Good News Week 58: Goood News Of Hosanna

Good News Of Hosanna

It's Palm Sunday!

Luke 19:28–48 CSB

28 When he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples 30 and said, “Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’ ” 32 So those who were sent left and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 “The Lord needs it,” they said. 35 Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it. 36 As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road. 37 Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen: 38 Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven! 39 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.” 41 As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it, 42 saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come on you when your enemies will build a barricade around you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you and your children among you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in your midst, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you.” 45 He went into the temple and began to throw out those who were selling, 46 and he said, “It is written, my house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves!” 47 Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people were looking for a way to kill him, 48 but they could not find a way to do it, because all the people were captivated by what they heard.

Let's look quickly at Matthew's account of this event.

Matthew 21:1–11 CSB

When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: 5 Tell Daughter Zion, “See, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” 6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their clothes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven! 10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar, saying, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Matt. 21:8

Cloaks on the road symbolized the crowd’s submission to Jesus as king (cf. 2 Kings 9:13).

Branches (palms) symbolized Jewish nationalism and victory (see John 12:13

). They were connected with prominent Jewish victories (e.g.,

1 Macc. 13:51) and with the Festival of Tabernacles; palm motifs were common on both Jewish coinage and synagogue decoration.

[9] And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Matt. 21:9

Hosanna . Hebrew, meaning “O save” (cf. 2 Sam. 14:4).

Son of David The crowd acknowledges that Jesus is the Davidic Messiah (see note on Matt. 9:27).

[10] And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” [11] And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (ESV)

Matthew explains why Jesus needed the donkey and her colt in verse 4.

Matthew 21:4–5 CSB

This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: Tell Daughter Zion, “See, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Hosanna King Fulfills The Prophets

There are 2 direct prophecies combined in this explanation from Matthew and an allusion to a third.

Let's look at them this morning.

Genesis 49:8–13 CSB

8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. 9 Judah is a young lion— my son, you return from the kill. He crouches; he lies down like a lion or a lioness—who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until he whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him. 11 He ties his donkey to a vine, and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. 13 Zebulun will live by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships, and his territory will be next to Sidon.

So there a prophecy of a King coming from Judah.

From Judah's tribe, his family.

A king, a lion.

This promised king became know as the lion of Judah.

Isaiah 62:10–12 CSB

Go out, go out through the city gates; prepare a way for the people! Build it up, build up the highway; clear away the stones! Raise a banner for the peoples. Look, the Lord has proclaimed to the ends of the earth, “Say to Daughter Zion: Look, your salvation is coming, his wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him.” And they will be called the Holy People, the Lord’s Redeemed; and you will be called Cared For, A City Not Deserted.

Say to the daughter of Zion,

“Behold, your salvation comes; (Quoted by Matthew)

A City Not Forsaken. (ESV)

A Promised king that will make the People Holy.

He will redeem the nations.

He will establish a new nation.

This King will seek out a people for his own.

And the people will clear the path as he come.

Tell the whole world.

The King is coming.

Zechariah 9:9–17 CSB

9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. The bow of war will be removed, and he will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will extend from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth. 11 As for you, because of the blood of your covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless cistern. 12 Return to a stronghold, you prisoners who have hope; today I declare that I will restore double to you. 13 For I will bend Judah as my bow; I will fill that bow with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece. I will make you like a warrior’s sword. 14 Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow will fly like lightning. The Lord God will sound the ram’s horn and advance with the southern storms. 15 The Lord of Armies will defend them. They will consume and conquer with slingstones; they will drink and be rowdy as if with wine. They will be as full as the sprinkling basin, like those at the corners of the altar. 16 The Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people; for they are like jewels in a crown, sparkling over his land. 17 How lovely and beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.

The Coming King of

A Promised King.

A King.

A Lion from Judah's Tribe.

A King riding a colt, humble, bringing salvation.

A King who unites nations.

A King who delivers the prisoner because of covenantal blood.

The blood covenant refers to a sacrificial system.

In the OT, under the Old Covenant, a lamb would be sacrificed to cover the sins of the nation of Israel.

Sin takes life. Sin kills. Sin destroys.

So God established a substitute.

In order to cover sin, a lamb would stand in for the people.

This prophecy says that because of the blood covenant the King will deliver a people.

Palm Sunday is about the coming of a King.

Jesus understands himself to be that King.

Jesus specifies the obtaining of the donkey and the colt because He wanted everyone who saw him to immediately recognize what he was doing.

He was the living interpretation of Genesis 49, Isaiah 62, and Zechariah 9.

