Matthew 4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
Jesus has been to Jerusalem before to fight a battle with the devil. He must have been thinking about this moment on his way into Jerusalem this time. I find it fascinating that this is the temptation from Satan in Jerusalem at the beginning of Jesus' ministry and we know how it's going to end. He will be lifted up! Back to those crowds though, the people who are at this moment excited about Jesus' coming into the city. I don't suppose any of them knew about Jesus' first round with Satan. I'm sure they were completely unaware of the spiritual battle that was going on for our very souls. So their excitement is founded, but their issue is that they are trying to make earthly sense of a heavenly moment. This never works. I have this same issue. I try to see Kingdom work with my earthen eyes and it never quite works. It's as if I'm looking through a cloudy mirror, upside down, and backwards. I know it isn't right, but I try to make sense of it anyway. And really, the only way the Kingdom makes sense is when I am on the other side of it looking back. The parade into Jerusalem doesn't make complete sense until Easter Sunday.
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