The First Apocalypse Of Jesus

Palm Sunday

His First Apocalypse• An apocalypse (Ancient Greek: apocálypsis, meaning

"uncovering"), a disclosure of knowledge, i.e., a lifting of the veil or revelation

• Rev. 1:1: “The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ…”

• Rom 8:19: "All creation groans for the unveiling (apocalypse) of the sons of God! We are to show the wold Who Jesus is by our Godly, fruitful lives doing the works of Jesus with the works of Jesus.

• Palm Sunday is His First Apocalypse

Interpreting the Bible

• Three basic questions for every passage

• What does it say? (Basic story line, definitions, grammar, history)

• What does it mean ( themes, principles, truths)

• What does it mean to me? (How apply?)

It SaysShow videos Entry and Africa Parade

It Says• All Four Gospels: Jesus enters Jerusalem on a

donkey to the shouts of an adoring crowd one week before He gives His Life for us on Calvary.

• Looks like a home-run for Jesus—and it is—but not the way we might think.

• On Sunday has been celebrated For centuries from the viewpoint of the crowd that day. Today, I'd like to help you understand Palm Sunday for the viewpoint of Jesus

How Jesus Saw It• Three years doing His three main works:

• Proclaiming the Good News that the Kingdom of God and salvation have come through faith in Him.

• Healing the sick

• Driving out demons from people

• In three years, from age 30-33, Jesus began what He would soon pass on to His followers: bringing God’s Kingdom to earth and salvation to the world.

• He has walked hundreds of miles, lived as a humble, homeless man depending on charity for food and lodging, spending most of his time outdoors traveling from city to city, doing good and setting free all who were oppressed by the devil as Luke says in Acts 10:38

• All that was just preparation for His final mission!

• Now it was time to finish His mission: It was time to die and He told His disciples that just before entering Jerusalem to the shouts of the crowd.

A Time to Die• Eccles. 3:2: “…a time to be born and a time to die”

• Jesus was born to die for the sins of all mankind

• John the Baptist: Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. ( John 1:29)

• Is 53:6: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Hiding in Plain Sight• Remember Superman?

• Three years of telling people not to tell others about the miracles.

• Three years of hiding from crowds who wanted to make him king

• Three years of mainly not claiming any special titles except Son of Man and carpenter from Nazareth

• Jesus told people not to tell others about His miracles because He knew the people would want to make Him King of Israel--their political Messiah. Then He would then be a political threat to the leadership of Jewish leaders & Roman rulers and they would kill Him

• If the people really knew what Jesus was doing when he came into Jerusalem that day on the donkey, they would not a cheered. He was announcing his decision to die for them.

• Palm Sunday was a victory for Jesus—but not the one the crowd saw. Palm Sunday paved the way to Calvary and the salvation of all mankind.

Time to Unveil• He rode a donkey into Jerusalem and thus fulfilled Zech. 9:9--a

Messianic prophecy!

• He told his disciples to tell the owner of the donkey, “The Lord has need of it.”

• He performed his biggest miracle in raising Lazarus, dead four days, just before his entry. He knew His fame would spread far and loud.

• He came into the large Passover crowds who heard about Lazarus and other miracles. He knew they would respond like they did.

• He wanted to be acclaimed…so that His enemies would finally decide to kill Him…as God had planned.

Time to Unveil

• The crowds thought they would woo Him into becoming their political king and kick the Romans out of Israel. They wanted a king again!

• They thought this was a celebration parade, but for Jesus it was a sober moment. They were sending Him to His death at the hands of the religious leaders. Palm Sunday sealed His fate—and Jesus wanted it that way. He needed to die to save us.

What Does It Mean

Mean: themes, principles, truths

• 1-Greater visibility & authority in the kingdom leads to greater attacks from the Dark Side (Valora meeting)

• Just after tell the 12 that they would sit with Him in His Kingdom and judge the 12 tribes, Jesus turns to Peter and says (Luke 22:31-3): "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

• Jesus tempted by Devil right after His baptism in Jordan where God commends Jesus as His beloved Son.

Mean• 2-Being successful is often much more difficult than being

unsuccessful.

• Prov. 27:21: The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, And each man is tested by the praise accorded him." This Palm Sunday parade could have tempted Jesus to accept their offer. He was tempted in ALL THINGS, YET NO SIN.

• Be on your guard much more when God honors you with with success, power, authority or fame.

• The more authority we are given in the Kingdom or in the world, the more accountable we need to be to others to protect us from the seduction of pride.

Mean• 3-The humility of Jesus, the God-man:

• 30 years as a blue-collar carpenter, living at home and taking care of His mother, brothers and sisters as the eldest son. Splinters, sweat, callouses on hands that would later raise the dead.

• 3 years of public ministry while trying to keep His real identity secret so he could help more people before He was found out by the authorities.

• Refusing to give the cheering crowds what they wanted so He could obey His Father’s plan to die for us.

Mean• Christians and ministries typically start off humble

and godly and the more successful they get the more likely they are to stray into areas of sin that they would not normally enter before they were successful. Pride goes before a fall

• David and Bathsheba

• Solomon

• Phil.2:3-11: Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

• 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death [h]on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Mean to Me

• 1-Protecting Ourselves from enemy attacks:

• The Lord is about to promote us all to new levels of responsibility in the Kingdom. Darkness grows deeper each day, making our light more easily seen by desperate seekers of God. (Turn lights out)

• Let’s draw near to God even more by yourself and with others. Ask Him for a greater passion to know and love and enjoy Him.

• Our passion for Him will protect us from the fiery darts of the enemy that are sure to come.

• 2-Handle Success Well

• Decide now to not play to the crowd or be politically correct at the expense of our convictions and keep our eyes on the goals God has given us for our lives.

• Choose now to live for two things: grow more like Jesus and help more people get to heaven before we die—or Jesus returns.

• Ask spouses and friends to speak honestly to us about our life so success does not corrupt us.

• 3-Imitate the humility of Jesus

• Wait until God promotes you (King David)

• Refuse acclaim if it compromises God’s plan for you: (Eric Liddell)

• Value obedience to God more than your own rights or pleasures

• Be willing to suffer to follow God. Decide now to pickup whatever cross God assigns us and follow Jesus, even to the death.

• Humility to a major, high-speed highway to God’s blessings

• "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” (James 4:6)

• So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. (1 Peter 5:6)

Wave the Palms• Wave them to worship the King of Kings, Our Messiah,

Savior, Lord and Friend

• Wave them to say “We will reveal you now Lord by our holy, humble and bold lives for You" we will be your apocalypse until You come again in your second apocalypse!

• Wave them to thank Jesus for humbling Himself to give His life for us so we will bow our knees in worship at His Second Apocalypse and not in terror