The Messiahs last journey to Jerusalem
The ministry of the Messiah begins with his baptism, and ends in Jerusalem, following the Last Supper with his disciples. The final visit to Jerusalem begins with the Messiahs triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The Gospels provide more details about the final ministry than the other periods, devoting about one third of their text to the last week of the life of the Messiah in Jerusalem. This is just how important the events of that week are as that week culminates in the fulfillment of the Easter Feasts. You need therefore to be careful in your understanding to seek the truth.
It is this final week that is critical to the Salvation Plan for mankind, if we wish to understand the Salvation Plan we need to understand the events that surround that final week, and the meaning of Spring Feasts that culminated in the the Messiahs sacrifice and resurrection. If you wish to understand the events at the end of time, then the you will need to understand the Autumn Feasts.
There are many versions of the Messiahs crucifixion and resurrection. Most denominations believe in the Messiahs crucifixion and resurrection, but choose to remember this event on the same day as a pagan false deities fertility festival (e-a-s-t-e-r). This is twisting the Scriptures to fit under pagan practices and rituals.
As Natsarim, we should remember the Spring Feasts as this is the prophesied time in the Fathers Salvation plan that this sacrifice would take place. This is a big story, the below sets out the Scriptural sequence.
When the Messiah neared Jerusalem, He knew His mission was almost finished. As they traveled He warned His disciples that He would soon be put to death, and after three days and three nights He would rise again (there is particular significance to 3 days and 3 nights - it is related to an Israeli custom that someone was not really dead until after 3 days and 3 nights - sorry, but the traditional story that many denominations teach of 2 nights, a full day and 2 part days does not meet the requirements of this custom, it merely enables the Messiahs crucifixion to be aligned to pagan fertility rituals.
Matthew 12:40 “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish, so shall the Son of Aḏam be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
According to the Gospels, the Messiah stayed at Bethany after walking from Jericho. John 12:1 states that he was in Bethany (today known as el-Azarieh) six days before the Passover Day. However, the day of the Messiahs death cannot have been Passover Day, it had to be the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, lets have a look at what actually happened and what the Scriptures say. I am sorry, but mathematically what denominations teach is not what is in the Scriptures, and this mis-information masks peoples view of the actual circumstances and significance of the Messiahs sacrifice.
Most denominations teach that the Messiah was crucified on Passover day which was a Friday. However, counting backwards from Friday, six days before Passover would have been a weekly Sabbath day. This is the first indication to the error in many denominations teaching, the Messiah cannot have been crucified on a Friday.
The Messiah, being a devout Jew, would not have broken the Torah by walking from Jericho to Bethany on a Sabbath, a distance of about 25 kM with a climb of about 1.25kM. There were Sabbath rules on the extent of travel permitted. Jericho to Bethany is a reasonable walk, perhaps six hours or more, the limit of a Sabbath-day's journey was 2,000 cubits (about 2km or 2,000 yards).
The Messiah stopped at Bethany to enjoy a feast with Lazarus and his family (John 12 and Mark 14)
John 12:1 Accordingly Yahusha, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had died, whom He raised from the dead. 2 So they made Him a supper there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. 3 Then Miryam took a pound of costly perfume of nard, anointed the feet of Yahusha, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
The Messiah may have stayed in Bethany for the Sabbath as the next day he rode a donkey into Jerusalem. The Torah states that animals, including donkeys, were not to do work on the Sabbath. If the donkey and her colt had carried the Messiah and the cloaks of the disciples into Jerusalem on the Sabbath, this would have violated the Torah. So the Messiah could not have been crucified on a Thursday either. This is another indication of error in many denominations teaching.
The Messiah never once transgressed the written Law, so He would not have broken the accepted Sabbath travel distance or rode on a donkey on the Sabbath. I think that it is most likely that the Messiah arrived in Bethany on the day period of the Nisan 8 (Thursday your time - so he arrived in Bethany before the preparation day) and he rode the donkey into Jerusalem on Nisan 11 which was the first day of the week (Sunday in your time). Remember the time slide from the Creation and Babylonian calendars when reading this verse.
Luke 12:9 Then a great crowd of the Yehuḏim learned that He was there. And they came, not on account of Yahusha only, but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 And the chief priests resolved to kill Lazarus as well,
Matthew 26:2 “You know that after two days the Passover takes place, and the Son of Aḏam is to be delivered up to be impaled.” 3 Then the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people came together at the court of the high priest, who was called Qayapha, 4 and plotted to seize Yahusha by trickery and kill Him. 5 But they said, “Not at the festival lest there be an uproar among the people.”
Mark 14:1 Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread was after two days. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to take Him through treachery and put Him to death.
On the first day of the week, following the Sabbath, the Messiah entered Jerusalem on a donkey. The Messiah traveled by way of Bethphage. It is mentioned in the New Testament as the place in Israel that the Messiah sent his disciples to find a colt which he would ride into Jerusalem. Bethphage was on the road from Bethany to Jerusalem, it is on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives.
