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Now, this is another pastoral epistle. Paul left
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Titus in Crete to establish the churches there, new churches.
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I think we should understand Titus here and Timothy as really remaining and doing pastoral work there with apostolic authority.
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It would seem the apostle Paul gave them that authority to establish these churches. You'll hear some today talk about how elders should have this same kind of authority to control churches as Titus had and Timothy.
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I take issue with that. I believe the Bible teaches that the churches of Jesus Christ are congregational in nature, in church government.
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Jesus Christ is the Lord of the church, and he expresses that in the collective body, although certainly he has appointed elders and pastors to be undershepherds of his flock.
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Well, here we have Titus, Paul giving instruction to Titus. Titus chapter 1, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which
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God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which
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I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior to Titus, my true child in a common faith.
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Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus, our Savior. This is why
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I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.
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If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.
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For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick -tempered or drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self -controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
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He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
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For there are many who are insubordinate empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.
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They must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.
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One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.
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This testimony is true and therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myth and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.
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To the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
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They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.
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Let's pray. Our Father, we ask that you be merciful and gracious to us and to our church, that we become and be all that we can be in this fallen world as we seek to live for you, our
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Father, as governed by our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray,
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Lord, that you would give wisdom to the leaders of this church and that you would enable us, our
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God, to give encouragement and instruction to your people that's in accordance with godliness, in accordance with the truth of your holy word.
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We pray, our God, that you would help us to live, each of us, to live before you faithfully as true
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Christians. Help us, our God, not be as those who are in actuality unsaved, who, although they claim to know you, their lives deny you by the way they live.
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We pray, Lord, that you would help us to be faithful and consistent as Christians, living our lives as true and committed disciples of Jesus Christ.
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Now may you bless your word to us, our God. May you help us to understand the truth that we find in John chapter 12.
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And again, we pray for your blessing upon our brother Jason as he is standing forward to represent you and your word even at this time.
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For we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's turn back to John chapter 12, please, as we work through the study of the
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Gospel of John. Now, today's study does not contain a great deal of direct application for us, but I do pray and trust that it does contain a great deal of information about Jesus Christ.
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The passage certainly lends itself to that. And of course, seeing and understanding
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Jesus Christ clearly and fully is itself transformative, isn't it? In other words,
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I shouldn't have to stand up here and spell out every way of application for you to be able to experience the blessing of God.
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I know if I present Jesus Christ clearly and fully to you and the
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Holy Spirit blesses that, he's going to transform you. The Scriptures teach this.
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For although we may fail to discern direct application, if the Holy Spirit blesses us with seeing the glory of Christ displayed in his word, he'll perform a work of moral and spiritual transformation in us.
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And this is as the Apostle Paul declared in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18.
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But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the
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Lord. It's like you're looking in a mirror, and instead of seeing your face, you see Jesus Christ and his authority and his glory are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the
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Spirit of the Lord. And so I pray, may the Lord bless us this day to see the glory of the
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Lord so that we become more like the Lord Jesus for having done so. And therefore, we certainly need the blessing of God.
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So here is John 12 before us. The passage before us today sets forth, of course,
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Jesus of Nazareth is the promised son of David, the king of Israel, arriving to Jerusalem to establish the
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Messianic kingdom for which Israel long hoped, which God had foretold through the
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Old Testament prophets. This is the realization, the time of fulfillment had arrived.
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And so before us is the public revelation and manifestation of Jesus as the king of Israel, arriving to inaugurate his kingdom.
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This entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem is recorded, of course, in all four of our Gospels. Each account, however, varies in details, giving emphasis to matters that the
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Holy Spirit had moved each Gospel writer to pen. But every one of these four accounts emphasize that Jesus was entering
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Jerusalem in order to assert his kingship and inaugurate the promised kingdom of the
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Messiah. And so here is John's account of this event, John 12, verses 12 through 19.
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The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him and cried out,
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Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel.
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And Jesus, when he had found a young donkey, sat on it, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's coal.
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His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done these things to him.
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And therefore the people who were with him, when he called
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Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. And for this reason the people also met him because they heard that he had done this sign.
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The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, You see that you are accomplishing nothing.
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Look, the world has gone after him. So here we read of the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem as the promised king of Israel.
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You may recall that last week we said that Mary's anointing of Jesus in John 12, 1 -11, in Bethany at that meal, at that supper, at that banquet, was an anointing of Jesus as king.
