[0:00] Welcome to you all to our service this morning. As we join together in the worship of God, we pray that he would bless us under the sound of his word.
[0:15] We can begin by singing to the praise of God, verses from Psalm 89. Psalm 89, verse 15. Sing to verse 20.
[0:54] I stand in thee, and in thy favour shall our horn and power exalted be. For God is our defence, and he to us doth safety bring.
[1:06] The Holy One of Israel is our almighty King. In vision to thy Holy One thou saidst, thy help upon a strong one laid.
[1:17] Out of the folk I raised a chosen one. Even David I have found a mouth a servant unto me, and with my holy oil my King anointed him to be.
[1:34] And so on. Let us sing these verses, Psalm 89, from verse 15 to 20. For greatly blessed the people are the joyful sound that know.
[1:44] O greatly blessed the people are the joyful sound that know.
[2:04] And right in the soul thy grace, O Lord, may I ever long shall go.
[2:21] Then in thy name, O Lord, may I ever long shall be.
[2:51] O Lord, may I ever long shall be.
[3:21] O Lord, may I ever long shall be. O Lord, may I ever long shall be. O Lord, may I ever long shall be. For God is our defence, and He who runs the city bring.
[3:49] The Holy One of Israel is the Lord of my King.
[4:07] In vision before thy holy heart, Thou's hands I have upon.
[4:24] As long as the Lord of the Lord, Thy grace has chosen on.
[4:43] If death is high and high, Thou's hands I have upon. As heaven are done to me, I am with my holy God.
[5:07] I am with my holy God. Let us join together in prayer.
[5:24] Let us pray. Lord, O God, as we come together to worship, we would crave Thy Spirit to envelop us and to fill our heart and mind with suitable inclinations directed to Yourself.
[5:56] We are called to worship our God. And whatever else we are here to do, may that be true of us, that we bow the knee to the God who is God over all, and that we would be sensitive to the glory that is alone yours, that You are the high and lifted up One who inhabits eternity.
[6:24] A God in whose presence the angels' veil their faces. A God who has been worshipped by countless saints throughout time, some with varying degrees of intimacy, yet they were saints, made so by reason of Your grace.
[6:56] We hear of some, and many are hidden from our consideration because they are not named, and yet they form part of that myriad host that will worship Your name into eternity.
[7:21] We pray that You would grant to us the desire to be numbered amongst them and to aspire to do all in our power that we would take our place before You, applying ourselves with all the faculties of our mind and heart, engaged in serving You, as You call us to do.
[7:54] You created us for Your glory, and it is Your glory that we would seek to fulfill. So help us even, in this small number that are met in Your presence, to remind ourselves that collectively, that body that bears Your name in the world cannot be measured by way of number at any moment, but such is Your power that even those of them who occupied the scene of time and have now been removed, whose dust mingles with the dust, but yet the spirits of the just are in Your presence, ready to be reconciled with their body, so that body and soul, as the Church of the Living God, they will engage in activities that they delight in and will be to Your glory.
[9:08] We marvel at such a prospect, and yet we pray for grace to help us believe that that is what awaits Your people, however unlikely it may seem in this hostile world, a world that has no time for God, and no interest in being active for the glory of that God.
[9:34] The vast majority are so engaged in satisfying their own longings and leanings and inclinations, and they are the gods that they serve, and if not them, others of their own making.
[9:53] Remind us, O Lord, that You have the last word, and You will speak, and all will hear, as You have spoken, and all have heard from time to time in the history of this world.
[10:10] So remember us as we worship, pour out Your Spirit upon us, and unite us together in that aim, and unite us together in that aim, to the glory of Christ Jesus, our Lord.
[10:23] we pray for those who are unable to be with us, who are housebound, hospitalized, confined to homes for the vulnerable, and weak, and elderly.
[10:37] we pray for them according to need. Thankful that amongst them, there are Your people, and that You have not forgotten them, even though they may be forgotten by others, that God will not forget them.
[10:55] You have ridden them large on the palms of Your hands, the walls are always before You. We bless You and thank You for the comfort that Your people receive from being remembered at a throne of grace, from being remembered as they believe them to be remembered by an advocate in the presence of their Heavenly Father, who pleads their cause on the basis of His own merits.
[11:29] Remember those amongst us who are concerned because of health issues, their own or others. Remember them, we pray, and the burdens they carry.
