Luke 19:28-48

To log onto UNITYINCHRIST.COM’S BLOG, Click Here

Share on Facebook

Luke 19:28-48

“And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him. And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them. And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt? And they said, The Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon. And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way. And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation. And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves. And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, and could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.”

“‘Father we thank you for this opportunity to gather, to sing your praises, and Lord to have this wonderful place to come to. But Lord, we are longing, Lord, for your presence, Lord for an outpouring of your Spirit. Lord, we appreciate all that you’ve, Lord, the people that we have being saved, and Father the growth of the church here, and the different ministries, and the school and basketball and soccer leagues, Lord, all that we see around us. But Lord, we long for something greater from heaven, Lord. We long Father for deeper a and greater experience, Lord, of holiness, of your presence Lord, of your love, of your Spirit. And Lord we believe in our hearts we’re praying according to your will, Lord we believe that we’re asking just what you would want to ask. And Lord your Word tells us that you’re committed for your Son to be in us, and to continue that good work. Father we know that there are many things in our hearts, Lord, that resist that, Father, there are many parts of all of us that are selfish, and so desperately need to change Lord, and we cry out to you. We look to you Lord, because of your love and commitment to us Lord, expectantly Lord we look to you, because we know it’s your good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. So Father our hearts are open before you tonight, we thank you Lord that we can gather publicly. We continue to look for your presence Lord, be in our midst as we now worship Father in your Word and fellowship, we put these things before you, Lord in Jesus name, amen.’

