"Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things [that make] for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes." Luke 19: 41-42 NKJV
Saturday evening, if you reckon the start of the month by the sighting of the new moon, is the first day of the religious New Year in Israel and the first month on the Hebrew calendar as instituted by God in the Old Testament. It is known most commonly as the month of Nisan, but also as the month of Abib, which comes from the Hebrew word meaning green or tender. As used in the Old Testament, it is referring to when the barley grows its head of grain, and becomes tender. One of the most significant things about Nisan which we would do well to remember is that the first three of seven feasts of Israel occur during this first month.
Those three feasts are Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits which occur on the 14th, 15th, and 17th days of the month. Yet there is one day in particular that I would call your attention to this morning and it is the 10th day of the month when Christians around the world celebrate what is known as Palm Sunday. It is the day that Jesus of Nazareth rode a donkey into Jerusalem to present Himself as the coming Messiah promised by the prophets of the Old Testament. But although virtually every Christian knows that, many don't know the circumstances surrounding it, and the fact that those circumstances caused our Savior to weep.
If you look at the passage in Luke you will find that as Jesus approached the city from the direction of the Mount of Olives, "He saw the city and wept over it". Why would Jesus weep at the sight of the city of Jerusalem on the very day He came to proclaim Himself as the Messiah? That question is answered in the following verses where we see Jesus say that the people did not know the "time of your visitation". In other words, Jesus was holding the people accountable for not knowing the day that He was to appear.
"For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, "and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation." Luke 19: 43-44 NKJV
Now this obviously leads one to ask how they were supposed to know the exact day the Messiah was to appear in their presence if God had never told them? The trouble with that is what I have come to call "The Forgotten Prophecy". You see, God had told them when the Messiah would come but the religious leaders of the day, the Sadducees and Pharasees, and the people themselves had totally forgotten it.
You may already know that there is a passage in the book of Daniel that reveals the seventy week scope of Israel’s' future. What many fail to realize from this prophecy, however, is the reason it is broken up into two parts; sixty nine weeks and the seventieth week. You see what Daniel and the nation of Israel discover is that this prophecy predicts the exact day that the Messiah would appear.
"Know therefore and understand, [That] from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, [There shall be] seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times." Daniel 9:25 NKJV
In these verses Daniel is told that there will be 69 weeks from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah would appear. The word here for "weeks" is "shabua" which is what is called a "heptad", meaning it stands for a group of seven. In this particular case, it stands for a period of seven years, so what Daniel is being told is that there would be a period of 69 "weeks of years" or exactly 173,880 days from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the day the Messiah appeared. (69 x 7 x 360 days/year)
The decree to rebuild Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14, 445 b.c. You can find that referred to in Nehemiah 2. If you add the period of time Daniel was given, 173,880 days, you arrive at Sunday, April 6, 32 a.d. which we now call Palm Sunday, the week before Easter and the very day Jesus wept when He saw the city. Why did He cry? Because even though God had gone to such great lengths to predict the exact day His Son would arrive as the Messiah, everyone had forgotten it. We know from history that the nation of Israel paid a terrible price for this forgetfulness as in 70 AD Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans and the period of wandering known as the diaspora began. This was also prophesied in the passage from Daniel;
"And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it [shall be] with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined." Daniel 9:26 NKJV
Now after all this time, I’m sure you remember how much I just love coincidences, so here is a new one I want to share with you. The decree to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem by Artaxerxes is not the only time this sort of decree has been made. The Ottoman ruler, Suleiman the Magnificent, made a similar decree somewhere around 1536-37AD. If you apply the same period of time revealed by Daniel you arrive, coincidentally, where we find ourselves today. I just can’t help but wonder if its possible Jesus might decide to come for His Church using the same timing as He did when He came for Israel on Palm Sunday.
