Triumphal Prophecy
What do you think about Palm Sunday, not just as the Sunday before Christ’s resurrection, but as the day of Christ’s triumphal entry? The “palm” part comes from the palm branches laid on the road in front of Jesus (John 12:13 bibrefjohn12 bibrefjohn12v13). The Sunday part comes from the day of the week, sure. The entry part comes with Him entering Jerusalem. But, knowing what happened the following Friday, where do we get off calling it triumphal? I’ll give two reasons.
It performs triumphal prophecy. Matthew and John made that connection clear (Matthew 21:5 bibrefmatthew21 bibrefmatthew21v5; John 12:15 bibrefjohn12 bibrefjohn12v15) when they quoted Zechariah.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
(Zechariah 9:9 bibrefzechariah9 bibrefzechariah9v9, ESV)
The king of David (Mark 11:10 bibrefmark11 bibrefmark11v10) was promised as “one shepherd” over His people (Ezekiel 37:25-25 bibrefezekiel37 bibrefezekiel37v25), and here is the Righteous One (Acts 3:14 bibrefacts3 bibrefacts3v14).
It provides triumphal prophecy. On their way in, Jesus gave word to His disciples about what was going to happen.
“See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.” (Mark 10:33–34 bibrefmark10 bibrefmark10v33 bibrefmark10v34, ESV)
This is at least the third time Jesus foretold that He would be delivered over and that He would be raised (Mark 8:31; 9:31 bibrefmark8 bibrefmark8v31 bibrefmark9 bibrefmark9v31; and see Romans 4:25 bibrefromans4 bibrefromans4v25). He was in full control.
“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” (John 10:18 bibrefjohn10 bibrefjohn10v18, ESV)
The crucifixion of the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8 bibref1corinthians2 bibref1corinthians2v8) and His resurrection is His triumph, and this Table is one of victory (1 Corinthians 15:54-55 bibref1corinthians15 bibref1corinthians15v54 bibref1corinthians15v55).
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57 bibref1corinthians15 bibref1corinthians15v57, ESV)