Christ is King: The Triumphal Entry (John 12:12–19)

Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name”Text: John 12:12–19

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: January 14, 2024

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: AM Service

Introduction

There are some who have questioned whether it is right to see Jesus as King today. This is due in part because of how we see prophecy presenting His coming reign; if He hasn’t returned to earth yet, is it proper to consider Him King yet? Moreover, some say that it isn’t that important to consider Him Lord, emphasizing Jesus’s work of salvation and saying it’s possible to be saved without following Him.

However, Scripture is clear. In the Great Commission, Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). Hebrews 1:3 describes Jesus as currently seated “at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Similarly, Ephesians 1:20-22 tells us that He’s above every power, in this age as well as the age to come. That last reference notes that the Father gave Jesus “as head over all things to the church” (v. 22). Jesus is currently exercising authority, over the world stage as well as over the church. We would do well to acknowledge Him as King!

Of course, the people in this passage were willing to do just that. As we noted last time, there are many honors which our Lord receives in this chapter. The first was the meal where He received service from beloved friends and the sacrificial anointing. We’ll see people continue to come to Him in this chapter and the voice from heaven attesting to Him. Yet, this will not keep Him from the cross, nor will the nation ultimately accept Him.

For this moment, though, they are ready to hail Him as king. The account of His entry into Jerusalem, often called the Triumphal Entry, is an event so pivotal that it is found in all four Gospels (here, as well as in Matt. 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–11; Luke 19:29–44). There is more detail in those other Gospel accounts, but John, writing later, chooses to only review the main points.

Jesus Christ is King. This morning, we’re going to be considering the King’s entrance into Jerusalem. We’ll note His presentation, performance, and power. Let’s consider the first of those.

The King’s Presentation (vv. 12–13)

On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”

We are reading about the Triumphal Entry, traditionally remembered as “Palm Sunday” during the final week of our Lord. As I mentioned last time, there is a bit of a debate about the traditional ordering of events for the Passion Week. The supper in Bethany where Mary anoints Jesus’s head and feet is traditionally considered to be on Wednesday evening of that final week. That would have been the same night that Judas went out and conspired with the Sanhedrin, so it’s sometimes called Spy Wednesday. Yet, traditionally, those are the only two events for a day in the middle of a busy week, and John’s chronology provides difficulty in that telling.

So, some theologians have proposed that these events were actually before the Triumphal Entry. That fits better with what John tells us, that Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem occurred “on the next day” following the anointing. Moreover, a few (though, this is admittedly a minority position) have suggested that Palm Sunday was instead “Palm Monday.” By moving this forward, these theologians close the gap of essentially an empty day during the Passion Week. There’s nothing wrong with reading it and continuing to commemorate it on Sunday, but this view is attractive.

Whether this is Sunday or Monday, Jesus will enter with this large crowd. They were originally coming for the feast, the Passover, but they heard that Jesus was in Bethany. Twice the text describes the crowd as “large” (vv. 9, 12). There could have been anywhere between 100,000 people to over a million participating with the Passover, so this crowd could conceivably be in the hundreds or even thousands. When word got around that Jesus wasn’t avoiding the feast, but was instead going into Jerusalem, they got ready for an impressive presentation.

Certainly, a large factor stirring the people up would have been Christ’s recent miracles. Primarily here is the raising of Lazarus (recorded in John 11), but this would also include the healing of the two blind men on the roadside (Matt. 20:29–34). The people were understandably excited, and the next verse says they took up palm branches.

Some have wondered where they would have gotten these palm branches, and Judean date palms would be the most likely source. As one commentator notes, they would have been plentiful on the Mount of Olives, on the road from Bethany to Jerusalem. These plants grew in Judea in the first century, and though they began to die off over a millennium later, they are once again populating the region.

