“‘Go into the village over there,’ he said. ‘As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, “The Lord needs them,” and he will immediately let you take them.’” (Matthew 21:2–3 NLT)

A Sunday school teacher asked her class, “Does anybody know what next Sunday is?”

A little six-year-old girl raised her hand and said, “Next Sunday is Palm Sunday.”

The teacher said, “Very good. Do you know what the meaning of Palm Sunday is?”

The little girl replied, “That is the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey and the people laid palm branches at His feet.”

The teacher said, “That is exactly right. Does anybody know what the following Sunday is?”

The same little girl raised her hand and said, “That is the day that Jesus rose again from the dead. It is Easter Sunday.”

“Very good,” the teacher said.

The little girl continued, “But if He sees His shadow, He will have to go back into the ground for six weeks.”

For the next two and a half weeks leading up to Easter, we’re going to look at the meaning and significance of several different events that took place during the Passion Week—the days from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. And we’re going to start with the arrangements Jesus made for His arrival in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration.

Jesus had made the trip to Jerusalem countless times for various festivals and occasions. But His arrival on Palm Sunday was unique. Look at His instructions to His disciples in the passage above.

Hundreds of years earlier, the Old Testament prophet Zechariah had written these words: “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt” (Zechariah 9:9 NLT).

Jesus was certainly aware of the prophecy—and so were many people in the crowd that awaited Him in Jerusalem. Prophecies about the Messiah—the King, the Chosen One—loomed large in Jewish life. But always with a political slant. The Jewish people of Jesus’ day were waiting for a Messiah who would lead them in revolt against the Roman Empire.

Their baseless expectations often distracted them and kept them from embracing Jesus’ teachings about the kingdom of Heaven. So Jesus rarely announced Himself as the Messiah during His public ministry.

But that changed on Palm Sunday. When Jesus chose a donkey colt as His means of transportation, He was sending an unmistakable message. He was saying to everyone, “I am the king Zechariah prophesied about. I am the Chosen One, the Son of God. The Messiah has come!”

In the culture of the first century AD, a king who entered a city on a donkey came in peace; a king who entered a city on horseback came to conquer. So Jesus was also making it clear that He was not a political threat to Rome.

He was, however, a threat to the Jewish religious leaders. He knew they were plotting to kill Him. He knew that in a matter of days, His disciple Judas Iscariot would help them by agreeing to betray Him. So Jesus’ decision to enter Jerusalem on a donkey was also intended to provoke His enemies. He wanted them to follow through on their plans to execute Him so that He could fulfill God’s plan of salvation.

Jesus made it clear that He is the Messiah, God’s chosen One to save the world. Everyone who believes in Him will reap the rewards of His saving work—that is, eternal life.

Reflection question: How do you know that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world?

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“Then he asked them, ‘But who do you say I am?’

Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’” (Matthew 16:15–16 NLT)

First Kings 18 tells the story of the prophet Elijah’s challenge to the false prophets of Baal. Elijah would build one altar and place a sacrifice on it. The prophets of Baal would build another altar and place a sacrifice on it. The deity who sent fire to consume his sacrifice would be declared the God of Israel.

The prophets of Baal went first—and failed. They couldn’t get their god to send fire, primarily due to the fact that their god didn’t exist. But here’s an interesting detail that reveals something important about the real God. When Elijah’s turn came, he instructed his servants to pour twelve large jars of water over his sacrifice and altar.

Every jug of water they poured made it less and less likely that anything but a miracle—the work of God Himself—would fulfill the requirements of the contest. God wanted everyone to know that when fire consumed everything on and around Elijah’s altar, it was because of Him.

The same principle can be seen in the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus. Each one is like one of Elijah’s jars of water. It makes it less and less likely that anything but a miracle could fulfill them all. God wanted everyone to know that when the Messiah came and fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies, it was because of Him.

And that puts the ball in our court. When we study Scripture and see Jesus’ miraculous fulfillment of prophecies made hundreds of years before His birth, we’re faced with a decision. Jesus proved Himself to be the Messiah, the Savior. We can’t treat that like a historical curiosity. We have to make it personal. We have to let it impact our lives. We have to answer deep within our soul the question Jesus asked Peter in Matthew 16: “Who do you say I am?” (NLT).

Jesus wants us to trust in Him for salvation. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT).

Jesus wants us to be like Him. The apostle Paul wrote, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29 NLT).

Jesus wants us to put Him first in our lives. He said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33 NLT).

Jesus wants us to tell others about Him. Psalm 96:2–3 says, “Sing to the Lord; praise his name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does” (NLT).

If Jesus is who the Bible claims He is, there’s no risk in any of those pursuits. And Jesus certainly proved that He is who the Bible claims He is.

Maybe you’re afraid to stand up for Jesus Christ. You’re afraid that it could hurt your career or a relationship or something else. But there comes a moment when you have to stand for what you know is true. You may be criticized and might even lose something important to you. But whatever you lose, God will make it up to you. He will bless you for standing for what is right.

Reflection question: Who do you say Jesus is, and how does that impact your life?

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“For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever.” (2 Samuel 7:12–13 NLT)

Charting the rise and fall of empires is not always easy to determine, as there are overlapping or conflicting dates of when nations rise and fall. Generally speaking, though, the Western Roman Empire lasted just over 500 years, from 27 BC to AD 476. The Ottoman Empire lasted 623 years, from 1299 to 1922 (although its remnants can still be found in living rooms throughout the world). The Assyrian Empire, in its different forms, surpassed the millennium mark beginning in 2025 BC through the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 609 BC, it spanned more than 1,400 years.

It’s hard to draw parallels between these empires or to say definitively why some endure longer than others. Some people might say the only real takeaway is that nothing lasts forever. But that’s not true.

The passage from 2 Samuel 7 above records the promise God made to David, the king of Israel and “a man after God’s own heart.” God promised David that his kingdom—and that of his son and successor Solomon—would last forever. And it would last forever because their descendant would be the Messiah, the Son of God, who will rule for eternity.

Psalm 89:29 offers a similar prophecy: “I will preserve an heir for him; his throne will be as endless as the days of heaven” (NLT).

And Isaiah 9:7 says of the Anointed One, or Messiah, “His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” (NLT).

When you think of all the things that can go wrong in a nation, empire, or kingdom, the idea of one lasting forever seems nearly impossible. But that speaks to the nature of Christ’s kingdom.

There will be no divisions, no corruption, no power plays, no dissatisfaction. The Lord will rule, and everyone in His kingdom will joyfully submit to Him. Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (NLT).

That brings us to one more point that absolutely must be mentioned. Not only will Christ’s kingdom last forever, so will everyone in it. The apostle Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NLT). Jesus paid those wages when He gave His life on the cross in our place. His sacrifice makes it possible for us to live forever with Him.

He said so Himself: “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die” (John 11:25–26 NLT).

If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ and have asked Him to forgive you of your sin, the Bible teaches that when you die, you will go immediately into the presence of God in Heaven. That is God’s promise to you.

But God promises not only life beyond the grave; He also promises life during life—not just an existence, but a life worth living. Jesus said, “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10 NLT).

That is the hope and promise for all Christians. That is why the believer does not have to be afraid to die. Or afraid to live.

Reflection question: How do you know—or how can you know—that you will spend eternity with Christ in His kingdom?

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