Sermons - Cornerstone Christian Fellowship

Behold Your King

Apr 02, 2023 by: John Herbert | Series: What Shall I Do...

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Mt 21:1 ¶ Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.

Today's message is complimentary to our study on 'What Shall I Do'. And in it we will look at the events of one particular first day of the week in 33AD.

The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button.

Sunday April 2nd 2023
Behold Your King
Palm Sunday

1). Mt 21:1 ¶ Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 "And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them." 4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, Meek, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.'" 6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!" 10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" 11 So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

We witness in our Scripture an event that took place during the preparation days for the feast of Passover in 33AD, and that which we see here, just days before the Lord’s crucifixion has become known as Palm Sunday, because of the palm branches which were placed on the ground as the Lord entered Jerusalem. 
	a). Now, as we consider these events, there should be certain questions that we would want to ask ourselves. Such as, why was it that these events took place on this particular first day of the week? Jesus had entered Jerusalem many times, so why this particular day to enter on a donkey? What was the purpose for Him doing this? And how does this connect with the purpose for His earthly ministry? Let’s remember, that this event does not happen in isolation, it doesn’t take place in a vacuum, it has context.
	b). And because of the emphasis the Church at large places on this day, it may well be the repository of some Laodicean leftovers that it would be good to deal with.
	c). The answer to our first question, why this particular day? Is an easy one to answer. And the answer is given to us in the timing. This happened during the preparation days for the feast of Passover, the Passover at which Jesus would be crucified. And of course, Jesus knew this Mt 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

Lk 9:51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem…..

And this particular day of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem had been revealed in prophecy and foreshadowed by Solomon – Zec 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

And the context in which we find this prophetic verse in Zechariah is entirely Millennial. Note what we see in the verse that follows – 
Zec 9:10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.’

And through the typology, we know that Solomon’s kingdom foreshadows the glory and magnificence of the coming Millennial Kingdom – 
1 Ki 3:11 Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. 13 And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days.

And this is what is recorded of Solomon’s coronation – 1 Ki 1:32 And King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” So they came before the king. 33 The king also said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and take him down to Gihon. 34 There let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel; and blow the horn, and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ 35 Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, and he shall be king in my place. For I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.” 36 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, “Amen! May the LORD God of my lord the king say so too. 37 As the LORD has been with my lord the king, even so may He be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.”

So then, to follow this through, Zechariah’s prophecy is focused on Christ’s Millennial Kingdom. Solomon, who is a type of Christ, whose kingdom is a type for the Millennial Kingdom, is taken on David’s own mule to be anointed king and to sit on the throne of his father David.
	d). All then anticipates and foreshadows the greater Son of David sitting on His father David’s throne in Jerusalem during the Millennial Kingdom. And we will remember what Matthew recorded that the multitudes had cried out as Jesus entered the city that day, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ Hosanna is a word that means ‘save now’ and the title, the Son of David, takes us back to the prophecy in 2 Samuel Chapter 7. This then is what ‘Palm Sunday’ is all about.
	e). We know from the Scriptures, that through His earthly lineage Jesus has the legal right to David’s throne via Solomon from His legal father Joseph - Mt 1:1 ¶ The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham….6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah….16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.

And that Jesus came through the bloodline of David, via David’s son Nathan, also born to Bathsheba, through His mother Mary - Lu 3:23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,… 31 the son of Nathan, the son of David,…38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

He was sent to the nation as their King - Jn 1:11 He came to His own, (own things – the throne of David, the scepter of regality) and His own (People – Israel) did not receive Him.

His regality was attested to at His birth - Mt 2:2……. "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."

It was confirmed before Pilate - Mt 27:11 ¶ Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?" So Jesus said to him, "It is as you say."

And displayed for all to see at His death - Mt 27:37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

And this is how Jesus had presented Himself to the Jews throughout His earthly ministry, as their King. He came as their King and was killed as their King. And the Apostle John, by inspiration of the Spirit, in his account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, written during the time of the re-offer of the Kingdom, again made this clear – Jn 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!”

And in John, as in Mathew, we have the fulfillment of Zechariah – 
Jn 12:14 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.”

