HERE IS OUR KING

Introduction

-The Bible gives many names and titles to Jesus, and today we want to consider Him as King—and so take your Bibles and turn to John 12, and in a little bit we will also look in Psalm 118 and Zechariah 9.

-In the grand ole USA we don’t have kings, so we use the term rather loosely for different people and things. There’s the king of wrestling, Jerry “the King” Lawler; there is the king of pop, Michael Jackson; there is the King of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley; we even have a Burger King—but none of those kings are anything like the true King, the One and Only King, the eternal King, the King of kings, Jesus Christ.

-The passage we are looking at today is known as the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ—we normally celebrate this on Palm Sunday. The account of this event comes rather early in the gospel of John as the apostle spends several chapters on teachings and events of Jesus during Holy Week that the other gospels do not record but are theologically rich and helpful in understanding who Christ is and who we are in Christ.

-John’s record of the triumphal entry is short and sweet, and yet it continues with his theme of demonstrating the identity of Christ. In the passage, Jesus enters Jerusalem as the long-awaited Messiah-King who is entering the city to bring people a victory—but it is a victory that they didn’t understand that they needed.

-And so, as in most of the rest of the gospel, the people of the day did not quite grasp Jesus’ identity, they look to Jesus for a victory and deliverance that Jesus didn’t intend and overlook the one that He attained. Unfortunately, even in our day, because people have a skewed view of Jesus’ identity and they overlook the victory (the triumph) that Jesus did provide them.

-I want to consider what this passage tells us of Christ and the people’s reaction to Christ, and hopefully it will settle in our hearts once and for all the true Kingship of Christ and the victory that can be ours.

John 12:9–19 ESV

9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. 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!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” 16 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. 17 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. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

1) The projection of the crowd

-To give you some context to the passage, not but maybe a few short weeks before this, in the village of Bethany, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, after which He spent time in some rural villages as the Jewish leadership was seeking His death, but that time in God’s plan had not yet come.

-Then Jesus returns to Bethany and is the guest of honor at a feast in which Martha is helping to serve, Lazarus reclines at the table with Him, and Mary anointed His feet with ointment in prophetic preparation for His death and burial. This is occurring the Saturday evening before Holy Week.

-Bethany is not too terribly far from Jerusalem, and word gets around the region that Jesus is there in Bethany along with the one that He raised from the dead. People are curious and they want to see the risen man and the man who did the raising.

-Knowing the stories of His other miracles and teachings throughout His ministry, the people begin to really believe that Jesus is the Messiah. However, what happens is that they project onto Jesus their idea of what the Messiah is and what the Messiah should do.

-Now, for most of the people in the crowd, they have only gotten bits and pieces of information about Jesus because most of them were not eyewitnesses to His miracles and teachings. They didn’t have internet or news or social media in those days, so they couldn’t just look information up to verify the stories. They just took the stories they heard and their imagination went from there.

-So, as we all have a tendency to do, they take the little information they had and interpreted it the way they wanted to interpret it, and then projected onto Jesus their preconceived notions of who Messiah-King ought to be.

-And that is what makes the triumphal entry of Jesus so interesting. Jesus enters into Jerusalem in a manner that is unmistakably the claim of Kingship. There is no denying the statement that Jesus makes by His entrance—He is King.

-And the people celebrate Him as King. The laying down of palm branches (and in other gospels it tells us of the laying down of garments) and the shouts of Hosanna, and His riding on an animal into the city is reminiscent of a King returning in victory.

-But Jesus’ idea of His Kingship, and the crowd’s idea of Kingship, are in completely different ballfields. They saw a victor over Rome, Jesus came in as the victor over sin and death.

-What is interesting in John’s gospel is that quite often people make claims about Jesus according to one context that is completely wrong, but when taken in another context they are completely right but they just don’t know it or believe it.

~For example, in the previous chapter the high priest Caiaphas claimed that it is better that one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish. He meant it politically and militarily, and yet on the spiritual level Jesus, the One Man, died so that people would not perish in their sins.

~And now the people are hailing Jesus as King, and in their minds He is the one to bring the nation Israel to political prominence, when in reality Jesus is King over all and is setting up a spiritual kingdom that would have no end.

