Live from the Shepherd Community Center studios of Moody Radio, Indiana. It's mornings with Kelly and Steve.
Oh, man, oh, man. Well, we told you it was coming. Yeah. Biblical worldview. Question of the week with Nancy Fitzgerald of Anchors Away, Worldview Ministries. And we got a good one. We're in Holy week, Kelly.
I know this is my most favorite time of year, and I'm looking forward to this question. And Nancy is with us on the phone. Nancy. Good morning.
Good morning to you, too.
Is everybody ready? I think everybody's ready. So let's just go ahead and roll. Let's just jump into this thing because let's do it. Um, this question I found very intriguing. The question for all of you, by the way we previewed it earlier, is why did Jesus weep over Jerusalem on his triumphant entry a week before his death? But on our way to that answer, we're going to start by looking at the days leading up to the last week of Jesus's life. Nancy. What? What was he doing? There was so much going on in the last week of his life.
Yes. And when we consider his life, in total, only 33 years on this earth and the end of his three year ministry. Three years total were fast approaching. And you can just almost feel the story, you know, as it unfolds the urgency of his ministry, what he wanted to accomplish. Uh, you know, and and his ministry wasn't to gain people's respect or have people like him. Unlike so many leaders today, you know, his ministry was to the people, and he did miracles and he used healing and his there's teaching. And he was open to speaking with friends and foes alike. He loved being with sinners. We all have sinned. And since the beginning of his ministry, when he chose his disciples, Jesus made them a stick close to him, and they were his focus that they would learn through many other occasions of being with him and following him, that he was indeed the awaited Messiah, the Son of God the Savior. And it's so important to realize the epicenter of his ministry was just rising and rising and rising right up into the moment that he died. And it says here in Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, you are the Christ, meaning the Messiah, the son of the living God. Agreeing. Jesus replied, flesh and blood and blood have not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. Then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was the Christ. And this was because the timing had to be perfect on this thing, and he didn't want the disciples to go out and try to preempt or anger his foes. He wanted them to know, though, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was the Christ, and ultimately there would be a price to pay. And and this. This is where the disciples struggled to understand that Jesus's mission was to die for the sins of all mankind and then be raised to life. And he was so clear on this issue on in Luke 922 he said, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priest, and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed, and on the third day be raised to life.
Well, Nancy, there was a lot of intentionality about what he was doing and right before, because you see this, right? It says, the Son of Man must suffer many things rejected by the elders, the chief priests, teachers of the law. He's got to be killed. And on the third day to be raised for life. There was order to all of this, but there was next, this important thing that Jesus stepped away from everyone else took three disciples with him, and it says he took Peter, James, and John, and led them high up on a mountain by themselves. What happened in that moment after that?
Yes. And he did this in preparation that the leaders of the disciples, Peter, James and John, he took them. They were leaders. People listened to them, and their voice mattered particularly to to the disciples. And he chose them out is saying, look, I'm counting on you three. You know, when I'm gone, I want you especially to understand this, because he wanted them to understand what was happening, not only what was happening, but who Jesus really was. And while Jesus was praying with them, it says in Matthew 17, oh my goodness. Jesus's personal appearance was changed into a glorified form and his clothing became dazzling white. You could just imagine what that was like. Moses and Elijah appeared in talk with Jesus about his death, which would soon take place. A cloud enveloped them, and the voice spoke from them. This is my son, whom I love. With him I am well pleased. Look to him.
You know what happens. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Nancy.
No, I'm just saying. Hear me out. Listen to them. That was so important. They had to understand this going into that week.
What gets me is, is what happens next in his timeline is is for me, the most amazing miracle that he performs. And I imagine people standing around watching what he is about to do. And it's just it is incredible even just to read about it. I can't even begin to imagine being there. Reading about it is incredible. And you would think that even the Pharisees would finally go, wow, you know, they they surely should be stunned. Yet this miracle would be his final undoing with the Pharisees. Talk about that miracle and what happened.
Yeah, absolutely. And you want to know the heart of God. He was about ready to die at the most treacherous death, but he wasn't thinking about himself. And this is an amazing miracle. Uh, Lazarus and his sister Mary and Martha were very close friends with Jesus. Jesus had stayed with them on other occasions. And when when Lazarus grew sick, his sister sent for Jesus to come to Bethany. And Jesus delayed his arrival And Lazarus died. Intentionally delayed in Lazarus died. Jesus did not arrive in Bethany until four days after Lazarus passed away, and making a point here that Lazarus had died. He was buried and it was over. People thought when Jesus went to the place of Lazarus tomb, he had the men roll the tomb away from the opening and he shouted, Lazarus, come out! And now there were a crowd of believers and non-believers there. It is just amazing, this whole miracle. It wasn't just for the disciples that the disciples were there too, I'm sure, but this was for all people to understand. It was just so cool in the crowd around the tomb were shocked when the dead man hobbled out of the cave, still bound with burial clothes. And verse 4645 through 46 says, this tells us that many who saw this miracle believed in Jesus, but others reported it to the religious leaders. So now all of a sudden, boom, it got out. Everybody the Pharisees, the Sadducees, all these people there, including those who believe saw this miracle in this miracle was to clearly show not only what was coming with Christ, that he would die and raise again, but it sealed Jesus's fate with the Pharisees and the other rulers. And it says in verse 53, from that day on they plotted to take his life. This this was the point. Boom! The time had come.
Well, you know, Nancy, when I think about this, that the very fact that now the Pharisees learn about this miracle and they are plotting to take Jesus's life, they're looking for a way to ensnare him, to trip him up. They're looking to create an excuse. But Jesus still had to move on. He had to go because this is part of that plan. Everything is intentional. He had to get to Jerusalem. Why was it that he had to get to Jerusalem specifically?