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But that was a rather private, implicit confession of Jesus as king by Mary. But here in John 12 and following, we have a very public acknowledgement and an explicit confession that Jesus is the king of Israel who is inaugurating the long -awaited, promised restoration of the kingdom of David.
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So as we affirmed last week, as one wrote, Mary's act was intended to present
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Jesus as a royal personage, a king. The historical evidence matches well with the fourth gospel which is keenly interested in the royalty of Jesus.
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Indeed the full picture of the enthronement of Jesus is the Son of Man lifted up on his cross.
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This pericope, in other words this episode, makes Jesus' kingship implicit and private.
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That's when Mary anointed Jesus, pouring the spiked dirt on his feet. However, this is an ironic king.
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In this next pericope, the one before us, Jesus' kingship is explicit and public.
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As the reader will come to see, however, this is an ironic king for just as he is being anointed for his burial, verse 7, so also will he be enthroned as king, not with honor, but with shame, and not on a throne, but on a cross.
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Our gospel writer, John the Apostle, set forth the kingship of Jesus through this Palm Sunday event, primarily through the employment of two
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Old Testament passages of scripture. The first is his use of Psalm 118, and the second passage that he employs is that of Zechariah 9, particularly verse 9.
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Now, as we consider these verses, we might break it down according to this outline.
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We have first the preparations for a king, secondly, the royal entrance of the king, thirdly, the true nature of Jesus' kingship, and then fourth, we have the public response to Jesus.
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So let's work through this passage. First of all, preparations for a king, verses 12 and 13.
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We first read of the stirring and gathering of a great crowd of people who desired to herald the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem as the promised king of Israel.
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Again, the next day, a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, went out to meet him and cried out,
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Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel.
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This passage opens with a statement of time. Verse 12, John wrote, The next day, a great multitude that had come to the feast.
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The day previous to this event, of course, was again in Bethany when Jesus was the host of a supper in his honor in which
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Mary had anointed Jesus' feet with very expensive spikenard. The feast mentioned here in verse 12, of course, is not a reference to that supper that they had the day before, but rather it's a reference to the great
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Passover that was about to take place in Jerusalem. And so the great multitude had arrived to Jerusalem to observe the
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Passover feast. Probably the great multitude was comprised of people that did not live in Jerusalem itself, but came from all over the
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Roman world, probably many from Galilee who traveled to Jerusalem.
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Now, the number of people who gathered to Jerusalem for the Passover was immense. It would seem that most of them were from out of town.
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A great multitude that had come to the feast greeted Jesus. It was not those who were leaders in Jerusalem, of course.
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They didn't greet Jesus. And, of course, those in Jerusalem who were Jews had been threatened by the
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Jewish leaders. If you know where he is, you tell us so we may bind him, that we may arrest him.
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But these were crowds from outside of Jerusalem who had come to the feast. They welcomed the arrival of Jesus.
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And so there were a great many people who traveled to Jerusalem annually to observe the Passover feast.
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In fact, Josephus, the Jewish man who was a
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Roman historian, he was employed by Rome in the first century, Josephus described one
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Passover just before the Jewish war of A .D. 66 -70 when he wrote, and he tended to inflate his numbers, by the way, but he wrote 2 ,700 ,000 people took part, not counting the defiled and the foreigners who were present in the city.
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And as one wrote, even if his numbers were inflated, the crowds were undoubtedly immense.
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And I read at one time that Jerusalem in that day may have had a population of about 500 ,000.
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So you can imagine this immense swelling of people for this
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Passover feast. Now the event recorded here, of course, is recognized as being
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Palm Sunday. The feast at Bethany had taken place on Saturday, apparently the day before this event.
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And within a few days, Jesus would be arrested, tried, crucified, buried, but then he would rise one week from this day on that first Resurrection Sunday, that first Easter morning.
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And so with this episode, John 12, verse 12 and following, the Passion Week of Jesus had commenced.
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When a great multitude heard that Jesus was coming to the Passover, they spontaneously formed a greeting party, heralding
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Jesus as the promised King of Israel, who had come to Jerusalem at this Passover with the purpose of inaugurating the promised
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Kingdom of God, the promised Kingdom of David that the
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Jews anticipated. And so the actions of the people, as well as the acclamations that they sang out, gave a public acknowledgment and welcome of Jesus as their
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King, the Son of David. Now, it's true that John does not explicitly declare
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Jesus as the promised Son of David, but that John does convey this truth is quite evident in his description of the welcome of these
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Jerusalem multitudes. John showed in two ways that Jesus was the promised
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King, the Son of David. First, John described the crowds welcoming the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem with palm branches, and that's significant.
