Historic arrivals.
At the outset of World War II,
General Douglas MacArthur was forced to leave the Philippines
by occupying Japanese forces.
And so on March 12, 1942,
while departing the island of Corregidor in the Manila Bay,
Douglas vowed, I will return.
Now, after mounting a campaign to retake the Philippines,
about two and a half years later, October 20, 1944,
General Douglas MacArthur walks ashore on Leyte.
He eventually finds a place where he can broadcast this following sentence.
People of the Philippines,
I have returned.
The hour of your redemption is here.
Essentially, he's saying,
I have come to deliver you from enemy occupation.
It was a historic arrival.
But you know what?
He wasn't crying.
He wasn't weeping.
He wasn't wailing.
He came ashore in an army or a navy boat.
The Marines had already established a beachhead.
Palm Sunday is the Sunday during the church year in which Christians call to mind a historic arrival of another nature.
The day that Jesus Christ rode a cult into the city of Jerusalem around 30 A.D.
Now, we got to ask the question,
what's the big deal with that?
Because if you think about it this way,
here is a carpenter turned teacher
who is riding a donkey one particular day into a historic city in the Middle East.
I mean, it was 2,000 years ago.
We can ask the question, so what?
So a guy entered a city.
Big deal.
Well, we get some hints of some things in Matthew chapter 21.
Matthew records that when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem on that day.
The whole city was stirred up.
They're asking the question, who is this?
Who is this guy?
Now, the big deal about the arrival of Jesus is who is arriving.
It's not so much about palm leaves.
It's about the one riding on the donkey.
The long awaited King.
The Messiah.
The one spoken of in the Old Testament Scriptures.
He has arrived in Jerusalem.
And as his little donkey makes its way down the Mount of Olives,
the Messiah is crying.
This morning, I want to walk through this story and I want to draw six C's out for you.
The city.
The control.
The cult.
The crowd.
The critics.
The cry.
The crowd.
The critics.
The cry.
What I want to help you see is this is not some ordinary Joe coming into this city.
So let's look at the city.
The city.
Jerusalem.
The city.
Jerusalem.
We see that in chapter 19, verse 28.
And when he said these things, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem played a very prominent role in the life of Jesus.
If you remember, Jesus was presented at the temple 30 years earlier when he was just a baby.
Remember Simeon's cry in Luke chapter 2?
For my eyes have seen your salvation.
He's holding this baby up in the temple.
He's been waiting to die.
And God said, you won't die until you see the one.
For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all people.
A light for revelation to the Gentiles.
And for glory to your people Israel.
It took place in Jerusalem.
And then, I relayed the story just a little bit ago.
Another sermon.
When Jesus was 12.
His family was in Jerusalem.
His family takes off.
He stays in Jerusalem.
Because he's hanging out at his father's house.
And then in Luke chapter 9, verse 51 and 53, there's a very important turn in the book of Luke.
We read that Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem.
Just moments earlier at the Transfiguration,
Jesus was speaking with bygone prophets.
And they were talking about the Exodus.
Jesus was about to bring about in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem would be the site of the greatest act of deliverance the world would ever know.
Eventually, Jesus would be tried, beaten, handed over, crucified,
within either within the city or within sight of the city itself.
And of course, after his resurrection,
he would meet with his disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem.
And it would be from the city of Jerusalem that his early disciples were sent out to the nations.
Jerusalem plays a very prominent role in the life of Jesus.
Jerusalem is also at the heart of the Jewish people.
It was the city of the king.
It was the city of God.
It would have been the cultural nerve center of the Jewish people.
It would also have represented the Jewish people.
And so the destruction of Jerusalem in 586,
it was understood as God's judgment on the people of Israel.
So when Jesus comes into the city,
he's actually coming into the city as their long awaited king.
And we got asked the question,
who is this guy?
What kind of king?
So there's the city.
Let's look at the control.
His control.
Now Jesus, this is in verses 29 through 34.
Jesus had been moving towards Jerusalem for the last several months,
very intentionally moving towards Jerusalem.
And he had a specific timeframe in mind.
