The Gist of the Worship Message on December 2, 2007
Matthew 21:1 - 9
"Together with the Humble Man"
@by: Pastor Hironori Furuya
The Advent has started today.
In the calendar of the church, it is the start of a year. One step of walk that the God meant by the four candles is to prepare for the Road of the Lord. Mr. Yasuro Enomoto, a Pastor, staked his life on ashram by these holy words.
gEven if I am a small person, the God makes use of me. If the Lord needs, he uses me as a witness of the event on the cross and the revival.h The Pastor Enomoto so believed. He is still very influential person; his books and his preach collections are affecting a lot of people now though he died over 30 years ago.The other day, the commemoration service was done for 30th Anniversary since the establishment of the Minami-Machida church. This progress was originated from a nursing home for the elders called the gsmall donkeys association.h
One of the Hara-machida church members who were led by the Pastor Enomoto to participate into the Ashram, the individual name unknown though, donated his fortune in tenderness so that the nursing home was built up. In the Chapter 21 of the Matthew, the Lordfs tender appearance is shown, also same in the paragraph 5 and thereafter. This is a quotation from the Chapter 9 paragraph 9 of the Book of Zechariah in the Old Testament.The Lord Jesus rode on the child donkey. The donkey indicates his tender nature. What the Lord Jesus rode on was not a horse that is used for fighting, but a child donkey. There seemed no dignity as the ruler or brave appearance though he was being cried out by the people as our King; he appeared even miserable on a small, shabby child donkey.
Indeed, it was the appearance of the Lord who was born in a feed trough. The first point to be noted in that the Lord entered into the castle is that the Jesus was born as the king. He did not seem a king however, and he was born, and he rode on a donkey mews as tender man.
The purpose of the Matthew gospel's quoting the Zechariah prophecy by the advent is to show the accomplishment of the prophecy, and the birth as the king who suffers from all in the lowest point. Therefore, we kneel to the Lord Jesus; worship the Lord in the feed trough. In order to confront with our own sin, he used not a horse but the donkey. People cried out, "Hosanna in David's child". He was called gPlease save ush as well. gHosannah meant "Be Blest". It also meant gLong Liveh. He was actually blest by the God and entered into the castle.Christmas is beginning of the event in the world of peace the God opened for all the people. Let us prepare for the God, and provide with the Lord's Road the first candle that was lighted today as a symbol of tenderness of his.