Joseph Prince - Find Protection Under His Wings
Praise the Lord. Today is Palm Sunday. It's known as Palm Sunday because next week we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and his death on Good Friday and then Resurrection Sunday. Somehow, I still have this impression that people tend to think that for Christian celebrations, Christmas is bigger than or, you know, better than Good Friday or Easter, that's how the world thinks, people, that's how the world thinks. And it is sad but actually the biggest and the most important, even in the economy of heaven, event that ever took place was the cross, the death, the burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. It will take place this coming Friday and Sunday 2,000 years ago.
Now, you think about this, in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they depict the life story of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have 89 chapters in 4 gospels, keep that in mind, 89 chapters of the life story of our Lord Jesus Christ in 4 gospels. Out of 89 chapters, we only have 4 chapters on his birth and one time on his childhood when he was 12 years old, only 4 chapters out of 89. Eighty-nine chapters in four gospels but only four chapters of the first thirty years of his life, but eighty-five is on three-and-a-half years of ministry, all right? And out of that, 27 chapters is on the last 8 days of his life, 27 chapters. What I'm trying to say is this, what do you think the Holy Spirit is emphasizing on? The world emphasized on Christmas, amen? The Holy Spirit emphasizes on his death, burial, and resurrection. Amen. That's what changed everything.
There are people who acknowledge Jesus, he's a wonderful man, he's a good man but they don't accept him as Savior. They don't accept the cross. They don't accept the resurrection. Well, you can't be saved that way, my friend. "Oh, but I believe he's a good man". But good men don't lie. "Well, you know, the thing is that I don't believe he's the Son of God but I believe he's a good man". But like I said, good men don't lie. Either he's who he says he is, or he's the world's greatest liar because he made some amazing proclamations like, "I am the way". In the English language, "the" is definite article, "the truth, and I'm the life". There's no other way. "No man comes to the Father but by me". Amen.
So, either he's who he says he is or he's the world's greatest liar. For us whose lives have been transformed and people whose lives have been set free down through the centuries, let me just tell you this, we know Jesus Christ is the Son of God sent from heaven with love. He died on the cross because of his great heart of love for us. The Father is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and one of these days, he will split the heavens and he's gonna return for us. Let me just tell you this, we're all looking forward to the Rapture. I don't know about you, but being happy, being healthy forever is not something to miss. Amen? And you can never die again. Amen?
If you think now you're alive, wait till you get your brand-new body, you'll be so alive. And the whole universe, even science tells us the universe is still expanding. It is still expanding at 186,000 miles per second. Ever since God - that's the spirit of light, by the way. Every since God says, "light be," the earth is still expanding. Why? For what purpose, for what purpose? It's the playing ground for his children in the future. So, we are so finite, our minds are so confined, we are so narrow-minded, and we're so full of hardhearted unbelief, we can't even see the plan that God has for us, which is a good plan. Can I have a good amen? You have a Father who loves you very much.
Today, I'm gonna share with you about a prophecy, an angel, and a man greatly beloved because Palm Sunday has everything to do with this. Today is Palm Sunday, which is 6 days before Christ is crucified and y'all know the story of Palm Sunday, right? He rode into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey, a young donkey. The mother donkey is there, but he rode on the colt of a young donkey fulfilling prophecy in Zechariah that says, "Fear not, rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for your King comes meek and lowly having salvation riding on the colt of a donkey," okay? When he comes again in the second coming, we will come with him. After the Rapture, he's gonna come again and rescue Israel before Israel is destroyed. He will come and he will set this world right, and he will destroy everything that is injurious, perjurious, everything that is against the kingdom of God will be removed and there'll be heaven on earth. There'll be no more hospitals, and there'll be such peace.
And that's when what you see in the United Nations, the prophecy of Isaiah will come to pass. They will beat their swords into plowshares and the nations will learn war no more. And the rule of Jesus will be a rule of righteousness, equity, justice, love, kindness. With meekness, he will treat the poor. He will help, he will bless, he will lift up. What a rule. I said, what a rule. Many have tried Napoleon, amen. We have Mussolini. We have all the dictators of times past who want to be a dictator but all of them are nothing more than Antichrist.
You know, they cannot take his place. There's only one person whose heart is kind beyond all measure, whose justice is perfect, whose righteousness is majestic like the mountains. The Bible says when he rules, there'll be such prosperity on earth. We're waiting for that to happen but before that happens, second coming, there's gonna be a Rapture where the church will disappear and we'll have our brand-new bodies. We'll be there with him and then we'll come back with him after the Mount of Olives, exciting prospects. Everything is pointing back to the Middle East. Are you with me?
So, here's a prophecy of Daniel. Daniel was called man, greatly beloved more than one time in the Old Testament, all right? In the New Testament, John is called "the disciple whom Jesus loved" in his own gospel. But in the Old Testament, that phrase, "A man greatly beloved", is used of Daniel. Daniel was one of the captives that was taken captive away from Israel in the Old Testament and this happened about 600 over years, 700 years before Jesus came in the New Testament. And the Bible tells us that at that time when they were taken captive, God had warned them again and again through prophet Isaiah, through prophet Jeremiah, "Stop your idolatry. Stop worshiping the gods made of stone, and trees, and wood, and start worshiping the true living God who brought you out of bondage. He had compassion on you when you were a slave. He brought you out. He saved you. He gave you abundant land, a land flowing with milk and honey".
And still they refused. They offered their children to, I don't want to mention the name of this M, it start with M, a god rather, not a god even, an idol whose hands are stretched out like that and there's a big hole in his mouth for his chest that you throw your babies inside when they have burned that idol until he's red hot, until you can see it's red hot. They burned their babies and roll the baby right into the mouth of that idol and they offer it as an offering. And God says, "Stop that"! And God mentioned that act especially and they still went on doing that, still go on doing that. And finally God says, "That's it".
God brought the Babylonians, King Nebuchadnezzar came in, the king of Babylon, and God delivered his people into captivity for 70 years. Even then his mercy ruled. It's only for 70 years. Well, Daniel was one of them that was captive at that time. So Daniel prayed in the 70th year he started praying about the deliverance that's to come and then God sent Angel Gabriel. Angel Gabriel is a messenger angel, all right, from God. I also have a Gabriel. He's sitting in front here, all right? And he is also a messenger archangel. He's sitting in front to tell me, "All right, time's up, time's up, okay? Not very funny, not very funny". He got certain kinds of... See his finger down there? All about signs but, I've never read them before. I do not know what it means and I don't care, all right?
As far as I'm concerned, sometimes, sometimes he's the fallen one. But let's follow the story now in Daniel 9. "Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel," which is an angel, actually, all right, "Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering". Very interesting that there are two offerings offered every day, two lamb offerings that God commands to be offered every single day at the temple but because they're not in the temple now, they are captives in Babylon, present-day Iraq. He still prayed at the time of the evening offering. The morning offering is 9 o'clock in the morning. They put a lamb on the altar of burnt offering in the temple in Jerusalem. The evening offering is at 3 o'clock in the evening.
So, these are times that the lamb is offered on behalf of the sins of the nation. It's called the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice. Isn't it interesting the timing here at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.? Jesus was crucified exactly at 9 a.m. Jesus gave up the ghost at, gave up the spirit at 3 p.m., fulfilling the type of the lamb of God. And by the way, when they killed the lamb at 9, they will blow the shofar. Can you imagine the moment they crucified Jesus, the shofar sounded, and moreover it's not a normal day. It was the Passover. There was a long blowing of the horn. What an amazing sight for the ears as well as for the eyes to see. And he was praying at the time of 3 o'clock in the afternoon. By the way, today you don't have a wait for 9 a.m. or 3 p.m., okay? We can pray anytime, okay? But back then, I'm telling you the reason why they pray is because they know that the most favorable time is when the lamb is there offered on behalf of their sins, right? It's a time of favor, so when they pray, God will hear their prayer.
