The King Coming to Jerusalem

Luke 19, verse 28. Luke 19, verse 29.

Luke 19, verse 29.

Luke 19, verse 29.

Luke 19, verse 29. Luke 19, verse 29. Luke 19, verse 29.

Luke 19, verse 29. Luke 19, verse 29. Luke 19, verse 29. Luke 19, verse 29. Luke 19, verse 29. Luke 19, verse 29.

Luke 19, verse 30. Luke 20, verse 30. Luke 20, verse 30. Luke 20, verse 30. Luke 20, verse 30. Luke 20, verse 30. Luke 20, verse 30.

Luke 20, verse 30. But did you see him raise Lazarus from the dead? You see, many had traveled the two miles from Jerusalem out to Bethany to mourn with Mary and Martha.

And while they were there, they had seen this man who had been dead in the tomb for four days raised to life. And then they ran back to Jerusalem and they told it all over town.

So the town is abuzz with talk of his miracles and especially his raising Lazarus from the dead. So now the people in Jerusalem are looking for Jesus.

And they kept saying to each other, What do you think? Is he going to come to the feast or not? Do you think he'll be coming? I think he will. I don't think because the leaders want to kill him.

You see, already the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where he was, they were to report it to them so that they could arrest him. And their intent was to kill him.

In fact, they also wanted to kill Lazarus since so many were following Jesus on account of him being raised from the dead. So all of Palestine, or all over Palestine, the roads to Jerusalem are full of these pilgrims traveling to keep Passover.

And Jesus himself is on one of those roads. Indeed, that road making his way into Jerusalem. From Luke chapter 9 verse 51 on, he resolutely set out for Jerusalem knowing that his time had come.

So he realizes his hour has come, and now he's heading for Jerusalem. So he's walking along, and such great crowds are traveling with him that short people like Zacchaeus had to climb up in trees just to catch a glimpse of him.

And then five days before Passover, Jesus gets within a mile or two of Jerusalem, his destination, and he does a strange thing.

He asks for a ride. He seeks for a donkey's colt to ride on. Now, nowhere in the Gospels do we find the Lord Jesus riding an animal.

He walks everywhere. Indeed, he has been walking all the way from Galilee. He didn't need a donkey. It wasn't that he got tired and he needs a ride for the last mile or so.

Rather, he did this, Matthew tells us, to fulfill a prophecy. And in so doing, to make a statement, a public declaration about himself.

A statement so important that all the Gospel writers include it. This calling for the donkey, the colt of a donkey.

About 550 years earlier, Zechariah had prophesied to Israel, to Judah. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. And all the Jews understood that passage to be referring to their Messiah, king, who was to come.

Matthew and John actually include this prophecy in their accounts of the Gospel, showing that Jesus was fulfilling this promise, this prophecy about him when he mounted that donkey's colt.

So by riding the donkey's colt, Jesus is fulfilling this prophecy and he is saying to Israel, I am your king. That's the meaning of Palm Sunday.

That's the meaning of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It is a public declaration of the kingship of Jesus Christ. And he makes that statement by the very manner in which he comes into Jerusalem.

It was a most public declaration. There was not just a few. It wasn't his disciples and a few others there with him that day. But there were massive crowds traveling with him.

There were massive crowds coming out of Jerusalem to meet him. And so there were many, many people. In fact, when the news reached Jerusalem that Jesus was on his way, so many ran out to meet him that the Pharisees complained to each other, look, the whole world has gone after him.

And they all see him coming into Jerusalem riding on a donkey's colt. The whole city was stirred. And this open and public declaration of his kingship marks a change in policy on the Savior's part.

Remember there was a time when he fed the 5,000 and they were ready to come and make him king by force. And Jesus quickly withdrew himself. And when someone would proclaim him Messiah, he said, be quiet, don't tell it.

Don't speak about me being Messiah king. That was his usual policy up to this point. But now all that has changed and openly before the multitudes who are surrounding him.

He now presents himself as the Messiah king of Israel. And he rides triumphantly into the capital city, this center of religion and politics in Israel.

