The King We Needed | Sermon 10/01/2023

Apologia Utah

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

We're going to be in verses 12 through 19 in the Gospel according to John.

00:09

The title of the sermon today is The King We Needed.

00:15

The King We Needed.

00:20

So starting in verse 12 of the Gospel according to John, hear now the words of the living and true God.

00:32

On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him and began to shout, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.

00:50

Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it.

00:54

As it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt.

01:02

These things his disciples did not understand at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things to him.

01:15

So the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify about him.

01:24

For this reason also, the people went and met him because they heard that he had performed this sign.

01:31

So the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you are not doing any good, look, the world has gone after him.

01:41

Thus ends the reading of God's holy and inspired word.

01:46

Let's pray before our God.

01:51

Lord I ask that you would speak through me today, Lord that you would teach your people, that you would encourage your people, that you would work among your people today as you've worked in me.

02:08

Lord, help us to see the kingship of Christ in the right way.

02:13

Help us to see the price he paid, Lord, and the kind of king that he really is.

02:21

God, I pray that your people would adore you even more after this.

02:26

I pray, Lord, that we would praise you more after this.

02:31

So, God, please help us to be focused today on your word, move and change in us by your Holy Spirit.

02:42

We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

02:46

So the return of a king from battle or the coronation of a king is historically an event of great magnitude.

03:01

Coronation, the return of a king, huge events.

03:05

You may have even seen something like that depicted in a movie.

03:10

There's soldiers and horses and banners and flags and seas of people looking at the king.

03:20

The king's citizens are usually in these moments throwing some sort of object in his honor, maybe even throwing flowers as the king enters back into his kingdom, and cries of his praise and cheers resound all through the grand procession of the king.

03:42

The king in these moments typically looks really noble, has a lot of honor, very distinguished.

03:51

This kind of king looks strong.

03:52

You know, if you haven't guessed by now, I'm a big Lord of the Rings guy, J.R.R.

03:58

Tolkien sort of guy, so I'm even thinking in my mind of the return of the king and King Aragorn coming back and this huge moment as he's crowned king.

04:10

Maybe something for you would be what happened recently this year when Queen Elizabeth died.

04:16

Who took over? Charles III, right? And there was a coronation of Charles.

04:22

It's estimated that the UK spent about $125 million for that one coronation to take place.

04:31

$125 million.

04:35

Huge event.

04:37

Lavish events.

04:40

At these events, the people celebrate past victories, they celebrate continued freedom, and they celebrate the continued strength of their nation.

04:52

If we compare the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ, which we just read, to all the standards and examples that I just talked about and the ones that we've seen in history, how would the triumphal entry compare? What makes His entry so triumphal when it seems to pale in comparison to movies and history and kings, things by worldly standards? I guess what we should be asking ourselves is what kind of king is Jesus? What kind of king is He? Let's take a look at that now in our text.

05:36

Just a reminder, at the end of last week, we saw a large crowd of Jews.

05:40

They came out to Jesus and Lazarus to see the miracle and the miracle worker.

05:46

John relays that there was a going out, a physical leaving of this Jewish crowd from the Pharisees and their doctrine and even a spiritual sense, and coming to Jesus.

05:59

It says that they believed in Him.

06:03

They believed.

06:05

We're coming to the end of Jesus' earthly ministry, and now the text indicates that many people were believing and following Him.

06:15

Verses 12 and 13 say, On the next day, the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him and began to shout, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.

06:35

So, the large crowd from last week is back, and they assembled near the gates of the city as they heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem.

06:46

This is it.

06:48

This is His last entrance into Jerusalem before the end.

06:53

This is it.

06:55

This entrance of Jesus will set off a chain of events that will eventually lead to the climax of Christ's mission.

07:06

His arrival back to Zion is famously called, as I said, the triumphal entry, and it takes place on Palm Sunday.

07:16

Palm Sunday.

07:18

The Sunday before Friday's crucifixion, right? It's difficult to gauge how large these crowds were.

07:28

There's actually different estimations of how many people were there for the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the Passover.

07:36

That's what's happening right now.

07:37

It starts with the Passover, then you have a week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and there's all these pilgrims from all over the world, all over the known world, and coming there to Jerusalem, celebrating, observing these holy days.

07:53

Some estimate at this time with Jesus in this century, in the first century here, there could have been maybe 100,000 to 200,000 people.

08:04

Others estimate that there was likely one million plus.

08:09

In fact, Josephus, the Jewish historian, records that one Passover feast before the Jewish wars in 70 A.D.

08:19

garnered, he says, 2.7 million people in that one city.

08:25

And he said that that was only the Jews.

08:27

He wasn't even counting unclean or foreign people.

08:33

2.7 million people.

08:36

This is a large number of people in this moment.

08:40

The large crowd of Jews then took the branches of palm trees and they went out to meet Jesus.

08:46

Matthew 21 adds more detail to this.

08:50

Matthew says, records, most of the crowd then spread their coats.

08:56

They took off their coats, their own coats, and put them in the road.

08:59

Others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road as Jesus was arriving.

09:07

This was the ancient red carpet, so to speak.

09:12

This is the royal treatment.

09:15

Date palms, you know, dates, you know, those really sweet, sweet, delicious fruits off of palm tree, certain types of palm trees, date palms.

09:24

Date palms were everywhere in Jerusalem.

09:28

Date palms were surrounding the area.

09:32

And they still are in abundance in Jerusalem to this day, date palms.

09:36

In Arizona, where I'm from, there are tons of palm trees just everywhere.

09:42

There's palm trees everywhere.

09:44

Even like in the freeway, in the overpass, on the side of the road, there's palm trees all throughout Phoenix, Arizona, where I'm from.

09:52

Typically, the palm trees, when the palm fronds would fall down, landscaping teams come and they clean it up.

10:00

They get rid of that stuff.

10:01

But here, the palm branches were near the ground.

10:08

Maybe they were either already on the ground.

10:10

It does say in Matthew 21 that they cut some off.

10:13

That means that the date palms were still kind of in the less mature stage where they could come to it and cut them off.

10:20

They would cut these palms off.

10:25

John indicates that people didn't really have much difficulty getting to these.

