Palm Sunday, The King Still Brings Salvation! Series

Today is Palm Sunday a day when in the Christian church we celebrate the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, the coming of the King into that city that caused him so much concern, the city of his ancestor King David, we see the fulfilment of prophecy we see him riding on the animal of choice of ancient Jewish Kings, and we see him hailed as king, we see God praised and we see the fulfilment of the prophet Zechariah’s words.

We have already heard the words of Matthew’s gospel as he recounted that day, a day that must have been impressed with every ‘hosanna’ into the memories of those who were there, and contrasted so many times by them, with the way the events of that week played out.

For Jesus disciples to have seen him go from being hailed as a most likely King of their nation on the first day of the week to within a week being executed and cast aside as a criminal, for Jesus followers this must have been gut wrenching torture.

Jesus coming as a king was foretold by Zechariah, this Zechariah who was born into a priestly family in Babylonia about 538 BC. Well before the birth of Jesus.

Let’s look at his words from Zechariah 9:9-11.

9 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.

10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

and the war-horses from Jerusalem,

and the battle bow will be broken.

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.

11 As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.

Now we know because of our place in history how the life of Jesus played out and how he is now in Heaven at the right hand of his father, we know things that the people of that time didn’t, we see these words that were spoken roughly 480 years before they came into being and claim the knowledge of this king, we claim not only that knowledge but our part that we played in his entry into Jerusalem and our part in the death he died. Our do we?

1) Today I’m not going to focus so much on verse nine but verses ten and eleven, but let’s read nine again any way.

9 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.

That must have been some day; here is Jesus on that colt of a donkey, entering the city, crowds going ahead of him, spreading their cloaks on the road as had happened for King Jehu of Israel around three hundred years earlier. Branches from trees, palm trees spread out ahead of Jesus just as the people had done in the time of Judas Maccabeus another conquering ruler from the time between the old and new testaments, at that time though the branches were laid on the ground in honour not of the king but to honour God himself.

Imagine what the atmosphere must have been like, Shouts of, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9b) It must have awe inspiring, some celebration, a bit like a vamped up Santa Parade, the enthusiasm and fervor of that crowd as they whooped and hollered stirring the whole city, people asking “Who is this?” The tension in the air as they waited for the reply, then it came as a shout from an excited crowd. “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21:11b).

Those present in Jerusalem that day with the knowledge of the old books saw the prophetic fulfillment taking place, and the thrill of the new king’s arrival would have been moving, possibly like the exhilaration of a last minute All Black win at the World Cup. Do you have the picture? This can happen in your life today. For the king still brings salvation. (SBI)

Back to the prophecy, “I will take away the chariots of Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. 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.”

2) The prophet Zechariah had spelt it out, he had declared what this coming king, this ruler was going to do, he was going to bring about peace. This king, this ruler was righteous (meaning he was upright and lived by God’s standard) and had salvation, he was gentle; he was to bring peace as he ruled his subjects, from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. We who know this ruler know that he still brings peace today, to the ends of the earth for that is where we are!