Today Jesus Christ, the true Lamb, the antitype of these types have been sacrificed. So for us, we can pray anytime and he will hear our prayers. By the way, when you pray, use your own words. You don't need to pray Jeremiah's prayer. Jeremiah's prayer was good for Jeremiah. You don't have to pray Daniel's prayer. Daniel's prayer was good for Daniel's prayer for Daniel. You don't have to pray Elijah's prayer. You don't have to pray David's prayer. Pray your own prayer. Pray from your heart. Amen.
When I receive an email, all right, and it's written in impeccable English, all right, signed off by Gabriel, and I look at a simple note, "Abba, I laf you", L-A-F. I might throw away, and most likely I will, the email but I'll always keep the "L-A-F you, Abba," even though it's not perfect. God wants to hear your prayer from your heart. God wants you to express yourself. When you need something, you want something, you're afraid something will happen, all right, tell God your fears. Tell God, "I want you to help me in this area. I don't care what happened to so and so. I don't care whatever happened to Mr. Chan or Ms. Lim. I want you to do this for me, Father". Pray from your heart. Amen. Amen.
David's prayers are good for David. Peter's prayers are good for Peter. Pray your prayer from your heart. The Father loves to hear your voice. He loves for you to come near him. Amen. And something happens every time you talk to God, every time you come near God, the Bible says it's a new and living way, amen? In the Old Testament, no one that came near Jesus went away the same or worse. Everyone that came near Jesus received something wonderful they never received before. Even a leper, a type of sin, a leper came to Jesus when he came down the Mount on Beatitudes and he says, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean". The Lord Jesus touched him, that's the first act he did. He touched the leper and then he says, "I will, be cleansed," and immediately, the Bible says, the leprosy left. That's the word of a King.
Now, once in a while, when I walk by that place in the Mount of Beatitudes, I think of the King dressed simply. He has a long robe, we know, probably his mother made it for him because they gambled for that robe at the foot of the cross. I see him walking down the slopes of the Mount of Beatitudes and when you see him majestic, the way in Song of Songs he's described, as majestic as the cedar of Lebanon. Have you seen the cedar? Majestic. Just looking at him imparts faith to you. He's not that kind of Jesus where the pictures of some religious paintings try to make him look emaciated, pale, pasty, you know, weak, all right? I don't like those pictures because they are not a true reflection of our Lord Jesus.
Our Lord Jesus worked in a carpenter's workshop without modern gadgetry, without machines, without electricity. Imagine him carrying the lumber, all right, from the lumberyard and to his carpenter workshop using the hammer, using raw material, what that does for his muscles, his triceps, his shoulder muscles. Take a good look, guys... Amen? How many can imagine Jesus having all that and pass by a group of fishermen who were mending their nets. And these are--fishermen are known to be rude, and crude, and uncouth, and their spitting, and spouting profanities. And Jesus said two words that the U.S. Marines have copied ever since, he says, "Follow me". They left everything and followed him. I don't think it's like those kind of paintings, "Follow me, can or not"?
I really don't believe it's that. I believe when they see him, they see a man's man. He came as a man. He's hundred percent God, yes, but hundred percent man and this wonderful man touched the leper who has never been touched, we don't know for how long. And under law, if it's the law, it will be the unclean will make the clean unclean, but here the clean under grace, which Jesus came to give us, the clean touched the unclean and the unclean became clean. Can I have a good amen, people? So, I just want to warn you, if you don't want to be healthy, you don't want to feel so good, and so alive, and peaceful and strong, don't come near Jesus, don't come near Jesus because if you come near him, it might be the end of your addictions. Amen.
I want to read to you a testimony that we received not too long ago, and it's from a Dawn from Wisconsin, United States. "I was raised in an abusive family with drugs and alcohol and I kept to the same lifestyle as an adult. I was trapped in a cycle of prostitution and drug addiction. Fifteen years of this lifestyle led me to abort a child, lose another, and give up three girls for adoption. Then another 5 years of living this way saw me in jail. I desperately needed help. I went to a Bible study meeting and the pastor spoke of Jesus. I cried out and said there was no way for me to start afresh and no treatments would help me as I failed three of those. I prayed in jail and asked God to show me the way out. I promised to turn my life over to him. I told the Lord to give me a man who was rooted in the Word of Jesus. God gave me a man who has brought me closer to Jesus. We married and started our journey as a homeless couple. Once we got on our feet, I was able to watch your program. Now I long to hear your sermons. Even my husband said, 'This pastor is the pastor for you.' Pastor Prince, I have been set free. I have been set free from drug addiction, prostitution, and the love of money. When you preached on 1 Peter 2 verses 5 to 7 in one of your messages, I could only cry. My husband told me that the Lord shared with him 1 Peter 2:9 and showed him how he was my story, how God".
To build a beautiful temple for his habitation and glory, God took the stones from dark places, all right, shaped it and brought it to make it a temple for his dwelling. "My husband told me that the Lord shared with him 1 Peter 2:9 and told him how it was my story so when I heard your sermon, I finally understood what that passage really means. I know that I've been brought out of the darkness into the marvelous light because the precious sacrifice of Jesus my Lord and Savior. The Lord has also restored me with a son. In addition, I have graduated as a medical assistant and my family is well provided for. Pastor Prince, you are preaching to my heart the words of God and drawing me so close to Jesus. All I want to do is share the same love you have for Jesus with others. Praise be to God for sending his own Son to die for those who need life and set them free. All glory to God".
A former drug addict, a former prostitute, amen, only the gospel of grace can change their lives. You know if people tell you that grace promotes a licentiousness and unholiness, tell them, "Obviously, you have never been to my church," okay? Praise the Lord. To God be all the glory and the praise. So, the angel Gabriel came in response to Daniel's prayer and he says this, he informed me and talked with me and said, "Oh Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplications, the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision. Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city".
Now stop, these 70 weeks has got nothing to do with 70 weeks of days. This is prophetic weeks. In the Jewish prophetic terminology, a week is 7 years. Remember the story of Jacob who fell in love with Rachel but he ended up marrying Rachel's sister, Leah, right? Long before there was Korean drama, all this is in the Bible. Remember that? And then the father said to Laban, the father of the girls said to Jacob, "If you want to marry Rachel, you have to fulfill her week", her week, which is 7 years. And then next verse says Jacob served 7 years for Rachel. So, a prophetic week is 7 years, not 7 days, okay? Keep that in mind.
So, when the angel came to get, angel Gabriel came to Danny and said, "Seventy weeks are determined upon your people," it is not Chinese people, Indian people, Caucasians - it's referring to Jewish people. Okay, you get it? Your people and your holy city that is Jerusalem. It's not London, Paris, or New York, all right? It is Jerusalem. So, keep that prophecy in that place. So, 70 weeks, 70 times 7 years is what? Four hundred and ninety years, you got it? So, there's 490 years in Daniel's prophecy, something to do with the Lord Jesus all the way to our times and to the future when the Antichrist is here, and we won't be here, thank God, all right? If you insist on staying, help yourself, okay?
There are people who fight for the right to stay here. I don't understand, all right, to see the Antichrist, take pictures or selfie or what, I do not know, but the thing is that those who fight for that. Anyway, so 490 years. Seventy weeks is what? Four hundred and ninety years. So, 490 years is for the Jewish people and for Jerusalem to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Wonderful things, amen? Aren't they wonderful things? And then the next verse says where it will start, when this prophetic clock will start. "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince".
