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Written by Neil Mammen, Executive VP, Every Black Life Matters. www.EveryBLM.com
We all know the story of Palm Sunday. But very few know that Palm Sunday and the Crucifixion was engineered by God to have the maximum exposure and to push evil men in their own free will to crucify Jesus. Secondly, few know the symbolism of Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday was Nisan 10. The day that the Spotless Lamb was to be introduced to the home to be adopted before it was sacrificed
Find this at: https://open.substack.com/pub/neilmammen/p/palm-sunday-why-you-should-really
Title: Palm Sunday: How does God fulfill Prophecy without violating freewill?
Why you should really call Palm Sunday the 10th of Nisan – when the Lamb was chosen.
God doesn’t play dice with the Universe. He plays 10 Dimensional Chess!
God has a dilemma. God is just and must uphold justice by punishing sin. But He is also a loving and merciful God. And yet we have all sinned and deserve death. So does God compromise His Justice and forgive everyone? Or does He bring Justice destroy us all as we deserve and compromise His Mercy?
God’s solution is to be Just, but it is also to be Merciful and Forgiving. Do you see how he does that?
He dies in our place to provide Mercy and His own death meets the requirement for Justice. Both aspects of God are simultaneously satisfied. By sacrificing Himself He fulfils all these roles without compromise. He pays the price, justice is satisfied. He pays the price – love is satisfied.
It’s an ingenious solution.
Of course it is!
But how do you get your enemy to trigger his own defeat?
The Plan to Defeat Evil Through Evil’s Own Free Will
So the plan is for God the Son, Jesus, to die on the Cross to pay for our sins. But to make this evil thing happen, Satan must freely make that happen. Satan won’t do it if he realizes that this is not a victory for him but a defeat. How do you get your enemy to do all your work without letting them understand the plan? How do you surprise them? And how do you make them do it, at exactly the right time that you prophesied a millennium ago?
The prophecies cannot be so clear that Satan sees right through them. Otherwise he’d hold back his minions and never let Jesus be crucified.
As you may have realized, most prophecies of evil actions by evil people have to be sufficiently vague so that the evil doers don’t understand their role and subvert the prophecy.
But isn’t this divine manipulation?
Some may struggle with the idea that God orchestrated the death of Jesus by allowing evil men to carry out their desires. But Scripture is clear: God never forces evil—The evil people were going to do what they planned to. All God was doing was scheduling it to His appointed time. He simply removes restraints and creates the environment for people do what they were already bent on doing. This is not coercion—it’s coordination. God’s sovereignty works through human free will, not in spite of it. Without this kind of orchestration, prophecy could never be fulfilled, and salvation would never be accomplished. But when we start looking for it, it becomes quite eye opening.
We will deal with more objections in detail in the Objections Appendix.
But why were the Messianic prophecies necessary at all?
Because anyone could claim to be the Messiah, and many did. So how would you differentiate the real from the fake?
Only the real Messiah would be able to fulfill every one of the ancient prophecies. Prophecies that the Jews knew came from God. Prophecies that would prove He was God.
Let’s start with some of those Old Testament prophecies. I’ve listed more in the appendix.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Written around 500 BC)
Fulfilled in:
“Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written…” — John 12:14–15
This prophecy is direct and unmistakable: the Messiah would come humbly, not on a warhorse, but on a donkey. Jesus intentionally fulfills it to declare His kingship.
What were the crowds really saying when they shouted “Hosanna”?
“Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD.” (Written around 1000 BC)
Fulfilled in:
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” — Matthew 21:9
The crowds quote this exact Psalm as Jesus enters.
“Hosanna” means “Save now!”—a Messianic appeal for immediate deliverance.
Ok but how did this all happen?
We all know the story of Palm Sunday. But very few know that Palm Sunday and the Crucifixion was engineered by God to have the maximum exposure and to push evil men in their own free will to crucify Jesus. Secondly, few know the symbolism of Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday was Nisan 10. The day that the Spotless Lamb was to be introduced to the home to be adopted before it was sacrificed.
Let’s go through the details. Bear with me as we first go through some of the background.
We start our narrative at the start of the month of Nisan. Jesus is out in Perea about 25 miles east of Jerusalem.
Remember in the narrative their days go from sundown to sundown (evening to evening), not from midnight to midnight (as we are used to).