Review of Last Week

Chapter 19, verse 28 says, “And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.” ‘When he had thus spoken,’ this is on the heels of Zacchaeus being called down from the tree by Jesus, the most no doubt notorious sinner in many ways in Roman Jericho, and maybe the most hated man by the religious Jews in that area. Jesus then going to his house to sit down and eat supper with him, which was, for all intent purposes in the minds of the religious Jews and the other people, that Jesus was actually becoming one with Zacchaeus, this sinner, this person who they would look upon with distain. And some of them then began to grumble against Jesus, that he would sit down, they took note that he ate with tax gatherers and prostitutes and drunks and sinners, and they didn’t understand at all. Because they were looking for this Messiah to come and elevate Israel, and it looked like Jesus was dragging Israel down in their minds, in some ways. And Jesus knowing their complaining, then tells this parable of a nobleman who travels into a far country and equally distributes to those whom he leaves behind of his own goods, of his riches, of his treasures. And that upon returning, he looks to see what they have done with that. He had gone, he says, to receive a kingdom, picturing himself in the parable. Jesus is gone to receive a Kingdom it tells us in Revelation 19 when he returns he returns as King. He doesn’t receive it when he gets here, he has received it at his Father’s throne. And that then he spoke to those who had been faithful to him, in yielding their own lives to him, and rewarded them. And he spoke to one who had done nothing, I believe picturing those who come to Christ and want him as Saviour, but not really as Lord. In so many ways, yes they believe, and they’re saved by belief. But it says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 that they’re saved as of by fire, there’s no reward, they haven’t done anything in their service for Christ. And then lastly, it pictures those, the Lord says ‘Bring them,’ the nobleman said, ‘bring them to me who would not have me reign over them, bring them hither that I may slay them, slay them before me’, which definitely pictures the unbeliever, the one who would not receive him. So it seems, and it’s a parable, so we can’t build dogma on it, it says that their are pictured those who are saved, they serve Christ, who yield there lives, who in response to his love are looking to serve him and have him as Saviour and Lord. It also seems it pictures those who are carnal Christians, never grow, never produce any fruit. Not disbelievers, but misbelievers. And it seems then thirdly there are those, the soulish man, the man who doesn’t want Christ to rule over him. And then he says ‘Bring them before me and slay them.’ “And then when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.” Now, the interesting thing is, “then when he had thus spoken”, we kind of listen to that, ‘Man, that is really difficult to hear, ‘Bring them before me and slay them in my presence.’ You know, this is Jesus picturing himself in a parable. What kind of a thing is this?---‘Bring them in front of me and slay them in my presence.’ And we think, ‘Boy that is not in keeping with the Jesus they sing about in Sunday school, who is meek and mild, and that we have come to love. What kind of crescendo is that to put on a parable? That’s kind of a bummer ending on this whole thing.’ But we have to understand that this is in context with Zacchaeus, this is in context with Jesus saying ‘The door is open to anyone.’ We have to understand that it’s a doubled-edged sword, yes it swings that way in judgment, but it swings the other way in grace, and it swings the other way in grace to where some people are almost afraid of it. Yes, he wants to rule over our lives, and the remarkable thing is he’ll take a heroine addict and rule over his life, and he’ll take a prostitute and rule over her life, and he’ll take junkies and rule over their lives, and he’ll take an adulterer and he’ll take a murderer and he’ll take a thief, and he’ll take such as us, he’ll take anybody. Anybody can come to Jesus, Jesus will love and save and wash and cleanse anybody. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it doesn’t matter how sinful you’ve been. It doesn’t matter how little you deserve, you know in your own mind, his love and his forgiveness. It doesn’t matter if you are the worst person sinful-wise on the face of the earth in your own estimation, that’s the kind of King we’re looking for, it’s the only kind of King I could bring my life to, the one who would receive us just the way we are. No wonder he says now at the end of all this, ‘Bring those before me who would not have me to reign over them.’ There is no other alternative. If he is this King who comes the first time, not descending to Jerusalem, but ascending to Jerusalem to die on the cross. Oh he will come and descend to Jerusalem. That’s a different picture, that’s Revelation chapter 19, that is the real triumphal entry. This is Jesus ascending to Jerusalem. And accompanying him is blind Bartimaeus [who is no longer blind, by the way], and Simon who used to be a leper, and Mary Magdalene who had seven demons, and Mary and Martha and his disciples still not understanding, fighting over whose going to be the greatest and sit on his right hand and left hand. Also following him are tax gatherers and prostitutes and Zacchaeus and sinners that are notable, whose lives have been transformed by his love. And his parable says all can come, that this nobleman distributes to all equally, there’s equal opportunity, anybody can come, doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it doesn’t matter how terrible you’ve been. Paul the apostle, Saul of Tarsus, who used to hate Christians, who persecuted the Church, it says he hauled men and women off to prison, he divided families, he killed Christians, he made people at the point of the sword blaspheme the name of Jesus. And Jesus came to him, and revealed himself to him, and saved him, and loved him, and put him into his service and made him the apostle of grace. No wonder he says, ‘Now for those who would have none of this, for those who don’t want a kingdom of love and a kingdom of forgiveness, bring them before me and slay them in my presence.’ It isn’t as though they had been excluded, “they would not have him to reign over them.” And there are Christ-rejecters in this world, who will not change, who have opportunity, who want nothing to do with him. We live in a land, where I think some just are ready to mock and persecute Christians, who don’t want anything to do at all with Christ, or Bible-believing Christians. And yet, I think how many of them might be like Saul of Tarsus, who maybe it’s a turmoil in their heart, maybe it’s some conviction. You know if you have relatives, sometimes right before they get saved, they are the knarliest, meanest, low-down junk-yard dog you ever met. And that’s because they’re under such conviction they’re miserable. Sometimes right before they get saved, you don’t even want to be around them, you want them to move to another planet. And then you see their lives transformed, and you realize, ‘Lord, they were just miserable you were all over them with your love and your grace, and they couldn’t stand it.’ So there are those that are resisting today, and I think there are many who have just never heard. How many, sitting in churches? I grew up in a religious system, I never heard, never heard, didn’t know that he loved me the way I was, that he would forgive me and transform my life, that he would receive me with my doubts and my fears and my sin. I didn’t know that it wasn’t a religion, it was a relationship. And it sounds harsh, ‘Bring them here and slay them before me, but they are those who would not have me.’ Isn’t it interesting? He doesn’t come as a tyrant, he doesn’t come as the Law-giver, Moses. He comes as the Saviour, and that means he’s come to fix our sin problem. If he came as a plumber, we’d know that our pipes are in trouble. If he came as an electrician, we would know we had an electrical problem. He doesn’t come as a teacher or a guru, he comes as a Saviour, which means we have a sin problem. But he comes as a Saviour to fix that. And the door then is open, like the parable he tells, to any, to all, sinners, whatever condition, to come.

