 I want to show you how absolutely cool Jesus is. Now, many of you obviously know and are in awe of Jesus, how really how awesome he is, but I just want to just show you by way of scripture how cool he is. Some of you all are familiar with Paul Harvey. He would tell you something, put something out there, and then he'd kind of go in detail and give you what, the rest of the story. So that's what I want to do. I want to do so really by way of kind of an analogy or comparison of someone else. But before we do that, let's go to the passage that we speak about today being Palm Sunday. Here comes Jesus coming in in this triumphant entry that we talk about. The crowd, this is Matthew 21.9, the crowd going ahead of him and those who follow were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David, very important. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. And so you've got these people they are just cheering for him. He's done all these miracles before them. He's healed people and so forth. He's made these great claims, these statements and the people that follow him. He's fed some of these people. Now, obviously that's going to change in one week's time. But what led up to this? So let's go to the rest of the story. But before we do, I want to give you a comparison. Many of you are old enough, some of you are old enough to know about a basketball player by the name of Larry Bird. Larry Bird was an excellent player. I think he's one of the five best players ever. Played in the 80s, got heard. So his career was a little bit shortened because of back injury. But at his best, Larry Bird was a trash talker. He would do things such as tell you what he's going to do and then do it. I'm going to dribble here, do one pump fake and then shoot it from the three in front of your face and point to the spot that he's going to do it and we'll do it. But that became a little bit old news. He could just do that whenever he wanted to really. But he made a statement playing against the Portland Trailblazers and said, I'm going to play this game with my left hand. So tomorrow night's the last game of the trip. I'm going to play this one left handed. Now he's right handed and he played most of the game. It's not a whole game scoring with his left hand. It's against cursing. For Larry Bird. Lord with the left hand. Now how cool is that? He's not the most athletic, but to make a statement and to something so audacious and bold and then to back it up. Well, why am I using that? What does it have to do? I know of someone else that made some bold, audacious claims and back them up. So let's go back and see the rest of the story about God, about the Lord, how this him coming in in this triumphant entry on a cult and let's see how this kind of compares. This is a bold, audacious claim by the Lord long before it actually happens. Let's go back to the passage one more time. They're saying Hosanna to the son of David. That's also important. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. Where does that come from? Well, let's go back to Genesis 49. Remember in Genesis 49, here is Jacob giving these blessings to his son and he's speaking to Judah. Very important. He says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler staff from between his feet. Now remember, there is no kingdom. There is no king yet. As a matter of fact, they are in Egypt after a famine, after leaving their land. And so Jacob is pronouncing blessings. He skips the older voice and he goes to Judah and says, the scepter shall not depart. Well, the scepter is for a king. We don't have a king, nor do we have a kingdom just yet. But again, this is coming from God. And so God knows what he's speaking of. He says, until Shiloh comes and to him shall be the obedience of the people. That hadn't happened yet, but it will one day. And then notice what he says in verse 11. And we don't talk about this as much, but this is foreshadowing something that's going to happen. He says, he ties his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine. He's speaking about how great it's going to be in the future. And he uses a donkey's colt. Interesting. The foal of a donkey, this colt, he is going to, he's using this right now. Now, why is that important? Well, one deceptor, this king that we don't have yet, this colt that's not even in existence yet. Matter of fact, the town where they're going to be probably doesn't even exist at that moment. Now, God has determined that man should be atoned by blood. And we have this day of atonement whereby there is a priest. We've covered this before, so let's go really quickly. Where there is a priest that mediates between man and God. We've got a scapegoat that takes a place of the sins of the people. So he carries the sin of the people away and then we have a sacrificial offering that actually becomes the sin offering. Well, that's in Leviticus 16. In Leviticus 17, there's a statement made by God. He says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. When it comes before us, do it real quickly again. I just love this part. This is, it never ceases to blow my mind every time I think about this. But he says, and I have given it to you on the altar and to say this in Hebrew, just this word that's highlighted over here, this natatin, that's sufficient. That is, that's highlighted on the screen, that is, I have given. That's all you need. You don't have to have a first person pronoun to go with it. You don't, in the prefix and the suffix to the word, we can see I have givens. The tense and everything is also included. But something special about this is right before it. It says, I, I have given. Well, that's kind of a weird way of saying to say, I, I have given. He says, see, for the life of the flesh is in the blood and I, I have given it on the altar for you to make atonement for your souls. But why would you say, I, I have given? That is a way of saying, I myself have given. In other words, it's for him to say that I will be the one that will be given the blood, not that anyone else is going to do it. Not that anyone else is going to even qualify. I'm not going to