10:29

So the question is, why palms? Why palm fronds? I'll tell you, there aren't exactly any Old Testament examples of people celebrating with palm branches in this way.

10:44

There's really nothing.

10:46

However, history tells us that for several centuries at this point, the palm frond became like a national symbol.

10:56

We talked about them actually in John 7 and John 8.

10:59

Palm branches were being used in the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.

11:04

So again, it was more of a modern thing, something that happened only within the recent centuries.

11:12

Even Carson talks about when Simon the Maccabee drove the Syrian forces out of the Jerusalem citadel.

11:21

Well, it says that as this Simon the Maccabee walked back into the city, they feted this man with music, celebration and palm branches.

11:34

They threw palm branches down for this man after this great victory.

11:42

They were also waved at the rededication of the temple.

11:46

Palm branches, if you look in First Kings, were carved into parts of the temple.

11:51

Palm branches all over, different wooden figures.

11:58

And palm branches were even pressed into Jewish coins that archaeologists have found from the Jewish-Roman wars of 66-70 AD.

12:07

Palm branches on their coins.

12:10

So in reality, palm branches in that way became for the Jews a symbol of hope.

12:15

Palm branches were a symbol of freedom, even messianic liberation.

12:23

Well, as the people lay down their coats in palm branches before Jesus, they begin shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.

12:36

And you ask, where does this phrase come from? This phrase comes from the Hallel.

12:42

We talked about that as well.

12:43

It was sung during the Feast of Tabernacles.

12:46

The Hallel is Psalms 113 to Psalm 118.

12:53

Specifically, being quoted here is Psalm 118.

12:58

And according to historical and apocryphal sources, they would also shout Hosanna during the Feast of Dedication, which is called Hanukkah.

13:06

They would shout Hosanna during the Passover.

13:10

And what John has specifically and carefully mentioned throughout his gospel was what? The feasts, the festivals.

13:20

John has related everything that Jesus has done in his earthly ministry to these feasts.

13:26

Feast of Dedication, Passover, Day of Atonement, these different things, Feast of Tabernacles.

13:32

He's been careful to mention all of them.

13:34

And I think that the triumphal entry, this moment is the culmination of all those things.

13:43

All the palm branches that were used in those events, all the shouting of Hosanna in those events come back down to this moment in history with Christ.

13:59

They aren't waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna for the Redeemer of Heaven, but for the Redeemer here in the flesh.

14:07

Right here.

14:09

Now, what's amazing is that we have had multiple correlations of Jesus to Psalm 118 already.

14:15

Already.

14:16

In verse 27 of Psalm 118, it says, The Lord is God and He has given us light.

14:22

We talked about how the fact that they were singing that psalm at the Feast of Tabernacles and they were singing it specifically at the light ceremony at night.

14:33

And then what does Jesus do? They light these big candles and they're singing this song where they say, God, you are our light.

14:41

And Jesus stands up and goes, I am the light of the world.

14:44

So we saw that already.

14:46

And then in verse 22 of Psalm 118, it says, The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

14:55

This is the Lord's doing.

14:56

It is marvelous in our eyes.

15:00

Now, if you look that verse up in the New Testament, there are half a dozen occasions where New Testament authors have said that this chief cornerstone is Christ.

15:13

You see, if the cornerstone isn't set perfectly, if it's weak, if it fails, the whole building collapses.

15:22

That's Christ.

15:24

And then verses 19 and 20 of Psalm 118 says, Open to me the gates of righteousness.

15:31

I shall enter through them.

15:32

I shall give thanks to the Lord.

15:34

And then it says this, This is the gate of the Lord.

15:38

The righteous will enter through it.

15:41

What did Christ call himself in John chapter 10 in the Good Shepherd passages? He said what? He is the gate.

15:49

He pointed back to this moment in Psalm 118.

15:51

He said, I am the door.

15:54

Ego eimi.

15:55

I am the door.

15:58

So all the times that Jesus has been claiming deity in himself, these I am statements, much of them have come from Psalm 118.

16:09

The very psalm that these people would have sung throughout the year, light, gate, the door, the cornerstone.

16:18

And Jesus is like, I am that.

16:21

That's me.

16:24

And so verse 25 also in Psalm 118 says, Oh, Lord, do save.

16:30

We beseech you.

16:32

This is actually all one word in the Hebrew.

16:36

Oh, Lord, is separate.

16:37

But then do save.

16:39

We beseech you is one word in the Hebrew.

16:42

Specifically, it says Yahweh, Hosanna, Yahweh, Hosanna, Hosanna means then help.

16:52

We pray.

16:54

We pray for salvation.

16:56

Save us, we pray.

16:58

That's what Hosanna means.

17:00

And that's Psalm 118, 25 at the beginning there, Yahweh, Hosanna, Yahweh, Hosanna.

17:08

Oh, Lord, save us, we pray, save us.

17:13

But eventually, over time, this word Hosanna took on more of a part of their own liturgy which is their worship to God.

17:24

Kind of like how you may even say today the word Hallelujah.

17:29

You know, some of us don't even know what that means in the Hebrew, but we know that in a general way, it means to praise God, right? Hallelujah, praise God.

17:39

And so in the same way, this has become more of a general word of praise, Hosanna, Hosanna.

17:47

They would praise God by saying that phrase.

17:51

And here it's being used towards Jesus.

17:55

It was always used towards the one true God.

17:59

And now it's being directed at Jesus.

18:02

And then they continue with Psalm 118, 26.

18:06

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

18:09

Blessed here may seem like an adjective, kind of does, huh? Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

18:18

But actually in the Greek, I don't know if John, I'm sure John did this intentionally.

18:23

Blessed here is not in an adjective form, it's in a verb form.

18:28

That is to say that they're saying bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

18:35

Praise the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

18:38

It's not being an adjective about Jesus, it's calling everyone around them to praise and bless Him, the King who's coming.

18:50

Bless or praise the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

18:54

Who has officially come in the name of the Lord? This is Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.

19:02

They're saying bless Him, praise Him.

19:05

And in case anyone may maintain that they're simply doing this because He's a great prophet, they then shout at the end, they add to Psalm 118, and they shout, He, even the King of Israel.

19:18

They call Him a king.

19:20

He is the king.

19:24

Isaiah 44.6 says, Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, the Redeemer, the Lord of hosts.