You must understand when Daniel received the prophecy, Jerusalem was in ruins because the Babylonians came, right, raised the temple, took them captive. Come on. It's in ruins. So, the angel is saying, there'll be 490 years for the Jewish people in God's prophetic timetable, all right, and for Jerusalem, but notice when the prophetic clock will start. "The command will be given, all right, from this place, Daniel, you will hear the command". By the way, Daniel was there for the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. After his reign was a Medo-Persian, right, the King of Persia, Medo-Persia. His name is... actually it's not his name, it's a title like Pharaoh or Czar. It's Artaxerxes, all right, his name will be Artaxerxes. He made a decree in his 20th year of reign to rebuild Jerusalem.
Now, that kicks off the prophetic clock. And you know when he made the announcement. You can find this in Nehemiah and Ezra. The announcement went forth and the date is known, the day is known, the date is known, the month is known, the year is known. So, you can start counting from that time to the command to build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, Jesus when he comes. There shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks. Okay people, use your calculator mentally, all right? The world is watching. They say Singapore is very good at mathematics, so real fast, come on. Times seven is what? Four hundred and eighty-three years, right? Am I right?
Okay, don't waste your time, okay? It is 483 years. There shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks, which is 483 years. In other words, from the command to rebuild Jerusalem from the time of Esther, King of Persia, all the way to Jesus coming down, all right, becoming a man... Not his birth date, okay? I'll show you in a while's time. It's referring to an incident, very important. It's exactly 483 years to the very day itself. Wow. Wow. Four hundred and eighty-three years is seven years short of four hundred and ninety years. Am I right?
So, we have seven years missing. What happened? The seven years is seven years of tribulation in the book of Revelation. It's in the future. It's not our future. We won't be here during the seven years of tribulation. The worst will happen in the 3-1/2 years but the world will go into anarchy. There'll be like a lot of wars, and famines, and new strains of viruses. They will start looking for a dictator that will unite the nations. At first, he will show his color as a brilliant guy, an erudite scholar, a great politician and that kind of thing, but he'll turn his face, all right, and you'll see him as the Antichrist coming against any other god, making himself god. So, that is the great tribulation.
Now, watch this. So, until Jesus comes from the command to rebuild Jerusalem until Jesus come is 483 years. We have seven years missing, right? One week missing, prophetic one week missing, am I right? Pretend you understand. Just nod your head, amen? You can get this CD later on, all right, because we know the command came from Artaxerxes, king of Persia, the day, the month, and the year exactly 483 years brings you to the very day, the very day Jesus rode on the colt of a donkey into Jerusalem showing Israel he is the King, Messiah the Prince. It was a public proclamation to the very day itself. Are you listening, people?
So, we follow the story from Palm Sunday to... today is Palm Sunday, all right? It is six days before Jesus is crucified, all right? So, what is the significance of Palm Sunday? Many times, you'll preach on Good Friday resurrection and all that. But what's the significance? It's significant for Israel especially because it was a time when Israel could have received forgiveness of sins, salvation, prosperity. It was the day that they will pray this prayer. Look up here, Psalms 118. "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it". I know many of us, we know this, we sing songs like, "This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made". She just told me she loves me, "This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made". I struck number three, my lucky draw, hallelujah, "This is the day that the Lord has made". My son found a choice school, hallelujah, "This is the day".
You know, we have our reasons for the day. But in prophetic timetable of God, the day is the day when Jesus comes in as king. Because when he is king, people, there will be no more sickness. Leprosy will depart. The lame will be healed, and they'll jump and leap as a heart. There'll be no more sorrow, and all tears he'll wipe away. There'll be prosperity and abundance on earth. What a day, this is the day the Lord has made. God never meant for man's hearts to be broken. When God made man, God never meant for man to grow old, or even die. The Bible calls death an enemy. And why do we see all this, and we still see all this? Because of sin, man's sin against God.
You cannot choose, you can say, "I can choose whatever I want. God made me a free moral agent". You are right, but you cannot choose the consequence of your action. You cannot say, "I choose to put my finger in the fire, but I do not choose burn". Sorry, when you put finger in fire, you choose burn. Or you can say, "I choose burn, but I choose no pain". Sorry, you choose burn, you choose pain. You understand? There's some things you cannot choose. And something we need to learn, we will blame God so fast for the consequences of our actions. You know, if we can stop for a while and stop blaming God, and stop and think that he loves us so much he sent his Son to die for our sins, and maybe blame ourselves. In our marriage, maybe if we can spend one day, one full day blaming ourselves instead of our spouse, miracles of miracles, heaven will come to earth. She will fall in love with you.
All of a sudden, your face even looks like Lee Min Ho. She'll forget everybody else, and she'll think of you if we can just blame ourselves for a change. But blame is a game that people play ever since man fell in the garden. Adam said it in a very stylish way. When God says, "Adam, where are you"? and God knew where he was, God wanted him to acknowledge, so he says like, "You know, I took the fruit, yeah. But you must understand, God, the woman that you gave me gave me the fruit, and I ate it, lah. The woman that you gave". So, the thing is that blame, the blame game goes on and on. We blame everybody but ourselves. But if we can just stop for a while, just for a while, and say, "Maybe I'm at fault," all right, "maybe I blame her for making this wrong decision, when actually a number of months ago, I gave her the authority to decide on this because I was lazy to decide on this matter. Now, she makes a mistake in this thing, I'm blaming her for the very thing that I asked her to decide on".
Maybe you can do that. The water can still turn to wine in your marriage. "Preach it, Pastor Prince, hallelujah. Welcome back, Pastor Prince". Thank you for that one voice, hallelujah. But the very day, we know the very day. In fact, the assistant commissioner of Scotland Yard in 1898 to 1901... by the way, he was the one in charge of the Jack the Ripper's case, all right, in England. He was also a theologian. He and others around him at that time made a study of the decree of King Artaxerxes to the very day, they found out it's the very day that Jesus rode on the donkey into Jerusalem, telling Israel, "This is your king". Zechariah, a young prophet who lived in the Old Testament, all right, before Christ came, he prophesied, "Rejoice, daughter of Zion, your king comes, riding on the colt of a donkey, having salvation, meek and lowly".
Isn't it beautiful? Can you imagine a king who has all power in his hands, but he uses his power to cleanse the leper, to raise the dead, to wipe the tears of a widow woman whose son has just died, who would love children and embrace them and bless them, and says, "Forbid them not to come to me"? What a king. What a Savior. "Rejoice, O daughter of Zion, your king comes". So he wrote, by the way, just to let you know, it all began, the riding actually began in a place in, but before that, let me show you this. "This is the day the Lord has made". This is the prayer they're supposed to pray on that day. It's called the Hillel. There's one place the Bible says Jesus sang in the gospels if you read carefully, and it was at the end of the Passover, the Lord's supper at the end of the Passover meal. The Bible says Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn.
Now, if you want to know what they sing at the end of the Pesa, it is the Hillel, Psalms 118. Okay, this is the one they sang. And, "This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I pray, O Lord," whatever it is, whether it's your addictions, like that lady I read about just now, whether it is your depression, whether it's suicidal tendencies, whether it is your bad, unclean habits, whatever, save now is your prayer. Amen? Or if you're broke, you're always broke, or you need to pay off your debt, the next prayer you say, "O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity". What a wonderful thing. When Jesus comes, salvation comes. When Jesus comes, prosperity comes. Hallelujah. And in fact, in the Hebrew, it's so beautiful. The word "now" is repeated twice in this one verse in verse 25. Let me say it in Hebrew, okay? Are you ready? The poetry is lost in the English, all right?
