CHAPTER 19

(A.D. 33)

ZACCHAEUS

¹And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho (He always left a place better than when He found it).

²And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the Publicans (tax-collectors), and he was rich (we find that the blind beggar is here preferred, for he was healed first before the rich tax-collector; he is last but is put first; he was told to rise, but Zacchaeus to come down; thus, rich and poor meet on the one level as sinners before God).

³And he sought to see Jesus who He was (as Bartimaeus, he sought to see Jesus; also as Bartimaeus, he was lacking because money never satisfies the spiritual thirst of the human heart); and could not for the press (the great multitude of people), because he was little of stature (evidently means that he was head and shoulders shorter than most other men).

⁴And he ran before (he ascertained the direction Jesus was going, and sought to find a vantage point, which he did), and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see Him: for He was to pass that way (a statement of monumental proportions).

⁵And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up, and saw him (all were orchestrated by the Holy Spirit; a hungry, seeking, heart will always find the Lord), and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at your house (proclaims the Deity and Kingship of Jesus, although little used; He did not ask for lodging, but as King commanded such; the Salvation of Zacchaeus is one of the most striking in the Gospels; it was personal: Zacchaeus; it was pressing: make haste; it was humbling: come down; it was immediate: today; it was abiding: I must abide; it was social: at thy house).

⁶And he made haste, and came down, and received Him joyfully (the moral effect of the conversion was seen in Zacchaeus taking his stand along with Jesus in public).

⁷And when they saw it (the multitude), they all murmured (murmuring is always a sin), saying, That He was gone to be guest with a man who is a sinner (Jesus never catered whatsoever to public whim, prevailing opinion, or conventional wisdom).

⁸And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor (unlike the rich young ruler, he immediately volunteers such); and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold (Roman law required a fourfold restitution, but Levitical Law only demanded the principal and one-fifth part added [Num. 5:7]; but he imposed upon himself the severe measure of Ex. 22:1; thus, he judged himself, and true Repentance acts as he did).

⁹And Jesus said unto him, This day is Salvation come to this house (Jesus is the answer to all problems), forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham (Jesus is saying that Zacchaeus has as much right to Salvation as any other person in Israel; because he was a tax-collector, the religious leadership may have shut him out, but the Lord didnt; we should think about that statement very carefully).

¹⁰For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost (the seeking of the lost, at least on the part of God, involves far more than a mere quest, but rather an extremely active participation; so much so, in fact, that it took Christ to the Cross).

THE TEN POUNDS

¹¹And as they heard these things, He added and spoke a Parable, because He was near to Jerusalem, because they thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear (His going to Jerusalem, and the recent happenings with Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus, probably exacerbated the feelings of the people; they didnt realize that He was on His Way to be crucified; they thought He was about to take the Throne).

¹²He said therefore, A certain Nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a Kingdom, and to return (this was Jesus Himself!).

¹³And He called His ten servants (the number ten in Jewish ideology pertains to an indefinite number and, therefore, includes all who would follow Him), and delivered them ten pounds (about $5,000 in 2003 currency), and said unto them, Occupy till I come (refers to the discharge of that responsibility on the part of each, until the Lord returns).

¹⁴But His citizens hated Him (refers to the Jews at His First Coming), and sent a message after Him, saying, We will not have this Man to reign over us.

¹⁵And it came to pass, that when He was returned (speaks of the Second Coming), having received the kingdom (Rev. 11:15), then He commanded these servants to be called unto Him, to whom He had given the money, that He might know how much every man had gained by trading (pertains to the Judgment Seat of Christ, which will take place immediately before the Second Coming; but the action of that Judgment will not be carried out until the Kingdom Age, which will commence with the Second Coming).

¹⁶Then came the first, saying, Lord, Your pound has gained ten pounds (about $50,000 in 2003 U.S. currency).

¹⁷And He said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because you have been faithful in a very little (faithfulness, or the lack thereof, constitutes the basis of all judgment), have thou authority over ten cities (some have claimed this pertains to the coming Kingdom Age, with Believers given rulership over particular cities; however, considering all Believers, there arent that many cities in the world; so the statement merely has to do with the degree of reward).

¹⁸And the second came, saying, Lord, Your pound has gained five pounds.

¹⁹And He said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.

²⁰And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is Your pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin (represents the one who did nothing):

²¹For I feared You, because You are an austere man (untrue): You take up that You laid not down, and reap that which You did not sow (all of this is untrue).

²²And He (Jesus) said unto him, Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant (doesnt seem to have been involved in gross sin, but seems to have been guilty of spiritual apathy, which characterizes so many Christians). You knew that I was an austere man (in other words, if you really believe that), taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

²³Wherefore then gave not you My money into the bank, that at My coming I might have received My Own with usury? (With interest.)

²⁴And He said unto them who stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him who has ten pounds (he was judged not so much because of what he did, but because of what he failed to do).

²⁵(And they said unto Him, Lord, he has ten pounds.) (The people said this because they were aghast that the pound taken from the man would be given to the one who already had ten pounds.)

