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there we are let’s pray Lord God we thank you for your word we’re so blessed to have your word to have your communication your Revelation your perfect word for us as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path or open our eyes to behold wonderful things in your law open my mouth to declare it and spirit please work in Us For Your Glory in Jesus name amen well if you would please open your Bibles to John chapter 12 John 12: 12-19 few Bible page 1,75 if you’re using that this is our next passage as we work our way through the Gospel of John together and as I studied this new passage I was reminded of a certain famous Chinese proverb SL story perhaps you know it once upon a time there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years one day his horse ran away upon hearing the news his neighbors came to visit such bad luck they said sympathetically you must be so sad we’ll see the farmer replied the next morning the horse returned bringing with it two other wild horses how wonderful the neighbors exclaimed not only did your horse return but you received two more what great Fortune you have we’ll see answered the farmer the following day his son tried to ride one of the Untamed horses was thrown off and broke his leg the neighbors again came to offer their Sympathy For The farmers’s Misfortune now your son cannot help you with your farming they said what terrible luck you have we’ll see replied the farmer the following week military officials came to the Village to conscript young men into the army seeing that the son’s leg was broken they passed him by the neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out such great news you must be so happy the man smiled to himself and said once again we’ll see what’s the moral of the story that you cannot judge life’s different events as ultimately good or bad when they happen it’s only over time or better yet at the end that you can accurately judge whether someone has been truly fortunate or unfortunate to experience all that they did during their lives now why does John 1212-19 remind me of this Chinese proverb because in our next passage it seems like the fortune of Jesus suddenly changes for the better at the end of John 11 where we’ve been not too long ago the Jewish leaders decided that nothing would stop them from killing Jesus and at the beginning of John 12 some of these same leaders resolved to kill Jesus friend too Jesus himself says at the beginning of John 12 that he will be buried soon so are looking kind of Bleak death and presumably the failure of God’s promised salvation are looking imminent but as we’ll see in John 1212-19 Everything Changes Jesus is widely acclaimed by his people as king and Messiah he rides in Triumph into Jerusalem and even Jesus determined enemies complain that now Jesus appears Unstoppable so will everything turn out well for Jesus and his followers after all but you see the good luck of John 12:12 to 19 will not last Jesus desperate enemies will eventually and suddenly uncover away to seize him the crowds that now Acclaim Jesus will soon be persuaded to call for his crucifixion and cruci and crucified he will be Jesus will die outside of Jerusalem like a common criminal in one of the most agonizing and shameful ways a person could die when these other events happen the happy day of John 1212-19 will seem like a cruel dream but Jesus death will not be the end of the story either for his luck will turn again Jesus will rise from the grave in both power and glory and Jesus will prove that everything that happened to him was not really luck or chance at all rather it was the good purposeful Sovereign plan of his father working out for the Salvation of God’s people therefore like the disciples themselves in our passage as we’ll see we can only truly appreciate what happens in John 1212-19 in light of Jesus ultimate Triumph and our author John the Apostle he records these happenings in such a way so that when we see them accurately when we understand everything accurately we will believe we will believe in Jesus so let’s investigate the passage together the title of the sermon today is a day of Royal Acclaim a day of Royal Acclaim so once again John 1212-19 please follow along as I read on the next day the a large crowd who had come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him and began to shout hosan blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord even the king of Israel Jesus finding a young donkey sat on it as it is written fear not Daughter of Zion behold your king is coming Seated on a donkey’s Colt these things his disciples did not understand at the first but when Jesus was glorified then they remembered that these things were written of him and that they had done these things to him so the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the Tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify about him for this reason also the people went and met him because they heard that he had performed this sign so the Pharisees said to one another you see that you are not doing any good look the world has gone after him what we have here is John’s version of a famous event a famous event recorded in all four gospels and that is Jesus final often called triumphal entry into Jerusalem if we think about our traditional celebration during Easter time Resurrection Sunday time Holy Week well this event is what’s commonly known as Palm Sunday Palm Sunday or the Triumph lantry now John’s description as we see here of the original Palm Sunday is a bit briefer than the other gospels descriptions but consequently it’s even more to the point why does John record this event as he does John records Jesus Royal entry into Jerusalem