Light on the Hill

James Kaddis: Today on Light on the Hill, the triumphal entry of Christ. This story that we read about when we go through this triumphant entry is a whole lot more than just the simple prophetic fulfillment that comes, which by the way, that is a spectacular part of this story.

But I would venture to say that so much more consequentially and so much more significant is the story of how God deals with his children when his children are challenged to a place that brings an element of newness, encouragement, and strength.

Guest (Male): The prophecy we're about to examine in Mark chapter 11 was fulfilled just as it was predicted, and the effect it has on us today is unprecedented for several reasons. What you're about to hear can dramatically change your life. Thank you for joining us for Light on the Hill as we hear part one of Pastor James Kaddis's message, "This Prophetic Moment Changed the World."

James Kaddis: All right, Mark chapter 11. It's interesting when we go through passages like this, I know that when the average person—and I'm going to say average—when the average person teaches through a passage like this, they often times will sort of slush through what I would call the mechanical.

They will spend some time articulating and crafting what may be a very articulate presentation about how the passage we're going to read is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy, which of course it is. When you look at both the pre-exilic and what we would call the post-exilic period and the prophets that came from that time, what we read about here touches both of those periods in many cases, in many different contexts.

It's even important to bring those things out. I, for one, am somebody who appreciates the prophetic value that comes out of reading a story like this where we know that some pretty intense predictions were made concerning this moment. As you can already tell by opening up this passage, it's very obvious that we're talking about the triumphal entry. That's what people call it, right? It's the time where Jesus, in essence, comes from the area of the Mount of Olives. He goes down into the Valley of Kidron and goes up from there into the city.

In doing so, we do have predictions in the scriptures that talk about this moment coming to pass. We see it, we see the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Not only do we talk about the minor prophets, which some of them speak about this time—but I should probably note this: there's nothing minor about these prophets. The only reason why they're called minor prophets is simply because of the body of their work; it's a smaller body. That's the only reason why they're called such.

But we even have very specific descriptions given to us with respect to not only what would happen, but the timing of what would happen. Daniel chapter 9, for example, makes it very, very clear that from the declaration to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem, the timeline will start for those 69 weeks that we read about.

The 69 weeks of Daniel translates, if you look at it, every single day of the week is a year, and every day in a single year because it's a Babylonian calendar is going to be 360 days. If you take that 473 years and you multiply it times 360 days, you get yourself to the point where you see 173,880 days. With that 173,880 days, it gets you to, from the starting of the proclamation to rebuild and restore Jerusalem, which was done by Artaxerxes Longimanus on March 14, 445 BC.

That's when this declaration was made by Artaxerxes Longimanus. You read about this in Nehemiah chapter 2. If you take 173,880 days and you start on that day, that brings you to that very day that Jesus rides into the city of Jerusalem on the donkey as predicted by the prophets and continues to be discussed on a day-to-day basis.

We can get into the mechanics of that, and there's a lot of mechanics there. There's a lot of nuancing that has to be discussed with respect to why that's so valuable and why it's so important. There's a lot of areas to emphasize here, but I think there's something even more consequential about this story and something that is far more grand, something that is far more spectacular and something that is so much more important.

That is the understanding that God wants us to develop concerning his sovereignty. It's understanding and recognizing the propensity that we have as human beings to choose to want to rely upon self when indeed relying upon self brings us to a blind resolution to a very dark and difficult problem.

I think that this is important to note because when we introduce into this discussion the topic of spiritual warfare, this is where it becomes very complicated. Many of these complications that we continue to discuss and talk about are fundamentally predicated upon the fact, and not the assumption—the fact—that spiritual warfare is difficult simply because it cannot be seen.

We cannot, with our general senses, discern what is actually happening in the invisible realm. Our only ability to be able to understand and discern and know what is happening in the invisible realm comes from the declarations of God's word concerning that realm. But the only way to navigate through that realm is not founded or based upon your ability to see because you cannot see. It is always going to be based on your willingness to walk in obedience to God, even when your inability to see what you are looking at is something that is blinding your capacity to connect A and B.

