The Coming Of The Long Awaited King (Mark 11:1-11)
Our society would like to see Jesus anywhere but on His throne. Our society would be pleased if Jesus would just jump on board with their favored political agenda, but Jesus will not get on board with that. And He revealed as much to us as He road on a donkey into Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago. Jesus doesn’t answer to us. He doesn’t answer to the governor. He doesn’t answer to the mob. He doesn’t answer to any political leader or head of government. Jesus is God and the long-awaited Messiah and King who brings salvation and judgment.
Seven days before Jesus rose from the grave He strolled into Jerusalem with His disciples to the praise and adoration of a crowd. It is difficult to know the population of Jerusalem in Jesus’s day because of the massive variation in historical accounts. But we do know that the inhabitants swelled dramatically for Passover as Jews from the diaspora, or the dispersion, came to celebrate Passover within the city walls. The number of inhabitants would double or even triple in an already crowded and busy city. These large celebrations were nothing like a Baptist party. These were lively affairs and Passover was to be celebrated for a week (Exodus 12).
Jesus added a lot of buzz to this atmosphere when He came to town. Word had apparently gotten out that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and it caused a stir in Bethany which is only 2 miles from Jerusalem.
“When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of Him but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of Him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.”—John 12:9-11 ESV
I hope that you can feel the energy emanating off the page. The population of Jerusalem has swollen for the feast. And Jesus, who had been performing other miracles as well, has raised Lazarus from the dead and the people are finding out about it. The atmosphere for the occasion is just electric.
As observers who have the benefit of reading this account from Mark we get a glimpse of Jesus that is truly spectacular. We see that Jesus is God and the long-awaited Messiah and King who saves and judges.
Jesus is God and the long-awaited Messiah and King who brings salvation and judgment.
Read Mark 11:1-11.
Jesus is God (Mark 11:1-6)
Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Jerusalem. As has already been stated this was a very common occurrence for this time of year. Bethpage, Bethany, and Mount of Olives is the route they were taking into Jerusalem. Bethpage was likely very near the Mount of Olives. Everything is very normal in this story so far.
Then the deity of Jesus shows forth in a detail.
“Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.”—Mark 11:2 ESV
Now, it is very likely that Jesus had a previous relationship with the owner of this colt. This would make sense considering the disciples were able to make off with the animal without robbing him with a club. But what is supernatural about this event is Jesus had knowledge that only God would have. He was able to tell the disciples exactly where this colt would be.
This may seem insignificant, but I do not think that it is. Imagine yourself there. You are travelling to Jerusalem with folks and are drawing near to your location, just a few miles away. And you are coming upon a village and Jesus says that in that village there will be a colt immediately as you enter the village tied up that no one has ever sat on. That is supernatural knowledge. And then Jesus gives His disciples instructions on what to say to those that are around. It’s utterly amazing.
And the response of the disciples was to do exactly what Jesus had asked them to do.
This is no average person who is riding on a donkey and would eventually die on a cross. This is God the Son who took on human flesh and dwelt among us, His name is Jesus.
Jesus is God. This means that He is worthy of all worship, praise, and honor that could ever be bestowed upon Him. He deserved every bit of honor and praise that was bestowed upon Him on Palm Sunday. In fact, He gave up being worshiped by angels…which He deserved to come to Earth.
And as the disciples obediently did what the Lord command, so should we. Everyone owes absolute obedience to the Lord. Even if you do not believe that you owe obedience to God, you do.
Jesus Is Lord, The Long-Awaited King (Mark 11:8-10)
Jesus got on this donkey, this colt, and rode into Jerusalem. And His approach did not go unnoticed. As has already been mentioned, the atmosphere was electric. And it was very likely that the people had heard of the many exploits of Jesus of Nazareth. They likely had heard of Lazarus being raised from the dead among some of the other things that Jesus had done. And there was great expectation. For long ago it had been prophesied that the king would come. And here Jesus was, announcing Himself as the long-prophesied King riding into Jerusalem.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
Righteous and having salvation is he,
Humble and mounted on a donkey,
On a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
(Zechariah 9:9 ESV)
And the people responded just as they were commanded to do in Zechariah 9:9. I believe that Jesus’s intention was to advertise to the people of Jerusalem that He was the person predicted in Zechariah 9:9. When He called for a colt to be brought to Him and He got on it to ride into Jerusalem there was a loud message being sent. And the people who saw Him got the message loud and clear. They “spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.” (Mark 11:8 ESV) It’s an act of reverence and honor fit for a king.
They understood Jesus to be coming as the Promised King from the lineage of David. They even shouted, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!…” (Mark 11:10a ESV) Since the earliest days of their faith it was understood that someone from the tribe of Judah would sit on the throne.
Before Jacob, Israel, died he brought his sons to him so that he could “tell” them “what shall happen to” them “in days to come” (Genesis 49:1). Interesting to us here is what he said would happen to Judah. It was from the tribe of Judah that their future rulers were to come.
