04052020 Revealed, Received, Rejected

Palm Sunday • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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Luke 19:28–44 NASB95PARA

After He had said these things, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; there, as you enter, you will find a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ” So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord has need of it.” They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Luke 19:28-44

Revealed, Received, Rejected

Search for the Historical Jesus

The term "historical Jesus" refers to events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, from his birth in Palestine to his execution in Jerusalem.

Starting in the early 18th century, liberal theologians and other scholars began to interpret the Bible as a historical document, rather than as the innarent word of God whose authors were inspired by God.

They liberal theologians concluded the Gospels were not really a biography of Jesus; they were actually theological documents which contained a large amount of fictional material. This material was intended to promote the rapidly developing Christian faith.

So began the search for the historical Jesus: the story of the real Jesus hidden in the Gospels under an overlay of theological writing.

This search for the ‘historical Jesus’ is not something that is new. This quest for the historical Jesus began in the 18th century and continues today among historical scholars.

People want to know who Jesus was – what really happened during his time here upon this earth. The conclusion of historians is often preferred over the claims of theologians and the truth of the Bible.

There are people today who are excited about a Jesus, but not the Jesus of history and not the Christ of prophecy.

of prophecy. Some of our founding fathers worshipped a non-supernatural Jesus who never performed a miracle. During the Victorian era, many worshipped a gentle Jesus meek and mild. More recently, there has been the revolutionary Marxist Jesus, the feminist Jesus, the New Age Jesus, and even the vegan Jesus.

During the Victorian era, many worshipped a gentle Jesus meek and mild. More recently, there has been the revolutionary Marxist Jesus, the feminist Jesus, the New Age Jesus, and even the vegan Jesus.

For most of these groups, it doesn’t really matter what the Bible says - people just want a Jesus to fit their own mold.

But it does and should matter for those who call themselves Christians.

Matthew 16:13 NASB95PARA

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

Mark 8:27 NASB95PARA

Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?”

Luke 9:18 NASB95PARA

And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?”

As in and , Jesus asked his disciples the question, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” We need to be able to answer – not as the world would answer, but as the Spirit has revealed Him to us. He is the Christ, the Son of God who has revealed himself to us.

We need to be able to answer – not as the world would answer, but as the Spirit has revealed Him to us.

We need to be able to answer – not as the world would answer, but as the Spirit has revealed Him to us in the Bible, the inerrant and infallible Word of God.

He is the Christ, the Son of God who has revealed himself to us.

Here in this passage before us, we see Jesus revealing himself to his disciples and to the people around him....first we see his PUBLIC REVELATION...

I. The Public REVELATION

Jesus PUBLICLY REVEALS that He is the long awaited Messiah. He openly and very deliberately claims His right to the throne of David. He intentionally announces His royal identity. He does all of this by the simple act of riding a young donkey into Jerusalem.

His riding that donkey toward Jerusalem was filled with meaning, full of significance, and the people recognized it.

One reason these people recognized this is because this action had a significant historical precedent.

In 1 King 1, we read that when David was about 70 years old, his son Adonijah tried to make himself the new king even though his father David had promised the throne to Solomon. When David heard about this, he did something that would insure that Solomon would inherit the throne.

David had Solomon ride the royal donkey, to Gijon, a spring just east of Jerusalem. And there Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed Solomon with oil from the tabernacle. They blew the horn, and the people shouted, "Long live King Solomon!" And then Solomon, the old covenant Prince of Peace, amidst the loud rejoicing of the crowd, went into the city and sat upon the throne of David his father.

Solomon had ridden his father's donkey toward Jerusalem's east wall on the day he was anointed king.

That was the image from the past that spoke to the people as Jesus rode on a donkey toward the east wall of Jerusalem, the same general area where Solomon had been anointed years before.

These two events, separated by centuries, became even closer in significance as the people began to loudly rejoice and to cry out,

"Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD. Hosanna in the highest!"

Another reason these people would have recognized this action was because it was a prophetic symbol and image.

When the children of Israel had returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile, they had to deal with discouragement because the kingdom of David seemed to have been wiped out.

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."

It was in this context that the prophet Zechariah had proclaimed to the people these words,

Zechariah 9:9 NASB95PARA

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."

In this verse, Zechariah reveals the coming Son of David, the One who would deliver Israel from her enemies and restore to her the glories of her golden past. So when Jesus rode that donkey toward Jerusalem, He was proclaiming by His action that He was the long awaited Messianic Son of David, that He was the Prince of Peace, that He was the Solomon of the new covenant.

By riding on that donkey, Jesus was proclaiming His connection to David and to Solomon.

But He was also REVEALING something else . . .

Solomon had ridden to Gijon on the donkey his father David had ridden, but Jesus rode to Jerusalem on a donkey on which a man had never sat.