so that you will believe in Jesus as God’s Messiah King and ready yourself for his ultimate Triumph John records Jesus Royal entry into Jerusalem so that you will believe in Jesus as God’s the Messiah King and ready yourself for Jesus ultimate Triumph This little passage divides nicely into five parts based on transition words in the Greek and the content of those different parts so those will be the parts of my sermon outline let’s begin our walk through the passage by looking more closely at the first part and verses 12 to 13 verses 12- 13 we see number one the crowd acclaims Jesus king the crowd acclaims Jesus king let’s read ver verse 12 and the beginning part of verse 13 on the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him now notice the first phrase of verse 12 on the next day this phrase tells us that what we about to see in our passage transpires the very next day after what came previously what came previously well John 121-11 which is where we were last time that supper in Bethany at which Mary Lazarus sister anointed Jesus with the costly Gard perfume as an expression of worshipful devotion also we learned there of the visitation of curious Jews from Jerusalem to see Jesus and laughter and Jesus and Lazarus afterwards now verse one if you just glance back there it tells us that those events took place 6 days before the Passover and in that year Passover took place starting on Thursday after Sundown and continuing until Friday before Sundown by the way if you’re confused by that this is Jewish Reckoning of time a new day begins at sundown rather than at midnight the Romans saw a new days beginning at midnight like we do in the west most of us in the west today but Jewish Reckoning it begins at sundown the new day begins at sundown so for the Jews then 6 days before the Passover would have meant Thursday Wednesday Tuesday Monday Sunday and then Saturday thus the events in Bethany probably took place on Saturday for verse 12 then to refer to the next day we are probably now looking at Sunday the first day of a new week now I should mention that there are some faithful Bible interpreters who hold that Jesus actually entered Jerusalem on Monday rather than Sunday and there are some decent Arguments for that position I’m not going to take the time to go through it right now I’ll just tell you that I’m ultimately not persuaded the best and most natural view of the text is a Sunday entry for Jesus if you’re curious as to why and want to know more about that issue just talk to me about it afterwards anyways so the next day probably Sunday is when these events are about to take place and notice the next phrase in verse 12 the large crowd who had come to the feast we have this group identified for us the large crowd who had come to the feast now we’ve actually seen this group before and we saw them right back in verse 9 if you glance there it says the large crowd of Jews the large crowd of the Jews so this is that same group of Jerusalem I’m sorry Jewish pilgrims who had arrived into Jerusalem early for the Feast of Passover so they could be ceremonially clean and they were there asking around about Jesus looking for Jesus and when they heard that Jesus was in Bethany they went there to visit him and to visit Lazarus so that’s that same group they probably went back to Jerusalem after visiting Bethany on Saturday it’s not that far away just on the other side of the Mount of Olives they went back to Jerusalem after visiting but they’re about to do something new with Jesus on this Sunday once this large crowd according to verse 12 hears that Jesus is now himself coming out of Jerusalem coming out to Jerusalem sorry stumbling a bit there they go out to meet him they hear that Jesus is coming they’ve gone back to Jerusalem themselves now they’re going to go meet Jesus and notice with what they go to meet Jesus they go with an item they go with palm branches that is the leafy large branches of the date palm a tree that is common to Palestine and the whole of the Middle East now John just mentions that they have these branches and doesn’t say anything further it doesn’t say what they do with the branches but presumably these Jews are waving them around and also even as the other gospels tell us directly they’re spreading the branches on the road laying down these branches on the road along with their own coats to serve as a kind of red carpet for Jesus to travel down the Mount of Olives to the city of Jerusalem now why palm branches you might ask well back in that day the date palm as a sturdy tree that grows and produces green leaves and Delicious Fruit even in arid climates it had become a symbol of strength prosperity and even victory in the Old Testament the righteous are said to flourish like palm trees palm trees were C carved all over Solomon’s Temple as an appropriate decoration and God commanded Israel in Leviticus 2340 to use palm branches along with the branches of other leafy and sturdy trees in celebration of the Feast of booths actually the Divine command about using palm branches during the Feast of boo it connects to an important later intertestamental event I’ve spoken to you before about the Jewish maban revolt against Antiochus epiphanies he’s that Greco Syrian King who essentially tried to Outlaw Judaism well when the Jews successfully overthrew this king’s Rule and took back Jerusalem in 164 BC the Victorious Jews marched around Jerusalem waving palm branches and other foliage associated with the Feast of booths and this is because the new Feast commemorating the Jews Victory and the cleansing of the temple that Feast known as the Feast of dedication or Hanukah it was supposed to be as Splendid and as happy as that beloved Feast of booths so palm branches made another