19:30

I am the first and I am the last.

19:32

There is no God besides Me.

19:35

So Yahweh, the Lord, the Lord of the Old Testament in Isaiah, He calls Himself the King of Israel.

19:40

He calls Himself the Redeemer.

19:43

And He, Yahweh, God, calls Himself the first and the last.

19:47

What does Jesus call Himself or say of Himself even in John's revelation? He says He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

19:56

He is the first and the last.

19:58

He is God.

20:00

He is the King of Israel.

20:03

Zephaniah 3.15 says, The Lord has taken away His judgments against you.

20:09

He has cleared away your enemies.

20:12

The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst.

20:16

You will fear disaster no more.

20:18

That is Christ.

20:21

That is Christ in Zephaniah.

20:23

The Lord has taken away His judgments against you.

20:27

What has happened with Jesus for us? Taken away our judgments.

20:33

He's cleared away our enemies.

20:35

What is our greatest enemy? Sin.

20:37

The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst.

20:40

Who is with them now? The Lord of glory is in their midst.

20:47

So this is Christ.

20:49

The King of Israel.

20:51

He is also the Lord.

20:54

Because God shares this sort of title with no one.

20:58

The way that this is used in Isaiah or Zephaniah, God shares this title with no one else.

21:04

But here it is being used of Jesus.

21:08

Hence, Jesus is more than a human king.

21:12

John wants us to see that He is divine.

21:15

And not only that, this proclamation of the people towards Jesus' triumphal entry is messianic through and through.

21:24

This is messianic.

21:26

The palm branches, the expectation of victory, kingship.

21:32

The Messiah has come.

21:36

That's what they're holding to here.

21:40

The blessed King has arrived.

21:43

And so this is a direct fulfillment of prophecy.

21:46

God spoke long ago through the prophets.

21:49

They promised in many portions and in many ways by the revelation of God that the Christ would come and here He is.

21:58

And yet, is He what they expected? Is the King what the people expected? Let's see.

22:06

Go to verses 14 and 15.

22:09

Jesus then found a young donkey to sit upon as He entered the city.

22:14

Once again, Matthew speaks to how it was acquired.

22:17

He gives a little more detail.

22:20

Matthew tells us, as they were approaching Jerusalem, Jesus told two disciples, go into the village opposite of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her.

22:33

Untie them and bring them to Me.

22:35

If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord has need of them.

22:39

And immediately He will send them.

22:42

So Jesus already knows where the donkey is, where the colt is.

22:47

In fact, He's the one who has provided it.

22:51

He's made the provision.

22:52

John declares that this is also a direct fulfillment of prophecy.

22:58

This is a direct fulfillment of prophecy.

23:01

First, Psalm 118.

23:03

Now, as it is written, John says, and that points to Zechariah 9.

23:10

Zechariah chapter 9.

23:13

If you haven't read Zechariah in a long time, I highly recommend it.

23:19

It is so messianic in its prophecies.

23:22

Zechariah, that is a good prophetic minor prophet book.

23:27

I hope to read.

23:29

So in the context of Zechariah 9, the context is that the Lord will put His hand against the neighboring nations of Israel.

23:38

He's going to judge them and stop their practices.

23:43

He's going to judge them for what they did during the exile and captivity of His people.

23:50

But what's amazing is in Zechariah 9, in the context, it says that He will make their idolatrous practices stop when the Messiah comes.

24:01

He will stop it even among the Gentiles.

24:04

He's going to stop idolatry in Israel and Judah.

24:07

He's going to stop it even among the Gentiles.

24:09

It says that even between Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, and Ethiopia, it says that the Lord will preserve a remnant for Himself.

24:20

That's crazy, right? Among Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, and Ethiopia, it says that the Lord Himself will preserve a remnant from them, from Gentile people, from unclean people, from these foreign nations.

24:34

He's going to preserve a remnant for Himself.

24:37

And it says in Zechariah 9 that He's going to treat them like Judah.

24:41

In fact, they're going to become like Judah, He says.

24:45

That makes sense.

24:46

What happens in Christ? What happens in the church? Becoming one.

24:54

And so in Zechariah 9, verses 9 and 10, it says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.

24:59

Shout and triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem.

25:02

Behold, your King is coming to you.

25:05

He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

25:14

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the bow of war will be cut off and He will speak peace to the nations and His dominion will be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

25:29

So Jesus is coming here in this moment, is bigger than the people could even fathom in that moment.

25:39

This is huge.

25:40

The King is here.

25:42

The King who ultimately fulfills the Davidic covenant, He is just.

25:48

He is justice.

25:50

And now you might think, well, that means He's gonna carry out justice.

25:53

He will, but in the Hebrew, this means that He is innocent.

25:56

He is without blame, this King.

26:01

Let me ask you, have there been any kings prior to this King who have been without blame? Have there been any kings who have been so innocent, so pure? No, not in any way.

26:15

And it says that He is endowed with salvation.

26:18

That phrase is actually all one word in the Hebrew.

26:20

It means that He is ready and equipped to save people.

26:25

He's endowed with salvation.

26:28

He is fully equipped to be able to save His people.

26:32

He will do what no other King of Israel could do.

26:35

He will conquer mankind's greatest enemy.

26:39

That's Christ.

26:41

And humble here, humble, lowly, riding on a donkey.

26:46

This means that the King, again, in the original language, it specifically means here without property.

26:54

Without property, this King is without property.

26:57

He doesn't come with tons of pomp and wealth and parade.

27:02

What did Jesus say about Himself? He said, I have nowhere to lay my head.

27:06

I have nowhere, I have nothing.

27:08

He had no property.

27:10

He didn't own great amount of land or housing or fields or vineyards.

27:17

He comes humble.

27:20

He's from a fisherman town.

27:23

Jesus isn't coming riding on a pure white stallion.

27:28

That's gonna happen.

27:29

That happens as recorded in the Revelation.

27:34

The King right now comes riding in on a donkey, full of a donkey, a colt.

27:43

So why a donkey? Why a donkey? I think, as the Scripture shows, it's primarily about humility, but I was studying potential connections between donkeys and all these things in my sermon prep.

28:01

And in the Mosaic law, the firstborn animal or even child belong to God.

