some video CDs of some beloved servants of God in Tamil Nadu. I thank God for their wonderful talents of singing songs in Tamil language. The songs composed and sung by them are being used by many Tamil Christians all over the world. These songs and hymns are being used in many churches during their worship services. While watching such video CDs, the Holy Spirit showed me "iniquity" and caused me to behold grievance (Hab.1:3). The Holy Spirit led me to make a comparison between the video CDs of a beloved servant of God, Don Moen, who is known for his wonderful worship songs all over the world and the video CDs of my beloved brethren in Christ from Tamil Nadu. The worship songs of Don Moen were lively and natural because these scenes were recorded in a real atmosphere while the worship songs of the beloved servants of God in Tamil Nadu whom I love were recorded in an artificial atmosphere where the camera was focusing on their actions and different types of dresses. It was like viewing the TV/video programmes of cine actors and actresses. The singers were shown singing songs on the sea shores and on the banks of rivers. Really, they did not sing these worship songs on the sea shores and on the banks of rivers. These were only "their acts" as they moved only their lips. They had in fact recorded their songs in studios. Are they "acting" as actors before the living God who is a consuming fire? Do they honour the living God? Let us not mock God!
The camera of Don Moen did not only focus on Don Moen but also on other worshippers who were worshipping God. I did also watch some video CDs of worship songs being sung by the associates of Billy Graham, in memory of those singers and servants of God who had entered glory. While singing these old songs, I saw tears roll down the faces of some singers. It was very lively and lovely.
Maybe, these beloved servants of God in Tamil Nadu have adopted this "corrupt" method of the cine world just to promote their ministries. When we should make use of all the modern day tools and electronic media for promoting the gospel, care should be taken to ensure that we do not imitate the things of the world, especially of the "corrupt" cine world. Let us not adopt the "corrupt" commercial methods just to market our audio/video CDs.
Jesus cannot
tolerate the trend of commercialization in His body. Jesus did not condemn
sinners who came to Him but forgave them.
However, He took the whip in His Hand and drove those who traded inside
His holy premises.
Do we question the authority of
Jesus?
When Jesus came into the Temple, and started
teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people made a debut there and
questioned His authority. They said, “By what authority doest thou these
things? And who gave thee this authority?” (Matt.21:23-27). Jesus shut their
mouth by posing a question to them, which they could not answer.
Today also in our midst there are many church
leaders and holders of doctorate degrees in theology and Bible likened to the
chief priests and the elders of the New Testament period. These people question
the authority of Christ, the Word and the authenticity of the Bible. They say
that the miracle age is past; the gifts of the Spirit had ceased. During my
interaction with some people on the ChristianBBS.com internet, they doubted the
authenticity of the Bible and questioned the existence of the Devil.
These people have knowledge of the Bible but without
anointing of the Spirit. Knowledge of
the Bible without the anointing of the Spirit is very destructive. It is only the anointing of the Spirit which
teaches us from the Bible. “But the anointing which ye have received of Him
abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same
anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as
it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him” (I John 2:27)
Those who question the authority of the Word today
are not better than those chief priests and the elders who had lived during the
period when they had neither got the revelation of Christ nor had the presence
of the Holy spirit with them. Jesus said in Matt 12:41-42 that the men of
Nineveh and the queen of the south “shall rise in judgment with this
generation, and shall condemn it”.
Similarly, those chief priests and the elders shall rise in judgment
with this generation and shall condemn them saying that had they received the
revelation of Christ through the Holy Spirit, they would not have questioned
the authority of Jesus and also saying that had they possessed the Bible as we
have, they would not have questioned the authority or the authenticity of the
Word.
At times, we also question the authority of Jesus by
not believing in His power to heal our sickness or to perform a miracle for us. The
Centurion whose son was sick unto death in the 5th chapter of Mathew
had realized his unworthiness and had understood the authority of Jesus in
healing the diseases when he said that he as a man under authority could
command his soldiers and servants to do a certain thing. Marveling at his faith, Jesus said, “I
have not found such great faith, not even in Israel”.
Let us remember the martyrs who laid down their lives either for translating the Bible into our mother tongues or for making available the Bible to us. Let us believe in the authority and the power of Christ Jesus, and meditate on the Word of God with reverential fear and on our knees.
(By Job Anbalagan)