THE KING IS COMING: SO CLOSE YET SO FAR AWAY

HAVE YOU EVER HAD THE FEELING OF BEING SO CLOSE BUT STILL SO FAR AWAY?

WAITING FOR A PACKAGE

WAITING FOR A PACKAGE TO ARRIVE IS AN EMOTIONALLY DRAINING EXPERIENCE

WE KNOW WHAT WE ORDERED

WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO TRACK THE ORDER

THAT LAST STEP WE’RE IN THE DARK UNTIL IT ARRIVES

EVER HAD TO SIGN FOR A PACKAGE AND KEEP MISSING THE DRIVER BECAUSE THEY CAN’T TELL YOU WHEN THEY WIIL ARRIVE??

SLIDE: IT’S FRUSTRATING WAITING FOR INFORMATION AND ANTICIPATION TO MEET OUR EXPECTATION.

TRIUMPHAL ENTRY

THE WEEK BEFORE EASTER WE REMEMBER JESUS RIDING ON A DONKEY AND PALM BRANCHES

BUT THERE’S SO MUCH MORE HAPPENING RIGHT IN FRONT OF US THAT WE MISS THE ANTICIPATION OF THAT EVENT BECAUSE WE REMEMBER THE WRONG INFORMATION WHICH LOWERS OUR EXPECTATION.

THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY IS NOT SO MUCH A STORY ABOUT HOW AND WHAT AS IT IS ABOUT WHO, WHY, AND WHEN.

THIS IS A STORY ABOUT TWO KINGS, TWO KINGDOMS, AND THE EXPECTAIONS OF THE PEOPLE.

THIS WASN’T JESUS FIRST TIME GOING TO JERUSALEM, HE WENT AT LEAST 3 TIMES EVERY YEAR FROM THE DAY HE WAS BORN.

WE HAVE ONE BIG QUESTION TO WRESTLE WITH TODAY:

SLIDE: HOW DOES UNDERSTANDING THIS EVENT IMPACT MY LIFE TODAY?

READ: LUKE 19:11-28 ESV

BEFORE WE GET INTO THE PARABLE, WE NEED TO INVESTIGATE TOGETHER:

WE KNOW WHERE HE WAS GOING (JERUSALEM) BUT:

SLIDE: WHERE WAS JESUS COMING FROM?

MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, AND JOHN ALL SAY HE WAS COMING FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVES

THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU MAY REALIZE

THERE ARE 8 GATES TO THE TEMPLE

4 OF THEM ARE ON THE WESTERN WALL

YOU CAN SEE 3 OF THEM, BUT WE’RE LOOKING AT 2 IN PARTICULAR:

PICTURE: WILSON’S ARCH

PICTURE: ROBINSON’S ARCH

REMEMBER A FEW WEEKS AGO I TOLD YOU THE STREET THAT RUNS PARALLEL TO THE WESTERN WALL WAS LIKE MAIN ST.

THAT MAIN ST IS CALLED THE CARDO, IT RUNS NORTH TO SOUTH (HEAD TO HEART)

IT IS BELIEVED THAT ROBINSON’S ARCH WAS LIKELY THE GATE THE PRIESTS USED TO GO IN AND OUT OF THE TEMPLE.

WILSON’S ARCH IS WHERE A WELL KNOWN JEWISH HISTORIAN JOSEPHUS RECORDS THE KING WOULD ENTER THE TEMPLE FROM WILSON’S ARCH, WHICH IS ON THE WEST SIDE.

JESUS WAS COMING TO JERUSALEM FROM THE EAST SIDE.

SLIDE: WHY WAS EVERYONE GOING TO JERUSALEM?

PASSOVER

JEWS FROM ALL OVER THE KNOWN WORLD WOULD HAVE COME TO JERUSALEM FOR PASSOVER BECAUSE IT WAS COMMANDED BY GOD TO DO SO IN LEVITICUS 23.

THIS IS THE CONTEXT OF THE PARABLE WE STARTED WITH IN LUKE.

THE PARABLE TELLS A STORY ABOUT A GENEROUS KING WHO LEFT HIS KINGDOM AND WAS RECEIVED BY A DISTANT LAND BUT HIS OWN PEOPLE DID NOT WANT HIM AS THEIR KING.

THE INFORMATION

THE FIRST REASON IT’S IMPORTANT THAT JESUS ENTERED JERUSALEM THROUGH THE EAST GATE IS THAT GOD HAD ALREADY TOLD HIS PEOPLE HOW TO KNOW WHO THEIR MESSIAH WAS.

SLIDE: THIS WAS NOT JUST AN UNUSAL RIDE, IT WAS A SIGN.

READ: ZECHARIAH 9:9 ESV

English Standard Version Chapter 9

9  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.

BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU

SEE, ALL OF THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE COMING INTO TOWN FOR PASSOVER WERE OVER ON THE WEST SIDE.

WE KNOW THAT KING HEROD CAME TO TOWN ALSO FOR PASSOVER

EVERYONE WANTED JESUS TO ENTER JERUSALEM LIKE A KING.

SOME SCHOLARS NOTICE THE LANGUAGE USED ABOUT HIS ENTRY IS VERY SIMILAR TO A JEWISH REVOLT BEFORE HIS TIME THAT CAME INTO JERUSALEM TO CLEAN AND CONSECRATE THE TEMPLE. HE CAME ON A WAR HORSE. J

ESUS CAME ON A YOUNG DONKEY THAT PROBABLY BARELY GOT HIM INTO THE CITY GATES.