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And then secondly, John showed that Jesus was the promised King of Israel by recording the crowds using the language of Psalm 118.
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So let's consider these. First, the multitudes welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem with palm branches.
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We read this great multitude took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. Date palm trees were quite plentiful in the first century in Jerusalem, and they're quite plentiful to this day.
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Interestingly, there is no word in the Old Testament that associates palm leaves with the
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Passover. There are references, however, to palm branches associated with the
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Feast of Tabernacles, but that feast, you'll recall, was observed six months prior to this, and we dealt with that in John chapter 7, the
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Feast of Tabernacles. But palm branches had become somewhat of a national symbol in the second century
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B .C. when Simon Maccabee led the Israelites to defeat and purge the land of the
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Syrian oppressors. The Maccabee family gained liberty through their leadership.
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They gained liberty overthrowing the Syrians. Well, upon the success of that military campaign, the crowds of Jerusalem publicly welcomed
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Simon Maccabee to the city with singing and waving palm branches. And it would seem from that time, palm branches became increasingly a symbol for Israel.
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Palm branches were also present when the temple was later rededicated a couple of years after liberty had been gained.
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More were after the events recorded in the Gospels later on, A .D. 66 -70.
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The Jews depicted palm branches as a national symbol, celebrating from here and there a little brief and limited military victory over Romans, both in the war in A .D.
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66 and following in A .D. 132, the Bar Kochba revolt. And so the palm branches had become an emblem of nationalist hope that a messiatic liberator was arriving on the scene.
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Edward Klink, who is a professor today, expressed it this way. The significance of Jewish history, therefore the symbolic action of the crowd, is evidence further and directly connected to the ministry of Jesus in two other ways.
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First, since either five or six of the disciples had Maccabean names, as well as two of Jesus' half -brothers, this strongly suggests that Jesus ministered in a region that cherished the national heroes of Israel as a proud people under foreign rule hoping for ultimate deliverance.
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Second, surrounding the time of Jesus' ministry, there is evidence of Jewish coins that had the image of the palm tree with some bearing inscription for the redemption of Zion.
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Thus, while the symbolic act of carrying or waving branches would have symbolized for many ancient readers the communication of triumph or royal welcome by focusing specifically on palm branches with its centuries of religious significance and its overtones of Maccabean nationalism, the crowd is officially heralding
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Jesus as a king. That's the point of the palm branches. That's what they were doing.
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This was their intention. By the way, we call this event, of course, commonly
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Palm Sunday. But actually, even though the account is found in all four Gospels, only
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John recorded the detail that the people waved palm branches, signaling the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem.
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Matthew made mention that the people cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And Mark recorded that many people spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
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And Luke makes no mention of branches at all, but he simply recorded that as Jesus went, many spread their clothes in the road.
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John alone, his account, we owe the description
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Palm Sunday. It's not clear why the Synoptists, that would be Matthew, Mark, and Luke, do not indicate the kind of branches that were used on this occasion, but it is to John that we owe the information that they were from palm trees.
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Palms were an emblem of victory, and in John's mention of them here, we must detect a reference to the triumph of Christ.
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He's coming into Jerusalem as the promised king. And so the gathering and waving of palm leaves by the multitudes indicates they were welcoming
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Jesus as their promised king, who would deliver them from their oppressors and restore the glory of their nation.
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That's what they were hoping for. Well, a second way in which
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John showed that Jesus was the promised king of Israel was by recording the crowds using the language of Psalm 118.
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In fact, it's as though the crowd was reenacting Psalm 118.
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And so we have this recorded in verse 13, the people shouting out, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
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Lord, the king of Israel. Again, these words are taken from Psalm 118, verses 25 and 26.
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Now this is a royal psalm, which celebrates the fact that God is the true king of Israel, but that he would send a king who would be his representative, who would rule over Israel on his behalf.
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I wrote down, you've got in your notes, the complete psalm, Psalm 118, in order to help us with the context.
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Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Let Israel now say, his mercy endures forever.
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Let the house of Aaron now say, his mercy endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord now say, his mercy endures forever.
