And when the armies bowed even,
they flung his brood through the land. But in the mansions
eternal, there was never a fairest man. It's the battle, not to
the swiftest of men, Yet to the true and God-faithful Victory
is promised through grace. Thank you. Go with me now to
Matthew's Gospel. Matthew Chapter 21. Matthew 21. Let's read verses
1 through 10. Let 11. Matthew 21, verses 1
through 11. When they grew nigh unto Jerusalem,
or come to Bethphage, under the Mount of Olives, Then sent Jesus
to disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against
you on the other side, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and
colt with her. Loose them, and bring them unto
me. And if any man say aught unto
you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them. And straightway
he will send them." All this was done that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophet Zechariah, saying, Tell ye the
daughter of Zion, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek and
sitting upon an ass, and a coat the foal of an ass. And the disciples
went and did as Jesus commanded them. And they brought the ass
and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him
thereon. A very great multitude spread
their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from
the trees and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that
went before and that followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the
Son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem,
all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude
said, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. Someone asked me recently what
to read and asked me to recommend a place to read in the Scriptures
for their own enjoyment. And I began to think about that
and it would be always good for us to be reading in the Gospels.
always, at all times, one of the Gospels, because these are
the actual words and deeds and actions of our Lord. And no place
will you be more blessed than hearing Him deal with sinners
and our enemies. Every page, every line is concerning
Him throughout the Gospels, as is the rest of the Word. Verse
1 says they drew nigh unto Jerusalem. You remember over in chapter
20, He told them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. Remember that? He prepared them. He's like Jacob, isn't He? He's
taking His bride. We're going up. We're leaving
here. We're going up to New Jerusalem. We go up to Jerusalem. From the
cradle to the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ set His face like
a flint. His life, his journey was toward
Jerusalem. That's where the Lord God was
sending him. God the Father was sending him
to Jerusalem where he would go to the temple as Malachi. Malachi
promised, ìThe Lord whom you suddenly seek shall come to his
temple, but who shall abide the day of his coming?î He will be
like a refinerís fire, full of soap. Right after this story,
the Lord goes into that temple and does just that, cleanses
him, cleanses him. Our Lord was headed to the cross.
Thatís why He was going to Jerusalem, where He will be made sin for
His people. This was His purpose for coming.
Our Lord said, for this cause came I into this world. And from
the cradle to the cross, the Lord was headed to Jerusalem,
but outside the camp where all of the types and pictures tell
us that He'll be crucified outside the camp, bearing our reproach,
bearing our sins in His body on the tree. Christ from the
cradle to the cross to the end of His journey was headed toward
Jerusalem to make that one sacrifice for sin forever. To put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself. That's why He came the first
time. The first time. And the second
time. He's coming to get everyone that
He bought and paid for. The first time. He came and once
again, Dad, I turned on the radio a little late. And he was quoting
Isaiah 61, which I had written down right here. For this cause
Christ came into the world, to save his people from their sin,
to preach the gospel unto the poor, to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captive. The Lord is going to
set an ass free and her coat, her wild son, a mother and her
wild son. The Lord came to set them free.
The covering of sight to the blind. There's two men, people
are following Him. There's two blind men following
Him. In the last chapter, He just saved them. And they're
following Him. They're with Him now forever.
They'll be with Him forever. Verses 2 and 3, He sent two of
His disciples into a village. He said, You shall find an ass
tied, a colt with her, her foal. Both of them bound, captives. Loose them. Bring them to me. And if anybody say anything,
if anybody tries to stop you, you tell them. Don't ask them.
You tell them. The Lord hath made for them,
and they will let them go. He gave commandment to set them
free. They have to come. Like, he even
said this this morning. He said the Lord didn't give
a request. It wasn't an invitation. It was a proclamation of emancipation. They've got to go for it. Two were sent. Two men were sent.
This is recorded in all three of the four Gospels. Mark 11
says he sent two disciples and they went into this village and
they found exactly what he said. It was just like the Lord said.