What Zechariah had prophesied then was absolutely correct, Israel’s King did come to them sitting on a donkey’s colt. A prophetic fulfillment providing yet another proof to the Lord’s regality, another testimony to the status of the One whom the nation killed.
	f). Jesus entered Jerusalem that day as their King, but in this respect, this was no different to any other time He entered the city. He couldn’t enter as anything other than their King. But on this particular day, all that lay before Him was His crucifixion, there was to be no regal anointing as we saw with Solomon. In fact, Jesus had been anointed in anticipation of His entry into the city, while He was at Bethany, but not for Kingship, He was anointed for His death – Jn 12:3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 4 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. 7 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.

And as we consider this, there is a section from Zechariah’s prophecy that we need to revisit, He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey. Only through Jesus can salvation, deliverance, for the Jewish people be possible, and with respect to the provision of that deliverance we see Jesus described as ‘lowly’, and this is a word which means poor and afflicted. This is not then the description of the King in His glory but the King in His humiliation. The King for a little while lower than the angels. And this description will lead us to - Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 ¶ Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

The healing for the Jewish people that Isaiah spoke of, and the salvation spoken of by Zechariah, refer to one and the same thing, they both relate to that future day of Israel’s deliverance and restoration, which is only made possible through the One anointed for His death.
	g). At the time of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem in fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy, the Kingdom of the heavens had already in effect been taken from the nation through the events we have witnessed in Matthew Chapter 12. Those who would receive the Kingdom in Israel’s place had been introduced in Matthew Chapter 13. And Jesus’ focus on the cross and not the crown we have seen in Matthew Chapter 16. And the statement declaring that which had happened in Matthew Chapter 12 was made following the Lord’s entrance during the week preceding His crucifixion – Mt 21:43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem then had nothing to do with His offer of the Kingdom of the heavens to the Jews. That time had passed. And the re-offer would not come until after His resurrection and ascension and be made by the one new man. Rather, the purpose for Him entering the city that particular day in the way that He did is given through His words to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, following His resurrection – 
Lu 24:25 Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"

This was no longer the time for coronation, but the time for crucifixion. The prophets had already spoken the unalterable Word of God which clearly shows that Christ must first suffer and then to enter into His glory. And not only was this recorded in Word but also prefigured through the types. We will remember the type of Joseph, rejected by his brothers, and not recognized by them until their second meeting in the land of Egypt. And Moses rejected by his Jewish brothers the first time, who then brought deliverance when he came to them a second time. And the foundational type of Cain and Abel.  The brother of the flesh who murdered the brother of the spirit when they were both in the field together. And of course, the beloved son, Isaac, offered as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah two thousand years before, where a substitute, the ram caught in the thicket, was accepted by God in his place.
h). All of which led to the Passover lambs of Exodus Chapter 12, prefiguring the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

2). That Christ entered Jerusalem as Israel’s King is beyond dispute, but He did not enter with the attributes of regality, but with the attributes of suffering. Notice how the King, who had come to His own things was treated at the hands of the Romans – Mt 27:28 And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 30 Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.

The mockery that is made of His regality is quite shocking. However, we know that Jesus accepted this because - Jn 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world [age]. If My kingdom were of this age, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."

And a companion verse to this - Heb 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

This then was not the time when the scepter of rulership would change hands. That which has been promised to David in 2 Samuel Chapter 7, remained then, and remains now, yet future. The events we have read recorded in Matthew Chapter 21 took place during the time we know as the Times of the Gentiles, when the Gentile nations hold the scepter of rulership on the earth within the present world system of the god of this age.  Not only did the time for the Lord’s sufferings have to be fulfilled in time past, that which we saw in Isaiah Chapter 53 and Luke Chapter 24, but the Times of the Gentiles, which yet continues, must also be fulfilled before Christ can come in His glory – Ro 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved…….

At the time of the Lord’s first Advent, Christ remained in complete accord with His ‘meek’/’lowly’ entrance into Jerusalem, being completely gentle, humble, and unassuming, amid the unjust persecution of His own people and the Gentile world power of the day - Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little [for a little while] lower than the angels, for the suffering of death……

1Pe 2:22 "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth"; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously…..