28:08

Sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively, the firstborn animal belongs to God.

28:14

The Hebrew here indicates in Zechariah that this was a firstborn donkey.

28:23

Firstborn.

28:25

Firstborn to a female, of course.

28:30

Exodus 34 20 says, you shall redeem with a lamb the first offspring from a donkey.

28:37

You hear that? You shall redeem with a lamb the first offspring from a donkey.

28:43

And if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck.

28:46

You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons.

28:49

None shall appear before me empty-handed.

28:52

You see, if you wanted to save your spotless lamb, let's say you had a beloved lamb that you had, it was spotless, you could simply break the neck of your firstborn donkey.

29:05

The first donkey that comes out, you could break its neck and you wouldn't have to give up your spotless lamb.

29:12

Otherwise, if you wanted to keep the donkey because you needed a beast of burden, you needed a donkey to do more around the farm or whatever it may be, if you wanted to keep it, you must then offer up a lamb, it says.

29:26

Offer up a lamb, sacrifice it, it says, redeem it, make payment with the life of the lamb.

29:35

I like to think that we, in a way, are represented by the donkey.

29:41

Scripture speaks about idolatrous people being stubborn, stubborn like a mule, stubborn like a donkey in their sin.

29:49

And so to save the life of the donkey, a lamb must be given.

29:53

If you're not gonna break the neck of a donkey, you must give up a spotless lamb.

30:00

And so the one riding upon a donkey is literally gonna give his life for it, so to speak, because we're the donkey.

30:11

He will give his life for ours.

30:15

And interestingly, this is simply a title.

30:18

This doesn't mean that Jesus was created.

30:20

What is Jesus called? What is one title given to Jesus? We see it especially in Colossians 2.

30:26

He is the Prototokos, firstborn.

30:31

Doesn't mean he was born, doesn't mean he was created.

30:33

We know that it is a title he has.

30:35

God has used that title throughout the Old Testament, even for a man like David.

30:40

He called David the firstborn, even though David was the youngest brother.

30:44

It is a title of preeminence.

30:47

And so you get what I'm saying is, is that the firstborn is offered.

30:55

The lamb is offered in place of the donkey.

31:02

But I also think that he came riding on the young foal of a donkey so that God may abase the proud, that he may shame the proud, oppose those who consider themselves wise, to use foolish things to confound them.

31:19

That's what I think is also happening here.

31:21

Zechariah paints a picture of this mighty, mighty king.

31:25

He will speak peace.

31:26

His voice will bring good news.

31:29

Wars will eventually cease under his rule and his dominion will be from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.

31:35

I'll say it again.

31:36

This is a mighty king that Zechariah is speaking about.

31:41

And yet, he is not the king that the people expected.

31:46

He is not the king that the people wanted in many ways.

31:51

They believed that foreign invaders were a bigger problem to them than their own sin.

32:00

The Roman occupation was more of a problem to them than their own sin.

32:08

And so from being born in a stable room in an animal's feeding trough, to riding to Zion on a colt of a donkey, to dying on a criminal's cross, Jesus of Nazareth's life has been one marked with humility, great humility.

32:25

And each drop of that humility was part of the price he paid for the redemption of you and me.

32:34

That's what he came to do.

32:37

I really love what Augustine here, what he said about this passage over 1,500 years ago.

32:45

Saint Augustine said, what honor was it to the Lord to be the king of Israel? What honor was it to the Lord to be the king of Israel? How great was it for the king of eternity to become the king of humanity? He said, Christ was not the king of Israel so that he could exact tribute, put swords in his soldiers' hands, and subdue his enemies by open warfare.

33:10

He was king of Israel in exercising his kingly authority over their souls, in consulting for their eternal interests, in bringing into his heavenly kingdom those whose faith, hope, and love were centered in himself.

33:29

That's Christ.

33:31

That's the kind of king he is.

33:35

He had more concern for the sake of the people than his own welfare.

33:42

That's a true king.

33:43

Most kings aren't like that.

33:45

Most leaders aren't like that.

33:48

Now, I think that's all true, and Jesus is definitely a different kind of king, but I also think that Scripture overwhelmingly speaks to the eventual realization of his kingship.

34:02

He came lowly.

34:04

He came humbled for the sake of his people, but then I don't think that the end of Zechariah there is just something that's spiritual and is kind of happening in that sort of ethereal heaven sort of sense.

34:20

We had Andrew read from Psalm 72 where it says some of the same things.

34:26

His reign will be great.

34:28

And so we can read that and think that it's only spiritual.

34:31

I don't think that it's only a far-off heaven sort of thing.

34:35

This is gradually happening even now.

34:38

It doesn't say in his dominion is only in heaven.

34:42

No, his dominion is from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the what? Earth.

34:49

Earth.

34:51

This isn't relegated to only this spiritual type of existence.

34:56

Some sort of spiritual reign.

35:00

This is gonna touch everything.

35:03

That dominion touches everything.

35:07

Everywhere the eye can see and everywhere the eye cannot even see is where he reigns.

35:13

It's all his.

35:15

He's the king.

35:18

But John then reveals that these two prophecies he just quoted are things that the disciples did not understand at that moment when they were originally fulfilled with Christ.

35:29

We had Psalm 118 and then we had Zechariah 9, two prophecies that Christ is fulfilling right there in the triumphal entry and the disciples didn't get it.

35:40

They didn't understand it in that moment.

35:43

It says in verse 16, these things his disciples did not understand 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 to him.

35:58

They too thought Jesus might be the king of Israel to defeat Rome and give them a physical and abundant Davidic type reign.

36:09

No doubt.

36:10

They thought some of the same things as the people, but they must have then been perplexed, lowly, gentle.

36:20

There's no trumpet sounding.

36:22

There's no white stallion.

36:24

Jesus is just coming in on this young donkey.

36:30

Thing can probably barely carry his weight.

36:35

This is not the kingliness that they anticipated.

36:39

The disciples didn't make that connection point in the moment.

36:44

In fact, the New Testament itself could be considered the Holy Spirit inspired memories and connections that the apostles made after Christ ascended.

36:56

Although fully God-breathed words, the Lord carried these men along and used their own personal experiences, their own memories, and even their own understandings and styles by the Holy Spirit to form the canon of Scripture.

