Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday 2024)
Notes
Transcript
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, which is a daily countdown to Easter.
Palm Sunday gives way to Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and then Maundy Thursday. On Maundy Thursday, the day before our Lord was betrayed and arrested, Christ gave his “new commandment” — that we love one another, as he has loved us. When the Bible was translated into Latin, the word for commandment was mandatum (mandatory).
Maundy Thursday gives way, then, to Good Friday. Such a paradoxically named day, isn’t it? How could a day when the most precious Son of God was slain by men he created be described as good?
Good Friday leads into Black Saturday, appropriately named as the light of Easter had not yet dawned.
But it did dawn—on that first and glorious Easter morning, the light of world broke out in resurrection power. Jesus Christ, the lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world, was raised from the dead.
Like the first day in the history of the universe, where God said, “Let there be light,” God said, “let the light of world shine now and forevermore.”
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
This is the glory of Easter, that the face of Jesus Christ rose in resurrection power, and in knowing him God’s light can shine in our hearts.
What are the days that shook the world, I ask? Forget those six I mentioned. Replace them with Gen 1:1, Gen 3, Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, and Palm Sunday.
The glory of God is found in the face of Jesus Christ. On that day, the first Palm Sunday, Christ’s face was set towards Jerusalem.
Everything our Lord had been doing since he came into an understanding of his mission had been aimed at this week.
By this point in our text today, Jesus had performed countless miracles, preached through the countryside, battled with the Pharisees, and had just raised Lazarus from the dead.
Jesus had explained to this disciples that it was now time to go to Jerusalem, where he would die. He said this multiple times (Mt 16:21, Mt 20:18, Lk 13:33).
With this knowledge in our Lord’s mind, he set his face towards the city, swollen with over two million visitors.
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah wrote of a “Suffering Servant.” This servant was a man who suffered greatly at God’s direction, in order to accomplish the salvation of his people. In the 50th chapter of Isaiah, he wrote this about our Lord:
But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
Jesus had set his face like a flint, and headed towards Jerusalem. Flint was used for many things, and continues to be used today—what is the first use for flint that occurs to you? I think for most of us, we would think of flint as that tool used to start a fire by striking it. Our Lord’s face, ready to be literally struck, was set towards Jersualem on Palm Sunday.
Our text begins here, in John chapter 12.
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.”
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Prayer
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Palm Sunday was one of the most pivotal moments in the history of the world.
This is a strong statement to make. If we were to answer the question at the beginning, we would say the world’s creation, the first sin, Christ’s birth, his death, and his resurrection.
But would we think of Palm Sunday?
I think we should.
Before we jump into this text I want to properly dim the lights. Like a theater before the movie starts, I want to the dim lights of our minds and focus in on the gravity of this event.
Throughout his life, Jesus refers to something he called “the hour.” His disciples would use that same phrase when documenting the life of Jesus.
In Jn 2:4, when Jesus’s mother, Mary, asks him to turn water into wine, knowing she was asking for a miracle, he said: “my hour has not yet come.”
In Jn 7:30, the Pharisees were seeking to arrest Jesus, but no one laid on a hand on him—why? His “hour had not yet come.”
In Jn 8:30, again, Jesus teaching against the Pharisees, no one arrest him because “his hour had not yet come.”
When Christ enters Jerusalem, some Greek Gentiles came to see Jesus. His disciples tell him about these visitors.
And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
“The hour has come.”
Something fundamentally clicked when Jesus began coming down the Mount of Olives towards Jerusalem.
This is what we call the “Triumphal Entry.” On Palm Sunday, the King of kings came down the mountain and into the holy city.
Hatched before the creation of the world, the plan to redeem the world now accelerated towards the cross.
What’s the weight of Palm Sunday? That the hour had come for the Son of Man to go to his death. This was the appointed time, and the final stage of Christ’s mission was at hand.
We’re going to think about what Palm Sunday fulfilled, and what it now promises.