It's very important to get this.
Back in Luke 9 51, when Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem,
he was on a time schedule.
He wanted to walk into Jerusalem at the beginning of the Passover celebration.
He wanted to be getting there right when Passover was happening.
And so it's a picture of his purposefulness.
This is not random, a random entry.
The timing is very important.
And so in earlier in Luke 19,
Jesus is coming to Jerusalem from the east.
He comes through Jericho.
Now, you'll remember Jericho because of that little guy up in the sycamore tree.
Remember him?
Zacchaeus.
And so he has his exchange with Zacchaeus,
shares a parable,
and then there's the triumphal entry.
It's what we call the triumphal entry.
Jesus comes up through Jericho,
and he comes up to the villages of Bethpage and Bethany,
which were about a half mile east of Jerusalem,
on the other side of the Mount of Olives.
Jesus is being very purposeful to get to Jerusalem at a designated time.
And so as they get close to Jerusalem,
Jesus sends two of his disciples ahead to find a colt, a donkey.
Now, pay attention to the specificity with which Jesus instructs his disciples.
He tells them where to go, where they'll find a colt,
and they'll find a particular kind of colt,
one which no one has ever sat yet.
He also tells them what to say if they're asked why they're untying the colt.
It's very specific.
It's like he's in control.
It's like he knows what's going to happen.
It's down to the details.
A very similar thing happens later on in Luke 22.
Jesus says his disciples out again to find an upper room,
and he tells them just where to go, just what to do.
It's very specific.
As if Jesus knew what was going on.
It's like he had a plan.
He was working out the details in advance.
The intended effect of this is that Jesus is in control.
He's entering into Jerusalem, and he's already in control.
He's very purposeful.
He knows where the colt is.
He knows where the upper room is.
And he knows where the upper room is.
He knows what will be.
He knows where the upper room is.
He knows what's going on.
Who is this guy?
Who is he?
Who does that kind of stuff?
Getting back to the colt, notice that Jesus rides in in verses 30 and 31, that he sends his disciples to get a colt.
He's going to ride a colt, a donkey, into the city of Jerusalem.
And what's important here is what he's choosing not to ride into the city of Jerusalem.
He's not choosing to ride in a war horse, a charger.
I mean, a war horse would symbolize military might, dominance, power, threat.
Now you imagine with me two calvaries squaring off against each other on an open field.
In one calvary, 100 on each side.
It's even number.
On one side, there's a bunch of guys on donkeys.
And on the other side, there's a bunch of guys on armored war horses.
Two times as big.
Two times the attitude.
Who do you think will win?
A donkey would not be seen as a threat.
A donkey is a peaceful animal.
It's a humble animal.
It's a beast of burden.
Jesus very intentionally chose to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey and not a war horse.
He's making a statement.
I come in peace.
I come in humility.
I come to bear burdens.
And sadly, most of Jerusalem didn't see it.
Did you notice that Jesus was very specific?
That his disciples find a colt that no one has ever yet sat?
Verse 30.
Did you notice that?
What's up with that?
Well, the idea behind it is that this particular donkey is reserved.
Set apart.
It's set apart for the first person to ride on it.
It's designated.
It gets that privilege.
I mean, the owner of that colt didn't know it.
But Jesus did.
The colt would be the colt that bore the privilege of carrying into Jerusalem the long-awaited Messiah King.
Fulfilling a prophecy of 500 years earlier.
Speaking of the colt in prophecy.
When Jesus tells his disciples to go into the village to find this unsat-upon donkey,
he anticipates that someone's going to ask,
Hey, hey, why are you untying the donkey?
And Jesus tells his disciples to tell the one who asks,
The Lord has need of it.
Now, Jesus doesn't go into detail about what kind of need he has for it.
He just kind of says,
Just tell them I need it.
What kind of need does Jesus have for a donkey?
Maybe he loves donkeys.
Maybe he's an animal lover.
And he heard that there's a wonderful donkey in Bethany.
He really likes them.
That's not it.
Maybe he's in need of transportation.