[11:42] Remember those who belong to families, who may be concerned because of difficulties within the family. We pray that You would sanctify all Your dealings with us, so that we would know to look beyond circumstance to the heavens above and the God who is God over all.
[12:08] Remember the grieving and the sorrow for You are always with us. And as we enter into a period in a life where celebration is much to the fore, it is inevitably mixed with loggings that are unmet and places that are unfilled, memories that are rekindled, memories that are rekindled, and sorrows and sadnesses that are reawakened.
[12:40] So sanctify these to us also as we look to remember those who have gone before us. we pray, Lord, we pray, Lord, for Your blessing to be upon the gift of memory.
[12:55] How precious it is to be able to think upon the things that we have enjoyed in our lives, especially from the hand of God, the distinct blessings that Your Word has brought into our experience, the quickening of Your Spirit, the awakening of the mind and the heart to the things of God.
[13:23] How precious these things were to us when we first enjoyed the sight of Christ hidden from us, from our youth perhaps.
[13:36] we had our own images of Him before our mind's eye. But then in Your mercy, You allowed us to glimpse the glory of His passion.
[13:50] And we were drawn to Him and we put our trust in Him. For those who have had such experience and who remember it well and who will always think on these things, no matter what, nothing enlivens us much as to think of the sweetness of the taste that belongs to the mercy of God in Christ Jesus.
[14:21] So remember Your people with all their experiences. We pray, Lord, that You would remember those who are yet to be numbered amongst them. Open blind eyes, shaft their fragment, stony hearts, pour Your Spirit upon us that we might see in the Gospel the news that our soul craves, that it's good and cannot be bettered, that a Saviour is born into this world, one who is Christ the Lord.
[14:58] we pray that His name would be magnified in such a way that we would wonder who is He that is born King of the Jews.
[15:11] Lord, hear us and bless Your word to us. Bless it to us as a sin-seek world, remembering the fact that we are embroiled in all kinds of sinfulness and we see the aftermath of it in the wickedness that is perpetrated by others throughout the world.
[15:36] Those who inspire war and those who are responsible for it. Lord, would they not thwart their endeavours to glorify their own name and to see themselves as those who will answer to the God who is God of peace.
[15:58] We pray for the war-torn sections of the world. We think of the conflicts that are ongoing in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe.
[16:11] We think of the Yemen. Think of civil wars that are ongoing and have been for decades, if not longer. And we think of these hostilities as being spoken of in Your word that tells us that there are rumors of wars as there are wars and more and more that will come to the surface.
[16:37] These are the things that we are directed to and in a mysterious way these are the things that are a reminder to us of the fulfillment of Your word.
[16:49] Perhaps many years ago there would have been a sense in which many would have been oblivious to conflicts throughout the world except major conflicts.
[17:01] But now by reason of the technology that is available to us we can discover and be reminded of the way things truly are.
[17:15] And He said but reminders to us that we are hastening towards the day when the Lord who is Lord over all will return.
[17:27] And He will return not as He came in the first instance to bring peace but to bring judgment to bear upon all because He is the one and to His hands it has been committed that He will be the judge of the quick and the dead.
[17:47] Lord hear us and bless us so that our hearing would be the very means by which we are driven to our knees crying out for mercy for ourselves and for others and that we would through the gospel embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us therein.
[18:09] Watch over us we pray and all that we bring to your care and attention even at this time cleanse from many sins in Jesus name we would ask it.
[18:21] Amen. Amen. We can sing to God's phrase from Psalm 145 we sing in the second version of Psalm 145 from the beginning to verse 8 O Lord of art my God and King thee will I magnify and praise I will thee bless and gladly sing unto thy holy name always each day I rise I will thee bless and praise thy name time without end much to be praised and great God is his greatness none can comprehend race shall thy works praise unto race the mighty acts show done by thee I will speak of the glorious grace and honour of thy majesty thy wondrous works I will record by men the might shall be extolled of all thy dreadful acts
[19:29] O Lord and I thy greatness will unfold the utter shall abundantly the memory of thy goodness great and shall sing praises cheerfully whilst they thy righteousness relate the Lord our God is gracious compassionate is he also in measure he is plenteous but unto wrath and anger slow and so on these verses Psalm 145 second version of the Psalm O Lord thou art my God and King O Lord thou art my God and King thee will thy love in high and grace
[20:29] I will thee bless sound and lovely sing unto thy holy hymn always each day I rise to I will be blessed and prisoner in time without end much to be praised and grateful is his greatness love can hold the end rich shall thy works presence of grace the mighty
[21:39] God showed and by thee I will speak of the glorious grace and all and thy majesty thy wondrous works thy will report thy end of my shall be extored hold all thy dreadful last o Lord and thy greatness will uphold the others shallージ
[22:51] Workers компании punch as I and heart next yearartet Wise they thy righteousness be made.