appearance all this to say in Jesus day not only had palm branches become a symbol of strength and victory but they had become something of a nationalist symbol to Rally behind especially when in the first century Israel was once again dominated by a foreign power this time Rome unsurprisingly many coins uncovered and many synagogue decorations uncovered from this time period by historians and archaeologists they also feature palm branches became an important symbol for the Jews so then if these Jews excited about Jesus finally arriving in Jerusalem for Passover they again go out to meet him but this time with these palm branches these symbols of strength prosperity and victory even nationalist symbols of Israel if they go out to him in this way what are they proclaiming about Jesus in case we’re in any doubt we have the rest of verse three it says I’m sorry verse 13 and it says and began to shout they began to shout Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord even the king of Israel notice the beginning verb phrase in verse three this is an imperfect verb tense in the original Greek which indicates ongoing action in the past or the beginning of ongoing action so the translation would be they were shouting or they began shouting with the idea that they continued to shout what are these Jews shouting your Bibles may have some of the following words in small capital letters which is your Bible translators way of letting you know that these people are quoting the Old Testament specifically they quote Psalm 118 Psalm 118: 25- 26 which read Psalm 1825 to 26 oh Lord or in Hebrew oh Yahweh oh Yahweh do save we beseech you oh Yahweh we beseech you do send Prosperity blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh Now quickly something to know about Psalm 118 by Jesus Day Psalms 113 to Psalm 118 had become part of a collection known as the halel that’s a series of six praise songs to God for his Deliverance of Israel from Egypt this collection of Psalms was sung on every one of Israel’s main feasts including Passover and Psalm 118 if you happen to look at it pay attention to the rest of it you will see that it is clearly Messianic it is a Psalm 4 telling the coming of Messiah and what he would do so then this great crowd this large crowd with Jesus entry into Jerusalem they’re not only quoting the words of a praise song traditionally sung at Passover but they are applying the words in a very appropriate way considering the Psalms original context they are in essence proclaiming Jesus to be the long awaited Messiah and king of Israel you see in the beginning of their statement in verse 13 hosana kind of a famous word right hosana what does that mean well Hosanna is just a Greek transliteration of a Hebrew phrase we read from Psalm 118 our Bible say do save that’s hosana do save or save now that’s Psalm 18:25 Hebrew hos or Aramaic n it’s just transliterated into Greek hosana hosana originally was a prayer to God for God to rescue in Salvation but over time the meaning of that word slightly changed kind of like how the word radical that we talked about last week how that changed over time so happened with this word hosana by Jesus day Hosanna had come to be used simply as a cry of Jubilation and praise so with a meaning like praise Glory Blessed Be that’s the way people were using hosana at that time though perhaps there was a tiny flavor of that original save now meaning Lord please do save anyways this is what the crowd is continually shouting Around Jesus Hosanna but they also shout something else blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord now that’s a phrase that might be used to welcome any Pilgrim coming into jus Jerusalem for Passover hey you’ve come in the name of the Lord you’re blessed too but again think about the greater context of Psalm 118 surely the crowd is think about the people’s expectations of Jesus in John 12 they are using this phrase not merely to welcome Jesus as a pilgrim but to Proclaim his special honor and blessing as God’s arriving king and the crowd finishes with in their shouting even the king of Israel with which is not a phrase from Psalm 118 but it does capture the overall sense of the people’s acclamation in the other words and people do not wish to leave un to leave ambiguous why Jesus specifically is receiving shouts of praise and blessing he is no ordinary Pilgrim he is the one foretold by Psalm 118 he is the special one coming in the name of Yahweh or coming from and on behalf of Yahweh God himself Jesus the crowd plain announces is the king of Israel all right then the crowd acclaims Jesus as king but how will Jesus himself respond we find out in the next part of our passage verses 14 and 15 number two Jesus purposely fulfills Messianic prophecy Jesus purposely fulfills Messianic prophecy look at verse vers 14 to 15 again Jesus finding a young donkey sat on it as it is written fear not Daughter of Zion behold your king is coming Seated on a donkey’s Colt well far from dodging or dismissing the people’s acclamations Jesus overtly affirms by his own actions what the people are saying about him that he is Israel’s promised King specifically Jesus finds a young donkey even a donkey’s cult and rides on it into Jerusalem now John doesn’t go into the remarkable way that Jesus through his disciples obtained this cult John apparently trusts that the readers already noticed from the other gospels or that it’s not particularly important for John’s purposes he leaves it out you can read it you can read about it later if you check the parallels in the synoptics but why is riding out of donkey’s Colt into Jerusalem a messiahship confirming act seems kind of random well John quickly points out that doing this fulfills prophetic scripture specifically