-But it makes me wonder about what it is we are projecting onto Jesus what is not true of Him or His ministry or His teachings. What do we say or claim or believe about Jesus that is not found in the Bible or is a twisting of His words?

~Is He the genie at our beck and call? Is He our ticket to comfort and riches and health? Is He beholden to our every whim? Is He there to serve us in whatever way we see fit?

-Or is He King, which means He is in control and is worthy of our complete submission? What is it that you are projecting onto Jesus that prevents the full weight of His Kingship from bearing down on your life?

2) The prophecies of the Messiah

-There are two prophecies from the Old Testament that are referenced that clearly indicate the Kingship of the Messiah, and thereby describe the ministry that the Messiah-King was supposed to have.

-The crowd in v. 13 chant a section from Psalm 118 that has overtones that the Messiah would be the descendant King from David’s line. I believe that the crowd knowingly uses the Old Testament reference in their acknowledgement of Jesus as King, but with their own idea of King as projected onto Him. But when the OT reference is taken in its context, it tells us exactly what kind of King the Messiah would be.

~So let’s read:

READ Psalm 118:22-26

Psalm 118:22–26 ESV

22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.

a) The foundation of faith

-In v. 22 He is called the cornerstone

-The term used there either refers to the large stone at the corner of a building’s foundation or it means the capstone at the top of an archway. Either way, it refers to something that is the beginning point of a structure and it also holds it all together.

-The Messiah-King would become the foundation of true faith in God. All throughout the Gospels Jesus lays claim that He is sent from God, He speaks only what He hears from God, and He teaches the only way to God, which is through Him.

-His death, burial, and resurrection inaugurated the New Testament that would last for all eternity, and only by abandoned trust in Him can someone be a part of the true faith.

-Unfortunately, as the verse states, this stone has been rejected. The builders, the leaders of the Jewish religion, rejected that stone thinking that they were doing God a great service by killing Him, when instead they rejected the one true foundation in order to cling to a faith that would never bring them to right relationship with God.

-The King is the One who founded the true faith, and as the psalmist says that is the day in which we rejoice.

b) The hero of war

-In v. 25 the people cry out to this cornerstone to save them. The Hebrew word is transliterated for us in the New Testament—HOSANNA!

-This is the cry of an oppressed people who are looking for a hero who will make war with the enemy and free them from their burdens.

-Right now superhero movies are the biggest box office draws, as people look to these others that have amazing abilities to take care of the bad guys and bring peace to the land.

~When the Jews took up these words and shouted them toward Jesus, that is almost the status that they gave to Him—they wanted Jesus to be the superhero that saved them from the bad guys.

-Yet, Jesus is a hero of war, but not a war that is necessarily seen. Jesus took on sin and death and completely defeated them. As was prophesied back in Genesis, the King would crush the head of the serpent.

-On earth in our day to day existence, evil still has its day as the shooting at a California high school reminded us. However, evil does not have the ultimate triumph. Jesus came in as a hero to defeat evil at the cross and is able to deliver people from its grip for all of eternity.

~So, you may look at Batman or Superman or Captain America or Iron Man, but Jesus Christ is the real hero and the only one who could defeat our greatest enemies.

c) The representative of God

-In our passage in John the crowd continued to quote this first part of v. 26 “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” To come in someone’s name means to come as the representative of someone with their full authority backing you up.

-Jesus, who is God the Son, came to earth to reveal and represent God in the most intimate, personal way—being human, relating to humans. Jesus is God’s chosen King to rule and reign for God for all eternity.

-Just as mankind was created in God’s image to have dominion over the earth, Jesus Christ is God in nature taking on full humanity to have dominion over all of creation.

-As God’s representative, He acts on God’s behalf, He speaks on God’s behalf, and He rules on God’s behalf.

~The crowds recognized Jesus as a representative from God, their only problem was that they did not like what they heard or saw and rejected the true representative from God looking for another that would never come.

-To hear and obey God’s representative, Jesus Christ, is to hear and obey God Himself….

READ Zechariah 9:9-11

Zechariah 9:9–11 ESV

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. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. 11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

d) The Savior of humanity

-In the beginning of v. 9, Zechariah calls the people to rejoice because the King is coming in triumph. He is described as righteous and bringing salvation.