That's a very difficult thing to do. What is it like when you walk in a dark room that is so dark you can't even see your hand in front of your face, and yet the only thing you can do is hear a voice that is so faint that it's difficult to discern whether or not that voice is the reliable one in order to walk through that room and not stumble over the very things that you cannot see?

That is, in essence, the picture that's created for us by spiritual warfare. In understanding it, the one thing that we must understand, because this is a very biblical principle, is that the only way we will ever be able to navigate through the realm that we cannot see is to lean in on the one person who has perfect vision in that realm and walk in obedience to that person.

Yes, you called it, you're right. That's a very important thing to do. If you cannot lean in on the power of God and on the voice of God, the understanding of God and the discernment of God to navigate through the areas that you cannot see, you will find yourself in a position where you will fail, and you will fail every single time. This is the worst part. The worst part about it is life happens.

Bad things happen. Difficulties come up. Things erect within our lives that are so incredibly insurmountable that the feeling that we have of being overwhelmed can sometimes overtake us to a point where we simply want to shut down. Would it surprise you if I've said that in recent days I've had moments where I just don't want to teach?

I just don't want to interact with anybody. I'd rather hole up in a closet and kind of be alone and try to come out of what I would call or deem the fog of war that continues to cause me to be disoriented. I think that if you were to listen to a pastor tell you that they've never felt that way, one of two things is happening: number one, they're lying, or number two, if they're telling the truth, it means that they've probably never engaged a day in their life in spiritual warfare willingly and knowingly, which has caused them to become the primary casualty of that warfare.

Do you understand? Because if you think about it, when we look at the subject of spiritual warfare, I love the words of the late great Walter Martin when he says that those who refuse to engage in spiritual warfare become the first casualties of it. The reality of it is that statement is particularly true of believers. When we as believers choose to ignore the spiritual elements that are brought into play by understanding the word of God, we become the casualties of the fact that we have chosen to be ignorant of not only God's words and his commands for our life, but we have allowed other things to mold us and put us in that direction.

By the way, this next week we're going to see a recurring theme of that. We're talking about that today. We're going to be talking about it when we go through Exodus 32 and look at the picture of God's judgment and what happens as a result of people choosing to walk in blindness and the destruction that comes from it. We're going to spend some time really exploring that when we look at the declarations that God makes in the book of Isaiah when we go through chapter 3.

The same thing is consistent every single time. It happens to be that if we are going to navigate and find success in the situations that we are in, we must give way to not only the word of God, but we must give way to a militant understanding that we must yield to it exactly as stipulated and set forth because if we don't, we'll stumble around in the darkness. It's that simple.

All of us are going through moments in our lives that don't make sense. We have the big "why" questions. Can any of us get a break? It's funny because I think that's a question all of us ask. I asked myself that question a few times this week, like, goodness gracious, can I at least get a break? If not for just a second, can I get a little bit of breath of fresh air?

God makes it very, very clear, and he makes it very obvious to us. Every single time you perceive the moment of difficulty as something that besets you as a function of some open-ended force that will eventually destroy you, it's a pure sign that you have forgotten or lost sight of the God who allows those things to happen in order for you to be molded and shaped.

This story that we read about when we go through this triumphant entry is a whole lot more than just the simple prophetic fulfillment that comes, which by the way, that is a spectacular part of this story. But I would venture to say that so much more consequentially and so much more significant is the story of how God deals with his children when his children are challenged to a place that brings an element of newness, encouragement, and strength.

Now, I will just tell you, and if you knew, oh my goodness, you would appreciate this a whole lot more. But I can tell you, coming from the place of experience, that there are a lot of things that happen in our lives that we will never be able to understand. But the remedy to navigating through those things is trusting in God through those moments by continuing to respond with obedience.

That's tough, but we're going to see how this manifests in this story. So let's jump into verse one of chapter 11. Obviously Jesus is in Jerusalem here. He's just outside the city, by the way. And they came nigh to Jerusalem unto Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, and he sendeth forth two of his disciples.

