The Triumphant Savior

The Triumphant Savior

Hopewell Baptist Church

February 9, 2020

Opening Illustration – Kobe Bryant, joined the NBA as a teenager out of high school, and despite all the people who seemed to be against him, he became one of the greatest players of all time.

Transition – Just like Kobe Bryant, Jesus went on to be the most important person of all time. Most. Important.

Big Idea: In the Triumphal Entry of Jesus coming to Jerusalem, Jesus continues to fulfill Old Testament Messianic Prophecies as he continues to move towards completing His purpose, as the Word of God, to become the Savior of the World.

Pray

I. The Praise of God –

a. – The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem

i. The next day – Sunday (after the feast with Martha, Mary, Lazarus)

ii. The large crowd – people made of Judeans, Galileans, and other pilgrims from around the known world who have gathered for the Passover Feast

1. Most likely met Jesus on the road from Bethany to Jerusalem after hearing He was on His way

2. This large crowd was most likely made up of quite a few non-believers, as well as many believers.

b. – 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!”

i. Palm branches – national symbol of the Jewish nation

ii. Meet – g:hypantesis => being somewhere when someone arrives. Also, to “encounter” them. The people wanted to encounter Jesus.

iii. Crying out – To utter aloud, to cry with joy (or horror or surprise).

iv. Hosanna – Save Us! Bring Salvation Today/Now!

1. Significant because this comes from (v.25) which is sung daily during the Feast of Tabernacles.

v. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord –

1.

vi. Nathanael called Jesus king (), however, Jesus coming in as King was not the type of King that the people were expecting

1. Political King versus Jesus being the King of Everything ()

c. The Jewish people, gathered from near and far for the Passover, somehow instinctively know (or have some inclination of) the deity of Jesus, that He is worthy of their praise!

II. The Fulfillment of Prophecy –

a. – 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!”

i. Prophecy 1 – Your king is coming

1. Daughter of Zion – people of Jerusalem; the Jewish people

2. Behold, your king is coming – where Jacob prophecies about a kingly descendant of Judah whose rule will extend to all the nations.

ii. Prophecy 2 – sitting on a donkey’s colt

1. The main thing regarding this passage is the fulfillment of Scripture

2. Fulfillment of , “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.”

b. – 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.

i. Hindsight is 20/20.

ii. The Crowd missed the real, the true point of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus (to become the Savior)

iii. The disciples were confused about the significance of everything that was going on.

iv. We must remember that this was all written Post-resurrection/ascension, and that the disciples’ realization was also, at least post-ascension (“but when Jesus was glorified,”)

v. What is it that they remembered?

1.

2. Other Messianic Prophecies

a.

b.

c. Etc.

III. The Spread of His Name –

a. – “The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.”

i. There are two crowds mentioned in this passage.

1. Crowd of Pilgrims there for Passover -v.12

2. Crowd that was there for the raising of Lazarus – v.17

ii. This is a beautiful description of how God saves us:

1. First, he raises us from the dead

2. Secondly, he calls us out of the tomb, out of the darkness to be in the light, and Jesus is that light, the light of the World!

iii. The crowd who witnessed the raising of Lazarus has been telling of what happened, bearing witness to that event, to everyone coming to the Passover, it would seem.

1. Bear Witness = Martyreo, same word we get Martyr from. A martyr is someone who bears witness with their life for a cause.

b. – The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.

i. This sign = raising of Lazarus

ii. The crowd = those in town for the Passover

iii. Meet him = to encounter Jesus

1. They crowd, who had been told by those who witnessed the raising of Lazarus, wanted to encounter this man, Jesus, who had raised Lazarus from the dead and called him out of the tomb…

2. This leads into the last point….

IV. Becoming the Savior of the World –

a. The crowd went to follow Jesus because those who saw Lazarus raised from the dead bore witness regarding what Jesus had done…things that could only be explained as supernatural power, Power of God…

b. – So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

i. They are talking to one another…I imagine seeing them standing off to the side of all of this watching the crowd go after Jesus as they plot and plan against Him.

ii. World – Overstatement/exaggeration in the meaning of it, as the Greek for this is kosmos, which means all the people of the world.

1. They are watching what is there world, their source of affirmation, etc. walk away and follow this Jesus.

2. The Pharisees represent “The Man” or “The Establishment”, and are of course threatened when someone or something usurps their control and people move away from them and to something different.

3. People from all over the known world are leaving and following Jesus because of what He did in .

iii. They are gaining nothing, i.e. by sitting back and watching Jesus do His thing, the Pharisees and other leaders are gaining nothing, and are mad because they are losing. When, in all reality, had they not try so hard to deny and hide the fact that God was working amongst the people, they would have gained much more than they could have ever hoped for.

V. Application – Because Jesus is the Savior…

a. We must be ready to encounter Jesus, just as the Jews were ready to encounter him (, )

i. – we must prepare ourselves to encounter Jesus on a daily basis

b. Just as Jesus was not the type of King that the Jews expected, serving Jesus does not always look like we would expect it.

i. – “be ready in season and out of season.”

VI. Invitation

a. Repent and Believe

b. Be Baptized

c. Surrender to Ministry