Day -15 to Day -14: Journey to Bethany (Jewish Day: Nisan 1–2)[1]
Let’s take a quick survey of what is going on at this time. The Passover is a fortnight away. In a couple of days, by the 3rd of Nisan, hundreds of thousands of people will have poured into the city. They need to find the lamb for the sacrifice. They need to be purified (John 11:55). This would be the busiest time of the year. Every adult Jewish male who lived within reasonable distance of Jerusalem—and many from far outside Judea—was required to come to Jerusalem for the Pilgrimage Feast of Passover, as commanded in the Torah (Exodus 23:14–17; Deuteronomy 16:16). This wasn’t optional. Families brought lambs for sacrifice. Streets were filled with animals, vendors, travelers, and Roman soldiers trying to keep order. Every inn and home was packed—people camped in fields and on the Mount of Olives. Tensions ran high, especially under Roman occupation. The city was a powder keg of religious zeal, political unrest, and messianic expectation (John 11:55 and Josephus).
By Nisan 7 (6 days from now), everyone who was able to come for the Passover would pretty much have to be in town. Give them a couple of days to settle in and hear the local news and you now know the best time to gather the biggest crowd you could ever gather in the history of Judea.
Day -13: Raising of Lazarus
(Jewish Day: Nisan 3–4)
Jesus has been attracting attention, and while He’d raised 2 people from the dead 2 years earlier, both were raised 65–90 miles away from Jerusalem. So 4–6 days journey away. Too far to go verify yourself unless you were wealthy.
But suddenly here was a miracle just 20 minutes from the seat of power and influence and right in the days before the biggest Jewish festival, the Passover.
As we noted earlier, if you were going to do a miracle to indicate you were the Messiah and give it time for word to spread to bring people out for a Palm Sunday event, this was the place, Bethany, and this was the time, the 4th of Nisan to do it.
Day -12: Sanhedrin Plots to Kill Jesus
(Jewish Day: Nisan 5)
But it’s far bigger than they could ever imagine.
Day -11 to Day -10: Retreat to Ephraim
(Jewish Day: Nisan 6–7)
Day -9: Return to Bethany
(Jewish Day: Nisan 9 (evening))
Day -8: Dinner at Bethany
(Jewish Day: Nisan 10 (evening))
Day -7: Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday)
(Jewish Day: Nisan 10 (day))
At this point everyone who was going to be here in Jerusalem for the Passover would be here.
Not only the hundreds of thousands of Jews but moreover, a vast majority of the Roman soldiers in Judea would be required to be in Jerusalem for this event. As we noted, it was a potential tinderbox. The Romans knew it, the Sanhedrin knew it. God knew it, because He set it up this way. The people are expectant. Satan has no idea what is about to hit him.
The branches were from date palm trees—specifically the Phoenix dactylifera, common in Israel and the surrounding region.
These branches:
Biblical Background: The palm branches symbolized:
So when the crowd waved date palm fronds during Jesus’ entry (John 12:13), it wasn’t random—it was:
They weren’t just throwing leaves on the ground—they were throwing the red carpet for the Messiah, even if they misunderstood the kind of king He was.
Imagine you’re a politician, an expert in the Old Testament, a member of the highest court and legislative body of the land, your Senate chambers are inside the very Temple itself, And you are seeing this man ride in on a donkey—what do you do?
You remember Zechariah 9:9 –“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
Not to mention, the entire Roman guard is watching. Quite anxiously.
Pilate is watching and will personally ask Jesus: Are you a King? What’s he talking about? Palm Sunday!
None of this was an accident. It was planned carefully, every so carefully.
But why? Because as we noted, this day was the day the Spotless Lamb was chosen. It was the 10th of Nisan—the precise day when, according to Exodus 12:3, every Jewish household was commanded to select a lamb without blemish. This lamb wasn’t just picked at random; it had to be carefully inspected, watched, and lived with for four full days to ensure it was perfect. It became part of the household—familiar, even loved.
Then, on the 14th of Nisan four days from now, that same lamb would be sacrificed.
This was not a ritual for show. It was the key to salvation from judgment. When God struck Egypt, only the homes covered by the blood of the lamb were spared from death. The lamb didn’t just represent a meal—it was a shield, a covering, a substitution. Its blood marked the doorposts, declaring: “Death has already visited here.” The Angel of Death will pass by.
So why did Jesus ride into Jerusalem on this day? Because He was the Lamb. By entering the city on the 10th of Nisan, He was presenting Himself for inspection—by the people, by the priests, by the religious leaders, by the Romans and unknowingly to them, by the world. Just as the Israelites examined their lambs for four days, Jesus would now be questioned, scrutinized, and tested in the temple courts and the Roman courts. And in the end, even Pilate would declare, “I find no fault in Him.”
