SO, four times Yeshua is confronted by the religious leaders, and four times He answers and shows Himself to be the perfect Lamb of God without spot or blemish. Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians all put Him to the test.

Now He turns the tables on them and He has a question for the religious leaders…on the last day that Yeshua is speaking publicly so it’s very important to hear what He says. And His last message is about His identity, who is He?

A third confrontation was from the Sadducees…

This confrontation was a question of THEOLOGY. It had to do with the Resurrection.

Differences between Pharisees and Sadducees:

Pharisees: Believed in the supernatural (Angels, demons, literal resurrection)

Sadducees: Did not

A second confrontation was from the Pharisees and the Herodians…

This confrontation was a question of POLITICS.

You have to realize that the Pharisees and the Herodians are at opposite ends of the political spectrum.

Herodians (Jews who) supported Roman rule through the Herodian dynasty.

Pharisees did not; They hated Roman rule and the Herodian influence.

These two groups had no common ground. The fact that they would join forces to trap Yeshua tells us something of how seriously both groups viewed Him as a threat.

Entering Jerusalem as He did isn’t the end of the story. Unfortunately, in its modern day observance of Passion Week, it jumps from there right to the crucifixion. Palm Sunday → Good Friday. That is the result of the early church deciding not to follow the Jewish calendar. That decision was made at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD (It was a symptom of a deeper problem). What actually happened after the Triumphal Entry is that He went back and forth from Bethany to Jerusalem every day, and entered into dialogue (confrontation-attack) with four different groups:

The Priests and the elders

The Pharisees and the Herodians

The Sadducees

The Pharisees (take one more shot)

This particular Passover was different from any other Passover. Maybe we should add a fifth question to our Haggadahs: Why is this Passover different from all other Passovers? This Passover is the climax of what Luke chronicles for us beginning in chapter 9:51-19:27 – that “He set His face toward Jerusalem” (v. 51).

Luke’s gospel account at this point represents a dramatic turning point in Yeshua’s ministry. After this, Galilee was no longer His base of operation.

In Matthew 21, as Yeshua is riding into Jerusalem, it would seem that we have the proclaiming of a king. Behold your king is coming to you (Mt. 21:5); Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David (Mk. 11:10). From all outward appearances it looks as if the people are proclaiming Yeshua to be the long awaited King-Messiah.

In Genesis, we find the thread of redemption woven through the first few chapters. It is set forth in the form of a story. A family story.

It is related in Hebrew as a “Toldot,” which means “These are the generations of…” Put another way, it poses and answers the question “What became of?” In that, we see how God unfolds His story through the generations in Genesis, the book of beginnings, to bring His creation (including man) to redemption out of chaos.

A clear interpretation of the place Jesus holds and the importance He has in both the Old and New Testaments. Understanding this is crucial to a deeper understanding of Scripture and the Messiah.

The first thing we see in the Bible is that there are these connections between what we call: Act One and Act Two, or better known as the Old and New Testaments. You don't have to look far to find them. In fact, you can find glimpses of Jesus throughout the first book of the Bible.

The Feast of First Fruits is a biblical feast that echoes the promise of resurrection. It celebrates God's abundant goodness to His people in giving them hope for new life through Jesus the Messiah. Since Moses’s time, the faithful had celebrated this feast when he instructed them how to offer first fruits from their harvest as an act of thanksgiving (Numbers 18:9-22).

On the tenth day of Nisan, the Israelite family enslaved in Egypt took a lamb from their flock. There were conditions: one-year old, male, without defect. For the next four days, this lamb was to be inspected, scrutinized, and tested to be sure it was without spot or blemish. If it passed the test, on the fourteenth day of the month, the lamb would be slaughtered.

Some people have wondered why the king mentioned in Zechariah 9:9-10 would ride a donkey into Jerusalem rather than a warhorse, a white stallion. This would seem like an odd choice for royalty, a king. After all, we expect to see kings mounted on strong white horses, chargers. That’s what kings ride, don’t they?