Summary
Glory From the East
Scripture is a book of details, and none of them are wasted. In the account of Palm Sunday in Mark 11:1-11, the evangelist piles up particulars: a colt that has never been ridden, the title "Lord" (the supreme, sovereign one), cloaks thrown down as a saddle and spread along the road, branches waved in festive procession, and the cry "Hosanna"—"save us"—the very thing Jesus had come to do. Each detail fulfills an Old Testament thread, from Zechariah's promise of a humble king on a colt to the royal acclamation once given to Jehu.
But one detail in particular often slips past the reader. After the procession, the text says simply, "Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple." Why mention this, especially when nothing dramatic seems to happen there? To see what is going on, you have to go back centuries—to the prophet Ezekiel.
Ezekiel prophesied during the darkest hour of Judah's history, exiled to Babylon in 597 B.C. In Ezekiel 11:23, he is given a devastating vision: "The glory of the LORD ascended from the middle of the city and stopped on the mountain east of the city." The mountain just east of Jerusalem is the Mount of Olives. The glory of God was leaving the temple, leaving Jerusalem, pausing on the Mount of Olives as it departed eastward. Judgment had come, and the visible presence of God was withdrawn.
Now look again at Mark's geography. Jesus approaches Jerusalem "at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives"—villages on the east side of that mountain. He comes from the east, over the Mount of Olives, and enters Jerusalem through the eastern gate. And where does he go first? Into the temple. Hebrews 1:3 calls the Son "the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature." The glory that left by way of the east has now returned by way of the east. This is the meaning of the otherwise quiet detail in “Glory From the East” 4-10-22: Palm Sunday is the homecoming of God's glory to his temple in the person of the Messiah.
Twenty years after his first vision, Ezekiel was given another. In Ezekiel 43:1-5 he writes, "Then he brought me to the gate, the gate facing east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east… As the glory of the LORD entered the temple by the gate facing east… the glory of the LORD filled the temple." This is not a literal blueprint—the post-exilic temple was not built that way, and could not have been. It is a vision of the Messiah, who comes from the east to dwell with his people. As John 1:14 puts it, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
The pattern reaches its final fulfillment in Revelation 21:22-23: "I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb." The glory departs to the east in Ezekiel 11. The glory returns from the east in Mark 11. The glory fills the temple of the church and at last replaces the temple altogether in the new Jerusalem.
We worship a God of details—who knows every detail of our sin, every thought, word, and deed, things done and left undone, down to the smallest point. And the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love us so much that the Son came riding from the east, into Jerusalem, into the temple, and on to the cross, to die and rise for every detail of our sin. The glory has come from the east for you.
Video citations
- “Glory From the East” 4-10-22 — Would you open your Bibles please with me to the Gospel of Mark the 11th chapter? If you're using a Pew edition you'll find that on page 41, Mark the 11th chapter for our study today. Details.…