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into Jerusalem appears in all four of the Gospel accounts indicates some thing as to its importance.- Christ’s ministry would not have been com plete, or His willingnesg to be Israel’s King evident, without this final and official offer of Himself to His people shortly before His death. It is also in complete harmony with His in fi nite compassion. - 2. "Ye shall find a colt tied, where on never man sat" (Mk. 11:2). This statement relative to the kind of an animal Jésus was to ride into the city makes one think of the statement con cerning the k i n d of a sepulcher to which His body was to be taken after the crucifixion, “ a new sepulchre, wherein was n e v e r man yet laid” (John 19:41).' Both these statements suggest that our Lord was in a very definite s e n s e different and apart from all other men. He is “ holy, harm less, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb. 7:26). Though He was like men in possessing a human nature, yet He was very much unlike them in His works and ways. And surely He was different from all men when He came riding into Jerusalem to of fer Himself as King and Saviour. 3. ."Say ye that the Lord hath need of him" (v. 3). The Creator of heaven and earth had nëed of a humble ass. Does this seem 'strange? And yet again and a g a i n we see our Lord “needing” the very things He Himself had created and owned. It is one of the evidences of His humiliation. It is also one of the evidences of His grace. In accordance ’ with His purpose and plan today, he “ needs” the testimony, the service, the talents, the time, the possessions, the hands, and hearts of those who love Him. The Lord hath need o f your dedicated life, my reader. 4. "When he had looked around about upon all things . . . he went out unto Bethany" (v. 11). With observing eyes, eyes “ as a flame- of fire,” Jesus took in all that was going on in the temple, all the unholy traffic, all the irreverence, and thoughtlessness. Noth ing missed His gaze. But He did nothing about it then. He quietly departed to Bethany with the twelve. Tithe was given fo r things to be made right at the temple. The “ den of thieves” could have been transformed into “the house o f prayer.” But the morrow revealed that there was no such thought in the minds o f those who were desecrating God’s house. How often it is so! Christ prolongs His days of grace so that men may turn from, their sin unto Him but, alas, they trifle with the ex tended mercy and reap sore condem nation. * . — Golden Text Illustration M ark 14:61, 62 A Jewish soldier had been attending services where he heard much o f the
It not written, My house shall be called of aliénations the house of prayer? but ye have made It a den of thieves. 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard ItsT and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. LESSON TEXT: Mk. 11:1-10, 15-18. GOLDEN TEXT: “ Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art .thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am” (Mk. 14:61, 62).: DEVOTIONAL READING: Isa. 32:1-8. Outline and Exposition I. T he P reparation ( 1 - 6 ) ^ ’TT’^HE LORD Jesus C h r i s t was .now entering u p o n the final -I stage o f His ministry on earth, which Would be crowned at Calvary. He knew, of course, what lay before Him, but He would carry to comple tion all that was the will o f God for Him and had been prophesied con cerning' Him. The nation must be given its full opportunity to accept Messiah, and this so-called triumphal entry offered that-opportunity. It was a dramatic but short-lived triumph. The “ colt whereon never man sat” accorded with the custom that only unused animals were fit for sacred purposes (cf. 1 Sam. 6:7). Jesus re vealed that He possessed omniscience, for He was aware of even the most minute details: the colt would be found tied; it would be outside the court yard, contrary to custom; certain per sons would be near it; these individ uals would object to the disciples’ taking it, but finally would, allow it to be taken. Christ also exercised kingly authority, commandeering the colt, acting as the representative of God who owns everything on earth. The disciples obeyed promptly, with out question or argument, showing how the King should be obeyed what ever His commands may be. n . T he P rophets F ulfilled (7-10) • The prophets declared that Messiah would come in regal manner, yet with meekness and in lowliness. It was God who made Him King and hence, while claiming full authority over the people, Christ would show complete submission to the One who appointed' Him. The casting of garments in the way, arid the spreading of branches before Jesus were an acknowledgment of His position and His clairns. Likewise was Mordecai honored as the repre sentative o f the ruling authority of his day (Esth. 6:11). The people heralded Christ as King as they cried, “Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name o f the Lord” (v. 9; cf.Zech. 9:9; Psa. 118:24- 26). Had they understood all their prophets had spoken, they would have known that His rejection and death
B L A C K B O A R D LESSON
must precede His coming reign. But they did recognize in Him the Prince of peatfe fri fulfillment of their proph ets. Until this hour He had forbid den the disciples to proclaim Him as King, but now the hour had come, and He openly and definitely presented Himself as Messiah. “Hosanna” means “ save now,” and it is a prayer rather than an acclamation. “Hosanna in the. highest” nieans: “May the salva tion prepared on high be present upon earth.” Calmly and without question Jesus accepted the people’s homage and acknowledgment of who and what He was. No one'can read this passage Without either accepting the people’s understanding o f w h a t Jesus was, ■or else accusing Him of open dishon esty. He was Messiah then, and He will be Messiah when He comes again with majesty and power to reign throughout all the earth. m . T he P osition A ssumed (15-18) Christ rebuked the practice of using the temple courts as the scene of graft that was carried on under the guise o f proper business. The evil occurred in connection with, the people’s com ing to buy animals fo r sacrifice, or exchanging their Roman or G r e e k .money for the shekels o f the sanctu ary. Jesus accused the people o f making the house, which, was appointed to be a h o u s e o f prayer, to be a den of thieves. As Dean Farrar points out, perhaps the reference was to the “ foul caves . . . where brigands wrangled over their ill-gotten gains.” The place of communion with God had become a place o f commerce between men; the place of God’s glory had become the place of material gain; and the spir itual benefits had been forgotten in the striving fo r business on earth. This same situation becomes one of the . g r a v e dangers besetting the church today, whenever the h o u s e dedicated to God and His service is abandoned to men and their means of material gain.
Points and Problems
1. The fact that the record o f the so-called triumphal entry of our Lord
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