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!
So what does that look like?
The world is still at war with itself, country fights country, tribe fights tribe, family fights family and sadly within family’s conflict continues, even within individuals there is conflict, and we see people who are of two minds about things, at war with their own thoughts, battling with their own demons. Battling with real demons, we have a continual battle raging, as Paul said to believers, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) Like the Disney cartoon of Donald Duck, many go through life with the devil on one shoulder and God’s respective on the other trying to give good advice. Walt Disney gave us a reasonable depiction of spiritual warfare.
The truth is that our King brought about peace and if we aren’t living within it, and were carrying a burden of sins we don’t have too because were needlessly fighting a fight that He has already won, we don’t have to continue to do this.
We are able to claim that victory though Him, for it’s not a physical thing but something that he won against the powers of this dark world, through his sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. The king still brings salvation (SBI) have you claimed it, do you claim it every hour of every day, are you living in the peace he brings?
This is a question that we can all ask, am I living in the peace that the king brings?
3) Do I have salvation, am I sure of my salvation or am I just pussy footing about with this king, instead of welcoming to rule over my life, in my life?
The prophetic words of verse 11, “As for you because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.” And in fact all of this passage of scripture can according to the great biblical scholars be only relevant to the messiah, for there is no other king in Jewish history that it refers to.
We see these words coming true on Palm Sunday and we see the covenant in Jesus blood that brings freedom during the Easter week, Freedom from sin and death, freedom from the waterless pit that is known commonly as hell.
For some part of that waterless pit is lived in the here and now also, because not all realise that the king saves us from a life that is just ordinary, where we stumble in the darkness of not knowing, under the burden of our sins.
For the king still brings salvation. (SBI) Because of his actions on Palm Sunday because of his actions that Easter week and knowing our experience of him we know this king to be Jesus our Lord and Saviour.
So the question arises do you know Jesus as the king who has brought salvation to you, (I’ve already mentioned one Disney character today) or are you still Mickey Mouseing around with him, are you just sort of believing when it suits?
This is a salvation message, this is a message I am hoping will bring you to a point if you’re not there already, where you can leave here today saying that the king who was prophesied, those many years before he rode that colt of a donkey into Jerusalem is my personal saviour.
That now while I still have questions my life is in his hands. That while life may not be always perfect I have the assurance of the peace that my relationship with him brings for I know this Palm Sunday that he still brings salvation and that that salvation is mine.
