The Greatest Tragedy

Today is Palm Sunday. Wikipedia describes the event as Jesus’s triumphal ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. In an enactment of Zechariah 9:9, Jesus was making a declaration that he was the King of Israel. All the Gospels cover the event.

“Rejoice greatly, O my people! Shout with joy! For look—your King is coming! He is the Righteous One, the Victor! Yet he is lowly, riding on a donkey’s colt!
Zechariah 9:9

As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, and were near the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of them into the village ahead. “Just as you enter,” he said, “you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them here. If anyone asks you what you are doing, just say, ‘The Master needs them,’ and there will be no trouble.” This was done to fulfill the ancient prophecy, “Tell Jerusalem her King is coming to her, riding humbly on a donkey’s colt!” The two disciples did as Jesus said, and brought the animals to him and threw their garments over the colt for him to ride on. And some in the crowd threw down their coats along the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them out before him. Then the crowds surged on ahead and pressed along behind, shouting, “God bless King David’s Son!”. . . “God’s Man is here!” . . . “Bless him, Lord!” . . . “Praise God in highest heaven!”

The entire city of Jerusalem was stirred as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked. And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth up in Galilee.” Jesus went into the Temple, drove out the merchants, and knocked over the money changers’ tables and the stalls of those selling doves. “The Scriptures say my Temple is a place of prayer,” he declared, “but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” 
Matthew 21:1-13


You know when the English next appoint their King, the chant across England will go up “the Queen is dead, long live the King!”.

Understand the politics of what is going on. In Jerusalem for the Passover are the Governor of Judea Pontius Pilate, the Imposter King of Israel Herod and The High Priest Caiaphas. All 3 of these “wise” men were appointed by Rome to govern Israel and the events on Palm Sunday are a direct challenge to the Roman Caesar authority.

The very first thing that Jesus does is to go into the Temple, turn over the tables and drive out the merchants. With a 50,000 crowd of people supporting him and shouting his name as their King, to the Authorities it looks like a revolution to take over the City. From that moment they hatched their plot to kill Jesus.

But this was a tragic love story not a political coup. When Jesus looked over Jerusalem that tragic day he cried with great sadness over her.

But as they came closer to Jerusalem and he saw the city ahead, he began to cry. “Eternal peace was within your reach and you turned it down,” he wept, “and now it is too late. Your enemies will pile up earth against your walls and encircle you and close in on you, and crush you to the ground, and your children within you; your enemies will not leave one stone upon another—for you have rejected the opportunity God offered you.” Lukee 19:41-44

It was like a man and woman in love. After some time of being together, they planned to marry. So the man went to elaborate lengths to arrange the moment when he would make the marriage proposal. He bought an expensive ring and when the moment arrived, he got down low on his knee to make the proposal and the girl rejected him.proposal but she turned away and rejected him! So he found another and married her instead but remained in love with his first love the rest of his life while she had many affairs. Somehow love never dies and the story isn’t over yet.

For this message I have read “The Coming Prince” by Sir Robert Anderson. Sir Robert was also the author of more than 20 other books but even more interestingly, he was the Assistant Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard) from 1888-1901 at the time of the Ripper murders which occurred from August 31st - November 9th 1888.

Staggeringly when James Munro resigned as Assistant Commissioner on 28th August, Sir Robert succeeded him the same day less than 3 days before the first murder. on 31st August 1888.

But on doctors orders, Sir Robert had to immediately go on holiday in Switzerland between 7th September and 6th October after several years of none just before the 2nd Ripper Murder occurred on September 8th.

During that time, there were 3 other victims. This prompted Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren to appoint Chief Inspector Donald Swanson to coordinate the enquiry from Scotland Yard.

The Coming Prince was published in 1894 which means that the work on the book was hampered by the high profile nature of the investigation into the Ripper murders. Much of The Coming Prince was written late at night after "overtime" official work.

To those who doubt whether Sir Robert was able to do both jobs of writing a great book and being the Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard, the records show that crime decreased in London during that period. Daniel’s enemies criticised him the same way but the fact was that the Lord was with Sir Robert just like he was with Daniel and he was knighted upon retiring in 1901.

We need to take this book very seriously because it proves that Jesus is the Messiah of the Daniel 9 prophecy and the King who is coming again.

The amount of work that Sir Robert put in to writing such a detailed book as The Coming Prince without the aid of internet and fast travel was utterly phenomenal. Being such a highly ranked Police Officer, he brought the highest level of investigative detailed research and quality that few either then or now could match. Sir Robert was an expert on prophecy because he did the research and put it all together piece by piece.

Let’s go back to Daniel which Bob did a series on late last year. Remember Daniel had been taken into captivity in Babylon as part of God’s punishment on Israel for her chasing after other gods. I want you to notice all the specific references to time in this passage.