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I called on the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
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The Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me, and therefore
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I shall see my desire on those who hate me. It's better to trust in the
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Lord than to put confidence in man. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.
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All nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them.
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They surrounded me. Yes, they surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. They surrounded me like bees.
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They were quenched like a fire of thorns. For in the name of the Lord, I will destroy them.
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You pushed me violently that I might fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation.
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The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous.
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The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the
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Lord does valiantly. I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the
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Lord. The Lord has chastened me severely, but he's not given me over to death.
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Open to me the gates of righteousness, and I will go through them, and I will praise the Lord. This is the gate of the
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Lord, through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation.
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Notice verse 22. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
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This was the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the
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Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. And then I emboldened and italicized the words that John picked up, which the crowds were expressing.
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Saved now, I pray, O Lord. O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
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Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord. He's given us light.
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Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will praise you.
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You are my God, I will exalt you. O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. For his mercy endures forever.
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But again, the words of verses 25 and 26 are quoted in John chapter 12, as the words expressed by the multitudes welcoming
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Jesus. And these verses read in the psalm, Saved now, I pray, O Lord.
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O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
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Lord. Now within these words, there are three important elements or statements that argue for the kingship of Jesus of Nazareth.
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First, the crowd shouted Hosanna, which is a Greek transliteration of a
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Hebrew or Aramaic word that was addressed to God declaring to him, Save.
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It's really like a prayer. Please save. Save us,
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Lord. The Hebrew word in Psalm 118 .25 is Hoshea.
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In other words, Hosanna. But the Greek translation of this verse in the
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Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, is Saison. Literally, it means give salvation now.
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Hosanna. The crowd is calling on God to save them, to deliver them.
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By this one word, the crowd expresses their hopes about Jesus, assuming he is God's light shining upon them, which is expressed in verse 27 of Psalm 118.
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But this expression that had been a call upon God to save them had become an expression of praise.
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Later, Hosanna became a voice word of praise to God by his people. And, of course, that's how the word is commonly understood today.
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When we say Hosanna, we are offering praise to God, but really in the context for having saved us.
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Then, secondly, the crowd called out, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And so right after the psalmist called out to God to save him or them, he blesses or welcomes the one coming on behalf of God to accomplish this work of salvation.
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The crowd is rendering this praise of Jesus of Nazareth as the coming king who would effect the salvation that God, their true king, purposed to bestow upon them.
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They were acknowledging Jesus to be their promised Messiah, the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
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Lord. And then, thirdly, the crowd then declared the identity of Jesus directly the
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King of Israel. It may be translated this way. Even the
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King of Israel. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Even the King of Israel.
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Of course, this final part of the proclamation is the clearest evidence of the kingly nature of the crowd's interpretation of Jesus.
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The phrase, however, is not found in Psalm 118, is it? Rather, it's added to the declaration of the crowd recorded by John.
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And so the crowd identifies Jesus as the promised king who would come on behalf of God to save his people.
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Now, it's quite clear that the reader of John's Gospel has a greater understanding of the nature of the
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Lord Jesus and his kingdom than did this great multitude that welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem.
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They probably had in their thinking, they certainly had in their thinking, that this Messiah was about to deliver them from Roman oppression and deliver his people into a state of liberty, reinstituting, re -inaugurating the
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Davidic kingdom of Israel that once dominated that region of the world. But just as God had used
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Caiaphas, you recall, the high priest, to reveal more than he intended regarding Jesus, we saw that in John 11, so God had this crowd express truth that was beyond their understanding.
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So again, as we look at Psalm 118, we can consider the verses that immediately precede the announcement of the coming
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Messiah who would save his people. Again, verses 21 -24 of Psalm 118 read this way,
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I will praise you, for you have answered me, you have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
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This was the Lord's doing, it's marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.
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Yes, the psalmist had declared the Messiah would come on behalf of God to save his people, but it would be a salvation that the people did not comprehend, and it would be accomplished in a manner of which they were wholly ignorant.
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Yes, the Messiah would become king, but that kingdom would be inaugurated, and he would be installed in a manner totally unknown to them.
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A manner consistent with Psalm 118, but a manner of which the multitudes were totally ignorant.
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Jesus would become king through being rejected by the builders, the Jewish leadership, and it would be through the grace and power of God alone that Jesus came forth from the dead at his resurrection.
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He then became the chief cornerstone. He became Lord, all authority in heaven and earth was given unto him.
