The Coming King
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Palm Sunday - The Coming King - John 12:12-19
Jesus fulfilled prophecy when He entered Jerusalem, and the crowds saw it with their own eyes. They even shouted out praise to Him: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" But they didn't understand what those words really meant. This morning we'll examine the Scriptures to see why Jesus entered Jerusalem on that Sunday long ago, what it meant then, and why it matters today.
Exegetical (what do we SEE?)
Multitudes came for Passover
We see that multitudes were traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover. There was a large number who were already in the city, and a large number on the road that day, which was the first day of the week. Passover itself would not take place until Wednesday and Thursday (because of the numbers of people, Judeans and Galileans celebrated Passover on different days), but people were eager to get to Jerusalem, set up camp, meet up with friends and family, and make arrangements for the feast.
Jesus came with His disciples
We see that Jesus came with His disciples. This is not surprising, since He traveled with them virtually everywhere. They were rarely away from Him for more than a few hours.
Jesus fulfilled Scripture
We see that Jesus fulfilled Scripture, and not for the first time. Josh McDowell, writing in his book “Evidence for Christianity,” reports that Jesus fulfilled more than 300 prophecies during His life, and lists dozens of them.
On this day, Jesus sent two of His disciples into the village of Bethphage to obtain a donkey and her colt for Him to ride. He gave them specific instructions about where they would find the animals, and what to say if anyone challenged them.
This was a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9,
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O 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 foal of a donkey.
The Response
There were, essentially, three groups of people present during the triumphant entry: Jesus’ disciples, the multitudes, and the Pharisees.
The Disciples
The Disciples
Jesus' Disciples
Little is said here about Jesus’ disciples, although what John says is interesting. He and the others had no idea what was going on. They observed it, they saw it, they heard it, but they didn’t understand it.
It was only after Jesus had ascended to the Father, and the Holy Spirit came, that they realized the significance of what had taken place, and realized that Jesus fulfilled prophecy on this day, and came to Israel as Savior and King.
They had spent three years with Him. No one heard more of His teaching. No one saw more of His deeds. If any human beings were in a position to understand Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on that day, it was these twelve men. But as John says, they didn’t know.
The Multitude
The Multitude
The Multitude
More is said about the multitude.
They acknowledged Jesus as Savior and King.
The multitudes looked back to Psalm 118:25-26,
O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
O Lord, do save, we beseech You [hosanna]; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. (Psalm 118:25–26, NASB95)
As we see, the One who comes in the name of the Lord is the direct answer to the prayer for salvation.
When the multitude cried out hosanna, they acknowledged Him as the Savior, the One with the right and power to save.
The crowd was creative; some simply cried out “hosanna!”, others “hosanna in the highest!”, and others “hosanna to the Son of David.” There may have been other variations as well.
In the Old Testament, salvation almost always meant deliverance from enemies and other earthly dangers, although David did use it in Psalm 6:4 to refer to spiritual salvation, “O Lord, rescue my soul.”
But this crowd wanted deliverance from Rome, from their political and spiritual enemies.
When the crowd shouted out “blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” they showed their nationalistic intentions.
Matthew and Mark use the basic phrase from Psalm 118:26, “blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Mark also records the people shouting “blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.”
John uses it, too, but adds “even the King of Israel.”
Luke is even more direct, “blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.”
These are not people who are weighed down by their sins, know that they are facing God’s judgment, and plead for atonement and redemption. These are self-righteous people who are angry and embittered about the way their nation has been treated. The Romans were just the most recent. It began with the Babylonians. The Persia defeated Babylon, and inherited Israel. Then Alexander the Great defeated everyone, and Israel came under the domination of the Greeks. Finally, the Roman Republic, and then the Roman Empire, rode herd on them.
The “hosanna” phrases and the “blessed” phrases all point to a King, a Deliverer, someone like Moses, someone like the various judges who threw out the invaders, the One who would restore the kingdom of David.
