O Jerusalem ~Lesson 13 Mark 11:1-25
I’m
not sure that all of you are familiar with the children’s program called AWANA.
The name derived from 2 Timothy 2:15 use the first letters of Approved Workmen Are
Not Ashamed. Like CBS, it is a nondenominational group based
in local churches in the U.S. and Canada. AWANA offers bible study for toddlers to
senior high-school. (Shameful how some people brag on their grandchildren!)
This is my promise to God and to CBS. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a
workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15 KJ21
2 Timothy 2:15 KJ21
I cannot stand up here and deliver the
teaching week after week, leading you to believe that I know all of this material. Prayerfully with God’s guidance, I
dig and search and study. I spent wonderful enjoyable days surrounded by these
books and many more, using several versions of the Bible and our CBS
commentary, praying, taking notes and pondering. Then I try to condense this
wealth of information into 20 minutes for you on Thursday night. Sometimes I
finish by Tuesday. But it never comes to you until it has been approved by God
and it is well with my soul. People joke about calling me on Thursday, but it
requires quiet uninterrupted time to
allow the Holy Spirit to guide me as I finish my lecture.
On the slide you will see the books I
will reference throughout the last six lessons in our Study of Mark:
·
A Harmony of
the Gospels by Thomas and
Gundry,
·
Max Lucado’s book
entitled And the Angels Were Silent The
Final week of Jesus,
·
Halley’s
Bible Commentary,
·
Rose Guide
to The Temple,
·
Warren Weirsbe’s
Be Diligent,
·
Christ in the Passover by Ceil and
Moishe Rosen.
·
Online Bible
Commentaries found on Biblios
One
third of the Gospel of Mark and one half of the Gospel of John records the
events in the last seven days of Jesus life. My goal is to depict it as
accurately as I can. Prayer
O Jerusalem
· The Kings Triumphant
Entry
· Judgment on
Fig tree/Israel
· Jesus’ Cleansing
of His Father’s House
Jesus,
not the temple, should be the focal point of our faith and our prayers.
· The Kings Triumphant
Entry
Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem is chronicled in all four of
the gospels. In his book, Christ in
the Passover, Rosen relates that
Jerusalem of Jesus day had around had 600 thousand permanent residents. At
Passover, as many as 2 million Jewish pilgrims filled Jerusalem. Some arrived a
week or two before the festival to undergo seven days of purification.
SLIDE
6 Jesus and his followers entered the
city on the Sunday before Passover and descended from the Mount of Olives
overlooking Jerusalem from the east.
Luke 13:34
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Jesus had come as the long foretold
Messiah. For three years he had
proclaimed himself to the Jews through miracles and healings. His time had
come.
As they pass through Bethphage, known
as house of figs, Jesus commands two disciples,
Mark 11:2 “Go into the village in
front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.
3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send
it back here immediately.’”
In
the book, And the Angels were Silent, Max Lucado devotes an entire chapter
to The Guy with the Donkey. The words used to request the colt was the language
of a royal levy. Citizens were required to submit to the King any item or
service that He or one of his emissaries might request. In making such a request, Jesus is claiming to be King. He is speaking as one in authority.
In the Old Testament a donkey was a good
natured and humble animal, ridden by women and children. When entering a city, Kings
rode a colt to symbolize peaceful intentions. The colt for Jesus must be
sacred, according to the purification laws of Moses. The animal had to be perfect and unused, never having a yoke
upon his neck.
Finding
the colt was not due to a coincidence or a previous arrangement with the owner.
It showed the omniscience and authority
of Jesus in fulfilling the prophecy written about
five centuries before the birth of Jesus. Zechariah 9:9-10.
Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
10 humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
10 humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Mark
11:7 And they brought
the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8 And
many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that
they had cut from the fields.
Spreading garments before a dignitary was a
symbol of submission. They paid homage and reverence to the coming King. Palm
branches were offered also as token of victory.
Mark 11 9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting,
“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in
the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in the highest!”
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in the highest!”
Jesus was now strongly proclaiming to be a
King, better yet the true Messiah. It was a magnificent public display that attracted
notice from visitors and residents of the Holy City. Before
this event Jesus would not accept praise, but now He said, in Luke 19:40
"I
tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately
cry out".
The multitudes were jubilant as
they received Him as King. Worshipers thought Jesus was coming to conquer the Romans; the hour of
deliverance was at hand. Little did they know He did not come as a Warrior on a
white stallion but on a humble colt coming in peace, not to destroy the governments but to save mankind.
