Christ, the King

Introduction

Over the past few weeks, I have been meditating on the person of Jesus Christ. Especially as Easter is coming next Sunday, I want to dwell on this one who is our Savior and our King. Today, we are going to be looking at the story of the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem or what has become known as palm Sunday because today is palm Sunday. But in this account there is a lot that we can learn about Jesus Christ.

America is an amazing country and I love the freedoms that we have here but there is something that we lost with our democratic republican government: we lost a sense of absolute submission to a King. The picture we have of Jesus Christ in our text this morning is not:

a president- His authority is not granted to Him from the people: He is the sovereign creator of the universe. He does not have to lobby support to get his will accomplished. If he says it it will be done. He does not worry about reelection every four years. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

He is not a dictator- A dictator is one who stole power by force. Though Jesus will come some day riding a white horse and having his clothes stained with the blood of his enemies, Jesus has stolen nothing because it was already his. When we think of a dictator, we think of a cruel man who cares nothing for his people. That is not the image of Christ we see in this chapter.

He is not a ceremonial monarch- Jesus doesn’t just fill a role with no power. Matthew 28:18 “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” The word power here means authority.

The best term for Jesus Christ is the benevolent King. Political theory played with this idea in the 1800’s into the 1900’s, but no-one has embodied it more than Jesus Christ.

Son of David

To gain some context on this passage I want us to back up a few verses because what happens before Jesus comes into Jerusalem leads up to the events of Palm Sunday.

Matthew 20:29–34 “And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.”

This may seem like a random story that has nothing to do with what is about to happen, but if you compare this story with other healing stories in the gospels you will notice one notable difference: Jesus allowed himself to be publically called the Messiah. Consider the healing of the leper in Matthew 8:4“And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.”

The disciples had been trying to get him to declare himself for awhile now, but he always said my time has not come. John 7:6 “Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.”

By calling Jesus the Son of David they were directly claiming that Jesus was the coming Messiah who would rule over His people Israel. The time had now come for Israel to behold their King. And Jesus was not refusing to let them proclaim who he was; in fact, we see Jesus arranging the events that are about to happen in fulfillment of OT prophecies. But what kind of a King would Jesus by?

The Prince of Peace

Matt 21:1-11 As Jesus is approaching Jerusalem, they stop by Bethpage a city near by Bethany and one that he would have known well. Jesus instructs two disciples to get an ass and a colt. And if any one should question them, they were just to say the master needed them.

Jesus would eventually ride the colt, a young donkey that had never been ridden before, but the mother was brought along to keep the colt on track. This moment was symbolic for a number of reasons:

It fulfilled prophesy

Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; Lowly, and riding upon an ass, And upon a colt the foal of an ass.”

Many years before Zechariah had prophesied that their King would come bringing salvation to the people riding on a colt of a donkey. This passage was about a conquering King bringing peace.

It is easy to misunderstand the significance of the donkey. When we think of a donkey, we think of a humble animal. Humility is not the intended picture here though Jesus is humble. In fact, vs 5 adds the word meet to the prophecy. But the word meet does not speak of weakness or even really humility as much as strength under control or gentleness. So who is this King? He is a gentle King who comes fulfilling prophecy.

2. It speaks of peace

The imagery of riding on a donkey spoke to more than just gentleness though. This King would bring peace. Notice he does not ride into town on a warhorse, but on a donkey.

If you continue reading the prophecy in Zechariah 9:10 “And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, And the horse from Jerusalem, And the battle bow shall be cut off: And he shall speak peace unto the heathen: And his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, And from the river even to the ends of the earth.”

The main point of the text is that he would bring peace. When a king would come into a city with offers of peace, they would often ride on a donkey. We see this in:

1 Kings 1:33 “The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon:”

Rulers have marched into cities for centuries, but they all had different motives. Unlike Julius Caesar who entered Rome as a victorious conqueror, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, demonstrating humility and peace instead of worldly power and domination.

Jesus is called the Lord of peace in 2 Thessalonians 3:16 “Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.”

What is peace? It can be defined as tranquility, or the cessation of war. Jesus did not come this first time into Jerusalem to bring war. He came to bring peace. As lost sinners we are Romans 5:10 “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” We were enemies and at war with God. We chose the wrong side. But Jesus made a way so that we could have peace with God. We could be reconciled to God by Jesus Christ.