These branches were most often used in the construction of temporary structures for the Feast of Tabernacles. However, they also began to be used after the Maccabean revolt to celebrate victory, peace, and the coming of royalty. Branches would also be placed on the ground for dignitaries to keep the dust down, creating a path as they rode into town. This was a symbol befitting the Messiah, one we see again of Jesus in Revelation 9:7.

As they went out to meet Him, we read that they “began to shout, ‘Hosanna!” This shout of hosanna is both a prayer for the salvation of the Lord as well as a proclamation of praise (like hallelujah). As one study notes, hosannas were sung by a choir “during the Feast of Tabernacles (7:37) and associated with the Feast of Dedication (10:22) and especially the Passover” and in the original context of Psalm 118, it “may well have been the pronouncement of blessing upon a Davidic king.” So, this term has messianic implications, and as another commentary notes, this continues to reflect the praise in Revelation 7:10, which says that “they cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

This great crowd didn’t stop with their hosannas. They continued by shouting, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.’ ” This continues that refrain from Psalm 118, specifically verses 25–26. Scripture says there, “O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; we have blessed you from the house of the Lord.” Here, the Davidic King comes in the name of Yahweh the Lord, meaning as a representative of God. The people acknowledge that the Father has blessed Him, and they acknowledge that Jesus is true King of Israel, as Nathanael had (John 1:49).

Now, it’s obvious that the people don’t understand what all this means. We read in a moment that even the disciples lacked full understanding. None of us fully understand what it means that Jesus is Lord and King when we first come to Him for salvation. In fact, many of theirs was a superficial celebration, willingly turning to shouts to crucify Him later, which is why Jesus weeps over Jerusalem in Luke 19:41–44. Yet, the Lord is gracious to those who honestly worship and don’t fully understand why.

He allows all this display concerning Him. As one study notes, “Until this point, Jesus had discouraged expressions of support from the people (6:15; 7:1–8). Here He allowed public enthusiasm. He entered Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey.” He cares not anymore if the leaders will be provoked by this kind of presentation; He purposefully permits it! And that brings us to the next point:

The King’s Performance (vv. 14–16)

Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him.

Jesus comes, not only allowing the people to make this grand display over Him, but also to participate in the display. He purposefully seeks to fulfill prophecy concerning the Messiah. How does He go about this?

First, we read that He found a young donkey. Of course, according to the other Gospels, He did this first by sending His disciples. For instance, in Mark 11:2–3, He directs them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.” Matthew mentions the mother donkey (Matt. 21:2, 7), but Jesus obviously chose to sit on the colt. He then rides into Jerusalem on this young animal, just as Scripture predicts.

This indicates that Jesus is feeding into the Messianic fervor in a premeditated manner. John here quotes Zechariah 9, which talks about the coming of Alexander the Great. In contrast to the war horse and the chariot, the Lord says this in v. 9: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” This humble entry of the King of Israel would mark salvation for the people.

As such, John adds the words here, “Fear not!” He may have had Isaiah 40:9 in mind, which says, “Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ ” The Lord comes with good news of salvation for all Israel, and beyond. There is no need to continue living in fear.

He is the prophesied king riding into Jerusalem, and this is their time of visitation (cf. Luke 19:44). They were supposed to be expecting the Messiah. Another prophecy about Him is in Daniel 9:24–26, which predicted the Messiah would come in sixty-nine weeks of years, or 483 years from the decree of Artaxerxes. As MacArthur notes, there has been more than one calculation as to when this would place the Messiah, the two most detailed being from Sir Robert Anderson and another from Harold Hohner. While the exact years in these calculations suggest a date of crucifixion in the years 32 or 33 rather than 30, as MacArthur notes, “whatever may be the precise chronology, Jesus Christ is the only possible fulfillment of Daniel’s prophetic timetable.” In other words, the timing of the prophecy announced that the Messiah would be presented in this year of history, and this is the King’s Triumphal Entry.

