Lamb Selection Day & the Triumphal Entry

Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household. - Exodus 12:3

Today is the 10th day of Nisan, the day on which the unblemished Passover lamb was to be selected and set apart from the flock. Special care was to be taken of this lamb until Passover on the 14th of the month, when it would be slaughtered at twilight. The blood of this lamb would provide protection and deliverance for Israel from the Destroyer because God would pass over His people who had the blood of the lamb on their doors.

About fourteen hundred years later, it was on this day, Lamb Selection Day, that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey in the Triumphal Entry, presenting Himself as the unblemished eternal Passover Lamb of God. As Jesus entered Jerusalem, the people shouted “Hosanna!” with joy, affirming their faith in Jesus as the promised Son of David, the Son of God, their Messiah, and the King of Israel. They waved palm branches as a symbol of national pride and their hope for political deliverance from Rome. 

Matthew 21:5 ESV - 5 "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'" (Quoting Zechariah 9:9)

John 12:13 ESV - 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" (Quoting Psalm 118:26)

But unlike military conquerors who proudly rode into conquered cities on warhorses, Jesus rode humbly on a donkey, not a warhorse, and He wept because He knew that the people failed to recognize God’s love and refused to be gathered to God’s grace. He understood the great sacrifice He was about to make for them to have peace with God, but they did not know their time of God visiting them. As Jesus rode into the city, He knew that their exuberant profession of faith would be replaced in only a few days with demands for His crucifixion. He knew that His own slaughter as the Passover Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world was the way God was making peace to spare people from His wrath.

Luke 19:41-42 ESV - 41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

When Jesus’ arrived in Jerusalem, He entered the Temple and turned over the tables of the money changers who had turned God’s House into a marketplace for their own advantage, even though it was supposed to be the place where all the nations could come to seek, pray to, and know the God of Israel without hindrance. Soon after this, some Gentiles sent word to Jesus that they wanted to see Him, and even though it was always God’s purpose to include the nations/Gentiles who came to Him, this was Jesus’ cue that His earthly mission was almost over. Before salvation could be opened up to Gentiles and offered to the world, Jesus must die on a cross to bring salvation to and through the Jews. Prior to this, Jesus had said many times that His time had not yet come, but now He announced, “The hour has come” because it was time for His mission to culminate on the cross. A grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die so that it can bear fruit. Jesus did not love His own life and in fact, He thought so little of life in this world by comparison to eternal life with God, that it was a joy for Him to endure the cross and not count the shame of it. (See Hebrews 12:2)

John 12:24-25 ESV - 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Jesus knew that people did not believe Him because God had not yet revealed it to them. Their eyes were blind and their hearts were hard, and in four days, they would crucify Him. But He also knew and trusted that God would not fail to raise Him on the third day, victorious over sin, death, and the ruler of this world, the devil.

Even though His soul was troubled to think of what was ahead, Jesus refused to ask for deliverance from it. When He instead said, “Father, glorify Your Name”, a voice from heaven responded affirmatively, so Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of the world; now the ruler of the world will be cast out.” He knew that through the cross, by not succumbing to the powers of darkness or the temptation to resist evil with evil, He would overcome evil with good. By giving Himself over to death and trusting God’s power for vindication through resurrection, Jesus would be lifted up on the cross and draw all humanity to God’s love and salvation.

Jesus set the example of what it means to hate your own life in this world by comparison to your love for God. This is revealed through submission and obedience to the will of God, even if it costs everything you hold dear and your own life. He told His disciples about the cost of following Him, and He does not ask us to do anything He did not demonstrate for us Himself.

Matthew 10:37-39 ESV - 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Mark 8:34-38 ESV - 34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Luke 14:26-27, 33 ESV - 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ... 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Jesus is the one and only Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and as His disciples, we are called to follow the Lamb and be like lambs among wolves. It is popular to get excited about following the Lion of the tribe of Judah, but when it is announced in the book of Revelation that the Lion of Judah has overcome, John turns and sees a Lamb that was slain. The authority and strength of the Lion of Judah is revealed in the Lamb of God who did not fight the world on the world’s terms or with the world’s weapons or threats of death because these things are from the evil one. The Lamb overcame the evil one and the world by trusting God and obeying Him, even unto death, by turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, and giving salvation as a free gift to everyone who asks. True disciples of Jesus follow the Lamb wherever He goes because He is their strength and their song and has become their salvation. (See Exodus 15:2; Isaiah 12:2; Psalm 118:14.) There is no mention of following a lion.

Talk is cheap. Obedience is costly. If you truly believe that Jesus is your Savior, then you will walk in the obedience of faith. So, on this Lamb Selection Day, with renewed commitment, willingness, and passion, declare again your faith in Jesus as your Savior, your King, and your eternal Passover Lamb with readiness to take up your cross and follow the Lamb wherever He leads you.  

Lamb Selection Day Scriptures

Lamb Selection Day: Exodus 12:1-6

The Triumphal Entry: Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, John 12

Note: This is celebrated in many churches as Palm Sunday.