[23:23] The Lord and God is gracious, compassion is He also.
[23:42] In mercy He is plentious, pardon the Lord and honor His hope.
[24:03] We're going to read the scripture as we have it in the New Testament. The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to John. Reading from chapter 12 at the beginning and down to verse 19.
[24:22] Gospel of John chapter 12 at the beginning. Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
[24:39] There they made him a supper and Martha served. But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair.
[25:01] And the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him.
[25:16] Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bare what was put therein.
[25:33] Then said Jesus, let her alone against the day of my burying as she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always.
[25:48] Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there. And they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.
[26:03] But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death, because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus.
[26:17] On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
[26:37] And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, the king cometh sitting on Anasas' court.
[26:53] These things understood not his disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him.
[27:09] The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the dead by record. For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.
[27:27] The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing. Behold, the world is gone after him.
[27:41] And so on down, may the Lord add his blessing to a reading of the word. We can sing to God's praise, verses from Psalm 118.
[27:57] Psalm 118, from verse 20 to the end. This is the gate of God.
[28:10] By it the just shall enter in. The evil I praise, for thou me heard, and hast my safety been. That stone is made head cornerstone, which builders did despise.
[28:24] This is the doing of the Lord, and wondrous in our eyes. This is the day God made. In it will joy triumphantly. Save now, I pray thee.
[28:36] Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he in God's great name that cometh us to save. We from the house which to the Lord pertains, you blessed have.
[28:51] God is the Lord, who unto us hath made light to arise. Bind ye unto the altar's horns with cords, the sacrifice.
[29:02] Thou art my God. I'll thee exhort. My God, I will thee praise. Give thanks to God, for he is good. His mercy lasts always.
[29:16] Let us sing these verses. Psalm 118, verse 20 to the end. This is the gate of God. By it the just shall enter in.
[29:29] This is the gate of God. The just shall enter in.
[29:47] He will find his words on me. And has my sin in.
[30:06] That stone is hidden for mercy's eyes. With mercy's eyes.
[30:25] This is the doing of the Lord. And wondrous in the night.
[30:43] This is the day God made it.
[30:53] With joy triumphantly. Sail now, I pray thee.
[31:08] Lord, I pray. Send thou close that will be.
[31:19] Blessed is he. Blessed is he. And all did he.
[31:30] That come must us to share. We from the house which true the Lord.
[31:48] Lord, I pray thee. And all did he. That come must us. And in light to our eyes.
[31:59] And in light to our eyes.
[32:15] Find thee. Find thee unto thee. God. For mercy mercy is he. That mistdo be power. And all depending the pain you are.
[32:26] To welcome three are in the sea. Thou lift thee�! And all MI physiashed fruit. Revised. Thou art my God, I thee exalt.
[32:44] My God, I will thee praise. Give hands to God, for he is good.
[33:02] His mercy in us always. Amen.
[33:39] When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
[33:58] And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, the king cometh sitting on Alas's court.
[34:12] These things understood not his disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written often, and that they had done these things unto him.
[34:28] When we look at the scripture, we come across very often words of prophecy, words of predictions given by the God of heaven.
[34:52] That the prophets, as directed by God, declared to us. And the Lord's people in particular, I would hope, take these words as words that are designed to encourage their faith.
[35:15] And if you're not one of the Lord's people, I would hope that it would at least create in you the questioning spirit.
[35:28] And that you would desire to find out how these things could possibly have been written in so detailed a way.
[35:43] But I do believe that the Lord's people can take great encouragement from the word of God, especially the prophetic word of God, and the way that God sees food to make his will known to us by way of prophecy, and to bring his will to fruition in his own appointed time.
[36:17] Last Lord's Day, we spoke about the birth of the Lord Jesus. And we can tell that the birth of the Lord Jesus was not a surprising event in the sense that if you knew scripture, then you would know that God had made known that such an event would occur.