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And this would be to the amazement of all, wholly ironic in nature, to the surprise and wonder of the people, this was the
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Lord's doing, it's marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.
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By the way, just a matter of aside, a matter of application, this verse is commonly interpreted in a way, you know, hey,
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I'm having a miserable day, but nevertheless, this is the day the Lord has made my purpose to rejoice and be glad in it.
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That's not what the psalmist was talking about. The psalmist was talking about the day in which this rejected stone became the chief cornerstone.
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The psalmist, the day that the Lord has made, we'll rejoice and be glad in it, is talking about the resurrection and glorification of King Jesus.
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Talking about the first resurrection Sunday. And I made a note of this in the footnote, will not read it.
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But I also see this as a prophecy of worshiping on the Lord's Day Sunday rather than Saturday Sabbath.
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This is the day you're going to rejoice and be glad in. This is the day you're going to be worshiping in, the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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I think that's what's being declared. And so here the heralding of Jesus as the promised
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King of Israel is extremely important. He would be King shortly, but in a way that no one truly anticipated.
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Even though he had taught it to his disciples. But in a way they did not fully comprehend until after the crucifixion and resurrection.
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And John even makes that statement here. The disciples didn't understand it, did they? And thus the heralding of Jesus as King here is highly significant.
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In a sense the crowd is reenacting Psalm 118, proclaiming Jesus as King as he enters
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Jerusalem. It's in this way that the introduction and setting of the pericope, that is the episode here, concludes establishing for the reader a vibrant scene of royal pomp and circumstance.
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It's an inauguration into his kingship.
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Now for those who have ears to hear, perhaps you've already detected it, but this understanding of this passage is completely different than the popular presentation that somehow the classic dispensationalists teach.
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What Jesus was doing was offering the earthly millennium, the earthly kingdom of David. But because they rejected him and crucified, the offer of the kingdom was withdrawn by God and won't take place until the second coming of Christ.
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That is not what John is declaring. John is declaring that Jesus Christ, the King of Israel, established the promised messianic kingdom through his death, burial, resurrection, and exaltation.
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It's emphasizing the present reality of the kingdom of God. That's what this passage emphasizes.
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Well now in verses 14 and 15 we have the royal entrance of the king. Here's the manner our
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Lord entered Jerusalem, which also depicts him as the arriving king. Verses 14 and 15 read, Then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey, sat on it, as it's written,
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Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt. Now the opening words of John 12, 14 display the sharpest distinction between John's account of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and the accounts of the same event set forth by the synoptic writers,
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Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Each of the synoptic writers gave much detail of Jesus' instruction to disciples in order to obtain this animal that Jesus would ride into the city.
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John passes by all those details. That's not to say John's account is in conflict with the other accounts.
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It's just that John did not see the need to give these details. As one wrote, the synoptists, that would be
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Matthew, Mark, and Luke, here preserve much more information and make it clear that Jesus arranged for the ride of the ass, thereby self -consciously fulfilling his prophecy of Zechariah 9.
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John cuts out these arrangements and briefly reports, Jesus found a young donkey.
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That's all John says about the matter. And then this commentator qualified it.
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The verb, in other words, found, Jesus found, certainly allows room for the meaning defined by agency of others.
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In other words, it doesn't conflict with the other gospel writers. He just summarizes it.
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John shows no interest in it. John showed the nature of our Lord's kingship, however, through both his use of riding on a donkey as well as the use of Zechariah 9 verse 9.
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So let's consider this. First, the use of the donkey by Jesus, verse 14a.
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Then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey. Just as the palm leaves were significant with regard to kingship, so is this donkey.
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We might think that riding a donkey into town would be a rather humbling of oneself rather than exalting oneself before those who observed him.
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But this would be a wrong understanding. Yes, riding a donkey indicated that Jesus was coming in peace rather than with the intention to administer justice against his enemies and wage war.
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And D .A. Carson said this of our Lord's entry. Whatever the exact sequence, to report the ride on the donkey immediately after the acclamation of the crowd has the effect of damping down nationalist expectation.
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He does not enter Jerusalem on a war horse, which would have whipped the political aspirations of the vast crowds into insurrectionist frenzy.
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But he chooses to present himself as the king who comes in peace, gentle and riding a donkey.
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And that's the idea conveyed in Zechariah 9 verse 9. But we should not think that this matter of entrance would have been perceived by the crowds as undignified or a humble way of coming into the city.