Every single thing. The Lord ordered it. But He used
these means. He used these men. Why couldn't
He just tell those foal to come to Him? No. He sent these two
disciples because they're a picture of how God is pleased by the
foolishness of preaching to set the captives free. It was the
Lord that did it. It was the Lord that did it,
wasn't it? But He sent these two with a message. They're coming
with us. Bringing them to the Lord. How
shall they preach except they be sent? So these two were sent
into a village. A little village. Not a big city. A village. And don't you know how they felt
honored to do this, to do anything that the Lord told them to do. Don't you know they felt honored?
Whoever the disciples were. It could have been Bartholomew
or Thomas and whoever. But they were sent to do what
the Lord said. And they counted it a great honor. Like every single young man is
called to preach. Like Isaiah, he says, Here am
I. Send me. Send me. And what a privilege
if the Lord used us I said, one wild-ass dream. Amen. The Lord has a chosen people. He said, you'll find them. You'll
find them where I put them. The Lord has a chosen people.
He has His elect whom He foreknew and predestinated. They're coming.
They're coming. And they're all captives. Every
one of God's people are held captive by the God of this world
and by their flesh and by by their sin, they're held captive
in this world, aren't they? They cannot set themselves free.
They're tied to, they're bound by their flesh, bound by ignorance
and superstition, these things, darkness even as others. But
God, through the preaching of the gospel, the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in Christ, the people that sat
in darkness have seen a great light. The prisoners are set
free. The captives hear the message
of the proclamation that the Master has come, and you are
coming with us to him. You shall find. Salvation is
not by chance. Salvation is on purpose. Christ
came to find his lost sheep, and it says, when he finds them,
and though it be mere men that he sends to preach, thanks be
unto God which always giveth us the victory. There's a coat
tied up. It says in Mark's Gospel, whereon
never man sat. Mark brought that out, that nobody
had ever sat on this wild coat. Was he too wild to tame? Well, his mother was just like
him. It's a wild-ass coat. The Lord brought this This mare,
is that what you call a donkey? A female? Jenny! What? Wouldn't it be wonderful
if your name was Jenny here this morning? He called this Jenny
and her wild foal, both of them, both of them, to himself. And
I bet they were never separated from then on. The Lord's done
that for some in here, the mother and her son. Both of them lost. Both of them lost. The Lord sent
the gospel to set them free. You'll find them. The wild ass
is cold. He's bound. He's tied. He's captive. He's wild. Nobody's ever sat
on him. Nobody can. Nobody can ride him. And they said that to the Lord.
Lord, nobody can ride that That foal? Nobody can ride that wild
colt. He said, that's exactly what
I'm calling him. But man, it's impossible. The
Lord says, I'm going to. I'm going to ride him. He's going
to look to me. He's got his head flying in every
direction. But when I get hold of him, when I draw him with
cords of love, the cords of a man, he's going to look to me. And I'm going to ride him. He's
going to bow that stiff neck. That old bowed up rebellious
man, he's going to bow it to me. He's going to lower his once
high head where it's almost dragging the ground. And I'm going to
break his proud hard heart and he's going to come to me begging
me to rise. Won't you please reign over me? And everybody's going to say,
I did this. I did this. He's not talking about a cult,
is he? The Lord's talking about us.
Talking about us. Now, they may have said, what
if the owner won't let him go? What if we can't bring him? What
if he's too... The Lord said, that's not possible. I will work and who shall let
me? If I call, they're coming. like
David and Mephibosheth. Go fetch him. Don't ask him.
Pick him up and bring him. Bring him to me. And he will
sin. The Lord said he will sin. Satan,
our archenemy, is no figment of anyone's imagination. He's
no cunningly devised fable. He's no fairy tale. He's no allegory. He's a real enemy that we know,
that we've been in the clutches of. And we're still hounded by
him. All of God's people still feel
assaulted very really, very really, very personally, very violently,
constantly, day in and day out, assaulted by this person. Not
like we could be. And his demons. Not like we could
be. Bless God, what He does is soft
to us, and we know it, and we feel it. But He takes orders
from us stronger than they have. I'm so thankful. Aren't you?