a word of Prophecy from Zechariah Zechariah 9:9 which is part of the text we read earlier in our service Zechariah 9:9 says this Rejoice greatly oh Daughter of Zion shout in Triumph oh daughter of Jerusalem behold your king is coming to you he is just and endowed with salvation humble and mounted on a donkey even on a Colt the full of a donkey now just listening to that me speaking Zechariah 9:9 you may notice that John here doesn’t quote the whole thing doesn’t quote the whole original verse he chooses again to focus only on certain relevant details from that prophecy so let’s consider the words of Prophecy as John gives them in his gospel here in chapter 12 the prophecy begins with fear not in verse 15 fear not which is interesting because those words do not originally appear in Zechariah 9:9 where is John getting fear not from by including these words John is perhaps combining Zechariah 99 with another Old Testament prophecy sometimes the New Testament writers do this they they actually refer to multiple prophecies at once in a citation possibly John is thinking about Isaiah 40:9 which has a similar phrase or actually several prophecies in Isaiah begin with do not fear so we could be referring to any of them alternatively John could be paraphrasing the context of Zechariah 99 which is again something that the New Testament writers sometimes do when they quote prophecy the context of Zechariah 99 is largely about how God will deliver Israel from all fearful enemies and bring lasting peace to and for his people so they would have good reason to fear not though Messiah is God’s Victorious King he is not a cause of fear for God’s true people we see next in John’s version of the prophecy in verse 15 the phrase Daughter of Zion fear not Daughter of Zion now Daughter of Zion is just a poetic description for the people of Jerusalem and by extension the people of Israel Zion was originally the name of one of the Hills of Jerusalem and then a fortress on said Hill but Zion eventually became a name synonymous with Jerusalem itself or figuratively speaking a name for the chosen Dwelling Place of God so Zechariah says that one day in the future the people of both Jerusalem and then by extension all Israel they will witness something that might cause them to fear but actually should not what shouldn’t the people of Jerusalem fear and why shouldn’t they fear it we find out in the next words of verse 15 behold your king is coming Seated on a donkey’s cult evidently what the people should not fear is the arrival of God’s promised king and the reason they should not fear is the K King’s choice of a rival Transportation which is a donkey now we need to understand that there was not any stigma or dishonor attached to donkey travel in the ancient world I don’t know how we think about donkeys today but donkeys are not a dishonorable animal they’re not a animal to be looked down actually they are a preferred travel animal because of their generally smooth ride maybe better than some other animals you might choose even great men in the scriptures will other great men I should say will ride on donkeys or mules mules are just a horse donkey hybrid great men would ride on donkeys or mules Abraham incredibly wealthy Abraham he rides on a donkey when he Journeys to mount Mariah to sacrifice his son Isaac that’s Genesis 22 King David is provided with a donkey to ride on when he flees his son Absalom in second Samuel 16 the sons of David who were princes in Israel they each had their own personal mules to ride according to 2 Samuel 13 and when David has Solomon crowned King he has Solomon ride to the coronation site on David’s own mule that’s First Kings 1 so there’s nothing dishonorable there’s nothing shameful about riding on a donkey or a mule but there is one thing that a donkey is definitely not a war machine in ancient times you did not see soldiers riding into battle on donkeys but on what instead horses chariots and maybe camels but there’s no donkey core in the Army for Kings then who wanted to emphasize their fearsome power and their war- making ability they would often ride around on horses and chariots as the later Kings of Israel and Judah actually did but the donkey was definitely an animal for peace when war or battle was not even necessary so if your king is coming to you on a donkey you know that he’s coming to you gently and peacefully and as if coming on a donkey didn’t emphasize the king’s peacefulness gentleness and yes even humility if that all those were not emphasized enough Zechariah further specifies that God’s Messiah is coming on a donkey’s cult if a donkey is considered unthreatening then how much more the Colt or the fo of a donkey this is like a baby donkey younger versions of animals tend to be less aggressive and more easily frightened the same is true of a young donkey actually the other gospels record that Jesus has to bring the mother of this fo along for the Jerusalem entry presumably because this young donkey would be otherwise too scared to do the ride and needs his mama so then you can see while there have been plenty of rulers across time interested in Striking fear into both their enemies and their own subjects such is not the approach of God’s coming King he comes to his people humbly and on the most unthreatening travel animal possible a donkey’s cult and note that this was not an accident as if Jesus couldn’t find another animal he’s like oh I guess this will do no this was on purpose and it was in fulfillment of zechariah’s Prophecy so then between the people’s Royal acclamation and Jesus own fulfillment of prophesied Royal action the message surely comes through loud and clear Jesus Jesus of Nazareth Nazareth is God’s promised Messiah King or does that message come through