This was no coincidence. This was God’s calendar.
Day -6: Plot to Kill Lazarus
(Jewish Day: Nisan 11)
Cleansing of the Temple (Same Day)
Jesus clears the Temple of merchants and money changers. These money changers were the Crony Corporatists of the day. To pay the Temple tax, you had to use on the official Temple Currency. You couldn’t use money from other nations. It was a monopoly so the rates were horrific, the money changers were purposely ripping people off.
Everyone would have wanted to be a money changer, so who got the chance? Obviously, those who were able to pay off the Sanhedrin the most got to be the money changers. They were in cahoots with politicians to make money off the people. Many powerfu people were very, very angry about this terrible disruption of their businesses. This would never happen today, would it?
It was a brilliant move. If you want to provoke the rich and powerful, shine a light on their corruption. Say what the people are thinking but too afraid to voice.
If you want the elites to plot your death, this is how you do it.
The point had to be made at some moment in time, so if you want Satan to influence his agents to move at exactly the right time—the time God appointed—you throw this kind of match into their powder keg at this precise moment. Jesus didn’t just cleanse the Temple. He’d been building up the dynamite. Then He lit the fuse. On purpose.
Day -4: Teaching and Confrontation
(Jewish Day: Nisan 12)
Jesus teaches in the Temple, engaging in debates with religious leaders. The politicians are furious, and the Temple is packed as every square cubit is filled with people for the Passover. All are there, listening. He is questioned by Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and scribes—all trying to find fault but failing. This is a bad place and time to lose an argument. The religious leaders lose. (Matthew 22)
The maximum audience for the maximum effect. This was no amateur marketing plan.
Day -3: No specific events recorded
(Jewish Day: Nisan 13)
Day -2: Last Supper and Betrayal
(Jewish Day: Nisan 14 (evening))
Day -1: Crucifixion
(Jewish Day: Nisan 14 (day))
Lamb Requirement: The lamb is declared blemish free. The Lamb is taken to the Temple. The lamb is killed at twilight on the 14th of Nisan.
Jesus’ Fulfillment: Jesus is taken before Pilate, who declares Him innocent.
Pilate offers to release one of two Jesuses, Jesus Bar-abbas (Jesus son of the father) or Jesus who is called the Messiah (the true Son of the Father). The politicians who were afraid of Jesus because he may declare a rebellion against the Romans show their stripes and ask the crowd to choose Barabbas.
Barabbas was actually a revolutionary and a rebel fighting against Rome. if you think about it, Barabbas is exactly what the Jews wanted.
It was freewill, free choices, free people. God’s plan.
Our Lord is condemned at Fort Antonio (named by the older Herod, the fake King of the Jews for his friend, Roman and not countryman, Mark Anthony). It overlooks the Temple and is just a few hundred feet from the Temple.
He is taken to the Calvarium (the Skull) and crucified and dies on Nisan 14, the same day the Passover lambs are being slaughtered in the Temple. (John 19:14, Matthew 27:46–50)
He dies on the cross, but as with the practice to ensure death by asphyxiation, when the Romans come to break His legs, He is already dead. So his bones are not broken.
Passover Command: Exodus 12:7
Jewish Day: Nisan 14 evening
Lamb Requirement: Blood is applied to doorposts as a sign; those under the blood are spared.
Jesus’ Fulfillment: Jesus’ blood covers those who believe in Him. His blood is the new covenant (Luke 22:20). The judgment of God “passes over” those who are covered by it.
Note: The Passover lamb was not a sin offering; it was a sacrifice of substitution and deliverance from death. The sin offering came later, during Yom Kippur, when the blood atoned for the people’s sins. The Bible is very clear that Jesus, uniquely, fulfills both at the Crucifixion: like the Passover lamb, His blood shields us from judgment; like the Yom Kippur sacrifice, He bears and removes our sins.
Old Testament Confirmation:
New Testament Confirmation:
Passover Command: Exodus 12:8–11
Jewish Day: Nisan 14 evening (Passover meal)
Lamb Requirement: The lamb is eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; the people are to eat in haste, ready to leave Egypt.
Exodus 12:46 – “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.”
Jesus’ Fulfillment: His body is broken, his blood is shed, but his bones are not broken.