Jesus was an intentional witness.

An intentional prophet.

An intentional evangelist.

Jesus was intentional in pointing others toward the Kingdom.

Jesus was intentional in proving himself.

He was publicly identifying himself as the promised King.

Jacob's hope.

Zion's salvation.

Israel's deliverer.

David's descendant.

Unifier of nations.

Jesus believes himself to be the King of all kings.

Over the next week we will celebrate this King, identify this king, worship this king.

We will talk about his scourging, his crucifixion, his death, and his resurrection.

He went through all of that because he understood himself to be the promised King.

His resurrection demonstrated his eternal, divine power.

He proved himself to be the King of kings by conquering sin, death, and the grave.

Jesus is the King.

Years after his ascension they first church was facing severe persecution for their continued worship of the crucified, risen King Jesus.

John, the Apostle, one of the 12 disciples who witnessed the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and became a pastor was arrested for promoting Jesus as King and advancing this new belief system.

John is considered to be exiled to Patmos, undergoing a time of persecution under the Roman rule of Domitian. Revelation 1:9 states: "I, John, both your brother and companion in tribulation ... was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." Adela Yarbro Collins, a biblical scholar at Yale Divinity School, writes:

Early tradition says that John was banished to Patmos by the Roman authorities. This tradition is credible because banishment was a common punishment used during the Imperial period for a number of offenses. Among such offenses were the practices of magic and astrology. Prophecy was viewed by the Romans as belonging to the same category, whether Pagan, Jewish, or Christian. Prophecy with political implications, like that expressed by John in the book of Revelation, would have been perceived as a threat to Roman political power and order. Three of the islands in the Sporades were places where political offenders were banished. (Pliny, Natural History 4.69–70; Tacitus, Annals 4.30)[14]

John was allegedly banished by the Roman authorities to the Greek island of Patmos, where, according to tradition, he wrote the Book of Revelation. According to Tertullian (in The Prescription of Heretics) John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it. It is said that all in the audience of Colosseum were converted to Christianity upon witnessing this miracle. This event would have occurred in the late 1st century, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian.

It's while on this Island of Patmos that he receives a vision.

Revelation 1:9–11

Vision of the Son of Man

[9] I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. [10] I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet [11] saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” (ESV)

John has a vision.

Let's look at it this morning.

Revelation 4

The Throne in Heaven

[1] After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” [2] At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. [3] And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. [4] Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. [5] From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, [6] and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures (Like Ezekiel's vision), full of eyes in front and behind: [7] the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. [8] And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

who was and is and is to come!” (Like Isaiah's vision)

[9] And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, [10] the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

[11] “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they existed and were created.” (ESV)

Revelation 5

The Scroll and the Lamb

[1] Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. [2] And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” [3] And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, [4] and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. [5] And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

[6] And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. [7] And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. [8] And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. [9] And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

[10] and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

[11] Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, [12] saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

[13] And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

[14] And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped. (ESV)

John's vision sees Jesus as the fulfillment of every promise.

The Lion of Judah.

The Lamb of God.

The King of kings.

Jesus is the only one worthy to fulfill the promises of Jacob, Isaiah, and Zephaniah.

Jesus is the promised King.

Even heaven worships him.

Don't you think we should?

Even heaven serves him.

Don't you think we should?

Even heaven proclaims his goodness.

Don't you think we should?

Even heaven anticipates his return.

Don't you think we should?

Jesus rode the colt of a donkey to prove himself to be the King.

How many kings would do that?

They would ride in on the best black Escalade.

They would be surrounded by armed security.

They would stay in the nicest hotel.

They would demand servants not be a servant.

They would play the political game.

They would show their military might.

They would belittle their foes.

Not King Jesus.

The LORD needed the colt because the LORD didn't have anything to prove.

The LORD needed the colt because the LORD simply had to show himself for how he was - THE KING THE WORLD HAD BEEN WAITING FOR.

Is He your king?

This King Isn’t Like Our Kings

(God Warned Israel of Kings)

This Kingdom Isn’t Like Our Kingdoms

His kingdom isn’t determined by worldly systems

His kingdom isn’t dependent on worldly systems

His kingdom isn’it directed by worldly systems

His kingdom isn’t disinterested in worldly systems

Good News of Hosanna Is His Kingdom Isn’t Of This World

John 18:33–38 CSB

Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about me?” “I’m not a Jew, am I?” Pilate replied. “Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” “My kingdom is not of this world,” said Jesus. “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” “You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” “What is truth?” said Pilate. After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no grounds for charging him.