37:13

In fact, much of what has been recorded in the New Testament was from the late 40s, the 50s, the 60s, and up into right before 80, 70.

37:29

So what I'm trying to say is if Christ died, was buried, rose again, then ascended in the early 30s, it was possibly 10, more likely maybe 15 years before the New Testament was starting to be written and letters were being sent and Gospels were being formed.

37:55

Now, I'm not trying to say that with that elapse of time that it took them that long to understand.

38:01

I don't think that's the case.

38:02

In fact, I think Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost would show in that moment, especially when Peter preaches in Acts 2, boy, what a sermon.

38:11

All of a sudden when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, understanding floods into the apostles' minds and spirits.

38:21

And so I guess what I'm trying to say is they didn't understand it at this moment.

38:29

And it took many years before they started making these letters and Gospels.

38:33

But as soon as Christ ascended, it took some time, but understanding came to them.

38:40

And then they wrote those things.

38:43

In fact, you could consider the New Testament is the apostles' commentary on how Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies and promises.

38:56

That's what it is.

38:57

The New Testament is largely apostolic divine commentary on the promises and prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in his earthly ministry.

39:09

In other words, the aha moments of these men were written down.

39:16

The wow, this is about Christ too.

39:19

Look at this, this is about Christ.

39:21

Those things were recorded.

39:23

They're in the books in your laps, the books in the pews.

39:28

All of this comes from the Lord.

39:31

In fact, in Isaiah 48, verse three, God says, I declared the former things long ago, and they went forth from my mouth and I proclaimed them.

39:41

So God declared the former things long ago.

39:44

They went forth from his mouth.

39:45

He proclaimed them.

39:47

Then he says, suddenly I acted and they came to pass.

39:52

See, God gives the prediction.

39:55

God gives the prophecy.

39:57

And he's not simply an inactive bystander waiting to see if his prophecies and predictions occur.

40:08

Suddenly he acts at the desired time and his prophecies come to pass.

40:15

He makes them happen.

40:18

The triumphal entry, the praises of people shouting Hosanna and the king riding on a donkey's colt are all God's actions.

40:28

And so when it comes to the nature of prophecy, it appears that the scriptures show that God will never give a prophecy that he will not fulfill.

40:38

He says, when I make a prediction, when I give a prophecy, he says, suddenly I act and they come to pass.

40:45

What does that tell you about people who say they speak for God, that they're prophets? And how many end times guys have we seen over the last 100 years especially? There's always a new YouTube channel of a guy going, by October of 2023, China's coming to the White House along with Russia and Jesus will return.

41:07

And those guys never repent.

41:09

Can you consider the judgment that are gonna come upon these type of men? They never bring out a video going, I was wrong.

41:19

It's horrible, it's despicable.

41:22

They should.

41:24

So what does that tell you about so-called prophecies that don't come to pass? Who are they from? They're from man, they're not from God.

41:34

He makes the prediction.

41:36

He makes the prophecy and he makes them suddenly come to pass.

41:42

Now, this is unusual, I think, for the triumphal entry but I wanted to make some application here in John's passage here about the triumphal entry.

41:53

What is one thing that we can take away, actually two things I should say, that we can take away from the apostles' delayed understanding of what was taking place here? What can we take away? I think that if these men who knew the Old Testament scriptures and prophecies, probably better than most of us, and not only that, men who walked with Jesus for three years, if they could not understand these things until later, so we too, in some cases, can have delayed understanding at times.

42:29

What do I mean by that? I mean that in two ways.

42:33

First, there are things that you have observed or learned about God and His Word but you still don't fully get it yet.

42:42

You don't fully get it yet.

42:44

You have yet to make the connection.

42:47

I have yet to have understanding fully.

42:51

Now, at the right time in our lives, at God's choosing, He will show us that understanding and it will be something that's so crucial to me in that moment, crucial to you in that moment.

43:05

It'll be something that we need.

43:07

And I'm not talking about something weird or new revelation.

43:10

Something's not gonna come to you in a sense where it's brand new.

43:14

I'm saying that understanding the Scriptures, understanding God, how He is, suddenly, sometimes those things just click.

43:22

The Holy Spirit works in you.

43:27

You know, because sometimes you may need in five years or 10 years or whatever, you may need to better understand the nature of God's sovereignty over all things.

43:40

And it's sort of in your brain, but it hasn't struck your complete understanding.

43:45

And you don't even realize that, that later on when you need it, all of a sudden, a greater understanding, a greater realization of who God is will wash over you.

43:56

And that will be what you need in that moment.

43:58

And God does that all the time.

44:00

He does that all the time.

44:03

You know? We've gotta stop acting like we know everything.

44:10

When we come to our Bibles, when we come to the pews, when I come to study this stuff for the sermon, we've got to take away this idea that we know everything.

44:22

You know? Our knowledge can either create a door, I think, that is open for more understanding, or our knowledge can close a door and go, I've already got it.

44:35

I know it.

44:37

I know it already.

44:40

Because the reality is, knowledge isn't necessarily understanding.

44:46

You hear that? Knowledge isn't necessarily understanding.

44:49

It's not wisdom always.

44:52

And so there's a difference here.

44:53

You and I have not arrived.

44:56

We have not arrived.

44:57

We have yet to wrap our minds around the whole counsel of the Word of God and even God Himself.

45:03

And that needs to humble us.

45:06

That ought to humble us.

45:08

We need to be open to receiving later understanding, delayed understanding like the apostles.

45:17

I'm so glad that John was willing to admit that.

45:20

Right? That they had delayed understanding.

45:30

Likely at the return of Christ, when the end of this and the beginning of the new takes place, you and I, I think, will make connections and understandings that will blow our minds.

45:45

I've said it before, I'll continue to say, I don't think, church, at year one million, we will have finally wrapped our minds around the living God.

45:55

I don't think so.

45:57

Even at year two million, 10 million, we will never come to a place where we fully know the majesty of God, where we will have fully wrapped our minds around who He is.

46:11

That is too much majestic glory, too much magnitude of such glory to know all things about God.

46:20

We know all that He needs to give us, but to know all about God, to know all, that word all, think about that.

46:29

He's all-knowing.

46:31

He's all-knowing.