Interestingly Zechariah 14:4 states that the Messiah would come to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. Matthew 21:1-11 refers to Zechariah 9:9. Although the Messiah had been to Jerusalem several times to celebrate the feasts, his final entry into Jerusalem had a special meaning. He was solemnly entering as a humble King of peace. Traditionally, entering the city on a donkey symbolizes arrival in peace, rather than as a war-waging king arriving on a horse or in a chariot.
Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! See, your Sovereign is coming to you, He is righteous and endowed with deliverance, humble and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
In Luke 19:41 as the Messiah approaches Jerusalem, he looks at the city and weeps over it, foretelling the suffering that awaits the city with the Roman destruction in 70 AD.
Luke 19:41 And as He came near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you only knew even today, the matters for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 “Because days shall come upon you when your enemies shall build a rampart around you, and surround you and press you on all sides, 44 and dash you to the ground, and your children within you. And they shall not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
The Golden gate is believed to be the place from which the Messiah entered Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday. The Golden gate is located in the north section of the east wall of the Temple Mount. The gate, is called 'The Gate of Mercy' and is considered to be the place from which the Messiah will enter at his Second Coming in the end of days.
On entering Jerusalem, Matthew's account suggests that the Messiah evoked great excitement - "all the city was moved". The people of the city asked "Who is this?" and "the multitudes" answered, "This is Yahusha, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee”. Interestingly the word "moved" in the Greek text is "ἐσείσθη" (eseísthē), derived from the verb σείω (seíō, "shake, quake"). The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges suggests "the word in the original is forcible, “convulsed” or “stirred” as by an earthquake, or by a violent wind". Matthew uses the same word in 27:15 when he suggests that the earth "quaked" at the time of the Messiahs death.
In Matthew, Mark and Luke the Messiahs entry is followed by the cleansing of the Temple and, in all four Gospels, the Messiah performs various healings and teaches by way of parables.
The account in Matthew of the Messiahs scathing accusations against the pharisees are the strongest recorded. He strongly rebukes them for their hypocrisy and their failure to understand the true meaning and intent of the Torah. In this passage, the Messiah accuses the pharisees of being more concerned with outward appearances and minor details of the law, while neglecting the weightier matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness..
The Messiahs rebuke of the Pharisees in Matthew 23 is an example of His strong stance against religious legalism and hypocrisy, and his emphasis on the importance of genuine obedience to the Fathers commands, motivated by love for the Father and others. The Messiah saw the law as an expression of the Fathers character and values, and he wanted people to understand and live out the deeper meaning of the law, rather than just following external rules.
It is important to note that the criticism leveled at the Pharisees was not a rejection of the Torah or the religious tradition as a whole. The Messiah was himself a practicing Jew, who observed the Torah and the Feasts, but he taught that the true meaning and purpose of the law was to love the Father with all one's heart, soul, and mind, and to love one's neighbor as oneself.
The legalism and hypocrisy of the pharisees was false teaching enforced and coerced on the people who did not know any different, much the same as in many modern day denominations. The Messiah was concerned that every part of the righteous requirement had to be obeyed, and He was angry that the pharisees were blind to the the major spiritual aspects of the Torah as they knew what the Torah stated.
The pharisees were seen as very religious and respected figures who had achieved a high level of personal righteousness and adherence to the law. However, the Messiah had repeatedly exposed the fact that their righteousness was external and superficial, and that they often neglected the more important aspects of the law such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
In Matthew 23, the Messiah criticised the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and for being focused on external appearances while neglecting the state of their hearts. He accuses them of being like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside but full of dead men's bones on the inside. In other words, they looked good on the outside, but inside they were corrupt and lacking in true righteousness.
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Messiah emphasised the importance of inward attitudes such as humility, mercy, and purity of heart. He also taught that the law was meant to be lived out from the inside out, rather than just followed externally.
The Messiah was rightfully angry at the pharisees inability to see that they placed their own traditions and interpretations over the true purpose of the Torah. Yet the pharisees were so spiritually blind that they hated Him for exposing their distortions of God’s commands.
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you tithe the mint and the anise and the cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the Torah: the right-ruling and the compassion and the belief. These need to have been done, without neglecting the others. 24 “Blind guides – straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are filled with plunder and unrighteousness. 26 “Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside of them becomes clean too. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly indeed look well, but inside are filled with dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 “So you too outwardly indeed appear righteous to men, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
How much like modern churches and denominations does this sound? Most doctrine rejects the Torah, Feasts, the Sabbath and instead blends paganism, pagan festivals, and witchcraft into their teaching and practices.
Natsarim are probably hated by many denominations as we believe in the true Word of the Father and the Messiah.
Web page last updated 18 Feb 2023