have or send someone else to do it. I will give the blood. I will have given the blood for you on the altar. Remember that. Then we go to Zechariah 9. Notice where Zechariah 9 says that here's a prophecy. It says, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout and, shout and triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation. Think about that. He is just and endowed with salvation. Amazing, right? Humble and mounted on a donkey. Even a colt, the fall of a donkey. Remember, it's not the first time that we've seen this before, going back to Genesis 49-11 and his donkey's colt to the choice vine. And he's speaking about this. Obviously, there's this imagery that's put forth about how it's going to be in the future. But in this colt is there this colt of a donkey and then going back to Zechariah 9, he says that Israel's salvation is coming, humbled and mounted on a donkey, even a colt, the fall of a donkey. Well, obviously we know what happens because we're going to see Jesus doing just that. But before we get there, let's remember what he says and there's a prophecy given to Daniel after or actually towards the end of Israel's banishment from the land that 70 years is almost up. And so Daniel was praying and an angel comes and tells him about these 70 weeks that have been prophesied. This is why this is important and how this relates. Notice this, he says, then after, after he gives the first sets of weeks seven and then 62, that's 69 a week total. Notice what he says, then after 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing and the people of the Prince who was to come will destroy the city of the sanctuary. So now before we get to the part about the people of the Prince who was to come and will destroy the city of the sanctuary, before that he says what? That Messiah will be cut off. When will Messiah be cut off? Well, notice what I have highlighted. We had this wah and this acari, which is an after. That's why it's highlighted over here in the English, then after, then after what? After the 69th week, 69 sevens, the week just means sevens also. So 69 sevens, seven what? So seven years. So 69 times seven comes up to equal four, I'm sorry, 483 years. So from the time that he's given this decree to 483 years, what comes up? Him writing in on this cult. And then after that is right up to the date, right up to the exact year he shows up writing on this cult. Now let's jump to where all of these things kind of come together. This cult, this fall of a cult, this kingdom being established the after these 69 weeks. Look what Jesus tells his disciples to do. He says, go into the village. This is Luke 19 verse 30. Go into the village ahead of you. There as you enter, you will find a cult tied on which no one has yet ever set. Untied and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? You shall say, the Lord has need of it. Now, if we look at Matthew, Matthew also tells us that the donkey is there. The fall of the cult is also, the fall, this cult of this donkey is also there, bring them. And if anyone asks us, the Lord has need. So those who were sent away and found it just as you told them as they were untying the cult, it is the owner that says, why are you untying the cult as the Lord has need of it? And they brought it to Jesus and they threw their cults on the cult and put Jesus on it. Now remember, if we go back to what this passage says, speaking about Jesus, how he's going to come in even on a cult, the fall of a donkey. How's it going to come? Humbled and mounted on that donkey. How so or for what reason endowed with salvation? To do what? Just as he says in Leviticus 1711, that he is going to give or he's going to supply his blood for this atonement. Now, remember, this also has to be in leagues with this other passage. I meant to cover this passage also in 2 Samuel 7. We've got David who comes through what? The Lion of Judah. His son Solomon is going to build a temple, but then he makes a promise, a covenant with him. We call it the Davidic Covenant about another descendant. He says, your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever. Your throne shall be established forever in accordance with all these words and all the visions. So Nathan spoke to David. So he's speaking about his lineage on the throne. Remember, the scepters shall not depart from Judah. So someone out of that tribe, that is Jesus, is going to be a king and reign on that throne forever. So when Jesus comes in, what are they saying to him? Let's go back to it. They were saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. So how do they say this? Son of David. Hosanna, glory to him, glory to him in the highest. Just like he said he was going to do, he said, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. And this is going to happen. And you will be saved. When you think about all of that that's happened and it happens just like he said to a T, perfectly the fact that this donkey and her foal is there, this donkey and this cult is there. And that one that's never been ridden, tied up. They bring them just like he said. Guys, whenever the Lord says he is going to do something in the scriptures, there is no altering to his words. There's no changing. We don't have to try to figure out even if we don't see it. If it doesn't make sense, it will happen exactly like he said. He is God of now. He is the God of the past. He is the God of the future. And all things work according to his good counsel. He didn't consult with anyone. He didn't ask for anyone to have something happen. He is God. Above all else, God is sovereign. And so this sovereign God tells you. He tells exactly what he's going to do and he does it. And even giving us the timing such as Daniel's 70-week prophecy after the 69th, 70. Not before or during the 70th, no, after the 69th, 7th. The 69th week, Messiah will be cut off riding after riding a cult, singing glory to, singing Hosanna, son of David, as it says in this prophecy or this covenant in 2 Samuel, we see it happening just like that. How cool is that? And as Paul Harvard would say, and now you know the rest of the story.