Recognize the time of God’s coming to you.

On that day in history, which has come to be known as Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem seated on a donkey. The scripture says, “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you’” (Luke 19:41-44).

I am blown away by the Lord’s love! He did not start out with the death and destruction that was to come, born out of the people’s sin. No, our precious Lord rode toward that holy city, weeping. His heart was full of sorrow for the very people He came to save. They did not realize who He was. And some of those who did, chose not to acknowledge Him. John says, “He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.” Jn. 1:10-12. And the apostle Paul says in the letter to the Colossians, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Col. 1:19-20. As is the case with all of scripture, there is a rich mosaic of truth that the Holy Spirit teaches, admonishes, convicts and nourishes our souls. What does the Spirit say to you?

One might ask why Jesus was so sorrowful. And what is the peace that he says the people failed to understand the way to attain? Let’s tackle the second question first. We know that because of sin, we are forever trying to live apart from God, choosing our will over His will. There is no peace in that. We were created by God, to be in relationship with God. “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.” (Isaiah 59:2, NLT). You know if someone turns away from you and will not listen to you, well there is no relationship. So how do we return to our relationship with God? Some believed that by obeying the commandments, they could have that relationship. But they found they really could not keep the commandments perfectly. So no peace there. “But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead in our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)” (Ephesians 2:4-5, NLT). So why did he have to die? God says “For the wages of sin is death. but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord”. Romans 6:23. “For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” Heb. 9:22b. This is what God says, whether you like it or not. So what does all of this have to do with the peace that Jesus spoke of as He entered Jerusalem? His people (Jews) knew all about blood sacrifices. In fact, Jesus was entering Jerusalem during the Passover season, which is a celebration of God sparing the Jews from death because they sacrificed a lamb without blemish and sprinkled the blood on their doorposts. This sacrifice to God would be one of a number of sacrifices the Jews made for the atonement of their sins. What they did not see, when Jesus appeared on the scene, was that He would be the perfect sacrifice. Jesus is the Lamb without blemish that God provided. Once and for all. “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus”. Romans 3:21-26 (NKJV). I love that passage. First, who is going to tell God not to use a run-on sentence! No, seriously, the reason I love that scripture is because of the word propitiation. Not all translations use it. Check out the NASB 2020 version for a little modern language, but still using the word “propitiation”. It has been studied a lot, but I like the definition that Jesus on the cross satisfied God’s requirement of the law completely, and Jesus embodied God’s mercy toward us. And this was for both Jews and Gentiles. “Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the the Father because of what Christ has done for us.” Eph. 2:16-18. And then in Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”

So here we have it. Jesus came to restore our relationship to the Father. And what we were unable to do for ourselves, He did. And by putting our faith in Jesus and what He did on the cross, we can go to our heavenly Father as children. This is not a dysfunctional family relationship I’m talking about. It is sitting on the lap of the God of the Universe. The Uncreated. He is Love. He is Holy. He is our Father or Abba.

The Jews knew of His coming. It was prophesied in many books of the Old Testament and the Torah. I will site just one. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zech. 9:9. Here the King of kings was entering Jerusalem, just as the prophet Zechariah foretold, riding on a donkey. Jesus looked to the city and saw their disbelief and He wept. They missed His coming!

Have you missed His coming? Has He touched your heart but you withdrew? Did you think that by receiving Jesus you would lose out on something? Do you wonder where He is during the COVID-19 pandemic? Psalm 34:8 says “taste and see that the LORD is good”. Do we trust and believe Him?

I pray as you consider this, you will receive the peace that Jesus came to give us and cry out with a joyful heart, ‘Thank you, Lord! I believe!’