“He’s My King”
John 12:12-19
It is now late March, and the Feast of the Passover is near. We are now in the last week of the Lord’s earthly ministry. The witnesses to the raising of Lazarus return to Jerusalem, broadcasting their sensational news, which is under-scored by the presence of the former dead man himself, who is living proof of this miracle. Because of this there are those who place their faith in Christ as the Lord and Savior. This did not sit at all well with the religious authorities and the only action that they can think of that what will lead to a suitable solution is kill Jesus and Lazarus too (12:9-10). So even as Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem on Passover plans are already being made to kill him.
In verse twelve we read, “The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, (13) took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel!” (14) Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: (15) “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”
Some of those who witnessed Jesus arrive in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday will decide to reject Jesus as King because He was not the “kind of king” they were looking for. And whatever people may say today, “Jesus Is King” and my Bible says in Romans 14:11 “that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will be forced to proclaim that he is Lord!” Two thousand years ago as a symbol that He was the Messiah He rode a donkey into the city of Jerusalem. But according to Rev 19:11 when He returns it will be with the Host of Heaven and next time it will be with a demonstration of great power, He will be riding a White Stallion.
First, The Revelation of Jesus as King.
That Jesus should make His entrance into Jerusalem on this particular day in history was no coincidence. What transpired on the streets of Jerusalem was not a spontaneous demonstration… Jesus intended for it to happen.On every previous occasion when the crowd has tried to proclaim Jesus as king He had slipped away, but not this time. He often says, “My time is not yet come.” When He raises Jairus’ daugh-ter, He tells His Disciples not to say anything to anyone about it (Mark 5:43). When He came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, He tells those who have witnessed it to tell no one (Matt. 17:9). Why does He act so differently now? Because now the time is right and Jesus removes all doubt about His identity. Jesus now purposely draws attention to Himself.
Jesus meant for this to happen, and He meant for this to happen at that time! Passover was a yearly celebration commemorating the freeing of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. On the night called Passover God struck down every first-born child of the Egyptians (As well as in any Hebrew home that had not applied the blood to the doorpost.). This devastating plague led to the release of the Jews from bondage.
God told the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and to take the blood of that lamb and apply it to their doorpost of their homes. This blood of the lamb would be recognized by the Angel of Death as protecting the first-born child that lived within that home. It was meant to be a picture that pointed to another Lamb who would die in our place to free us from a much greater slavery, a slavery to sin and death.
• The Passover Lamb
It is not only likely that Jesus entered the city surrounded by sheep headed for sacrifice at the Temple but that at the very time Jesus was dying on the cross… the sacrificial lambs were being slaughtered for the Passover feast. The most important reason why Jesus entered Jerusalem, particularly on the day He did was to show Himself to be our Passover. He was the Lamb of God taking on the sins of the world.
• Such is the magnificent love of the Savior for you!
So how could you wonder if God could possibly love you? Some would perhaps be saying, “But I have failed him. One can be so ashamed that it is impossible to imagine that God could still care about them. But Jesus is not surprised by our failures. He came to Jerusalem in order to deliver us from such things. He knows what we have done and wants to make us clean and to set us free. His invitation is simple, "Come to me, all you who are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest." Why would one hide from the very One who wants to love you more than you have ever been loved before? Maybe it's time to stop hiding and to start believing.
• Some may feel that God does not love them became life is difficult right now.
Or perhaps one may wonder if God is "out to get you." Perhaps, things are so painful in your life that you are questioning His love for you. If that is the case, look again at His walk into Jerusalem and realize that He loves you with a depth of love that is beyond imagination. See Him as He goes to the cross on your behalf and in your place. Realize that His love is so great that you can be certain that He would not allow any needless suffering in your life. The trials that come at present are purposeful and designed to lead you into something good.
• Some may feel that God does not love them
because their life is characterized by loneliness and a feeling that they have been forgotten. It is poss-ible to walk through life wondering if anyone would miss us if we were gone. Understand that when Jesus marched into Jerusalem you were on His mind. The death He willingly suffered was a sacrifice designed to make you part of His family. You may feel alone, deserted, unimportant..... but you were significant enough to the Savior for Him to go to a cross on your behalf. He knows you and loves you.
Not only the Revelation of Jesus but…
Second, The Reaction Of Jesus as King.
