Jesus, Son of David: His coming kingdom, His authority and true faith in Him
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Jesus, Son of David: His coming kingdom, His authority and true faith in Him
Jesus, Son of David: His coming kingdom, His authority and true faith in Him
Mark 11:1-31
Introduction:
- A few weeks ago, on a Sunday when I was here and on my own for lunch, I went into one of our larger restaurants on the south side of town. After entering, I waited and waited at the welcome/ host desk. One after another, restaurant staff walked by me. A few said “welcome, I’ll be with you in a minute”. Others said nothing. After 7 or 8 minutes, I exited and went some place else.
- That day most everything that the staff did was a contradiction. They said welcome, but did not welcome me. Others gave a hint of willingness to serve me, but then said not and did nothing.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem that last time, his welcome was a series of contradictions. On one hand, crowds welcomed Him, but not for who He really was but more for who thought He was or who they wanted Him to be. In less than a week, those who welcomed Him, rejected Him and shouted “Crucify Him!” This was no surprise. The coming rejection was all to evident in these 4 glaring contradictions recorded by Mark.
We see:
1. A false Coronation – Mk 11:1-11
Before we consider why this “coronation” was false, we should remind ourselves of the preceding events and timing.
Saturday, 6 days before the Passover, Jesus arrived in Bethany. There he had dinner with Mary, Martha & Lazarus - Jn 12:2
Sunday, the next, dinner at the home of Simon the Leper - Matt 26:6-13 - woman with alabaster flask of expensive ointment poured it on Jesus’ head;
Monday, the next day - Jn 12:2- Jesus entry into Jerusalem -
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Faithful Arrival (11:1b–7)
Further evidence that the triumphal entry was on Monday comes from the Law’s requirement that the Passover lambs be selected on the tenth day of the first month (Nisan) and sacrificed on the fourteenth day (Ex. 12:2–6). In the year our Lord was crucified, the tenth of Nisan fell on Monday of Passover Week. When He entered Jerusalem on that day, Jesus came to fulfill the role of the Father’s chosen Lamb (John 1:29, 36) in much the same way and on the same day as the Jewish people chose their Passover lambs. Completing the parallel, Christ, the one true sacrifice that took away sin, was killed on Friday, the fourteenth day of Nisan, with thousands of other lambs, whose blood could never take away sin (cf. Heb. 10:4).
Details of entry:
2 disciples - perhaps Peter & John - Lk 22:8- who later sent to prepare the passover.
Colt tied - colt young donkey - donkey tied, her colt with her - Matt 21:5- on which no one has ever sat
Riding a donkey fulfilled Zechariah’s prophecy
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.
Faithless approval - 11:8-10
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Faithless Approval (11:8–10)
Spreading their coats in the road in front of Jesus was a customary way of expressing submission to a monarch. It acknowledged that the king was elevated above the common people, and symbolically affirmed that they were under his feet. Superficially and momentarily at least, the crowd was acknowledging Jesus as the messianic king
This coronation, was false and not genuine in any sense of what a political or spiritual coronation would have, should have involved.
No pre-planning, no dignitaries no cross-section of the population, no regalia, no trumpets, no fanfare on the way to a palace and a throne where the one welcomed would reign of the coming kingdom of their father David.
True coronations are not humble, unexpected, spontaneous, unofficial or superficial. This coronation was all of these. Added to that a true coronation is not reversed in a few days. The reason for that was that those involved in this sham coronation were not willing to confess/pledge allegiance to Jesus.
BUT that in now negates the fact the Jesus was, is the Son of David, the true King who rules and warrants a coronation as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The true coronation of Jesus takes place in two stages:
Heavenly coronation - at His ascension - repeated emphasis in Hebrews
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Heb 1:13; 8:1; 10:12;
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Even as Jesus sat down, God the Father gave Him a new name/title - Lord
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Lord - expressed Jesus’ essential nature and placed Him above all and beyond all comparison. It confirms the exaltation that is rightfully His.
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.”
They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Earthly phase - in the future when Jesus returns
Jesus will return, not riding on the colt of a donkey. Then He will be followed by the armies of heaven - holy angels and redeemed people . He will judge and destroy. He will rule.
