Jesus Is The King

Do you know what happened in history on June 2, 1953? The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Facts about Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation

- Happened at Westminster Abbey - every coronation since 1066

- The Queen's Coronation service began at 11.15am and lasted almost three hours.

- The St. Edward's Crown, made in 1661, was placed on the head of The Queen during the Coronation service. It weighs 4 pounds and 12 ounces and is made of solid gold. 

- It was the first service to be televised and for most people, it was the first time they had watched an event on television.

- Just under 30,000 men took part in the procession.

- The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh were driven from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey in the Gold State Coach – pulled by eight grey gelding horses: Cunningham, Tovey, Noah, Tedder, Eisenhower, Snow White, Tipperary and McCreery.  

All I’m saying is, that’s how you become a King or Queen. You spend millions of tax-payer money on a parade where everyone waves at you in your gold carriage pulled by eight horses while almost 30,000 soldiers from your military walk behind you, to remind everyone that you are now the ruler. Then you get the religious leaders to do a 3 hour church service where they put a solid gold crown on your head, a gold stick in your hands.

But Jesus must have missed that memo. As he approaches Jerusalem, his arrival as King is far different.

We have been in a teaching series called A Myriad of Beauty and we have been looking at some of the different ways Jesus reveals himself to us in the scriptures. We’ve looked at how Jesus is our confidence, how he’s our example for living and how he’s our healer. This week we are looking at how Jesus is our King.

Around the world, the church marks this day as the beginning of Holy Week - the week leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection and it’s fascinating to see how much difference there can be in one week. On this day in Jesus’ last week, he walks from the Mount of Olives in a celebratory procession. On Thursday this week, he will come to a garden in this same area to pray and pour out his spiritual and emotional anguish. On this day, the crowds shout and chant, “Hosanna in the highest heaven.” On Good Friday, a crowd will chant “Crucify him, crucify him.” On this day, he is accompanied by his friends and disciples and is adored by people. By Good Friday, he will be betrayed and all his friends will abandon him. On this day, he rides the colt of a donkey. On Friday, he is lifted up on the cross.

What a difference a week can make. The king who arrives to the adoration of the crowd is the king who will wear the crown of thorns.

But what kind of king is Jesus?

1. Jesus is an anticipated King

Why was there such a strong anticipation of a new King? One reason is that everyone in Israel grew up being taught from the Old Testament about a coming King:

Micah 5:2 NIV

2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Isaiah 9:6–7 NIV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Jeremiah 23:5–6 NIV

5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.

The people have been taught their whole lives from the Bible to anticipate the coming of a king who would bring freedom and justice.

Additionally, Israel was oppressed by Rome. They desperately wanted freedom from their enemy.

When Jesus arrives in Jerusalem for the passover celebration, the crowd goes wild and they start chanting “Hosanna to the Son of David” - this is a declaration that Jesus the king had arrived to liberate Israel.

Jesus is an anticipated King

Do you anticipate the return of our King?

Story of Joel after youth group

1 John 2:15–17 NIV

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Our king is an anticipated King. Do you live in anticipation of his return?

2. Jesus is a humble King

Conquerors or military heroes came in on white stallions.

The donkey was a symbol of peace - The prince of Peace rides a symbol of peace into the city of peace (Jesus comes to bring peace between man and God).

Why is this an important attribute to bring out?

The nature of the people of the kingdom should reflect the nature of it’s King. In other words, as followers of Jesus the humble King, we need to exude humility ourselves.

Humility is to make a right estimate of oneself. It is no humility for a man to think less of himself than he ought.

Charles Spurgeon

Philippians 2:5–8 NIV

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

A man needs above all to be saved from what is the root of all sin—his self-will and his pride.

Andrew Murray

Walking in humility says “I still need Jesus. I still need to be led by the Spirit. I still having growing to do. I still don’t have all the answers, but I know the one who fulfills every need.”

Church - check your heart. Are you walking in humility - living in such a way that you are constantly learning and growing - or have you got it all figured out by now?

Our King is a humble king.

3. Jesus is a saving King (hosanna)

As he approaches the Jerusalem the crowds chant “Hosanna.” This term, while morphed a bit, has it’s roots in the idea of “Save us.”

The expectation is that Jesus is coming to save them from the Romans and establish a kingdom that will never again be defeated by her enemies.

They are crying out for salvation, but they want salvation from their circumstances. And isn’t that just like us? We pray, we plead for salvation from our circumstances, and often ignore the problems that got us into those circumstances - our sinfulness - our selfishness.

And that’s what’s so amazing about this passage - and about Jesus.

He looked beyond the circumstances and addressed the real need. He didn’t come to save Israel from Rome. He came to save the world from sin and death.

If Jesus did what they wanted and expected, Israel could have been freed from Roman rule, and the entire history of Western civilization would have been rewritten. But they still would be in their sins. They would still be lost and separated from God. Their hope would be, at best, a worldly, temporary hope for a good life now.

1 Corinthians 15:17–19 NLT

17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

But because Jesus is a saving King, he, through his death and resurrection opened up reconciliation with God for all people, not just Israel. Because of what Jesus did, the gospel could go forth into all the world so God could draw unto himself a people of every tribe, nation and tongue. Because Jesus is a saving King, we have an eternal hope that goes beyond circumstances for us, giving us peace in the middle of life’s storms.

Conclusion

Jesus is an anticipated king, a humble king, and a saving king. So what do we do with this? Our response to Jesus must be worship. The King has come to establish kingdom and he is coming again to bring us into its fullness.

Hebrews 12:28 NIV

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,

While the people on Palm Sunday worshipped Jesus that day, we see them all disappear by the end of the week. But for those of us who have been made alive through our faith in Jesus, our worship goes far beyond the mere celebration on one day. Ours is the daily worship of our king, who loves us so much that he died for us so that by faith, we could be reconciled to God.

Jesus is our King. I wonder, do you know him?

Play “Do you know him” video from S.M. Lockridge