Maybe the half mile from Bethany to Jerusalem is just too much for him to bear.
Jesus is tired.
He needs a lift.
That's not it.
What's the need?
The need is to fulfill prophecy.
Jesus needs to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey in order to fulfill Zechariah 9.9.
If you'd open up your Bibles, I know what you're thinking.
I think Zechariah is one of the minor prophets, and I don't know where it is.
Here's what to do.
Go to Matthew.
Page left.
The last book of the Old Testament is Malachi.
And the second to the last book of the Old Testament is Zechariah.
So second to the last book of the English Bible, Zechariah.
And if you would turn to Zechariah 9.9,
we're going to read that together.
Because anyone with a sense of biblical prophecy,
when they would hear that Jesus is coming in a donkey,
what would jump into their minds would be Zechariah 9.9.
It's a prophecy of how the Messiah will enter into Jerusalem in order to establish his kingdom.
So just one verse.
Read with me.
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.
Notice, it's speaking of entrance into Jerusalem.
Notice, it's speaking of a coming king.
Notice, it's speaking that this king is bringing salvation with him.
That he's righteous.
Notice, he's riding on a donkey.
This king is a humble king.
Notice, that him riding in a donkey means he's bringing peace with him.
The Messiah would come bringing peace.
The Son of David would come bringing peace.
Riding on a donkey.
The king would come.
The cult reveals who this guy is.
He's the king.
The Zechariah 9.9 king.
The Messiah king.
That's who's walking in.
He's the king of Israel.
But more than that,
he's the king of all nations.
The king of kings.
And the Lord of lords.
And we see that the crowd gets a glimpse of this.
They have a sense of who this is.
And so, we've moved from now the cult to the crowd.
In verses 35-38.
In verse 35, we see that after they bring the donkey to Jesus,
they set Jesus upon the donkey.
And Jesus starts making his way down the descent of the Mount of Olives.
Now, remember that Jerusalem,
the temple in Jerusalem faces east.
And so, if you were sitting in front of the temple,
standing there, looking out,
you would see the top of the Mount of Olives.
And so, what Jesus, what we are reading here,
is Jesus is making his way down the Mount of Olives.
And eventually, he's going to be taking the path
straight into the heart of the temple.
He's coming down the road.
And as he comes down,
he's going to have a full view from the Mount of Olives,
which sits above Jerusalem.
He's going to see the whole city laid out in front of him.
There's a lot there.
Ezekiel tells us of how God leaves the temple.
And here we have God re-entering Jerusalem.
And eventually, he's going to stand in the temple
and he's going to clean it.
Well, there's this crowd around him
as he's making his way down the Mount of Olives.
And there's three things to notice about the crowd.
Who makes up the crowd?
The crowd is the whole multitude of his disciples.
Verse 37.
So, it's not the entirety of Jerusalem
come out to witness Jesus coming into the city.
This is Jesus' disciples
who have been following him.
They're there.
Now, Matthew 21 does say that
when Jesus arrives,
he creates a stir with the people in Jerusalem.
They ask, who is this?
But what's important to note here,
it's not all of Jerusalem
out on the Mount of Olives
throwing coats and palm branches down.
It's his disciples.
Notice what they're doing.
This crowd of Jesus' disciples,
primarily disciples,
they're throwing down before him
their cloaks.
John 12 also informs us
they're laying down palm branches.
This is the equivalent of a poor man's red carpet.
You know how red carpets signify importance
and prestige?
You know, you see those kind of
initial showings of a movie
or some kind of award ceremony
and there's a red carpet out there
and the very important kind of
walk the red carpet.
Red carpets are known for royalty
to walk down red carpets.
Well, this crowd
is not laying down a red carpet.
They're laying down cloaks
and palm branches.
Basically, whatever they can get
their hands on
to cover the road.
Because they know
who's coming down on the donkey.
They're laying out a covering
on the road.
This is no ordinary person
coming down on this donkey.
This is demonstration of respect
and of honor
to the one riding the donkey.
That's what you do for a king.
Now notice what they are singing.
