Why The Secrecy?

Q

I’ve always wondered why Christ was so emphatic to His disciples that they “keep things quiet” and NOT reveal His Divinity to the masses. On many occasions, he instructed them not to reveal what they saw or heard. What do you think was the reason for this secrecy??

A

On every occasion when people tried to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah He discouraged it, except for one day, the one we know as Palm Sunday. On that day He actually encouraged it and when the Pharisees told Him to rebuke His disciples, He said if they were to be quiet, the stones would cry out (Luke 19:39-40). Later that day He pronounced judgment upon Jerusalem for not recognizing that day as the time of God’s coming to them (Luke 19:41-44).

Scholars believe the reason was that one specific day had been appointed in prophecy for the Messiah to officially present Himself to Israel as their King. According to an interpretation of Daniel 9:25, this day would come 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was issued following the Babylonian captivity. Nehemiah 2:1 dates the issuance of this decree as March 14, 445 BC on our calendar. Using a 360 day year and counting forward, you can conclude that the first Palm Sunday fell on the 483rd anniversary of the issuance of that decree. That was the day Jesus held the Israelites accountable for knowing, so to avoid confusion about it, no other day was acceptable.