loud and clear because look at what we see next in the passage in our third part of the passage verse 16 there seems to be a surprise number three the disciples only understand later the disciples only understand later verse 16 again these things his disciples did not understand at the first but when Jesus was glorified then they remembered that these things are written of him and that they had done these things to him in some ways the statement of verse is unsurprising or should be unsurprising to us because initial misunderstanding of Jesus via his words or his works that’s actually one of the recurrent themes that we’ve been seeing in the Gospel of John Jesus says something people don’t get it later has to be clarified people Jesus does something people don’t get it later has to be clarified so we’re seeing that again no surprise but in another way this statement of verse 16 is highly surprising because how could it be that Jesus own disciples really don’t understand what is going on with this momentous entry into Jerusalem do they not realize that the people are in fact acclaiming Jesus to be Messiah do they not grasp that Jesus donkey ride is a prophetic affirmation of Jesus kingship are these disciples really so ignorant are they really so dense how do they even get to be Jesus disciples well before we criticize them too much and feel Superior in our elves let’s remember that we Christians today have a lot more information now especially in the New Testament than the disciples did at this point with Jesus I mean before I told you in this sermon or before maybe you read this section of the Gospel of John did you know that Jesus donkey ride was a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 specifically Also let’s remember that we’re still looking at the disciples operating before the coming of the indwelling and Illuminating Holy Spirit yes Holy Spirit was still active at that time but not in the same way that he is now for us we Christians all have and enjoy today the Holy Spirit and his manifold Ministry and that’s because of Christ accomplished salvation work but it was a little different for the disciples so let’s cut them a little slack it is possible here in verse 16 that the disciples simply did not know or did not remember until later this specific Prophecy from Zechariah regarding Jesus entry by Donkey Colt into Jerusalem but I would argue that there is more to the explanation of verse 16 than that it’s not that the disciples are so biblically ignorant that they do not realize at all what the crowd is asserting or how Jesus is fulfilling prophecy rather the disciples do not understand in full they do not they do not yet appreciate from the Old Testament the full significance of everything that the people and Jesus himself are doing on this special arrival day but notice according to verse 16 when they do reach this full remembrance and understanding it is when Jesus was glorified when Jesus was glor glorified okay so when when was Jesus glorified what is that referring to well to answer consider a parallel comment back in John 2:22 when Jesus was speaking to the questioning Jews as to what Authority he had for cleansing the temple he told them that they will destroy this Temple and in three days he would raise it up the Jews think he’s talking about the temple building but Jesus was speaking about own body and then John tells us the following in John 2:22 so when he was raised from the dead his disciples remembered that he had said this and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken hey that sounds a little bit like John 12:16 and I believe that’s on purpose between these two verses we see that John equates Jesus resurrection and Jesus glorification and such as appropriate though the raising up of the Son of God on the cross is part of the son’s glorification it is only at the resurrection that we see the son accepted Vindicated and exalted because of his life and crosswork so it’s kind of like that process or that that Act of glorification is beginning with the cross and culminating at the resurrection in other words the resurrection is the key to understanding the different all the different events of Jesus life even the ones here in this passage in John 12 and I’ll say more about this later but we do get from verse 16 that the disciples do not yet fully understand even though this day is already looking pretty good for Jesus and it only gets better as we come to part four in the text which is verses 17 and 18 number four Jesus Witnesses draw more followers Jesus Witnesses draw more followers look at verse 17 and 18 so the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the Tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify about him for this reason also the people went and met him because they heard that he had performed this sign well in these two verses John shows us further the effect of Jesus spectacular resurrection of Lazarus not only have many of the visitors to Bethany the day before believed in Jesus and then formed this new Palm Branch waving royalty acclaiming crowd now processing with Jesus to Jerusalem but also as the witnesses of Lazarus Resurrection continued to spread the word another crowd forms from Jerusalem to meet Jesus on the way so get the picture we’ve got Jesus coming down from the Mount of Olives with this great crowd aside and behind and then we’ve got another crowd surging forth from Jerusalem to meet him it’s just a sea of people coming in two directions all swarming in around Jesus getting more and more whipped up in enthusiasm for him as the arriving king of Israel everyone’s shouting hosana blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord It’s hard to imagine a moment where Jesus is more popular than