They're singing,
Blessed is the King
who comes in the name of the Lord.
Blessed is the King
who comes in the name of the Lord.
This crowd is calling Jesus
the King who comes
in the name of the Lord.
And Jesus isn't quieting them.
He's letting them sing.
The long awaited Messiah King
has arrived
to liberate His city.
His people.
This little phrase,
Blessed is the King
who comes in the name of the Lord.
It's actually taken from Psalm 118.26.
And it's part of a group of psalms
called the Hallel.
Prayers of thanksgiving
recited during Passover.
This is all coincidental
to Passover.
And Jesus intentionally timed it that way.
Jerusalem would be packed
with Jewish travelers
coming into Jerusalem
to celebrate the deliverance,
the great deliverance
that God brought about
in the time of Moses.
Remember the Passover?
Passover?
The great tenth plague wrought.
The angel of death.
The killing of sheep, of lambs,
and the spreading of blood
over doorposts
so that the destroyer,
the angel of death,
would pass over God's people
and they would be saved.
But it didn't end there.
Passed over in order to be delivered.
To be brought out of Egypt.
And here the crowd is proclaiming
that Jesus is the King
who's come in the name of the Lord
with salvation to deliver His people.
We read the words,
peace and glory in the highest.
Here we are.
Luke 19.
Reading peace, glory in the highest.
Maybe it rings a bell.
Angels in a field outside of Bethlehem
on the day that Jesus was born.
Glory to God in the highest.
And on earth,
peace among those with whom He is pleased.
They're singing.
And the way that you need to think about it
is the followers of Jesus
are proclaiming what all heaven already knows
and what all heaven has been waiting for.
The Messiah King is entering the city of Jerusalem.
The time has come.
Zechariah 9.9 is being fulfilled before their eyes.
The King's arrival,
Jesus' arrival into Jerusalem
was to establish His kingdom
by one great act of deliverance
that would eclipse the Passover.
Who is this guy?
Blessed is the King
who comes in the name of the Lord.
This guy just so happens to be the Lord.
And His followers,
they are getting it.
They are understanding something of all this.
But not His critics.
In verses 39-40,
we see the critics.
It turns out there was some crowd control
going on on this road.
Though the crowd was mainly comprised
of followers of Jesus,
there were some religious po-po's in the house.
The Pharisees.
They understood what Christ's disciples were singing.
They got it.
They heard His disciples singing
Psalm 118.26
and applying it to this guy,
Jesus,
riding on the donkey.
They get it.
They hear these people saying,
this is the King who's come
in the name of the Lord
to work salvation.
They understand
that what this crowd is saying
is that this guy
is the Messiah.
And they see the guy on the donkey
not doing anything about it,
rather receiving it.
They're unbelieving critics.
They don't believe
Jesus is the Messiah.
They don't believe
that Jesus is the one,
the long-promised one
who would deliver His people.
They don't believe it.
And so,
you know what they tell Jesus to do?
And literally,
they tell Him to do this.
It's a strong command.
They say,
Teacher,
rebuke your disciples.
In other words,
will you tell them to shut up?
Because
you're not the Messiah.
They shouldn't be saying that about you.
They shouldn't be calling you
or inferring that you're the Messiah.
They didn't believe it.
And in verse 40,
we read the response of Jesus.
He says,
I tell you, Pharisees,
if these disciples of Mine
were silent,
the very stones would cry out.
You know what Jesus is saying?
There's no mistake here.
No mistake.
They're right.
They should be singing this to Me.
I am the Messiah.
He doesn't come out and say it,
but it's implied.
All creation,
including these stones,
have been waiting
for this very moment.
What Jesus is saying is,
there's no stopping it.
It's right.
It's fulfillment.
And ironically,
He rebukes the Pharisees.
Who is this guy?
He's not denying who He is,
even though these Pharisees
are denying who He is.
He is the King
who's come in the name of the Lord.
And He's bringing salvation with Him.
And there's no stopping it.
But He's not denying it.
And He's really sad.
Here we are,
people praising Him.
And He's sad.