That's why we trust in Him. That's why we look to Him. And
so they did. And they did. And He did. They
did what He said. And He did what He said. And
everything does what He says. Everyone does what He says. This
is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. And everything
is done, verse 4, says, to fulfill the Scriptures spoken by the
prophets. All the prophets bear witness
of Him. Everything is written concerning Him, and it shall
be fulfilled. That's why our Lord kept saying
it ought not Christ to have suffered to fulfill the Scriptures. The
Scriptures must be fulfilled concerning me. Everything in
it must be fulfilled. Everything I say and do must
must happen. Everything I purpose will come
to pass. It's all done. Fulfill the Word
of the Lord, because forever, O Lord, Thy Word is written in
heaven, and not one word shall fail of this concerning Christ. My counsel shall stand, he says,
I will do all my good pleasure. And what is the Lord's pleasure? To make you His people. To ride
an old donkey's coat. We're going to see in a minute
why He didn't come. Why didn't He choose a handsome
horse? Why didn't He choose a noble
steed? Why didn't He choose a big white
stallion to ride in the town? Why didn't He choose this donkey? Why did He come as He did? That's
the purpose of this message, alright? Look at verse 5. He
said, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh. Tell Israel, tell my people,
your king. Thy king cometh. He's your king. He said, I'm the God of Jacob.
They're my people. Thy king. Although Christ is
Lord over all. Although he's the king of kings
and Lord of lords. To this end, Christ both died
and buried and rose again that he might be Lord both of the
dead and the living. But tell Zion, tell Israel, tell
my people, this is good news to them. It's not good news to
the rest of the world. They say we will not have this
man reign over us. They say, we have no king but
Caesar. But tell my people, this is good
news to the oppressed. This is good news to the captives.
This is good news to those slaves that are held in Egypt. Tell
them, your king is coming. He's coming to get you. Tell
Cinderella, he's coming to restore beauty for Athens. Why do you
think that silly little story was written years ago? My father,
I want to tell you, my father used this illustration in the
message. He started out by saying years ago there was a handsome
prince and there was a girl that he fell in love with. He set
his love upon her. fell. And she fell and was back
in poverty. And she left her slipper laying
there. So this king searched high and
low, here and there, everywhere for the foot that this shoe would
fit, that this slipper would fit. Looked at everybody and
tried it on the stepsisters and so on. All the princes and princesses
in the land. It wouldn't fit anybody but one. Wouldn't fit anybody but one. And he brought out how all the
prophets bear witness before him. All these types and symbols
and shadows and pictures and emblems and people and things
and events fit one person. And whoever that is, that's the
prince. That was a good illustration.
Excellent. That's what this is written for.
It's all done to fulfill the Scriptures. And His good pleasure
is to save sinners from their sin. Oh, tell the daughters of
Zion, Thy King cometh. Tell them I have set my holy
King on my hill of Zion. The King of righteousness. The
King of peace. He's ordered peace. King of the
universe. King of kings and Lord of lords. We don't make Him Lord. He is Lord. God hath made him
Lord. We don't let him be king. God
said, I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. One time they
tried to make Christ king. You remember that? They tried
to make him king. And he wouldn't let them. So
he passed through them. Passed through them. Why wouldn't he
let them crown him? Why wouldn't he let them make
him king and set him on David's throne? Because he already is
king. And he said he needed not that
man should testify of him. He doesn't need to wear a little
man-made crown. He wears a royal diadem made
by the hand of God Himself. It's the stars, the sun and the
moon crowned his regal head. Why would he want to wear? And
as we noted, the crown that he wore the first time was so fitting
one, a crown of thorns. The second Adam, the last Adam
came. and wore the thorns that were due to us. The pain, the
suffering, the sorrow. That's why He came the first
time. Go to Zechariah 9. This is where this was recorded
from. Zechariah 9. Tell the daughter
of Zion. Tell my people. This is good
news too. This is the good news of the
Gospel that they will rejoice in. Zechariah 9. The Daughter
of Zion, verse 9. Rejoice! Rejoice greatly, O Daughter
of Zion. What does Paul keep telling his
people? Rejoice in the Lord. And again,
I say, rejoice. And Paul wrote that when he was
in prison. Do you know what he said about
that? He said, I'm the Lord's prisoner. That's how he could
say that. That's how he knew God put me
here. The worst place he was beaten
with many stripes, in pain and agony and suffering. He and Silas
are in a jail cell in darkness. No, they weren't in darkness.