[36:44] That the time would come when such an event bearing the name of the Lord would be born into this world.
[36:56] And that his name would be Emmanuel. And the name Emmanuel means God with us. And many other words accompanying that that testify to the glory of the person that came into this world.
[37:13] These prophecies are important. They're not meant to be simply part of a narrative that makes for interesting reading.
[37:29] But they come with the conviction that God works his will in this world. He has a plan.
[37:41] He has a purpose. And these purposes and plans will come to fruition. When you think about it last week, we saw how Mary and Joseph were, by the direction of the ruler of the Roman authorities, by decree of Caesar Augustus, they had to go to Bethlehem to be registered or to be part of a census.
[38:18] And Caesar Augustus did not know anything about Mary or Joseph or about the grave that she was carrying in her womb.
[38:30] He had absolutely no knowledge of them or anyone like them. And yet, he was doing God's will. By the decree that he was responsible for, they came to Bethlehem.
[38:49] The prophecy of God had declared this was where the infant would be born, one who has the name the Saviour.
[39:02] That's just one example. Today we're looking at another example of prophecy and the fulfilment of prophecy, which is itself a wonder to us.
[39:18] This is approaching the end of the life of Jesus in the world, just before he comes to experience death on the cross.
[39:34] And it is very detailed, and it is very exact and precise, and the precision and the exactness of it makes people question, how could this possibly be?
[39:53] But the same rule applies to the experience of the Lord. God, the moment he first threw breath as an infant of days, to the moment that he will expire his last.
[40:13] God knows that moment and all the circumstances surrounding it. One of the commentators I refer to a preacher quite often, he speaks about he himself, he was probably, however you would think of him, considered a prophet in his own day.
[40:40] Some did not like his message, and some were afraid of him, because of the precision with which he applied God's word.
[40:52] But this is what he said, nothing God has done for us yet can compare with all that is written, all that he has written in a sure word of prophecy.
[41:11] And nothing he has done or may yet do for us can compare with what he is and will be to us. So that, I think, the point that he wants to make the emphasis, obviously, is the prophetic word tells us that there is a God at work in this world.
[41:38] But, however much we are impressed by the word of prophecy and the God whose word it is that speaks prophetically, the God that is behind it all, the God who is yet to reveal himself to us in the fullness with which he will be revealed, is more immense still and more impressive still.
[42:14] We, I often, whenever I look at the scripture, I find myself referring to the shorter catechism because it reminds you of what you once learnt as a child.
[42:26] As a child, the catechism that I was taught asks this question. What are the decrees of God? The decrees of God are his eternal purposes, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.
[42:51] That's an easy question to remember. But it carries in it an answer that is difficult for us to understand.
[43:07] How God has a will, he has a purpose, and everything that is done within this world will work according to his will, and according to his purposes.
[43:26] But inside of that, there is the part that tells us that what we do, what we say, where we go, where others go, and where others take us, that each and every one of us has an accountability to him for our actions within that.
[43:53] Especially so, when you look at the death of Jesus Christ, in the book of Acts, it reminds us that the death of Jesus was, those who were responsible for it were doing God's will.
[44:08] but at the same time, they are answerable to God for the wickedness of what they willed themselves. And that's a difficult thing for us to understand.
[44:23] But God insists upon them. God nowhere tells the scribes and the Pharisees to preach lies about Jesus.
[44:34] God nowhere tells the Roman authorities to nail the body of Christ to a tree. This is their doing. This is their mode of execution.
[44:47] And yet, at the same time, they are doing God's will. And what they are doing works within the purposes of God for the salvation of sinners.
[44:58] So why this long introduction? I was going to go for long introductions. Pardon me. But long introduction because we're looking at a prophecy.
[45:11] And we're looking at a prophecy that is made by a prophet in the Old Testament. And that prophecy being fulfilled in the experience of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[45:23] The prophecy you will find in the book of the prophet Zechariah. in chapter 9 and verse 9. The prophecy is this. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.
[45:36] Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon Anas and upon a court the fall of Anas.
[45:53] That's a prophecy made hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ. The events that are recorded for us here describe that prophecy being fulfilled.
[46:10] So I want us just to think about what is at the heart of what the prophet was saying and what God is saying to us through the prophet and then look more closely at the fruition of it the realisation of it.
