Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S39 || Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem || Mark 11:1-11 || Session 39 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
The Triumphal Entry marks a pivotal moment in Scripture where Mark's Gospel dramatically slows down, devoting six chapters to Jesus' final week after racing through three years of ministry in just ten chapters. When Jesus sends disciples to find "a colt on which no one has ever sat," He's demonstrating both divine foreknowledge and fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy.
The crowds' enthusiastic reception—laying cloaks on the road, waving palm branches, shouting "Hosanna" and "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David"—wasn't random celebration but deliberate messianic recognition. They were quoting Psalm 118 and explicitly acknowledging Jesus as the promised Davidic king.
What makes this event extraordinary is its timing and symbolism. Jesus purposefully enters Jerusalem during Passover when families selected perfect lambs for sacrifice, presenting Himself as the ultimate Passover Lamb. By entering from the Mount of Olives, He fulfills Ezekiel's vision of God's glory returning to the temple. The palm branches connect this moment to the Feast of Tabernacles, the future Millennial Kingdom, and even heavenly worship as described in Revelation.
Listen as we unpack how this familiar story contains deeper spiritual meanings that reveal God's intricate plan across Scripture and time. Are you seeing these profound connections in your own Bible reading?
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Hello and welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible. My name's Glenn, I'm here with Steve. We are reasoning through the Gospel of Mark and we're getting to a point where it's really, really interesting, even more so than what we've seen so far. In chapter 11, which is where we are. We have the triumphal entry and up to now the action in Mark has been going very quickly. It's been a sense of rush throughout the entire gospel, from here on to the end of the chapter. It's going to slow down a little bit. Time will slow down.
Speaker 1:Mark spent 10 chapters on three years of Jesus' life and, starting here in chapter 11, he's going to spend six chapters on the final week. He's going to go into more detail and remember this is feast time, or at least in preparation for the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. With that there's going to be people in town here. We're going to see some very profound things. If we look at again the Gospel of Mark, we have six chapters on the final week. If we look at the other Gospels, if we add up all the four Gospels together, that's the majority, or at least a huge percentage, of the entire New Testament. Each of the Gospels has a large percentage of them on the final week. So a large part of the entire New Testament, across all four Gospels, is the final week of Jesus Christ and these stories here seem very straightforward. And of course there's the death and resurrection that's coming up in these last chapters. But even the things that we're going to see here in chapter 11, everything that happens in this final week, has very profound spiritual meanings. Mark's going to slow down and give us more detail, and we're going to be entering some very deep spiritual waters. I think we're going to find and be surprised at just how spiritually profound some of these events are. So let's go ahead and dive into the text.
Speaker 1:Steve, can you start at Mark, chapter 11 and read the first 11 verses?
Speaker 2:As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethpage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them Go into the village opposite you and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there on which no one yet has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you why are you doing this, you say the Lord has need of it and immediately he will send it back here. They went away and found a colt tied at the door outside in the street and they untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them what are you doing, untying the colt? They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them and they gave them permission.
Speaker 2:They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it and he sat on it and many spread their coats in the road and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna, in the highest Jesus, entered Jerusalem and came into the temple and after looking around at everything, he left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.
Speaker 1:This is what we would call the triumphal entry. He enters Jerusalem in an appearance of triumph and of course we're going to go into this in detail and see what triumph this really is. Remember, he's coming from Jericho, so the road from Jericho does indeed go past these communities, bethphage and Bethany. So that's yet another accurate historical fact. That's just part of the background here is that those communities are indeed on a map. That's where they are, have been the Mount of Olives. So the accurate geographic details are here in the Bible. Bethphage means the house of unripe figs, and we're going to get to that in following sessions when he curses the fig tree.