The word "prosperity," by the way, is the word shaliach. It's the most often used word for prosperity. For example, it says, "Joseph was a prosperous man. Joseph was a shaliach man". "Meditate on my Word day and night. You will make your way prosperous, you will make your way shaliach". All right, it's the most often used word in Hebrew for prosperity, shaliach. All right, so watch this now. I'm going to say it in Hebrew, the entire prayer, and then you can hear the poetry. "Ana Adonai hoshia na". We say hosanna, they say hoshia na. All right, hosanna means save. "Ana Adonai hoshia na. Ana Adonai hatz'licha na," prosperity. It's beautiful. Ana, I pray now, now, today. "Ana Adonai hoshia na. Ana Adonai hatz'licha na". Send now salvation. Send now prosperity. If your child is sick, you say, "Send now".
The last time Justin was sick, I prayed this prayer, "Send now salvation. Send now prosperity". It's beautiful, there's a poetry in the Hebrew, amen. Then this verse says, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," baruch haba hashem Adonai. This is the word that they shouted when Jesus starts riding into the city of Jerusalem. So, let's follow the story now. Don't forget this phrase, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," comes right after, "Send now salvation, send now prosperity". Now, let's go back to the story. Now, let's go back to the story, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. By the way, the children started shouting, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," but it was children. And the Pharisee says, "Rebuke your disciples," the children. And Jesus says, "If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out".
The stones have softer hearts than these Pharisees. They cannot even see their Messiah, their king. And then Jesus says about the children, "Have you not read," and that is in reference to Psalms 8, verse 2, "Have you not read," Jesus says, "'Out of the mouth of babies and out of the mouth of nursing infants, God has perfected praise'"? But if you look at Psalms, where it's quoted from, it says, "God has ordained strength to stop the enemy and to still the avenger". In other words, when children praise God and they use words like, "Ana Adonai hoshia na. Baruch haba hashem Adonai," blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, when it's used words like that, the enemy is paralyzed. He cannot move in your life.
Sometimes, you don't know how to pray, sometimes you have done what you know what to do. Your child is still sick. The situation is still staring you in the face. What do you do? You pray the first prayer of Psalms 118. It says, "O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever". But things are not turning out. "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever". But it looks like the devil is winning. "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his mercy endures forever". These are the words of the song that Jehoshaphat put in the words of his soldiers. And by the time they came to the battlefield, the enemies fought among themselves, and they spent the next few days collecting jewelry that the enemies left behind. Hallelujah. And that's how Psalms 118 opens, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good". Why give thanks? "For he is good". For his hesed, you all know hesed means grace, endures forever. "Hodu Adonai ki tov, ki leolam chasdo". Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his mercy endures forever. Hallelujah. Aren't you glad you got a church that preaches hesed all the time, his hesed all the time?
"Pastor Prince, you preach on hesed forever". Amen. Okay, watch this, the children were the ones. But you say, "Pastor Prince, there were a lot of people shouting, a lot of adults were shouting, 'Blessed is he who comes.'" I agree. But you know who they were? In all four gospels, this triumphal entry is recorded. In the Gospel of John, it tells you the people that shouted were, besides his disciples, they were also people that believed on him after he raised Lazarus from the dead. Not too long ago before this event, he raised Lazarus from the dead, and many people believed him. But as a whole, the whole nation still rejected him. Let's follow the triumphal entry, okay? You are in for a blessing, fasten your seatbelts.
All right, you are in for a ride. Let's go right now to the first part, "Then, as Jesus was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, 'Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord,'" baruch haba melech hashem Adonai. "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest". I don't have time to tell you why it's not peace on earth as when he was born, but here is peace in heaven. "And glory in the highest," it's another message altogether. This kind of a message needs actually midweek service. All right, so verse 39, "And some of the Pharisees called to Jesus from the crowd, 'Teacher, rebuke your disciples.' But he answered and said to them, 'I tell you if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.'"
By the way, the riding on a colt, you know where it started? I was there last year. For the first time, I saw the place where the colt was unloosed, okay? It tells you in Mark's account, "When they came," Jesus and his disciples, "came near to Jerusalem". They're not there yet, near Jerusalem, "Unto Bethphage and Bethany". Bethphage and Bethany are facing each other. On the Mount of Olives, you go down to Bethany. It's a very beautiful place. I can't begin to describe to you how beautiful the place is. I have pictures of it. I mean, my pastors and I, we were all there. Were you there, Gabriel? It's a beautiful place, orchard garden, it's a garden. I love the environment. I have a message there that I preached near Bethany.
By the way, Bethany is Jesus's home away from home. Today, you can't go to the city of Bethany, it's Palestinian. But you can still see the path that Jesus took. It's very beautiful, all right? Jesus went back to heaven at Bethany. He went to the Mount of Olives, and he went up as far as Bethany, then he went up. He loved Bethany. Bethany is the house of the family that he loved, Lazarus, and his sisters Martha, Mary. It was a humble home, but it was a home for Jesus away from home. There were people who realized who he was, who loved him, amen. And every time he would not stay in Jerusalem, he would climb over the Mount of Olives and go to Bethany.
So, here he was near Bethany and Bethphage, near Jerusalem, "At the Mount of Olives, he sent forth two of his disciples, and said to them, 'Go your way into the village over against you,'" opposite you. I stood there before, and I looked over there, and you see something. "As soon as you entered into it, you shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him. If any man say unto you, 'Why do ye this?' say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightaway he will send him here. And they went their way, and found the colt," the young donkey, "tied by the door". By the way, when he comes again, it won't be a donkey he's riding. It'll be the white horse, amen? "They went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside without in a place where two ways met," where two ways met, "and they loosed him". I'm going to show you a video we took, okay? Watch this, the two ways met. By the way, you see the pinnacle up there? That's Mount of Olives, okay? Jesus walked down all the way here, and over here is Bethany, Bethphage.
Now, you're looking down here, I'm going to show you where two ways met. Okay, all right. Zero in just above the green dome, there are two ways there. The road is still there. You'll see a motorcycle passing by, and you'll see a fork in the road. That's where the two ways met. That's where the donkey was, tied down there. Jesus was standing somewhere here and said, "Go over, guys, bring the donkey". He's prepared for a time like this. And the owner will ask, "Who wants it"? You say, "The Lord," and he will understand. So, he sat from here. You see, when you go to Israel, everything fits. You will see, wow, you know, you see everything fits.
So, from there, Jesus sat on the donkey, and the people threw palm branches. Today, I was told that some places, churches, they really have palm branches, they are waving palm branches and all that. And I told one of my pastors, said, "You guys who did that just now, when you raise your hands, what"? Okay, never mind, it's okay. Anyway. And as they threw palm branches, and they're shouting hosanna, hosanna, hosanna, which means, save, save now. Hoshia na ana Adonai hoshia na. Ana Adonai hatz'licha na. It was actually saying, "Prosper, prosper us now. Save us now". But unfortunately, it was only children, and the disciples, and those who believe in him because he raised Lazarus from the dead. But the entire city of Jerusalem, the leadership rejected him. They missed the timing of their visitation.
With him came along salvation in every area of your life. Whatever area needs saving. Yeah, yeah, Chinese need to save face. Your face also can be saved. Any area of saving, all right, he has come bringing salvation. Prosperity, I'm not just referring to money. You know there are people with plenty of money but they are poor people, very poor, very sad to look at them. They have 4 or 5 houses, 10, 20 cars, but very poor people. I'm not talking about money alone. Yes, you need money and the Lord knows that. And never come near Jesus if you don't want to prosper 'cause every time they bring little things, it ends up a lot in his hands. They bring five loaves, he fed more than 5000 people. So like I said before, don't come to Jesus if you don't want to be healthy, don't wanna be prosperous, don't wanna be free from addictions, don't come near him. And this is definitely not the church to come to, amen? Because Jesus is alive and well in this church, amen.