46:33

And honestly, I pray that with each passing year as we wait to be with Christ, that God would get bigger in our eyes, that He would continue to get bigger in our hearts and in our understanding.

46:47

You know, it's kind of like, most of you know, I really love to hike and we live across the valley by the Ochre Mountains and we see the Wasatcha way across there and they look pretty big, but as we drive to get to the Wasatcha and we come to the trailhead, little by little as we cross each intersection, the mountain gets a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger till I'm at the trailhead and I have to look straight up to see this thing.

47:13

And I pray that that's the case for you with God, that as you go through this Christian life, as you get a little closer and a little closer and a little closer to God, you would see Him for how big He is.

47:26

That's often the problem that we have as Christians, that's the problem of fallen mankind.

47:32

They think they are bigger than the living God.

47:35

That brings disorder and sin to situations.

47:45

Now, the second thing I mean about later understanding is not only in regards to who God is, but what God has done and why He has done it.

47:56

You know, it's like when the small child thinks they know everything, or maybe it's a teenager, maybe that'd be better, the teenager or the child that knows everything and you know nothing, right? And the intervening parent upsets them.

48:13

They know better than us, right? But we do the same thing with God, we do.

48:20

Because you and I have general principles and we have something innate inside of us that God has made where we know what we need, right? We know we need shelter, we know we need food, we know we need clothing, that happened after Genesis chapter three, right? We know what we need, we know we need provision, we know that we even need love, that's something that we need, so we want companionship.

48:47

We have this general idea of what we need, but listen, neither you nor I know exactly what we need.

48:55

Do you know exactly what you need spiritually, emotionally, physically? You may have ideas of what you need, I may have ideas of what I need today, but I don't know exactly what I need.

49:08

I don't, you don't either.

49:10

I think that would be presumptuous.

49:14

Listen, the only one who is all knowing is the one who knows exactly what you need.

49:23

He's the one who knows exactly what you need.

49:26

You know, you might say, pastor, I know exactly what I need right now in this world.

49:34

I know what I need.

49:38

I need a house, I need this, I need that, I need people to be kinder to me, to give me more grace, I need my boss to give me favor, and we have all these ideas of what we need, but is that exactly what we need? Are those things exactly all that we need? Ultimately, what we need, God knows.

50:00

Maybe some of those things are things that you need and he'll give them, but only he knows.

50:07

Now, some of us will look at the negative that we perceive in our lives.

50:11

Some of us will look at a day and how difficult it was and we'll say, if I was sovereign, I would have done it this way or that way.

50:21

Now, we don't actually say it like that, but we kind of go over the day's events and we think about how we would rewrite history.

50:29

This is how I would have made things turn out and that's what we do.

50:38

Still to this day, there are things that have happened to you or things that have never happened to you and we all don't know why or what that did and what the result is on the pathway of the Christian life.

50:49

We don't know all the things that have happened, all the things that God has not let happen to you and how that's working towards the end goal.

50:59

Only he knows that, only he does.

51:04

But we like control over situations, do we not? We like control over them.

51:09

We like to be able to wrap our mind around things that we encounter, but Paul says that God does all things according to His purpose and works all things after the counsel of His will.

51:25

It's Him, it's God.

51:28

His purpose, His will.

51:31

Does God regard man in that way? No, not at all.

51:38

If He did what you thought was best for you, it'd probably result in terrible calamity.

51:45

But if He does what He knows is best for you, it will result in your good and His glory.

51:54

That's true, that's true.

51:59

If we were given some sort of sovereign independence, spiritual, physical independence over our lives for one day, I think we'd all be dead.

52:10

I think God keeps us at any given moment from fully just caving in on ourselves, just total collapse, right? God holds us, God controls it.

52:26

He works His purpose, His will, and it's perfect.

52:31

Now, there may be situations in your life where you have some sort of understanding.

52:38

Things that you've looked at in the past and you've made some sort of connection point, that's true.

52:45

That's possible.

52:47

Maybe you've got an understanding over something in the way that the apostles did even here, right? You can look at some terrible thing in your past and you kind of look back on it, and God graciously gives you understanding of why it occurred.

53:04

Maybe something terrible happened to you.

53:06

Maybe a parent died when you were young.

53:09

Maybe you've been battling sickness or you did for a long time.

53:13

Maybe you didn't get that job.

53:16

Maybe you didn't get to give birth to that child and you lost that child.

53:21

And whatever it may be, there's all these things that have happened in our lives and sometimes we get understanding on it.

53:28

Sometimes we can look back, right? God is gracious to do that.

53:34

You know, I'm even thinking of something that's happened with me.

53:38

You know, this wasn't a situation of suffering.

53:42

This was a situation of providence and I can look back and it makes sense now.

53:46

There was a town near the Arizona-Mexico border called Ajo Calvary Baptist Church.

53:58

And it was in Ajo, Arizona, A-J-O, and that literally means garlic.

54:04

So I was in a small town called Garlic, Arizona and there was 2,700 people, that's it.

54:10

It used to be a mining town.

54:12

Now it became mostly a border patrol town and 2,700 people and I'm there and I'm preaching and they offer me the pastoral position.

54:24

They give me a tour of the whole church grounds and this is a big church building.

54:30

They go, Wade, you know, you could make a Christian school in this town.

54:35

You could make a Christian school.

54:37

We could bring in income.

54:39

We could serve the community.

54:40

And there was, there was lots of room.

54:43

There was tons of classrooms for this small church.

54:47

Tons of possibilities.

54:49

And then they took me and my family to what's called the parsonage.

54:54

If you don't know what a parsonage is, it's a home, a residential home that is either connected to a church property or it's nearby in a neighborhood and it's a property that the church owns and they give it to those who are in the office of elder there, the preaching pastor.

55:16

And then they showed me the parsonage home in a neighborhood nearby.

55:19

They said, this could be yours.

55:21

We'll get some men.

55:22

We intend to renovate it and we'll make it really nice for your family.

55:27

And so they told me going to this small town is like stepping back into the 70s or something.

55:33

You're gonna be treated with status.

55:35

You're gonna be treated with respect.

55:37

You're a religious figure in a small town.

55:40

The mayor is gonna consider your word sort of thing.

55:43

They were telling me all these things, right, of what I could get, what could happen.