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem

Then it says he begins to “ascend to Jerusalem.” “And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem”---to die, there will be a time when he descends to Jerusalem, Revelation 19. “And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.” (verses 28-31) Isn’t it interesting, Zachariah says he’s going to come the second time to the Mount of Olives too, and when he touches down the mountain’s going to split in half. This time he comes to the Mount of Olives, and it’s an interesting picture because all through his ministry he resisted. When they wanted to make him king he forced his disciples into the boat, when he fed the multitudes and sent them away, dispersed the crowds, and all through his ministry he had resisted when people wanted to take him right there and make him king. Now for the first time, he is orchestrating, and he said ‘You go over to the village, you’ll find the colt tied there, and the foal. You bring them to me. If anybody says ‘What are you doing?’ you say ‘The Lord has need of him’ and they’ll let them come, you do all of this.’ Because he’s fulfilling a remarkable prophecy on this day. Now, I think it’s interesting that Mark and Luke tell us it’s a donkey upon whom never a man sat. Now that removes all of our excuses, because donkeys are known for their stubbornness, if you know anything about donkeys. And to climb on one that’s never had a man on his back before is an interesting problem, unless you are the one who created the donkey. And the donkey’s bearing testimony to his Lordship when the people are having a hard time with him, what a silent rebuke he is to the stubbornness of human beings. They bring to him a donkey upon whom a man had never sat, and Jesus climbed on his back, and that donkey bore him, and submitted to his Lordship. “And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them. And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt? And they said, The Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon. And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.” (verses 32-35) Now John chapter 12 says “and they spread palm branches” too, that’s where we get the idea of Palm Sunday, they spread palm branches in the way [which I believe was Palm Friday, the 9^th of Nisan recall from a chronological study paper written about the Last Six Days of Jesus life. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/lastsix.htm]. No doubt in their own hearts thinking of the Feast of Tabernacles, thinking that the Kingdom was about to be established [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows2.htm], thinking that they’re in this memorial Feast, remembering the wilderness journey being over, that the time of their journey as a nation had ended, the Messiah was there. “And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives,” verse 37, “the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they has seen;” Now we’re told in John, two things are happening, there is a multitude of disciples with him. Remember Jerusalem at the mandatory Feasts swelled from a normal population of about 600,000 to between two and three million. So there are people from all over Galilee, people from all over the area of Judea and so forth, that have known his ministry that are excited, they believe at least he’s a prophet, some think he’s the Messiah, and they’re excited, they’re following him. And John tells us that another group begin to pour out of Jerusalem at his descent, they see him coming, and they kind of meet him. And the crowds are rejoicing as Jesus comes. And blind Bartimaeus is in the crowd, Simon who used to be a leper is in the crowd, Lazarus who used to be dead is in the crowd, you know, it’s an interesting crowd that’s coming with him. James and John send their mom, ‘Mom, go ask him, can one of us sit on his right hand and one of us sit on his left hand’, you know. And you can imagine Peter and the other guys, ‘I can’t believe they got their mom, you know, mamma’s boys…’ It’s an amazing scene. They come out crying, verse 38, “saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.” (verses 38-39) Now, they’re not calling him Master because he’s their master, it just means ‘teacher.’ ‘Teacher, rebuke thy disciples.’ “And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these”---his disciples---“should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” (verse 40) There’s an interesting scene now, Jesus ascending to Jerusalem. Jesus telling this parable about his love going to anyone whose willing to receive it. Jesus seeing into the future, short-term, long-term, he says to the guys going over to Bethpage you’re going to find a colt tied up. He saw it ahead of time. When he comes now, descending to Jerusalem, he weeps over Jerusalem and he foretells the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus is looking down through time, realizing he had come to die for the sins of the world, that he’s the Saviour of the world, and realizing how he would be rejected by so many including his own people. And yet he knows that the Word of God is being manifest. Zachariah the Prophet had said this, “Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion, shout O daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy King cometh unto thee. He is just, and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon the colt, the foal of an ass.” It tells this in Psalm 118, and it’s the Hillel Psalms that they’re quoting from which were Messianic, “Save now, I beseech thee O LORD, O LORD send thee now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD.” That’s what they’re quoting. And the Pharisees know that this is Messianic, ‘It’s blasphemous, they’re claiming that you’re the Messiah. Tell your disciples to stop.’ Jesus knowing that the Word of God that had waited for hundreds of years to manifest in this time-space world, Jesus says to them ‘This has to happen.’ Zachariah says it’s a day of rejoicing, ‘Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion’ they’re going to cry out. Psalm 118 says ‘Cry out and shout, this is the day the LORD has made, it’s marvelous in our eyes, this is the LORD’s doing…Save now, blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.’ Jesus said ‘If they were to be quiet, the Word of God would go right down through their feet into the ground, and the rocks would start to cry out, because someone, something has to fulfill the Scripture at this point in time.’ Now, when we go to Jerusalem, by the way, this is a great gift, when we come down the Mount of Olives, you just go with most tour companies, they take you where the bus drives. In Jesus’ day there was no bus that brought him down the Mount of Olives. And they kind of drive on the road that’s drivable, but there is a ravine and a very steep road that the busses can’t go on, a trail that comes down, which is no doubt the Palm Sunday road [Palm Friday, if you want to be accurate, historically], and when you come down that road you’ll see pieces of bedrock that are sticking out of the ground that were there 2,000 years ago, that witnessed this scene. And you can always tell people from Calvary Chapel, because they’re fairly Biblically literate, and they’re there hacking off pieces of bedrock, banging them, because they make great paperweights, you bring them home for your friends, they don’t cost anything, and Israel is glad to get rid of rocks. And you bring them home and give them to your friends, and you say ‘These are the rocks that would have cried out, these are the rocks that were right there, they were watching.’ And it doesn’t cost anything, and it makes your suitcase heavy, but great gifts. Zachariah said he was bringing salvation. They didn’t perceive it. Incredibly Psalm 118 says “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD”, they’re crying out loud this very verse. “We have blessed you out of the house of the LORD, God is the LORD which hath showed us light”, that hears the light, “Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.” Jesus was coming to be the sacrificial lamb. They’re crying out the first half, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.” And it says then, it says “God has given us light” and they were in darkness, because the light was “take the sacrifice and bind him with cords, even to the horns of the alter”, Jesus was coming to take away the sin of the world. The Pharisees are offended, they have no idea what’s going on. James and John, the disciples are fighting over whose going to sit on his right hand, and whose going to sit on his left hand, they think he’s going to set up his throne in Jerusalem, and they’re the a-postles, not the b-postles, they don’t have an idea what’s going on. Everybody in the crowd is screaming, they think ‘This is the day!’.

Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem

Jesus, it says, is sitting in the midst of this, weeping, and the Greek word means “convulsing”, audibly weeping out loud. Look, verse 41, “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,” he is convulsing over the city. Because he knew why he was come. He knew the door was open to anyone, any sinner to come, in any condition. He knew the day would come when he would not be ascending to Jerusalem, but he would be descending from heaven, Lord of lords, King of kings, with his vesture dipped in blood. He knew the door of grace was being opened to a lost world, and he knew that he would be rejected of his own, Romans chapter 11. And he says it right here. And his heart is broken over those who don’t see, over those who don’t perceive. And he is the same today, he is the same today. The Bible says he is the same yesterday, today and forever. And I believe he’s brokenhearted over a world that is inebriated, anesthetized with all of the pleasures of this world, I believe that he is brokenhearted over a world that is just rolling along, people completely unaware. Jesus says about his return, in Luke 21, ‘Take heed to yourselves that your hearts are not dulled by eating and drinking and all the cares of this life, so that that moment come upon you like a snare’, because it’s going to catch the whole world unaware. And there isn’t a single thing that prohibits Jesus Christ from coming tonight. He can come tonight. [Comment: That is the belief of those who hold the Dispensational, Rapturist pre-millennial interpretation of prophecy. Classic pre-millennial believers do not believe that.] You know when we get to Luke 21, if the Lord tarries and we get to Luke 21 [so far he’s tarried 16 years from when Pastor Joe spoke this till now, 2012], we’re going to talk about his teaching on the 2^nd coming. And we’re watching some things in the world right now with great interest wondering, wondering. [Some things are taking place right now of even greater significance, like the formation of the power-block titled in Daniel 11:40 as “the king of the south.”] I just received a fax the other day that the CIA is ready to release photographs of Noah’s Ark taken between 1965 and 1975. They don’t release the good ones because they don’t want other nations in the world to see how good their resolution is. And that is important. And I think we have the right, to have covert things. Joshua sent spies into Jericho. There’s wisdom in it. But isn’t it interesting they’re actually talking about this, you can pull it up on the Internet. [for one interesting source on this see: http://www.cyberdelix.net/parvati/cianoah.htm. Or do a google search by typing in “CIA and Noah’s Ark”] Now they’re getting ready to release these photos. Not popular with Islam, because Islam says it’s on a mountain several hundred miles south of there, which doesn’t do a lot for the Koran if it’s, you know, on the other mountain. But you and I should say, ‘Thank you, Lord.’ “As in the days of Noah, so it shall be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.” If nothing else, is he telling us to stay on our toes? No doubt, because he told them 2,000 years ago to stay on their toes. We look at what’s going on with terrorism in the world today [and 9/11 hadn’t even happened when he spoke this], we look at this Y2K problem coming 500 days from now [which never amounted to much at all]…And I think Jesus is brokenhearted today over those who are going on, unaware, thinking that things are just going to continue, as Peter says, “as they were from the beginning.” Jesus wept over the city, he’s convulsing, he’s crying. Look at what he says, verse 42, “saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee,”---Titus Vespacian and the Roman Legions---“and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another;”---listen please---“because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” (verses 42-44) Jesus is holding them accountable to know. Jesus said one of the leavens of the Pharisees and Sadducees is that they would say, ‘Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning; red sky at night, sailor’s delight,’ they can discern the weather. Pharisaism and Saddduceism, they can discern the natural things going on around them, but Jesus says they can’t discern the signs of the times. Jesus says this, he’s weeping over Jerusalem, and he said ‘If you had only known the things that belong to thy peace in this thy day.’ And he says because they were unaware of what was going on, the Roman Legions would come. They surrounded the city for almost a year. There was plague in the city, there was cannibalism in the city. Titus Vespacian who was not a believer, raised his head to heaven, and Josephus said he said “God, don’t hold me accountable for this.” Things were so horrendous inside Jerusalem, by the time they broke in, a Roman soldier then setting the Temple on fire, the gold dome around the temple melting down, running between the stones, and the Roman soldiers pried every stone apart, they didn’t leave one stone upon another, exactly what Jesus said, to scrape the gold out from between the stones, because there was no mortar between them, and as the gold melted in the fire it ran between the stones. It happened exactly the way Jesus said it was going to happen. And he said, ‘You should have been aware of this particular day.’

