The Lord Jesus Christ is the great
promise-keeper and the great promise-fulfiller of the Scriptures,
and there are literally thousands and thousands of Scriptures,
thousands of verses of Scripture that are all fulfilled in this
remarkable event. in the last week of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so as the Scriptures unfold
and as the Old Testament unfolds, we get more and more clear of
pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He's come to do. Everything is done according
to the scriptures, that our faith and our hope rests in what God
has said and God has done and what God has revealed in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I want us as we begin to
think about verse 16 of our passage of scripture, and it's so true
for all of us, These things, now this was written,
they were declaring the prophecies of Zechariah and declaring the
prophecies of Psalm 118 as this event unfolded. They knew the
scriptures off by heart, but these things understood not his
disciples at first. But when Jesus was glorified,
Then they remembered that these things were written of him and
that they had done these things unto him. Quite simply, until
the Lord Jesus Christ is lifted up and glorified, people don't
understand. And it doesn't matter how much
evidence they have, it doesn't matter how much scripture they
know, it doesn't matter how much they have been told and taught.
These disciples had three and a half years of teaching from
God Almighty in human flesh. All the promises of God, all
the promises of God are yay and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the reason the Lord has so operated in such a way for us
is that we can read this book and say amen. We can just simply
read this book and say Amen, and Amen, and Amen. And here
is an extraordinary event in the Lord Jesus Christ's life.
He had shunned, for three and a half years he had shunned all
public adulation. He had openly walked away from
opportunities for the people. In John chapter 6 they wanted
to make him a king and he just walked away. In John chapter
3 they wanted to do wonderful things because of what happened
to him, what he'd done in cleansing the temple and he just said,
I know what's in man, I'm not entrusting myself into the hands
of men at all. after the Transfiguration. What
a remarkable event the Transfiguration was, when the deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ shone through his humanity and he had a discussion
on a mountain with Moses and Elijah about this week and this
event, about the death that he was going to die, the exodus
that he would achieve by his death. And yet he tells the disciples,
don't you dare say a word. Don't you dare say a word. They'd
met Moses and Elijah, and they'd heard them talking to God Almighty
and heard the voice of God. And he says, don't you say anything. But here, the Lord Jesus Christ accepts and participates in this open
declaration of him in the very face of all of his enemies. At
the very beginning of this Passover week when the crowds of Bethany
are joined with the crowds that's poured out and everyone in Jerusalem
had one topic on their mind. Who is this man? Who is this
man? Will he come to the feast? And
when they heard that he's come, you can imagine there were a
million people in Jerusalem, they say, at the time of the
Passover. The crowd that poured out. Now it's only a couple of
kilometres down the road to Bethany. The crowd that poured out. How
that must have infuriated these Pharisees. How they must have
been so injured. They were planning to kill the
Lord Jesus Christ and planning to kill Lazarus and yet there's
a crowd there. Listen to what they did. They
heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. In verse 13, they
took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and they
cried, Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. Our great God makes his enemies his footstool.
He has no fear of man. He is the one that sovereignly
ordained all these things and he's the one that caused these
things to be written of him and he did it. The events of this week fill
the church of God. with the saver of his name. We
are unto God, a saver of life unto life, and a saver of death
unto death. And here are these events witnessed
by multitudes of people, tens of thousands of people witness
this. Because these facts are going to be forever established
in all of history. As Paul said, this wasn't done
in a corner. Peter could stand up before this
same crowd six weeks later and say, You yourselves know all
of these events. You witnessed these things. You
witnessed the miracles he performed. And here we have an extraordinary
miracle. Who is this man? Who do you say
that I am? This is a miracle that's recorded
in all four of the Gospel accounts and it's a miracle that is recorded
in the Old Testament in remarkable ways. It says of the Lord Jesus
Christ in Genesis 49 when Jacob is blessing the children of Israel,
he says, He says of Judah, and the Lord Jesus Christ is a child
of the tribe of Judah by his earthly lineage, and he says,
binding the foal under the vine and his asses colt to the choice
vine. He washed his garments in wine
and his clothes in the blood of grapes. It speaks of his death
and resurrection. They cried out from two particular
passages of scripture. They cried out from Psalm 118.
