Jesus, the King

“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

Our second reading is from The Gospel According to Luke 19:28-40:

Luke 19:28–40 ESV

And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

May God bless this, the reading of His holy and infallible Word.

Deuteronomy and Holy Week?

What does Deuteronomy have to do with Holy Week? Everything!

In Matthew 5:17, we find Jesus saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and Prophets, I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Jesus is not saying in this verse that he has come to fulfill all the requirements of the law. (To be clear, there are other passages that teach this, such as Lk 24:44, this however, is not what he is saying here). Jesus is saying He came to accomplish the purpose of the law, and in doing so, He reveals the true meaning of the law.

This is confirmed in Romans 10:4, where Paul writes, “Christ is the end of the law”. This is a very special Greek word. It does not mean “end” in sense of canceling the law, but rather, “end” is in the sense of the “finishing point” of the law. In other words, every OT law finds its ultimate finishing point in Jesus, and consequently, He determines the true meaning of every law.

Holy Week provides a perfect opportunity to illustrate this:

Palm Sunday reveals the true meaning of the kingship laws

Maundy Thursday reveals the true meaning of the sacred feasts

Good Friday reveals the true meaning of the sacrifice laws

Easter reveals the true meaning of cleanliness laws.

What you will be learning in the four sermons I will preach this week will transform the way you read your Old Testaments, and give you an even greater appreciation of the New Testament. So let us begin our journey though Holy Week, beginning with Jesus as King.

“When You Ask for a King”

In our Scripture lesson this morning, God anticipates a day will come when Israel will ask for a king, and God is O.K. with this!

This may come as a surprise if you have read First Samuel, for in that book we read...

1 Samuel 8:4–7 ESV

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

If you are perceptive, you probably noticed that Israel used almost verbatim the words found in Deuteronomy where we read, “set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me.” Consequently, it is not the request for a king that was wrong, but rather Israel did not meet the most important precondition for asking for a king—having God as their King.

Why is this?

It is because a people that does not have God as their King quickly falls into idolatry. Listen to what God tells Samuel next:

1 Samuel 8:8 ESV

According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.

As an illustration of this, consider how low the Chief Priests and other religious leaders of Israel were willing to stoop at the trial of Jesus in order to preserve their idolatrous power and privilege. They said something, no Jew should never say, “We have no king but Caesar.” (Jn 19:15). We will look at this passage in more detail in a moment.

In addition, in Deuteronomy 17, we find three other preconditions. The first is that the king must be a man whom God chooses. Second, the man who would be king must be from “among your brothers.” Finally, a third precondition, he must internalize the book of Deuteronomy--copying it, daily reading it and always obeying it!

Who can live up to all these standards?

There is only one man—the God-man Jesus Christ!

This brings us to the confession of the people on Palm Sunday and our second point:

“Blessed is the King Who Comes in the Name of the Lord!”

On that first Palm Sunday, the crowds shouted out, “Blessed is the King who comes in the Name of the Lord!” This is the first and most important confession a person can make concerning Jesus. This ancient confession is found in Romans 10:9:

Romans 10:9 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Even before we confess that Jesus is Savior, we must confess that Jesus is King.

Why is this?

The reason we must first confess Jesus is King, is because only as our King can He be our Savior. Jesus was crucified as “the King of the Jews”:

John 19:14–22 ESV

Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

A King represents His people. Only as our representative head, could Jesus bear our sins upon the cross.

Some people claim they can accept Jesus as Savior, without receiving Him as King. They are deceiving themselves. According to Jesus, even creation knows the truth as to who is their Lord and King. If we fail to praise and worship Jesus as King, even “the stones will cry out!”

The Stones Cry Out!

There is irony in what Jesus says. Often Scripture equates our hearts to stones. In the prophet Ezekiel, we find this promise:

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

What does this tell us?

It tells us that our hearts are so hardened by sin and rebellion, that we need a miracle!

As we begin Holy Week, we need the Holy Spirit to soften our hearts so that we receive Jesus as our King.