Although we must discard any thoughts of Jesus entering Jerusalem that day to set up His Kingdom, because that was never the intent, He was there at that time to fulfill a specific prophetic purpose that is inseparable from the deliverance of Israel and the future establishment of His Kingdom in the Seventh Day clearly seen in Zechariah’s prophecy – Ex 12:3 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household….5 'Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 'Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.

As set in the type, so it must be in the antitype. We will see then that although Christ entered Jerusalem to the echo of Messianic rhetoric, His entry was really that of the Lamb chosen to die for the nation. The Lamb who had come to be set aside for four days to be observed and tested, to make sure that He was without blemish.
	a). And it was during this time, following His entry into Jerusalem, the four days leading to His crucifixion, when He was tested, tried, and proven to be without fault, as we will see from the Scriptures – 
Mt 21:23 ¶ Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?"

Mt 22:17 "Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?

Mt 22:23 ¶ The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him……

Mt 22:34 ¶ But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"

Mt 22:46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

Mt 27:12 And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. 13 Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?" 14 But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

And the result of the Lord’s testing, the proof that He was without blemish, is exemplified in Luke’s record - Lu 23:13 ¶ Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, 14 said to them, "You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; 15 "no, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him; and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by Him.

And that which we see in the testing of the spotless Lamb is in stark contrast to the egregious actions of the religious leaders who were the custodians and the teachers of the OT Scriptures, which spoke of the One they were now condemning, religious leaders who felt no compunction about breaking any of the commandments if it suited their purpose – 
Lu 22:2 And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.

They feared the people, not God it seems - Lu 23:2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, "We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King."

Jn 19:15 But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!"

The irony of the words we find recorded at the end of Luke Chapter 22 are almost too painful – Lu 22:70 Then they all said, "Are You then the Son of God?" So He said to them, "You rightly say that I am." 71 And they said, "What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth."

The depth of spiritual depravity into which the religious leaders had sunk after two-thousand years of leavening had led the nation to the place where not only had they rejected their King and allied themselves with Gentile world power, over which they were supposed to rule, but they had also made the Word of God of no account, resulting in the discrediting and rejection of the priesthood -  Mt 26:65 Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!

In tearing his clothes, the high priest did something expressly forbidden in the Law, which he claimed to uphold - Le 21:10 ¶ 'He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes……
	
It is no wonder the veil of the Temple was torn in two. Again from – 
Le 21:21 'No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the LORD. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 'He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy; 23 'only he shall not go near the veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest he profane My sanctuaries; for I the LORD sanctify them.'"

Christ had to die for the nation of Israel as their Passover Lamb to begin the prophetic calendar contained in the Seven Feasts that will ultimately lead to the restoration of the nation following repentance.
	b). The first feast has always been that of Passover, as all must begin with death and shed blood, and as we have seen Christ entered Jerusalem as the nation’s Lamb to be proven worthy to shed His blood in anticipation of Israel’s future redemption – Jn 1:36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"

And as with the first Passover in Egypt it is only through faith in God’s provision for sin and the application of the blood that will bring deliverance for God’s chosen people.
c). As a result of Christ’s sacrifice Israel will in that future day be able to exercise that faith and properly apply the blood shed two thousand years before, bringing about their deliverance and their establishment at the head of the nations as God’s adopted firstborn son in fulfillment of their name, Israel, ‘the prince who rules with God’, during the Millennial Kingdom. The future Kingdom that was alluded to on that first day of the week when the Christ rode into Jerusalem on a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy.
d). He was their King, as the prophecy said, but He entered the city as the Lamb without blemish. The nation knowingly killed their King and unknowingly, in doing so, committed the one act that has guaranteed their deliverance at the end of the tribulation, when they look on the One whom they pierced and apply the blood of the Lamb.

More next time if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.

Behold Your King

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Behold Your King

Apr 02, 2023

Speaker: John Herbert

Series: What Shall I Do...

Category: Sunday Morning

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A Recap from the Sermon