Let Earth Receive Her King

Introduction

“Let earth receive her king.” Most of us are probably familiar with that one simple line. We think of the well-known Christmas song written by Isaac Watts, “Joy to the World.”

Now, Watts didn’t write “Joy to the World” in response to Mark 11. It was actually Psalm 98 that was the inspiration for the song. But what you find in Psalm 98 is this call to the earth to receive the Lord as King. To break forth in joyous song. To sing praises, to make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.

Now, here we are in Mark 11, the beginning of the final act of Jesus’ life and ministry. Everything up to now has been moving toward this moment of Jesus entering Jerusalem. We’re here now at the beginning of the final week of Jesus’ life before he heads to the cross, to be followed by his resurrection. His death and resurrection are the pinnacle, the climax of the Christian faith. The King of kings has arrived. The long-awaited Messiah is approaching.

From this point forward he no longer is he ministering behind the scenes. No longer is he avoiding recognition. This is a turn here because he knows what is about to take place in just a few short days. “The fullness of time has come” as Galatians 4 says. He will be betrayed by Judas, he’ll be arrested by the religious leaders, he’ll be tried unfairly and unjustly, he’ll be sentenced to death by a Roman ruler and jeered by many of the ones who are cheering for him now upon his arrival to Jerusalem. In a few short day Jesus will bear the penalty for sin and the wrath of God for man’s rebellion.

This is why he came. And he calls his disciples to pick up their crosses, to deny themselves, their very lives and follow him as King. If we are going to follow Jesus then we must pick up our cross as well, deny ourselves and follow Him as King of all. Taking up our cross means disowning ourselves and giving Jesus our full allegiance, down to the very depths of our being.

True disciples receive Jesus as King. We recognize His Lordship, His reign, His rule over our very lives. He is King, yes He is.

But Jesus is a different kind of King, isn’t he? This text shows us that. He’s a different kind of Savior. He rules over a different kind of kingdom. Those are the things I want us to see from this triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And as we see them, and as, by God’s grace, we submit to them we find life as it was intended to be.

Problem

The struggle we’ll soon discover that we’ll need to war against is a war against the flesh; a driving desire within our own hearts to be our own king, our own savior, or as we see in the text, a desire to shape Jesus into the king we want based on a misunderstanding of who he truly is. If we’re honest with ourselves, our sinful flesh wants a king that can be controlled to meet our needs as we see them. We want a king to be powerful, but also one who does our bidding. We want to submit, but only when we feel like submitting.

We want to identify the problems in our lives and then snap our fingers at the king to go fix them.

But this is not who Jesus is. Jesus is meek and humble, but also one who demands our allegiance. So, will we follow him? The decision that we must make is will we submit to him as king, will we receive him as king? Not a king of our own making, but who he is?

Body

As I said at the beginning, we’ve now arrived at the final week of Jesus’ life, his arrival into Jerusalem during Passover. Most likely, the heading of the text in your Bibles say, “The Triumphal Entry.” This entry into Jerusalem is so significant that all four gospels record it. With Jesus’ entrance into the city, the die has been cast. There is now no turning back for Jesus, as if he ever would have.

Mark devotes nearly a third of his gospel to this final week of Jesus leading up to the cross and resurrection. And there’s a lot that’s going to happen during this final week. So much so, that though we’re entering this final week of Jesus’ life here in October, we actually won’t get to the resurrection until Easter, next April. And so, for the next six months, aside from a break for Advent and Missions month, we’re going to be journeying with Jesus in this final week which will build up and culminate on Easter Sunday with his resurrection.

Mark is going to continue to lay before us the true nature of Jesus as the suffering servant King. One who demands our lives, and one who calls us to suffer and serve as he has. So, with this entrance into Jerusalem, let’s rightly see Jesus for who he is.

Follow along with me.

Mark 11:1–6 ESV

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’ ” And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.

Throughout these 11 verses and throughout the remainder of the gospel we’re going to see Jesus as the fulfillment of what the Old Testament pointed to. The people here about to welcome him wanted a king, but misunderstood what the Scriptures revealed about the Messiah and because of that, they, at this point still misunderstood the kind of king Jesus was and is.

We cannot make that same mistake. From these first 6 verses we see that,

Jesus is a different kind of King

This picture we’re about to see is one similar to that of a conquering king who enters his city to the applause of the people. He would ride in on a majestic horse, powerful, prestigious to the acclaim of the adoring people shouting his praise.

But Jesus, is not about to ride in on a majestic war horse, but a colt, a donkey. It’s a sign of humility, of meekness. But at the same time he is riding into the city to the shouts of the people welcoming him. And so, it is a triumphal entry, but not like one most would think of.

You see, Jesus is both the lion and the lamb Scripture says. He is a different kind of King, yes absolutely, and he is the king we need.