It was now the first year of the reign of King Darius, the son of Ahasuerus. (Darius was a Mede but became king of the Chaldeans.) In that first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from the book of Jeremiah the prophet that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years. So I earnestly pleaded with the Lord God to end our captivity and send us back to our own land. As I prayed, I fasted and wore rough sackcloth, and I sprinkled myself with ashes and confessed my sins and those of my people. “O Lord,” I prayed, “you are a great and awesome God; you always fulfill your promises of mercy to those who love you and keep your laws. But we have sinned so much; we have rebelled against you and scorned your commands. We have refused to listen to your servants the prophets, whom you sent again and again down through the years, with your messages to our kings and princes and to all the people.
 Daniel 9:1-6

Even while I was praying and confessing my sin and the sins of my people, desperately pleading with the Lord my God for Jerusalem, his holy mountain, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, flew swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice and said to me, “Daniel, I am here to help you understand God’s plans. The moment you began praying a command was given. I am here to tell you what it was, for God loves you very much. Listen and try to understand the meaning of the vision that you saw! “The Lord has commanded 490 years of further punishment upon Jerusalem and your people. Then at last they will learn to stay away from sin, and their guilt will be cleansed; then the kingdom of everlasting righteousness will begin, and the Most Holy Place in the Temple will be rededicated, as the prophets have declared. Now listen! It will be 49 years plus 434 years from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One comes! Jerusalem’s streets and walls will be rebuilt despite the perilous times. “After this period of 434 years, the Anointed One will be killed, his kingdom still unrealized. . . and a king will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. They will be overwhelmed as with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. This king will make a seven-year treaty with the people, but after half that time, he will break his pledge and stop the Jews from all their sacrifices and their offerings; then, as a climax to all his terrible deeds, the Enemy shall utterly defile the sanctuary of God. But in God’s time and plan, his judgment will be poured out upon this Evil One.”
Daniel 9:20-27

So there was to be 49 + 434 = 483 years between the time the edict is given to rebuild Jerusalem until the anointed one comes and is killed. We know now that Jesus is the Anointed One and was crucified, fulfilling part 1 of the prophecy.

1. The edict to rebuild Jerusalem was 14th March 445 BC
Nehemiah’s version
And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.” So I became dreadfully afraid, and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?” Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be? And when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
Nehemiah 2:1-6

Ezra’s version 
Those who came with Zerubbabel were Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:
Ezra 2:2

On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra the priest, the scribe, expert in the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of His statutes to Israel: 
Artaxerxes, king of kings, 
To Ezra the priest, a scribe of the Law of the God of heaven: 
Perfect peace, and so forth. 
Ezra 7:9-11

So being the 1st day of the 1st month (Nisan) when Passover is celebrated according to the new moon, in 445 BC that was 14th March. That was the day the edict was issued. This new moon date was confirmed to Sir Robert by the British Royal Astronomer. Please note the date confirmed by the astronomer was on June 26th 1877 which means that Sir Robert Anderson had the book in progress for many years before he was appointed Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard. No wonder Satan wanted to stop that book!

2. The date Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem was 6th April 32 AD. First of all Jesus ministry begun between 28 AD and 29 AD just before Passover.
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar* Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 
Luke 3:1-3
*Tiberius reign began 19th August 28 AD

Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, 
Luke 3:23

Sir Robert assumes a ministry of 3 years plus however many months between 19th August 28 AD (Tiberius start of reign) and the 1st Passover in 29 AD until his last when he was crucified.

Using proofs from John it is commonly accepted that Jesus ministry lasted about 3 years. In John's Gospel, Jesus attended at least three annual Passover feasts (John 2:13; 6:4; 11:55-57). At the shortest, His ministry would have been 2½ years. If one additional Passover occurred during this time, sometime between John 2 and 6, the information regarding 3½ years fits nicely.

In fact, this unmentioned Passover likely took place prior to the three occasions mentioned in John. By the time of the first Passover mentioned in John 2:13, Jesus had already been baptized, spent 40 days being tempted in the wilderness, had started preaching in various towns and villages (Matthew 4:17), selected His first followers (John 1:35-51), performed His first miracle at Cana in Galilee (John 2:1-11), and traveled to Capernaum north of the Sea of Galilee (John 2:12). These efforts would have covered the course of several months, adding enough time to easily fit the 3½ years mentioned above.

This meant Jesus was crucified on Friday 11th April in 32 AD. Once again using the Royal Astronomer, Sir Robert found that the Last Supper night of the Passover was a full moon on the night of Thursday 10th April (14th Nisan). Because of the full moon, Judas and the those who came to arrest Jesus were able to find him quietly without torch light so that the people were not alarmed to what was happening.