His riding a donkey no one had ridden pointed to Jesus as being not only the Son of David but also the Son of Man and the Son of God.

That foal of a donkey had never been trained to carry a rider, and Jesus demonstrated by riding him that He is the Son of Man of , the One who has been given power over the beasts.

Jesus rode on a donkey no other man had ever ridden and showed that He is unique, that He is in a category all to Himself, that He is not only the Son of Man but also the Son of God.

Jesus by this PUBLIC REVELATION was saying, One greater than Solomon is here.

Jesus by His actions was saying, I am the Son of David whom David called Lord.

Here is the one who stills the seas, raises the dead, gives sight to the blind.

Up to this point in time, Jesus had been intentionally cautious about publicly revealing his identity.

Many times in His ministry when He had healed someone or raised someone from the dead, He had warned the people involved not to tell others about it in order to avoid attracting a crowd.

In His earlier ministry, Jesus had not openly proclaimed Himself to be the Messiah. He did not directly confront even His disciples with His Messianic claim until Matthew chapter 16.

Jesus and His disciples were in Caesarea Phillippi, some 120 miles north of Jerusalem, far from the hostile scribes, priests and Pharisees. There in the safety of isolation, Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" And Simon Peter answered and said,

Matthew 16:16–17 NASB95PARA

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 16:20 NASB95PARA

Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.

Matthew 16:16-17

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Then Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."

“Then Jesus warned His disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ - the Messiah” ()

“Then Jesus warned His disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ - the Messiah” (Matthew 16:20)

After feeding the 5000 (), when the crowds wanted to make Jesus king, Jesus retreated from them into the mountain to be by Himself alone.

Do you see the contrast? The passage which seems to explain Jesus' earlier practice is .

Now it is Palm Sunday. It is spring at the time of the Passover.

Just a few months earlier (), during the previous fall at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus secretly attended that Feast .

Jesus knew that the Jews in Judea sought to kill Him, and He knew that His time had not yet come -- His time referring to His time to die upon a Roman cross. The key verse that marks the transition from secretiveness to openness is found . That is where Jesus begins His trip to Jerusalem for His last Passover meal. The verse reads:

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

Luke 9:51 NASB95PARA

When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;

The time had come, and, to use the language of , Jesus then sets His face with great determination toward Jerusalem.

Isaiah 50:7 ESV

But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

Isaiah 50:7The time for the final confrontation had arrived, and there was no longer any need to avoid it through secrecy.

The time for the final confrontation had arrived, and there was no longer any need to avoid it through secrecy.

John 13:1 NASB95PARA

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” (, NASB95)

Jesus PUBLICLY REVEALS who he is....

II. The Public RECEPTION

The crowds here joyously receive Jesus as the Messianic King, but even here it is Christ who is in control of events.

The Apostle Paul would later tell Festus and King Agrippa that the saving work of Christ was not done in secret, and Jesus Himself made sure of that at the perfect time.

And how did He do that?

Have you every watched a conductor of an orchestra?

Jesus orchestrates his PUBLIC RECEPTION like a conductor leading an orchestra.

On His journey to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled through the city of Jericho. Multitudes followed Him as He left the city.

There outside the city, blind Bartimaeus cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Notice that Jesus is openly called the Son of David. And Jesus responds to this Messianic address, and He openly heals blind Bartimaeus before the crowd ().

This attracted people to Him and caused them to follow Him as He travels to Jerusalem.

Jesus then travels on from Jericho to Bethany.

Jesus had been there about a week earlier, and at that time Mary the sister of Lazarus had anointed Him with expensive perfume. John tells us that many Jews from Jerusalem went to Bethany not only to see Jesus but also to see Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Maybe some were still there and joined the growing procession to Jerusalem as Jesus passes through Bethany.

Then Jesus comes to a Bethphage & Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, where He sends two disciples to get the young donkey He would ride.

Jesus obtains His ride in a way designed to stir up interest and curiosity, in a way designed to demonstrate His divine omniscience and His royal sovereignty.

He sends two of His disciples to a specific place and tells them with divine omniscience what they would find there and what would be said. He exercises His royal authority by instructing His disciples to confiscate the mother donkey and her colt for His royal use.

They followed His directions and there were the animals just as Jesus had said. And when the owner objected to their taking them, even as Jesus said it would happen, the two disciples explained, as Jesus had instructed them, “The Lord has need of them”. And the owner immediately releases the animals for their use.

It is hard to imagine that this mysterious and curious exchange did not attract another crowd which followed the disciples to the awaiting Savior.

Now the two disciples bring the two animals, and Jesus mounts the colt, the crowds see the significance. They begin to throw down their cloaks before Him as tokens of honor. Others cut off branches from trees to carpet the path before Him. And they begin rejoicing and praising God saying,

Matthew 21:9 NASB95PARA

The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!”

"Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD. Hosanna in the highest!"

