Marks of the King of Glory

Palm Sunday. The Triumphal entry. When Jesus comes into Jerusalem being celebrated by many people. Hailing him as their king. The people praising him had an earthly throne and kingdom in mind. They had their sights set way too low. We saw in the children’s story, taken from . That Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey. Being praised by people along the way. It was a big deal. Folks came out of their fields and away from their work to lay down branches and coats as a sign of respect to who that thought might be their new king. The one who would rescue them from their enemies.

People along the road to Jerusalem shouted “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

These multitudes of people shouting had no idea what it was that they were actually saying. The fulfillment of the words they shouted would come true in a way far deeper and more significant than anything they had it mind. You see, Hosanna is a term of praise, and is used often just as that. A term of praise. But the literally meaning of the two Hebrew words that make it up means “save us now,” or “save us we pray” This the Lord Jesus would do, more completely than anyone could have hoped for. As these people along the way to Jerusalem were praising Jesus, and hailing him as the coming king, they were acting out . The text we will look at this morning.

In this Psalm we will see how Jesus fulfills each of the marks laid out in the Psalm of the true King, the King of Glory. Which Jesus certainly is.

In the last few weeks I read a sentence that made my breath catch. It made me stop and pray. Which, I think, is the highest complement that I can give a book. The sentence? How does the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus make this text true? What that sentence did, was force me to look as what I am teaching and preaching and ask myself, “Am I preaching this text in a way that proclaims Jesus in a way unique to the world? Am I preaching it in a way that would make people of other religions uncomfortable? Or an I preaching it in a way that an Orthodox Jew, or Mormon, or atheist could basically affirm? If they can I am doing it wrong. If I am not linking, or showing the way the text is especially true or effective or precious or beautiful in the light of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then I am preaching in my own power and my power is not life changing. My way might, or might not, be interesting, or even helpful, but my way is not the right way. I must connect the text to Jesus. I must show how the text is true because of the resurrection of Jesus. The event that we will celebrate next week literally changed the universe. It should drive all that we do, from work, to marriage, to school to church. The resurrection of Jesus is what makes the difference, the resurrection of Jesus is what shows the acceptance of God of the sacrifice of Christ. And that is what makes all the difference.

All that to say, that was written 1000 years before Jesus’s birth. Though we know from , that Jesus is eternal, without beginning. So when I say his birth, I mean the incarnation. When Jesus came to earth as a human, fully God and fully man. We know that many Psalms point to Jesus, just as many prophecies point to Jesus. Even when there are other things that could and did fulfill the Psalm or prophecy in the time of their writing. is one of those. This Psalm of David was probably written as the ark of God was returning to Jerusalem after having been in Shiloh for so long. While this psalm might might not have been explicitly written about Jesus, he fulfills it in the triumphal entry, in addition to pointing to the second coming of Jesus at the end of time.

For today we will look at how Jesus fulfills each of the marks of the King of Glory here in .