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Rather, this was the manner and entrance of a king. Here's an extended explanation of this
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I thought would be helpful for us. This is by comments of Edward Klink on the word Jesus found a donkey and sat on it just as it is written referring to Zechariah 9 verse 9.
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The symbolic meaning of the donkey may be the most important tool for interpreting the nature of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and more specifically his response to the acclaiming crowd.
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Many interpreters consider Jesus' use of a donkey to be a correction of the crowd because of the general assumption that the ass has lowly associations.
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Since many interpreters assume the crowd's acclamation of King Jesus was drenched in nationalistic expectations, it's often assumed that Jesus chose a donkey with the specific intention of damping down such misguided expectations.
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If Jesus were to accept the crowd's royal praise, he would have chosen a kingly horse symbolizing war, not a donkey, a beast of burden.
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But notice what Klink wrote. But the biblical and historical evidence does not support this picture of the donkey.
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While the horse would eventually become a symbolic for military power, mules and donkeys have a much earlier and longer heritage as symbols of royalty.
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As much as donkeys were widely characterized as a beast of burden par excellence throughout the
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Near Eastern text, they also served as a mount for people of high standing, nobility, and aristocracy, prophets, royalty, and deity.
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That is, while the donkey on its own is often a symbolic of a pet animal with a clear rider of high standing, the donkey becomes an intentional symbol of status.
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In other words, prestige, power, and wealth, most often to signify royal status. As Way, that's a man, a scholar, biblical scholar, as Way described it, the donkey is, so to speak, the
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Mercedes Benz of the biblical world. That's a pretty good illustration that gives you the flavor of it.
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The fact that the narrator described Jesus himself as the one who procured the donkey suggests that his choice of the animal, of all its symbolic meaning, was part of his response to the crowd.
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Rather than correcting or rebuking the acclamation of the crowd, Jesus appears to be accepting it, even participating in the crowd's reenactment of the royal proclamation of Psalm 118.
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Jesus wasn't putting down their reception, he was buying right into it.
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But notice what it says. And this is important. Not only did
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Jesus find a donkey, but we read that he sat upon it. Now that might seem to be kind of a secondary detail, but actually this action of Jesus, described by John, sets forth
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Jesus as asserting his kingship. Again we read,
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Then Jesus, when he had found a young donkey, sat on it. If you look at the grammar of that sentence, yes he found a donkey, but this is set forth in a secondary clause, a temporal clause, when he found a young donkey.
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The main verb of the subject of the sentence is, then Jesus sat on it. That's the main idea.
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It's not the presence of the donkey that's suggestive of the image of Jesus, that Jesus is presenting, but what
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Jesus did with the donkey. He mounted it. This was a kingly move on his part.
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It's an assertion of his regal status. Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was not a display of humility, as it was an assertion of regal authority.
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He was the promised king of Israel. And this is not what John was asserting.
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We already set forth forthrightly. John inserting the declaration that Jesus is the king of Israel, appending it to his use of Psalm 118.
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For the people had cried out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That's Psalm 118.
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But then John describes what the people were declaring, even the king of Israel.
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And then it's here that John calls forth Zechariah 9 -9 to substantiate what's taking place.
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Again, we read in verses 14 and 15. Then Jesus, when he found a young donkey, he sat on it as it is written,
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Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.
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This is where John employed the prophecy of Zechariah 9 -9 in order to set forth the messianic kingship of Jesus.
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Now, although this verse is quoted by John and includes only Zechariah 9 -9, the verse taken from a context is from a context in which we should be informed.
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So here's the larger context, and please bear with me as we look at Zechariah 9, 1 -10.
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And what I want to show you is that it was in the context of great difficulty, hardship, warfare, that this king of peace comes in.
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Bringing an end to warfare and bringing a state of peace. And so here's
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Zechariah 9, 1 -10. The burden of the word of the Lord against the land of Hadrach, in Damascus, its resting place, for the eyes of men in all the tribes of Israel are on the
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Lord. Also against Hamath, which borders on it, against Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
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For Tyre built herself a tower, heaped up silver like the dust, gold like the mire of the streets.
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Behold, the Lord will cast her out, he will destroy her power in the sea, and she will be devoured by fire. Ashkelon shall see it in fear,
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Gaza also shall be very sorrowful, and Akron, for he dried up her expectation. The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
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A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take away the blood from his mouth, and the abominations from between his teeth.