Jerusalem itself and all the people see him coming in as king. Why? Why the change of policy?

Why the open declaration now? Because Jesus knows his hour has come. And he knows by openly declaring himself to be the king, the Messiah king of Israel, that will stir up the opposition.

It will raise it to a fever pitch and lead to his death because it was Christ's plan with the Father from eternity that he would die on Passover. And now he's ready to work that plan out in Jerusalem.

And it must not be done in a corner, must not be done with just a few people seeing his death. No, this death must be observed by all and known by all because by it he would save millions and draw them into his eternal kingdom.

So he presses the issue. I am the king. And he dies with a board above him. Jesus, king of the Jews. Now let's look this morning at the details of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and see some of the responses to it.

Luke and two other of the gospel writers tell us precisely how the cult was obtained. Jesus sent two of his disciples and notice the detail of his words to them in verses 30 and 31.

Go to the village ahead of you. That would be Bethphage. And as you enter it, not halfway through it or as you're going out the other side, but as you're entering it, you will find a cult tied there.

A cult, not a filly. And it's tied there. It's not ranging freely in the barnyard or out in the field. It's tied there. Untie it and bring it here.

That's a bold move, isn't it? And if anyone asks you, why are you untying the cult? Tell him, the Lord needs it. So those who were sent went.

That's an amazing obedience, isn't it? Implicit obedience. Obeying simply because the Lord sent them and so they went. And as they're coming into the village, sure enough, there's a cult tied up and so they untie it.

And as they're untying it, they get caught. And the owners say, well, why are you doing this? Saying the very words that Jesus said that they might say and so they said the very words that Jesus told them to say, well, the Lord needs it.

And with that, they let them go. And as they gained permission, the owners probably said something to this effect.

Well, yes, if the Lord needs it, then take it. But you must know that it's never been ridden on before. And they would have said, well, yes, this is just the one that we want then.

That's the one we were to get. The one that had never been ridden on before. Perhaps even this event itself is showing Jesus' kingship. That He is Lord over all.

All creation is His. He has this divine right to all creatures. All the beasts in the forest are His. All the beasts in the barnyards are His. And He lays hold of this beast to perform His will.

A right of royalty to press an animal into His service. But in this as well, we see Jesus' supernatural knowledge, don't we? Of what's happening in the village up ahead.

He knows everything. What a king this is. And He has supernatural power to make everything work out to serve His plan. And so they brought it to Jesus.

as verse 35 says. They brought it to Jesus. They threw their cloaks on it and put Jesus on it. They brought it to Jesus.

You know, amazing things happened to things that were brought to Jesus. A boy's little lunch brought to Jesus fed over 5,000.

A lame man brought to Jesus went home walking. Sinners brought to Jesus went home forgiven. Burdens brought to Jesus were lifted.

And this unbroken cult brought to Jesus is at once parade ready to peacefully carry the King of Kings right through the middle of a clamorous crowd.

You see, all things are made to serve this King. even this unbroken colt of a donkey serves King Jesus. And so as he went along people spread their cloaks on the road.

That is, they took off their outer garments and threw them down in front of Jesus. It's VIP treatment, the kind that was given to royalty. It's like we talk of rolling out the red carpet.

And so here was this multicolored carpet as people just kept laying down their coats and the donkey would ride over it and they'd pick up their coats and put it on. And this laying out of the carpet for Jesus the King.

They also laid down branches. John tells us there were palm branches taken from the trees and palms were emblems of victory. And hence this was a triumphant entry.

It's a victorious celebration. the mood was of a celebration of victory. It's a royal welcome then of the King. And it keeps saying to us over and over again Jesus is King.

Jesus is King. Now in the rest of this passage then Luke records three responses to this royal entry into Jerusalem.

They're very emotional responses. There's the response of the crowd there's the response of the Pharisees and there's the response of Jesus himself. And we'll see these three responses and then draw a concluding application.

First of all the crowd's joyous joyful praise. It happened at a certain spot on the road we're told.

Luke points out the very place in verse 37. It was near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives. disciples and there the whole crowd of disciples in the loosest sense of the term.