Day 0: The Tomb
Passover Command: Exodus 12:14–17
Jewish Day: Nisan 15
Lamb Requirement: Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; no leaven is to be found in the home.
Jesus’ Fulfillment: Jesus is buried before sundown on Nisan 14. He lies in the tomb through the first day of Unleavened Bread—sinless, unleavened, resting.
Day 1: Resurrection
(Jewish Day: Nisan 15 (evening) to Nisan 16)
Passover Command: Leviticus 23:10–11
Jewish Day: Nisan 16
Lamb Requirement: Firstfruits: a sheaf of the first harvest is presented to the Lord God on the day after the Sabbath.
Jesus’ Fulfillment: Jesus rises from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits, becoming the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).
It is finished
So there it is. The next time you hear “Palm Sunday,” remember—it wasn’t just a parade or a rally. It was the 10th of Nisan, the presentation of the Spotless Lamb. It was God’s move on the divine chessboard, timed to the exact day foretold in Scripture.
Every step, every sign, every confrontation was intentional.
Jesus didn’t get caught in a political trap. It could only happen this way. He had to die at the hands of those who hated Him, hated the Father and followed the evil one. He orchestrated it, to prove only He could fulfill the prophecies and walked straight into it, on schedule, knowing it would trigger the Cross—and knowing the Cross would trigger the Resurrection. And knowing all of it would blindside Satan.
All of it—every betrayal, every whip, every nail—was carried out by the pure freewill of each actor.
The Lamb was chosen on the 10th of Nisan, inspected for four days, and sacrificed at twilight—just as God ordained a thousand years earlier. The same God who commanded the blood on the doorposts, now put His own blood on the wooden beam.
The Angel of Death would pass over anyone covered by it, anyone who accepted the blood sacrifice then—and still does today.
The only question now is: Have you marked your door?
Neil Mammen
Appendix 1: Can we prove Jesus actually rose from the dead?
Yes, watch this. It’s a very appropriate Easter message to share with believers and unbelievers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4wjrm49v84
Appendix 2: Here are a few of the many fulfilled prophecies of Jesus, proving to the Jews that He was indeed the promised Messiah
Some of these would have been in Jesus’ control, but many of them would be completely in our hands. The hands of those who killed him. The Jews would have been familiar with all of these.
These prophecies—spanning Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, Zechariah, and more—were written hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth, and fulfilled precisely in His final 24 hours.
Appendix 3: Objections and Rebuttals
Objection 1: Satan’s Ignorance
How could Satan not realize crucifying Jesus would fulfill God’s plan of salvation?
Response: 1 Corinthians 2:8 says, “None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” This implies both earthly and spiritual rulers were unaware of God’s strategy. Historically, Satan’s role in Scripture often shows him opposing God without full comprehension of divine outcomes (Job 1–2).
Objection 2: God Using Evil
Isn’t it wrong to say God used Satan and evil men to fulfill His plan?
Response: Isaiah 10:5–7 shows God using the Assyrians as an “instrument of judgment” while still holding them accountable. Similarly, Acts 2:23 says Jesus was delivered up “by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge,” yet wicked men carried it out. God directs history without violating justice.
Objection 3: It sounds like God is manipulating people into evil.
Rebuttal: God does not implant evil desires into anyone’s heart. James 1:13–14 says God tempts no one. Instead, He allows people to act on their already existing desires. Like in Pharaoh’s case (Exodus 9:12), God hardened his heart only after Pharaoh had hardened it repeatedly himself. This is coordination, not compulsion. Nothing Jesus did was wrong or evil. Everything that Jesus did was Godly and could have been met with a Godly response. Jesus just made sure it happened on His schedule, not theirs.
Objection 4: Isn’t it unjust to judge people for doing what God planned?
Rebuttal: Acts 2:23 says Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,” yet “you crucified and killed Him.” God’s plan doesn’t cancel human accountability. As in Genesis 50:20, with Joseph, what man meant for evil, God used for good—but men are still responsible for the evil.
Objection 5: Doesn’t this eliminate free will?
Rebuttal: Not at all. Judas wasn’t forced to betray Jesus—he chose to (Luke 22:22). The Sanhedrin wasn’t tricked into plotting murder—they had long resisted truth. God simply ensured that their choices unfolded right on schedule.
Objection 6: Why doesn’t God just stop evil people then?
