The Arrival of THE King
Luke 19:28-40
“A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, dad?” “You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, so we got Palm Branches today.” The little boy replied, “Aw Shucks! The one Sunday I miss, is the Sunday that Jesus shows up.” (illustration from Sermoncentral.com)
Jesus is here today: Palm branches are not the evidence, but His Spirit and HIS Word are His evidence. This day of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry, this Palm Sunday, has been celebrated for hundreds of years, and yet, for some, it may be the FIRST time that YOU actually are considering it. The account of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a young colt only five days before His crucifixion with great excitement is recorded in all the Gospels with amazing accuracy and agreement.
Luke 19:28 reveals it to us this way: 28 After He had said these things, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, "Go into the village ahead of you; there, as you enter, you will find a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here.31"If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' you shall say, 'The Lord has need of it.' "32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt ?" 34 They said, "The Lord has need of it."
“The LORD HAS NEED OF IT” is an extremely important statement: We saw the divine authoritative essence of Jesus statement: I AM the Bread of Life. He speaks and exists on the eternal, self- existent character of the GREAT I AM, the LORD of HOSTS. The word for “Lord” is “kyrios”: (Kur i os) It means the Master, the Possessor over all things, the disposer of things. Kyrios is the title of the Messiah, the Promised One before all time. He has the Supreme right over ALL things. John 1:1-3 says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”
The disciples did exactly as Jesus commanded, and the owner released the colt because when the Creator and Lord of the Universe demands something and HE DECREES it, NO ONE has any other choice but to obey Him, or die. We only THINK that we actually OWN things. When the LORD has need of something, He can take it, because it is His. How often have you seen WEALTH just disappear without warning? Job certainly found that out in the Old Testament!
Every aspect of this EVENT was planned by God beforehand. This was not a bunch of half-baked people getting together with a less than perfect plan to try and railroad Jesus into an earthly kingship. This was EXACTLY the way God planned it in order to fulfill HIS PERFECT will. This event was planned before all time, prophesied in the Old Testament, and comes to fruition TOTALLY on God’s timetable and almighty will. This King, Jesus, the LORD, rides into Jerusalem on a colt because it was God’s plan.
35 They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. The whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, 38 shouting : "BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest !" 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." 40 But Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!"
Let’s pray: Lord I pray that your appearance will not be hidden from anyone’s heart. I pray that by your mercy and grace, the Spirit of the King of the Kingdom of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, would visit hearts that before this time, have not been able to recognize you as THE KING who comes in the Name of the Lord. TO your Glory, I pray. Amen.
Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem is so unlike other kingly announcements and entries, but if He came in any other way, He would be contradicting His own message of servant-hood, sacrifice and humility.
A King who comes in Peace
Earthly kings usually ascend thrones and ride in on large stallions, not colts. They take power by force, by sword, but Jesus, THIS KING Jesus COMES, He ARRIVES, IN PEACE. He is not elected by people nor is He pressured by people. He comes to people with HIS peace treaty so that they might have forgiveness of sins and so that they might have peace with God, and peace in their hearts and lives. You don’t fight for this peace; it is given as a gift to the citizens of God’s Kingdom.
God’s Divine plan and purpose for ALL KINGS was and is for them to serve HIM and to SERVE the people under their rule, to be compassionate to their people, not to be cruel, self-serving, or tyrannical. When our earth and Heaven are re-created in His Completed Kingdom, rulers will fulfill that kind of PEACEFUL rule, because JESUS will be the ultimate KING and His subjects will serve Him and others without any hint of evil. There were few Israelite kings who had fulfilled God’s plan for PEACEFUL RULE, but King Jesus does that, and will one day He will rule with complete equity.
One of the weeks before Christmas, we looked at Jesus as the Prince of Peace. Now Jesus is going to become the KING of Peace. He rules already in the Hearts and lives of all those have been drawn into His Kingdom, and He was ruling on Palm Sunday. He had not strong- armed His subjects, but He DID clearly demonstrate His God-Head and deity throughout His ministry. His rule, His Kingdom, would NOT be temporary and but instead, immediately after His Death on the Cross, He would prove that His kingdom is established eternally through His Resurrection and Ascension: “BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD (kyrios); Peace (NO MORE WAR) in heaven and glory in the highest!
This King is Acclaimed by the Crowds
This King is acclaimed by the Crowds. The people were praising: “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest”. His announcement at birth in Luke 2:14 was: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."
This King is crowned with Praise, good Solid Biblically correct praise. The crowds were singing the CORRECT words even though they did not understand CORRECTLY what they were singing. Isn’t that ironic? There were some people who got caught up in this joyous moment of praise, but they had a misconceptio, or at least a lack of spiritual understanding about what they were actually singing! For many, “BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD” is what they sang, but it isn’t what they meant, because just days later they were singing a different song, “Crucify Him!” They were fans of Jesus on Sunday, but not on Friday: They were not TRUE followers, not disciples.
What the crowds were DECLARING is what actually got Jesus killed! Jesus’ Entry was to fulfill one of the Old Testament prophecies: “See, your KING comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." “Mark 11:10 says: Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David ; Hosanna in the highest !" Luke says: “Blessed is the KING who arrives.” John 12:13 says: "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!"
