I was really impressed how powerful was that article, that Mike P. had linked to on March 19:
No doubt that article weighed heavily on my mind when I had wanted to talk to people about the tenth day of the first month, last week:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Exodus 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:5a Your lamb shall be without blemish,
6a And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month:.
Genesis 22:8a And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:
John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
I Corinthians 5:7b For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
John 12:1a Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, ( 8th day)
2a There they made him a supper; ( 9th day)
12a On the next day much people that were come to the feast, (10th day)
(It was on that 10th day of the first month that their Lamb came to them, in fulfillment of Exodus 12 and Zechariah 9:)
Matthew 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,
2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
(That same 10th day of the first month, it was children, also, who were crying, "Hosanna to the Son of David":)
15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,
16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
(21 years earlier, Jesus, himself being a child, came to Jerusalem for the Passover.)
Luke 2:41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
(What a thought, that children his age, 21 years later at Passover time, would be praising him with loud Hosannas:)
(There are two great entries of Jesus to Jerusalem, the one on the 10th of the first month, and the next at his second advent.
These are pictured by two different passovers in Jerusalem:)
II Chronicles 30:2 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month.
3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
5b that they should come to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.
15b and the priests and the Levites were ashamed,
17a For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified:
18a For a multitude of the people,
18c had not cleansed themselves,
18e But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one
(That was at the time of Hezekiah, and it was in the second month, because they had missed the passover.
When Jesus came to Jerusalem for the passover, Israel totally "missed" it, and the priests and people were not clean.
They rejected Jesus and his sanctifying blood, and the priests acted shamefully, by turning the people against Jesus.
Yet, from the cross, he prayed for them, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.")
(Although, at the time of Josiah, they had a passover that exceeded all those during the time of all the kings.
This is a picture of the glorious time of worship that will be in the kingdom, when Jesus returns:)
II Chronicles 35:18 And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
(When Jesus came to Jerusalem on that 10th day, the people cried. "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD".
However, he was not received, but actually rejected by many, including the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees.
So, it is interesting that the last thing Jesus spoke to them in the temple, was about those very same words:)
Matthew 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Matthew 24:1a And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple:
(When Jesus returns, and again comes into Jerusalem, all the people will say, " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD ".)
(Then there are the worshipping words in Psalm 24:)
Psalms 24:7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye 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 ye gates; even lift them up, ye 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. Selah.
(Is there a possibility that the message of lines 7 and 8, is essentially repeated in lines 9 and 10, because of two entries of Jesus?
Lines 7 and 8 should have been the answer to those coming with Jesus to Jerusalem, shouting Hosanna.
However, lines 7 and 8 may very well have been shouted by those in heaven, when Jesus ascended to the Father's right hand.
Lines 7 & 8, and then 9 & 10, may be related to, and bracket, Jesus' two entries to Jerusalem.)
(Both of Jesus' entries to Jerusalem were also pictured in the presence of the LORD being brought to Jerusalem, with the ark:)
I Chronicles 13:2a And David said unto all the congregation of Israel,
3a And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul.
5a So David gathered all Israel together,
6b to bring up thence the ark of God the LORD,
7 And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart.
8 And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.
9b Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled.
10 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God.
12 And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?
13 So David brought not the ark home to himself to the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite.
14 And the ark of God remained with the family of Obededom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obededom, and all that he had.
(The first coming of the presence of the LORD to Jerusalem began with the accompanying people praising the LORD.
And the presence of the LORD was brought along the way in by a beast of burden.
However, it absolutely did not end the way David had wanted, and the glory of the presence of the LORD wasn't in Jerusalem.
Instead, the presence of the LORD was transferred, for a time, to the Gentiles.
The name Obed-edom means worker of Edom, and he was a Gittite, of the city of Gath of the Philistines.
He was likely a Gentile who chose to follow the LORD, and to be amongst the LORD's people.
Like a picture of the first coming of Jesus to Jerusalem, on the 10th of the first month, it ended differently than some thought;
With the presence of the LORD, for a time, in the person of the Holy Ghost, in the hearts of Christians, mostly Gentiles.)
(But, when the time completed, the presence of the LORD must needs come to Jerusalem:)
I Chronicles 15:2 Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.
3 And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD unto his place, which he had prepared for it.
13 For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.
14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel.
15 And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD.
16 And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.
28 Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps.
(When Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem at his second advent, it will be a similar scene.
The children of Israel will again accompany Jesus, with praise, worship, shouting, and music.
Is it possible that the Levites will actually pick up Jesus, and carry him into Jerusalem on their shoulders?
Why not? Why was the tabernacle, and the presence of the LORD upon the ark, carried upon the Levites shoulders?
Some would say that it was so that they would never touch the ground, but they did touch the ground when they were set up.
Jesus is God manifest in the flesh, the LORD in a tabernacle flesh, the very presence of the LORD.
So maybe he really will be carried in to Jerusalem on the Levites' shoulders, on the day that he returns.)
(On the 10th day of the first month, the King came to Jerusalem, lowly, a Lamb riding upon the foal of an ass.
Certainly not the warrior king that some wanted, but it is necessary that first there must be the blood of the innocent Lamb.
So, that when the time is right, he will return to Jerusalem, in power, a Lion riding upon a white horse, the warrior King.
Without the Lamb of God, there cannot be the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
We can be thankful that on the 10th day of the first month the Lamb was brought in, to be killed on the 14th day at evening.)
(So, when we read many things in the old testament, they picture, and help us see our Savior.
They picture what he has done, by so many and poetic portraits, in the lives of those written about.
They also picture for us, the great things that Jesus is still yet prophesied to do.)
(We should be encouraged to do what others, here, have been telling us:
To look for Jesus on every page of the Bible, to ask the Father to open our eyes, and to show us his Son, on each page.)