Speaker 1:But here this story of the triumphal entry is found in all four Gospels. It's found in Matthew, chapter 21, luke 19, and John 12,. Here again in Mark 12. He's very near Jerusalem. He's coming into Jerusalem, these communities, and he rides this donkey into. And, steve, the first one is this go into the village, you're going to find this donkey. They go and they actually see that there is a donkey there. So what does that story tell us? What do we get out of the story of finding the donkey there?
Speaker 2:is a mention in Zechariah and we went through it and discussed it when we were going through Zechariah went through it and discussed it when we were going through Zechariah that the Messiah would be riding on a colt coming into Jerusalem, a colt that had never been bridled or ridden before. This is a fulfillment of that particular prophecy. Also, normally whenever you have any type of a horse or a donkey or anything like that that hasn't been ridden before, they haven't been broken, they're usually bucking, trying to get the person off their back. But we don't see that here. So it's another indication of Jesus over control of nature, because the donkey doesn't have anything to do with trying to buck him off. So you have those couple of things.
Speaker 2:One is it's a fulfillment from Zechariah, so Jesus is aware of that and knowledgeable of it. Second is he's over this donkey, he doesn't try to buck him off. And I think third thing is is it's curious that these people have this donkey outside and he tells them. If they question you as to why you're doing it, just tell them that the master, or the Lord, as Mark puts it here has need of it and they'll let you have it. There's no further stories that we know of as far as why these people had this cult that was there, but possibly, whenever they come and he says the master has need of it, they're aware of the prophecy that's in Zechariah as well, and that's why they allow them to go ahead and take this colt.
Speaker 1:He tells his disciples go into the village opposite you, you're going to find a donkey there tied. Then, of course, if somebody asks you and it says, they go and they actually find it, as he said. I think one of the lessons here is that by this point, the disciples had been following Jesus for three years. They were accustomed to him telling them things and it turning out to be the case. If this was just you or me and it was the first time somebody met this, I would think, wow, this is really unusual. They predicted something and it came out. Well, the disciples were so accustomed to hearing Jesus tell them that things are actually going to be and it is, that they didn't even question it. One of the lessons here is for us we need to get to the point where, when Jesus tells us something and we think how could he know that, or how could this be, or I'm not finding how could that make any sense, just trust him. Trust what he says, because what you're going to find is that if you go and obey him, you're going to find that it's actually the case. That's one of the lessons is for us is if we just follow him, then he knows where things are going to be over in the next town or in the next day, the next week, the next few years of my life, and if he tells me, just do this, it'll turn out, trust me, then we just need to follow him and say yes, master, and go on, and it will indeed turn out the way he says. He's building trust in his disciples. Some of it is no more or less simple than that is building trust in his disciples.
Speaker 1:Now, it could be a miracle there, some sort of profound knowledge that, okay, that he knew something that the disciples didn't. It also doesn't have to be a miracle. I mean, he could have already made arrangements there. This isn't the first time he came through this area. He could have made arrangements for somebody hey, make sure there's a donkey for me. It's entirely possible. The part, though, that's most unusual and you brought it out, steve is the part where it says Steve is the part where it says on which no one has sat. Now, what would happen to a typical person, you or me?
Speaker 2:who sat on an untrained donkey. They could immediately try to buck the person off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'd be a little bit of a comedy seeing me get thrown off of the donkey. But the lesson here is what? Even an untrained donkey, jesus is so gentle that he can sit on an untrained donkey and the donkey not feel like it's too much weight. Now, donkeys are not a large animal. They're not as large as a horse, they're not as strong as a horse, so a donkey has to get used to having the weight on their back. Jesus was so gentle, so mild, so amenable to even the animals, that even the animals wouldn't throw him off. So that's one of the other lessons here is we do indeed have gentle Jesus. He is meek and mild. He is gentle even with people that have not seen him before, even animals that haven't seen him before. He is kind of in control of the natural world here. He is gentle to a donkey. He's going to be gentle to you and me Also.
