Palm Sunday

Happy Sunday. Happy Palm Sunday. Before we get to Palm Sunday, let's go way back, back to the beginning, back to Genesis. In chapter 1 and two, you have the creation.

And in chapter 3, you have the fall of man. The fall of the world, sin enters the world. And sadly, it infects all of creation. If you know the story, you know that after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden from the forbidden tree, God then came to find them.

Do you remember what they did? They hid. They hid because they were naked and afraid. They made makeshift coverings from fig leaves and God confronts them and then punishments are handed out.

Right after the punishments, this happens. This is found in Genesis 3:21. It says, "And the Lord God made garments of skin for the man and for his wife and clothed them." God shows grace to Adam and Eve.

In Genesis 3:3, God said, "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die." In this moment, God is gracious. And the Lord God instead of killing them immediately, he covered them. He made garments of skins from for Adam and Eve and he covered them.

God also covers them spiritually in this symbolic gesture. It doesn't say that God found a sheep and sheared the sheep and wo some garments and covered them or he found more leaves for them. No, he covered them not with the wool taken from the animal but with the skin of the animal which means that the animal had to what? It had to die.

God clothed these naked sinners by the sacrifice of an innocent victim, providing atonement. This introduces for the first time in scripture the matter of atonement or the covering of the sinner through the death of an innocent substitute. God chose the animal and God killed the animal and God took the skin of the animal and covered Adam and Eve. This is the first death in all of creation.

As far as we know, there had never been death before this. This first death is the death of an animal killed to cover sin, to cover sinners. This is really a prophetic picture of what Jesus himself would later do. If you read the Old Testament and parts of the New, you read about sacrifices, thousands of sacrifices to cover the sin of the people.

The sacrificial system was to picture the necessity of a substitute to take the place of sinners. The substitute would be killed and bear the wrath of God. You can read all over about such sacrifices. Now to today to Palm Sunday.

Let's look at these words from Matthew chapter 21. When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Beth Page at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, "Go, go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me." And if anyone says anything to you, just say this, the Lord needs them, and he will send them immediately.

This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, look, your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey and on a colt, the fold of a donkey." That's from the Old Testament book of Zechariah, by the way. The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them and he sat on them.

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowd that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosana to the son of David. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosana in the highest heaven."

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was questioning, asking, "Who is this?" Some of the crowds would say, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth and Galilee." Well, you know why he came? Why did he enter Jerusalem?

Why did he have to be there? Well, sadly and amazingly, Jesus came to town to die. to be my substitute, to be yours. This was God's plan.

God had set the wheels in motion since even before Genesis. Look at what the Apostle Peter wrote in First Peter 1:20. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began. That's hard to understand, isn't it?

Hard to fathom. But I believe it. God chose him, Jesus, as your ransom long before the world began. As this Holy Easter week unfolds, I pray that you understand a bit better that Jesus planned all of this.

Even before Adam and Eve came into existence, he planned it. He chose to do it because he loves us that much. He loves us that much. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, thank you for coming for us, for entering Jerusalem that day long ago, knowing full well that shortly you'd be nailed to a cross. Help us to try to understand, try to believe even more your sacrifice that was planned for us.

And we so look forward to Easter Sunday. Bless us as only you can in Jesus name. Amen. God bless.

Thanks for joining me today. Have a great week.