Disciples in the sense of those who were physically following Jesus. There the whole crowd of them began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles that they had seen him do.

! Now the question is was there something about that spot in the road that would contribute to this joyous bursting forth of praise at that point?

Well it's the highest part of the road at which point the holy city below becomes visible for the first time on this road leading to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem and so as they got to that point they looked down and they saw the holy city with its splendid buildings its Herod's palace and the temple complex and the aqueducts and the rows of houses and the streets and there it was spread out beneath them the psalmist celebrates its beauty in Psalm 48 it's beautiful in its loftiness it's the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion the city of the great king now Luke tells us back in verse 11 of this chapter he tells us about the mood of the crowd and the mood of the people during this time of Jesus ministry as he comes near to Jerusalem he said that people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once so the expectation of God's kingdom coming was at a fever pitch the kingdom of God is going to arrive at once and there were these great expectations that Jesus would be that king and he would immediately bring in this splendid kingdom of God that the glory days of Messiah that the prophets spoke about were just about to happen that they would be freed from

Roman occupation and they the Jews would rule the entire world and their king Messiah king would reign from sea to sea and so these messianic expectations are percolating on the front burner and Jesus has now worked such miracles that they're saying this is just the king for us and now he's riding on a donkey toward Jerusalem even as Zechariah had prophesied and excitement is building and now when they just come over the peak of the road and they see the holy city down below all their nationalistic fervor and excitement about the coming Messiah burst forth in this bursting of joyful loud enthusiastic praise so the atmosphere was electric some of you have been in large crowds before they get riled up whether it's at a ball game a concert wherever you go have you been in a large crowd and seen how it feeds on itself and it becomes something that it wouldn't be if each individual was at home and this was such an atmosphere and they erupt in praise the mood was celebratory not unlike the mood of a campaign headquarters on election night when the word has just come that their candidate has won and they're just giddy with excitement and applauding and it's high time and that's the way it was here in the way into

Jerusalem we see it in what they're shouting the words are recorded for us what were they shouting loudly! well they were shouting blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord they were recognizing Jesus as the king and not a self appointed king but the one who came in the name of the Lord the one who comes as the Lord's anointed king his messianic king with the authority of God peace in heaven and glory in the highest they shout John records Hosanna blessed is the king of Israel Matthew says Hosanna to the son of David Mark records Hosanna blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David Hosanna was a shouting of praise to the king it's similar to the Brits shouting God save the king so they shouted Hosanna praises to their king and as they openly proclaim him as their messiah king

Jesus is not refusing their praises as he had done on earlier occasions he's receiving them he's receiving them and that surely just stirred up the crowd all the more now though they were right about this king of Israel Jesus is their king they could not have been more wrong about the kind of king he was and the kind of kingdom he was bringing right then at that moment they were looking for a present earthly kingdom they were looking for Jesus to come and smash the heads of these Romans and to bring Israel to the place of world domination they thought Jesus would be a king to feed them and to lead them to victory to independence to uninterrupted prosperity as I thought of that it reminded me that it's possible to desire to have Jesus as king for selfish reasons it's very possible today for people to want to have

Jesus as their savior and king for very selfish reasons to make them happy to make them healthy to make them wealthy to make them prosperous prosperous but who have no real interest in what he really came to do and that is to establish his kingdom first in the hearts of men and to save his people from their sins not from the Romans to deliver them from sinning and so the shouting of praises to God and to Jesus was something of a hollow praise and yet literally speaking it was true these things were true!

of what they said of Jesus and so Jesus receives them to himself what kind of king is he to you? Is Jesus your king? What are you looking to him for?

