Mark's Gospel, chapter 11, and
we'll read from verse one. We're speaking about the Lord
Jesus and his disciples and his following, and it says this.
And when they came nigh to Jerusalem unto Bethphage and Bethany at
the Mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, And
saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against
you, and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a cold
tide, whereon never man sat. Loose him, and bring him. And
if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? Say ye that the Lord
hath need of him, and straightway he will send him hither. And
they went their way and found the colt tied by the door without
in a place where two ways met, and they loose him. And certain
of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing
the colt? And they said unto them, Even
as Jesus had commanded, and they let them go. And they brought
the colt to Jesus and cast their garments on him, and he sat upon
him. And many spread their garments
in the way, and others cut down branches off the trees and strawed
them in the way. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. I actually read ahead of myself
there, I didn't mean to read the eighth verse, we will return
to that next week. God willing. Our Saviour's long
journey to Jerusalem is coming to its end. And we might also
say that His long journey to the cross is coming to its end. This of course was the great
reason for the Lord Jesus Christ coming into the world. This was
the purpose for him taking our human flesh, our human body and
joining himself to us in our humanity. God and man coming
together. in order that he might redeem
his people from their sins. And we're reminded in Luke chapter
19 verse 10, I've mentioned it before in our studies, about
the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. This was the reason why Christ
came, to seek and to save his people, to seek and to save his
bride, the elect of God that had been committed into his hands
in the covenant of peace. Our Saviour came into this world
with the specific purpose of saving a particular people from
eternal punishment. And today, I have the privilege
of sharing with poor sinners like you and like me, the good
news that the Lord Jesus Christ was successful in the accomplishment
of that task. That the Lord Jesus Christ has
completely and fully saved all those given into his hand in
the covenant of grace, all those that he undertook to redeem,
all those he purchased with his own precious blood, and everyone
for whom he died. Let no one tell you that the
Lord Jesus Christ failed in his task of redemption. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. The angel told Joseph, call his
name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. And
this he did by his substitutionary death and by his atoning blood. It is a two-fold travesty, first
against Holy Scripture and second against Christ's divinity to
suggest that in any way he failed in his task. So here he is upon
the verge, upon the eve almost, of this great work of redemption. It is just five days to go until
the Lord's death. and the Saviour has come to Bethphage
and Bethany. These were little villages that
dotted the road into the city of Jerusalem. It was here, in
fact, that Mary and Martha and Lazarus lived. And John, because
all four of the Gospel writers give us an account of these verses,
this incident, John tells us that there was a feast held for
the Lord and his disciples when they came to Bethany. So this
is the end of the journey from Jericho where the Lord had met
with Zacchaeus and healed Bartimaeus and now he has made his journey
all the way to Jerusalem. It was an upward journey climbing
into the mountains, and they had made their journey, and here
in Bethany, they were received by Mary and Martha and Lazarus,
and a feast was held for them. We're told that Martha, true
to form, was serving at that feast, and we're told that Lazarus
sat at the table. Lazarus, who had been dead. Lazarus,
who had been in his grave. bound up with the grave clothes,
now sat at the table and talked and ate and rejoiced in the company
of his Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're told that at
this feast, Mary anointed the Saviour's feet with spikenyard,
a beautiful smelling ointment, and she wiped his feet with her
hair. John chapter 12 verse 3 tells
us about this. It says there that Mary took
a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the
feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was
filled with the odour of the ointment. It was a loving and
a timely act by Mary, again honouring her friend, honouring her saviour,
honouring her God. Within a week, those very same
feet that Mary here anointed would be bruised and bloodied
and nailed to the cross. And the Lord Jesus, aware of
what was before him, valued Mary's gesture and defended her against
the criticism of those like Judas Iscariot who said, what a waste
of money that is. That was precious, that could
have been used for other things. And the Lord said to them, let
her alone. Against the day of my burying
hath she kept this. So there was that communion there. There was that meeting of mind
and soul between Mary and her master that this act had been
of greater significance than any of these others could grasp
or understand. And I don't know if perhaps I'm
over-reading into this matter, but I wonder if it isn't significant
that the Lord Jesus' feet were anointed here at this feast on
this occasion. Because what we now discover
is that these few miles between Bethany and Jerusalem, the Lord
no more walks that dusty, dirty road that he has been walking
for years. It is at this point that the
donkeys, that the ass and the colt are called for. It is at
this point that the Lord says to his disciples, go into the
village opposite and bring this animal for me to ride upon. These
anointed feet would not touch the dirty ground until the Lord
stood in the temple in Jerusalem. And there is this cope then,
brought to carry the Lord into Jerusalem. And the odour of that