Jonathan Edwards once preached a sermon called, “The Excellency of Christ” based on Revelation 5. Hear Edward’s words regarding the nature of Christ as both lion and lamb.

Quoting Revelation 5:5-6 Edwards says,

“And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep not, for behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed to open the book.’ So I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne stood a Lamb looking as if it had been slain.” See, John is told to look for a Lion. He looks for the Lion and there, in the midst of the throne, is a Lamb!

Edwards proceeds and says, “A lion excels in strength and in the majesty of his appearance and voice. A lamb excels in meekness and is sacrificed for human clothing and food. But Jesus Christ is both, because the diverse excellencies of both lion and lamb are wonderfully met in him. Indeed, there is, in Jesus Christ, a conjunction of such truly diverse excellencies as otherwise would be utterly incompatible in the same subject.

There do meet in Christ infinite highness and infinite accessibility; infinite justice, yet infinite grace; infinite glory, yet infinite humility; infinite majesty, yet infinite transcendent meekness; absolute sovereignty, yet perfect submission; infinite all-sufficiency in himself, yet entire trust and dependence on God. He’s a Lion. He’s a Lamb. He’s a rock. He’s a pearl. He’s a mighty Captain. He’s a tender lover. He’s a fragile flower. He’s a mighty tree of life.” - Jonathan Edwards

Jesus is the perfect combination of both strength and tenderness. He is both the conquering King and the suffering servant.

Jesus is a different kind of king, but one that we desperately need.

Jesus is the true ark of the covenant.

Notice that Jesus requested this colt on which no one had ever ridden. Mark makes it clear that Jesus requested this. This is a symbol of sacredness, one that is worthy of a great King. This here is similar to when the ark of the covenant was returned to Israel after the Philistines had captured it in 1 Samuel 5. The ark was not where it needed it be, in Israel with God’s people. And so, God inflicted many sufferings against the Philistines until they returned it home. And as this sacred ark was being returned to Israel, it was commanded that the animals that would carry it must be animals that had never been yoked before.

1 Samuel 6:7 (ESV)

Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart.

Just as the ark of the covenant needed an unyoked carrier, even a new cart, so Jesus, the true ark of the covenant, required an unridden animal. The true Holy One of God was coming to Jerusalem, and to the temple.

Jesus is the true and better David.

Notice that Jesus takes the colt from another. What’s this about? Well, think back to Mark 2. Jesus is having a robust discussion with the Pharisees about the Sabbath. The Pharisees were upset because Jesus and his disciples were plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath. In their minds, they were working and thus violating the law of God.

And hear where Jesus takes them.

Mark 2:25–26

And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”

Jesus is saying, David was the great king of Israel and was in need and so he went and took what he needed. That’s what kings do.

What’s Jesus doing here in Mark 11? He’s taking what he needs? Why? He’s the king. He’s the true and better David. In fact, he’s a gracious and kind king. He’s not oppressive, he’s not evil, he’s good. What’s it say even at the end of verse 3? The colt will be returned immediately. He’s a good king.

Jesus is a different kind of king. He is the lion and the lamb. One who conquers through suffering.

We also see in the text that,

Jesus is a different kind of Redeemer

Verse 7.

Mark 11:7–10 ESV

And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Long before this moment the prophet Zechariah spoke of this humble Messiah, who would come as King to save and redeem his people.

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.

The people here surely are rejoicing that the king has arrived and they gladly shout their praises and shout Hosannah which is a word that meant “Save us now!” They lay their cloaks on the ground just as the Israelites did in 2 Kings 9 when Jehu was anointed king.

2 Kings 9:12–13 (ESV)

‘Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.’ ” Then in haste every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”

So, yes, Jesus is the rightful King of kings, yes he is one who is righteous, yes, he is the one who can save and redeem. He is coming and now proclaiming openly what he had kept secret until this moment. “I am your King!” He presents himself as the prophesied Messiah knowing that this will provoke the religious leaders. He knows this will all result in his death at the end of this week.

But this is a death that will be necessary. It will be a death that no one at this moment sees coming. The people, his disciples wanted a different kind of redeemer. They wanted Jesus to overthrow the Roman oppressors. They wanted a political revolutionary. When they laid their cloaks down before him they wanted a king who would conquer over their earthly enemies and establish an earthly kingdom just as David had.

When they shout “Hosannah,” “Save us now” which is drawn from Psalm 118; a psalm of thanksgiving for God’s deliverance from the hands of the Egyptians when they were in captivity.

Psalm 118:25–26

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.

When they shout this psalm at Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem they were not thinking of salvation from sin and death but salvation from their earthly enemies. They wanted deliverance from Rome’s tyranny, not sin’s tyranny.

Yet, Jesus is a different kind of redeemer.

One who is come to set us free from our greatest enemy, sin and death. An enemy that brings with it the wrath of God.

Have you been redeemed, set free, saved through Jesus the King?

