Celebrating Jesus in the Spring Feasts of the Lord

The Triumphal Entries

The Triumphal Entries

By Rev. Lonnie C.  Crowe

Matthew 21: 5-9:  "Tell the daughter of Zion, `Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.' '' So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their garments on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! `Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' Hosanna in the highest!''

“Hosanna” means “God save us” or “God is our salvation.”  Later that week, the crowds became a mob demanding His crucifixion.  Little did they know that it is the crucifixion that brings the salvation.

On that first Palm Sunday, our Lord entered from the Mount of Olives, which is east of Jerusalem, on the back of a donkey.  He came as the obedient servant. Matthew 20:28: “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.''

A few days later, Jesus knelt, as a servant, and washed the feet of His disciples, even the feet of Judas Iscariot.  Later that evening, He was arrested, tried by three courts, and then died on the cross at the time when the Passover lambs were slain.  He served.  He gave His life as the ransom for sin.  He gave His life for all the children of Adam.

Ø  The triumphal entry fulfilled an ancient prophecy.

Ø  Zechariah 9:9 reads: “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

However, it isn’t over.  He is coming again.  He is coming again along the same route.  He will again enter through the Eastern Gate.  Zechariah 14:4a: “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east.” 

He will enter again, but not as a servant riding a donkey.

Revelation 19: 11-16:  “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

It will not just be crowds on earth that will welcome Him. A great multitude in heaven will sound forth.

Revelation 19:1, 5-: 7a “After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power to the Lord our God! Then a voice came from the throne, saying, "Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!''

“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory.”

Look up! Your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:28).

Psalm 24:

⁷    Lift up your heads, O you gates!

    And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!

    And the King of glory shall come in.

⁸    Who is this King of glory?

    The Lord strong and mighty,

    The Lord mighty in battle.

⁹    Lift up your heads, O you gates!

    Lift up, you everlasting doors!

    And the King of glory shall come in.

¹⁰    Who is this King of glory?

    The Lord of hosts,

    He is the King of glory.

The First Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem has passed.

The Second Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem is to come.

The question is “Will you live in triumph with Him today?

How Did We Get Here?

How Did We Get Here?

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

In the past months, I have been taking a new approach to the book of Revelation. I  am seeking the Lord for fresh revelation.  Because prophecy contains a message for the time in which it was written, a message for today (whenever that day may be) and a message for the future, I have been praying for the Holy Spirit to give me messages for this moment in which we are living regardless of whether or not we are in the last moments of history. 

The Holy Spirit drew me to Revelation 6:1-2 (NKJV): “Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come and see." And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.”

This conqueror on the white horse represents both the antichrist of the tribulation period and the spirit of antichrist which has been in the world since the beginning . 1 John 4:1-3 (NKJV) “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”

The phrase that captured my attention is “a crown was given to him.”  This, I sense, is a key verse in understanding much of what is happening in our lives.  We have given a crown, that is, placed in authority over ourselves, those whose decisions and actions are bringing about the circumstances represented by the four horsemen of the Apocalypse: violence, inflation, famine and death. We have participated in crowning the antichrist spirit in our personal lives, in our nation and in the global arena.

We have become a people so consumed by fear, that we have fed and empowered the red horse personifying violence. Revelation 6:3-4 (NKJV): “When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come and see." Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.” 

In scripture, the word of God is symbolized as a sword (Ephesians 6:17 and Hebrews 4:12.)  The word of the Lord brings victory to those who stand on it.  However, the sword of the antichrist brings spiritual defeat to those who wallow in fear. 

One of our fears is based on the economy.  Ironically, in that fear, we spend ourselves into near bankruptcy.  

That brings us to the third horse, the black one. Revelation 6:5-6 (NKJV): “When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come and see." So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine."

Two things cannot be harmed by poor economic conditions—the oil and the wine. In scripture, oil represents the anointing, the empowering of the Holy Spirit.  The wine represents the covenant we have through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  In darkest economy times, the power and authority of God stand firm.  We have no need to fear.

In 1706 Matthew Henry wrote, “During the progress of this black horse, the necessaries of life should be at excessive prices, and the more costly things should not be hurt. According to prophetic language, these articles signified that food of religious knowledge, by which the souls of men are sustained unto everlasting life; such we are invited to buy, Isa 55:1.

“But when the dark clouds of ignorance and superstition, denoted by the black horse, spread over the Christian world, the knowledge and practice of true religion became scarce…The famine of bread is a terrible judgment; but the famine of the word is more so.”

The famine of the Word does not result from a lack of availability.  It most often results from Christians who are spiritually anorexic and/or bulimic.  We either refuse to eat of the Word or we purge ourselves of it as soon as we step out of the church door. 

What is the answer?  We must take back the authority we have been given in Jesus Christ. That authority is, amazingly, protected by the Constitution of the United States of America. Our hope is in the Lord who is our provision, our strength and our light. It is time for us to step out of the darkness of the spirit of antichrist and into the light of Jesus