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Not only was this sham coronation false/bogus, it was premature. Before Jesus came to rule, He came to die. Jesus had explained that repeatedly.
saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 12: The False Coronation of the True King (Mark 11:1–11)
the time had come in the divinely determined plan for Jesus to die. He therefore permitted such a massive display of popular acclaim (some suggest there may have been as many as one hundred thousand people involved in the triumphal entry procession) that the religious leaders had no choice.
2. A fruitless Fig Tree – Mk 11:12-14, 20-26
On the following day, Tuesday, as Jesus came from Bethany he was hungry.
Fig tree in leaf
Fig tree almost everywhere throughout Israel.
Leaves suggested that the tree was healthy and would have fruit, unripe figs.
Although the main fig harvest was later summer and early fall, small but edible figs appeared in the spring about the time of the passover.
and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley,
will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer:
when someone sees it, he swallows it
as soon as it is in his hand.
Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
in its first season,
I saw your fathers.
But they came to Baal-peor
and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
and became detestable like the thing they loved.
Jesus cursed the fig tree - May no one ever eat fruit from you again. The disciples heard it and the next day saw the tree withered to the roots.
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 13: Nothing but Leaves (Mark 11:12–21)
Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree, the only destructive miracle recorded in the Gospels, serves as a symbol previewing the coming destruction of the temple. The Lord’s assault on the temple and the merchants polluting it is a prediction by action of the temple’s destruction. His cursing of the fig tree, and thus symbolically the temple, manifests God’s displeasure with the place, its leaders, and the people who worshiped there.
The fig tree was often referenced in the OT as a type of Israel
All your fortresses are like fig trees
with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
into the mouth of the eater.
In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”
So here, we cannot help but wonder if the fruitless fig tree is not a picture of Israel, the lack of true spiritual fruit and the emptiness of their religious system and the empty hollow pomp and pageantry.
For that reason, it is significant that before the disciples saw the results of Jesus’ cursing the fig tree, they saw what Jesus did and heard what He taught in the Temple
The cursed fig tree and its withering outwardly, in reality brought the outer in conformity with what is really was, fruitless.
The outward pretense of worship and spirit and truth love for God was no different. The deformed leaves were there, but there was no fruit.
But whereas Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree might too harsh and too immediate, another parable with a fig tree recorded by Lk 13:6-9- underscored that God’s patient withholding of judgment was temporary.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God used another agricultural analogy to chastise Israel for her lack of spiritual fruit. I mention that not a digression or rabbit trail, but because later Mark noted that Jesus quoted another portion of Isaiah and condemned the hypocracy of the scribes and pharisees.
Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!
Jesus quoted another portion of Isaiah
And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
Jesus condemned the religious leaders multiple times. So what happened should have been no surprise.
You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
“ ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
In Matthew’s parallel record Mark’s record, Jesus was bluntly clear, the religious leaders were not part of the kingdom of God.
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
3. Fraudulent Worship – Mk 11:15-19
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Curse Previewed and Portrayed in Action (11:15–21)
To the surprise and dismay of the people, Jesus, contrary to their messianic hopes and expectations, did not assault the Roman oppressors but attacked the temple, leaders, and worshipers instead. When they came to Jerusalem Tuesday morning, Jesus entered the temple. He did not, however, come to worship. As He had done at the beginning of His ministry (John 2:13–16), Christ came to declare the divine intolerance for the religious activities going on there, and for a day, at least, purge the courts of corruption by evicting the merchants polluting it
What Jesus did that day when He entered the temple should not have any surprise for those who had listened to Jesus. He had regularly confronted the empty apostacy and iniquity of the religious system. Their worship was not in spirit and truth.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—
This is not to say that Jesus was not aware of or disregarded the abuse and inequalities in His day. The difference with Jesus was how He understood and reacted to those crushing calamities. Whereas most in His day saw those a judgments from God, Jess saw some of them as for the glory of God.
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Curse Previewed and Portrayed in Action (11:15–21)
He never deviated from the issue of worship, which dominated His life and ministry. A person’s repentance and saving knowledge of God dominated His purpose and ultimately nothing else could be addressed or corrected until that was made right.
Judgment on the nation began at the temple, the outer temple.