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But he who remains, even he shall be for our God, and shall be like a leader in Judah, and Akron like a
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Jebusite. I will camp around my house because of the army, because of him who passes by, and him who returns.
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No more shall an oppressor pass through them, for now I have seen with my eyes. And then here is the passage that John quotes in John chapter 12.
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Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you.
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He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
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I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem. The battle bow shall be cut off.
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He shall speak peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea. That's international.
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Gentile lands too, from the river to the ends of the earth. And so the context of Zechariah is of God's people being attacked and ravaged by its enemies.
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Now granted the Lord had employed these enemies to bring judgment upon his people, but his purpose in judgment is declared to have an end.
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God would send forth his king to overthrow the enemies of his people, and it would seem remove the sins of his people that brought forth his judgment upon them.
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And so the Lord would destroy those who would destroy his people. And so God gives the command for his people to rejoice in their deliverance.
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Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you.
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He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
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Yes, the king is coming in peace, for he is riding a donkey, but he is coming in peace for his people, that is, for those who believe on him as their king, because he has overthrown their enemies, that which threatened them.
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This donkey ride, therefore, speaks of what he would very soon accomplish through his death on the cross, even the atonement of the sins for his people.
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And so let's consider more carefully these words of comfort to God's people because their king has come to them.
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First, John records the words, Fear not, daughter of Zion. Actually, when you read
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Zechariah 9 -9, we don't read these exact words. John has used these words,
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Fear not, daughter of Zion, to replace Zechariah's words, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.
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But this is a common way in which New Testament writers use Old Testament passages.
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As one wrote, The opening words, Do not be afraid, are found neither in the Hebrew nor any version of Zechariah 9 -9, and replace
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Rejoice greatly. Quite likely they are drawn from Isaiah 40, verse 9, where they are addressed to the one who brings good tidings to Zion.
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It's not uncommon for New Testament quotations from the Old Testament to derive from two or more passages.
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And that's what John did here in John chapter 12. Who is the daughter of Zion?
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It's described here. It was a common way to refer to the people of ancient Jerusalem who were oppressed and afflicted, who had suffered under God's judgment.
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But it's a word of pity on their behalf, daughter of Zion. Therefore, it's not a reference to all
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Jews indiscriminately, but rather to a remnant of Jewish people, we would argue, the elect of God, whom he purposed to save from their sins.
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And so this is not a promise to Jews as Jews, but it's a promise to a remnant of Jews.
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They are called the daughter of Zion. Now, the New Testament identity of this daughter of Zion are all those that believe on Jesus Christ as their
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Lord and Savior. Here, Zion is no physical Jerusalem, but it's our heavenly
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Zion, the city whose builder and maker is God, the city built without hands.
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And Paul wrote of this very thing. Of both Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ, Paul described them as being the offspring, in other words, the daughter of Zion, even as God was their father.
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Paul wrote of the city of Christians, but the Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all.
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Here in Zechariah, it's the daughter of Zion. Paul described the Zion up above as the mother of us all.
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We're the children of Zion. This is speaking about the people who are the objects of God's work of salvation through Jesus Christ.
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Now, why should the daughter of Zion not be afraid? Fear not, daughter of Zion, because as Zechariah declared and John cited, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.
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John declared you need not be afraid for your king is coming. He's riding on a donkey's colt for he's coming in peace.
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But why has he come in peace? It's because he has vanquished the foes that had formerly threatened and afflicted his people.
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Yes, the king is coming in peace because he's already defeated and vanquished his enemies, thereby setting free his people.
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And this is consistent with how Zechariah set forth this passage in chapter 9 of that book of prophecy.
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That's why he comes in peace, because in a few days on the cross, he's going to destroy all the forces and enemies that would condemn his people.
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Well, now we can look at verse 16 as we kind of draw to a close here. The true nature of Jesus' kingship.
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We next read that the disciples did not understand what they had witnessed. Verse 16 records, his disciples did not understand these things at first, but when
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Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done these things to him.
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It seemed to be somewhat out of character for Jesus to draw any attention to himself, but here he's doing just that in John chapter 12.
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Why? They didn't understand. When it happened, they understood later.
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His hour had arrived, finally. As J .C. Ryle described this very well.
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A careful reader of the Gospels can hardly fail to observe that our Lord Jesus Christ's conduct at this stage of his earthly ministry is very peculiar.