Just turn there briefly with me. It's a psalm of praise to God. It says at the beginning in verse
1, I give thanks unto the Lord for he is good and his mercy
endures forever. Let Israel now say that his mercy
endures forever. Let the house of Aaron, let the
priesthood now say his mercy endureth forever. Let them now
that fear the Lord say that his mercy endures forever. He keeps on throughout that psalm
declaring the mercies of God. And it says in verse 6, the Lord
is on my side. I will not fear. What can man
do to me? Verse 8, it is better to trust
in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust
in the Lord than to put confidence in princes, whether they're lowly
men or highly men. There's no point putting confidence
in them. If this world doesn't teach you that right now, then
you aren't learning very much at the moment. Don't put any
confidence in men. And they surrounded him. Verse
13, they thrust sore at me that I might fall, but the Lord helped
me. The Lord is my strength and my song and has become my salvation. And this is what they were doing.
The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the temples of the righteous.
The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The right hand of
the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord doeth
valiantly. I shall not die. but live and declare the works
of the Lord. Verse 19, open to me the gates
of righteousness and I will go into them and I will praise the
Lord. This is the gate of the Lord into which the righteous
shall enter. I will praise thee for thou hast
heard me and art become my salvation. And then he speaks of what they've
done to him. They were building in Jerusalem.
They were building this great religious edifice, this huge
temple, this massive temple. They were building and building
and building. He says, the stone which the builders refused has
become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing and
it's marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord
has made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. And this is the words they were
saying. Save now. That's what Hasana means. Save
now. I beseech thee, O Lord, O Lord,
I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the
house of the Lord, that poured out of the house of the Lord.
God is the Lord, which has showed us light. Bind the sacrifice
with cords, even under the horns of the altar. He's a sacrifice
and he's coming to that altar which speaks of his death. Thou
art my God, I will praise Thee. Thou art my God, I will exalt
Thee. I give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and His
mercy endureth forever. This crowd, this enormous crowd
that was reciting this psalm, when they said and sang, Send
Thou Prosperity, what sort of prosperity were they looking
for? They fully expected an earthly
king just like David to come and to bring prosperity to them.
What a great king he is. He can feed us without us having
to work. He can raise the dead. He can
heal the blind. What a great king we have. What
a great king to bring us all of these earthly riches and all
of these earthly comforts. Just four days later, they were
crying, crucify him, crucify him. And yet, in all of what
they were doing, they were just a living, breathing testament
to the faithfulness of our God. It's such a lovely picture, isn't
it, the Lord Jesus Christ in that lovely, lovely scene with
Mary pouring a pound of that extraordinary ointment over the
Lord Jesus Christ and the whole house was filled with the ointment. This passage of the Lord Jesus
Christ in this last week of his life, his earthly life, here
he left a house filled with the odour of his ointment. He left
heaven. He left heaven, he left the beauties
of holiness and the praises of heaven, and he set his face like
a flint, flint as Ben read to us earlier, he set his face like
a flint with one purpose in mind. He had one purpose in mind, wasn't
it? Love for God, the glory of God, and love for his bride,
and he had one place where all of that was going to be revealed,
and all of that was going to be satisfied, and that was the
cross. Everything. Everything in this
book points to the cross. The reason for this universe's
existence, the reason for its creation was because of these
events in this week. And the reason this universe
is still keeping on turning is because of the events of this
week. But he set his face like a flint. And he came into this
world in humility and meekness. He came so much like a man that
you couldn't possibly believe that he was God Almighty. And
he humbled himself. In all of his life he humbled
himself and he humbled himself. And he could walk through a crowd
and he could live amongst a crowd of people and they couldn't recognize
him. He lived for 30 years in Nazareth and not a single person
in Nazareth understood that this man was holy. not even his family
understood. What extraordinary humility in
the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what extraordinary
glory in his salvation. He's come to save his people
and that's what they were crying out, Lord save us. They had no
idea what they were crying out. Save us, save us from the Romans. Save us from all the trials of
this world. Save us from all of the things
that bother us. Save us and give us earthly comfort. He came to bring about an exodus. He came to bring about a deliverance.