55:48

And for some reason, I'm telling you, normally back then, I mean, this was, I don't even know, maybe 10 years ago, this was being offered to a young seminary, just finished seminary or maybe soon to finish seminary.

56:04

This was being offered to me.

56:06

And normally I've had to battle the fact that I've been an impulsive person.

56:11

I've had to battle in such a way to restrain myself from things.

56:16

And in this case, I had no desire.

56:20

I didn't get it.

56:21

It's like I wanted to want to go to this church and be the pastor there.

56:26

I wanted to want it, but I couldn't want it.

56:29

And it's obviously now as we celebrate year two, the realization, number one, that I was not in the slightest ready, not even close to ready, right? In many ways, when we came here, I didn't feel ready, but God graduates you in that sense.

56:48

But this is where I was supposed to be.

56:51

And so that's one of those things where I didn't have understanding back then.

56:54

And people all around me were like, how could you give up this opportunity? And I had people in the denomination going, you serve there for five, 10 years, you build up your skill, we'll get you a bigger church back up in the valley.

57:12

They wanted me to use it as a stepping stone.

57:14

But even back then I knew, if I'm gonna serve at a church, I better give it my whole life.

57:20

I don't use it as something to put on a resume, a building block.

57:25

But now I can look back and I didn't understand why in the moment.

57:31

You know, I didn't understand even why that some of the terrible things that have happened to me or happened to my family have happened.

57:39

Sometimes I've known, I have understanding, some things I don't get, some things I still don't get.

57:46

And that's hard for people, that's hard for a pastor.

57:50

You know, when people have come and something terrible has happened, in that first year when that little girl at our church died, what kind of answers do you give? What do you tell people? This is why God took your baby, your little girl, right? And so there's these moments where we don't always have understanding, but we continue in faithfulness just like the apostles did.

58:18

Maybe we won't get understanding until the other side of eternity, but we keep going, we keep moving, right? So what are some situations for you? Maybe you're thinking of something right now.

58:40

What do you understand now from something years back? And what is something that you're still waiting to understand? Bring it before the Lord, right? I think the apostles show us in the triumphal entry here that it's okay to not always have the full picture at the moment that it's happening.

59:01

That's God's prerogative.

59:03

Some of us need to let that go.

59:06

We're trying to grasp understanding about hard things so much and it's weighing us down, but we need to be patient, we need to bring it before God.

59:15

Pray to God that He might give you that understanding.

59:19

And more than our life stories, may He show us in more detail Christ's story, right? And that's happening often.

59:29

We're absorbed with our own life story and God, why did this happen to me? Why is this happening now? But our prayer should even be like, help me to understand Christ more.

59:39

Help me to understand Christ in relation to what's going on in my life.

59:46

Think about it.

59:49

Here's the king entering Zion and not a single person knows what's about to happen to him.

59:55

And even that, they don't even know why it needs to take place.

59:59

The king's coming into Jerusalem and it's about to end in a man dying on a cross and no one gets it at this point.

01:00:07

They don't understand why.

01:00:09

And that dark night occurred and the apostles all fell away.

01:00:16

And what happened? Peter tried to grab a sword and he tried to defend Jesus and he cut off the servant's ear.

01:00:22

Even then, Peter's still thinking about the type of king that he wanted.

01:00:28

What is going on? The king isn't supposed to get arrested.

01:00:33

He's supposed to take over all of this.

01:00:35

He's supposed to get rid of all this and get the Romans out of here.

01:00:39

He grabbed his sword.

01:00:42

Peter, stop.

01:00:44

And all the apostles fled on that dark night.

01:00:47

They didn't get it.

01:00:49

They didn't understand it.

01:00:53

In the night where they lost all hope for the king was actually the predestined night that would lead to the next day where hope would be born.

01:01:03

Where all hope would come from.

01:01:05

In fact, the greatest day of hope would come after a death.

01:01:12

That's the reality of it.

01:01:13

No one got it then.

01:01:14

We wouldn't have gotten it then, right? The last thing I'll say about this verse, lest anyone take me the wrong way, is just as the apostles did not understand these things about Christ in the moment, on the opposite side, these fundamental truths could no longer be misunderstood after Christ's glorification.

01:01:37

So what I'm trying to say is as Christians, we're not agnostic.

01:01:43

We're not without knowledge.

01:01:45

Sometimes we don't understand things, but He has given us all that we need to know who Jesus is and how to be saved and how to be reconciled to God.

01:01:55

That's true.

01:01:57

We don't have a faith that is without certainty or without knowledge or without understanding.

01:02:04

Each doctrine, each truth confessed in the Gospels and the Epistles after Christ's resurrection are the bricks that build up the single uniform confession of the universal church.

01:02:20

We don't shout to people.

01:02:22

We didn't shout yesterday, we don't understand.

01:02:25

Come to Jesus.

01:02:27

Right? We understand by His Spirit.

01:02:32

Come.

01:02:33

Be reconciled to Christ.

01:02:35

You're following a false gospel.

01:02:37

A false Christ.

01:02:38

Do you get what I'm trying to say? We have the sufficient Word of God that gives us all that we need to be reconciled to Him, to know Him.

01:02:49

Even though there's some things we don't fully get right now.

01:02:51

Even though there's some things in your life you don't fully get right now.

01:02:57

Now here in v.

01:02:58

17, the crowds that met Jesus and saw the now living Lazarus continued to be witnesses of the Messiah.

01:03:05

Look at v.

01:03:06

17.

01:03:06

It says, So the people who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised Him from the dead, continued to testify about Him.

01:03:16

This crowd spread this news about Jesus and it obviously had an effect.

01:03:23

V.

01:03:23

18 shows not the crowds that followed, but now the general people heard what He did in performing this sign and it says that they went to meet Him.

01:03:36

So you get what I'm saying? There's been these crowds that have followed Jesus for a bit, and they came to Bethany, and then they came to Jerusalem, and then they were expecting Him.

01:03:46

Then these crowds, the people who make up these crowds, started to talk to the general assembly of people there at the celebration of the Passover.

01:03:56

And they started to understand, oh, wow, this is Him.

01:03:59

This is the One who raised Lazarus from the dead.

01:04:02

This is the One who has been working many miracles.