When Zechariah prophesies that this coming King is “righteous” he means that this King will be without sin. He’ll be perfect in every way. He is the true representative of man who can make us right before a holy God.

We need a righteous redeemer because we are unrighteous. We are sinful and apart from the work of Christ on our behalf, we are lost and dead in our sins and unrighteousness.

What we need is a different kind of redeemer. A redeemer who has lived the life we could not live, obeyed the law that we cannot obey and who has paid the penalty that we cannot pay.

Salvation is found in none other than Jesus Christ.

Have you believed this? Do you believe this? Redemption is not accomplished through our work but through the righteous life and work of Christ on the cross. It’s Jesus who does the work in our hearts, it’s the Spirit of God who awakens us, who opens our minds and hearts to see him and believe in him. Therefore, we must then receive him as King, as the one who holds salvation in his hands. We receive this salvation through repentance and faith. Do you believe?

We see that Jesus is a different kind of king, a different kind of redeemer. Lastly, in the final verse we see that,

Jesus establishes a different kind of kingdom

Verse 11 ends this section somewhat anti-climatically but it sets up for what is about to take place over the coming days.

The language Mark has used seems to build and build. Jesus is entering Jerusalem, he is heading toward the temple. It would seem that his arrival at the temple would result in his glorious coronation as king, and yet, it ends here quietly. There’s a drastic difference between the first 10 verses and verse 11.

Listen to Mark 11:11.

Mark 11:11 ESV

And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Where’s the crowd? Where are all the people? They’re gone. It’s just Jesus and his disciples taking a look at the temple and then leaving Jerusalem to go to Bethany, which is just outside of Jerusalem to sleep.

Now, Mark is setting things up for what will take place over the next several days. Jesus is looking at the ornateness, the beauty, the splendor of the temple. On the outside it looked beautiful, but Jesus knows that the people have missed the point of it all. They’ve missed him through it all. With all the rituals, all the laws, all the religious observances, all of the sacrifices, they’ve missed Jesus.

Jesus is establishing a different kind of kingdom. It’s one that will be established forever and one in which he will reign over forever but it’s one that will be established and built through suffering and death on a cross. And those who will be a part of this kingdom must also come and die to themselves.

But human beings don’t intrinsically want that. We love the pomp and circumstance but not the suffering. We love the spectacle but not the humility that Jesus calls us to.

Again, where is everybody that was just proclaiming and celebrating the arrival of Jesus? They’ve all left.

As one author says it,

“Mark is warning against mistaking enthusiasm for faith, and popularity for discipleship. Jesus is not confessed in pomp and circumstance but only at the cross.” - James Hamilton

We love the allure and enthusiasm that comes with what Jesus can do, (so we love the big easter services, and the big outreach events, and the hearing of amazing stories of God’s grace) but the moment he presses on us to submit, come and die before him, to let go of the things of this world and hail him as king of our lives, we scatter. We don’t want that, just the excitement please.

The people wanted a new kingdom, but not the one Jesus was bringing and certainly not the way Jesus was bringing it, through suffering and death.

Jesus’ kingdom would outlast Rome, but in a different way than what the people thought.

I love how Sinclair Ferguson says it.

“We know that his kingdom was established, while the glory that was Rome disappeared into oblivion. We know that what Jesus did in Jerusalem established a kingdom which would outlast all the kingdoms of this world and break in pieces every man-centered kingdom which sets itself against it. Jesus had come to take his throne - but had committed himself to begin his reign from a cross.” - Sinclair Ferguson

Don’t miss Jesus. Don’t miss him.

Application

So, thinking through this familiar narrative, let me give us just a couple takeaways.

Does your life reflect glad submission to Jesus as King?

If we are going to hail Jesus as King, that means we hail him as one who has died for our sins, not as one who brings us earthly glory and comfort.

Would you gladly and with joy give up all that you have if it meant you would gain more of Christ? This is not a call to sell all that we have but it is a call to surrender all that we have to him.

We must see ourselves as citizens of a heavenly kingdom.

We must desire Jesus for who he is, not what we think he can give us.

We must imitate God’s love for the nations, not one people group or political party.

We must embrace the suffering that comes from following Jesus, not just show up when the enthusiasm has grown.

Few people bowed before Jesus at his first coming. But there’s coming a day when every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Are you bowing to him now as Lord?

I began this morning quoting a famous line from a song by Isaac Watts, “Let earth receive her king.” Let me close with another song written by Isaac Watts. A song titled, “Jesus Shall Reign.”

“Jesus shall reign where e’er the sun

Doth his successive journeys run;

His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,

Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Blessings abound where e’er He reigns:

The prisoner leaps to lose his chains,

The weary find eternal rest,

and all the sons of want are blest.

Let every creature rise and bring,

Peculiar honors to our King;

Angels descend with songs again,

And earth repeat the loud Amen.”