The jailer was in darkness. They're in life. Sad and downcast? No, they start singing, praying
unto the God that put them there. And they put joy and rejoicing
in their heart in the midst of their hurt-worth suffering. knowing,
believing, taking comfort, enjoying the fact that God put them there.
It was for His purpose. And oh, what a purpose! We have
the Bible from that. This was written for our sake.
Paul knew that. Oh my, tell them to rejoice,
O daughter of Zion. I know you feel like, I know
you're in pain. I know you're in suffering. I
know you're in bondage. I know you're sad. I know you're
grieving. I know you're hurting. I know
it. I was that way. Tell them to shout. You remember the story of Jehoshaphat
and the people and the enemies were surrounding them and they
were all, they said, we're at our wits end. Us and our children,
that's why we come, we all come to sit here. And they say, like
Jehoshaphat, our eyes look to thee, we have no help but thee.
God sent a young preacher and said, the battle's not yours,
it's the Lord's. You will not fight this day.
Stand still. Same message of Moses. Same message
of David. Same message everywhere. Same
message of our Lord. Rejoice. And I didn't mean to stay there,
but shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. You know, their victory came,
Jehoshaphat, their victory came when they all started singing,
when they all started rejoicing. I read Psalm 51, for my own sake,
I was downcast. And David said, Restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation. Then I'll tell sinners the gospel,
and they'll be converted unto me. Why art thou downcast within
me, O myself? Hope in God! I'll yet praise
Him for the help of my countenance. Rejoice! Shout! And like Paul
and Silas whose chains fell off and the gates flew wide open,
He tells us, O daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee, O wild-assest cult, unto thee. Me? Yes, you. Who's that? Sinners. This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Tell them that. Shout, sinners.
Thy King cometh to thee. He's just. Oh, my, David said,
He that ruleth over men. And I quote this to myself all
the time. He that ruleth over men must
be just, ruling in the fear of the Lord. Oh, what a just ruler
we have. What a just King. He's called
the Just One. The Just One. And he that ruleth
must be just where he is. He's righteous. That's what that
means. He's the just one. He's the only one whereby we
may be justified from all things, from which we could not be justified
otherwise. And he has salvation. Look at it. Verse 9. He has salvation. It's in his hands. Having salvation,
it's his. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. That he should give eternal life to as many as God has given
him. You don't let Jesus save. That's another Jesus. You see?
He has salvation. Hebrews 2 says we see Jesus made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. But
not now. He's not that way now. But look
at it. Verse 9, he says, he is just
and having salvation lowly. And the Gospel says meek, meek
and lowly, riding upon an ass, upon a coat, the foal of an ass. Meek and lowly. Why did the Lord
come like this? Why did He come like this? Why
did the Scripture say that the Christ would come this way? that
the King of Glory, God's King, would come this way. Why? Well,
you know, earthly kings don't come this way, do they? Earthly
kings. Our Lord said, My kingdom is
not of this world. If it were, He would have come
like earthly kings do. You know, if Bonnie Prince Charlie
was ever crowned king, or William or whoever it may be, there'll
be great pomp and show such as the world has never seen. We
saw something of it at the marriage of Charles and his wife, which
didn't last, and neither will their kingdom. And he's just
a figurehead. If Charles has ever made king,
he's no king. He can reign over anybody. Just
a figurehead. He has no real power at all.