[46:31] Now we're all familiar I'm sure with the biblical title Messiah you've heard the word Messiah mentioned I'm sure but what you might not be aware of is how frequently or infrequently you will find the word Messiah within the scriptures.
[46:50] The word Messiah means the anointed one and it's the exact name that conforms to the name Christ.
[47:03] Christ is also the anointed one and there are two occasions in the Old Testament when the Messiah is specifically mentioned and that is in the book of Daniel and two occasions you find it mentioned in the Gospels and that's in John's Gospel chapter 4.
[47:28] Now where Daniel speaks of the Messiah he himself gives a prophecy and the prophecy is very significant because it concerns the Messiah or what will be true about the Messiah and why the Messiah has come and what the Messiah is going to do once he comes.
[48:01] So in Daniel chapter 9 you probably remember well maybe not but recently we looked at the prophecies of Daniel and the prophecy of the 70 weeks in chapter 9 verse 24 70 weeks are determined upon thy people upon thy holy city to finish the transgression to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem and to the Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks the street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times and after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off but not for himself and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood and to the end of the war desolations are determined and so on it's not a straightforward prophecy it's not easily interpreted on face value but it tells us very detailed it gives us a very detailed description of what the person of the
[49:44] Lord Jesus Christ was going to secure as a consequence of him coming into the world he was going to deal with sin he was to secure salvation for his people he was going to bring peace into the world between God and his people but it was going to be by means of his own death and his death would be followed by the destruction of Jerusalem and some other items that follow along with that now all of that is important because it compares to the prophecy that John is referring to in this sense that the Messiah the anointed one that Daniel is speaking about is the anointed one that the people of God are celebrating his arrival in Jerusalem they are celebrating him as the anointed one the Messiah the king because they expect him to do great things now the two prophecies are not the same clearly and the prophecy in
[51:20] Zechariah is not the equivalent of the prophecy in Daniel but it speaks of the same passion it speaks of God's anointed it speaks of the purposes for which God's anointed is coming into the world when strangely enough when the when Messiah is spoken of in the New Testament who do you think is speaking about the Messiah was it one of the Jewish spiritual leaders or was it one of the disciples who had been taught much by the Lord Jesus no it wasn't it was a woman of Samaria who met with the Lord at a well and she spoke to the Lord about the
[52:21] Messiah and she said to the Lord that he is going to tell all things that he is someone who is going to tell all things that's her take on who the Messiah was a picture in her mind of what the Messiah was going to accomplish in other words she understood him to have perfect knowledge and what does Jesus do he doesn't correct her theology he doesn't say to her you don't fully grasp who I am but he says to her I that speak unto thee am he isn't that amazing that he tells this woman who is illiterate as far as spiritual truth is concerned that she has hit the nail on the head she knows something that others have yet to realise and she has met with him and he reveals himself to her so in that we could say that
[53:32] Jesus was self aware he knew himself as the anointed one and he was someone who quite clearly was prepared to reveal that when it soothed him we know that the passion of Jesus Christ is described to us as someone who is a prophet someone who is a priest and someone who is a king and theologians will tell you that he had to occupy these three roads three offices because of the situation that the world was in and his people in the world were in because of sin his role as king was to allow them to overcome the bondage that they were in to use the words of the theologian
[54:45] Jesus came to quell a rebellion he extended the rod of his authority to those who were in constant rebellion against the word of God as priest he came to deal with our sins and as a prophet he came to deal with our spiritual darkness and ignorance now all of these things are significant but bearing in mind this prophecy that speaks not of a priest there are other prophecies in Zechariah even that speak of the priesthood of Christ there are other prophecies that remind us that there is one here who is greater than Solomon that he is a prophet like no other but here he is identified as a king God's anointed and he is heralded and he is lauded and applauded as someone who is coming to
[55:52] Jerusalem and the picture that we have is given the name within many Bibles the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem so there you have the background the prophecy and what it could mean and why it should mean what it does mean but let's look at the detail and what's significant about this prophecy you'll find many prophecies in the Old Testament and they are interpreted in the New Testament for us sometimes in the Old sometimes prophecy in the Old Testament is contemporary to the Old Testament words of God made known to that generation and it might be weeks might be years but in some cases centuries pass before they're fulfilled here the prophecy was made long before but only parts of the prophecy are revealed or the fulfillment of the prophecy is directed to the attention of those who read certain parts of the scripture not every gospel will speak of every prophecy but the significant thing about this prophecy is that the four gospels