The Pharisees
The Pharisees
The Pharisees
Less is said about the Pharisees than the multitudes, but what is said sets the stage for the conflict that will build all week, and end up with Jesus crucified.
As the multitudes are shouting out the praises of Jesus as their political Savior and King – roles He had no intention of fulfilling, by the way – what do the Pharisees do?
You might think that they would be eager to see Rome thrown out, but that’s not the case. They aren’t worried about Rome, but about their own power and position. So instead of being delighted that Jesus had such power over the multitude, and could have so easily stormed the Roman headquarters and destroyed their enemy, they were infuriated that Jesus’ influence made them insignificant and unnecessary.
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” (Luke 19:39, NASB95)
Now this is odd. The Pharisees acknowledge Jesus as “Teacher,” or “Rabbi.” They acknowledge that He has authority over others. And they believe that if Jesus did demand silence, the multitude would obey. And so they really acknowledge, without meaning to, Jesus’ authority over the lives of everyone present.
At the same time, they could not conceal their hatred and frustration. John writes in John 12:19,
So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.” (John 12:19, NASB95)
They were so frustrated, so angry, that they started to turn on each other. “Why didn’t you stop Him?” “Well, why didn’t YOU stop Him?”
Intellectual (what do we LEARN?)
God is Faithful
God is Faithful
God keeps His promises
We certainly see that God keeps His promises. Every prophecy is a promise. Every fulfilled prophecy is a promise kept. As a Randy Stonehill song says, “a promise made is a promise kept.” Not a single prophecy went unfulfilled. Everything Jesus said He would do, He did.
Our faith is completely dependent upon the Lord. Faith is not a force or a power. It is not something that we can measure, like electricity, or weigh, like iron.
Hebrews 11:1 says,
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1, NASB95)
That is, faith is the confidence that God will do what He has promised to do. Faith doesn’t make God keep His promises; faith is the belief that God WILL keep His promises. And since biblical faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit, and not a human trait, faith is the evidence that God will do what He has promised to do.
Simple and straightforward as it is, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is proof that God keeps all of His promises perfectly. What He has promised in His Word, He will fulfill. He has promised to save those who call upon Him, who repent of their sins and believe the Gospel. He gives His people the faith to believe that promise. The gift of faith we receive is itself proof that He will keep His promise.
Jesus is Courageous
Jesus is Courageous
Jesus possessed enormous courage
But I also want you to consider something more this morning: the enormous courage and commitment of our Savior.
I’m attracted to stories of brave, courageous people. They are often connected to the military, like the men of the “Band of Brothers,” Easy Company, who landed at Normandy, and pressed on to Hitler’s mountain headquarters. Or Desmond Doss, who refused to carry a weapon in World War II, and single-handedly saved the lives of 75 men during the battle for Okinawa, in spite of suffering numerous injuries.
But I am even more moved by stories of men like Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian pastor who suffered 14 years of imprisonment and torture, and never denied Christ. Or the members of the Early Rain Church in Chengdu, China, who continue to face imprisonment and persecution today.
But I tell you, the world has never known a man or woman with even a grain of the courage Jesus of Nazareth possessed.
Jesus entered Jerusalem that Sunday knowing full well what would happen that week. He knew that each day’s events would build toward the cross, and yet He didn’t take even a single step to the right or the left. The Pharisees were already determined to see Him silenced, and His entry into Jerusalem further inflamed their hatred.
On Monday Jesus returned to the Temple. He forcefully drove out those who were buying and selling, overturning the tables of the moneychangers, and charged them with turning the Temple into a den of thieves. The chief priests – who were Sadducees – and the scribes now became as angry as the Pharisees.
On Tuesday Jesus returned to the Temple yet again, in spite of the turmoil of the previous day, and taught there, pronouncing God’s judgment on the nation, predicting the destruction of the city and the Temple, and denouncing the Pharisees and Sadducees as hypocrites who faced the judgment of God. He had already angered the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and scribes. Now the elders of the people – members of the Sanhedrin – were added to the list of those who wanted Him dead.