What Palm Sunday Fulfilled
What Palm Sunday Fulfilled
John 12:12 “The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.”
Every Jew in the area was preparing for Passover, the feast that remembered God’s deliverance in Exodus. A Roman historian named Josephus wrote that there was once over two million people present in Jerusalem for a Passover. Even if we reduced that number by half, it’s still an extraordinary amount of people.
I want to draw our attention to the prophetic nature of Palm Sunday, and I can’t help but get a little ahead of myself. We don’t have any services on Thursday, so I’m going to take it upon myself to comment the Last Supper.
We think of the Last Supper as that final meal Jesus shared with his disciples before being betrayed. It was, but it occurred very close to Passover—so close, that we ought to see a very strong connection.
At the very center of the Passover meal’s symbolism is the sacrificial lamb. In the Exodus, Jewish families slaughtered a lamb and adorned the top of their doorway with its blood. When the tenth and final plague struck Egypt, which was an Angel of Death killing the firstborn of every household, all those who had this blood on their doorway were “passed over.”
You are already picking up the connection.
Jesus Christ is our passover lamb.
As the blood of the animal saved the Israelites in Egypt from God’s wrath, so the blood of the Son of God saves us from the wrath our sins deserve.
The animal was taken by force, but, on Palm Sunday, the Lamb of God was coming to lay down his life willingly.
John 10:17–18 (ESV)
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord…
Already, Palm Sunday as the fulfillment of prophecy is in full effect. The person to whom Passover had always pointed had now come. The hour that was promised and preached through Passover had now come. The final lamb to be slain.
We wonder about what each person was thinking that day. Who knew the full scope and importance of what was happening? Had anyone made the connection between the Old Testament talking about a day when the blind will see, the mute will speak, and the lame will leap for joy, with what was happening throughout the countryside?
It’s hard to know for sure, but, like today, there’s always a mixture in the crowds who hear Jesus name. Some believed, most didn’t. Many had already heard about Jesus and his famous ministry.
We can speculate until the cows come home about who knew what and who didn’t—but suffice it to say, in the end, Jesus was alone. That says something about the extent of even the disciples’ belief. Even the disciples hadn’t truly grasped what was going on. But they would, notice verse 16.
John 12:16 “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.”
What are the things that John refers to?
Look at verses 13-15
John 12:13–15 “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!” 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!””
These verses are like listening to a grand symphony—there’s a lot going on and we don’t want to miss a single part.
(1) The palm branches: to this day, palm trees grow in that region. There are tons of them. Branches were taken and waved in honor of Christ. I’ll say two quick things:
1) later in John’s life, when he experiences the visions of Revelation, he will see the following:
Revelation 7:9–10 “… I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!””
2) back in the OT, God gave something called the Feast of Booths—a celebration that remembered how God took care of the Israelites in the wilderness. God gave them a schedule and things to do on specific days. Listen to this:
Leviticus 23:40 “And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees… and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.”
Whether or not the people understood the significance of the palm branches, God was pleased to weave them into this scene. When John sees the multitude in heaven worshipping the Lamb, he sees palm branches waving. When Moses watched the Israelites remember God’s protection in the wilderness, he saw palm branches waving. When the Son of God entered Jerusalem to save the world, there were palm branches waving.
(2) The Hosanna: what was this phrase that the people were singing? What does “Hosanna” mean?
Hosanna is a Hebrew word that translates to, “save us.”
They are crying out the final Passover psalm
Psalm 118:25–26 (ESV)
Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
They are repeating a portion of this psalm, but for Passover, they would’ve been reciting the entire thing in preparation for Passover. With an eye that’s looking for Jesus, let me read you other portions:
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.
I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
I struggle to capture the staggering importance of what was coming to a head. Each prophecy was a missile launched into the sky, over centuries, and now, beginning with Palm Sunday, they are all converging on Jerusalem. That Christmas song, “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight,” is getting at the same thing with the birth of Jesus.