[57:29] Matthew Mark Luke and John go to each one of these you'll find the account of Jesus sending his disciples to collect the fall of an ass and to bring that ass to him that he will ride upon it into Jerusalem and it's a very detailed direction that he gives to them concerning this now Jesus you will understand knows the scripture you would be surprised if he didn't he knows it perfectly well so some suggest that Jesus well because he knew the scripture this was really a self fulfilling prophecy you know he understood that the prophecy existed he was familiar with the words of the prophet Zechariah so all he had to do was avail himself of the fall of an ass and ride upon it into
[58:37] Jerusalem and there you have it prophecy fulfilled now that's the way some people think but if you look at the detail of it the impossibility of that thinking becomes obvious he told the disciples to go into a village and he told them what they would find in that village that they would find an ass with a coat a foal alongside it and he told them that not only would he find it but that the owner of that coat would ask them where are you going with a foal and all you have to do he said was tell them the lord has need of it and there was no more questions asked they took the foal and Jesus was able to sit upon the foal which again was quite a feat because to sit upon an untrained animal who hadn't had any person sitting on its back before would have been quite difficult at the best of times but that was not a hindrance to Jesus all of these parts of the prophecy are being fulfilled no matter the difficulty no matter the unlikelihood of it now John doesn't have as much detail but he does tell us that it was only in the aftermath of the cross after the cross after the crucifixion after the resurrection after the ascension even that the disciples became aware of the significance of the significance of what they had didn't go for this foal and say we're going to get this donkey and we're going to put the
[60:49] Lord on it and it'll be the fulfillment of prophecy they didn't once think of that never entered into their mind and well after it and in Matthew's gospel it tells us specifically that what was taking place was the fulfillment of prophecy but the thing that you and I need to remind ourselves of is this it was not physically possible for Jesus to pre-arrange this in any other way without divine foreknowledge and that foreknowledge encompasses not just the present experience of the Lord but the foreknowledge of God who prophetically declared this is what is going to happen Jesus will avail himself of a provision made by someone he has never met and possibly never will meet in this world and he will make his way to
[61:58] Jerusalem and as he makes his way to Jerusalem something he could not possibly have known the hordes of people that gathered and followed the procession for some reason they identified him as the king the one who was coming in the name of the lord they identified him as the lord's anointed and they declared as much so much so so that the enemies of jesus knew exactly what was being said even though they were not declaring it publicly what they were doing was they were speaking what they were seeing they were seeing this christ and they identified him as the anointed of god the king of god the one that god had promised the messiah and they were seeing it how could they see it how could they interpret what they were seeing how could they declare it so knowingly without the holy spirit opening their mind in that moment to what god was doing by christ and you know the lord's enemies they saw him in the same way they saw how jesus was being highlighted heralded applauded and lauded by the people but the mystery of god's word is something i came across in my reading of this one of the commentators talking about a passage in genesis and it might seem that there is a very limited connection with what we're finding here but at the same time if you go back to genesis and you remember you've been back right to the beginning genesis 49 and there at that moment in time it is anticipating the coming of the christ it is anticipating the glory that will accompany the coming of the christ the scepter shall not depart from judah nor a log giver from between his feet until shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be binding his foal unto the vine and his asses court unto the choice vine he washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes so suppose it's a very vague commentary on what we're seeing here that revelation of god is at times it is building on other revelation but
[65:14] Shiloh coming the coming of the one who has a scepter in his hand speaks of a king that is to come and strangely it has in it the foal of an ass being tied to a vine what are we to make of that but he comes with peace and it again reminds us of the way God's mind this mind of God that is so vast that contains in it all the detail of God's doing on the scene of time throughout all the ages until the fruition of his promises comes to the fore I suppose when we look at this what we need to remind ourselves of is that there are many layers to people's expectations as there is to your own I wonder
[66:14] I've said it often I'm sure if I were to get you to sit down and do an exam I'll set it myself give you a few questions see how you answer these questions and let's just say that we're going to set the exam on the basis of the second coming the second coming of Christ is a bit of detail about it you know when he's going to come again the Bible tells us that every eye is going to see him and it tells us that he's going to carry out judgment and it tells us that it's going to be accompanied by hosts of angels so the question would be can you write down what you expect this great day to be like what are you going to see what are your experiences going to be well