So as he rode on the donkey, they were praising him, all right? "Hosanna, baruch hashem Adonai, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord". And the Bible says... drop down. Stop, and I read this just now, drop down all the way. "As He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it". Now, I'll tell you something. Some of our leadership here, leaders, I was sharing with some of the pastors in the room. You know, when people are praising you, all around you people are shouting your praises, they are lifting their voice in laudation, in extolling your name. Is it easy for you to cry, surrounded by praises? But as the young donkey went down the slope, and many of you have been there in Israel, as he went down the slope, he stopped and he looked at Jerusalem. And Jesus wept over Jerusalem.
Now, there are two words for Jesus weeping. Once he wept at Lazarus's tomb, all right? The shortest verse in the Bible: "Jesus wept". Every memory verse competition in Sunday schools, whenever the question's asked, "Who can give me a memory verse"? The first five hands will be, "Jesus wept". It's the shortest verse in the Bible. But when Jesus wept at Lazarus's tomb, it was a silent weeping. His tears rolled down. Silent weeping. But here, is a loud sobbing. He literally wept over the city. He saw what was gonna happen in their rejection. It's like when you reject Jesus, you know, I think to myself, just this morning I was thinking to myself, "If people accept Jesus or they don't accept Jesus," you know what I'm saying? I'm saved, my family is saved.
Many people that I love are saved. If you don't accept Jesus, it's not my loss. It's not my loss. It's your loss. But, do you know, the Lord doesn't have this kind of attitude? The Lord will leave the 99 to look for the 1 that's lost. To him, it is a loss. He loves you. He's not like us, you accept, you don't accept, up to you, I'm saved already. He doesn't have that kind of attitude. He really loves every individual and he wept over Jerusalem. People ask the question, sometimes, "Why didn't God protect us from this? Why didn't God protect this, protect that"? But it's very easy to say God doesn't, God doesn't, just like anyone going to the minister of transport, scolding him for the child that got knocked down by a truck. It's silly. Yes, he's in charge, over all in charge. But there are rules, this universe is run by finger, fire, burn. Like two times two is four. You cannot change that. And just because you obtain a PhD, doesn't change that also. So here, he wept over the city.
What caused him to wept? He says this: "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day". You know "in this your day" means? This is the day, God's prophesy. This was the day of salvation. This is the day of prosperity. Send now, this day. Now means this day. This is the day the Lord has made. If only you knew this day what's in store for you. "The things that make for your peace". Now, he will say "shalom". The things that make for your health, the things that make for your wellness. The things that make for your peace. If only you knew, "But now they are hidden from your eyes". He wept as he spoke these words. "Now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you".
About 40 years after he said this, the Romans came in and as I heard this happened, all right? "They'll surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation," the one prophesied by Daniel through Angel Gabriel. You didn't know the day of your visitation. You see, people, we are living in crazy days. But thank God we have a refuge under his wings. Can I have a good amen? We have a refuge under his wings. Just like Jesus said also in Matthew's account, like we have Matthew's account: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem," drop down. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing".
You were not willing. How many know that God, he doesn't anyhow, you know, push himself, thrust himself forward, to bless you or to give you even good things? He doesn't do that. He waits for you to be willing to receive it. Yeah, even the lamb that was lost. After the shepherd left the 99, the lamb must consent to be carried. The lamb must consent to be borne on his strong shoulders. The lamb must consent to rest in his strength. But we still have to consent. You are not willing means you are not willing to consent to me to protect you. I'm not asking you to provide your own protection. I'm asking you to let me protect you. People, he's talking to you right now, in these last days. Our world is going crazy, all right? You can't tell what are they gonna do next? What ideas are they coming up next with, next plane?
"Oh, Pastor Prince, I don't fly anymore". Is that the way to live life? No, friend, you are regressing, not progressing, amen. No, the way is to find refuge in his wings. Do you know Boaz told Ruth a beautiful statement. He said, "The Lord reward you for taking refuge under his wings". I love it. "The Lord reward you for taking refuge under his wings". In other words, when you take refuge under his wings, he says, "Thank you. What a God, what a God". You know, when I was a young boy, doesn't really matter, all right, how wonderful my mother's smell of Chanel No. 9 or whatever, with thunderstorm, I jump into the bed, I go straight under her armpit. Don't laugh, you have done the same. Somehow there's a place of refuge under my mother's wings, amen? How much more the Lord, amen.
True story, a farmer had his barn all burn down and he was, after the fire died down, he was just walking, absentmindedly looking at all the burnt crisp around him, and he saw what looked like feathers that was burnt to a crisp, and use his foot, he moved it. When he moved it, it was a mother hen that died, burned, but under her, under her corpse, came all these scurrying little chicks coming. The mother died protecting the chicks from the fire. That's what Jesus said: "Jerusalem, how I wish I would gather you as a mother hen will gather her chicks". Have you seen a chicken...
I used to live, you know, when I was in Malaysia for a few years. I'm a Singaporean but I lived there for a number of years. My father worked in Malaysia for a while so I was there. So we have a yard, we have a garden. And I would always chase the chickens, all right? I even killed a few of them. And when the neighbor asked who killed them, I had the most innocent face. I had a lot of sins, all right, to repent of, I'm telling you, all right. I remember this chicken and I can understand why they say chicken are stupid because even after you decapitate their head, they are still running around. They do not know they are dead.
Have you seen chicken with their heads cut off? They're still running around. They're still running around. They lost their head, they don't even know they're dead. After for a while, the revelation struck, then they die. And I've seen chicken who are chicken-hearted. They are fearful, chicken-hearted, right? But when it comes to chicks, they have chicks. Whoa, all of a sudden they look at me and they spread their wings and they start chasing me. That's the time I start crying, all right? When chicks are involved, they are no more chicken-hearted, I'll tell you that. Jesus says, "How I wish I would gather you like a mother hen," he used the word, "mother hen," "gathers her chicks under her wings for protection". "And you were not willing".
Keep this in your heart and mind: anyone that tells you, "Why God? Why God? Why God? Why God"? Give them this verse, all right? Forty years after this, exactly what Jesus said happened, you know? Go back to Luke's account: "The Romans will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation". Now, today when you go to Israel, the place where the temple once stood, there's not a single stone there. All the stones you see down there, all right, the dome and all that, it's not from the temple. All the temple stones are right below. Where they pray, the wall, it's not the temple. That's the wall of the temple. The temple is the stones that are no longer on top there. Not one stone was left upon another.
What Jesus said came to pass. What is interesting is this. In AD 70, right after Jesus prophesied this about nearly 40 years before it happened, Jesus said, "If you reject me, this will happen," all right? And not only that, I believe he saw the Holocaust. They're God's chosen people, yet the devil hates them, but they have no protection and Jesus wept, body-shaking sobs over Israel. Now, in AD 70, the Roman general, his name is General Titus, he's a son of the emperor of Rome, Vespasian. Later on, when Vespasian died, General Titus who conquered Jerusalem, he became the emperor, Emperor Titus. Well, General Titus was general at that time. He was the son of the emperor. And he commanded his men. How do we know this? Because Josephus is a Jewish historian. He wrote about this, and he says that General Titus commanded his soldiers not to destroy the temple proper. Are you listening?