Speaker 1:Notice now that this is the only time that the Gospels record Jesus ever riding on anything. Here is the only time he rode. What did he do the rest of the time? He walked. He certainly didn't have a horse and he didn't have a fancy chariot and he didn't have like some of the Mideastern people. He didn't have a team of servants carrying him. He walked. He didn't own anything. He didn't even own a donkey to ride on. He had to borrow this one.
Speaker 1:The lessons that some of these Bible teachers tell us today, that if you're a Christian, you should be wealthy. Well, jesus didn't even have his own donkey. He had to borrow that one. He never rode anywhere. This was a poor person, but we're going to see that he didn't even have the money to pay the temple tax. So the money to pay the temple tax. So the lesson here is that Jesus got by with simple things. So can we. And this prosperity gospel is just false.
Speaker 1:The other lesson here is that the people that had the donkey were standing there and they had this donkey. It's a valuable farm animal here, valuable piece of property. Some stranger comes up and says the Lord needs it. And they had this donkey. It's a valuable farm animal here, valuable piece of property. Some stranger comes up and says the Lord needs it. And they said, oh, okay, and they let it go. What's the lesson for us, steve? If we have possessions and somebody comes up and says the Lord has a need, should we try to hold on to our property, or should be as willing as these people, saying, oh well, if the Lord needs it. What should be our attitude towards our possessions?
Speaker 2:Our attitude in general should be yield to the Lord what is needed from the Lord. Of course, during this time, jesus was known around this area. He had been ministering for three years, as you had mentioned before, and so these were people that knew who he was at the time. We should sometimes be leery of charlatans that are out there, because there are charlatans in our day and age that say, oh, give to this ministry because the Lord wants you to give to the ministry. I think we should be wise about who we give our money to for the ministry of Jesus, but allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in that. By all means, give to the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ wherever the Holy Spirit leads you to do that.
Speaker 1:The lesson here really is that we should sit here with open hands and we have some material possessions and if the Lord has need of it, we should sit here with open hands and we have some material possessions and if the Lord has need of it, we should let him take it out of our possession. He gave it to us. Then it's not fair for us to just hold on to it. We should be willing to give our possessions to the Lord's work. Here the lesson is the Lord has a need. Maybe he's given you a donkey, maybe he's given you a vehicle, maybe he's given you something else. If the Lord has need of it, we should stand with open hands and be willing to give, because that's the lesson here.
Speaker 1:In Mark, then in verse 7 and 8, the significance of the disciples putting their coats on the donkey and people putting coats and palm branches on the road. What's the significance of that? Steve? We can almost see that. You see that in my mind there's people with colorful cloaks and they're laying them across the donkey and laying them in the road and waving the palm branches. What's the significance of that?
Speaker 2:They're honoring him and they are recognizing him as the king that's going to bring in the restoration of the kingdom, the Messiah, the anointed one. Christ is a transliteration of the Greek word Christos, which means anointed one. So every time that we say Jesus Christ in English, it's the same as saying Yeshua the Messiah in Hebrew. So they are recognizing him as this. They are laying down their cloaks, preparing the way for the donkey to ride over it, the branches that they have cut. This is something where they would do during the Feast of Tabernacles. There were palm branches that they would cut down that they would build the booths or the tabernacles with to commemorate that particular festival. But this is Passover, so it's another indication of them seeing the restored kingdom coming in.
Speaker 2:Because that was what was talked about in Zechariah and other prophets that the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles was going to be one of the feasts that would be continued in the kingdom that was to come. We talked about that whenever Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration said Lord, let's set up here three booths for you here. It's an indication that their expectation of the kingdom that's there. But Jesus is coming in on Passover week. He's not coming in on the festival of booths week. Jesus is in control of what's going on throughout this week. Jesus is in control of what's going on throughout this week and he has specifically chosen to come in to Jerusalem in this time frame, on Nisan the 10th, which was the time that the Passover lamb was taken into the house, in order to stay in the house for a period of three days to be inspected, to make sure there weren't any blemishes or anything else, in preparation for the actual Passover, which took place on the 14th of Nisan.