Salvation from sinning? Well that's the first emotional reaction that we see in this scene it's the crowds joyful praise then we see the Pharisees bitter complaint not only did the Pharisees refuse to join in with the crowd praising Jesus but they were enraged by what they saw long ago they had taken sides against Jesus you read of it as early as John chapter 5 they had already rejected his claims they were already seeking to kill him these were the ones in Jesus earlier parable here in John 19 who said we don't want this man to be king over us that was the Pharisees they were jealous of the attention that he was getting the whole world has gone after him where is this getting us they complained even

Pilate would know that they had delivered him over because of envy so these are the Pharisees they're already set against Christ they love the praises of men and that blinded them to the glory of God and Jesus Christ and to the truthfulness of his claims so amid all these shouts of loud praises to Jesus we have this carping criticism from the Pharisees they raised their voices loud enough to be heard teacher rebuke your disciples get your house in order they're treating you as the Messiah they're giving you praise due only to the Messiah King they're clearly out of control rebuke them for their blasphemy shut them up and Jesus replies I tell you if they keep quiet the stones will cry out isn't that something this praise is do me and it will be given if not by them then these very stones will be made to shout my praise this praise must not be denied me they said nothing untrue about me

I am! God's anointed king that's what he's saying by his response to them and God is able to raise up praise for his king son from the most unexpected places from stones the next day when Jesus is in the temple the chief priests and scribes are there and they're hearing what the children are saying and shouting about Jesus Hosanna they said to the son of David and these leaders were indignant and they expected Jesus to correct and silence these children they asked them do you hear what these children are saying and once again Jesus replies yes and have you never read from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise so yes I hear what the crowds are shouting and yes I receive it because it's true and the praise must be given it is deserved praise and if these do not shout it the stones will and in one sense the rocks did cry out five days later when

Jesus was crucified and the earth shook and the rocks were torn well these leaders of Israel rejected Jesus as their messianic king and they carped with their criticism against the praise given him the third response that we see is Jesus response himself verse 41 says as he approached Jerusalem and saw the city he wept over it now here's an arresting sight here's something that ought to just grab us and say what is going on here because right in the middle of this crowd with such jubilation and celebration and shouting of praise we have Jesus right in the middle and he's weeping no he's sobbing he's wailing Luke uses the strongest word here for crying it's the word to weep aloud or to wail with emphasis on the noise accompanying the tears and it means that if you'd been close enough to

Jesus that day you would not only have seen the tears falling down his face you would have heard him crying when he saw the city he wailed he wept when they saw the city they leap for joy and shouted praise when he saw the city he weeps his eyes out there's obviously something different going on here between what they see and what he sees and we're not at a loss for why Jesus weeps because his words of a lament explain his tears he's weeping over the city as in his mind eye mind's eye he sees their final rejection of him and the destruction of Jerusalem that will fall upon them because of their rejection of him and it wasn't only the righteous the rulers that had rejected him it wasn't just that oh he sees again just how hardened the

Pharisees are against him and so he weeps yes that was one cause of his tears the hardness of heart of those who should have been shepherds leading the people to Jesus and they were rejecting him but he weeps as well for the crowd this fickle crowd because Jesus can see that in five days most of these mouths that are now shouting Hosanna will be the same mouths shouting crucify crucify he sees through their praises to their hearts that though they are now honoring him with their lips their hearts are far from him he sees why men want him to be their king he sees that they're only interested in what he could bring them in terms of earthly blessings and when they saw that Jesus didn't bring them what they wanted they would soon turn on him they expected

Jesus to come and smash the Romans and it would only be five days when they would see Jesus having been beaten by the Romans whipped by the Romans his beard plucked out by the Romans and a crown of thorns pressed into his head and a robe put on him and Pilate saying behold your king and the crowd would cry in response take him away take him away crucify him what shall I crucify your king Pilate says we have no king but Caesar the chief priest would answer and the crowd would be of the same opinion the one they shouted Hosanna to the king is now we have no king but Caesar and so this city Jerusalem stands for the whole nation it is the capital city and it stands for the whole nation's attitude of rejection of the savior and indeed of all mankind

John 1 10 and 11 he was in the world and the world was made by him but the world did not recognize him he came to his own but his own received him not and he weeps and he weeps and because of this rejection they and their city are doomed to destruction as God would punish them and the blame is all theirs so Jesus weeps he sobs over their missed opportunity notice it in verse 42 if you even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace and the sentence just breaks off at that point this is an emotional man speaking he's at the pitch of emotion and if you even you had only known on this the break off in the midst of the sentence you even you you who have often killed the prophets and stoned those who were sent to you by me if you who have long turned away from me and my teaching if you yes yet if only you had known on this day what would bring you peace you see something was happening on this day this was not a repeatable day this was a unique day

