Mark 11

Intro

Theme: Who is Jesus

Theme Statement: Jesus calls us into discipleship through a relationship with Him

As we have studied through Mark these last few months we have seen time and time again people missing the point of what Jesus mission here on Earth was.

The crowds didn’t know Jesus was the Messiah

The disciples just found out Jesus was the Messiah 3 chapters ago when Peter confesses Christ as the Messiah but as we learned last week they thought that Jesus was going to establish an Earthly kingdom here and rule and reign over creation from an Earthly throne.

Last week the disciples go to Jesus and ask to be placed in the highest positions of Jesus kingdom because they missed Jesus mission.

Jesus mission here on Earth was not to establish an Earthly kingdom, kick out the Romans, and rule forever on Earth.

Jesus mission was to bring the Kingdom of God near to believers, destroy sin and death forever, and make a way for believers to live in relationship with God forever

It was always God’s plan for this to happen since the foundation of the world it was predestined that Jesus Christ would die on the cross for the sins of the world and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

In fact in the very beginning of our Bible Gen. 3:15 says

Genesis 3:15 ESV

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

God speaking to the serpent (satan) He tells him that there will come a savior one from Eve’s descendants who will destroy satan forever

This prophecy is stated at the beginning of Genesis and the Old Testament is filled with prophecies about the messiah.

In fact here are a few.

Psalm 2:1-12 says The Messiah would be called God’s son

Mark 1:11 ESV

11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Malachi 4:5-6 says the Messiah will be preceded by Elijah the prophet

Mark 9:11–13 ESV

11 And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

Here Jesus addresses the fact that John the Baptist fulfills this prophecy

Isaiah 53 prophecies about the Messiah being a suffering servant

Mark 10:45 ESV

45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Zechariah 9:9 ESV

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.

Here tonight we will see Jesus fulfill this prophecy as He enters Jerusalem as the Messiah.

PRAY

Mark 11:1–4 ESV

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.

As Jesus nears Jerusalem He knows the time has come, as Doctor Strange says in Avengers, “We’re in the End Game”

I told you that after Mark 8 everything shifts and Jesus begins His final journey towards the cross.

There will still be a few key events and things that Jesus does but He is entering Jerusalem with the sole purpose of going to the cross.

As Jesus gets to the outskirts of Jerusalem He tells His disciples to go into this village and He gives them very specific instructions about what they will find and who they will encounter.

The reason He is able to do this is because Jesus is omniscient, meaning all knowing.

He knows that there will be a colt placed there specifically by God to bring Him into Jerusalem.

Jesus didn’t choose a colt because He liked donkeys, a colt was chosen because it was fulfilling prophecy made about the Messiah 500 years before Jesus was born.

What I want to point out to you is that Jesus is not some random guy that lived two thousand years ago and claimed to be the savior of the world.

Jesus was the Messiah that was prophesied about throughout the Old Testament and here is clear evidence of Jesus fulfilling prophecy.

There are hundreds of prophecies about the Messiah.

The probability that Jesus fulfilled even 8 of those major prophecies is 10^17

- In other words you could cover our entire state of Texes 2 feet deep in quarters

- Mark one quarter with a red dot and place it somewhere in that pile of quarters

- Blindfold someone and tell them to walk around as long as they want and the first quarter they pick up has to be the quarter with the red dot.

The same probability that someone could do that is the probability that Jesus could fulfill 8 major prophecies.

- And we know from scripture and from eye witness accounts from Roman historians that Jesus fulfilled multiple prophecies.

Say this to say, Jesus death was not random, He was not just some traitor of Rome who was crucified, He was the Messiah that was prophesied to come to Earth and save us from our sins.

Jesus here fulfills this scripture when He sends His disciples off to get this colt.

And when they arrive they find the colt (or the young donkey) exactly where Jesus said it would be.

And exactly what Jesus said would happen, happens.

Mark 11:5–8 ESV

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. 8 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.

They take the colt and bring it to Jesus and they lay their cloaks on the colt

These cloaks were not like what we think of when we think of cloaks.

They were actually their prayer shawls that the Jews used to pray to God.

This act here of the disciples laying their cloaks on the colt and in the next verse the Jews throwing their cloaks on the ground has huge significance if we understand the context of what is happening.

Written on the top of this prayer shawl is the Hebrew words Baruch attah Ado-noy Elo-hay-nu Melech ha’olam

These words are translated Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe

So as Jesus is entering Jerusalem on a donkey the whole city begins throwing down their shawls that they use to pray with daily, shawls that have the words inscribed on them Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe.

Here we have the people of God recognizing for the first time that Jesus is the Messiah and honoring Him by throwing their cloaks at His feet declaring His Messianic Divinity.

So why then was it possible for Jesus to die?

After all here we have all the Jews in Jerusalem celebrating Jesus as the coming Messiah.

The Jews would have defended the Messiah with their life if someone tried to kill him.

What caused all of them to turn on Jesus and crucify Him?

It was because they missed the point of Jesus mission here on earth.

As we have talked about for the last few weeks they thought that Jesus was here to kick out the Romans and establish an Earthly Jewish kingdom and reign forever from Jerusalem.

That’s why they were so excited that He was there, there were honoring Him with their actions but their hearts had not yet understood what He was doing for them.

Jesus had come not to kick out Rome but to bring peace to our world by defeating sin and death

Even the way Jesus enters Rome is describing this.

In the ancient middle east when a King came riding into a city on a donkey it meant He came to bring peace.

When He came in to a city riding on a horse he was showing up as a conquering hero

Here we see Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey ready to bring peace to a fallen and broken world.

And everyone here misses it because they did not understand who Jesus was,

They had a preconceived idea of who Jesus was to them.

They knew all the prophecies, they even saw Jesus as the Messiah, and a few weeks later they will be calling for Jesus to be crucified because He did not fit their idea of who they wanted the savior to be.

Are you allowing Jesus to be your Messiah, to be your savior or do you have some preconceived idea of who you want Jesus to be?

Do you believe that Jesus is Lord?

If you do, are you obeying what He is calling you to?

Are you acting like He is your Lord?

How do we know who Jesus is? By growing in relationship with Him.

Remember Jesus calls us as disciples to grow in relationship with Him.

The disciples and the crowds didn’t quite yet understand who Jesus was but after He dies and resurrects their eyes are opened to the truth and they begin to worship Him for who He truly was.

It is through a relationship with Christ Jesus and that we grow as disciples of Him