Parliament can shut him down. But not this king. All power, he says, is given
unto me in heaven and earth. Everything. Everyone does my
bidding. Principalities in power. Rulers of the darkness do my
bidding. I speak, and things are done. I say, go, they go. I say, come, they come. I say,
jump, they jump. I say, live, they live. I say,
die, they die. I say, justify, they justify. Aren't you glad we've got a king? Earthly kings are born in palaces,
not he. He was born in a stable. Earthly
kings are dressed in silk and put in a golden crib when they're
born, not he. He was dressed in swaddling clothes,
rags, and put in a manger. That is, a place where sheep
eat, like food. Earthly kings are surrounded
by nobility. Everyone that's anybody surrounds
earthly king, not him. Poor shepherds, lowly maidens,
carpenters, sheep-loving, cattle-loving. Earthly kings grow up in castles.
Not this one. He had no place to lay his head.
Earthly kings ride into town on golden carriages pulled by
six white horses. Not this one. It comes on a donkey. Earthly kings are high and lofty. He's meek and lowly. Why? Why? Because he came to suffer
death. Because he came, as the gospel
says, to tell the poor that the poorest of the poor came. to
preach the gospel to. Are you down? Are you lowly?
He mourned. He mourned. Did you suffer? He
mourned. So when he tells you to be of
good cheer, he's telling you from experience. Telling you
from experience. Tell him, the lowest of the low.
He made himself of no reputation. Took upon him the form of a servant.
Humbled himself. Made himself low. And he said
this one time to his disciples and us. He said, take my yoke
upon you. He yoked to me. Yoke to one another. Believer. Take my yoke upon you
and learn of me. He said, I am meek and lowly
in heart. And you'll find rest for your soul. His name means
rest. Meek and lowly. None meeker.
None more lowly. And when we say meek, it's not
weak. Meek means submissive, submissive
to the Father's will, submissive to all the troubles, all the
enemies, all the trials, all the pain, all the suffering,
all the grief, everything that the Father sent His way, which
we must abide. Meek means submissive. Meek means
subservient, one who serves another, one who lives to serve another's
cause. Isn't that why Christ came? to
serve his Father, to live a life that was honorable to God as
a man, which no man had done. And God was well pleased. This meek and lowly man, serving
his God, and serving his brethren. Serving his brethren. He lived
before. Every day of every hour, He loved
His brethren as He loved Himself. Meek. It doesn't mean weak. Moses was meeker than any man
on earth, our Lord said. But that doesn't mean meek, because
when our Lord stood before His enemies and before their enemies,
He said, if you seek them, seek Me and let them go. No one could
stand. And Moses went in before even
Pharaoh and said, Thus saith the Lord, let my people go. Oh, and far from weak, but meek. And our Lord, as Hebrews, I quoted
to you, says that He came for the suffering of death. No one really understood then
when He came, not even His disciples. They thought that he would come
as an earthly king. They thought, and they kept asking
him, is it now that you will restore unto us the kingdom?
Is it now that you'll rebuild Jerusalem and you'll sit on the
throne and we'll have this? That's not why I came, he said.
Have I been so long time with you? He didn't come as an example,
though he was. He didn't come as an earthly
king, though he is. Daniel says that the kingdoms
of men, God giveth them to whomsoever he will. Jesus Christ always
has reigned. He reigned when he was on this
earth. Everyone did his bidding, down to his tormentors and his
murderers. They did his bidding. He was
ruling while he was on the cross. And he always has, and he always
will rule. But he didn't come the first
time as an earthly king. He didn't come to try to save.