he is right here but before we move on to our last point do note again the end of Verse 18 why does this new crowd join the existing one parading with Jesus toward Jerusalem it says because they the people heard that he had performed form this sign H we’ve heard a lot about signs in this gospel does this statement remind you of anything that we heard back in John 2 you actually might be noticing there are several parallels between John 2 and John 12 the beginning of Jesus public Ministry and the end of it and this is not accidental this is purposeful from the author so that we might notice something John 2:23 John 2:23 says this now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast many believed in his name observing his signs which he was doing doesn’t that sound like John 12 we’re at another Passover too and a whole bunch of people are flocking to Jesus even believing in Jesus because of his sign or signs but what came after in John 2 John 2 24 and 25 but Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them for he knew all men and because he did not need anyone to testify concerning man for he himself knew what was in man huh in John 12 people are believing in Jesus they are following Jesus because of his amazing Resurrection sign but what is the quality of the people’s belief in Jesus what is the quality of their discipleship is this true saving faith that beholds Jesus in his Divine Glory or is this merely the shallow faith of those looking for more and more signs Amazed by the miraculous always wanting to see more we’ll see right though right now certainly look looks like everyone just can’t get enough of this Jesus everyone’s flocking to him everyone’s believing in him and such is the Doomsday scenario for a certain group that we see again in verse 19 come now to the final part of our passage number five Jesus enemies see and despair Jesus enemies see and despair verse 19 so the Pharisees said to one another you see that you are not doing any good look the world has gone after him well we see again here the Pharisees those are the popular religious leaders of the Jews the rabbis and the scribes they were the ones who helped lead the Sanhedrin along with the chief priests back in John 11 to agree officially to kill Jesus and remember their argument the Pharisees warned the Sanhedrin that if nothing was done everyone would believe in Jesus and then the Romans would come and take away both our place and our nation well Pharisees worst nightmare seems to be coming true if what the crowd is doing is any indication well then everyone is going away to believe in Jesus oh no so what are the Pharisees to do well what Wicked persons often do in this kind of situation they complain and they blame each other oh see despite our official resolution you all are accomplishing nothing I’m surrounded by incompetence look at Jesus go Pharisees also utter some despairing hyperbole look the world has gone after him the whole world okay now literally the whole world hasn’t gone after Jesus this is just a huge crowd of Jews in Palestine but to the Pharisees it certainly feels like all the people in the world are now siding with Jesus instead of them our defeat is sure everyone is going after that Nazarene and that’s where our passage comes to an end that’s where this little section comes to an end what a wonderful day for Jesus right he’s proclaimed King ushered into Jerusalem his followers multiply his murderous enemies despair but does anything strike you as off in this picture are there details presented here that ultimately don’t don’t make sense didn’t Jesus just say earlier in John 12 that he would be buried soon how does that fit with a day of obvious and widespread Royal Acclaim didn’t Jesus also previously asue he avoided he deflected all efforts to let himself be presented and crowned as king why is he now letting people do that to him now why is he letting the people get away with their wish and what of these people proclaiming Jesus to be king do they know what kind of King he is they’re waving Paul branches shouting hosana are these people excited about Jesus only because they see him as a deliverer from Rome are they thrilled with him only because he’s a mighty Miracle Worker and he’s their ticket to personal and National Prosperity the money the health the blessing is going to be pouring in if we make Jesus king indeed there is much here that by itself it does not make sense with Jesus life and Ministry thus far and soon this day of Royal Acclaim will make even less sense for as I mentioned in the beginning in just 5 days Jesus will be betrayed you’ll be arrested he’ll be falsely tried and he’ll be handed over to the Romans and then both the Jewish leaders and the common people will call out for Jesus death Jesus will be crucified and he will die after just one day on the cross and then he’ll be buried in the Tomb what good is a dead Messiah how can Jesus be God’s promis fulfillment of Psalm 118 or Zechariah 9 or any other Old Testament prophecy if he dies so Jesus rote on a donkey told to Jerusalem so what he’s dead what do all the happenings on this day of Royal Acclaim even mean in light of Jesus rejection and death was everyone mistaken in acclaiming Jesus as king even the bringer of lasting peace were the disciples mistaken for believing in Jesus what is God doing is there even a plan here or is everything just different turns of good and bad luck the resurrection Jesus glorification by Resurrection is the key to understanding all of this with both the cross and the resurrection in view suddenly this day of Royal Acclaim makes sense why does the crow Acclaim Jesus as king because Jesus really is the king he is God’s Messiah and he had to be acknowledged by his own people even though