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It is unlike anything else recorded of him in the New Testament. Hitherto, we've seen him withdrawing as much as possible from public notice, retiring into the wilderness, checking those who would have brought him forward and made him a king.
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As a rule, he did not court popular attention. He did not cry or strive or cause his voice to be heard in the streets.
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Here, on the contrary, we see him making a public entry into Jerusalem, attended by an immense crowd of people, and causing even the
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Pharisees to say, Behold, the world has gone after him. The explanation of this apparent inconsistency is not hard to find out.
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The time had come at last when Christ was to die for the sins of the world. The time had come when the true
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Passover lamb was to be slain, when the true blood of atonement was to be shed, when
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Messiah was to be cut off according to prophecy. That should be Daniel, not damn, of course. Daniel 9 .26.
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And when the way into the holiest was to be opened by the true high priest to all mankind, and knowing all this, our
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Lord purposely drew attention to himself. Even though the disciples had been with Jesus for his full ministry of three years, having heard him teach in public and private, nevertheless they had remained ignorant of much.
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Only after the crucifixion and the resurrection, only after the Lord Jesus instructed them for those forty days after the resurrection, and only after the
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Holy Spirit had begun to dwell in them, that they began to understand more clearly and fully of what they had been eyewitnesses.
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And then lastly we read of the public response to Jesus. Therefore the people who were with him, when he called
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Lazarus out of his tomb, raised him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason the people also met him, because they heard that he had done this sign, that last sign of Jesus of the seven, that brought it all to a head.
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The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.
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And so the multitude rejoiced in Jesus, at least at this time. But the
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Pharisees were stymied and frustrated. Once again to quote Ryle, he's so good. This is the language of men baffled, angry, at their wit's end, from vexation, to see their plans defeated.
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Instead of finding people willing to lay hands on Jesus as a male factor, and to deliver him up into their power, they beheld a large multitude surrounding him with joyful acclamations, saluting him as a king.
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Of course they could do nothing but sit still and see it. The least attempt to use violence against our
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Lord would have raised a tumult and endangered their own lives. So that they were obliged to see their most hated enemy enter
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Jerusalem in triumph like Mordecai, led by Haman. Good parallel.
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We can well imagine their glee, when very soon Judas Iscariot, one of our Lord's own, would be willing to turn our
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Lord over to their will. This was indeed a triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
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But of course, what he would then encounter would be very difficult.
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He would obey his father, which would result in his cross. And in a few days these crowds would be shouting out, crucify him, crucify him.
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I understand there is a painting once made which portrays the holy band of Jesus in Jerusalem in one scene.
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The painting depicts in the foreground a lone donkey standing as it's chewing palm leaves.
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And obviously intended to be the donkey Jesus rode eating the branches strewn in the way. But in the background on the hill behind the donkey is the cross, the three crosses, in the middle of which, of course,
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Jesus hung. And so may the Lord enable us to see the true nature of his kingdom.
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I can't emphasize this strong enough. Jesus' kingdom was not postponed because of the
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Jews' rejection of Jesus. To be once again offered to them at the second coming, and then they're going to have another glorious kingdom in the future.
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No, the kingdom was not postponed, but rather the kingdom was inaugurated.
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The cross did not put aside the kingdom, postpone the kingdom.
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The cross was the very means by which King Jesus became king. It was through his obedience to death on the cross, wherefore
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God highly exalted him and gave him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every tongue might confess, every knee bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus is
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Lord to the glory of the Father. The kingdom of God, the kingdom promised in the
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Old Testament, was inaugurated by Jesus. And that's what's being set forth here in John chapter 12.
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And we ought to see it clearly and see it in faith and rejoice in it, just like those people were rejoicing when
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Jesus came into that city on that occasion. Amen? All right, let's pray. Father, thank you for your word and the wonder,
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Lord, of fulfilled prophecy. For not only did you lay down the words of prophecy in the
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Old Testament, the New Testament tells us what you intended by those words. We thank you, our
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Father. We live in this glorious time as believers in Jesus Christ. He is our Lord. He is the
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King of Israel. And thankfully, you have called an innumerable number of Gentiles to also participate in this wonderful, glorious kingdom.
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We pray, our God, that you would help us to exalt King Jesus in our world today, to proclaim
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Jesus Christ as Lord, to your glory, our Father. And we'll thank you and praise you as you bless this message to the conversion of more who you bring into your kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.