The King We Needed

Good Morning

Pray

Today we are going to be looking at the triumphal entry, when Jesus entered into Jerusalem for the last time. He came as a King, but not the King that the Jews were expecting or wanting at the time. They were expecting the King to come and run the Romans out of their land. They were expecting the King to come in power and strength. Even though they knew the old testament and what it said about the coming Messiah, they were short sighted and looking only at the here and now. They were not thinking about the things that are eternal. All they cared about was defeating Roman and being liberated from them. They did not realize that they were still slaves to the sin that was in their lives, and that master was far more harsh and unforgiving than the Romans. Our hope has never been and must never be in Washington DC. Our hope is at the cross and the empty tomb, in the risen King, Jesus Christ. Let’s read out verses and see what kind of king He is.

John 12:12–19 (NASB 2020)

12 On the next day, when the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, indeed, the King of Israel!” 14 Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: 15 “do not Fear, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” 16 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 for Him. 17 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. 18 For this reason also the people went to meet Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not accomplishing anything; look, the world has gone after Him!”

Read from commentary

This story seems ridiculous, but it was real. That was the kind of king that the Jews were wanting. All the pomp and circumstance, the display of power and wealth. They wanted a king like Alexander the Great, a king like David. That was not the king that they needed, that we need.

This was the beginning of the Passover Week. There were hundreds of thousands of people streaming into Jerusalem for the remembrance of the Passover. All the talk was about Jesus and the signs and miracles that He had done. They were also talking about Lazarus and how Jesus had raised him from the dead. This large crowd assembled outside of Jerusalem lining the road where Jesus was coming into town. At Jesus’ birth, the wise men came looking for the King of the Jews. Now the nation is ready to crown Him and proclaim Him King. They had grabbed palm branches and were waving them for the new King. They were shouting Hosanna!, which means “save us” they were calling Him the king of Isreal! They were quoting the Old Testament. Psalm 118:25-26

Psalm 118:25–26 (NASB 2020)

25 Please, O Lord, do save us;

Please, O Lord, do send prosperity!

26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord;

We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.

Jesus found a colt of a donkey to ride in on, He did this to fulfill the prophesy in Zechariah 9:9-10

Zechariah 9:9(NASB 2020)

9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion!

Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

He is righteous and endowed with salvation,

Humble, and mounted on a donkey,

Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

When a King was coming in peace, he would ride in on a donkey. The donkey was a symbol of humility and peace. Jesus came to lay His life down. He came in love and humility to offer salvation to all. When He comes again, He will be on a war horse and He will be displaying all His power and glory.

Jesus tended to withdrawn from the crowds during His public ministry. Before when He would come to Jerusalem, He would come quietly and not make a big fuss. Now that His ministry is coming to an end, He enters the city to the shouts and cheers of the crowd. He presents Himself as the Messiah.

Jesus came as the perfect lamb of God. It was required of the Jews, that they had to bring a lamb to be sacrificed. They had to have the lambs live in the house with them for 3 days. One for every household. It was estimated by the historian Josephus, he was a Jewish historian, that there was around 250,000 lambs in Jerusalem during the Passover week. That’s a lot of lambs. Some people say, he is over exaggerating the number. So lets cut the number in half, there were only 125,000 lambs in Jerusalem. I can see it in my mind, all those lambs and Jesus riding down the mountain into Jerusalem. The perfect lamb of God, the final sacrifice for all sins. The Jews didn’t see it. That is not the king that they wanted! It was the King that they needed.

John tells us that the disciples didn’t understand what was happening. It wasn’t until when Jesus was raised from the tomb, that they started putting things together. They were a slow bunch! They didn’t understand much of anything the whole time they were with Jesus. They would argue about who was going to be the greatest in Jesus’ kingdom. They were always asking Jesus to explain things and they still didn’t get it. We aren’t much different than they were. It wasn’t until Pentecost when the Holy Spirit arrived and gave them divine understanding, that the light came on.

The people that were at the raising of Lazarus were there and they were testifying about it and it made the crowd more interested in seeing Jesus and Lazarus. This Passover was different that any before. There was a buzz and an excitement that wasn’t there before. They were talking about Jesus and Lazarus. They were looking forward to the new king freeing them from Roman rule. This buzz and excitement was driving the Pharisees and ruling religious leaders mad. They were seeing all the people gathered and singing Hosanna, and it infuriated them. They didn’t like that no one was paying attention to them. They wanted to be the center of attention. They like people making a big deal about them. They new that all that they were trying to do to stop Jesus, was not working. They were having no effect on Him. They had so much hate in their hearts. They wanted to kill Jesus and Lazarus, but call them selves righteous. It is hard to imagine that much hate for someone who was healing and helping people. Sin has that effect on us. It blinds us to the truth. It makes us slaves to it and its dark ways. Thankfully Jesus freed us from this slavery. His death on the cross gave us freedom. It gave us light from the darkness. He is the perfect lamb of God.

We know that in 5 days some of the same people that were cheering and ready to make Jesus king, were shouting crucify Him, crucify Him. They wanted to have a known criminal released instead of Jesus. They went from crown him to kill him in just 5 short days. Oh how quickly our hearts can turn. We must guard our hearts with the word of God, so that we too, do not turn. It is so easy for us to turn back to our flesh and let the light of Jesus that is in us dim. We must keep the light burning bright in us. We must keep studying God’s Word and trying to become more like His son, our King Jesus.

Jesus came as a victorious king, just not the one that the Jews wanted. He was the King that the world needed. He was not concerned with the political issues of the day. He was concerned with the sin that was destroying everyone.

What kind of king are you wanting Jesus to be in your life?

Do you want Him to be the strong warrior king to come into your life and make everything easy?

Do you want Him to take vengeance on all those who have wronged you?

Do you want Him to come and make this country what it use to be?

There is a new day coming!!

We need Him to come and give us life, to redeem us for our sin. To restore our broken relationship with God. If you are looking for an easy life, for everything to be ok here on earth? Then Jesus is not the King you are looking for. That is not why He died on the cross. He didn’t suffer and die so that you can have an easy life. He didn’t die so that we can have vengeance on those that we don’t like. He suffered and died so that you can have eternal life, with Him in heaven. He took on the wrath of God so you don’t have to. He died for you and me.

Let’s pray