Illustrate. Lucado says the man who gave the donkey was
important in the kingdom of God. It doesn’t matter how much you give, just your
willingness be obedient.
As we minister to other during the
Christmas season, don’t stress that you don’t have the resources to be
effective. The Lord will provide for us, as we fulfill the will of God. Jesus
did not own any material possessions of this world. Yet His Father provided the
colt for His entry into Jerusalem.
Jesus, not the temple, should be the focal point of faith
and prayer.
Being the Sabbath, Jesus naturally went into the temple. v.11 And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he
went out to Bethany with the twelve. On the map notice the location of Bethany and Jerusalem.
·
Judgment on Fig tree/Israel
v. 12-14
The
next day as they came from Bethany, Jesus was hungry. At a distance he saw a fig tree, but He found nothing but leaves. 14 And he said to it, “May no
one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
Matthew Henry states: The curse on the fig tree was a
reverse of the blessing for Adam and Eve
to be fruitful.
A particular fig tree found in this
area produces fruit several times a year. Even if it was not time to harvest
figs, a few figs could be found. Clarke’s
commentary explains that Jesus did not curse the fig tree out of resentment
for not having any fruit, but to illustrate to His disciples the judgment of God on the state of the Jewish
people— an abundance of leaves but
no fruit. They practiced rituals of religion and prided themselves as God’s
chosen people—but were only hypocrites without fruit.
Basil, a fourth-century theologian, wrote, "A tree is known by its fruit; a
man by his deeds. . . ." The fruit that God wants to see are the
expressions of His Spirit working through our interactions with others. John 15:8 Jesus said, “By this My
Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; "
This is what our lives as Christians
should be: growing and producing fruit such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness
and goodness that glorifies God. Thanks to that fig tree on the way to
Jerusalem, we have a vivid example to keep us on the straight and narrow path
to the Kingdom of God.
Jesus
and not the temple is the focal point of our faith and our prayer.
·
Jesus Cleansing of His Father’s House
Passover was
one the holiest of Festivals for the Jewish people. Deuteronomy 16:16 tells us "every able bodied man was
commanded by the Law of Moses to present himself before the Lord in Jerusalem."
Pilgrims came from all regions and
many countries for the sacred celebration. Upon arrival they were obligated to
fulfill two requirements:
o
First
provide an animal for sacrifice
o
Second pay
a temple tax
Besides being a hardship to travel
with animals, each one inspected by the Priests must be perfect and without
blemish. These sellers were approved by the Jewish leaders of the temple for a
price. It was a profitable business, central to the temple economy. Surely any
animal brought from outside the temple was held to harsher standard. The money
changer also had a profitable enterprise exchanging local and foreign money for
the pure silver Tyrian shekel the
only coin acceptable in the temple. Rose Book
R.C. Sproul
Pilgrims paid exorbitant rates to change money, and sellers exploited those in
poverty, overcharging for the poor man’s offering of pigeons and doves. To make
things worse, these merchants set up shop in the Court of the Gentiles, making
it useless as a place of prayer due
to the hustle and bustle the buying and selling created.
Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those
who bought in the temple, and he
overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the
temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be
called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of
robbers.”
18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and
began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him,(O) because the whole crowd was amazed
at his teaching.
19 When evening
came, they[e]
went out of the city(Barnes commentary God will never hold guiltless those who exploit the privilege of worship. This was not an impulsive show of anger remember Jesus had gone into the temple the day before. God is slow to anger; that he does not "at once" smite the guilty, but waits patiently before he rebukes and chastises.
R.C.
Sproul We cannot underestimate the
importance of this act. It showed Jesus as having authority to purify and take
charge of the temple, a messianic task. Ezek. 43
Examine the commercialism surrounding this
season of Christ’s birth. Let’s make sure we keep Christ in Christmas where he
belongs. Don’t let preparation cause you to miss the JOY of the season.
Jesus must be our the focal point of
our Christian faith and prayer
In the morning, they saw the fig tree
withered away to its roots. Peter
remembered, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
22 And Jesus taught them… Reminding them again
The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree
•
Have faith in God,
•
Believe
without doubting
•
Pray in
God’s will
•
Forgive and
you will be forgiven
Are you willing to make Jesus the
focus of your holiday season?
PRAYER