(Lk 19:41-42)
People have a lot of different images of how Jesus responded to the welcome that He receives that day. Some think that was triumphant like a hero in a modern ticker tape parade, but they would be wrong. Some think He was unmoved and barely notice but they are also wrong. Understand first the He did begin His journey riding a donkey but stopped outside of Jerusalem and mounted the donkey with great purpose.
The heading in many Bibles for this passage of scripture reads, “The Triumphal Entry.” But it really wasn’t. It was a tearful entry to the city. It was a day of cheers but for the Lord it was also a day of tears. As we already noted Jesus began His journey walking and as Jerusalem comes in to view Luke tells us as “…He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, (42) saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” (Lk 19:41-42) Jesus wept because He knew that the very reception that they offered was a rejection of the kind of king that He was. Jesus is presenting Himself as Israel’s true king, but not the kind King of whom the people were seeking.
Not only the Reaction of Jesus but…
Third, The Response To Jesus as the King.
(12:12-19)
“The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, (13) took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘ Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel!” (14) Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: (15) “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”
• The Response of the Crowd. (vv.12-15)
Jesus does not begin his journey mounted but had instructed His Disciple to meet Him with the colt on the Mount of Olives (Matt 2:12) it was only on top of the last ridge that He mounted His don-key in a clear symbolic statement. Jesus approach-es Jerusalem riding an unbroken colt, in deliberate fulfilment of prophecy (Zech 9:9) which says, “See your king comes riding a donkey.” and also a demonstration of the character of His kingdom.
There is some variation between John’s account and the other Gospel accounts about “young donkey” or colt that Jesus rode. Mark says that Jesus sent two disciples with instructions how to obtain the colt (Mark 11:1-7: Matt 21:1-3, 7: Lk 19:30-35). John does not include this detail as to how the colt is obtained as the others do, but rather simply says they “found” it. This of course is not a contradiction to the other accounts but simply that as John took up his account he does not say anything about the colt until it is secured.
There seems to be two groups of people in this story some who were coming into the city with Jesus and others coming out to meet Him. As they accompany Him into the city, they spread their cloaks and cut branches and lay them on the road before Him. The crowds call out expressions of praise and celebration, hailing Jesus as “King of Israel.” The sounds of celebration reach the ears of those in the city of Jerusalem and many of the citizens join in with all the rest in welcoming Jesus.
The crowd here are welcoming Jesus as a political deliverer, as one who will throw off the shackles of Rome. These people want Jesus to be their king in the same way (and for the same reasons) that the Galileans wanted Jesus to be their king after He had fed the 5,000 (John 6:15). As William Barclay says, “Jesus approached Jerusa-lem with the shout of the crowd hailing a conquer-or in his ears – and it must have hurt him, for in him they were looking for that very thing which he refused to be.” [William Barclay. The New Daily Study Bible. The Gospel of John. Vol II. Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, Kentucky, 2001) pp. 136-137)
“To joyfully welcome Him as their “kind of king” is the not to receive him as “Lamb of God” sent to “take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). To receive their king Jesus is to reject God’s kind of king. This apparent reception, is in reality, a rejection. It is destined to result in rejection. It will take a few days to become evident, but when they finally grasp that Jesus has not come to fulfill their expectations, but rather to be a different sort of Messiah, they will quickly turn against Him, rejecting Him as their king.” [Bob Deffinbaugh. “The Un-Triumphal Entry.” John 12:9-19 www. Bible.org.]
• The Response of the Disciples. (vv. 16-18)
Jesus was a new kind of king. A king such as the world had never seen before, but no one, including His own disciples understood that. “His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.” (v. 16) On that day when Jesus walked toward Jerusalem the Disciples were unaware of what God was doing. They missed the significance of that day. Only later did they come to see the hand of God in all that was taking place. It certainly can be true in our lives as well.
But the fact that we don't understand what is going on in our life, does not mean that God is not at work. He has promised that He would lead everyone who believes in Him to that which is ultimately good. Our promise is that God knows what He is doing. We may not understand but you can trust Him. In fact, God does not require us to understand. He just asks us to trust Him. The one thing we do understand is that the Lord wants us to entrust ourselves to Him. The question is, “Are you willing to do so?”
In verse seventeen we read, “Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. (18) For this reason, the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.”