He came to deliver his captives. He came not to ask anything,
but to make an announcement. And this is the gospel. And this
is what we're reading here. And this is what our Lord kept
telling his disciples. I am come that you might have
life. I am come that your sins might be put away. I am come
to be made sin. Talk about lowly. And Meek, this
was the thing that he dreaded more than anything and sweat
blood in the garden facing the thought of being separated from
God. If he's not separated, we will be. If he's not made sinner,
we'll bear ours. He's the sin bearer. This is
why he came like this. Meek and lowly. King has come,
tell my people I'm here, I've come to seek and to save. Who
is this that comes from Bosworth and garments dyed red? Him that is mighty to save. He's come to take his people
captive and it's not like we think it is. It's not like we
see it. He came to pay their sin debt
as being a substitute to hang on the cross. He must be despised
and rejected. That's what we deserve. We don't
deserve to come into town on a white horse. We don't deserve
to be run out of town. We don't deserve to live. We
deserve to die. Well, He became us, He said.
And He was not disobedient to that. Obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross for
thy people. He came to loose his people from
this world. The kingdom is not in this world.
To show them that all that we see, all that glitters is not
gold at all. That beauty is not outward. That
this world is no beauty in at all, nothing but it's a vile
place. That there's a kingdom that Christ
came to set up in the hearts of his people. There's a spiritual
kingdom. There's a spiritual people. There's
a spiritual land. There's a new heaven and a new
earth that awaits His people. That is what I've come. to tell
you about, to give you eyes that you might see, to give you a
single eye so you'll turn away your eyes from vanity and behold
the truth. Christ said, that's the truth.
He said, I'm the truth. I can't lie. I'm the way to that
place. I am the life and I am the truth.
So help me, God. This is not my word, he said.
This is the words of my father that sent me. There's a kingdom,
all right. You can't see it. And I'm the
king and I'm come to bring it to it. This is no fairy tale. It's no cunningly devised fable.
Peter said, we've beheld His Majesty. He peeled back His veil
one day. We saw Him as He is. But He wore
this meek and lowly covering. That's what we wear. That's what
we wear. Made in the likeness of sin.
But He had to come this way, you see? He had to come this
way. He's a substitute. He's the covenant
head. He's the second Adam. He's the man that lives for men. And bless God, God's pleased
for his righteousness. Well, let me close with this.
In our text it says that when he came into town riding that
donkey, it says, well, the disciples took off their clothes and put
them on this ass. There's so many things here,
but you know, when an old, wild coat comes in here, you hear
the gospel. We hope and pray that the Lord
will clothe them with the same clothing He clothed us with.
We want them to know and feel like we did, the joy, and hear
the message that this is for sinners. This is for sinners. We want them to be clothed with
the same. Where did the disciples get their clothes? The Lord provided
them. The king's daughter said she's
dressed in the king's robe that he made. And they'll give you
the shirt off their back. When God's people come into the
fold, won't they? They'll give you the shirt off
their back. Christ did exactly that. He said, I gave my back
even for this matter. Well, they brought him into town.
And you know what the purpose of God's people are, like this
wild ass? You know what the purpose of
us? You know what we serve, the purpose that we serve? To hold him up. To hold him up. To lift him up. This wild ass.
Who was never good for anything. That would have been destroyed.
Sent to the knackers. Nobody could ride him. Christ
did. And lo and behold, he has the glorious honor and privilege
as a chosen one of the Lord himself. Could have chosen any wild colt
out of any donkey. There's a million of them out
there. He chose this one. And he has the glorious privilege
and honor of holding up, of setting forth, of glorifying and honoring
the Lord Jesus Christ. Why didn't the Lord come into
town on a white horse? Because nobody in that town said,
not one single person in that town when he came riding in said,
would you look at that donkey. Everybody there said, Hosanna
to the King. Look at the woman. Look at Him. And in glory. Nobody's going
to say. You're not going to say. You
know, I'd love to see Martin Luther. I love that man. I'd
love to see... We're going to see him, I believe.