²⁶For I say unto you, That unto every one which has shall be given; and from him who has not, even that he has shall be taken away from him (this is the Law of Diminishing Returns; light given and then rejected causes the person not only to lose what they could have had, but even what they presently have; this means that if the Message of the Cross is heard and rejected, not only will those particular individuals lose what they could have had, but they will lose what little they have previously had, which translates into spiritual wreckage).

²⁷But those My enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before Me (pertains to all who fall into this category, including the entirety of the Earth, and for all time; this will take place at the Great White Throne Judgment [Rev. 20:11-15]).

THE TRIUMPHANT ENTRY

²⁸And when He had thus spoken, He went before, ascending up to Jerusalem (is literally correct, for Jerusalem is approximately 3,500 feet higher in elevation than Jericho).

²⁹And it came to pass, when He was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount called the Mount of Olives (the suburbs of Jerusalem), He sent two of His Disciples (the identity of the two is not known exactly, but was believed to have been Peter and John),

³⁰Saying, Go ye into the village over against you (was either Bethany or Bethphage); in the which at your entering you shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither (proclaims that the triumphant entry would begin now, as predicted by the Prophet Zechariah [Zech. 9:9]).

³¹And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? (This portrays that no previous preparation had been made for the borrowing of the animal. Why? Jesus as King, for this was what He represented at that time, does not and, in fact, must not ask permission. He is Sovereign.) thus shall you say unto him, Because the Lord has need of him.

³²And they who were sent went their way, and found even as He had said unto them (this will always be the case!).

³³And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?

³⁴And they said, The Lord has need of him (evidently the owners immediately acquiesced; what a privilege it was for them to supply the animal there were actually two animals used by the Lord at this time).

³⁵And they brought him (the animal) to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt (making a saddle of sorts), and they set Jesus thereon.

³⁶And as He went, they spread their clothes in the way (concerned the vast number of pilgrims who had come from all over Israel for the Passover; this road would have been filled with people).

³⁷And when He was come near, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the Disciples (all the followers of Christ, not merely the Twelve) began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;

³⁸Saying, Blessed be the King Who comes in the Name of the Lord (the Prophecy of Zechariah demanded this public presentation of Jesus as the King of Israel, even though He would be rejected): peace in Heaven, and glory in the highest (these phrases are of great magnitude; Jesus was to suffer and die in a few hours; this would bring peace to Heaven as well as Earth; He completely defeated Satan, making it possible for all things to be reconciled in Heaven and Earth; this is not yet done, but because of the Cross, it most assuredly will be done [Col. 2:14-17; Heb. 2:14-15]).

³⁹And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto Him, Master, rebuke Your Disciples (Satan will do all within his power to stop people from praising the Lord, and will mostly use the Church to carry out his devious designs).

⁴⁰And He answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out (God demands praise, and true Christians will definitely praise Him; this proclaims to the spirit world that Gods Plan will succeed and Satan will be overthrown).

JERUSALEM

⁴¹And when He was come near, He beheld the city (Jerusalem, at that time, was a city of unparalleled beauty; the Temple was gleaming white, and one of the most beautiful buildings in the world), and wept over it (refers to loud crying, lamentations, even wailing; what must have been the reaction of people as they saw Him do this?),

⁴²Saying, If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things which belong unto your peace! (The things that Israel could have had, had they only obeyed the Word of God.)but now they are hid from your eyes (refers to willful blindness, which resulted in judicial blindness; Leadership will be given now unto the Gentiles).

⁴³For the days shall come upon you, that your enemies shall cast a trench about you (was fulfilled in totality in A.D. 70), and compass you round, and keep you in on every side (the Romans surrounded Jerusalem with a stone wall, making escape impossible),

⁴⁴And shall lay you even with the ground (the Roman General Titus, with the Tenth Legion, reduced the city to rubble), and your children within you (concerning the siege, over one million were killed, with hundreds of thousands of others sold as slaves); and they shall not leave in you one stone upon another (this concerned the Temple, and was fulfilled in totality; every stone was removed and a plough run over the place where it had stood, fulfilling Micah 3:12); because you knew not the time of your visitation (refers to the life and Ministry of Jesus, which constituted the greatest visitation ever experienced by any people).

THE TEMPLE

⁴⁵And He went into the Temple (actually refers to the next day), and began to cast out them who sold therein, and them who bought (probably took place in the Court of the Gentiles);

⁴⁶Saying unto them, It is written (Isa. 56:7), My house is the house of prayer: but you have made it a den of thieves (Satan had done this by and through religious leaders).

⁴⁷And He taught daily in the Temple (pertained to the approximate five days before His arrest and trial on the sixth day). But the Chief Priests and the Scribes and the Chief of the people sought to destroy Him (concerns, as is obvious, the religious hierarchy of Israel; but no matter how powerful that hierarchy might be, to oppose God is a fight that cannot be won; they only succeeded in destroying themselves),

⁴⁸And could not find what they might do (couldnt find a way to destroy Him): for all the people were very attentive to hear Him (so whatever they would do could not be done in the open, but had to be done in secret, which it was).