The text reveals that the influence of Jesus continues to spread in ever widening circles much to the alarm of his enemies. The people who had been present to witness the miracle of Lazarus being raised to life once more were more than happy to share with anyone who would listen to what they had seen and experienced. And the crowd of pilgrim’s who were now in Jerusalem for the Passover from every part of the nation, soon were filled with excitement. It seemed that almost everyone in Jerusalem was filled with a sense of expectancy, waiting to see the Healer.
For if the people had understood they would not have rejected Him, which they eventually did. The crowd wanted a king, but they wanted a different kind of king, they wanted a king with a sword! For thousands of years the Jewish people had been looking for a Messiah. They were expect-ing a great military leader, who would overthrow all of their enemies and restore Israel to its former greatness and glory. What they did not expect was that their king would appear as the son of a carpenter. That when He appeared that He would not possess any weapons, no army and no political power! They certainly never expected that He would end up crucified as a common criminal, another victim of their cruel oppressors. But don’t misunderstand me, Jesus knew what was before Him, He knew that betrayal, humiliation, suffering and death awaited Him and yet He chose to come to Jerusalem.
• The Response of the Pharisees. (v. 19)
In verse nineteen the Pharisees exclaim, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!” The people’s reception of Jesus frightens the religious leaders. In fact, Luke tells us that some of the Phari-sees become indignant, insisting that Jesus instruct the people to cease such praise, but Jesus refuses, indicating that if the people were to keep quiet the stones themselves would cry out (Luke 19:39-40).
The application is that your faith will be shaken and perhaps even destroyed if you follow Jesus because of what you think He can give you in terms of financial prosperity, good health, and other temporal benefits. (The health and wealth teaching is heresy that leads people into disap-pointment and destruction of their faith when things don’t turn out as the false teachers said they would.) But what if you contract a serious illness? What if you suffer a severe financial loss? What if your marriage isn’t the storybook, ideal romance that you thought He would give you? What if your children don’t follow the Lord or if they turn against you? …We shouldn’t follow Jesus because we think He will give us all the goodies we want in this life.” [Steven Cole. “Following Jesus For the Right Reasons.” John 12:12-19 www.fcfonline.org]
Not only the Response To Jesus as the King but…
Fourth, The Return of Jesus as King.
(Rev. 19:11, 16) (Zech 12:10, 13:6, 14:4, 9)
There is of course a future aspect to Jesus as King. The prophet Zechariah not only predicted the first coming of Jesus as King riding a donkey, but he also prophesied the Second Coming of Jesus. The Passover Parade really wasn’t the triumphal entry of Jesus. But one day in the future, there will be another time when Jesus enters Jerusalem and it will be a true triumphal entry at the Second Coming.
One day, all believers will be caught up to be the Lord. This is followed by seven years of terrible tribulation and violence on the earth. At the end of this period, there will be a global war. Jesus, the King of Kings will return to win the battle – “The Battle of Armageddon.” In Revelation 19, the Bible says when the King returns to win the final battle, He won’t be on a lowly donkey, but on a white horse. The Apostle John saw this and wrote about this future event: “Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and he judges and makes war with justice. His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head… (16) And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” (Revelation 19:11, 16)
When Jesus returns to Jerusalem in the future, Zechariah prophesied that this time the Jews WILL recognize him. In Zechariah 12 and 13 we read this amazing prophecy about the Second Coming of Jesus: “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn… (13:6) if someone asks him, ‘what are these wounds in your hands?’ he will answer, “the wounds I was given in the house of my friends.’” (Zechariah 12:10; 13:6) When the Jewish people see the nail-prints in His hands, it will be their turn to weep. But it will be a day of salvation because God has poured out the spirit of grace on the nation. Then in Zechariah 13 the prophet continues to describe the REAL Trium-phal Entry of Jesus. “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west… (9) On that day the Lord will become King over the whole earth—the Lord alone, and his name alone.” (Zechariah 14:4,9)
Conclusion
I want to close with just a portion of S.M. (Shadrach Meshach) Lockridge’s powerful message entitled “He is My King.” Lockridge was pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego, CA. Many of you have heard it and as pastor I have shared it before but no one says like he does. Play Video “He Is My King” S.M. Lockridge.
The Whole world can reject Him and Jesus is still the King! Men today can do as they please and Jesus is still King! Folks can live as they please and Jesus is still King and He will still have the last word! The most important question that everyone faces remains is, Is Jesus YOUR KING? Do your Know Jesus As your personal Lord and Savior?
