TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE: MATTTHEW 21:1-11
KEY VERSE
Tell the daughters of Zion, Behold your King is coming to you,
Lowly and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey..
Matthew21:5
INTRODUCTION AND STUDY
The Lord Jesus had come to earth and as prophesied had healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, and solved the many health problems of the people. He taught the people what God wanted them to do. They learned the truth from Jesus. The people of Israel did not have much support from the priests, the Levites, the Pharisees and the Scribes who were leaders of the nation and had the task of helping, teaching, and guiding the people in the worship of God.
Jesus became the main source of help and He did the job that the Messiah had been prophesied to do. He had warned His disciples that after His three and a half years of ministry He would go to Jerusalem and be tried and crucified by an alliance of Jews and RomansJesusJ as the prophecy had predicted.ItIGod also has done great things for usG
So Jesus bravely went to die on the Cross to bear the sinsof all of us so that God the Father would forgive us and bring us close to Him in a family relationship.
Jesus was Messiah and was the King that God had given to save and lead Israel. The prophet Zechariah had predicted that the Messiah would have to come to Jerusalem as the Memory Selection and Key verse stated. The prophet Zechariah had said many hundred of years before it actually happened that Jesus the Messiah would come riding s young donkey into the city instead of riding a magnificent war stallion as some kings would have done.
Jesus was humble and peaceful and He wanted the people to see that God the Father would give the people a humble, peaceful but powerful king to save them. So Jesus healed two blind men who called Him Lord and the Son of David, which meant they knew He was the long ago promised Messiah and King. Jesus healed the men and they could now see. They joined the large group of pilgrims going to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.
When some owners of a young donkey that no man have ever ridden allowed Jesus to take their animal for His use, Jesus rode the donkey and many people went before Him and many followed Him shouting Hosanna which meant God saved and Blessed for they believed that Jesus was the Messiah and promised King who was now come to save the people of the nation.
They spread their clothes on the road before the donkey on which Jesus rode to celebrate Jesus’ coming to the city and they shouted with great joy. Not everyone knew Jesus was the promised King and Messiah and so they asked the crowd who He was to make them make such a great celebration.
But the rulers of Jerusalem did not like the fact that the people loved Jesus and celebrated His visit and they plotted to kill Him. This was exactly what the prophet Zechariah had said would happen to the Messiah.
We call this entry into Jerusalem by Jesus the Triumphal Entry and some believe it was done on Easter Sunday. So people celebrate this event. It was a joyful event forit meant Jesus was showing the nation that the King and Messiah had indeed come. Some believed but some did not accept this and so the nation was eventually destroyed for they rejected the Salvation that Jesus had brought. So it was not a joyful event for some for the things that would follow this rejection of Jesus would not be nice.
We therefore encourage you to accept Jesus, to love Him, and trust Him. It will not be good to reject Jesus. It will bring great pleasures and rewards to have Him come into your life.