Of Controlling Events and the Wrath of the Crowd

When Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on the Sunday before He was crucified, few in the crowd really knew who He was or what He was doing. Even his closest disciples little understood what was happening and unfolding. All knew it was momentous, but all but the Savior Himself misunderstood why.

To the cheering crowd Jesus was an unstoppable miracle worker come to change their political—and surely many even believed their religious—world. The Savior understood how fleeting this popular acclaim would be. His understanding was akin to that voiced by Oliver Cromwell some 1500 years later, when similarly the focus of the hurrahs of the streets Cromwell said, “Do not trust to the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you and I were going to be hanged.” Jesus knew that the crowd would be shouting again on Friday.

None of this was accidental. It was all prophesied hundreds and even thousands of years before, and Jesus was in control of all of the events and the fulfillment of all of the prophecies. For an omniscient and omnipotent God, nothing happens by chance.

Jesus had long been warned not to go to Jerusalem, that the local leaders would seek His life. In apparent avoidance of the reach of the authorities in Jerusalem, Jesus had largely confined His ministry to Galilee, beyond their jurisdiction. In a surprise move one time before (and in demonstration that He was always in control of events), the Savior had quietly gone to Jerusalem for the Passover, but once there He made His presence public. On that occasion the authorities were too awed by Jesus’ popularity to move against Him. He came and left His city without harm.

For this final visit of mortality, the Savior made His approach well known. His fame, especially of His miracles, had been building. It was brought to a crescendo shortly before and only a short walk away from Jerusalem when the Savior, before a large crowd, called forth Lazarus from the dead. That Lazarus had been dead, just as Jacob Marley, “dead as a doornail,” there was no doubt; he had been in the tomb four days. That Lazarus was alive again was apparent to all. What kind of a Man was this?

As Jesus entered Jerusalem, in clear token of the Messiah, “the Son of David,” the people filled the streets. But their cheering had little to do with yielding their hearts to God and doing the works of righteousness. It was the expectation of having a Messiah who would do their will, One who could and would feed the thousands, heal the sick, and even raise their dead, and maybe restore the greatness of the kingdom of David. Christ would do all of these things, but only on His terms, and those terms the people were not ready to accept. When that became clear, they would call upon the hated Roman rulers to crucify the last real King of the Jews.

Jesus knew and expected this reaction. With the power of God to make all things work for good, through that unfair sacrifice Christ made His “soul an offering for sin, . . . bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:11, 12), as He and the Father had planned from before the creation of the world. On the third day, Jesus the Messiah Himself rose from the tomb. The Christ had gained the victory over all, including death and hell, and extended that victory freely to all—before and since His sacrifice—who will receive it and Him, on the terms of Him who paid the whole price alone.

Of the Mortal Ministry of Christ and the Return of the King

No two events in the history of mankind have been the subject of more divine prophecy than the earthly ministry and atonement of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and the return of Jesus Christ and His subsequent millennial reign. Both were so frequently major themes of so many of the Old Testament prophets that their messages were confused and confounded in the teachings of the scholars at Jerusalem in the time of the Savior’s mortal ministry.

For that reason—or at least in part for that reason—most of these scholars and many of the people in Judea and Galilee were blind to the Savior and the fulfillment of prophecy before their very eyes. That did not make the fulfillment any less real, it just meant that those people found themselves to the side or even hostile to its fulfillment.

All of us can be blind to the unfolding of great occurrences that happen in our own time and location, appreciating their significance, if at all, only from the distance and perspective of time. Then, our longing to have been a part cannot make up for the lost opportunity, often caused by our lack of sensitivity or distraction by things that mattered much less.

Some of these lost opportunities are painful to have missed, like the comet not seen, the speech by the great leader not heard, the perfect performance not witnessed. Others are more than painful, they are life changing: the love lost, the job that went to another, the child not born. These last may not meet mankind’s list of great moments, but they would rank high on a list of personal great events, events that poignantly matter.

The events involved with the ministry of Jesus Christ are a combination of both. They affect all of mankind as much as they powerfully change individual lives. The greatest episode of history—the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ—is also the most important for each of us personally. Surely for that reason, among others, the mortal ministry of the Christ and His return again to the earth have been foretold by prophets from the beginning of time. It was important to God and to us that we not miss them.

Consider first the many prophecies about the birth of the Savior, so that His advent to the earth should not be doubted beforehand and the fulfillment of those prophecies would help build faith in Him during His brief mortal ministry. As surely and completely as the prophecies of the birth were fulfilled so would be the prophecies of the Savior’s sacrifice and resurrection.

Next consider—just one rich example among many—the words of Isaiah found in Isaiah chapter 53. Here the prophet foretold, seven centuries before the happening, that the Messiah would be despised and rejected, acquainted with grief, that He would bear our griefs and sorrows—wounded and whipped for our transgressions, providing healing to us—that he would be led as a lamb to the slaughter, that He would speak not a word in reply to the mocking of the tormentors, that He would be judged and condemned without proper trial, executed among the wicked and buried in the tomb of the wealthy, that He would bear the iniquities and provide forgiveness to many.

As richly detailed as are Isaiah’s prophecies of the mortal and atoning ministry of Jesus Christ, they are matched by his predictions of the latter days and second coming of the Savior. Just as sure as the first happened—as completely as foretold—we can be confident that all prophesied about the second coming will evolve as foretold. If we heed the words of the prophets of God and prepare we will not miss them. Rather, we will rejoice in the richness of the unfolding and be waiting and glad when Christ returns, when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess Jesus as Savior and King.

Break forth into singing, and cry aloud. . . . In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. (Isaiah 54:1, 14)

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22:20)