ointment stayed with him in those final miles. And it was upon
him, and it was around about those who travelled with him. So that we might, in looking
at this incident, rightly see with Isaiah how beautiful upon
the mountains are the feet of him, that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth
salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. We often apply
that to preachers, don't we? But perhaps the greatest fulfilment
of that was the Lord himself. And it's this incident of the
calling of the colt whereon never man sat that I want to take our
attention for a little while today. I mentioned in my note
yesterday, my introduction to today's service, how that anticipating
this moment of the Lord's entry into the city of Jerusalem, Zechariah
had written, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O
daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. He is just and having salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foe of an
ass. Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9. And then Isaiah in chapter 62
verse 11, he is drawn upon also and he says, say ye to the daughter
of Zion, Behold thy salvation cometh, behold his reward is
with him and his work before him. These are two fine, two
beautiful messianic texts given to a people of a bygone age and
era. in order to comfort and encourage
them about what to look forward to in the coming of their king. I reminded you in that little
introduction yesterday that the Lord Jesus Christ didn't do things
to fulfil prophecy. And that's important that we
remember that. The Lord didn't call for those
donkeys to be brought to him that he might ride into Jerusalem
because he wanted to fulfil Zechariah's prophecy. Rather, the prophets
saw what Jesus would do and they wrote about what Jesus would
do to encourage and to comfort the believers of their own time
and to prepare the church in the Old Testament for the coming
of the Messiah and to bear witness to the true identity of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the Messiah and the meaning of his work. You
see, those Old Testament saints, they knew the Gospel. They knew
that this Messiah, this Saviour, this Son of God was coming because
Isaiah and Zechariah told them all about it. So coming back to the events
of that day, Matthew speaks in his account of an ass and her
colt. So he tells us that there were
two animals present, while Mark and Luke only mention the colt. But both were there, and when
the colt was untied and led away by the disciples, the dam that
the mother followed. And so it appears that both were
ridden on by the Lord as he made his journey into Jerusalem. And that is exactly what the
prophet foretold. Thy king cometh riding upon an
ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. And Isaiah, the verse
that we've just read from chapter 62 there, he gives a fine commentary
on these verses. And actually what I'm going to
do in the points that I make, I've kind of structured my thoughts
around the comments that Isaiah made with respect to this entrance
of the Lord into Jerusalem. Because, for no other reason,
Isaiah and Zechariah both say, say ye to the daughter of Zion. Well, that's you and me. We are
the daughter of Zion. And so, as both of these prophets
encouraged their own hearers in these truths, so we should
be encouraged in them also. But I just want to draw your
attention to the little word, behold, which was used so frequently
by these prophets in their anticipation of the Lord's entrance into Jerusalem. It's used many times in scripture
and it has several meanings where it is used. But here Isaiah uses
it, and indeed Zechariah, but here particularly in the context
of these points that we're about to make, Isaiah uses it in order
to direct our attention to the fact that the Lord Jehovah, the
triune God, is calling upon the church, you and me, the daughter
of Zion, to regard with all possible attentiveness. the person and
character of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to draw
our attention to the Saviour that these prophets repeatedly
call upon us to behold what is happening before us here. And
that is so appropriate. There is nothing of value in
trying to speak sinner to sinner about sinners. There is only
value in speaking to one another about the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's what we're about to do. Using Isaiah and his little
suggestions, his directions to behold the Lord. And here's the
first one that he draws our attention to. He says, behold, thy salvation
cometh. Behold thy salvation cometh with
the coming of Christ. the salvation of his people had
come. And this is what the Old Testament
people long anticipated. And this is what our attention
is drawn to also. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ
in these final few miles as he travels from Bethany into Jerusalem. Here is the coming Messiah. Here is the coming Christ. Here
is Christ coming. into his temple, and his people
see that this is their salvation. Malachi, another one of the Old
Testament prophets, he could say, the Lord whom ye seek, even
the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, shall suddenly
come to his temple. And I think there's a lovely
merging there of the desires of the Lord and his people. Because Malachi says that the
Lord whom ye seek is coming to his people. And yet we've already
learned from Luke that it's the son of man that had come to seek
and to save that which was lost. So here is the son of man coming
to seek his people and their salvation, and the people who
are anticipating the Lord's coming seeking him also. May we always be seekers after
the Lord. When we come to scripture, when
we come to worship, when we come into his presence, may we be
seeking after him. And we may think of that coming
of the Lord as his incarnation, for certainly he came into the
world to seek His people. Or we may think of it as His
coming into Jerusalem and His coming to the cross. Or we may
think of it as His coming to us individually in conversion.