01:04:06

So they were spreading this news of Him, and rumors of a Messiah coming have been circulating for years.

01:04:13

The time was ripe.

01:04:15

Never before had these people heard of a man who could raise someone from the dead.

01:04:22

But John takes us back into the secret conversation of the Jewish leaders.

01:04:26

V.

01:04:27

19, so the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you are not doing any good.

01:04:32

Look, the world has gone after Him.

01:04:36

So these men were not the ones shouting, Hosanna.

01:04:41

When the people were adoring Jesus and shouting these things, the Pharisees were contemplating Him as a threat.

01:04:48

And the threat is growing.

01:04:53

They didn't know in that moment, I think, if Jesus was going to start a revolt, revolution, or something to undermine the Pharisees and Sadducees' authority.

01:05:05

They didn't know.

01:05:07

But they blamed each other like they did before.

01:05:11

You see that you're not doing any good.

01:05:15

Continuing to absolve themselves, each one of them.

01:05:21

But they see His growing influence.

01:05:24

They possibly even see the growing instability of their nation, Judea.

01:05:32

Especially since the people call Him the King of Israel.

01:05:34

How would the Roman governor consider this? They're calling this man a king? And what's so ironic is that although the Pharisees meant simply everyone in Judea and Jerusalem when they said that the world has gone after Him, the ironic thing is that the world will in fact, men and women of all types, of different nations and colors, throughout all the ages, all these people of the world will go after Christ.

01:06:05

The world will go after Christ.

01:06:13

Church, what makes this entry so triumphal is not what's inside the city, but what's outside of it.

01:06:24

The glorified moments of Jesus John was pointing to is not an earthly coronation of a king, but outside that city was a cross and a garden tomb that became empty.

01:06:42

See, Jesus is the King we did not expect.

01:06:47

Jesus is the King the world did not want.

01:06:52

He is the King we didn't understand we needed, but now He's the King that you and I could never turn away from.

01:07:00

He is the King that we've needed all along.

01:07:06

And He is the King who is greater than we could have ever imagined.

01:07:09

Church, this King is worthy of your allegiance and devotion.

01:07:15

This King is the only leader who will never turn on you.

01:07:20

He will never let you down.

01:07:23

He will never disappoint His people.

01:07:26

He will never become corrupt.

01:07:28

He will never be self-serving in that sense.

01:07:35

And because He is divine and eternal, we will never need to coronate another king.

01:07:39

You hear that? When a person really loves a president who's in office, they say, oh, I just wish this man could continue serving and serving and serving.

01:07:50

Oh, we're going to get a corrupt leader in the next election.

01:07:55

You could never say that about King Jesus.

01:07:57

No one will ever replace King Jesus.

01:08:01

He will always be there.

01:08:02

He will always serve.

01:08:05

It's forever.

01:08:08

And this King doesn't make His subjects low peasants or slaves.

01:08:13

He doesn't declare only the royals get to eat at the King's table.

01:08:21

But Christ has said that He will dine with all of us.

01:08:25

Right? You see that.

01:08:27

The royals get to come.

01:08:30

The royals of the kingdom get to sit with the King.

01:08:34

But He will invite every single person of His kingdom to sup with Him.

01:08:40

To dine with Him.

01:08:41

That's Christ.

01:08:43

It's incredible.

01:08:46

So, may we remember where we've come from.

01:08:53

May we remember where we are going and above all, may we remember where we're going to.

01:09:00

Who we're going to.

01:09:02

So I'll finish the sermon today by reading Ephesians 2.1-7 Remember who you were and know who you are now.

01:09:13

Right here.

01:09:14

Listen to this.

01:09:16

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

01:09:20

Dead.

01:09:22

In which you formerly walked according to the course of this world.

01:09:27

According to the prince of the power of the air.

01:09:31

Of the Spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

01:09:34

Among them, we too, all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

01:09:42

And were by nature children of wrath.

01:09:45

Even as the rest.

01:09:48

That's who you were.

01:09:50

Remember who you were.

01:09:51

And then it says, But God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ.

01:10:06

By grace you have been saved.

01:10:09

And He raised us up with Him.

01:10:12

And listen to this.

01:10:13

This is you now.

01:10:15

And He seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

01:10:19

So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

01:10:31

That in all the ages to come you will experience the surpassing riches of His grace.

01:10:42

That's a king.

01:10:45

What a king.

01:10:46

You don't hear about that in any of the stories.

01:10:50

You don't read about that in any of the history.

01:10:53

That the King of glory would make Himself lower than the lowest person on this world so that He would be exalted and bring you up with Him.

01:11:08

Say, I would be a peasant in the lowest and worst part of His kingdom but He gives you better than that.

01:11:18

He gives you better than that.

01:11:21

You're seated in the heavenlies with Christ.

01:11:24

That's a king.

01:11:26

That's a king.

01:11:27

Let's pray.

01:11:30

Lord, we praise Your name.

01:11:35

We thank You for Your Word.

01:11:36

We thank You, Lord Jesus, that we see that You have fulfilled prophecy.

01:11:42

That You have shown that You are the One the world was expecting.

01:11:51

And yet in the same way, Lord Jesus, we didn't expect what You would do and who You would be.

01:12:00

And I'm so thankful that You didn't give us what we wanted, but You gave us what we needed.

01:12:09

We wanted a King who would rule and make warfare, but You gave us salvation.

01:12:18

You took away the enemy of our sin and death.

01:12:21

You gave us liberation and freedom in Your kingdom.

01:12:27

And You elevated our status.

01:12:31

We will be with You for all eternity.

01:12:35

And we thank You for that.

01:12:36

You are a good and gracious King.

01:12:39

You are a marvelous King, Lord Jesus.

01:12:43

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for what You did here.

01:12:48

This may seem according to the world like one of the worst coronations that has ever occurred, but truly we know in our hearts this was the most amazing and victorious coronation and entry into Zion the world has ever seen.

01:13:09

So, Lord, we thank You for what this means for us.

01:13:14

We thank You, Lord, that even though we don't always have full understanding now, You hold all things.

01:13:23

And You give us understanding when we need it.

01:13:26

So, Lord, we praise You.

01:13:28

We pray this in the name of Your Son, Jesus.

01:13:31

Amen.