THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY, JOHN 12:12-15

 

Hear ye hear ye.

You are cordially invited to The Triumphal Entry of The King.

 

THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY, JOHN 12:12-15

 

This HIStorically accurate event, documented in all four gospels, is remembered and celebrated, around the world, every year, on what we call, Palm Sunday. (Matthew 21:1-17; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-40; John 12:12-19).

Wait. Before you dismiss this as a Palm Sunday Sermon and walk away; please know this is about a Divinely Timed invitation to the Triumphal Entry of The King.

Acceptance or rejection of that invitation determines your eternal destiny.

 

^{John 12:12} The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, ¹³ took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

“Hosanna!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

The King of Israel!”

¹⁴ Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

¹⁵ “Fear not, daughter of Zion;

Behold, your King is coming,

Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

The next day…

The next day, after what?

This is the second time God points to the calendar, in this chapter.

The first? John 12:1. Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany…

Then, the next day, is where verse twelve begins, and where God points to the calendar, again, to be sure we don’t miss it.

Why?

Because this is the day, the Passover lamb is chosen. He wants us to choose, the Right One.

Rewind about 1,500 years to the first Passover.  

Go from John 12, to Exodus 12; the second Book in the Bible.

Read, Exodus 12:3,6,7, 12-14.   

Okay, the 10^th of Nisan, (First month on Jewish calendar) is the day, each household, chooses one male lamb without blemish; for the Passover meal. The lamb is kept until Nisan 14 at twilight, and then killed; some of the blood is sprinkled on the doorpost and lintel, according to God’s command.

That night (which is Nisan 15 since Jewish days begin at evening) two things happen. The Passover lamb is eaten. And, death comes to the firstborn of every family, man and animal.  

However, death passes over, every home where the blood of the lamb is applied according to God’s Word.

Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you Exodus 12:13.

Fast forward about 1,500 years back to John 12.

Year after year at Passover, families, and lambs, would stream into Jerusalem by the thousands. To commemorate when the blood of the lamb, the spotless, blameless, innocent, Passover lamb, delivered the children of Israel from bondage, and death.

According to Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, one Passover, 256,000 lambs were slain. One lamb per household of about ten people, on average.

To make sure the lambs were spotless, without blemish, the priests would examine, and accept or reject, them as worthy of being the Passover lamb.   

Now, on this day, the day when the Passover lamb is chosen, on this very day, Jesus presents Himself as, The Spotless, Blameless, Innocent Lamb of God, chosen to deliver the world from the bondage of sin and death.

From that moment to this, all mankind has a decision to make; you and I have a decision to make, accept Him, or reject Him.

At first glance, it appears, The Lamb, Christ Jesus, is accepted.

When they heard He was coming, they went to meet Him and cried out:

“Hosanna!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

The King of Israel!” John 12:13.

They pulled those words from Psalm 118:25-26.

Hosanna! by definition means; save, we pray. Or, save us now.

It’s unlikely that they cried out for an eternal deliverance, from the bondage of sin and death; but more likely, for a temporary deliverance, from Rome. "Save, now..."

They waved palm branches resembling what was done some 200 years prior when the Maccabees recaptured Jerusalem from the Seleucid Empire.

Despotic ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes, (a name he gave himself meaning, God made manifest; however, the Jews called him, Epimanes, meaning, madman, beast) had defiled the Jewish temple by sacrificing a pig to zeus.

The Jews revolted, and recaptured and rededicated the temple (from which the festival of Hanukkah was born).

In celebration of the Maccabees victory, they waved palm branches.

Now, here in our text the Jews waving palm branches, are most likely cheering for Jesus to deliver them from the bondage of Rome, as the Maccabees had, from the Seleucid Empire.

The context of the Scripture they quote from Psalm 118:25-26, paints a bigger picture than the snippet they are shouting.

Let’s look at a few verses around the passage they pulled from the Psalms, to hear what God is saying, rather than what the people are shouting. 

Psalm 118:21-27.

Remember, Jesus is presenting Himself this day as the Passover Lamb.

Psalm 118:21, tells us, He has become my Salvation. Just as the blood of the lamb became their salvation so long ago in Exodus.

Psalm 118:22. The Stone the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone.
(In all gospels, Acts, 1 Peter)

The people, especially the priests, should’ve accepted Him as, The Spotless, Blameless, Innocent Lamb of God, chosen to deliver the world from the bondage of sin and death. But instead, they reject Him.

Luke 20:18. Jesus quotes this verse about the Stone the builders rejected and then says: Whoever falls on that Stone will be broken; but on whomever It falls, It will grind him to powder.