they would ultimately reject him Jesus says in Luke if these speaking about the people acclaiming him if these are quiet the stones will cry out God’s Messiah has to be acknowledged the universe cannot bear up under the weight of that not happening but the people would still reject him in fact the people’s rightful acclamation of God’s King makes their ultimate rejection all the more heinous and God’s enduring that rejection all the more righteous why does Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey’s cult not simply to fulfill some random prophetic requirement of God’s eventual Messiah but to show what kind of Messiah he is and what his first coming is all about I don’t know if you noticed from our scripture reading of Zechariah 9 earlier but the odd aspect of that whole passage and maybe this is what tripped up the disciples is that the Messiah is betrayed there as coming peacefully for a certain reason if you consider the whole chapter and that is because Messiah has already subdued all of Israel’s enemies according to Zechariah 9 there will be one day where there are no more war or even weapons of war because God’s King already has Dominion from Jerusalem to the ends of the Earth that clearly has not happened by John 12 so in what sense can Jesus legitimately ride in Jerusalem into Jerusalem on a donkey’s cult in fulfillment of zechariah’s word perhaps we should just spiritualize the passage in Zechariah and say well you know God seemingly meant a physical Dominion for his messiah in the Old Testament but he really meant spiritual this is about figurative this is about Jesus defeating figurative enemies and not literal enemies is that the solution no that is not the solution for that changes God’s word and ultimately makes nonsense out of it rather the solution is in the resurrection Because by the resurrection we see as the disciples eventually did that Jesus God’s king would have two comings and not just one one later coming indeed to establish messiah’s Little Kingdom across the Earth but also one earlier coming to bring his people salvation from their sins now here’s a here’s a key tip for Bible interpretation the Old Testament prophets often do not clearly distinguish between the two different comings of the Messiah of God’s Messiah they will sometimes mentioned those things right next to each other as if it were all one coming thus Zechariah 9:9 which describes Jesus first coming is placed amid other prophecies describing Jesus second coming now this is not unfair this is all describing the coming of Messiah but there’s this two coming aspect to it which the disciples and others did not understand at first it is because Jesus came first to save people and deal once and for all with their sins that he comes as Zechariah 9:9 says he comes humbly even on a donkey’s Colt for that is what his people need they do not need a wrathful conqueror but they need a humble savior who speaks and provides peace and doesn’t Jesus say the same himself in his ministry even in the Gospel of John John 3:17 for God did not send the son into the world to judge the the world but that the world would be saved through him it says in another place I have many things to judge concerning you but I’m not doing that right now I’m focused on saving you it’s because there are two comings and what explains why there would need to be two comings is because he would be rejected and killed this salvation could only be required or could only be accomplished if Jesus is rejected and killed by his own people and this is why Jesus allows fickle Believers to ACC claim him King in John 12 when he did not do this before and this is why Jesus parades into Jerusalem even though he knows the Sanhedrin is ready to kill him Jesus previously wouldn’t let his enemies force the issue of his kingship or his death but now he does why because now the time of his glorification by death and Resurrection is at hand God’s promised King is humbler than any anyone could have dreamed for he the very Son of God he prepares to lay down his life in place of his own peoples to function as a substitutionary sacrifice to pay off his own people’s sins once and for all and to provide his people the messiah’s own record and standing of righteousness this sacrifice will ultimately prove not to be weak and tragic but strong and glorious and how by the resurrection the Son of God cannot stay dead he’s too strong of a king for that and the god of Life cannot remain in the grave because he must live always to intercede for his people thus even the final verse of our passage it finds its true significance in light of Jesus resurrection the Pharisees despair that their efforts are useless Jesus cannot you overcome he will still save the world and how true will that sentiment ultimately prove though temporarily Jesus will seem to suffer defeat John 3:16 famously says Jesus died to save the world not meaning that he saves every single person in the world but that he saves the whole doomed human race and he even saves individual persons from all over the world from every tribe tongue nation and people Jew and Gentile many commentators point out the profound jposition of verse 19 with what immediately follows and if you just peek at verse 20 what do you see we see surprisingly that there are Greeks there are non-jews Gentiles at this Passover feast who want to see Jesus you know what then verse 20 is a preview of exactly what the Pharisees fear the world is going after him that is exactly right ultimately that will prove to be the truth because of Christ’s death resurrection and glorification thus should every enemy of God and every enemy of Christ ultimately despair the scheming and hostile efforts of God enemies will indeed accomplish nothing they are