Already we're kind of at an interesting point of inflection for lack of a better term because they're just outside Jerusalem. This is a moment of great anticipation to anybody who is making this trip of ascension. You have to keep in mind, ascending to Jerusalem in Jewish culture was a significant and quite a consequential moment in anybody's life.

It was something that had to be done two to three times a year, and every time it was done, it was a big deal. Not only was it a big deal to the family because it came at a tremendous cost, but it was a big deal to everybody who participated, especially when it would have been the first time they'd participated. The first time a boy would go to ascend to the Temple Mount with his dad would have been a very consequential moment. It would have been something pretty spectacular.

Just the mechanism driven by the act of ascension into Jerusalem would have been, in and of itself, something that would have been remarkable. It would have been an event in and of itself. Jesus finds himself at a stage during the ascension where there's a lot of anticipation. He just finished telling his disciples he's going to be crucified. He just finished explaining to them that things are not going to go the way that they assumed they would go.

Had they not been educated by Christ, their general thought process would have been, "We are ascending to Jerusalem to take over the kingdom. We're ascending to Jerusalem to literally set everything up as we understand it will be set up based on the Davidic Covenant made directly by God through one of the prophets to our King David." They're looking at Christ as the Son of God, who he himself is the true and living God, and you will actually see references to that Davidic Covenant as Christ is coming in on the donkey.

But here's the thing you've got to understand, and this is really, really important. There's a lot more at play in the background that is really, really important. The one thing I want to point out here is when you start talking about Bethany, when you start talking about Bethphage, this whole area that's just outside of Jerusalem. The one thing that I think is important to note is while in the process of ascending into the purposes of God to do the work of God, just as they were ascending into Jerusalem, there will be places on the outskirts of that destination where God will stop you and God will challenge you.

God will ask you. You see, the way we think about things is we stop and we look at what our intentional destination is. We look at the purposes that we feel like we bring to the table, and we often times don't look at the cause; rather, we seem to look at the effect. We are the type of people that always look at where we're supposed to be, which is why oftentimes as a society, we have fully adopted to and yielded to the mindset that says, "By any means necessary."

We look at, let's do whatever it takes to get to the end where we believe we should be, where God says, "The end is in my hands, and the only thing I want you to be constantly aware of and responsible of is the journey that I've called you to obey—the instruction set for where you are going." This is difficult for us because every single time we're on the journey and we run into some kind of a difficult moment, then something very hard happens to us within our minds because we feel as though the deviations, as we may call them, are something that stand in direct opposition to the ultimate purpose that we feel like we are called by God to walk into.

Problem is, we grossly estimate how, or underestimate or misestimate, how that is supposed to take place in our lives or the role that it has in our lives because we simply cannot see the invisible realm. It's that simple. Every single one of us in our process of ascending, as we would call it, will be called to a slightly different narrative in that little outskirt area of where we think we're going.

Why? Because that's the purpose that God has for us. When we obey God in that purpose, when we stop to reflect upon the moment in which we are being challenged and yield to the challenge that's presented, we always find ourselves better equipped for the destination. We always find ourselves in a place where we become the greatest beneficiaries of all of those things because we walk away with the deep-rooted understanding of what can be accomplished in the process as we move forward in obedience.

But that is the operative term. The operative term is obedience. Will we obey even when obeying is scary? Even when obeying doesn't make sense? Even when obeying seems as though it directly contradicts with everything that we've been taught or everything that we see or all the variables that we can't see?

Jesus calls out to his disciples, and look what he says in verse two: "And saith unto them, go your way into the village over against you, and as soon as you be entered into it, you shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him and bring him. And if any man say unto you, why do you do this? Say you that the Lord hath need of him, and straightway he will send him hither."

These two verses may be some of the most consequential verses of this story. They become the most critical component of any story in which you are living a life that involves the invisible realm—and that's all of you. Here's why. Because Jesus does something very unique. As I had just mentioned, Jesus takes them off of the path that they believed they were on, number one.