Later that day,
… the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. But they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.” (Matthew 26:3-4)
On Wednesday one of Jesus own disciples, Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and made a deal to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver – fulfilling several specific prophecies, by the way. Judas’ betrayal of Jesus was not a sudden decision he made at the last supper; it sat there stewing in his mind for at least two or three days. Jesus knew it the whole time, and patiently let it play out.
On Thursday Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples – including Judas, for the first part – and then taught them in great detail in what is known as the upper room discourse, from John 13-16. There is not a word of self-pity in those chapters. In fact, if you read them without any other context, you would think that it was the disciples, not Jesus, who faced suffering and hardship.
Early Friday morning Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, agonizing over what was to come. He prayed that, if it was possible, His suffering be taken away. His intention wasn’t to say, “I don’t want to do this,” but “If salvation is possible through any other means, let’s do that instead.” There was no other way, and Jesus submitted Himself to the will of the Father.
The Temple guard arrived to arrest Him almost as soon as He finished praying. When His disciples tried to protect Him, He told them that the Father had placed tens of thousands of angels at His disposal. All He had to do was call, and they would be there to defend Him. But He refused any protection at all.
They dragged Him to Annas, the former high priest, father-in-law of Caiaphas. They dragged Him to Caiaphas, the current high priest. They dragged Him to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. They dragged Him to Herod. They dragged Him back to Pilate. In the process they beat and abused and mocked Him. Pilate wanted to release Jesus, but the religious leaders, crowds, and Jesus Himself were unwilling. He finally gave the order for Jesus to be crucified. He was made to carry His own cross, and collapsed from pain and exhaustion on the way. He was nailed to the cross, and hung naked in the air for all to see and mock.
It was not just the physical suffering of crucifixion, but the weight of the guilt of the sins of His people, and the wrath of God the Father, that crushed Him. When He said that He was thirsty – a fulfillment of prophecy – they offered Him sour wine mixed with gall (a bitter liquid) and myrrh. He refused it, perhaps because it was so vile tasting, but probably because myrrh is a sedative. He would not permit even a single nerve-ending to be numbed. He took every bit of pain involved, every drop of the Father’s wrath against His people.
He did this as an act of faithfulness to the Father.
He did this as an act of love toward His own.
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13, NASB95)
What a courageous man!
Applicational (what do we DO?)
We should never come to the Word without intending to believe it and obey it. It is, after all, the means by which God speaks to us. We should take the Scriptures every bit as seriously as we would the Lord Himself appearing before us and speaking to us.
Sometimes the Bible itself provides the application; when First Thessalonians 5:17 says “praying without ceasing,” it means that we should pray without ceasing.
But quite often, I can’t make a perfect, one-on-one application of the text to your life; you have to do that.
So I want to encourage you to answer three questions, sort of a fill-in-the-blank idea.
Because ___________________________________________
This is a truth learned from the Word today. It doesn’t have to be something you never knew before; it might very well be something that you’ve always known. But it stands out in your heart and mind as a key point in the text.
I must/will _________________________________________
God always call us to believe Him, and to act in obedience to what He says to us. He didn’t give us the Scriptures just to occupy our time while we wait for His return. Second Timothy 3:16 says that the Word teaches, rebukes, corrects, and trains us in righteousness. That means that the Scripture actually changes us and sanctifies us.
By ________________________________________________
You’ve probably heard the old saying, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” It’s not enough to say that something is true, and boy, I need to change. We need to also think about how we will change, what we will do because we have had biblical truth impressed upon us, and know that it calls us to act.
Let me tell you how I take our passage today.
Because Jesus faced the cross with unflinching courage, glorifying the Father, and demonstrating perfect love for me,
I must/will follow Him with my own cross, through whatever circumstances the Father has decreed I will face,
By trusting in Him, through His Word and Spirit, to give me His courage at the moment I need it.