All right, kill if they fight you, all right? They won't fight, make them prisoners, okay? No one escapes, okay? Destroy everything else but don't destroy the temple. But what happened was that on top of the temple there are gold ornaments. So when someone threw fire into the place, it started burning and then the gold started melting. When it melted, it went in between the cracks, the sides of the stones. And the soldiers got crazy when they saw the gold melting, all right, and they started to overturn the temple stones, fulfilling what Jesus says, "Not one stone will be left upon another". Now, think about this. These two men, one is the son of the emperor of Rome, the most powerful empire at the time. One is the son of the Most High God, all right? General Titus commanded his men, "Do not destroy the temple". The Son of God said, "Not one stone will be left upon another".
When all is said and done, whose word came to pass? Jesus. And I'll tell you right now, he told us what's gonna happen. In the last days, nation will rise against nation, all right? All kinds of pestilences worse than Ebola is gonna happen, all right? But before all this happens, he will come for us. I said, he will come for us. Lift up your heads, he says, your redemption, your bodily redemption draws near. You have a body that will never feel bored, never fall asleep when Pastor Prince is preaching, amen. Never feel tired, amen. Never fall asleep when your mother-in-law in the future talks to you in heaven, you know? A body that cannot feel bored, a body that cannot feel tired, a body that cannot fall sick, a body that cannot grow old, a body that cannot die. That's your redemption.
Lift up your heads, he says. When you see the world getting darker, your redemption is drawing nearer. The Rapture will happen before the worst hits, okay? Are you all with me so far? Okay, I'm bringing this to a close. So we're looking at different Gospel accounts of the same story. "Then He went into the temple and began to drive". After Jesus got off the colt, the first thing he did was he cleansed the temple, amen? "He drove out those who bought and sold in it". Now, we'll go to Matthew's account, okay? I wanna show you something. "Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves".
Now, why did he do that? Okay, number one, you must understand, they had a table for the money changers. Now nothing wrong if you're a money changer. But what they were doing was this: when the people came from Galilee or they came from the north or they came from different parts of Israel, all right, they will say, "Ah, your money's useless down here". They made their own rules. In other words, you have to exchange for temple money, all right? And then when they exchanged, you know what they did, right? They cheated the people.
And then notice, specifically also, "the seats of those who sold doves". Not the seats of those who sold lambs or sheep or oxen, because the rich, when they wanna show their appreciation to God, all right, they'd buy an ox. The middle income, they buy a sheep. The very poor, God says, even the poor can participate, are to show a type of Christ, but they're all domesticated animals. God never says, "Bring a wolf," all right, because a wolf cannot typify his Son. Isn't it beautiful? It's either an oxen, strong to labor, a sheep, all right, willing to endure, patient, meek. Jesus says, "If the poor cannot bring anything, they can bring a pair of pigeons or a pair of doves".
Now, in those days, all the children, especially, they know how to catch pigeons, birds. They don't have to buy it. But in the temple, they are selling it. In other words, the priest, you bring your own pigeon or dove. They look at it, "Oh, no, no, it's blemished, it's blemished. You must buy ours". You get what I'm saying? They were extorting the people. And Jesus came in and in another account, the Bible says he made a scourge and he drove them all out. Let me tell you this. Singlehandedly, driving these people, money changers, people with money. I don't care whether they are Jews, Chinese, Indian, Caucasian, to divide them from their money, singlehandedly when they're all collectively together, is not this kind of men, "Follow me, can or not"? You understand? Amen, he was a man's man. He overturned the money changers. He drove them all out. And he says to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" "You have made it a 'den of thieves,'" he told them.
Now, listen, some people, they have a wrong concept and they say, "You cannot sell anything in church". You see, if you're against capitalism, selling, you say, "We should just give things away". If Haagen-Dazs just give things away, McDonald's just give things away, if companies just give things away, at the end everybody will be hungry. You understand? Joseph, he has... by the way, all this teaching is free, okay? Joseph, when God gave him the wisdom, all right, about the famine that's coming, he knew how to prepare for the famine. He prepared. So the only place to come was to Joseph, but he asked them. He didn't, "Oh, I pity you all, you know, you poor farmers and all that. Your famine, I mean, it's famine and, you know, y'all don't have food. Okay, I give you all food". He didn't give it away. He sold it to them. They bought it with money. Then money failed at the end of the year. They came back, they said, "We've got no more money". He said, "Give me your cattle". They gave him the cattle, all right?
Joseph made Egypt rich. He made his boss rich. But he sold. And then they came back next year, they said, "We don't have any more cattle. You took our cattle". And he says that "will you be the servants of Pharaoh"? They said, "Okay". "Here's food for you". Finally, they came back again and said, "We've got no more food. We have nothing left. You took everything". He says, "I'm gonna teach you how to be a businessman". He took seeds, he give it to them. "Sow the land, and one-fifth belongs to Pharaoh," and all of them said, "You've saved our lives". Now, what Joseph did is what we call capitalism. It actually gives employment. If Haagen-Dazs just give, you know, free ice-cream, free ice-cream or McDonald's just give free Big Mac, Big Mac, Big Mac, and one day there's no more, there's no more employment, the people that helped along this line, there are many other people who need to bring bread and butter back, you know? They'll all be unemployed.
One day, but when they have capitalism in place, all right, there's the dynamics of more employment, more food, more bread, more butter, for more people. And what communism is against, again this idea. So I'll tell you this, God's way's always the best, all right? But nonetheless, religious money can be an issue that is very, very tacky, all right? I hate it, I hate it, hate it, hate it when I see people using religion or the name of Jesus, all right, just for the sake of making money, all right? And that's not God's way. That's not God's way. But is making money wrong? No, I just told you, amen. Egypt prospered because of Joseph and the people prospered finally. He taught them how to become business people, amen? The more you do good business, the more your business expand, the more you have employees, the employees are blessed, they become their own owners or whatever, that's how it should be, amen? Hey, it is free, amen? It is free.
If you just... this is free. If you just give things free, number one, people won't appreciate. Number two, after, for a while, you've got nothing to give free. People die, you die. There's no perpetuity, there's nothing prepared for the future, okay? But this is different. They are taking advantage of the poor. "And Jesus says, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" Because in my house... now, it's very sad, they missed the timing. Had they said, "baruch hashem Adonai". By the way, just to let you know, in six days he will die, but the command, the first time God says to Israel in Egypt to take a Passover lamb, God says, "On the tenth day, take the lamb and on the fourteenth day you will kill the lamb," interval of five days, right? Five days' interval. Am I right?
A lamb of the first year is a very cute lamb. Imagine on the tenth day, the father brings the lamb into the house. Not to kill it yet, to let the children play with it and all that. The children have grown accustomed to having the lamb like a pet. The youngest child has fallen in love with the lamb. On the fourteenth day, five days after, the father has to kill the lamb. Imagine how the child feels. So I think God did it on purpose so that we will know. God say, "Choose the lamb of the first year," which is a very cute lamb. Not exactly a sheep yet. And then there's attachment after five days. By the way, when Jesus came into Jerusalem, for five days the Sadducees examined him. The Pharisees examined him. The scribes and the lawyers examined him. The Herodians came to him. So they examined the Lamb of God.
For example, the Herodian says, "Is it lawful for us to pay tribute to Caesar"? They're the so-called politician of that day. "Is it lawful for us to pay tribute to Caesar"? All right, Jesus says, "Give me a coin". They're trying to catch Jesus. If Jesus says, "Don't pay," they will report him. If he says, "Pay," they will say to the Jewish people, "Hey, he's for the Roman". You see what I'm saying? Jesus say, "Give me a coin". All right, and they gave Jesus a coin. Jesus says, "Whose face is this"? They said, "Caesar". Then Jesus says, "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God". And the Herodians went away in shame. So they examined the Lamb of God.