[67:20] I wonder how many varieties of answers there would be how many variations on the truth there would be and probably greatly influenced by your own expectations your own fears your own trepidations your own anticipations some of you may be longing for that day to come when the Lord will come for his people and take them home others will say well if that day comes I don't want to be there because you're not one of them and you know if you're not one of them then Jesus will have something to say to you but some of the people who were seeing what was happening here and who watched Jesus going up to Jerusalem sitting on a as some putting their clothing in the road before him some throwing branches of leaves on the road some singing the psalms of praise that spoke of the coming king some had a spiritual understanding of what they were singing don carson speaking about when his own comments on john john's gospel he says the coming of the king is associated with the blood of god's covenant that spells release for prisoners themes that are already precious to john and associated with the passover and with the death of the servant king john relays the information god gives to him but with this particular slant but john does tell us that understanding only came to the disciples retrospectively and if it came retrospectively to the to the disciples the actions of those who were there what do they say to us what do they say to us were they spiritual people were they did they have a perspicuity a clarity of mind as they saw the lord coming to
[69:35] Jerusalem well we can't answer that question but what we do see is this that there were many there and they they possibly had the grasp of scripture that would tell them there is significance attached to this and others they just joined in with the rest but one thing I would say to you is the fickleness of human nature the fickleness of men and women there they were and they were intent on crowning the king crowning the king applauding him and praising him and only a few hours after that the very same people who were ready to to crown him king crowned him with thorns the very same people not others some of the very same people who joined in with the celebration of the coming king they mocked him and they despised him and it's still the same when you read of the mockery that was at the cross you remember that did not abate at that moment it wasn't exhausted at the cross the mockery of the world against
[71:26] Christ is still as powerful as ever it was they mocked him and said hail king of the jews and you read the death of Christ read about it and find and find out for yourself how much Christ as king came into the thinking of those who were there Pilate put a big big notice above his head behold king of the jews the soldiers mocked him and clothed him with the garb of a king and so on and so on and is it not something that we find there how the scripture is fulfilled Christ is indeed the king
[72:26] Christ indeed deserves to be heralded and applauded and praised as the king of glory who has come to bring salvation to lost sinners and yet how quickly that is lost sight of how quickly this is forgotten the Pharisees thought that they had lost the argument perceive ye how you prefer nothing behold the world has gone after it that's what they thought at that moment every person there was praising and magnifying Christ and their enmity was fruitless or so they thought at that moment but they persevered and they killed the king but without the king being killed without
[73:27] God's anointed going to the cross salvation would not be possible for sinners search the scripture consider the prophecies reflect on what they mean and how they have been fulfilled remind yourself of how many are still to be fulfilled that will be without without a chart or a tittle being excluded a detail is there for you of many things and God in his grace has made known to you how things will be and it is well for the person who understands that and prepares for it let us pray God help us to understand that you are a God who sees all things just as if you are looking at a page and the words upon it are so detailed but it is the page of our life from beginning to end it's a page of this community's beginnings and the end that you have in store for it the page that contains the detail of the world beginnings and the world's end but within it writ large is the passion of the saviour of sinners prophet priest and king exhorted above this world by your own hand help us to look unto him watch over us we pray for giving us in his name amen and conclude by singing to
[75:24] God's praise from psalm 72 at verse 8 verses 8 to 11 psalm 72 at verse 8 his large and great dominion shall from sea to sea extend it from the river shall reach forth as that must end they in the wilderness that dwell bow down before him must and they that are his enemies shall lick the very dust the kings of Tarshish and the isles to him shall peasants bring and unto him shall offer gifts sheep as king may all the mighty kings on earth before him down shall fall and all the nations of the world do service to him shall his large and great dominion shall from sea to sea extend his large and great dominion shall from sea to sea
[76:45] Jesus 快 내가 change he information he avan The wilderness, the land of God before us, The wilderness of His enemies, jumping away from us.
[77:42] The kings of countries and the islands, to Him shall pass the trade, And unto Him shall all forgive, keep us and save us King.
[78:18] Yea, all the mighty kings of earth, before Him and the Lord, And all the nations of the world, who serve His to His own.
[78:58] May the grace, mercy and peace be God the Father, the Son of the Holy Spirit, bless and abide with you all now and always. Amen.