Now in Jerusalem, many of the pilgrims had been looking for Jesus since they had arrived in the city. And the point of discussion throughout the city, the hot topic that day, had been the question "What do you think - that He will not come to the feast?" ().

And as word began to spread that Jesus was on His way to the holy city riding on a donkey, the city erupted as people spewed from the city gates. A great multitude of the pilgrims took palm branches and went out from the city to greet Jesus as He approached the city. And they joined in the chorus of praise:

"Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD. Hosanna in the highest!"

And such praise, such acknowledgement, such acclamation was so appropriate, so necessary upon that occasion, that if the people had held their peace, the very stones would have cried out supernaturally ).

His time had come, the time for Him to die on a Roman cross – to save his people from their sins.

And all during this next week, every event is ordained by God, before the creation of the world, to bring to completion Christ’s substitutionary sacrificial death – his ‘work’ upon the cross - saving his people from their sin.

What caused Jesus to go to the cross?

It was not the hatred of the priests. It was not the treachery of Judas. It was not the weakness of Pilate. It was his own resolve – and determination - to do His Father's will.

It was the determination of the Good Shepherd to lay down His life for His sheep.

Jesus was never a helpless victim of circumstances.

He orchestrated the circumstances in order to fulfill His mission of mercy among men.

Public Revelation

Public Reception

Personal Response...

Now it is shortly before this combined crescendo of praise, this climax of joyous acclamation, that we come to our seemingly contradictory third point,

III. PERSONAL RESPONSE

On the road Jesus traveled from Bethany to Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives hides the city from view.

But at one point, the road climbs steeply up a rough ascent and comes to a plateau, a ledge of smooth rock, and suddenly the whole city of Jerusalem bursts into view as seen from the east.

There at that point Jesus stopped and gazed upon the city in all its outward glory and apparent security.

It was there He wept, not for Himself, but for the city and its people.

Even as the multitudes were singing His praises, Jesus knew that they saw but did not see, that they heard but did not hear. They did not really understand His mission. They did not really understand the purpose of His coming. They would soon reject Him, and God would in time use the Roman army to destroy this city in judgment.

Jesus knew this, and He wept.

He knew that soon the cries of "Hosanna, Son of David" would soon be replaced with the cry: "Crucify Him! We have no king but Caesar!"

Now garments are cast before Him, but soon they would take away His robe and the soldiers would cast lots for it.

Now the crowds proclaim Him King, but soon He would wear a crown of thorns.

Now He rides a donkey, but soon he would be walking under the burden of a cross.

Now they wave palm branches before Him, but soon they would be waving hammers to pound nails into Him upon a tree.

Why is this?

It's because the people of that day (as people today) did not understand the Christ of Scriptures.

They had formed in their own minds a Messiah of their own making.

This Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of WORD, but He is not the Christ of the WORLD’S expectations.

The people expected His humble entry upon a donkey to be the beginning of His rise to political power.

They expected Jesus to conquer the pagan Roman government through miracles and mighty wonders.

They expected Jesus to be the Christ Satan had tempted Him to be in the wilderness: Turn stones into bread, perform spectacular wonders, serve the earthly prince of power, and the world will be yours without any pain.

And Jesus said No, Depart from Me, Satan.

Unlike the first Adam, Jesus was fully obedient to the will of His Father to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

That Roman cross was for the Jews a stumbling block but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ it is the power of God and the wisdom of God ()

People then and people now can not accept a Messiah who would experience such a shameful death.

When Jesus rode to Jerusalem on a donkey the crowds only superficially recognized the fulfillment “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (, NASB95).

What they failed to consider is that He is the same Christ of is also the Christ of :

““I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.” (, NASB95)

Zechariah 12:10 NASB95PARA

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

What they failed to consider is that the Christ of is also the Christ of :

Zechariah 13:7 NASB95PARA

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My Associate,” Declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; And I will turn My hand against the little ones.

"Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered."

We leave Jesus here weeping (burst into tears with emphasis on the noise accompanying the weeping) over Jerusalem and its unbelief and its blindness to the Christ of Scripture.

Here is God’s Holy City and her people – hardened to sin – unrepentant and blind to the light of the World that stands before them.

What Israel wanted was it own kind of Messiah – much as people today searching for their own kind of Jesus and not recognizing that God in his grace has visited them with power and weakness.

It is easy to drum up excitement for Jesus when we mold him to fit the expectations of our own minds.

May we- people of the one true God - not fall into the temptation of making Jesus into what he is not, when He himself by His Spirit tells us so clearly what he is.

Here is the Christ, the Messiah, the son of God who has revealed himself to us…a stumbling block and foolishness to the world, but to those who are the called, He is the Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Matthew 16:16 NASB95PARA

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

1 John 5:20 NASB95PARA

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

1 Corinthians 1:23–24 NASB95PARA

but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

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