Jesus was coming and offering himself as king publicly to the nation as he had never done before and never would do after and he says if only if only you had known this day this poem Sunday as we have come to know it that your king was coming to you that God himself was coming to you in his anointed king to offer them peace peace with God salvation shalom life under his smile and favor and everlasting blessing and so Jesus is thinking of what all could have been theirs if they would have recognized him as their king and bowed before him but he says now it is hidden from your eyes now that's no excuse for them that's not to lift the blame off of them it doesn't leave them any less guilty they could have known and they should have known they had seen his miracles they had heard his words and there are none so blind as those who will not see and that was the charge against them it is now hidden from your eyes their persistence in sin and unbelief led to

God judicially blinding them leaving them in their hardness and blindness to not recognize him as king they would not see so now they could not see and men can shut their eyes to truth and to light for so long and then God just gives them over to their blindness they cannot see the light of the glory the light of the gospel the glory of Christ who is the image of God and he just gives them over to their unbelief and the gospel and the way of salvation remains hidden from their eyes the reason for this is because of their stubborn blindness their stubborn refusal of Christ his truth his claims and so the reason for God's punishment is stated again at the end of verse 44 because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you

God was there that day in the person of Jesus Christ he came to them that day the fully divine king was there offering his salvation and peace and it was their own fault for having rejected him and the light of the gospel and because of this God's judgment will fall and so as Jesus sees the city of Jerusalem in his mind eye he sees what it will look like 40 years from that day and as he sobs he announces verses 33 and 34 the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side they will dash you to the ground you and the children within your walls they will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you not only was their king and savior hidden from them but so was their destruction but

Jesus as he looks upon the city sees it in perfect detail and he weeps aloud as he spells it out to them and 40 years later they found it just as Jesus had told them and you can read the gruesome history of the Jewish Roman war from 66 to 70 AD how the Romans under Titus came in and besieged the city of Jerusalem not letting anything in or anyone out and they starved thousands of Jews before they finally came into the city and put the city to the sword and slaughtered young and old and tore the city to the ground all because they did not recognize the time God came to them in Christ their king and instead of receiving his offered salvation they crucified their king now let's not miss some important lessons from this day in history when

Christ triumphantly entered into Jerusalem proclaiming himself king of kings the first lesson is what a king we have in Jesus what a king we have in Jesus he's fully God and we see that even in this account don't we the supernatural knowledge that he has of what's going on up ahead at Beth age he knows everything about everyone about every event and he also has power to bring all of his plans to pass he knows what will happen in Beth age one mile away and in Jerusalem forty years away he knows it all he knows what's happening in your heart and life your tomorrow your day of judgment he knows he sees and will find that it all happened just as he said it would what a king he's fully god but secondly he's gentle he's a gentle king isn't that what we read and isn't that what was told about this day in

Zechariah see your king comes to you righteous and having salvation gentle and riding on a donkey on a colt the foal of a donkey and he will proclaim peace to the nations so he does not come into Jerusalem as some mighty military conqueror pompously riding on some war horse but he comes gentle riding on a donkey the colt of a donkey and he came not to destroy his enemies but he came offering them salvation and peace and eternal life he is the prince of peace and he proclaims peace to the nations and he proclaiming peace to us and this nation this morning come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls this is our king humble gentle

Jesus on a donkey offering peace with God soul rest to all who come to him and he's a gentle king who conquers not with outward show of force over the Romans but by dying at the hands of the Romans what king we have in Jesus a king who who conquers by dying a king who brings victory through humiliation and suffering and death because he was suffering the punishment of his people on the cross and by his death he set them free from the power of Satan and from the coming wrath of God what a king fully God gentle offering salvation and full of pity he weeps for those who are blindly heading for judgment he weeps for those who will not weep for themselves remember when just five days later when he's carrying his cross and then they make