What Kind of a King is Jesus? He is the prince of peace.

The Glorious King

The palms

The story does not end there though. Matt 21:8-17 says that as Jesus entered the city people laid down their coats and branches from the trees on the ground. John specifically says they were palm trees which is why we call it palm Sunday.

John 12:13 “Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

This is similar to an event in the OT where the people laid down their coats and proclaimed Jehu the King.

2 Kings 9:13 “Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.”

And we see that in the throne room of heaven the redeemed of all nations stand before the throne with palm branches in their hands

Revelation 7:9 “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;”

2. Their cry

Hosanna means O Save 2 Samuel 14:4 “And when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king.” The people cry out Save Us, Son of David. They are looking for a King to save them.

3. The temple

The next story is probably one of the most surprising stories in all of the NT because it doesn’t seem to fit with the picture that most of us have of Jesus. We see Jesus as merely the gentle savior who picks up lambs and holds little children on his lap. But the prophesies of those events did not speak merely of a gentle, meek King; they spoke of a conquering King.

Jesus comes in and overturns the tables of merchandise in the temple. He drove out those who were unjustly profiting off of the temple sacrifices.

vs 13 quotes Isaiah 56:7 “Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, And make them joyful in my house of prayer: Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.”

vs 15 As the people see what is done they stand in wonder at it. The word wonderful here means causing people to wonder. And they continue to cry out Hosanna.

The priests don’t like what is happening and they ask Jesus to rebuke the children. Jesus points out that they were fulfilling.

Psalm 8:2 “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength Because of thine enemies, That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.”

What King of a King is Jesus? He is a mighty, glorious King. Our weak sensibilities do not like this king of a King today. We want a God who worships us; not a God who deserves to be worshiped. But it doesn’t work like that. Jesus is King.

He has absolute authority to do what he wants. Often we complain when life doesn’t go the way we want it to. We get angry at God. While God is a kind, loving, gentle God who cares about our grief; He is also a sovereign God. Romans 9:20 “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”

We have lost a sense of awe of God, a fear of God. Not only does He have the right to demand of our lives whatever He wills; He has the power to make us do it, if He wishes. God can redirect our circumstances so we have no other choice; He can chasten us when we won’t listen.

Why is it that obedience to God is so optional in the church today? Do you think that God is merely saying, “Will you please do this?” Jesus is our sovereign King.

I challenge you: start underlinging in your bible every command. I use a blue fine point sharpee. Pray through those underlines in light of this message. What is God not asking you to do, but telling you to do?

If He says, go into all the world; what must we do?

If He says, put off anger, what must we do?

If He says, be not conformed to this world, what must we do?

If he says, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, what must we do?

Obedience is not optional.

Conclusion

Let’s tie these two pictures of Christ as King together. Jesus is a gentle King come to bring peace. He wants us to enjoy a right relationship with God. He loved us enough to die in our place so we could be reconciled to God. This is the heart of Jesus, but we must not mistake that for weakness.

Maybe we have gotten to comfortable with the loving God and forgotten that He is also the sovereign God. CS Lewis in His a horse and His boy tells the story of a boy who gets lost in desert ruins. He is scared for his life and here’s jackals out in the desert and a lions roar. But in the middle of the night, he is comforted by a little cat. Also in the story, the girl he is traveling with and her horse are chased by a lion who scratches the girls back with his claws. It is revealed later on that the gentle cat and the clawing lion were both Aslan. Aslan had scratched the girl to show here how it felt for her servant girl whom she had left to be beaten. The lion chased them also to give them the speed they needed to arrive on time to the King of the country. An often repeated refrain in the series is Aslan is not a tame lion.

We have over domesticated God so that we can leave Him or take Him if we please. God is all about us now. God.

Our hearts are just like the hearts of the people of Jerusalem. One moment they cried Hosanna when they thought it was in their best interests, but not six chapters later when he stood before pilate arrested. The fickle hearts of the people could take Him as Lord when it coincided with what they wanted, but not when it wasn’t in their interests.

So we are willing to say ,”Yes Lord” when it is what we want. Are you willing to say “Yes Lord” to our gentle but sovereign King today?