He came to set his people free. He came to bear their sins in
his own body on the tree, and bear them he did. See, the great
thing about our Lord Jesus Christ is that he set his face like
a flint and he not only ruled over all these events and wrote
them all down so that everyone was just following a script of
what was written in the scriptures, but he did it as a triumphant
saviour. He is absolutely triumphant,
isn't it? And as he goes through this week
and he comes to the cross and then his burial for which Mary
had anointed him and his glorious resurrection, it's a triumphant
king, isn't it? He comes in triumph. He rules
in triumph. He wasn't a victim, brothers
and sisters. He wasn't a victim. It's a triumph. And he spreads forth his glory. And we are now living witnesses.
living witnesses to God's resurrected glory, our great sovereign king. So let's look at the emblems.
This king of Israel has come. They took palm branches. I lived
in a dry and dusty land, a bit like Israel for five years, and
the palm trees are amazing in those drought-stricken areas
because the palms grow tall and they're evergreen and they're
drought-proof and they have deep roots and they're long-living.
They're majestic. and stately, and they have a
crown of green, and they're very, very fruitful in a dry and dusty
land. The scriptures speak of these
palm branches. The righteous shall flourish like the palm
tree, and he shall grow up like the cedars of Lebanon. On the
day of the Feast of Tabernacles, they were to take palm branches,
and they made their booths of palm branches, but they were
to wave their palm branches on that first day. You take these
branches of palms and then you shall rejoice before the Lord
your God, Leviticus 23. They are emblems of joy in victory
of defeated enemies. And they were minted on the coins
that the Jews were using at the time. They had these palm branches
and it was a sign of the great victory that the Maccabees had
over their enemies. And so such was what so much
of Israel was expecting, that we are going to have this earthly
king and we're going to be kings all over this world. And here is the one now that
we think is going to do this. The Lord Jesus Christ accepted
their praise in fulfilment of the scriptures and he didn't
entrust himself to a single one of them. He knew what was in
their hearts. But there is a great multitude
in Revelation 7, and they are before the throne of God and
the Lamb, and they are clothed in white robes, the very righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they've got palms in their hands. It carries on into heaven. They
took these branches and they went forth to meet him. And they cried, Hosanna! Blessed
is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. This
is a great cause of rejoicing, isn't it? This is a great cause
of salvation. The King comes. It's not us coming to him, it's
him coming to us. He comes. Blessed is he that
cometh in the name When he was born, heaven's worship echoed
on the earth just for that one evening, didn't it? And it echoed
to him. It wasn't in Jerusalem with all
the religious leaders. It was out there on the hills
near Bethlehem and to shepherds. Peace in heaven and glory on
the highest. Every other visit to Jerusalem
was done in quietness but now as he goes to the cross everything
about his activities is going to be public. He enters Jerusalem
as a king and he is praised as a king and he accepts that praise. He enters Jerusalem as a King
for the Passover and He is the Passover. He is the sacrificial
lamb that is the substitute. He is the triumphant King coming
to redeem. And the disciples were enraged.
The Lord Jesus Christ didn't mind enraging His enemies and
He just reveals the shallowness of their hearts and their blindness,
and the enmity and the hatred that's in the heart of religious
people for the Lord Jesus Christ. They'll have a God of their own
making and be very happy with Him. They'll have a God who can
be manipulated, but a sovereign, successful Saviour stirs up and
despises the King of Glory. They despise him. The Pharisees
went to the Lord Jesus Christ, you can read it in Luke's Gospel,
and they say, you rebuke these disciples of yours. And the Lord
turned to them and says, if these men are quiet, the very stones
will cry out in praise of me. Hosanna. Save now. Save now. What a great cry. I don't know about you, but it's
my most common prayer, I think. Lord, save me. Lord, save me
once again. You've got to save me. I can't
save myself. Lord, you've got to pick me up. You've got to
put me back on my feet. Save now. Save now. Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. Praise God for his faithfulness
and praise him when he promises prosperity, spiritual prosperity. All the spiritual blessings of
God are yours in Christ Jesus. not one single one's missing.