Speaker 1:All of that is quite profound and it's all right. Here, in this triumphal entry, they lay the coats over the donkey. They lay their coats and their cloaks in the roadway. They wave the palm branches. It's a parade. It's a parade for a king.
Speaker 1:Whenever a king would come, many of them require a lot of pomp and circumstance and there's a large entourage and the king wants to make everybody realize who he is. So they bring servants before him and they guard standing there and they wave things and it turns into a parade when a king comes and so many kings require this they plan it. It's something done to impress the population. This particular kingly parade just happened spontaneously. No one at least the population didn't know Jesus was going to come that day. At least the population didn't know Jesus was going to come that day. So it just arose. So they were spontaneously giving Jesus the attention and the praise that he really deserved. They're praising Jesus as they would a king. That's part of the lesson here is that he's writing in as a king, but we'll get to that in just a minute In verse 9,. What are they saying? What are they?
Speaker 2:calling Jesus. They're saying Hosanna, and blessed is he who comes in the name of Yahweh. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David. Hosanna in the highest.
Speaker 2:This is quoting from one of the Psalms, I think it's Psalm 118. It's clearly an indication that they're honoring him as the king to come for the restoration of the kingdom. This is their expectation that we see here, and I mentioned before that this is Passover week Jesus is in control of when he came in. So he could have chosen the festival of booths as a time to enter Jerusalem as an indication that the king was coming in. But no, he chooses the Passover week of the Passover lamb. It reminds us of John the baptizer when he first said Behold a lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. It's also an indication of Jesus starting to instruct and teach his disciples that the Messiah must suffer first and be betrayed and turned over to the Gentiles and be beaten and killed and then rise again the third day. Jesus is deliberately choosing this time to come in because it comes in conjunction with the Messiah suffering first at the time period of the Passover lamb.
Speaker 1:There's all these things coming into play.
Speaker 1:There's these large movements of Scripture that all come to play at this one spot. I just find that fascinating. All of these large movements are just very interesting. In verse 10, these people are saying Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. This, as we said previously, 2 Samuel 7, god approached King David and made an everlasting covenant with him, saying that I will I meaning God will ensure that one of your descendants is the king over Israel forever. This was an everlasting, unconditional covenant and Jesus fulfilled that. So here the people were recognizing this. They're saying something extremely profound Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.
Speaker 1:Over in Matthew, the triumphal entry. They call him blessed is the son of David. They're calling him the king. They think they're ushering in the earthly kingdom and of course, it's going to be a little different than what they expect, but nevertheless, that is one of the significance here is that this triumphal entry he's riding on a donkey is what a king would do. In those days, the only people who rode horses were military people. If you ride a horse, those were animals of war. That was a military animal. A conquering general would ride a horse. A soldier would ride a horse, a king would ride a donkey and everybody else would walk, which is what happened. They didn't have transportation other than walking for the average people here. When they say he's riding on a donkey and they're laying all the palm branches, they're recognizing him as the king.
Speaker 1:As you pointed out, steve, this is where the Passover lamb comes in. There's all these things coming into play At the very time that Jesus is riding this donkey in. He is the Passover lamb, not just the king, but he's the Passover lamb, and the Passover lamb had to be perfect. He's riding in at just the same day that every household is going to be bringing in a lamb and inspecting it to make sure it's perfect. They had to bring it in and hold it for a few days and then, on the Passover day, they would actually sacrifice it. Jesus comes in on the day that everywhere around Israel they're bringing lambs in. He's also riding as a king. So these double and even triple meanings that are happening here.
Speaker 1:A third one that's coming in is this is the glory of God returning Back in Ezekiel, the glory left the temple out of judgment and he's returning here. The glory of the Lord led Israel through the wilderness. The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and drove people out when they set up the tabernacle. The glory of the Lord filled the temple when Solomon built it on the day of dedication, forced the priest out of the temple and the glory of the Lord was in the Holy of Holies until the sin of Israel. It leaves in Ezekiel, chapters 9 through 11. It leaves the temple, goes out through the east gate to the Mount of Olives and the glory leaves Jerusalem. Well, here, where do they start from? They start from the Mount of Olives and he rides back into the temple. This is the glory of the Lord returning.