All of this means that Palm Sunday was 6th April 32 AD fulfilling the Daniel prophecy of the 483 years to the very day.

Anderson wrote: "The Julian date of that 10th Nisan was Sunday the 6th April, A.D. 32. What then was the length of the period intervening between the issuing of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the public advent of 'Messiah the Prince,' -- between the 14th March, B.C. 445, and the 6th April, A.D. 32 THE INTERVAL CONTAINED EXACTLY AND TO THE VERY DAY 173,880 DAYS, OR SEVEN TIMES SIXTY-NINE PROPHETIC YEARS OF 360 DAYS, the first sixty-nine weeks of Gabriel's prophecy."

But there remains another 7 years of further punishment to complete the 490 years of punishment. Some may argue that the 7 years of WWII have already fulfilled this prediction since it was halfway through the war that the Nazis began deporting the Jews to Concentration Camps and the holocaust really started. And after the Holocaust and WWII came the establishment of Israel in 1948. The Coming Prince indeed contains some remarkable prophetic statements about this fact at a time when the Jews were scattered everywhere around the world.

However, the fact is Jesus has not returned yet so we are still waiting for the final judgment in Daniel 9. And that’s the thing. When you read the Daniel 9 passage which is prophesying Palm Sunday, you inevitably end up talking about the end times because Jesus made the connection when his disciples asked him when the end times will come in Matthew 24.

“So, when you see the horrible thing (told about by Daniel the prophet) standing in a holy place (Note to the reader: You know what is meant!), then those in Judea must flee into the Judean hills. Matthew 24:15-16

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. Then let the people of Judea flee to the hills. Let those in Jerusalem try to escape, and those outside the city must not attempt to return. For those will be days of God’s judgment, and the words of the ancient Scriptures written by the prophets will be abundantly fulfilled. Woe to expectant mothers in those days, and those with tiny babies. For there will be great distress upon this nation and wrath upon this people. They will be brutally killed by enemy weapons, or sent away as exiles and captives to all the nations of the world; and Jerusalem shall be conquered and trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of Gentile triumph ends in God’s good time. “Then there will be strange events in the skies—warnings, evil omens and portents in the sun, moon and stars; and down here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. The courage of many people will falter because of the fearful fate they see coming upon the earth, for the stability of the very heavens will be broken up. Then the peoples of the earth shall see me, the Messiah, coming in a cloud with power and great glory. So when all these things begin to happen, stand straight and look up! For your salvation is near.”
Luke 21:20-28

It was perhaps the greatest tragedy the world has ever known that on that exact date when Jesus fulfilled the 69 weeks, that Jerusalem rejected him.

Jesus knew that he would be rejected and killed because of the Daniel 9 prophecy. Therefore his ministry wasn’t one of someone about to take power. Rather he prepared the people for life in the kingdom before he would finally reign. We would have to learn to turn the other cheek. We would have to forgive so that we can be forgiven. We would have to learn what it takes to take up our cross and follow him. The years to come would be tough so he taught with illustrations, like a sower sows his seed rather than a king laying down the law. The final results would not be seen until he comes in power a second time. But his return was to be delayed as he emphasised in his parables.

Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, in peace. He could have come in power but he chose to come humbly. In these times of the Gentiles, God does not act in power as he did in the days of Moses for example but that is because we are in the age of Grace. But Revelation speaks of a coming time when the Lord will move in power and judgment and that will be a time of terror! So we should have a healthy fear of the Lord!

You don’t know the circumstances and arrangements that the Father has made to bring you here today to hear this message. And if Jesus is calling you today to come follow him and you reject him like Jerusalem, you may never get another chance just like they never got another chance.

We can see the Western World is crumbling and the times of the Gentiles is coming to an end. Soon the door will be closed to the Gentiles so we must be earnest to enter through the narrow gate, to accept the invitation to the wedding feast, before it is too late;

I want you to know about this truth from God, dear brothers, so that you will not feel proud and start bragging. Yes, it is true that some of the Jews have set themselves against the Gospel now, but this will last only until all of you Gentiles have come to Christ—those of you who will. And then all Israel will be saved. Do you remember what the prophets said about this? “There shall come out of Zion a Deliverer, and he shall turn the Jews from all ungodliness. At that time I will take away their sins, just as I promised.” Now many of the Jews are enemies of the Gospel. They hate it. But this has been a benefit to you, for it has resulted in God’s giving his gifts to you Gentiles. Yet the Jews are still beloved of God because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God’s gifts and his call
can never be withdrawn; he will never go back on his promises. Once you were rebels against God, but when the Jews refused his gifts God was merciful to you instead. And now the Jews are the rebels, but some day they, too, will share in God’s mercy upon you. For God has given them all up to sin so that he could have mercy upon all alike. 
Romans 11:25-32