While the hopes and fears of all the years were met on Christmas morning, the hopes and fears of all years are answered in this week.
(3) The donkey and Zechariah: John explains that Jesus chose specifically to ride a donkey into Jerusalem. And John explains that this fulfills what was written by Zechariah.
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.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
At this juncture, we have to pause to recognize a great irony in this situation. It is ironic that Christ, the King, the actual Messiah that Zechariah predicted, is described as a king who brings an end to war—”he cuts off the chariot, cuts off the war horse, and breaks the battle bow. He speaks peace to the nations, and his rule is from sea to sea.” This is ironic because the people wanted to deliverance from Rome, not peace, per se.
The accounts of Jesus life written by his disciples clearly explain that the people wanted to crown Jesus because they thought he would free them from Rome. What excited them about the Messiah was freedom from oppression, rather than freedom from their sin.
After Jesus completes his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, this misunderstanding is made very clear.
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
“They still did not believe in him.” They still didn’t get it. They didn’t understand the significance of the palm branches, of the Hosanna psalm, or the donkey he rode in on. They didn’t recognize the true Messiah or his true mission.
In our day, the message of the Gospel is corrupted in the same way. Mark said yesterday, “some people want Jesus to escape hell.” We want deliverance from our problems.
What could be more important than escaping hell? I think the question is entirely upside down. We don’t want Jesus to escape hell, we escape hell because we want Jesus.
Did we marry our spouse simply because we didn’t want to be alone? No, we wanted the person.
When your child was born, did you rejoice primarily because you were no longer childless? No, we rejoiced over the person.
For those who have neither children nor a spouse, is Jesus, that person, not so much more precious precisely because you are never alone?
It’s about him—the person and work of Christ, first. That, always, first—then, what he saves us from.
These fulfilled prophecies were largely lost on the crowds. John captures all of this for our benefit, that we would “know that Jesus is the Son of God.”
Jesus is the promised Messiah. He is the King, he has entered his kingdom. He is coming again, and now let’s think about what Palm Sunday promises.
What Palm Sunday Promises
What Palm Sunday Promises
Look at vv. 17-18
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.
Of all the motivations and interests of the people in Jesus, this was the best one. “Forget freedom from Rome; this man can raise the dead?”
If he can raise the dead, then he is the most powerful prophet the world has ever seen. Even that is incorrect—only God has power over life and death.
Only God has that power.
And there he was, the Godman, coming down the mountain. The crowds going before him, bearing witness to the resurrection of Lazarus, who had been three days dead.
Lazarus was now so alive he ate dinner with Jesus the night he started breathing again.
Lazarus was so alive, the Pharisees decided they needed to figure out how to kill him, too, and quickly.
So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
And herein lies the great promise of Palm Sunday.
The King has come down the mountain, and entered the city of Man. As he raised Lazarus, so will he raise all who believe in his name.
All those who believe in his name will not only receive eternal life, and deliverance from hell, but will be united to him forever.
The Lord will receive all his chosen ones unto himself, unto the joy and glory of heaven.
This was something God has promised to do for a long time.
Christ Jesus the cornerstone is who Psalm 118 looked forward to.
King Jesus is he who Zechariah looked forward to, who “speaks peace to the nations… righteous, and having salvation is he.”
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I’m going to end today reading from selected texts of Revelation.
The same man who wrote John 12:12-19 also wrote this:
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet
Revelation 1:12–18 (ESV)
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw… one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.
The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,
his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,
and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
Revelation 7:9–10 (ESV)
… I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 11:15 (ESV)
… there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
Revelation 19:1 (ESV)
… I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
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.
Revelation 20:10 (ESV)
and the devil… was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Revelation 21:4–5 (ESV)
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”…
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
Revelation 22:5 (ESV)
And night will be no more… the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
In Christ, we enter the New Jerusalem in Triumphal Entry.