Rebuttal: God does restrain evil daily (2 Thessalonians 2:7). But for the redemption plan to unfold, He allows evil to run its course in specific moments—only then can justice and mercy both be revealed. I talk about this in my sermon: How can God Exist when there’s so much evil in the world. Watch it here evil.noblindfaith.com
Objection 7: Isn’t this divine entrapment?
Rebuttal: No. Entrapment implies someone was pushed into doing what they otherwise wouldn’t. But the enemies of Jesus were already seeking to kill Him. God simply allowed their plans to succeed at the right moment—not too soon, not too late (John 7:30, John 8:20).
Objection 8: Determinism vs Free Will
Doesn’t this plan eliminate free will?
Response: Scripture affirms both divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Judas chose betrayal (Luke 22:22), yet it fulfilled prophecy. God can orchestrate outcomes through free choices without coercing them (Genesis 50:20). Remember too, that Reform Theology does not speak about removing freewill, but about God enabling us to receive His grace. It’s about salvation, not about our daily choices to be sanctified. If you come from the Semi-pelagian (Freewill) view then God at no point has stopped mankind from making their own choices based on the situation.
Objection 9: Exact Nisan Timeline
Isn’t aligning events to specific Hebrew dates speculative?
Response: The Gospels give multiple time indicators (e.g., John 12:1, Mark 14:1). These allow alignment with Nisan 10–14 events. Jewish tradition and festivals give added historical structure to Jesus’ final week.
Objection 10: Crowds in Jerusalem
Is there evidence of hundreds of thousands in Jerusalem?
Response: The Jewish historian Josephus (Wars 6.9.3) claimed millions attended Passover during the first century. While that figure may be hyperbolic, archaeological and historical evidence supports a dramatic population swell.
Objection 11: Lazarus’s Proximity and Timing
Is there proof Lazarus’s resurrection had this impact?
Response: John 11:45–53 shows the miracle led directly to the Sanhedrin’s plot to kill Jesus. John 12:9–11 confirms many came to see Lazarus, prompting another murder plot to kill Lazarus. The nearness to Jerusalem and precise timing before Passover would only amplify public attention.
Objection 12: Passover Typology Too Forced?
Isn’t aligning Jesus with the Passover lamb symbolic at best?
Response: Paul explicitly calls Christ “our Passover lamb” in 1 Corinthians 5:7. The Gospel writers align Jesus’ death with the timing of lamb sacrifice (John 19:14). The parallels are both intentional and theological.
Objection 13: Gospel Shaping of Prophecy
Didn’t the Gospel writers just write to fit the Old Testament?
Response: Many fulfilled prophecies (e.g., Psalm 22, Isaiah 53) involve events outside Jesus’ control—like soldiers gambling for clothes or being pierced without broken bones. These were not editorial inventions but historical events noted even by Roman observers.
Objection 14: Context of Prophecies
Weren’t some “Messianic” prophecies misapplied?
Response: Rabbinic literature already viewed many of these as Messianic. Jesus reinterprets their fulfillment (Luke 24:27). The New Testament authors did not invent these associations—they clarified them.
Objection 15: Marketing Language Disrespectful?
Is it irreverent to describe God’s plan in marketing terms?
Response: The phrasing is metaphorical, not literal. Jesus spoke of being “lifted up” to draw all people to Himself (John 12:32), and Paul describes the cross as “publicly portrayed” (Galatians 3:1). The strategy highlights God’s wisdom, not gimmickry. Good marketing brings key products to people who actually need them. God is not “selling” us anything we don’t need. The Evangelion in Greek means Good News. In Olde English this was god spel (literally good news). This later became Gospel. We need the Good News, the Gospel.
Objection 16: Political Comparisons Inappropriate?
Are parallels to modern politics too partisan?
Response: No, the Sanhedrin were the actual lawmakers of Jesus’ time. They were his Senate and Judiciary. Just like when the USA governed Iraq and Germany and Japan, we let them run their own local legislation. The Romans did that for the Jews and almost every nation they conquered. It was not practical to run a country with just Romans. There weren’t enough Romans. This article criticizes religious and political power when corrupted, much like Jesus did (Matthew 23). The comparison underscores human nature’s tendency toward self-preservation over truth, a timeless and apolitical critique.
[1] With thanks to Regina Roundtree Wekesa for pointing out the month of Nisan/Passover alignment with our Lord’s actions in the New Testament
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Most of all we must reject the dystopian future this prosecution threatens to create. Courage should never be a crime. Protecting others should never be punished. If we lose that, we lose something far greater than this case—we lose the very foundation of what makes us a community.