GET THIS PICTURE IN YOUR MIND FROM LUKE 19. THE CROWDS ARE CHEERING AS THIS TEACHER AND MIRACLE WORKER THEY’VE HEARD ALL ABOUT COMES IN TO THE CITY, WEEPING, AND RIDING ON A YOUNG DONKEY.

HE CAME NOT IN POWER, BUT IN THE MOST HUMILIATING AND UNDERWHELMING WAY.

BUT THERE WERE SOME WHO HAD BEEN WAITING FOR HIM

READ: JOHN 12:12-13 ESV

English Standard Version 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!”

THE PEOPLE WHO WERE AWAITING HIM AS KING SHOUT “HOSANNA!”

IT LITERALLY MEANS “SAVE NOW” IT’S A CRY FOR HELP.

THEY’VE WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS DAY.

SALVATION SEEMED SO CLOSE NOW.

SLIDE: HOW DOES UNDERSTANDING THIS EVENT IMPACT MY LIFE TODAY?

WE REMEMBER AND CELEBRATE THIS DAY BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT DONKEY WASN’T LEADING JESUS TO A THRONE, BUT TO A CROSS.

WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW IS THE DESIGNATION FOR CALLING HOSANNA AND WAVING PALM BRANCHES WAS A CEREMONY FIRST INSTITUED FOR THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.

THAT’S A TOTALLY DIFFERENT FEAST, BUT SEE HOW IT HELPS US SEE WHAT IT IS THAT JESUS IS DOING FOR US BY ENTERING JERUSALEM.

HE DID RECEIVE A CROWN, NOT OF GOLD, BUT OF THORNS

HE WAS WRAPPED IN A ROYAL GARMENT, BUT IT WAS ONLY PREPARATION FOR BEING WRAPPED IN BURIAL CLOTHES

HE WAS EXALTED AND PRONOUNCED AS KING, NOT TO GIVE A SPEECH FROM A PLATFROM, BUT A BREATH LADEN FEW SENTENCES FROM HIS CRUSHED BODY NAILED TO A CROSS.

HE DID IN FACT COME TO SAVE US, JUST NOT IN THE WAY WE EXPECTED.

SLIDE: DO YOU LIVE READY TO WELCOME THE KING OR HAVE YOU COMPROMISED FOR A LESSER ONE?

… THE KING IS COMING, AGAIN

SEE, WHEN THE PROPHETS WROTE ABOUT THE MESSIAH COMING, THERE WERE ELEMENTS THAT MATCH PERFECTLY WITH JESUS FIRST COMING, BUT THEY ALL EXPECTED HIM TO BE AN EARTHLY KING.

DID THEY MISS IT OR IS THERE MORE TO COME?

THE MESSAGE OF THE CHURCH IS NOT JUST THAT CHRIST CAME TO DIE ON THE CROSS FOR OUR SINS AND GIVE US A NEW LIFE WITH HIM

WE PROCLAIM HE’S COMING BACK SO THAT WE WILL BE TOGETHER FACE TO FACE.

HE CAME THE FIRST TIME ON A DONKEY, BUT HE’S RETURNING ON A HORSE

HE WORE THE CROWN OF THORNS THE FIRST TIME, BUT HE’S COMING WITH AN EVERLASTING CROWN

SLIDE: THE CHURCH IS PREPARING THE WAY FOR HIS RETURN.

THE GOSPEL THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN TO US IS LIKE THE MINA THAT THE NOBELMAN GAVE IN THE PARABLE OF JESUS

SLIDE: WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THE GOSPEL?

HAVE YOU SOWN IT TO SEE 10X THE IMPACT OF GROWTH OR HAVE YOU BURRIED IT BECAUSE YOU MISUNDERSTAND THE KING?

IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO BE A GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT

SLIDE: THE KING IS COMING SOON.

I TOLD YOU THE EAST GATE WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU KNOW

PICTURE: EAST GATE

THERE’S ONLY ONE GATE ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE TEMPLE

IT LEADS DIRECTLY TO THE ENTRANCE OF THE TEMPLE INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES.

JESUS HAS LED US AS THE ONLY WAY TO THE FATHER AND HE IS COMING BACK TO BRING US TOGETHER IN HIS PRESENCE.

READ: EZEKIEL 44:1-2 ESV

English Standard Version Chapter 44

Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. And it was shut. 2 And the LORD said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut.

I DON’T KNOW WHEN JESUS IS COMING BACK, BUT I KNOW WHEN HE DOES HE WILL ENTER THROUGH THAT GATE

AS LONG AS THAT GATE IS CLOSED WE MUST PREPARE THE WAY

AS LONG AS THAT GATE IS CLOSED WE MUST SHARE THE GOSPEL

TODAY IS ALWAYS THE DAY TO BE FAITHFUL TO WHAT GOD HAS TOLD US TO EXPECT

IN JESUS, THE INFORMATION MEETS OUR ANTICIPATION FOR THE WORLD TO BE MADE RIGHT, WHICH IS THE DESIRED EXPECTATION OF EVERY PERSON BECAUSE GOD PROMISED IT.

PRAY