Everything that I need to be in his presence is given by him. And when, verse 14, and when
Jesus, and when he had found a young ass, and you can read
the stories in the other accounts when the disciples are sent into
the village nearby and they said, you just go and untie this colt,
and when the owners say, what on earth are you doing stealing
my donkey? And they are told to tell that man, the Lord needs
it, and immediately they give up this prized possession of
this donkey. And it was a young ass, it had
never been written on, and he sat there on. What a miracle,
what a miracle that is. Someone said once about horses,
that they're dangerous at both ends and they're uncomfortable
in the middle. Some of you who know them better than I do probably
would disagree with me but nevertheless, what do you have to do to get
a young horse of any sort and get it so you can ride on it?
You have to break it. And yet this horse had never
been broken, this ass had never been broken, never been ridden.
Not only did they bring it to the Lord, there's a crowd there
waving palm branches and they're throwing palm branches on the
ground and throwing their clothes on the ground and they're putting
clothes on him and the Lord Jesus Christ sits on this ass. And the ass quietly and with
dignity takes him into Jerusalem. Isn't that remarkable? John's
played around with horses a fair bit. Ever had one do that, John?
Good. Unwritten, unbroken. But it is, again, it's a picture
of the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Zechariah
chapter 9. It's the second last book of the Old Testament, and
Zechariah, of all the books of the Old Testament, other than
Isaiah, has the most pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this is a glorious picture. It's a glorious picture. Listen
to what he says. This is what they were singing.
Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold thy king cometh sitting on an
ass's colt. Listen to what Isaiah chapter
9 verse 9 says. This was written 500 years beforehand. Such is the faithfulness of our
God to his earth. He says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter
of Zion, shout O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, thy King cometh
unto thee. He is just, and having salvation,
lowly, riding upon an ass, upon the colt, the foal of the ass. The foal of an ass. What a great description of our
God and Saviour. Firstly, He is just. Everything about our God's activity
in salvation is going to be righteous, it's going to be just. He must
be just. 2 Samuel 23 says he must be just. He cannot deny his character. The events of this week and particularly
the events of the cross are going to be an event of exact and strict
justice. It will be a just and holy God
puts to death the Holy One of Israel. It's an act of the justice
of God. He is just. The Lord Jesus Christ
is just and what happened on the cross of Calvary was an act
of the justice of God. All of the attributes of God
are so clearly revealed at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You want to know anything about the character of God you just
go to the cross of Calvary and you think about that transaction
between God the Father and God the Son. So just is our God that
when he found sin on his son, after his son had been beaten, hardly anything left of his flesh
that wasn't marred in some way, he was unrecognisable as a human
and they stuck a crown of thorns on his head and they pierced
his side. They pierced his hands and his
feet as Zachariah had promised. Our God is just. Sin must be
punished. If you are to be saved, God must
act in perfect justice. And that's the glory of what
happened on the cross, isn't it? He says in verse 9 of Zechariah
9, he is just having salvation. Literally that means saving himself. himself. Such was the union of
the Lord Jesus Christ with his people that in that event on
the cross he was saving every single one of those people that
were given to him. In saving them he's saving himself.
He and his bride are so united. The penalty of God's holy justice
must be met and it meets in the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified
and all the wrath of God poured out on him until there is none
left. He must be just. Having salvation,
but listen to I keep reading Matthew 11 and this amazing description
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and every time I read it, it still
just amazes me, doesn't it? He says, come unto me all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. You won't
earn rest, I'll give it to you. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I am meek and lowly in heart. Isn't that an extraordinary
description of our God and Saviour? How perfectly suited to us in
every possible way, brothers and sisters in Christ, is the
very nature of our God. I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light. The King comes revealing his
character in his salvation, his just, The King comes revealing
his character in his humanity. He is lowly, having salvation. The King cometh to you. And the
words of the King are there in verse 15. He says, fear not,
fear not, daughter of Zion. Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold,
thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. The fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom. The reverential awe of God is
the beginning of wisdom. It is a treasure. It's a treasure
to fear Him. What is it to fear God? is to be fearful of standing
in the very presence of God without being covered in the robe of
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's fearful for
me to speak on his behalf to you with the thought that somehow,
as I must do every week, is display him and declare him as less than
he really is. He is so highly exalted that
we fail every time, brothers and sisters, We need a saviour
to save us from our preaching. We need a saviour to save us
from our hearing. We need a saviour to do everything
for us. What a glorious, glorious saviour. Oh, it's an assuming, isn't it,
that these people already fear him, daughter of Zion. Those
who don't fear him or hear the saviour's words depart from me. Fear not. As Zechariah 9 says,
fear not, rejoice greatly. Rejoice greatly. If you fear,
you'll rejoice greatly. These things, verse 16, understood
not his disciples at first, but when Jesus was glorified, remembered
they that these were written of him and that they had done
these things unto him. What is God saying in that statement?