The crowds acclaim immediately affected the religious elite: In verse 39, “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." 40 But Jesus answered, "I TELL YOU, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!" Jesus isn’t saying that stones were smarter than people, although it might seem that way sometimes. You have to understand something: THE LORD and KING OF GLORY DESERVES the praise and acclaim of His Creation and in order to receive the proper praise, He is calls SOME spiritually dead people, people who are as dumb and dead as stones can be, they have hearts that are stone-cold toward Him, and Jesus breathes life into them and is building them as LIVING STONES into His Church:
In 1 Peter 2:4-5, it says: “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is CHOICE and PRECIOUS in the sight of God, 5 you also, as LIVING STONES, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
King Jesus is acclaimed by the crowds, not because they were smart; Most of them were still spiritually dead, stone-cold toward Jesus, but Jesus chooses His KINGDOM STONES and fits them together, and sometimes they PRAISE HIM even though they are still ignorant of who He really is!
This King deserves Undivided Devotion.
We saw that some people took off their COATS to make a saddle AND to pave the way for Jesus; some people cut leafy branches off of the trees, many of them PALM branches. Palm branches are symbolic of victory, triumph, peace and eternal life, all of which are provided BY the LORD JESUS, and are exclusive traits of the Kingdom of God because EVERYTHING in His Kingdom is ETERNAL!
So why were disciples providing their “coats” as a saddle and a walkway for Jesus? A few weeks ago we found the significance of these “coats” in our Sermon on the Mount Study. In Matthew 5: 40, Jesus told the multitude: "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.” (Coat is“Him-O-ti-own”)
Jewish law permitted the payment in a lawsuit to include the shirt off of your back (your undergarment, your sport jacket) but NOT YOUR cloak or mantle (not your overcoat). That would be too severe, maybe even life threatening, because that cloak was not only your outer covering for the elements, but also a blanket for the nighttime. The fact that the disciples were shedding their coats for the sake of Jesus they were proclaiming that This LORD AND KING deserves our undivided Devotion. This Lord and King deserves the sacrifice of our lives. This Lord and King IS OUR Savior and KING. We will go FAR further than the minimal requirements to follow Him. That’s what Kingdom People do for their Savior and King! We think that we should give our best, but, as the disciples realized later, we MUST GIVE OUR ALL for Him. WE could never think of giving the LEFTOVERS of our lives! King Jesus MUS receive TOTAL Devotion from His followers.
Listen to these “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” verses: “Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But WE WILL BOAST in the name of the LORD, our God.” “The nations will fear the name of the LORD and all the kings of the earth Your glory, that men may tell of the name of the LORD in Zion and His praise in Jerusalem.” “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised.” (Psalm 20:7,102:15&21,113:3)
In Genesis 4:26, from the time of Enosh, who was Seth’s son and Adam’s grandson, God tells us that: “Men began to call upon the name of the LORD.” Mere men, creatures made by God, still call upon the name of the CREATOR Lord, but His NAME means more and more to us who HAVE called upon His name. We call on Him as SAVIOR,LORD and KING.
On Palm Sunday, this King Jesus was Seated Humbly, but this King was seated on a colt temporarily. He ascends the colt with meekness but with the CROSS IN MIND. In five days, the psalms and the palms will have been replaced with the scorn and suffering of the Cross. Between today and Friday, 250,000 lambs would be sacrificed, but only ONE sacrifice would be efficient for the forgiveness of sins. Instead of a Crown of God, Jesus would have a crown of Thorns, but for sinners who believe, trust, and follow Jesus, this King is THE Lamb of God, which takes away their penalty for SIN and DEATH.
This Jesus reigns NOW upon His Heavenly THRONE, not on a colt. He also reigns in the hearts of believers. Mark 16:19 “So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them (after His resurrection), He was received up into heaven and sat down (IMMOVABLE) at the right hand of God.” No earthly King REMAINS on his throne “IMMOVABLE” except King Jesus.
King Jesus is coming again. Matt 25: 31: "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit (Immovable) on His glorious throne.”
To those who TRUST and Follow this King, Rev. 21:3 says: 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down (IMMOVABLE) with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
How many times have you said, tomorrow I’ll become more devoted to Jesus tomorrow? Yesterday’s tomorrow is today. How many times have you said: “I’ll get more serious after I get through school, or after I get married, or after I get a better job.” Those times have all come and gone. Tomorrows have a way of disappearing in a hurry. What makes you think that “LATER” is going to be a better time to COMMIT to Jesus? Did “LATER” EVER make a difference before?
Jesus is here today, and SO ARE YOU. His Kingdom offer to you is: “Today is the day of salvation.” Jesus says today: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, (to pursue me) he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
Intro: This King, the Lord, rides into Jerusalem on HIS colt because it is God’s plan.
1. This King comes in Peace.
2. This King is acclaimed by the Crowds.
3. This King deserves undivided Devotion. (Psalm 20:7, 102:15&21, 113:3)
4. This King was seated on a colt temporarily.