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
Until tribute comes to him;
And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Binding his foal to the vine
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
He has washed his garments in wine
And his vesture in the blood of grapes.
His eyes are darker than wine,
And his teeth whiter than milk.”
(Genesis 49:10-12 ESV)
And the promise had been given to David many years ago that promised that his kingdom was an eternal one (2 Samuel 7, 1 Chronicles 17). And this crowd understood Jesus to be that one. It feels as if a frenzy of honor and praise is being bestowed upon Jesus in this moment. And He deserves every bit of it and so much more.
I do believe that they misunderstood the Kingdom that Jesus was bringing. This Kingdom was different. And this seems to be part of the reason for Jesus’s riding on a donkey and not a noble steed. They understood rightly that Jesus was riding into Jerusalem to inaugurate His Kingdom. They believed that this would involve the overthrow of the Roman occupation of Jerusalem. They thought Jesus was an earthly king. They did not realize that His path the throne was through death on a cross. They thought He would be climbing a ladder of achievement as He overthrew the Roman government. They couldn’t have imagined that Jesus’s path to the throne was through submitting to death, “even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8 ESV).
And so, Jesus and the people celebrating Him were in agreement. Jesus was the King riding into Jerusalem. He did not stop the celebration or give an explanation. It was good and right for them to celebrate Him as He rode into the city.
How much more is it good and right to celebrate the Lordship of Christ today, knowing what we know of Him today!
Jesus is king over all. All obedience is owed to Him from every individual that has ever lived. And to not give that obedience and honor is to be in sin. You may not think that Jesus has rights over your life but you are sorely mistaken. Because God has created all things you owe Him tremendous reverence, honor, and obedience. Jesus is king, not you. The King has come, He rode into town on a donkey and you owe Him all reverence and obedience. He is the long-awaited King from the lineage of David and He is Lord of all.
Christian, Jesus your Savior is King over all. We owe all obedience to Him. It is not enough to say that our allegiance is with Christ. We are to seek to obey and follow Him with every part of our ourselves. He is king over all and more specifically, He is our King. We are those who have willingly submitted to the lordship of Christ. If He tells us that we are to do something then we are to attempt to do it with the best of our ability. It’s not enough to just shrug off our sins as a little mistake. He is our Lord. Let us submit all of our lives to Him. And this includes spreading the good news of what Christ has accomplished for us. We spread the gospel to the nations because our Lord, the Great King, has commanded us to do so.
Jesus is the Long-Awaited Messiah Bringing Eternal Salvation (Mark 11:2, 9-10)
There is great significance to Jesus riding a colt into Jerusalem. As has already been mentioned it was a fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. And Jesus got on that colt intending to tell the people of Jerusalem that He was the Messiah. He was the Savior of the people.
Let’s look at Zechariah 9:9 again.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
Righteous and having salvation is he,
Humble and mounted on a donkey,
On a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
(Zechariah 9:9 ESV)
This king who was coming was going to bring “salvation” with him. He fulfilled the prophecy about Himself to let everyone know that He was bringing salvation.
This is very significant because this is happening at the time of the Passover Celebration. This feast celebrated the Exodus out of Egypt. For seven days they were with family and friends celebrating the wondrous way God brought them out of slavery in Egypt. And they celebrate this feast while being occupied by Rome. The bitterness of this I’m sure stung a bit amid this celebration. But here is a man who has been doing miracles and even raising Lazarus from the dead. And He is riding into Jerusalem claiming to be the king who will bring salvation to the people of God. And again the people understood the message that Jesus was giving them.
The word “Hosanna” means “save us we pray. It is the Greek way of saying what takes us four words to say in English. It is a direct quotation from Psalm 118:25. Here is Psalm 118:25-26 because most of it is quoted by those who see Jesus.
“Save us, we pray, O LORD!
O LORD, we pray, give us success!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We bless you from the house of the LORD.”
Psalm 118:25-26 ESV
The people were celebrating the fact that Jesus, their salvation has finally come. Sadly, the crowd believed that Jesus would save them from Roman oppression.
What they did not understand is that Jesus came to save from the oppression of sin and Satan. God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us to save from sin. We rebelled against God and are so selfish that we think that the problem is outside of us. Like the Israelites of Jesus’s day we believe that our problem is in the oppression of those people who are running the country, when the greatest evil and the greatest threat to our lives lies within us. Our first parents fell into sin and brought sin to all mankind. And now we are so stained with the taint of sin that we are born sinners, born in rebellion against God. I didn’t have to be taught to lie. I didn’t have to be taught to disobey authority. I am a fallen creature who has a terrible darkness within myself. I may look like I have it together, but that is only by the grace of God.