Remarkable Prophecy In Daniel 9---We Want To Be Aware, Jesus Held The Jews of His Day Accountable

Now it is one of the most remarkable prophecies in all of the Old Testament, from Daniel chapter 9. Daniel, a student of prophecy himself, in Babylon, carried away, because of Israel’s idolatrous practices, is in Babylon. And he realizes ‘We have been in Babylon for 70 years.’ And he says he looked at Jeremiah’s prophecies that said ‘You will be carried away to Babylon until seventy years are fulfilled.’ And then he said he began to pray, and he began to seek the LORD, Daniel, because he sensed that they were at the end of this 70-year punishment, captivity. And it says that it was at the time of the evening sacrifice, and the Temple had been leveled for seventy years, and Daniel in his heart was still a worshipper. And he began to seek God, and the Bible says that Gabriel came to him, that angel. And Gabriel said to him, in particular in regards to this day, ‘From the time the commandment goes forth to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of Messiah-megiv, the Prince, the Messiah will be 483 years, with 360 days in each year.’ Gabriel said to Daniel, ‘From the time the commandment goes forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah comes,’ you figure it out, it’s 173,880 days. If you want to look into this remarkable prophecy on your own, there is a book written, ‘The Coming Prince’ by Sir Robert Anderson, who was the head of Scotland Yard. And he breaks down the entire prophecy. He was Knighted for the book. You can get it in the bookstore. Not from the time the Temple was to be restored, but from the time Jerusalem was to be rebuilt and restored, March 14^th 445BC, Artaxerxes Longhand gave the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. You take March 14^th 445BC, you add to it 173,880 days, and it brings you out to April 6^th, 32AD, Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus is riding into Jerusalem was the day the Old Testament prophecied, from the time the commandment goes forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Messiah, will be 173,880. And Jesus said ‘If you had only known, thou at least in this thy day, the things that belong to your peace.’ It was the exact day. Jesus held them accountable to understand prophecy, to know the Scripture. [Comment: “From the going forth of the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem” was first given by Cyrus in 457BC. Verse 25 of Daniel 9 states “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven [prophetic] weeks [a day for a year principle], and threescore and two weeks” [that’s 7 + 62 = 69 weeks. 360 x 69 weeks = 483 days. Day for a year principle, that equals 483 years. 457BC + 483 = 26AD. Adding 1 for the year 0 gives you 27AD, which is when Jesus Christ’s public ministry started. He died about three years later on either 30AD or 31AD. Both of those dates had the Passover occurring on a Wednesday. Three days and three nights after this Passover day [which occurred on Wednesday] Jesus rose from the dead, around sundown Saturday evening of that same week. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/lastsix.htm. Pastor Joe is calculating (as was Sir Anderson did) on the wrong proclamation. The original proclamation to go forth and restore Jerusalem was given by Cyrus the Great in 457BC, not Artaxerxes Longhand, his descendant.] Now, in that prophecy, there is one seven year period left, yet to be fulfilled [true]. And that is a seven year period of 360 days a year, not 365. It says the anti-christ will seek to change times and seasons. I wonder, when everything goes bizerk 500 days from now [didn’t happen, looking back], if they’re going to have to come up with a calendar that the world can jump back on together. I don’t know. I didn’t say that, I said “I wonder.” Don’t quote me saying that, I didn’t say that. It’s enough to make me pray a little harder. Will it put us into turmoil? I know that a number of months ago, Cheyenne Mountain, NORAD, put into their computers a date beyond 2000, and everything locked up. And of course they were very relieved to get it unlocked, because sometimes things don’t unlock. Part of our missile system has been tested. They said 50 percent fired at random, 50 percent shut-down. That’s not encouraging. We’re told the anti-christ is going to come on the scene, and he’s going to sign a treaty to bring peace to the world, particularly in the Middle East, that it will explode there, to a degree, not completely yet. [Comment: “particularly in the Middle East,” between the Israelis and Arabic nations and Palestinians, who probably will be in military gridlock, threatening major war in the Middle East. This scenario is getting very close, as an Arabic/Islamic Caliphate appears to be forming with the help of the Muslim Brotherhood, in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Syria. This Caliphate will probably be led by Cairo, Egypt, and stretch from the northern border of Syria (the Turkish border) to Tunisia, placing Israel in a Muslim Brotherhood sandwich. For the first time the Israelis are going to find themselves facing a united, not disunited, Arabic military threat. If Israel’s existence is seriously threatened like that, she would undoubtedly use her 200+ nuclear warheads. Someone will have to step into the gap and broker a peace treaty. That is the way this is panning out presently. Watch for the formation of this “king of the south” spoken of in Daniel 11:40, that is the next prophetic key that will unlock the period of time known as the Great Tribulation.] The anti-christ comes on the scene and it says he ratifies or confirms “a covenant” with the nation of Israel. Now there are a number of, the Oslo Accords, a number of things in place now. It doesn’t say he’s going to invent it, he’s going to ratify, to confirm it. And it says, he’s going to sign a treaty and guarantee Israel seven years of peace. And the Bible tells us that from the day that treaty is signed, it will be seven years “to the day” [until the literal 2^nd coming of Jesus Christ], to the fulfillment of the rest of this prophecy. The first major part of it was fulfilled to the day, the second, only seven year part of it, not the 483 year part of it, the seven year part of it will also be fulfilled to the day. We know the day that Christ is going to return to set up his Kingdom [i.e. at the very end of those seven years, “to the day”], we don’t know the day or the hour he comes for his Church. We know, when he comes “with us,” when he comes for us, two different things. [Comment: The Calvary Chapels believe that Jesus will come for his Church sometime just before the anti-christ and false prophet make their appearance in Europe. Should they make their appearance while “they are still on earth,” not Raptured, they will then realize they need to rethink their Rapture doctrine interpretation of end-time prophecy. See: http://www.unityinchrist.com/mathew/Matthew24-1-31.htm.] But you and I are held accountable just like they were held accountable, to look around and put together a scenario. We can’t be dogmatic, we can’t carve it in stone, but certainly we are the generation of the Church that’s closer to the 2^nd coming of Jesus Christ than any generation of the Church that’s ever lived, even if he doesn’t come for a million years. It behooves us to be more aware than any generation that’s ever lived, in regards to the return of Christ. The key to the prophetic timetable is the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948. It could never have happened without that. This people is gathered together, put back in the land, and the clock is ticking. Take my word for it, the clock is ticking. Take his word for it. The clock is ticking. Jesus said that 1260 days, after the treaty is signed, that’s exactly halfway into [the seven year treaty], that the anti-christ will come to Jerusalem and seat himself in the Temple and proclaim himself to be God. Jesus says to those that will be there then, ‘When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, let the reader understand.’ Now that’s pretty remarkable. ‘Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains’ and so forth. God’s Word is being fulfilled around us today, just as it was then. And it’s searching for all of us, to look at these things. He says, ‘They shall lay thee even to the ground, there won’t be one stone left upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.’ We want to be aware. Jesus held them accountable.