There is no understanding of who God is and there is no understanding
of who you are until you see the Lord Jesus Christ glorified. The scriptures remain a closed
book until the Lord Jesus Christ is seen as glorified. who claim to love and serve him
will see him as glorified. He's glorified before the world
began. That's what he says in John chapter
17, doesn't he? He says, Father, glorify your
son with the glory that I had before the foundation of the
world. Glorify thy son. And the father
speaks in John chapter 12 and says, I've glorified it and I'm
going to glorify it again. He's glorified before the world
began. He's glorified in all the Old Testament scriptures.
He's glorified in these scriptures we read here. He's glorified
in his incarnation. That was the call from heaven,
wasn't it? Glory, glory to him. He's glorified in his perfect
obedience to the law of God. There was one person that walked
before him in perfect holiness. He's glorified in everything
he ever did, every thought and word, not a of his life. He's glorified. He's glorified in his death and
his burial and his resurrection. He's glorified. He's glorified
in the new birth when he births his people from above and he
plants the seed of his new creation in them. His glory is great in
thy salvation. His glory is great when he says
on the cross of Calvary before he died, he said, it is finished.
All of the debt that I owe to God and every other child of
God owes to God is paid in full. I owe God nothing and I owe God
everything. He says, I've finished the work. In John 17, he says, I have finished
the work. Finished. He says, I've perfected
the work. I've completed the work. I've
consummated the work. By his one offering, he has perfected
forever, Hebrews 10, 14. By one offering, he has perfected
forever, all them. all them that are sanctified. What's his name? You'll call
his name Jesus because he came to save his people from their
sin. It is finished is his great cry. He's glorious in his representation
right now in heaven. He stands there with his wounds
that were given to him on that last week and he'll bear them
for all eternity. And he stands there and his glory
is great in his intercession. His glory is great in his preservation. His glory is great in him coming
and revealing himself to us. in bringing his word to be spirit
and life to us. His glory is great in judgment.
His glory is great in the simple childlike faith he brings to
his people. And anyone who truly trusts in
him wants him to get all the glory. His glory is great in
all of our understanding of the scriptures. His glory is great in salvation. I just want to close with two
wonderful spiritual pictures that are in here and really clearly
to be seen. What's the other name of Israel?
What's Israel's other name before he was given the name Israel,
Prince with God? Jacob. Jacob. Not all Israel of after the flesh
are truly Israel. But he is a Jew, he is one Israel. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,
but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. What's Jacob's name
mean? Deceiver, supplanter. He is not a Jacob which is one
outwardly. He is a Jacob who is one inwardly. The King of Israel is the King
of Jacobs. He is the King of sinners, whose
sin is all their own fault, whose remedy is only in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. His glory is great in our salvation. He makes his people to be sinners.
He makes his people to need a saviour. And he rules his people. Job 11 describes us as wild asses
cults. A wild asses cult. Listen. The
wild asses cults are only subdued by the Lord. The wild asses cults
are made willing to come to Him in the day of His power. The
wild asses cults are set free to be of use to the Master. It speaks Take my life and use me for your
glory. Lord, rule over me. I know you rule over me, but
rule over me in such a way that I, like Mary, will be emboldened embarrassing worship, a worship
that fills the whole house with the odour of his death and resurrection. Subdue me when all around like
that wild ass's cold is causing all the tumult that would disturb
him. Let us walk together. Let us walk together to Calvary
and set me free. Amen. May the Lord bless his
words to our hearts. Let's have a break.