Number two, he brings them into a detour that presents a problem that could, in their minds, become so consequential that it could disrupt what we believe to be the end result. Let me tell you what this would be the modern-day equivalent of. This would be the equivalent of you sitting down with somebody and deciding that the ultimate mission for you is to walk across the bridge to the town on the other side.

You talk about it, you've been briefed for it, you understand what it's going to involve, and you're ready and you start walking down the path to go over the bridge. Right as you get to what appears to be slightly past the midway point of the bridge, the person who is your commander-in-chief says, "I know that the goal is to be over here, but I'm asking you immediately to jump off the edge. Jump off the bridge."

You might think, "Well, I'm a swimmer, so maybe I survive." But this sounds crazy. What do you mean? Do you realize that if I jump off the bridge right now, jumping off the bridge, first of all, completely deters me from accomplishing the direction that I believe I have to go in, number one? And number two, even if for whatever reason I survive this thing, I'll never be able to do what I think I'm accomplishing because they're going to take me away and it will never work.

You might think, "James, that's a little extreme." Is it? Let's talk about what Jesus asked them to do. First of all, Jesus asks them to go into this little town and to loose the colt—the little tiny donkey. Just loose him. He's never been ridden by anybody. How likely do you think it is you're going to be able to grab a donkey, hasn't been ridden by anybody, doesn't have any straps on him—anything? How in the world are you going to get a donkey to cooperate with you to go to the destination that you needed to go?

Look, anybody knows anything about donkeys, I'm going to tell you this right now: there's no way. Good luck. It's an insurmountable request. It cannot be done. It is physically impossible. Even the guys that transport animals today would have to put one of these, like, sheets around that animal and then crane it into whatever transport mechanism they use to get the animal from one point to another. Why? Because you're not getting a donkey to walk, especially when that donkey is not domesticated. It's not happening. It'll never work. That's the first impossible thing they get asked to do.

Second impossible thing: think about it like this. Assuming you could even get the donkey to cooperate with you, the price to be paid for stealing a donkey in that world is death. You go steal a person's animal that's an asset that big, you die because of doing it. Jesus says, "When somebody stops you to ask you, you just simply say this crazy thing"—and it is a crazy thing—"I need it because the Lord wants me to use it."

You would think of a more sophisticated representation to make. But this is how God works. You see, think about it like this. God tells them to go do an impossible thing. Not only does he tell them to go do an impossible thing, he tells them to go do an impossible thing with the assumption and general knowledge of the fact that that impossible thing will be done by God because he directed for it to happen, and then he makes provision for the consequence of what that impossible thing might actually bring.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us today for Light on the Hill. What you just heard is one part of a study in Mark's Gospel from Pastor James Kaddis. You can hear it again at lightonthehillradio.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Not long ago, Pastor James released his new book on the first half of Revelation. It's entitled "The Last Book."

He points out that Revelation isn't a book of fear, but rather a book of hope. Pastor James will help you understand the world we live in and current events through a biblical lens, preparing your heart for what lies ahead. Get a copy by going to lightonthehillradio.com or through Amazon.

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While you're there, you can also send us an email. It would be great to hear from you and have you share the station you listen to as well. Just visit lightonthehillradio.com and then click on contact. Now with more about what must have seemed like a crazy command from Jesus to his disciples to go take a donkey, here's Pastor James.

James Kaddis: If you were under any circumstances trying to steal a donkey, and when you get caught by the owners, you tell them, "The Lord told me to take it," not only would they consider you a nutjob and crazy, but for sure you would experience the greatest consequence of that theft.

So God asks us to be the type of people that not only do the insurmountable at his request to do so—at his command to do so—he also requires us to put our faith and trust in him through our desire or through our willingness—that's the better term—through our willingness, because sometimes desire doesn't line up with willingness, right? It doesn't line up with our obedience. But our willingness to walk in obedience, no matter what the consequence may be.

Guest (Male): Remember, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.