Don’t You Hate It When People Misrepresent You?---When People Come In Contact With Us, What Is It That They Sense?

Now we’re told in Mark, at this point, that he goes into the Temple, looks around on all things, and then goes back to Bethany for the night. [See http://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/lastsix.htm for the whole time-table of events, and where we are in them at this point.] I’m telling you that, because the next scene here is where Jesus overturns the tables of the money-changers. I just want you to know he didn’t just come in and get in a bad mood and freak out without thinking about it. It says he came in, he looked around upon all things, went and no doubt spends a night in prayer, and then comes back the next day, and this is what takes place. “And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.” (verses 45-46) Interesting, isn’t it, that he’s owning the Temple at that point in time? And the other Gospels elaborate, he drove them out, those that were buying and selling. This is the scene, Jerusalem, Temple courts, Court of the Gentiles, huge area, where the nations were supposed to be able to come and pray. The Old Testament said that the nation of Israel was to be a priest-nation to the other nations of the world, that through the nation of Israel the unsaved nations of the world were to learn about the True and Living God. So outside the Court of Women and the Court of Israel is this huge Court of the Gentiles, over a thousand feet in each direction, it’s huge. I’ve been there many times, and about three or four times on Ramadan I’ve been there when there are 60,000 Muslims on those courts of the Gentiles, at one time, and there was still room. But what happened is this. As Jews begin to come back after the Babylonian Captivity and after the period where the Maccabees ruled and so forth, and began to worship at the mandatory Feasts [ie, Leviticus 23. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Holydayshadows.htm], they would have a difficult time, some of them bringing their sacrifices from a distant land. So they would have to buy the animals for sacrifice there in Jerusalem. Now one of the problems they faced is if they had coinage from another country with an image on it, of an emperor, they couldn’t use that money because the Jews thought it was blasphemous on the Temple precincts. So, initially, out of consideration, the religious Jews said we’ll set up places where you can exchange the foreign currency for Temple shekels, and they can buy their sacrifices so they can worship. But by the time of Jesus it had become a scam. If you tried to bring your animal to Jerusalem, the money-changers had paid off the priests, they were in cahoots with each other. The priests would look at your animal and find a blemish or a spot, and say ‘Oh no, this animal is not acceptable.’ Then you would have to buy an animal to sacrifice. Well the problem was, you couldn’t buy an animal with your foreign money, so then you had to go to the money-changers and exchange your currency, and they charged you an exorbitant percentage to exchange your money, and you came away with less. Then when you got to the priest to buy the lamb, the prices were sky high. And they’re doing all of this in the Court of the Gentiles, which is supposed to be a place for the nations to pray, it was supposed to be quiet. Jesus comes in, looks around at everything, he did this a few years earlier, John chapter 2 three years before this, made a cord and drove them out. Here he is back again, they’re doing the same thing. He looks around, he goes out, spends the night praying, he comes back hot for his Father’s glory, for his Father’s reputation. How do you feel when somebody misrepresents you? How do you feel, there’s this thing, happens in Iowa, it’s called gossip, and you don’t know anything about it, it doesn’t happen here [chuckles]. How do you feel, or just imagine how you would feel if there was gossip, there’s not, but if there was, and somebody said you said something that you didn’t say? And then you have to say ‘Well I didn’t say what they said I said, this is what I said, but they said I said this because…’ Don’t you hate it when somebody misrepresents you? Well, we’re only sinners. And if somebody misrepresents us, that can be a problem sometimes, feelings can get hurt. But usually that works out. But when somebody misrepresents God, sometimes there are eternal consequences. And you know what it’s like to watch some of the screwballs, kind word, on television, begging for money, all they want to talk about is money, and because you are a Bible-believing Christian, hopefully you’re well-grounded, and Jesus said you’ll know the Truth and the Truth will set you free, you can just look at them and shake your head, and you know they’re phonies and you know they’re crooks. But imagine what it’s like for an unbeliever who hears some of his friends witnessing to him, telling him about Jesus, and he turns on the TV and sees some of these guys, and he thinks ‘Well they represent the same God my friends are telling me about,’ and it turns them off. It turns you off when people beg from you, you understand. And it turns them away, because God is being misrepresented, and sometimes that has eternal consequences. Now imagine a Jew, whose making a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-lifetime sometimes trip to Jerusalem to worship. And all of his life he’s desired to come, and he feels ‘When I come into those precincts, into the Temple, there will be a sacred presence there, it’s hallowed ground. I can’t wait to come.’ And think of those who’d come for the first time, and they see all this haggling and meandering and taking advantage of people, and they can’t believe they can’t sacrifice the animal they brought, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but the guys point out these problems, and then they’ve got to get rid of it, and they’ve got to buy another one, but they can’t use their money, ‘and the guys are charging me what to exchange my money!?’ And then the lamb they end up buying from the priests that cost a million bucks is worse than the one they brought with them. And they go home from all of this thinking ‘What was that all about!?’ What’s going on?’ And Jesus said ‘This is my Father’s house, and it’s supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations, and you’ve turned it into a den of thieves. The very place that people should come and know about God and find out about God and learn about God, has become the place where people come and are turned off to God.’ And then they walk away. And it also happens today, and then they think all Christians are the same. You see some of these things that go on, and you think ‘That’s not who I am.’ You see some of these guys hocking people for money on TV, and they say ‘Oh, you’re one of them.’ And you say ‘No, I ain’t one of them. My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and he is not impressed with your wallet. He’s worried about your soul, your eternal life, your forgiveness, he loves you, his Kingdom has not filed for Chapter 11. He’s not been a bad steward over his finances, and he’s not declaring bankruptcy, and he’s not dependant on you to keep him going.’ He’s come into the world to hang on a cross, and to pay the ultimate price for you. You are expensive. You know, it searches me as I look at it, because I think, well 1^st Corinthians chapter 6 says that I am the temple of the Holy Spirit. And that Christ wants to live through us, we’re living Epistles to a lost world. And it makes me wonder when people come in contact with us, what is it that they sense? Do they sense Pharisees and scribes, living for money, living for material things, driven by the riches of this world? Or when they come to us, do they sense a quietness, a genuineness and a love? When they look at us do they think, ‘I want to know who your God is.’ Or do they think ‘I don’t want to know who their God is.’ ? And you know, I find that he’s still turning over the tables in my heart. [He has also done it with certain denominations that had the truth, should have known better, but misrepresented him in a similar manner, with corruption and the money-changer, Pharisaic attitudes. The Name it and Claim it denominations, the Health & Wealth groups are lined up for judgment, according to J. Vernon McGee, as was one Sabbath-keeping Church of God. See: http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/revelation3-1-22.html and http://www.unityinchrist.com/wwcofg/wwcofgod.html God will not be mocked.] Not angry with me, but concerned for God’s glory in me. And I’m thankful that he cares enough to come to me once in a while, to look around in there, and to turn over a few tables. And I’m glad he does it more than once every three years. In fact, sometimes he’s doing it about once every three minutes. I pray about something, as soon as I pray about it, boom!, there it is back in my heart, and I’m going ‘Oh man!’ and he says ‘Oh man!’ and he turns it over, and we start over again. I’m so glad that he’s thankful to continue to work in my heart and to work in my life, in love, as a Father, so that the love of Christ might be shed abroad in my heart, and your heart, so that we might be light and salt, so that a lost world, filled with Zacchaeuses might know that the door is as wide open for them as it is for us. The world that grates on us sometimes and bothers us is the world that God so loved that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever would believe would not perish, but have everlasting life. Yes, God is coming in judgment. That sword is two-edged, it’s swinging the other way right now, that God would gather in the Zacchaeuses and the prostitutes and the adulteresses and the adulterers and the gamblers and the sinners of every class, from self-righteous ministers and priests all the way down to whatever we would consider the bottom rung of society, depending on our own prejudice and the beam that’s in our eye. Right now he’s ascending to Jerusalem, as it were. Right now it’s the work of the cross that’s still effective. He will descend upon a Jerusalem, and I believe he’s weeping, because he sees the end, notices the day when the door, clap! is closed, like in Noah’s day, like in the ark.