Psalm 118:27. The Lord has given us Light; bind the Sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

Jesus, The Sacrificial Lamb of God, is bound to an altar in the shape of an old rugged cross.

In context the passage they are quoting says that Jesus is our, Salvation, Chief Cornerstone, Light of the world, Passover Lamb... not just a temporary fix to save now, but for eternity.

¹⁴ Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it…

Mark 11:2, tells us this is an unridden colt.

So, shouldn’t this be added to the list of miracles?

I’ve been bucked off more than a few unbroke horses.

Maybe donkeys are different, but it seems, like sitting on an unridden donkey, in the middle of a parade, with people shouting, waving palm branches, throwing coats in the road; it seems to be a recipe for… a rodeo.

Unless there’s a miracle.

Which shouldn’t be a surprise. Surely, He who calms the sea with a Word, can calm a colt with a touch.

¹⁴ Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

¹⁵ “Fear not, daughter of Zion;

Behold, your King is coming,

Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

If there was any doubt, about what He was doing, this makes it perfectly clear. He is fulfilling Messianic prophecy right before their very eyes. Zechariah 9:9.

He not only presents Himself as The Passover Lamb, affording all mankind with the opportunity, the responsibility, to accept or reject, Him.

But also paints this vivid picture of exactly who He really is. By fulfilling this Messianic prophecy, riding the donkey, He is clearly stating, I AM, your King, The Messiah, foretold in Scripture; predicted by prophets.

However, do you notice a paradox in this picture?  

The people wave palm branches like Jesus is a Maccabean warrior, a conquering King. So, to compliment that picture, shouldn’t He be on a white Stallion, with His disciples in formation on fiery steeds; heads high, banners waving, trumpets blaring?

But Jesus does the opposite.

He comes humbly, on the foal of a donkey.

Just think about it. He knows full well that in a matter of days, the cries from the crowd will change from Hosanna, to Crucify Him!

He could blink and destroy the universe, yet, He rides, slowly, quietly, peacefully.

Like He comes to you and I, today, (or at least at this very moment; however, that all can change in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye).

One day, He will come on a white stallion. He will come bold and fierce. Not in peace, but war, as King of kings, Lord of lords. Revelation 19:11-16.

Lord, please don’t let anyone You’ve called us to reach, be on the wrong side of that war.

For now, on this day, Jesus comes in peace. In peace, but not at peace. He’s tore up. Very upset. The crowds are cheering, but if you look close at the Man on the mule, or donkey, He has a lump in His throat, His eyes are welling up, ready to spill.

But why?

Luke 19:40-44, records the reason.

“If these are silent, even the stones would cry out” Jesus tells the religious hypocrites who told Jesus to silence His followers.

Even the rocks recognized their Maker.

But those He came to save, those who supposedly studied His Word, who should’ve been ready, who should’ve known what day it was, and accepted Him as Lord; instead, they rejected.

He paused overlooking the city (most likely from the Mount of Olives), and wept. Not just wept, like He did at the grave of Lazarus. Not just a soft, silent, tear. But here the word is different. It means to sob, to weep aloud, expressing uncontainable, audible grief.

Jesus sobbed.

Not only did He present Himself as the Passover Lamb on the day the Passover lamb was chosen. Exodus 12:3.

Not only did He fulfill Messianic prophecy by riding in on a donkey. Zechariah 9:9.

But this exact date, to the day, was predicted 5-600 years prior. Daniel 9:25.

An angel told Daniel that the Messiah would come, 483 years from the day the command was given to rebuild Jerusalem.

The command was given by Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2), and 483 years later, to the day (173,880 days), Jesus, rode into Jerusalem sitting on a donkey’s colt.

That day they were told in triplicate; spelled out, walked out, and now, sobbed out.

Through tears, He cried, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!”

 Off quivering lips, He uttered, “But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, ⁴⁴ and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another…”

Did He drop from the donkey and fall to His knees as He wept, “because you did not know the time of your visitation.”  

That, all of that, the timing of His appearing as, The Passover Lamb, the humble donkey ride, the sobbing over the city, all of it, was to offer you, His cordial, invitation to, The Triumphal Entry of The King.

Now it's up to you; accept or reject? 

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, we love You.

We accept You, as The Passover Lamb, as our Lord, our King. 

We ask for help to wear Your cloak of humility; and Your wisdom to rightly divide Your Word of Truth as prophecy is being fulfilled in the very days in which we live, and mostly, that we will be found faithful and ready, at the time of Your visitation.

 We love you, forever.

Amen.

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