We like to think that we are good people. We like to think that we are people of great moral clarity. But if I had a device that could play your thoughts over the television for everyone in the room to see you would run out of here screaming in horror and terrible embarrassment, and you know that it’s true. And I know that it’s true as well.
Do you know how I know?
Your heart is dark with sin.
We like to say in a joking or shrugging manner, “Huh, we’re all sinners.” But that is not something to sluff off. Sin is no small matter. It is an act of treason against a holy God. And the horror of all of this is that I am a sinner. I am so corrupted that I can be characterized by such wickedness. And when I think about my life thus far these words from Jesus are terrifying,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.”—John 8:34 ESV
Here is the beautiful part of this message. Jesus came as the Messiah to save us, not from a political regime, but from the power of sin. He came to give us eternal life. That’s why His path to the throne was not through military might, but the cross. He went to the cross as a perfect sacrifice for sin. He went to the cross to pay the debt that I owe. He went to the cross to take the punishment that I deserved upon Himself. He came to die so that He could bring about a greater exodus than Moses brought. He came to bring salvation from the yoke of sin. And three days later, He rose from the grave to accomplish that glorious and wonderful salvation.
Trust in Christ. Stop ruling your own life. Stop living your own way. Stop trying to be good on your own terms. Stop trying to measure up all on your own. You can’t. Jesus came to save from sin, trust in Him.
Our culture is obsessed with political workings. It is so important to everyone who is in the White House that they forget about anything that is going on with them personally. But this obsession with politics is because our society sees government and politics as a means of salvation from many of this world’s ills. Some people believe that we can bring about a Utopian society if only the god of government could be given enough power. All worldly powers will fail. And we have to understand that the salvation that Jesus brings is greater than anything that a worldly political party could bring.
Jesus saves from sin and gives eternal life. God the Son rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to inform everyone that He was the Messiah. He would die on a cross later that week to do the work of the Messiah, which was to free us from the bondage of sin and death which is a terror much greater than anything else that this world can sling at us.
The salvation that Jesus brought was not about a war against Rome. It was not about a war against political oppression. It was about an eternal salvation that only He could bring against sin and death. The history of Christianity has shown that where Christianity goes oppression is eventually destroyed, but that is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is the destruction of sin, death, and Satan. When that war is complete there will be no more oppression left in this world.
Christian, Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. This means that all our fears about standing before God are laid down at the foot of the cross. We trust the Savior who came to Earth and gave up His life to give us eternal fellowship with God. And so, we proclaim that message boldly and loudly. It is the message that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, and He saves from sin.
Praise God! Jesus saves from sin! If that were left to me I would surely be lost. “Hosanna!”
Jesus Is The Great Judge (V. 11)
But this was not the last thing that Jesus did on Palm Sunday. He does one more thing that we should consider and think carefully about. After the commotion into the city Jesus went to the temple.
“And He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.”—Mark 11:11 ESV
Jesus went to the temple and “looked around at everything” before going to bed.
If you know what happens the next day this verse startles you. In verse 12 Jesus curses the fig tree which is a parable for the disciples to see about the temple. Jesus judged the fig tree because it was not bearing fruit. And then He went into the temple and drove the wickedness out of the temple.
So, what was Jesus doing when he stopped on Palm Sunday to examine the temple?
He was examining His temple. He was judging His temple. And He made plans to cleanse the temple. This King who brings salvation is also God who judges.
Jesus is God and Jesus is King. Therefore, Jesus has rights over you and will one day judge in much the same manner that He passed judgment upon the activity in the temple. What would happen if Jesus passed judgment on you tonight? What if His judgment were to fall upon you tomorrow? Jesus is the Great Judge. Don’t let the weird things that Don Lemon says on CNN make you think that God will not judge. One of the things we find over and over again in Scripture is that God will judge. The Judgment will one day come and those who have trusted in Christ will be saved.
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.”—Hebrews 9:27-28 ESV
Christian, you are the temple of the Lord. Are you allowing sins to be practiced in the temple? Are you hiding sins in your life?
Are you harboring sins in your life?
Are you just choosing to say that it is okay to live with the sin in your life?
Are there things that you are holding on to that you need to repent of?
Are there relationships that need to be mended?
Are there secret sins in your life?
Understand that you are the blood bought temple of Christ. And He is standing over your life right now. He will overturn your life like He did the money changers tables tomorrow if that’s what it takes to get you to repent.
Conclusion
Jesus Christ revealed who He was to the people on Palm Sunday. And it is my prayer that He has been revealed to you today as well. Jesus is God and the long-awaited Messiah and King who brings salvation and judgment. And those who do not know Jesus as Savior and King will one day know Him as Judge and King.
Christian, this is the One in whom we trust. All our hopes have been cast on this One who is God, King, and Savior and He has brought to us eternal life. He has brought to us fellowship with God. He has brought to us the right to be called children of God. And today we shout “Hosanna, Hosanna” knowing that Jesus Christ is our salvation.
R. Dwain Minor