So as we begin the same month that saw the passion of our Lord so many years ago, many watch to see if God has something planned for us on the anniversary of the first appearing, especially as we have plenty of evidence from history that God does in fact choose to use the same dates on the Jewish calendar to allow events to occur that have biblical significance. I personally find it interesting to note that a tradition in Israel is to pour a cup of wine for the prophet Elijah at the end of the Passover meal and to open the door to let him in. Since many believe that Elijah is one of the two witnesses that return at the beginning of the tribulation period, or the seventieth week of Daniel, I can't help but wonder if this is a clue to the timing God has in mind?
When you begin to study the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, it soon becomes clear that although there were times when the people attempted to promote Him as King, He avoided it. A good example is right after the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
"Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone." John 6:14-15 NKJV
Yet there did come a day when He did choose to present Himself as King, and we find it revealed in the passage from Luke, which occurred on the tenth of Nisan, the first month of the Jewish religious calendar which was also the beginning of what we now call the Passion Week. It follows that if Jesus arranged it, there must have been a reason for it, so if we look a little closer we discover that indeed there was. Jesus was in fact following a script laid out in the Old Testament that we find in the book of Exodus where the first Passover was ordained and observed by the children of Israel while in bondage in Egypt.
“Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. ‘And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. ‘Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ‘Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ‘And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.” Exodus 12:1-7 NKJV
In hindsight, we see that while presenting Himself as Israel’s King, He also was presenting Himself as our Passover Lamb on the tenth of Nisan with the foreknowledge that the Jews would reject Him, and then crucify Him on the cross. As I read this passage from Exodus with the Passion Week in mind, it becomes so very obvious what Jesus was doing for us, the Church, in regards to fulfilling the Law as He said that He did. Because we choose to believe in His sacrifice and atonement for our sins, He becomes our Passover Lamb and it is His blood which saves us from an eternity separate from Him.
A few days after His presentation, Jesus celebrated the Passover dinner with His disciples. If you read the account in Matthew, you will find something Jesus said which seems to be prophetic to the Church as well.
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” Matthew 26:26-29 NKJV
According to the Mishnah, a collection of Jewish oral laws and traditions, Jesus is waiting for the marriage feast before He drinks from this cup. (Mishnah, Pesahim 7:13) Since we know that the marriage feast takes place after the rapture, is it possible that Jesus’ statement is actually His way of telling us that we will drink this cup with Him on a future Feast of Passover? Could this be a clue to the season of the rapture of the Church that we are so eagerly looking forward to?
So what does this all mean for us? Speaking only for myself, I can't forget the fact that Israel paid a terrible price for not “watching” for the appearance of their Messiah. The truth as well is that the Diaspora was only the beginning of their troubles because the seventieth week of Daniel, which we know as the tribulation, is still in their future. That being the case, how can I not ask myself if God has something planned for those who are not watching for Jesus' return for His church as He commanded us to do in the New Testament? Just as the people were unaware of the time of Jesus' first appearing, how many believers today ignore the signs which Jesus' told us to watch for and are even now happening all around us?
The first three of the seven feasts of Israel occur in the next few weeks, and the one most of the world will celebrate is the Feast of First fruits which we know as Easter. It's the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the tomb where He was laid after His crucifixion. Jesus has told us, His followers, to watch for His return. He went to even greater lengths to tell us what to watch for so we would recognize the time of His appearing. My question to you is this: "Are you watching?" At this most holy of weeks when we celebrate the Resurrection, let us not forget the promise of Jesus' return, and the responsibility that goes along with the command to actively "watch" for it. It's coming soon.
If you have never made the decision to accept the sacrifice Jesus made for you by dying on the cross for your sins, there is no better time than right now to do so. Just as He is knocking on the door of the church of Laodicea, He is also knocking on the door of your heart. Simply pray to the Father and ask Him to forgive you for your sins and tell Him you believe that Jesus died for you. Accept the gift of salvation He has offered you and you too will drink of this cup of along with Jesus on that future day when He will invite all of His believers to join Him. Jesus Christ is the Passover lamb who died for our sins, delivering us so we can spend eternity with Him.
Keep watching.
