Palm Sunday ~ 20140413 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

04/13/14 Palm Sunday Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20140413_palm-sunday.mp3

Today is the day we celebrate as Palm Sunday. This is the day Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on a donkey, and the crowds welcomed him as their king, spreading their cloaks and branches on the road before him.

As we remember this, and what this event led up to, I want to look at what was in the minds and hearts of the people who were shouting out Hosanna, what was in the mind and heart of our Lord Jesus, and what he was looking forward to.

We will read Luke's account of the event.

Luke 19:29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” 32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives— the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” 41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

Prophetic Backdrop

In order to understand what was in the minds and hearts of the people, we need to look back at some of the prophecies of the Old Testament, and to look at the political climate of the day. Jesus was intentionally fulfilling a very specific prophecy that day, and both Matthew and John point it out.

Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Jesus set this up. This is a prophecy of the coming king who brings salvation to his people. Jesus, by his actions, is declaring himself to be the coming King.

The people were expecting a king to come. When David desired to build a house for the Lord, God made this promise to David:

2 Samuel 7:12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”

There was a near fulfillment of this in David's son Solomon, who did build the temple and Israel did enjoy peace under his reign. But Solomon's rule (970BC) did not last forever. This prophecy was much bigger than Solomon, looking forward to David's greater Son, the true Son of God.

A prophecy from Isaiah, written about 200 years later during the rule of wicked king Ahaz (735-727BC) expands on this promised seed of David who would reign forever. Isaiah writes:

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

It seems that this coming King would be more than a mere man. When Gabriel foretold the birth of Jesus to Mary, he said:

Luke 1:32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Jesus, Son of the Most High, is the one who would fulfill these prophesies. He is the one who will reign on David's throne forever.

Psalm 118 says:

Psalm 118:22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD. 27 The LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!

These are some of the promises that the people of Israel were clinging to the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Hosanna is the Hebrew word from verse 25, translated 'save us we pray' or 'save now', that the people were shouting as Jesus rode in on the donkey. They quoted verse 26 when they cried out 'Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the LORD' They were looking to Jesus to save them from the Romans. The were looking to him to bring peace and glory to the nation of Israel.

Political Climate

The Roman emperor Pompei conquered Jerusalem and entered the Holy of holies in 63 BC. From that time, Jerusalem was under Roman control. There was a group called the zealots, a faction of Jews lead by Judas of Galilee who bitterly opposed Roman rule and were eager to hasten the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies with the sword. Simon, one of Jesus' disciples had been a zealot (Mt.10:4). The Jews were looking for a political king who would lead a revolt to overthrow the Roman oppression and usher in the golden messianic age.

At one point, after Jesus fed the multitudes with a few loaves of bread, which was another Messianic expectation, the people were about to take Jesus by force and make him their king (Jn.6:15). At that point Jesus withdrew to the mountain alone. Throughout Jesus' ministry, he avoided the public spotlight (Jn.7:3-10), saying that his 'time had not yet come'. But on this one occasion, as he entered Jerusalem, he intentionally enters the public eye, accepting the worship and praises of the people, refusing to silence the multitudes, saying:

Luke 19:40 ...“I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Earlier, when his apostles acknowledged him as the promised Messiah, he warned them to tell no one. Bur now, for the first time in his life, Jesus allowed himself to be publicly recognized as the fulfillment of all the prophesies of the coming Davidic King, and this only days before his arrest and execution.

Jesus' Purpose

What was going through the mind and heart of our Lord as the multitudes honored him as King? We may get a clue from what Jesus said as he approached the city:

Luke 19:41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

Jesus wept over the city. He who could see the future and see the hearts of men, recognized that even some of these who now welcomed him as king would in a few days be eager to hand him over to the Romans and would cry out for his crucifixion. He foresaw that this great city would be destroyed. Jesus understood the expectation of the people, but he knew that he had come for a different purpose, a much greater purpose.

The people looked to Jesus as their hope for peace. Jesus, the Prince of peace, did come to bring peace, but not the social-political peace they expected. Many of Jesus' followers would be executed. Jerusalem would not be saved but destroyed. Jesus said this

Luke 19:41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Jesus did not come to bring peace in the sense that they were looking for. But he did bring peace. He brought a peace much richer and deeper and more lasting and satisfying than a mere end to war. The war Jesus came to end was the uprising of our rebellion against our Creator. The war he came to end is the just wrath and hostility we deserve from a righteous Judge whom we have disgraced. Jesus came to make peace with God.

The people looked to Jesus to set them free from the oppression of Rome. Jesus, the greater Moses, did come to set his people free, but not from slavery to any person or regime. Jesus came to set people free from lifelong slavery to sin. Jesus came to set his people truly free. Jesus came to take us out from under the crushing weight of our own guilt before the all-holy God.

The people looked to Jesus to take vengeance on their enemies. Jesus did come to crush the enemy, but that enemy was not a people group. Our true enemy is Satan, and Jesus came to crush his head.

The crowds looked to Jesus to provide for their needs, heal their sickness, and give them life. Jesus came to give life, but not just a long, happy ordinary life. He came to give them eternal life. Jesus came to heal sickness, but the sickness was a sick and twisted heart that ran after all the wrong things. Jesus came to feed the hungry, but not with a welfare program that would offer handouts to the poor, but to satisfy our deepest longings. Jesus came to nourish our souls - with himself.

Jesus came to accomplish much more than anyone who cried out 'Hosanna' ever would have imagined. They cried out 'save now', and he did come to do exactly that, but not at all in the ways they were looking for. Jesus, omnipotent God, had the power to overthrow Rome with a word. But Jesus knew what that would bring.

Back in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth, he had read from the scroll of Isaiah

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus came to do all those things. Good news to the poor, freedom for captives, sight to the blind, liberty to the oppressed, favor with God. But he stopped his reading in mid-sentence. If we look back to Isaiah 61, we find that the next phrase in that passage is “and the day of vengeance of our God.” Jesus stopped mid-sentence, because he had not come to bring that. Not yet. If he had come to be crowned as a victorious military leader and benevolent king, he would also usher in the wrath of God against sinners. Every sinner. And that would be everyone. No one is righteous before God, no, not one. Jesus, if he had come to bring the day of vengeance of God against humans, that would extend to all humans. To every individual. Because all have sinned and failed to give God the glory and thanks that he deserves.

Jesus came to save, but not in the way anyone expected. He came to be crowned, not with a crown of gold or rare jewels, but with a crown of thorns. He came, not to be bowed down to, but to bow himself down to receive the blows of the scourge. He came to be lifted up, not on a royal throne, but nailed to a cruel cross. Jesus 'came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many' (Mk.14:10). He came to conquer sin by becoming sin for us. He came to conquer death by dying. Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem, to be the sacrifice. For Jesus, the path to victory, real victory was the cross. Jesus, riding in to Jerusalem, knew exactly what he had come to do. He had come to reconcile man to God, 'making peace by the blood of his cross' (Col.1:20).

Future Fulfillment

Jesus rode in to the city on a donkey. The multitudes were laying their cloaks down as a carpet, waving palm branches in the air, rejoicing and praising God with a loud voice,

Luke 19:38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Jesus was looking at what he had come to do, and why he had come to do it. He was looking beyond that day, and that crowd, off into the future, to a future day and a future crowd. We read about this in the vision of Revelation.

Revelation 7:9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Jesus was looking past the shallow, superficial worship of the crowd, to a deeper, richer, genuine worship resonating from the blood bought souls of the redeemed. He was looking past the Jewish crowd to a multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. He was looking around at the self-centered sinners that day, and he was determined to transform them into saints characterized by his own self-sacrificial love.