Although Peter was referencing suffering, he reminded believers of his day that judgment begins with the household of God, quoting Prov 11:31-
But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And
“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
The outer court of the Temple that originally might have facilitated worship and the bringing of sacrifices had been a corrupt end in itself with the crass commercialism detracting from and discouraging true worship.
4. Fallacious Perceptions – Mk 11:27-33
When Jesus and His disciples came again to Jerusalem, Mark along with Matthew and Luke the extended interaction between the Chief Priests, the scribes and the elders. They came to Jesus, with one purpose, to challenge, to question His authority.
But before we consider Jesus’ authority and the religious leaders questioning Jesus’ authority, we must note that these leaders were operating under the false, mistaken, unsound, faulty assumptions that they had the authority to judge Jesus.
I used the word fallacy for a reason. What we have here is one facet of religious system and that saw them not the word of God as the final arbitrator of what was right or wrong, true of false. In reality, when falsehoods, unintended lies affirm each, the result is a fallacious perception.
Examples would:
Infant baptism.
Some translations are as inspired and inerrant as the original manuscripts.
If the good things that we have done outweigh the bad God welcomes us into His heaven
So, in the leaders taking the initiative and asking who gave Him the authority, they are operating under the fallacious perception that they were the ones with authority. They not the word of God were the judge and jury. |Early in His ministry, they had challenged Jesus’ authority earlier in His ministry when drove corrupt people from the temple.
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”
Even as we consider their fallacious perceptions, they are not the only ones over the years who justify and explain what they do based on fallacious perceptions.
NO CHURCH OR GROUP OF CHURCHES ARE THE SOLE GUARDIANS OF THE TRUTH OR THE KEEPERS OF THE GATE. THOSE WHO SUGGEST THEY AND THEIR SPIRITUAL COMPATRIOTS HAVE A SPECIAL INSIGHT TO TRUTH HAVE CLEARLY FORGOTTEN OR CHOOSE TO DISREGARD THE REFORMERS’ HEART CRY “SOLA SCRIPTURA”. THE WORD OF GOD ALONE DEFINES WHAT IS TRUE IN FAITH AND PRACTICE.
The religious leaders asked Jesus 2 questions: Each of these questions focused not on what was done or if it needed to be done, but on authority.
By what authority do you do these things?
Who gave you the authority to do these things?
With the last question there is an inferred question:
Did whoever gave you the authority, have the authority to give you the authority?
Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 15: The Confrontation over Authority (Mark 11:27–33)
Two Greek words translated “authority” in the New Testament reveal the scope of the Lord’s legitimate dominion. Dunamis refers to the power or ability; exousia to the right or privilege. Because Jesus possesses authority infinitely, never in His earthly ministry did He ask any humans for permission to enact His and the Father’s will.
dunamis - power, strength and ability - Acts 1:8 - you will receive power/dunamis
And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
power - dunamis
exousia - Matt 28:28 - all authority
Jesus taught with authority - exousia
And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
Jesus acted with authority. He forgave sin.
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—
Jesus has authority over over life and death.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Jesus’ question to the leader re John’s baptism - 2 alternatives - from heaven or man.
They could not and did not answer based on the word.
They could not answer Him
The leaders’ minds were made, they rejected the facts.
Looking back at the events of the last week leading up to our Lord’s crucifixion, we understand them in the context of Scripture and why Jesus came. He came not to set up an earthly kingdom. He came not to make bad people good. He came not to reform society. The fallen world into which He came, having taken on human, was inherently evil and dying physically and spiritually because of sin. That has not changed. Jesus died to destroy the power of sin and death and hell. He died openly show his power and authority over Satan, the prince of this world.
Enabled by the Holy Spirit, Mark recorded these events without personal comments. As we prayerfully reflect on these successive contradictions, there was a common thread of everything being good on the inside, but on the inside, there was an emptiness, spiritual emptiness. No where was that more evident than with the fig tree. With that in mind:
1. We need to be aware of and warn others and ourselves of false professions
2. We must remember that spiritual fruitfulness is never about keeping up appearances, it is about bearing spiritual fruit.
3. True worship is never about maintaining status quo activities and generating funds, it is about brokenness, prayer, joyful worship and submission to the word of God.
4. Jesus’ authority is never defined by the self-appointed “chief priests, scribes and elders” but by the word of God.
AWV/Apr 2/23