Salvation Arrives!
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The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 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!”
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.
Lord be with us this morning as we read your word and hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast
This feast was the passover feast. It’s been observed since the exodus of Israel from Egypt. The tenth and final plague sent against Egypt was that of death. The firstborns across all Egypt would all die, unless they followed the instructions given by Moses for the people of Israel.
Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
Everyone was commanded to keep this feast, that crowd was certainly large. And this “Next day” the verse starts with is the selection day for the lambs we just read about in Exodus 12
Imagine it. Jesus starts off from Bethany to go to Jerusalem. You can’t see the city from there until you’ve come over the mount of olives. Then a steep walk downhill from there would give you an amazing view of the temple and the flood of people coming into the city. It wasn’t just people there were lambs… thousands… hundreds of thousands. In fact
two hundred and fifty-five thousand six hundred
lambs was the recorded number by Josephus a little over 30 years after this moment. With at least 10 people eating per lamb Josephus estimates 2.7 million people. Sure many locals may have selected and kept their own lamb but most of these people were traveling into the city for this festival. Because they were traveling, they couldn't easily keep a lamb for four days. So they would go to the Temple markets to purchase a lamb that the Levites had already rigorously inspected to guarantee it was without blemish. Take yourself to that moment in history… paths full of people and lambs heading into the city. The smell of sheep, the bustle of people, a shout here and there, then the recognition of Jesus. A chorus of Hosanna! breaks out and more and more notice him. In the coming days Jesus, like the lambs, is under inspection. The High Priest identifies no fault in John 18 and Pilate says “I find no guilt in him.” and seeks any opportunity he can to release Jesus in John 19. His inspection finds no fault that would disqualify him as the sacrificial lamb.
And so we are back to this moment, just as the lambs are coming in for inspection the lamb of God is presented to Jerusalem.
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!”
The people heard Jesus was coming, they saw him on the road and brought palm branches. The palm branch was used for the heroes of the people. About 170 years before this moment the culmination of the Maccabean revolt that freed Jerusalem occurred. For the victory walk and celebration - the people of Jerusalem laid out palm branches for Simon Maccabeus the one who saved them from their Greek oppressors. They had taken most of the city of Jerusalem but the fortress still stood occupied for over twenty years before it was defeated. The temple had been reconsecrated and the regular festivals and rites had begun again. The fortress overlooked them however. They could be harassed daily for their worship. Groups of warriors would come out and slaughter unarmed worshipers. They would do their best to desecrate the holy site throwing things that were unclean or defiled. The Greeks didn’t want them to ever make a comeback certainly not while they could still do something about it.
Now this people of Jerusalem lays out palm branches to essentially ask the same thing of Jesus to save them from the Romans by being their King. They shout Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna means “Save us!” This moment is the crowd referencing Psa 118.25-26
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.
But save them from what?
[SILENCE 1 2 3]
Psalm 118 is the most quoted psalm in the new testament. It points not only to the Messiah but the people of Israel have quoted this Psalm as the pinnacle of the “praise” psalms. This psalm would have been part of their upcoming passover observance. When they think of deliverance from Egypt at the passover they’re thinking of their deliverance from the Romans. The psalm is a comfort of praise to the God who delivers his people.
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
The Lord is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
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.
This is what the people wanted, it’s what they expected. They were looking for another prophet like Moses to deliver them from their Egypt. Moses told them to be expecting someone like himself.
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
Peter picks up this same verse in the middle of his sermon in Jerusalem in Acts 3 and Stephen points it out in Acts 7 with his redemption history lesson before they stone him. This all pointed to something better than the law of Moses. Moses delivered the people but eventually he still died and was buried. He gave the people a perfect law but it had no power to give them new life it could only condemn them. Every year you would get another lamb just to watch it die. Every year you’re reminded that you are a sinner and that debt is only covered not paid off.
[SILENCE 1 2 3]
Jerusalem cries out Hosanna yet only days later will be crying crucify him. They wanted the leader that freed them from the Romans and gave them their country back but they would still be slaves to sin even if free of Rome. God promised something much better than political revolution, a final sacrifice. A prophet like Moses that didn’t give the law but fulfilled the law on their behalf and paid the debt of sin off. They didn’t understand that from the beginning God had intended redemption. We can see it all the way back in Gen 3:15 when the curse comes and speaking to the serpent God says:
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
Peter identifies this plan of redemption later in the same message of Acts 3 to the people God had already saved from Egypt
You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
And how does this offspring present himself to his people?
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!”
Which comes from
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.
When a king rides a horse he’s prepared for war, coming on a donkey is a move of peace. The victory of God rarely looks like the world’s victory. The world wants “The Hammer”, but God provides the “Humble.” The way God works isn’t like our ways and we have to trust that the way God has done it is just as important as the promise it will be done.
But the people wanted a king sitting on a throne there in Jerusalem that would throw off the Romans just like the Greeks had been thrown off. Jesus however, was the Lamb that was being presented as the first born, perfect and without blemish. This “day of the Lamb selection” Christ presented himself while the crowds shouted for a warrior king.
Have you understood the reason Jesus came? Jerusalem was a little clueless here but they weren’t the only ones.
His disciples did not understand these things at first,
Even the disciples did not yet understand what was happening. They walked with him every day and still did not truly understand what He was really doing. If the people closest to Jesus could be that blind to the true mission we have to ask ourselves, are we?
Where are you at today?
The people cried out Hosanna! Save us! because they wanted a savior that relieved their tax burden and freed them from Roman rule. Are you looking to Jesus to get you out of debt, to make your life better, to have a better marriage, to fix our country? Are you following Jesus for who He is or do you say you follow him because of what you want him to do in your earthly kingdom?
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.
We have the advantage of knowing these things after Jesus was glorified. With the scriptures written down before our time. The word tells us who this Jesus is.
Jesus the eternal Son of God.
That prophet greater than Moses.
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The great I AM who chose to become the Lamb of God.
The son of Man who lived a perfect life under the law and died the cruel and shameful death of the cross.
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Christ died for our sins, he was raised on the third day, THAT is the King who rode a donkey through the gates. Don’t look for a messiah that will fix your messy earthly kingdom. Bow to the King who has secured your eternal one.
You may join us in prayer down front for anything going on I welcome you forward to pray with any of the elders.
Let’s pray.
