The Triumphant Entry of the King
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
The passing centuries have seen false messiahs, each claiming to be the one so eagerly anticipated by the Jewish people.
Of these self-proclaimed deliverers, some were simply self-deceived, while others were purposefully exploitative;
Some sought personal prestige, others to rescue their people from oppression;
Some advocated violence, others prayer and fasting;
Some professed to be political deliverers, others to be religious reformers.
But though their motives, methods, and claims varied, they all had one thing in common...
They were satanic counterfeits of the true Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
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About 44 AD Theudas promised his followers that he would part the Jordan River.
But before he was able to do so, Roman troops attacked and massacred many of his followers.
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The Egyptian for whom the Apostle Paul was mistaken had boasted that he would command the walls of Jerusalem to fall down.
But, like Theudas, his plans were also foiled by Roman soldiers.
Although the Egyptian managed to escape his attackers, several hundred of his followers were killed or captured.
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In the second century Simon Bar Cochba (“son of a star”),...
Who was identified as the messiah by the leading rabbi of the time,...
Led a major Jewish uprising against Rome, conquering Jerusalem for three years, where he was called king and messiah.
The Romans crushed the rebellion, retook Jerusalem, and massacred Bar Cochba and five to six hundred thousand of his followers.
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A fifth-century false messiah on the island of Crete promised to part the Mediterranean Sea so his followers could walk to Palestine on dry land.
But the sea refused to part and some of his followers drowned.
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In the seventeenth century, Sabbethai Zebi proclaimed himself “king of the kings of the earth,”...
And attracted a widespread following among the Jews of western Europe.
Zebi later converted to Islam and was eventually executed.
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But the bogus claims of all such pretenders fall far short of the biblical qualifications for the Messiah.
Jesus Christ alone possesses the credentials of the true Messiah;
The words He spoke,...
The miracles He performed,...
And the prophecies He fulfilled...
Prove that He was who He claimed to be...
And it is Jesus as the true Messiah that we focus our Palm Sunday message today.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of John.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 12 and focus on verses 12 through 19.
Our message this morning is called, “The Triumphant Entry of the King”
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As you are finding your place in God’s Word...
I want to share that this message this morning will focus on three main points:
First, praise of the King...
Second, prophesy of the King...
And thirdly, love and hate of the King.
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Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Thank you Heavenly Father for your mercy and compassion...
We don’t deserve it...
As sinners we earned death...
Yet, you sent down your Son to give life.
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We praise you and bless you sovereign God
You are the only one who is infinite...
You are immutable, never changing...
You are self-sufficient, not needing a single thing...
You are omnipotent, all powerful...
Omniscient all-knowing...
Omnipresent, always everywhere...
You are all-wise, ever-faithful, all-good, all-just, ever-merciful...
You are gracious and slow to anger...
You are love...
You are holy...
You are glorious...
Who else is like our God!
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Help those you cry out to you...
Keep us on the narrow path...
Shield us from the Evil One and his demons...
And give us the strength to endure.
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Forgive us Father...
All of us fall short.
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We are eternally grateful for your perfect Word...
The sending of the Holy Spirit...
And the perfect and fully complete work of your Son...
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And it is in His name we pray all these things...
In Jesus Christ’s name...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.
18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.
19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) Praise of the King
1) Praise of the King
Verses 12 & 13: The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
The “feast” mentioned in verse 12 is Passover.
So, that both gives us a a timeline and a bit of background information.
Jerusalem during passover was packed...
Many scholar’s and historians estimated a gathering of people of about a million with some estimates claiming even more.
So this was a lot of people.
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We also learn from our passage that there is a large crowd that was familiar with Jesus’ ministry...
Potentially those who have been following Him from early on...
Who went out to meet Jesus when they got word He was coming.
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This crowd actually combines with another crowd we will talk more about at the end of our passage...
That crowd was of those who saw Jesus’ miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead.
Together they shared about what wonders they saw Jesus perform and their excitement regarding Jesus being the long-promised Messiah could not be contained.
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Our passage says this crowd took palm branches with them...
Beloved, this is not a random act...
From about two centuries earlier, the waving of palm branches had become a national, if not nationalistic, symbol, which signaled the fervent hope that a messianic liberator was arriving on the scene.
The crowds saw Jesus as the Messiah...
And while waving palm branches...
Cried out, “Hosanna!...Hosanna!...Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
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The term “Hosanna” is a transliteration of the Hebrew word that means “give salvation now”...
And as the MacArthur Study Bible says:
“It was a term of acclamation or praise occurring in Psalm 118:25 which was familiar to every Jew, since that psalm was part of the Hallel sung each morning by the temple choir during the Feast of Tabernacles and associated with the Feast of Dedication and especially the Passover.
After shouting out the ‘Hosanna,’ the crowds shouted Psalm 118:26...
Significantly, the original context of Psalm 118 may well have been the pronouncement of blessing upon a Davidic king.
Jewish commentaries have understood the verse to bear messianic implications.