Speaker 1:There's all these wonderful movements of Scripture. He's riding in on a donkey, not a war horse. A donkey was an animal of peace. He's showing peace. If he would have been riding a horse then the Romans would have paid attention and said, well, wait a minute, this is a soldier here. But no, no, he's coming in peace, as a king would, riding on a donkey. As you said, steve, it's a fulfillment of Zechariah and all these wonderful things.
Speaker 1:The Bible has an interesting thread about palm branches that you brought out. Some of it, steve. John 12, 13 says they were waving palm branches here at the triumphal entry. It doesn't say they're palms here, but John 12 says they are the Feast of Tabernacles, actually commands the people during this feast to have palm branches, specifically Leviticus 23.40. Then, as you alluded to Steve, zechariah 14.16 says that during the earthly millennium.
Speaker 1:Alluded to Steve, zechariah 14,. 16 says that during the earthly millennium, the earthly kingdom, people are going to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. When Leviticus 23 says wave palm branches during the Feast of Tabernacles and Zechariah 14 says that's the one holiday that's going to be in the millennial kingdom, and here they're waving them on the Feast of Tabernacles for Christ, then what does that tell us? It all plays into God's plan. He's very symbolically saying this is not just a king, it is the king. This is the Messiah. It's the son of David that will be the king. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, david. So they know as anyone what happens, what Zechariah was predicting, which was the tabernacles. This is what we have to celebrate in the kingdom. It's here. What's going to happen to him in a few days, though, steve.
Speaker 2:He's going to lay down his life and it's going to be raised up again three days later. This is not the first time that this has happened. In the story of the Maccabees, that took place a couple of hundred years before this. They were a family that had come in to retake Jerusalem and the temple from the Greeks that had defiled the temple. Antiochus Epiphanes was the person at the time. Throughout that period, when they came back into Jerusalem, two of the Maccabees were celebrated this way and welcomed this way into Jerusalem. They were looked at as being the Messiah at the time, the possible Messiah, because they were overthrowing the Greeks that were there. And of course, the story goes on that they eventually lost and the Greeks took back control and then the Romans came in. This is an indication again that the people are looking at Jesus to restore the kingdom of Israel, to bring in and welcome the kingdom of Israel.
Speaker 2:Now, one other thing, just kind of a side note, is that the town had swelled at this point. The Passover was one of the three festivals that the people were commanded to come in. And Passover and the Feast of Booths I forget right now. The third one. And Passover and the Feast of Booths. I forget right now the third one. The city had swelled, and it swelled every year at this time. Usually the Roman occupiers would be on heightened alert during this time to try and quell the people. I just kind of find this a little bit curious that here over on this eastern side of Jerusalem, as Jesus comes in, you have this crowd that is obviously welcoming him in under the expectation of being the king and restore the kingdom, yet the Romans aren't coming in and trying to squelch it at this particular point in time.
Speaker 1:So it's really interesting all these things coming to play the palm branches. The other one I didn't mention earlier was over in Revelation 7, verse 9. In heaven we will stand before Jesus in white robes, waving palm branches. Better, get used to it, because we're going to be waving palm branches on earth in the Feast of Tabernacles when we come to Jerusalem, and also in heaven, before the throne, will be waving palm branches. The triumphal entry has all these significances. That's culminating these major movements of Scripture. Now there's a lot more to say here about the triumphal entry and because of time we're going to stop here. But come back next time and you're going to see how all this fits into several other major movements of Scripture. That's all right here in the triumphal entry, and we'll also end up having the cursing of the fig tree.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for watching and listening, as always. May God bless you.