-This King would be the one to deliver His people from all that harassed them and oppressed them. However, unlike popular opinion, it was not a deliverance from political enemies, or a deliverance from poverty, or a deliverance from pain, but a deliverance of the soul from the power and penalty of sin.

-Jesus may not have been the Savior-King that the people were looking for, but He is the Savior-King that all people need. He is righteous (meaning that He is the epitome of justice and all that is good and right), and even though we are not righteous He saves humanity by giving that righteousness to all who believe in Him.

~We are not right before God, but the King is right before God and He gives us that right standing before God as a gift through faith. That is true salvation…deliverance.

e) The standard of humility

-At the end of v. 9 it tells us that He is humble, riding on a donkey. The King is still submissive to God the Father, and serves the Father by willingly sacrificing His own life for people who would not necessarily look for Him.

-The King did not come to be served by to serve and give His life a ransom for many. Jesus did not come to oppress people through a dictatorship. He came to serve and be an example of humble service, like in the next chapter of John when He washes the disciples’ feet.

~Our King is humble…

f) The bringer of peace

-The fact that the King road in on a donkey is a key to the ministry that He has

~When kings were coming for war, they would ride the great, strong horses that would be symbolic of the strength with which they would attack their enemies

-But when a king would ride in on a donkey, it would be emblematic of them coming to a place in peace to make peace

~Jesus, the King, is our peacemaker. Through His sacrifice of Himself He made a way of peace with God, and through Him we can have peace with others.

-But I find it interesting that in Revelation 6 and in Revelation 19 the King comes on a great white horse—that is when He will come for war in judgment against a disobedient people

-But right now, He will be your peacemaker when you come to Him in faith

g) The liberator of captives

-v. 11 tells us that by the blood of the covenant the King will set the prisoners free

~Jesus said that the blood that He shed for us was the blood of the new and everlasting covenant

-By this covenant we are set free from the power and penalty of sin—as the song says: my chains are gone, I’ve been set free, my God my Savior my King has ransomed me

-And now it is only through the blood of Jesus Christ that you can be set free from your addictions, it is only through the blood of Jesus Christ that you can be set free from your fears, it is only through the blood of Jesus Christ that you can be set free from your wrong beliefs, it is only through the blood of Jesus Christ that you can be set free from the power of self and flesh and worldliness, it is only through the blood of Jesus Christ that you can be set free from your depressions and anxieties—only Jesus sets free. That is our King.

3) The problem of the leaders

-Jesus has been doing public ministry for over 3 years. Early on in His ministry the religious leaders took interest in what was going on. They knew of His teachings. They knew of His miracles. And now they knew that He raised Lazarus from the dead and in response the people were chanting their allegiance to Him.

-Instead of flocking to Him as the Messiah-King from God, the religious leaders instead decide that Jesus must die because He is taking all the people’s allegiance away from them. And to cover their tracks, Lazarus has to die too since it was because of him being raised from the dead that the people follow Jesus.

-But, to quickly summarize what it is they are doing, they are raising their fist at God and they are loudly proclaiming: “I don’t want Jesus as King”

~They are saying that Jesus will never be their King, He will never have their devotion, He will never hold their attention—they will never submit to Jesus.

-What is so sad is that they couldn’t deny the signs Jesus performed or their implications about Jesus’ identity, and yet they still could not come to faith due to their hard heart—and that is where so many people find themselves today, even within the church…

Conclusion

-David Crowder sang a song called HERE IS OUR KING that says:

Here is our King

Here is our love

Here is our God who's come

To bring us back to Him

He is the One

He is Jesus

-So, I ask you, is Jesus your King? Have you submitted to Him in faith and repentance? Have you admitted you are a sinner who broke God’s laws, and only Jesus the King can bring your forgiveness? If not, today is the day to recognize King Jesus in your life. During the invitation…

-But maybe you are a Christian, but there is an area of your life that you have not submitted to the Kingship of Jesus. You know, it might be easy to admit Jesus is King, but it is a whole other thing to treat Him as King over your life. He is the ultimate sovereign to whom every area of our lives is to be submitted. Maybe there is something in your life you need to submit to Him…

-Maybe you’re looking for a church home that preaches King Jesus in truth…