Douglas MacArthur wasn't sad
when he told the Filipinos
that their redemption has come.
He wasn't sad.
Jesus is deeply, deeply sad.
In verses 41 through 44,
we see it.
Here's the scene.
Jesus is mounted on a donkey
descending on a road
down the Mount of Olives
towards the city of Jerusalem.
This historic city.
He's surrounded mainly
by His rejoicing disciples,
though there are a couple critics
who are denying Him.
And as He is descending
and the city lies out before Him,
we read that He is weeping.
Now, when you hear about somebody weeping,
I don't know what comes into your mind.
Maybe you think that He has tears
trickling down His cheeks.
It's not that kind of weeping.
This is the same word used
for what took place with Peter.
Remember when Peter denied Jesus three times?
And then Jesus looks at Peter
and Peter splits
and He goes outside
and He weeps bitterly.
Kind of shaking,
kind of wailing, weeping.
That's what's going on with Jesus right here.
He's entering into Jerusalem
to praise,
to some critics,
and He's weeping.
He's wailing.
Why is He so upset?
Well, we know He's not weeping
because His own feelings are hurt.
He's not weeping because
He Himself is being rejected
like God was rejected by His people
in 1 Samuel 8.
He's weeping over the hard hearts
of those who are rejecting Him.
He's come to His city.
He's come to His own, John 1.
And they don't acknowledge Him.
In verse 42,
the Jewish people have been blinded
so that they can't recognize
who it is that's coming into the city.
They may be asking,
who is this?
What's the big hubbub?
But they don't have eyes to see.
They don't have ears to hear
that Jesus is the King
who's come in the name of the Lord
to bring the peace of salvation.
They don't get it.
They don't recognize that their deliverer,
their peacemaker,
is riding into the city
on a humble, lowly donkey.
Jesus is bringing with Him
peace with God
through His sacrificial death.
Not a political coup d'etat.
They were not looking for that kind of peace.
Jerusalem was looking for military might.
And Jesus says,
would that you,
even you,
had known on this day
the things that make for peace.
I am your peace, Jerusalem!
Jerusalem!
Does it really matter who this guy is?
He's wailing because of the hardness of heart
of the people of God,
quote unquote,
living in Jerusalem.
He's weeping because
Jerusalem is going to be destroyed.
Would you look with me
at verses 43 and 44?
Jesus is saying,
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.
And,
Jesus is saying,
and tear you down to the ground.
You and your children within you
and they will not leave
one stone upon another in you.
Forty years later,
Titus besieges the city
and eventually devastates Jerusalem
to the uttermost.
His words came true.
He spoke judgment on those who rejected him.
And they were judged.
He's wailing because of this people of God
living in Jerusalem
who are rejecting him.
They will utterly be destroyed.
In verse 44, we're told why?
Because you did not know
the time of your visitation.
You didn't recognize
who was coming into the city.
They rejected Jesus as their king.
Therefore, they would be judged.
And Jesus wails over it.
He's not cheering over it.
He wails over it.
What a picture of a grieved heart
of a king.
Who is this guy?
Who is this guy that pronounces devastation
for rejecting him
and then it happens on a global scale?
Rome did his bidding.
You see him weeping.
He takes no pleasure
in the death of the wicked.
Jesus does not want people
to reject him as king,
but he will judge those that do.
Who is this guy?
The point
why this is in your Bible.
Jesus is the Christ.
The Messiah.
The king.
Palm Sunday is not about palm branches.
Palm Sunday is about the guy
on the donkey coming into the city
and he's weeping
and he's fulfilling Zechariah 9.9.
This is the king that's come
with deliverance in his hand.
He's God in the flesh.
The long awaited Messiah.
And what we'll see over this week,
Passion Week,
is that Jesus establishes his reign
not by military coup,
but through his suffering
and his death
and his resurrection.
Jerusalem may be the place
he's walking into
and where his reign starts,
but it would quickly spread.
The reign of Christ,
the kingdom of Jesus,
it would spread
from Jerusalem
to Judea
to Samaria
and to every nation.
And it got here
in Kenosha
2015.