Moses. David. Oh, I'd love to talk to
David. But now, hold on. Nobody there is going to say,
look, there's Moses. No, no. We're all going to say,
look, there's Him, the Lamb that was slain. That's Him. That's the one. That's why I'm
here. It's wild as this coast. That's why I'm here, because
of Him. He chose me. That's why. But the whole multitude
went before Him, crying, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed
is He. That means, O save, O save. Blessed is He that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. The multitude
did. Everybody did. Now don't let
this fool you. Because every one of them, except
his disciples, just a little while later, in a few more days,
every single one of them said, kill him. Crucify him. He's not our king. Because they
thought he's going to give us an earthly kingdom. That's it. We don't need saving
from our sins. People do. They know that's why
He came the first time. And they said, Who is this? Verse
10. Who is this? And the multitude
said, everybody. There was a division because
of Him. You see that? Everybody had something to say,
many opinions. Turn with me to Revelation 6.
Revelation 6, and I close with this. There were many opinions
among the multitude. So every one of them had an opinion,
had something to say. Who is this? And there has always
been a division because of him. There's always been a division.
Some say he's this. Some say he's Elijah. Some say
he's John the Baptist. They said, I know who he is.
He's the carpenter's son. I know he's Mary's son. Millions
say that. This is Mary's son. And some of them said this is
Jesus of Nazareth, the prophet, a prophet of Galilee. See, he didn't look like a king
the first time he came, meek and lowly. And the Lord had to
give you eyes. The Lord had to give his disciples
eyes to see who he really was, to see his glory. Everybody didn't
see that. They couldn't see through that
veil. Like the reading of the Old Testament. But God reveals
that to his people, who he really is. He's not just a man. And why he came was meek and
lowly. But he's not coming back the second time that way. And
there won't be any doubt when he comes back the next time,
in anybody's eyes, who he really is. He says we're going to see
him as he is. He says, all flesh shall behold
Him whom they pierced. He said, like the lightning that
strikes from the east to the west, every eye shall behold
Him, not meek and lowly, but as He is, high and lifted
up. Like Isaiah saw Him by faith.
Like James and Peter saw Him on that mountain. And like every
one of His people see Him by faith. Look at Revelation 6.
verses 1 and 2, and I saw, first thing, the Lamb. That's how you
see Him, as the Lamb, your substitute. He opened one of the seals, and
I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder. One of the four beasts
saying, Come and see. And I saw John, his beloved,
his chosen. I saw, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat on him had a
bow. You remember that in Psalm 45,
Dirk? You remember that? The king's ire was as sharp as
an archer's. He had a bow and a crown was
given unto him, not an earthly crown, a scepter of righteousness. And he went forth conquering
and to conquer. You see, he came the first time,
meek, lowly, to be made sin for his people. to make that sacrifice for sin
as a man, for men, to please God. And he did. God's well pleased for his righteousness. And after he was buried and rose
again, and the Lord God said, sat him down on the right hand
of the majesty on high and said, sit thou at my right hand till
I make your foes your footstool. And he said, in the fullness
of time, I'm going to send him again. I'm going to send you
again. You're not going to set feet on this vile place. Not
going to sit on a two-bit throne in Jerusalem. He's already got
one. And he's going to come like Joshua. You know why the story of Joshua
was in the Old Testament? You know what Joshua means? Jesus,
Savior. Like Joshua, he went through
and he conquered every city and took what was his. And here and
there, he'd find a few, like Rahab. And he sent word, Joshua
didn't go in there until after it was destroyed. He said, you
go get Rahab and all her house that's under that scarlet line
and bring them home to me. And that's where she is today.
And he's coming to receive unto himself and all his people are
coming with him. All his wild asses, Colts, are
coming with him. He said, I'll never leave you.
And they're coming back to that glorious day when Christ comes to take back His people, back
to the Father, back to His kingdom. All right, let's sing in closing,
number 42. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Let every angel prostrate before
Him. Number 42.