You Alone Are The Only Thing That Still Makes This World Kosher

And I think, you and I right now are the Temple, you and I are the Temple. Are we driven by how much we make, and what we’re going to get, what we’re going to buy here, and what we can have. You know, it’s all going to burn. Or does he find within us a house of prayer, does he find within us Temple precincts where the Father is honoured, does he find within us…and thank God when he doesn’t, that he comes and turns those things over in our lives that need to change. But I think, when he says ‘You are the light of the world’ it’s emphatic in the Greek in Matthew chapter 5, he says ‘You alone, you alone, not the Buddhists, not the Muslims, not the other religions of the world, you alone are the light of the world, you alone.’ Light is not heard, it is seen. ‘You alone’ emphatic ‘are the salt of the earth.’ The only reason that the world isn’t judged is because of your presence, you’re the preservative, ‘you alone, are the only thing that still makes this world Kosher.’ When you’re gone, there’s no more preservation. Right now, right now, the only hope for this nation, for this city is sitting in this room, and in churches across this city [and in churches across America, whether they be the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God, the Calvary Chapels, or any other Holy Spirit indwelt denomination, or individuals, and many of you reading this]. Right now, and look around the room, the eyes of the Lord are going to and fro throughout the room, looking for a man whose heart is perfect towards him or a woman, that he might show himself strong on his behalf. Right now he says he who is least in the Kingdom is greater than John the Baptist, the greatest prophet that ever lived. Right now he’s challenging us, this neighbourhood is ours, it’s sitting in front of us, it’s not Satan’s it’s ours. And you don’t beat the darkness, you just turn on the light. Just turn on the light. Just let him turn over your tables, let him clean out your precincts, let him have his way in your heart. So when people encounter you, when they encounter me as Christians, what they encounter is something that settles them and quiets them, a peace, the presence of the Holy Spirit, a genuineness, even if they’re hostile, something they can’t deny, instead of encountering somebody who names the name of Christ but hasn’t departed from iniquity or selfishness, or is still driven by materialism or the things of this world, which is what turned us off to the Church, which is what turns so many off to the Church [Church meaning organized religion, dead orthodoxy, the dead and dying denominations or Catholicism]. Sometimes it has eternal consequences, you know, when God is misrepresented, not by you I’m saying, is what I’m saying. But you know, how many people have been turned off by what calls itself ‘the Church’? [Like the Westboro Baptist Church turns people in the world off.] I pray, that if we’re known for anything, it can be what Jesus said, ‘That men will know we’re his disciples by the love that we have one for another.’ [And that “love” is not to be aimed just for those within the Body of Christ, our own brethren, but for the lost in this dying society, this dying, sin-filled world.] People can laugh at other places, jump up and down, scream this and that. I pray when people come here, they sense his love, I pray they sense his peace, I pray they sense it flowing through us, through me, through you. If you’re here tonight and you don’t know Christ, I hope you sense it now. Because right now, all of this is swinging in your favour. Right now the door is open to all who will respond. He calls for a response from you. He wants you to respond. If you’re in love with someone, you want a response. No sense being in love with a manikin. And the Bible says ‘To as many as will receive him’ and we want to give you that opportunity at the end of the service tonight, I want the musicians to come…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Luke 19:28-48 by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]