The reign of Jesus is here.
He is our king.
This king who entered Jerusalem
2,000 years ago
is our king today.
He is Christ the King.
And that's the point.
King Jesus arrived
to establish His kingdom
that would last forever.
And He's brought us in.
He had to reject the Jews
so that He can bring Gentiles in.
Praise be to God.
You know, there are really
two ways that you can respond to this.
Just two.
This claim that Jesus
is the Christ.
The Messiah.
Option one.
You reject Him as king.
That's option one.
Maybe you do not believe
that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah
and you reject Jesus as king
on intellectual grounds.
It's like,
I don't have enough information yet.
You're unconvinced.
Well, can I just ask you
to come back next week?
Come back next week.
Because we're going to look
at the resurrection
and there are some compelling reasons
why Jesus is who we claim to be
that comes out of the resurrection.
So come back next week.
It's a compelling case.
Just to give you a foretaste,
the tomb is empty.
Jesus is alive.
Or maybe,
you reject Jesus as king
not because of an intellectual objection,
but if you're really honest,
it's because you don't want
to part with your sin.
You don't want to obey king Jesus.
You don't want to bow your knee to Him
and come under His will.
It's a very important distinction to make
because this is about your will.
Your willingness to bow to Jesus.
Here's the deal.
You can know all that there is
to know about Jesus
and not bow your knee.
You can get A pluses in Christology
at a nice seminary
and still not have bowed your knee
to Jesus.
You can be thoroughly biblical about Him,
but you can still reject Him.
Just because you think Jesus
is who He claimed to be
doesn't mean you bowed your knee to Him
as king.
Bowing your knee to Jesus
is a decisive act of repentance and faith.
It's turning from a life lived for sin,
turning from that to Christ,
a life lived for Jesus.
Repentance and faith.
So whether you have intellectual objections
about Jesus or you're just refusing
to give up your precious sins,
you must know
that you await a similar fate
to those who did not recognize Jesus
when He came into Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.
The rejection of King Jesus
for whatever reason
remains a capital offense.
So this morning,
you have been warned.
Judgment is real.
What happened to Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
is a foretaste of what is to come
for those who reject Jesus now.
Option number one,
you can reject Him.
Option number two,
you bow your knee.
If you're not a Christian,
you can become a Christian
by turning away from living for yourself
in your own little kingdom
and turning to Christ
and living for Him.
You bow your knee to Jesus.
You say to the living Christ
something like this,
Jesus, I have been living
in rebellion to Your reign.
Please forgive me
and receive me into Your kingdom.
That's it.
King Jesus will not turn anyone away
who humbles themselves like that.
Come on in.
In fact,
based upon His death
and His resurrection,
He fully forgives
all those who come to Him,
even those with the past
of rejecting Him.
that's His grace.
It is amazing.
There's no point in waiting.
So if you're in the room
and you haven't bound the knee to Jesus,
become a Christian today.
Would you let me know that
after the service?
Now, if you are a Christian,
you're a citizen of the kingdom of Christ,
and yet you've been resisting
the will of your King,
maybe you're stuck in your sin.
I just want to remind you
of a particular something.
Your King has claimed
every square inch of your life.
every square inch.
And where Christ reigns,
it results in rejoicing.
If you're stuck,
confess your sin.
Confess your disobedience.
Receive the forgiveness
your King purchased for you
at the cross.
Don't hide from Him.
Run to Him.
You've got a compassionate,
welcoming King.
He's tender.
He loves His own to the uttermost.
Even to His citizens
who can be a little resistant.
I want to close by just saying this.
For those of us
who have bowed our knee to Jesus,
who have become Christians,
we have an incredible promise.
We don't fear the judgment to come.
We've been given peace.
Peace with God.
The blood of our Passover Lamb,
King Jesus,
covers over our sin
and the destroyer passes over.
We've been delivered.
We've been forgiven.
We bowed our knee.
Christ is our King.
Let's pray.
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mother in the abyss.
That's what we're doing.
We bow the rest of the foot,
and take contäsent free
to pray.
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