He came right when He was supposed to.\u00a0 2,000 years ago Jesus came to Israel as her King.\u00a0 This had always been God\u2019s plan (1 Peter 1:20). \u00a0Jesus\u2019 coming \u201ctook place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: \u00a0“SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,\u00a0‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU,\u00a0GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.'”(Matt 21:4-5).\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Palm Sunday we remember the crowd\u2019s excitement at Jesus\u2019 coming to Jerusalem.\u00a0 Israel had been waiting over 400 years for this time, and now it had finally come.\u00a0 \u201cMost of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road.\u00a0 The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,\u00a0“Hosanna to the Son of David;\u00a0BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt 21:8-9)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Expectations of Jesus were high.\u00a0 Would He assume the throne as King?\u00a0 Would He rule and expel the Roman Empire?\u00a0 Most everyone was ready for the change they expected Messiah to bring.\u00a0 Even the children cried out in the Temple in excitement for what they had been waiting for (Matt 21:15).<\/p>\n
As history has revealed, the excitement of this moment quickly died away.\u00a0 Jesus did not meet the nation\u2019s expectations of their Messiah.\u00a0 \u00a0He had a greater purpose to fulfill than simply delivering Israel from Roman rule.\u00a0 He came to deliver the world from sin\u2019s awful penalty.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus came as Savior.<\/p>\n
Jesus would soon be despised.\u00a0 Jesus would soon be rejected by those who for the moment shout praise.\u00a0 Jesus would soon die on a cross.\u00a0 Jesus would die for us (1 Peter 1:20).<\/p>\n
What are our expectations of Jesus Christ today?\u00a0 Are we looking to a Jesus different from the one presented in God\u2019s Word?\u00a0 How about Jesus\u2019 expectations of us?\u00a0 He has sent Christians out into the world to make Him known (Matthew 28:18-20).\u00a0 Are we proclaiming Him to the world?<\/p>\n
There are billions of people across this world with zero expectations of Christ, simply because they have never heard of Him.\u00a0 Who will go and tell them?\u00a0 Join us in prayer for those who God will raise up and prepare to take the best news ever proclaimed to a lost world.\u00a0 Pray for us as we near the end of our training with New Tribes Mission.\u00a0 Pray for us as we move toward our ministry to prepare others who will go and tell the unreached in this world the good news about Jesus Christ, and give them hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He came right when He was supposed to.\u00a0 2,000 years ago Jesus came to Israel as her King.\u00a0 This had always been God\u2019s plan (1 Peter 1:20). \u00a0Jesus\u2019 coming \u201ctook place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: \u00a0“SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION,\u00a0‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU,\u00a0GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":617,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1774],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-112","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-bible-messages","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/todd-nelson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/todd-nelson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/todd-nelson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/todd-nelson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/617"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/todd-nelson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/todd-nelson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/todd-nelson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/todd-nelson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/todd-nelson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}