Everything Jesus did has significance. Even riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was important!

2:6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Sunday in Sunday’s Cool (Sunday School), we discussed the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that fateful week. But, before we actually read the passage in Matthew 21, we had some Old Testament reading to do:

⁹ Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
    Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
    righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
¹⁰ I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
    and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
    and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
    His rule will extend from sea to sea
    and from the [Euphrates] River to the ends of the earth.

There are several things to note in this passage:

1. Daughter Zion is Israel, specifically, Jerusalem.
2. The text proclaims that the person riding on the foal of a donkey is King of Israel.
3. The Jesus Way is Peace. Eventually, Jesus will do away with war. His Church is proclaiming His peace to the nations even today!
4. The imagery in the boundaries of His rule projects to the entire world. The kingdom of heaven is growing like a mustard seed, like yeast in dough.

Another passage to look at before reading about the Triumphal Entry is Daniel 2:34-35,

³⁴ While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

What can we glean from this passage?

1. The Rock was cut by God and is Jesus.
2. Jesus struck the worldview of His day and completely overturned it.
3. The rock is a picture of the Church that became a huge mountain over three centuries and is now in the process of filling the whole earth.
4. Though this passage does not directly speak to the Triumphal Entry, that Entry is the beginning of the Passion Week in which the “statue” of the age is brought down.

Daniel prophesied this event and even gave us the timing of this event:

²⁴ “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city [Jerusalem] to finish sin, to set an end to sin, to wipe out lawlessness, to atone for wrongdoings, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Holy of Holies.” LXX

What weeks? Finish sin? Atone for wrongdoings? Bring in everlasting righteousness? What’s it all about? We will discuss this verse and the following two verses tomorrow!

Abba, Help us to comprehend the magnitude of Your accomplishment that week–or, at least, to begin to start to comprehend (I have the feeling that we will be discovering the magnitude of what You did for us for eternity). Speak to our hearts, O Lord, and help us know and experience the width, length, depth and height of Your love. Amen.