Sadly, many that day had a limited view of what this meant. Salvation can and often does refer physical deliverance from enemies, so it seems that many thought this moment signaled a fall of the Roman Empire and a restoration of the kingdom of Israel. If this were the time for that, though, it would be more fitting for Jesus to come riding upon a white horse. The Lord will do just that in the end, coming to wage war (Rev. 19:11), but the image here is one of humility. He’s here for a different salvation, one which comes only through His humiliation and death upon the cross. This is the salvation of the soul from sin and deserved damnation, a salvation we all need, and which only comes through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Even the disciples did not fully understand this, as v. 16 says. This was, of course, a common malady (Mark 9:32; John 2:22; 14:26). Some see this as a problem in the text — how is it that the disciples wouldn’t understand? Yet, if we consider that they, men of their times, would have shared the same, limited, political view of the Messiah as their kinsmen, then they probably viewed much of the teaching of Jesus through the lens of their traditions. It would take the death and resurrection of the Lord to shake them of this, and the comforting reminders the Holy Spirit would later give them (cf. John 14:26) — then they would remember and process all that happened.

For now, Jesus had multilayered reasons for doing what He did. He is the King to be presented. Yet, He came to provide a spiritual salvation for the people of the world before He would provide a physical one for His people. He also knew His presence in Jerusalem would provoke the rulers, leading invariably to His betrayal and death, providing the salvation only He could. He comes willingly, accomplishing all of this and more for the glory of God.

This is the King we serve! He is able to accomplish so much. And on that note, let us consider the final point:

The King’s Power (vv. 17–19)

So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.”

The miracles of Scripture are not allegories or metaphors. These were real events in history, and they affected everyone. As we can see here, the crowd waving their palm branches were doing more than shouting, “Hosanna!” They were also testifying of the wonderous deeds of Jesus, telling every traveler they could of the miraculous acts they witnessed. So, as the march continued up into the gates of Jerusalem and through the streets to the temple, the word about the king’s power spread like wildfire.

The ones who heard the witnesses came by droves. This is the second crowd of people that v. 18 mentions. Perhaps some pilgrims were already in the temple worshipping as was their custom, while others were engaged in commerce in the marketplaces around the temple, preparing for their stay in Jerusalem. Wherever they heard the word about Jesus’s ability to even raise the dead, they came out to meet Him and the singing crowd.

There’s a sharp contrast between the scene of Christ’s entry and the one which occurs just days later. The people cry their hosannas as they flock to see Him, but some will later erupt with disillusioned demands to crucify Him. Those who would not accept His words later in this chapter walk away from Him because He didn’t meet their expectations of a political, earthly Messiah.

This contrast would be sparked by those who were always against Him. We read in v. 18, “So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.’ ” Another way of translating that is, “See, y’all are not accomplishing nothing,” containing a double negative in the original language for emphasis. Perhaps these are the Pharisees with murderous intent speaking to the more moderate voices among them, telling them that everyone is going after Jesus.

We know that there were a few Pharisees and rulers who believed in Jesus. However, they were afraid of others, as we see down in v. 42. The ones urging violent action against Jesus had the voice, but even they were afraid of the crowds. They could not act as they wished and just seize Jesus, fearing a riot (Mark 14:1–2).

Of course, this speaks of the King’s power, too. He wouldn’t be taken before His time. All their plans are ineffectual before Him! As Matthew Henry notes, “Those who oppose Christ, and fight against his kingdom, will be made to perceive that they prevail nothing. God will accomplish his own purposes in spite of them, and the little efforts of their impotent malice.”

Conclusion

Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He was not just presented that way by others — He arranged it so that He would underscore their presentation. His entire performance was in line with Scripture. And, His power formed the foundation for the Messianic claims, demonstrating He was and is who prophecy predicts.

Have you turned to Jesus as Lord? Does He rule and reign in your life, or do you live for yourself? If you pursue sin and don’t follow His ways, this could indicate that He is also not your Savior. He isn’t divided — He is both Lord and Savior. Confess your sins, trusting in Him for salvation, and then prayerfully consider His commands as you seek to follow His ways.