INTRODUCTION:

You may be familiar with the song, “The King Is Coming”.  We know that the king spoken about in that song is the Lord Jesus Christ.  When you think of Christ as King, what image or picture do you see in your mind.  Do you see Christ seated on a great throne, ruling the universe?  Do you see Him on a white horse, as He is described in the book of Revelation, leading the armies of heaven?  Those are probably the most common mental images.  In this passage of Scripture, John 12:9-19, we find a different description of Jesus Christ as King, but one that is equally true and especially important for us to envision and seek to understand.

I.  THE BACKGROUND AND SETTING (verses 9-11)

Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, was now a walking miracle ever since Jesus raised him from the dead.  In the previous passage of Scripture, we learned that Jesus came out of hiding.  He and His disciples returned to the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus in Bethany and were having dinner with them.  After dinner, they must have spent the night there because verse 12 begins with the words, “On the next day”.

Have you ever heard or used the phrase, “He [they] put two and two together?”  It means to figure something out based upon what one has seen or heard.  The Lord Jesus is about to make arrangements and create a scene in the hope that His disciples and the crowds of people in Jerusalem will “put two and two together” by linking the scene with the Scriptures and responding to Him appropriately.  The apostle John doesn’t give the details of Jesus’ plan, so we’ll need to look at the other three Gospels and gather that information.

Meanwhile, there is a commotion along the streets of Jerusalem and around the temple area.  The news of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead by Jesus is the talk of the town.  It has been the primetime story on the “Word-Of-Mouth News Network” [WOMNN] for several days now.  People are tuned in and listening with interest.  Other people are saying, “Could Jesus be the promised Messiah who will deliver us from the power of Rome?”  There is excitement in the air. and the hearts of people are once again filled with the hope of deliverance.  The stage is set for the arrival of Jesus at the feast.

In Matthew 21, Mark 11, and Luke 19, the plan unfolds.  Jesus had already arranged for a donkey to be tied to a tree in the village of Bethphage with its colt beside it.  He sent two of His disciples ahead to get the two animals and told them what to say to the owner of the animals.  When they returned, the disciples put their cloaks on the back of the colt and Jesus sat upon it.  Slowly and humbly He made His way up the road to the city of Jerusalem where thousands of Jews from all over the Roman Empire and beyond were preparing to celebrate the annual Passover feast.

!!.  THE RESPONSE OF THE MULTITUDE (verses 12-15)

Then something amazing happens.  The crowds of people gather on both sides of the road, throwing their cloaks and their palm branches on the road in front of Jesus and shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David.  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9).  They were quoting words from Psalm 118:25-26 and giving Jesus a King’s welcome.  The crowd was “putting two and two together”.  They were reminded of Zechariah’s prophecy and they realized that Jesus was fulfilling that prophecy concerning the Messiah.  Zechariah 9:9 says, “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 seated on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

I don’t think Zechariah 9:9 was the only scripture passage that came to their minds when they saw Jesus entering the city of Jerusalem on that donkey.  This was not the first time that a king rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  When the crowd saw Jesus coming they were reminded of that previous event because Jesus was coming in the same way, and from the same direction as the previous king.

Let’s examine the words of King David in 1 Kings 1:32-35 and the response in verses 38-40:

“Then David said, ‘Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son the Jeboiada.’  And they came into the king’s presence.  And the king said to them, ‘Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.  And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel, and blow the trumpet and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ ” . . . So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gihon.  Zadok the priest then took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon.  Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ “

Jesus was the second king to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.  The onlookers put the two events together and responded appropriately.  Maybe some of the Scribes and Pharisees who had previously said to Jesus, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you”, still remembered part of His answer:  “Someone greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:38-42).

III.  A CONTRAST:  THE DISCIPLES, THE CROWD, AND THE PHARISEES (verses 16-19)

The apostle John concludes his description of this event by showing us the contrast between the different conclusions that were reached in the minds of Christ’s onlookers.  Verse 16 tells us that Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand the meaning of what just happened, but they did put two and two together after Jesus’ crucifixion and His resurrection from the dead.  Then they worshipped Him as their King (John 20:19-20).

Among the multitude of the pilgrim Jews, there were many who watched Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead.  It doesn’t say, in verses 17 and 18, that they believed in Jesus as their Messiah, but it does indicate that they were eager to meet Him and to learn more about Him.   The Pharisees, on the other hand, were worried.  In verse 19, they were saying to one another, “Look, the world has gone after Him.”  They realized that something had to be done to prevent this from happening, and it had to be done soon.