Next in line were the Sadducees, and the Sadducees came to Jesus and said... now, Sadducees don't believe in resurrection. They don't believe in miracles, no such thing as miracle, nothing, all right? They don't believe in the supernatural. So they came to Jesus and said they don't believe in the resurrection from the dead. So they said, "There was a man who had seven sons. They're all brothers. And one of them got married. Then he died, all right? Then the next brother married her, also died. Then the fifth brother married the same woman, he also died". Now, this woman, she's jinxed. So it's a, you know, far-fetched illustration.
When people talk to you, have you noticed that, they try to challenge you, they always bring a far-fetched revelation, all right? So they tried to capture Jesus on the fact of resurrection. "Finally all of them married her and they all died. In heaven whose wife will she be"? Then Jesus looked at them. "You neither know the power of God nor the Scriptures," Jesus. "In heaven, they don't marry". He says this. He says that they're neither marrying or given in marriage. Okay, before you get panicky and all that, all right, trust me. The joys of heaven is so much greater that we don't even have a way to understand.
Don't forget, everything that we have today, we are today, the food we enjoy, everything, is given by God. God will not take something best to give something better. He always take something better to give us something best. Just know that. In heaven, so they answer the question. The Sadducees walk away, very sad to see because they realize there's a resurrection after all. Then the Pharisees came. The Pharisee says, "Ha-hah, you got". Okay, the Herodians, lousy group. I know them, okay. And Sadducees, but Pharisees believe in resurrection. They believe in the miraculous, but they came to Jesus, they didn't accept Jesus. And they say to Jesus this: "You know".
Let me show you this real quick and then we're gonna close. "Pharisees gathered together, Jesus asked them". They came to Jesus at first and they told Jesus, "What is the greatest commandment of all"? And you all know this. Jesus said, "The greatest commandment is that you shall love God all your heart, all your soul, all your mind," and Jesus answered them and they were stunned. He got the right answer. And then they were about to walk away, Jesus said, "Wait. My turn". So the Lamb is being examined. "Jesus says, 'What do you think about the Messiah, the Christ? Whose Son is He?' They said, 'Son of David.'" Then Jesus says, "He said to them, 'How then'", Jesus said to the Pharisees, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, 'til I make Your enemies Your footstool"'"?
Now, he's quoting Psalms 110 when David under the anointing said, "The Lord said to my Lord". Now, in English, it doesn't come across. I'm gonna give you the Hebrew, okay? The Yahweh, the Lord, said to my Adonai, my lord, like, small lord, like the lord, you know, "My lord, yes, my lord," but Yahweh is the big Lord. Yahweh said to my lord, "Sit on My right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. If David then calls Him, David calls Jesus Adonai, my lord, how is He his Son"? 'Cause they're always trying to put Jesus lower than David. "No one was able to answer Him a word. From that day on, nor did anyone dare question Him anymore". So the Lamb was being examined in the temple. They examined him in every point and they found at the end there was no blemish. But he did something else.
Go back to the Matthew account after he cleansed the temple. He says, "My house shall be called a house of prayer". I'm bringing this to a close, people. Verse 14: "Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple," after he cleansed the temple. You know why he cleansed the temple? So that the poor, the blind, and the lame could come, "and He healed them". I'll tell you this. Just like people are praising him and he's not moved by it, same thing. When he's angry and it's okay to be angry. When we are angry, it's because of selfish reasons. When God is angry, it's because of love. His anger is unselfish. But we, we're angry because why does he have that and not me? When we are jealous, it's about us. When God is jealous, it's about for you, you're about to be seduced, you're about to be hoodwinked, you're about to be cheated. You understand?
Disciples said, "Well, it's wrong to be angry". Well, the Bible commands in Ephesians, "Be angry. When you see injustice, be angry". But the Bible goes on to say, "But in your anger, don't sin". We need leaders who can be angry at injustice, amen, okay? But in his anger, after he cleansed them all away, it's amazing in the beauty of Jesus, he's altogether lovely. Right after he's drove them out, the scourge still in his hands, the blind and the lame came. Obviously, people brought them. He threw away the scourge. He healed them. I tell you this. If when I'm angry, right, you come to me, asking if I'll pray with you. "Ah, go away. Come back tomorrow, I'm not in the flow. Ask Pastor Lawrence to pray for you. No flow, lah, today, no flow. You blame them, lah. You should have come earlier. Just now I was in the flow. Just now I was doing my devotional and then these jokers came in. Take my flow away".
Right after we get angry, our son comes to us, "Can you pray for me for my exam tomorrow"? "Ask her to pray for you," because we are not in the flow. Jesus amazing, he can throw away the scourge and the blind came and he opened their eyes. He healed them. I'll tell you something real quick, all right? That 1000 years ago when David first took Jerusalem, the Jebusites was in charge of Jerusalem and they make a mockery of David. Said, "David, you can't even come up here to take us. Our lame and blind will get you. Our lame and blind will stop you". Go to the story real quick and then we'll close: "The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, 'You will not come in here; the blind and the lame will repel you.' Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion".
David took it, all right? But David had something in his heart. David became bitter towards the blind and the lame because that was a taunt they brought against him, that even the blind and the lame will stop you. Next verse: "Now David said on that day, 'Whoever climbs up by the way of the water shaft,'" by the way, it's still there, okay? When you go to Israel, you can ask them to bring you to the city of David, the water shaft by which Joab climb up is still there. They have uncovered it, all right? "'And defeats the Jebusites". Whoever goes up by that way and defeats the Jebusites, that means he go in by the water shaft way, and then defeat them, in bracket, "'(The lame and the blind, who are hated by David's soul).' Therefore they shall say, 'The blind and the lame will not come into the house.'"
And Joab was the first one to climb up and became captain. But notice the phrase: "The blind and the lame, hated by David's soul". David hated the blind and the lame. There's one exception: Mephibosheth, because Mephibosheth is the son of Jonathan, his best friend, and they have a covenant so that's another message altogether of grace and how David brought Mephibosheth who was lame to always eat at his table. But when you compare David and the greater Son of David, Jesus always excels. Jesus healed the blind and the lame. Actually, if you have eyes to see, pun not intended, we are all blind when we first came to Jesus and we're all lame. Blind means we don't even know Jesus, you know? "I don't believe there's a moon. I don't believe there's a star. I don't believe all of you. I don't believe there's such a thing as a star".
Your belief or don't believe doesn't change the stars sparkling at night, all right, because you're blind. Unless someone comes from outside, have mercy on you, you are lost in your blindness. Imagine being blind for one day. Don't open your eyes. No more Korean drama, all right? Imagine, you would, I mean, can't imagine the suffering. What about lame? You couldn't even walk to where Jesus is. We say that "well, one day I'll walk to the front and accept Jesus Christ," as if we are the one. Let me tell you this. If God didn't draw you, you wouldn't even be walking to the front. If God didn't open your eyes, you wouldn't even be in church.
"You know, I came to check you out, Pastor Prince. To see what a notorious cult leader you are. And then I got saved". Yeah, even that thought to check me out was given to you in mercy by God, because that's the only way to draw you. God will make the wrath of men to praise him, amen. So if our eyes are not open, we can't even walk to him. People, we are saved by grace. We see because he made us see or else we cannot see. And yet, we look at other people and criticize them. Why are Christians criticizing sinners acting like sinners? Why do you criticize a drunkard when a drunkard act like a drunkard? A drunkard acts like a drunkard because he's a drunkard. A sinner act like a sinner because he's a sinner. What's the point of holding up banners saying we are against this, we are against that, preach the gospel for goodness sake. Preach the good news.