‘HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD’ refers to Messiah, especially in context with the phrase, ‘the King of Israel.’”
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So, Psalm 118:25–26 says:
25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
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We also see similar cries to God to be saved in 1 Chronicles 16:35–36 which says:
35 Say also: “Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
36 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!” Then all the people said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord.
And in Psalm 79:9 which says:
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!
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Something to note of Psalm 118:25–26 that the crowds are quoting...
They add a phrase after reciting it.
The called Jesus the “King of Israel”...
And they were not the only ones...
Recall with me what it says in Matthew 2:2:
2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
Even as a baby...
Wise men from afar not only came searching for Him but acknowledged Him as King.
The disciple Nathanael did too as see in John 1:49:
49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
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However, it should be understood...
That most of the crowd probably understood the title “King of Israel” in a political and military sense...
They were hoping that Jesus would use his amazing powers to resist Roman rule and lead the nation to independence.
Can you imagine the thoughts they had?
They saw Jesus raise the dead...
They probably thought...
With Jesus as King they would literally have an unkillable army...
If Rome or any other country tried to slay the soldiers of Isreal...
Well Jesus would just raise them back up.
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They were right to call Him King...
But they didn’t understand His mission.
They didn’t understand the salvation they really needed.
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The content of Psalm 118 is important to note...
The Reformation Study Bible provides this great observation:
“The psalm speaks of God’s exaltation of a ‘stone’ that has been rejected by ‘builders,’...
Imagery portraying the situation of Jesus and the leaders of the Sanhedrin.
Please note that Psalm 118:22 says:
22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
The stone in the psalm refers to the keystone of the temple,...
And the application of this passage to Jesus indicates that He is the true temple that will replace the Jerusalem temple, which is only a type and shadow of the Messiah.”
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Isn’t it ironic?
The crowds quoted part of Psalm 118 but ignored the rest of it.
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How many many people use this haphazard approach to Scripture even today?
May we not only know the often quoted Scriptures put on the back of a Hallmark card...
But may we know the whole counsel of God!
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Both the Jews and the world at large missed the truth found in God’s Word...
And the response from then just a few days latter was mocking the true King of Kings!
Just look at Matthew 27:37 which says:
37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
And Mark 15:32 which says:
32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
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But if the people only paid attention to the prophecies of the Messiah...
They would have known...
When Jesus first came it would be in peace...
And this takes us to our next point.
2) Prophesy of the King
2) Prophesy of the King
Verses 14-16: And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
The Synoptic Gospels...
That is Matthew, Mar, and Luke...
Provide us with some more background on the donkey Jesus selected...
Look with me for example in Mark 11:1-7 which says:
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples
2 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.
3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’ ”
4 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it.
5 And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”
6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.
7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it.
Jesus’ choice in a donkey both fulfills Scripture and sends a message...
A message that everyone overlooked due to their excitement of the messiah they had envisioned...
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So, take a look with me at this note from the Expositor’s Bible Commentary on the Gospel of Luke:
“The entry into Jerusalem was Jesus’ announcement that his hour had come and that he was ready for action, though not according to the expectation of the people.
He did not come as a conqueror but as a messenger of peace.
He rode on a donkey, not the steed of royalty, but that of a commoner on a business trip.
John couples this entry with the prophecy of Zechariah, who announced that the king of Israel would appear in humility without pomp and ceremony.”
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In Revelation is records Jesus’ return...
And when Jesus comes back it will be as a warrior...
It will be on a war horse...
But His first mission...
When He first came...
Was as a messenger of peace...
As the Prince of Peace.
It is written in Zechariah 9:9:
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 term “fear not” from our passage, as you can see, is not in Zechariah 9:9...
The Scripture that that term is coming from is taken from Isaiah 40:9 which says:
9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
There are other allusions and echos to Isaiah too that are present in our passage.
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We see an allusion in Isaiah 62:11:
11 Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”
And we see an echo in Isaiah 35:4:
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
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Yet these connections to Scripture where not clear at the time even to the disciples...
It was only after that they understood the significance of this event.
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Remember what we learned from Jesus...
When He made it clear that all the Old Testament Scripture has always pointed to Him as seen recorded in Luke 24:25-27:
25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Recall with me too what is says in John 2:22:
22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
So how where the disciples able to finally make all these connections after Jesus was raised from the dead?
How are we as believers today able to understand Scripture in its truth and fullness?
The answer is John 14:26:
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
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So, as Jesus entered Jerusalem...
We saw many who loved Him...
But they loved Him for the wrong reasons...
As they did not understand Him.
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We also saw many who hated Him...
But they hated Him for the wrong reasons...
As they did not understand Him either...
And this takes us to our final point.
3) Love & Hate of the King
3) Love & Hate of the King
Verses 17-19: The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
Church, let’s read through the story of Jesus calling out Lazarus from the tomb to bring us to remembrance what Jesus did...
And how this impacted the crowds that are now following Him.