IV.  THE FINAL INGREDIENT

Before we close the curtain on this Palm Sunday celebration, there is one more ingredient that must be taken into consideration.  Based upon the crowd’s reaction to Jesus, another event must have entered their minds – an event that is not recorded in the Scriptures.  About 200 years earlier, a man by the name of Judas Maccabeus entered the city of Jerusalem as the people waved palm branches and sang hymns.  He and his army then defeated the Syrian army, rid the temple of pagan worshippers, and brought peace and freedom for almost a century.  That’s the kind of Messiah that this crowd was longing for and looking for.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on the donkey, the crowd responded in a similar fashion:  bringing palm branches and singing, “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  (Matthew 21:9).  The Jews sang this song each year at the beginning of Passover.  It comes from Psalm 118, which is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament.  The psalmist uses the word “hosanna” which means “save now” or “save us please”.  He also tells us why he chose to use that word.  In verses 10-14, the psalmist describes his situation and how God delivered him from his enemies:

“All nations surrounded me;
In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.
They surrounded me, yes they surrounded me:
In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.
They surrounded me like bees;
They were extinguished as a fire of thorns;
In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off.
You pushed me violently so that I was falling
But the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.” 

As you can sense from his words, the psalmist is speaking of God’s physical deliverance and victory over his physical enemies.  He uses the rest of his psalm to praise God and thank Him for the deliverance and victory that He provided.

If you add up all these historical events and prophecies and combine them with the high expectations that Jesus is the one who will make it happen, then you’ve got a recipe for disappointment.  This Sunday parade and celebration is going to result in the Monday morning blues.  Their expectations are going to come crashing down because the Lord Jesus didn’t return to Jerusalem in order to fulfill their expectations.  He came to meet their deepest needs.

CONCLUSION:

What happens when God doesn’t meet your expectations?  Do you become disappointed?  Do you become angry?  When your hopes come crashing to the ground, are you resentful?  That was the attitude of the majority of that multitude after that Palm Sunday parade was over and they came down from their emotional high.  In just a few days, many of those who shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David”, will change their cry to “Crucify Him!”  “Crucify Him!” 

As we’ve studied this passage of Scripture, have you put two and two together?  Have you added up the fulfilled prophecies and the detailed historical events and come to the conclusion that Jesus is truly the Messiah, the King of kings?  If you are willing to do some more arithmetic, the prophet Daniel even prophecies the date when this event was to happen.  We need to add Daniel 9:25 to Nehemiah 2:1-9.  Daniel 9:25 says, “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.”  That’s seven weeks and sixty-two weeks of years.  7 plus 62 equals 69 weeks of years.  There are seven days in a week, so 69 weeks of years are equivalent to 483 years.  That decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is found in Nehemiah 2.  Verse 1 says, “And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes.”  That’s the starting time for Daniel’s Prophecy.  The prophetic clock started ticking on March 14, 445 B.C.  It would seem like the easy answer would be 483 years later but that is not the case.  The ancient Hebrew year consisted of 360 days, not 365.  There is a lot of figuring that needs to be done.  Thankfully, Sir Robert Anderson did the painstaking work of counting up all the days and making the calculations.  The date was April 6, 32 A.D.  That’s the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that donkey, literally fulfilling that prophesy to the very day!  He, and He alone, is the Prince, the Messiah!

If you add up all these historical and prophetic details, there is no other reasonable or logical response than to worship Jesus Christ as your God and King, by repenting of your sins, yielding your life to His control, and following Him (Luke 9:23-24).  Are you ready to make that commitment or do you want to know more about what it means to follow Christ?  If so, please go to my sermon entitled “What Does it Mean to Receive Christ – John 1:12-13”.  It explains what it means to become a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

If you are a committed follower of Jesus Christ, does He receive a King’s welcome from you every morning?  I pray that your heart may be filled with peace and gladness as you remind yourself that you are a child of the King.  I also hope that you will ask God each day for the power to act like one before the world around you.

CONSTRUCTION SITE:  COMPLETED

Welcome to this completed sermon.  This is a wonderful passage of Scripture to visualize in our minds as the scenes unfold.