Joseph of Arimathea carry it and so Jesus is walking alone there's a crowd of people behind him and there's some women weeping Jesus turns and says weep not for me mothers of Jerusalem weep for yourselves and for your children the time will come when you will call for the rocks to fall and to crush you and to hide you see he sees what's happening what's going to happen in forty years and he weeps for those who continue to reject him and his salvation he reaps for those who pull down the wrath of God on their own heads he weeps for them he pities them what a king he's God he's gentle he's full of pity and he comes offering salvation and peace with God secondly what are you now doing with this king what a king we have in Jesus what are you doing with him he's no longer seated on a donkey is he he's seated at his father's right hand he's been raised from the dead he's the resurrected messiah king and he's now ruling and reigning at his father's side until he puts all of his enemies under his feet and now he commands every man everywhere every boy and girl everywhere to repent and to believe on him and he's coming again he's coming again not in meekness and gentleness but with power and great glory he's coming not to offer salvation and peace with

God but to bring all men to judgment and he'll not be riding a donkey when he comes but on a white stallion war horse as John sees him in Revelation 19 with justice he judges and makes war his eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns he's dressed in a robe dipped in blood and his name is the word of God the armies of heaven were following him riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen white and clean and out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations he will rule them with an iron scepter he treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God almighty and on his robe and on his thigh he has his name written king of kings and lord of lords the same one who rode into Jerusalem this day on a donkey gentle and lowly will ride into earth from heaven on a white horse and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that

Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of God the father what are you doing now with this king are you bowing before his laws are you accepting his terms of peace in the gospel are you repenting of your sins and trusting in him alone to save you from your sins you know it's not enough to be religious it's not enough to come in here and sing these glad songs of praise to God and to Jesus there were multitudes doing the same on that first poem Sunday and Jesus saw through their praises to their hearts what's on your heart this morning why do you love Jesus do you love him because he first loved you and laid down his life as a substitute for your sins is that what brings you to shout his praise this morning give him the glory due his name self must vacate the throne in your heart and must bow before Christ as king of kings

Jesus weeps because they they lost their opportunity what are you doing with this opportunity today have you recognized the day of God's coming to you the Bible speaks of days when the Lord draws near to people there are times when the Lord Jesus Christ rides on the chariot of the gospel and comes before you and presses home the claims of the gospel to your heart and you tremble and you begin to feel your sinfulness and you feel what it is to stand before the judge a holy holy holy God and then you hear of Christ and how he will accept you if you'll come and repenting of your sin and trust in him alone and your heart begins to warm there could be hope here the Lord draws near there is a visitation there is the time when

God comes to us what are you doing with that perhaps it's this morning maybe this is the last time you will have God visit you in the preaching of his word what are you making of this opportunity April the 17th what are you doing on this day or will the Savior need to say if you only you on this day April 17th 2011 if only you would have known the things that would have oh it's a day of grace seek the Lord while he may be found call on him while he is near today if you hear his voice harden not your heart but throw it open and say come to my heart Lord Jesus there's room in my heart for you let's pray together and seek to have dealings with the present

Christ who comes to us by his word give him your heart afresh is that not something we we need to do every day dear people of God to offer ourselves up to our king let's bow our hearts before him pour out our worship at his feet in this time of quiet prayer and if you're lost bow king south before the real king!

the Lord Jesus let's all pray Lord Jesus there is none like you you are not only man as much man as we are but you are as much God as the father is and we thank you for your knowledge your power we thank you for your gentleness thank you that you came bringing salvation you came bringing peace with God even through your own blood and your death and we who know you would offer ourselves up to you afresh we would say all those years that we ran from you and and sought to rule our own lives and cut out our own plan for how we wanted life to go for us that we were fools we did not know who you were we did not know who we were and we thank you for your mercy and opening our eyes and showing us your glory do the same for others this morning that are carelessly receiving the very opportunity of this day perhaps and thinking of other things oh lord awaken them and bring us all to acknowledge you as king king of the universe but especially king of our hearts may we crown you in our hearts we pray in

Jesus name amen amen