John 11:39-53 records:
39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,
46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.
48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all.
50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”
51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.
The miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead gave the people ecstatic joy!
Jesus was clearly like no other teacher or prophet...
His miracles showed evidence that He was the long promised Messiah...
But it is what that Messiah would look like that was not understood.
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The religious leaders hated Jesus because He did not obey their man-made traditions...
They thought He couldn’t be the Messiah because their idea of the Messiah would just be a mirror of their own image.
That is why in Luke’s account of Jesus entry into Jerusalem records their response to the crowds chants...
Luke 19:39–40 says:
39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
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However, even those that loved Him as He entered Jerusalem...
Really loved their idea of the Messiah...
A Warrior King who would liberate them from Roman oppression.
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Loved or hated...
Both parties shared this in common...
They did not fully understand Him nor the Scriptures that foretold of His coming.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
As this message comes to a close...
I would like to share this that I came across in my study this week
In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy,...
Characters interpret ancient lore and rhymes in order to discern events in the present...
In much the same way that Christians interpret Old Testament prophecies to predict the coming of Christ.
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In the third book of the trilogy,...
The Return of the King,...
The hero, Aragorn, who is the rightful claimant to the throne of Gondor, returns to the city Minas Tirith.
He is victorious in the battle against the dark lord Sauron, but he's not yet able to claim the throne.
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He enters the city in disguise in order to go to the Houses of Healing.
There he seeks to heal his friends who were struck in battle.
As he performs this healing, one of the attendants repeats an ancient verse:
"The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known."
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You see Church...
Isreal was looking for the long promised Messiah to bring healing...
But they where interested in political healing.
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The waving of palm branches that we read about...
It symbolically conveyed the notion of victory over one’s enemy...
This indicates that the people mistakenly thought that Jesus would then and there bring national deliverance from Israel’s political enemies...
The Romans...
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Yet Jesus came with the greater purpose for spiritual healing...
His victory would be over sin and death...
So, when it was clear that Jesus would not be the kind of Messiah the people wanted...
His popular acclaim would not last...
In fact, the very same people who hailed him as the victor would call for his crucifixion just a few days later.
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And it is now about Christ’s sacrifice that we bring our attention to.
Communion
Communion
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As we begin our communion service, I want to invite every genuinely born-again believer in the room to partake in this act together.
If you do not yet know the Lord and do not have a relationship with Him...
Or if you are under church discipline from this church or another church...
Then I will ask that you wait until you have resolved your issue before participating.
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As you came in you should have picked up a communion packet if you are joining us.
This has both the bread and juice in a convenient package.
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If you have not received one of these please raise your hand and someone will get you one.
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Before we join in communion together, I would like us to look Matthew 27:15–23 which says:
15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted.
16 And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.
17 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”
18 For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.
19 Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.”
20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.
21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”
22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!”
23 And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
The people wanted a political and warrior messiah to save them from the Roman Empire...
They thought Jesus, with His incredible miracles would meet their demands...
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How many people today believe in a Jesus of their own image?
How many follow a “Jesus” that is all love and not wrath?
How many people follow a “Jesus” that is “all inclusive” and and won’t take issue with your pet sin?
How many people follow a “Jesus” they believe will give them material wealth and health?
How many people follow the relatable and charismatic “Jesus” of popular TV shows?
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As I have heard it said before...
“That’s a Jesu I would follow!”
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Yeah, that a Jesus the masses will cry out from the top of their lungs:
“Hosanna!...Hosanna!...Hosanna!”
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But what happens when those people meet the real Jesus?
How do they react when they learn who the Jesus of the Bible really is?
What happens when Jesus does not fit your demands?
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Then the very same masses that once cried out “Hosanna” have a different tune to sing:
“Crucify Him!…Crucify Him!…Crucify Him!”
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We did that...
The blood is on our hands...
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The sins you have all commited...
The sins I have committed...
They are the very reason Christ was hung on a cross...
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So many people want to infuse themselves in the Bible...
They want to make themselves the heroes...
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Christ is the true hero!
It’s not us...
We are the ones who cried out:
“Crucify Him!…Crucify Him!…Crucify Him!”
We were His enemies...
But He loved us anyways...
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Fittingly, Jesus, the Lamb of God, would be sacrificed on the same day that the Passover lambs were being sacrificed...
The reason for this is because Jesus is “Christ our Passover” sacrifice as it says in 1 Corinthians 5:7:
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
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I would like to bring your attention to Zechariah 12:10 which says:
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
So, Beloved...
Let’s all take a moment right now in silent prayer to thank the Lord for all He did for us...
(MOMENT OF SILENCE)
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Tom will you pray before we partake in the bread:
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The Word of God says in Luke 22:19:
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
(TAKE THE BREAD)
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Adrian will you pray before we partake in the cup:
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The Word of God says in Luke 22:20:
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
(TAKE THE CUP)
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With that we conclude the communion portion of our service.
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To God be all the glory.
Amen.
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Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.