TEEN TREE 
OF LIFE
THE RESURRECTION
OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR
JESUS CHRIST
Part 1
April 12, 2020
Before you begin, ask yourself a very important question: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins? If you answered yes, you will need to be sure that you are filled with The Holy Spirit. How do you do this? You name your sins to God The Father in His Son’s Name. This is called Rebound. As a Christian, you must rebound any time you sin. This is taught in 1JOHN 1:9: If we confess [name] our sins [directly to God], He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you have never believed that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins, all you have to do is say to yourself that you believe in Him and you are saved! The Bible verse which teaches us this is ACTS 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
As we begin our study of The Resurrection, we’re going to look at what happened on the Sunday before it took place. This day has come to be known as Palm Sunday. It marks the beginning of the week of events leading up to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s death. The celebration of Palm Sunday originated in the Jerusalem Church, around the late fourth century. The early Palm Sunday ceremony consisted of prayers, hymns, and sermons recited by the clergy, while the people walked to various holy sites throughout the city. At the final site, the place where Our Lord and Savior ascended into Heaven, the clergy would read from the Gospels about HIs entry into Jerusalem. In the early evening, they would return to the city reciting: O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord… (PSA 118:26)
The Bible predicted in DAN 9:25 that in 173,880 days, The Lord Jesus Christ would come to Jerusalem and present Himself as the Messiah. And sure enough, 483 years from Daniel’s prophecy, exactly 173,880 days later (on Palm Sunday, April 6, A.D. 32), in fulfillment of this prophecy, Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem and presented Himself as the Messiah.
Now, let’s look at a verse which teaches us what the Sunday before Resurrection Sunday (which came to be known as Palm Sunday) really means when you look at it in God’s Word: On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” (JOH 12:12-13) When John quoted the crowd with the words – “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel” – it was a very important statement because it describes to us what really took place on Palm Sunday. Notice that the crowd shouts “the King of Israel” – not the Savior of the world!! The Jews didn’t want a Savior, they wanted a king; and they didn’t want The Cross, they wanted the crown. The “large crowd” were shouting that they didn’t want Our Lord to go to The Cross!
This crowd of shouting people included some from Jerusalem who had also quoted PSA 118:25-26: O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord… (PSA 118:26) There was also a crowd from Bethany who quoted the same scripture. In fact, even all of the disciples were shouting out PSA 118:25-26. And all three separate groups were very confused!! But, that same day before the sun went down, Our Lord did what had to be done – He straightened them all out! Look at MAR 12:1-5: And He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard [the man is God The Father and the vineyard is Israel], and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press, and built a tower [this is Divine Protection], and rented it out to vine‑growers [these are the Jews] and went on a journey. And at the harvest time he sent a slave [this is an Old Testament prophet] to the vine‑growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine‑growers. And they took him, and beat him, and sent him away empty‑handed. And again he sent them another slave [another Old Testament prophet], and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some, and killing others.” Look at how they treated the Old Testament prophets. This is always the attitude of legalistic people. (Legalism is ignorance of God’s Word and Divine Power. A great example of legalism is the pompous attitude of the Jewish Pharisees and scribes.)
Our Lord continues to set everyone straight: “He had one more to send, a beloved son [now, He’s talking about Himself]; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ “But those vine‑growers said to one another [these are the legalistic Jews of Jesus’ day], ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ “And they took him, and killed him [the Cross], and threw him out of the vineyard. “What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come [come in Judgment] and destroy the vine‑growers, and will give the vineyard to others.” (MAR 12:6-9)
Then look at what Our Lords says in MAR 12:10-11: “Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?” He makes a direct quote from PSA 118:22 – the same Psalm the confused groups were quoting. But He quotes the part of that Psalm which deals with The Cross coming before the crown. He essentially corrects them! And can you guess what happened next? The Jewish leaders ran away from Him! This is taught in MAR 12:12: And they [the legalistic leaders] were seeking to seize Him; and yet they feared the multitude; for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left Him, and went away. (MAR 12:12)
But what is the truth behind what went on, that Sunday before The Resurrection? The Bible records that Jesus Christ made a victorious entrance into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, which is the major Jewish spring festival. It commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. The gospels record Jesus’ arrival, riding into the city on a donkey. Look at LUK 19:28-41: After He had said these things, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the [Mount of Olives] mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; there, as you enter, you will find a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord has need of it.” They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God [rejoicing] joyfully with a loud voice for all the [works of power] miracles which they had seen, shouting: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it… In these verses, we read that The Lord Jesus Christ stops for a moment and sends two of His disciples ahead of Him into a nearby village to carry out a special errand.
Now stop for a minute and think about how many times you are called to obey God’s Commands with that kind of blind faith! That’s what went on in these verses. The Greek word for blind faith is pistis. Pistis is used in GAL 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness [pistis], gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. In this verse, pistis means the character of one who can be relied on. So, when faithfulness becomes part of your character, you will be a person someone can have faith in, rely on and trust. Pistis is also defined as the trust a person has in someone else. It refers to our trust in God and His Word. As a result of what The Holy Spirit produces in the mature believer, it also refers to being faithful, trustworthy, reliable, and stable.
Pistis is quite a word! It’s also used by the writer of HEB 11:8 (The Message Bible): By an act of faith [pistis], Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. Some of the greatest blessings we will ever see in our lives will be when we model our lives after the great believers who obeyed God’s Commands – like the disciples on that Palm Sunday or like Abraham. These believers listened to God’s call, just like you should.
When you’re called by God, you may not understand where, when, and why He is leading you somewhere, but you should know with certainty that: It’s impossible to please God apart from faith [pistis]. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him. (HEB 11:6 The Message Bible)
{to be continued}