And Jesus finally said, after the last verse, right? Go back to Matthew 23, we'll close with that. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem," he says. "How I wish to gather you but you're not willing. See"! Last part, "Your house," it's no more my house. A few days earlier when he rode in, he says, "Don't make my Father's house, my house, a house of den of thieves". Remember that? It was still his house, but because the final rejection, they reject him, now it's what? "Your house". I tell you this. If God never moved out, the Romans cannot raze the temple down. You understand? It's no more God's house. Your house is left to you desolate. "I say to you, you shall see Me no more 'til you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'" That prayer in Psalms 118. In other words, one day all Israel will be so much under pressure they will all scream, "Baruch haba hashem Adonai". They will see Jesus and they will shout this prayer, and that's the time they'll see his face. From that time until now, they have not seen his face. You understand?
I wanna tell you this story. Last year, I had a security guard that followed me around because of my advertisement on my face, thanks. So I notice were you with me, last year, Gabriel? Yeah, Pastor Lawrence, a few other pastors with me, we had this security guy. He looked very, very, very depressed, very depressed. Was very quiet, very depressed, very sad looking. And you can tell, his face was very, very depressed. And I made conversation with him the first few days, just a yes, no, yes, no, kind of thing. Not married, lived by himself, away from his mother, father, away just by himself. But he followed me and he was listening, and because he was listening, sometime when I preach, I'll use the word, instead of the cross, I use the word tselev, which is Hebrew for cross.
I use the, you know, Hebrew terms here and there when I preach to the pastors here and there. He was always listening. Everywhere I go, when I teach, he was listening. As I watch him, as the days pass, the darkness left and you can see more and more the light shining. Finally, we were by the River Jordan, you still remember that? At the River Jordan, we was there and I was talking to the pastors and finally he put up his hand. And he's our security guy, and he says, "Can I say something"? I said, "Sure". He said that "I want to tell you this. I'm actually a commander of a division of the Jewish military guarding the Syrian border, the Lebanese border".
And he was a commander. He says that in 2006, there's a very famous incident in 2006. The Hezbollah shot rockets into Israel's side of the border, into Israel's side, and there was a Humvee that was going by. They aimed at the Humvee, they kill it, I mean, they destroyed it, and three soldiers died. Three Israeli soldiers died. Not only that, they went into Israel's side, took two young soldiers captive and brought them to their side. And that spark off the second Lebanese war that lasted for a few years until 2008. He says, "I was the commander of those young men," and he says, "I cannot forgive myself. When I went to the funeral plus meeting the parents of those two that were kidnapped," he just wept and wept and wept. He cut himself off from everybody, all right? He cannot function as a commander anymore. Became suicidal, you know, and lived far away, live away from everybody. And the only way to live is to just offer his services as a security guy. And he said that, but he says, "These few weeks following you, listening to you," he told me this: "It is like a big weight have just rolled away".
By the way, do you know that in 2008 Hezbollah asked Israel to release 1000 prisoners, their prisoners for the 2 Israeli soldiers and Israel released 1000. Imagine the difference. One thousand prisoners and they gave back two dead soldiers. Both who just died. So imagine the thing that Raphi, my friend, he went through. But he said that the gospel of grace set him free, amen. My friend, you should see his face after that. He wept, we wept, some of us wept, you know? And he just said, "My life has totally changed. Jesus changed my life".
This year, he's also my security guy. I mean, you should see him. I mean, you couldn't even come near me, he will pin you down and make you kiss the dirt, you know? I said, "Raphi, relax, relax. It's Pastor Lawrence, relax," you know? He's that kind of guy. He loved me so much, you know? And he was with me. But this year, they have extra security so there was a guy called Adam. He's a young guy, and last year I got Raphi saved. After Raphi was saved, there was another guy who was attached to us for a while because Raphi had to go off somewhere. The last few days I preached to this security guy, his name is Golan. He wears sunglasses. You'll see his picture, of course, in the end. And he got saved also, all right? So this is amazing.
Now, this year, for this tour last month, they attach to me a guy, a young guy, good-looking guy, all right? And his name is Adam. And he looks like a star, he really does. And he has a small scar here. He told us a story. He was involved in the flotilla, you know, the Turkish flotilla. They carry some weapons in it and all that, and the Israeli commandoes came in and he was one of them. He's a commando. He came in and then there was a fight and they slash his side, all right, and the bones were exposed. But he still fought, he said. And he shared how, when his face got the gash, bones can be seen and all that, he went to the military hospital. All of them were sitting down there, they all had blood from all kinds of wounds. A nurse came to him and said, "Wow, that's a very bad". He said, "Yeah". "But there are other cases more worse than yours". He said, "Okay, you wait".
Now, later on, the nurse came back and said, "Hey, listen, the doctor here is a good doctor but tomorrow there's a plastic surgeon doctor coming, all right? But you have to wait the whole night here with the blood coming out and all that". He says, "Never mind, never mind. Give me the plastic surgeon," he said. That was very funny. And if you look at him, I can't show you his face because he's still operative, all right, but I'll show you the picture here. It's me leading him. He's the one wearing purple, all right? There is a prayer we prayed at Capernaum. The extreme left is my guide. I got him saved many years ago already, all right? Golan is the one that God saved last year but the one on the extreme right, can you see the guy? That's the guy, the commander that was depressed.
Now you look at him. He's totally happy, totally free, loves Jesus with a passion, and by the way, he's writing a book about his life story and Jesus, all right? But here is a prayer. I was leading all of them and they all know what I'm trying to do: leading the middle guy, all right, Adam, to Jesus. And Adam received Jesus at Capernaum. Praise God. In other words, all these Jewish people are now saying, you're seeing salvation, they're saying, "Baruch haba hashem Adonai", "Lord Jesus, you are the Messiah. You are the Savior". So God is opening the eyes of the Jewish people and those of you who love Jewish people, only the gospel of grace can touch them. Telling them, all right, keeping the law, saved by grace, a mixture can never save them. They know what the law has done. They're oppressed. They have been burdened down by the law. Only the gospel of grace can save them, amen, people? Give the glory to Jesus, hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For you, let me announce to you because you say, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord", because you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. Send now salvation to your life. Send now, Father, prosperity into their lives in Jesus's wonderful name, and all the people said, "Amen". Stand to your feet. If you put your trust in Christ today, your salvation begins. You can walk out of this place saying, "I am not willing. I am not willing". But, friend, if you'll trust the Lord Jesus Christ, through his name you receive forgiveness of sins. He died for your sins on the cross and God raised him from the dead as a divine receipt. Because he rose from the dead without your sins, your sins are all put away. Friend, if you trust in Christ, pray this prayer with me right now, amen. I don't believe for one single moment you are here by happenstance. I believe God brought you here. Pray this prayer with me right now. Say:
Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on the cross for my sins. Because you love me, you sent him to be my Savior, my Messiah, my Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord of my life. Thank you, Father. All my sins are forgiven. I am greatly blessed. Send now into my life, into my family, salvation in every area. Send now prosperity in every area, in Jesus's name, amen.
Congratulations, you are saved, amen. Saved, eternally saved. Lift your hands all across this place. Never take your protection for granted but because, people, you have put your trust and taken your refuge under the shadow of his wings, you are protected throughout this week. Doesn't matter how smart you are, you still need the Lord to put you at the right place at the right time.
This coming week, the Lord bless you and your families with the blessings of Father Abraham, the Lord blessed you with such a wonderful character, with such a wonderful personality that people can see strength and yet tenderness, dignity and princeliness and yet humility. You'll see the fruit of the Spirit and yet the power and the gifts of the Spirit. May you be like Jesus in everything you do and prosper in all your ways. The Lord make his face shine on you and be favorable to you. May you walk in the supernatural favor of God everywhere you go. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and your loved ones and grant to you and yours his wonderful shalom, health, and peace, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. God bless you. We'll see you again. Baruch haba hashem Adonai! God bless you all.