This is this is amazing. Well, Jesus's purpose in riding into Jerusalem was to make public his claim to be the Messiah, the King of Israel, the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy in Matthew that says the king is coming on a foal of a donkey Was the exact fulfillment of Zechariah nine nine. By the way, which the Jewish the leaders, the Pharisees, often use this. This was a very familiar voice from them. For them they knew this prophecy which says, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, the 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. And and. Wow. And then it goes on. Matthew 21 one through three. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethpage to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied to a colt with, uh, tied with a colt with her untie. Notice them. Both of them were with them. And them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once. So they brought it to Jesus. They threw cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it, and he went along. And the people spread their coats on the road. And when they came near to the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God and loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Praise in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, teacher, rebuke your disciples. And then Jesus said, I tell you. He replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will shout. So this was a triumphal entry into Jerusalem to make it known that Jesus, the Son of God, was there to do what he proclaimed to do from the very beginning of time. It was the fulfillment of of 333 prophecies in the Old Testament were all fulfilled in the New Testament, every one of them coming true. Many of them were during this last day. And he was saying, I am who I said I was. I am the Christ. Whosoever believes in me shall be saved. Whoa! I just can't get better than this.
That statement has always intrigued me. If they keep quiet, the very stones will cry out. But now we've arrived at our biblical worldview. Question of the week, Nancy, why did Jesus weep over Jerusalem on his triumphant entry one week before his death? He he's coming into Jerusalem now. He's there. Why did he weep over the city? Yeah.
You would think, you would think, having taken the leaders of the disciples and having been with the disciples for three years, teaching them, showing them they witnessed everything about him. And and even as we see and as you know, the end of this story, they didn't believe in the very end. They weren't there to celebrate the empty tomb, you know, and this is what is so astounding about the love of God for us, in spite of our inability to truly want to grasp the unfathomable that there is a God who would do such a thing, because none of us, no human, would do what Christ did. But but you can imagine what was then going through as he approached Jerusalem and he saw his city, his home, he wept over it. And he said, if you even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. The day will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you, and ham you in on every side, and they will dash you to the ground, you and your children within your walls. And they will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. There it is. He was grieving because he knew the love that he had and his father had for Israel and in the people of Israel, his chosen. And they didn't believe, and he was grieving for them because he knew that 40 years later or 70. Yeah, 40 years later, 80, 70, uh, Jerusalem would be wiped out. And all the people in it because of their disbelief, you know, and and he was grieving for the people who continued to turn away from him. He knew that in rejecting him, they missed having a relationship with God, gaining the eternal, eternal life that he offered. He also mourned because Jerusalem was not living up to his name, a city of peace. And and it is just a picture that just made me stop. I had to read it. Kelly. Because it was like, this is just awful that God so loved the world that he was giving his only son. And and they were paying no attention. They saw the miracles. They talked to him. They saw him, you know, and I hear people today. Kelly saying, oh, well, if only we could see Jesus. No, they all saw him. They touched him. They touched his garment, they ate with him and they didn't believe. People who cheered Christ's interests into Jerusalem on that palm, on that Palm Sunday that we now have Palm Sunday for them. Back then it was Passover wanted, and we're expecting, and we're only going to accept an earthly victory against the Roman enemy. They did not understand that Christ one day would bring peace on the broken world. A world filled with hatred, deceit, hostility, violence, treachery and carnage. After hundreds of prophecies about Christ's birth, death and resurrection from the Old Testament, which the priest taught in the temples to the Jews, they discarded the truth from God's Word. They wanted to satisfy their hope that Jesus would be an earthly king who would give them what they wanted instead of what they needed. And this to me is, oh my God. It's a picture of me and all of us whose focus gets distorted on what we want. We want help. We want our kids to be healthy. We want this, we want that, we want this, that, and the other. And if only God would, then I would. Instead of the idea of the bigger picture. God so loved the world and it is is just to me, a time where we all need to pause and ask ourselves, do I truly believe that this is the Christ, the son of the living God? And I just can't imagine God's heart breaking. He knew every one of his disciples would deny him. He. But yet he didn't stop. And and I just like to close. I think we need to close with Luke 1331 through 35 says this. At that hour some of the Pharisees came and said to him, get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. And he said to them, go and tell that fox. Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow and the third day I finished the course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following. For it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together? As a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing? Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And that, you know, of course, will be the rapture. And then eventually the Second coming. I'm back on earth. But that those were hers. Those were those words. And he just you could just hear the pain in these words. He was saying, what else do you want me to do? Can you not see I love you? And you just see Christ with his hands out and saying, come to me, all who are weary, come and okay. It is hour of greatest need. No one was there. No one, no one.
And this is why we so strongly encourage all of you during this Holy Week to pause and really engage in the scriptures. Take the time to slow down everything and meditate on the scriptures. Close out the rest of the the chaos of the world and the noise, and just meditate on what Christ went through. What has been done for you and the love that was present behind it. This has been powerful today, Nancy, and for all of you listening. Would you stop by Anchors Aweigh and take a look at what Nancy has to offer? At the website, you can listen to past biblical worldview questions of the week there. Take a look at unanswered smoke, mirrors, and God the curriculum there. It's easy to digest. You can do this one from home. Get your kids involved and take a look too, at the Worldview Boot Camp and see what that is about. And if you've got questions about getting in touch with Nancy beyond the website, always feel free to text us here and we'll be glad to answer any questions you have and make sure that you do get connected. (800) 969-9467 and we'll be talking with Nancy again on Tuesday of next week. But this has been so, so good.