right to complain against one another in a certain sense they are indeed accomplishing nothing except what God has already ordained for the good of his people and for his own Glory though Christ and his people may indeed suffer temporary setbacks they will never truly be defeated you in Christ will never truly be defeated for for Jesus is the king and V his victory and yours through him is already assured and brethren we still haven’t seen the end of it yet yes by Faith by these scriptures we now see the resurrection and we have God’s spirit we have the scriptures in full we can understand Jesus life his circumstances even this day of Royal Acclaim in the sense that they were meant to be understood we can see better than the Old Testament Saints and even Jesus own disciples could but we too are still waiting for the final outcome we too are waiting to see what will happen next but not in the sense of that farmer that I told you about in the beginning what we say I don’t know what’s going to happen we’ll see how it turns out we know how it’s going to turn out we just haven’t seen it yet how will it turn out it will turn out with a coming of Christ and the ultimate victory Of God One Day the Earth will be filled as the prophets declare with the knowledge of the Lord with the knowledge of Yahweh one day all injustices will cease one day sin and death will be no more one day the enemies of God will all be justly and powerfully vanquished amen and as we’ve been hearing from Revelation also lately one day God will wipe away every tear from his people’s eyes they will dwell we will will dwell in his very presence in the new heavens and the new Earth and we will know him and his Joy forever life right now is going to continue to be a confusing series of setbacks and successes even globally speaking we will sometimes see the world more welcoming to Christ and his followers and less welcoming to Christ and his followers even hostile even deadly and persecution sometimes it may look like that we personally or we as a church or we as a people of God are on the verge of total Triumph and other times it looks like we are on the verge of total defeat but in the end we will see we’ll see how all of it was working out for good coming together for the Everlasting Joy of God’s people and the glory of Christ in his kingdom so how should we resp respond to this text today if you’re with us and you don’t know Jesus but you’ve now seen him rightfully acclaimed as God’s promised King in this passage and today is the day to obey the good news of the Gospel repent and believe give up leave behind set aside all your sins all the things you love more than God anything that dishonors God give that up and trust in Jesus trust in his life his death on the cross his resurrection to be the only thing that makes you right with God not your own works not your baptism not any ritual is Jesus life and death on your behalf and nothing else if you will repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Jesus himself promises you will be saved you will have his eternal life now you will go into his kingdom you will be with him in the Triumph that is to come that certainly is one way you want to apply this passage but if you already believe and I trust that most of you do who are here in church today then keep on pursuing your lord Jesus Christ even when you don’t understand why your life is playing out in a certain way keep pursuing him for in the end you will see and we will see together as the bride of Christ that God’s goodness and faithfulness were pursuing us all along how wonderful it will be to behold like the disciples did in part when they saw Jesus resurrection how it all came together one day you will see we will see together but let us trust the Lord along the way and let us keep pursuing him I can’t help but think of Proverbs 3:4 and5 which is always a great verse to keep in our minds but Proverbs 3:4 and5 says trust in the Lord or trust in Yahweh with all your heart and lean not in your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge Him and he will direct your paths let’s close in prayer Lord Jesus thank you for this encouraging word Jesus you are the king and Lord forgive us for how before we knew you and sometimes Lord even when we slip into sin in our lives now after knowing you we say no Jesus is not King I’m King I’m calling the shots now I’m going to do what I want I’m going to get what I need oh Lord forgive us for that no no you are the king you are the only King we dare not usurp your throne but thank you by your kingly act of coming and sacrificing yourself on our behalf that even our Rebellion even our usurpation of your kingship you have paid the penalty for it so that there is now no condemnation for us where we in Christ Jesus what an amazing King and Lord because we see the scriptures unveiled in their fullness we see not just the prophecy and the coming but also the death and the resurrection and the promise of a second coming we now see Lord Your Glory we now see what God you were doing all along and we confess that it is wonderful it is so wise it is so powerful what a great God you are Lord if there are those who don’t know you who’ve heard this message today I pray that they would put their trust in you as the only great God and King but for Lord those of us who do know you God I pray that we would just keep on pursuing you that we would find such rest and joy in you because you are the king and you love and you will take care of your people if you do this if you march in Jerusalem in this way to die but also to rise again how will you not freely give us all things all things that we really need oh Lord Comfort bless encourage Empower your people by this word today Lord we will give you