Or His coming to us in the Gospel as it is preached to us week
by week. Or as we meet in fellowship around
the Word of God. Or as we meet in communion together
around the bread and the wine. The Saviour comes to us and he
brings a salvation, he brings a fresh view, a fresh glimpse
of that salvation. And we discover him close in
times of trial and in times of trouble, in times of need. And the prophet says, behold,
behold. give attention to the fact that
thy salvation cometh. All who confess themselves sinners
and lost, all who look to Christ in faith, shall find him to be
all their salvation. Salvation is not what we do.
You know that by now. It's not what we do. It's not
how we live. It's not how good we are. Our
salvation is primarily a person, it is the man Christ Jesus. It
is what Christ brings to us when he seeks us and saves us, when
he comes to us, when he gathers us, when he indwells us, when
he builds us up as his temple on his foundation and makes us
his own. Paul says to the Ephesians in
chapter 2 verse 20, Christ has indeed come into his temple.
He's come into the lives of his people. He has come into his
church. in whom ye also are builded together
an habitation of God through the Spirit. This is the loveliness
of the blessings of salvation being seen coming to us in the
person of Jesus Christ. Behold, thy salvation cometh. And then Isaiah goes on again,
speaking of this very incident, and he says, Behold, his reward
is with him. Something else to notice and
give attention to. His reward is with him. Now there
may be several ways, multiple ways for us to understand that
little phrase. But in the context of Christ's
entry into Jerusalem, in the context of his progression to
the cross, it cannot be denied that his elect, his bride, his
reward for all his labours was with him in his heart and in
his mind. We were the motivation for the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were the prize that spurred
him on. We are the bride of his choice,
the flock of his pasture, the jewels in his crown. Yes, his
apostles were with him. And I don't know if Lazarus and
Mary came with him from Bethany, they may well have done. I don't
know whether Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus had followed him from Jericho,
they may well have done. But surely, surely the Old Testament
church were there that day with their Saviour. Moses and Elijah
had spoken with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration about
the death that he would suffer and all that he would accomplish
at Jerusalem. Do you not think that they were
watching on eagerly? And if we were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, if we were united to him
in eternal union in the covenant of grace, if we were crucified
with Christ and resurrected with Christ, if we are sat together
in heavenly places in Christ, I see no reason to assume that
we were not with him as he entered Jerusalem that day. And as the
Lord hung upon the cross, he saw of the travail of his soul. He saw you and me, and he was
satisfied. Isaiah told his generation to
behold their saviour as he entered Jerusalem upon a donkey. And
he tells us today to do the same and to see ourselves, yourself
and myself present there with him. For behold, his reward is
with him. And here's our third point. Isaiah
says, behold, his work is before him. and what a work that was. A work no mere man could accomplish. A work of such extent, a work
of such range, a work of such magnitude and importance that
it took God himself to unite with our humanity, our human
flesh, to accomplish and achieve the recovery and reconciliation
of that which was lost. The atoning death of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the highest, the greatest, the most glorious
work in the annals of mankind and the history of the world. Behold, his work is before him. And the Lord Jesus Christ entered
Jerusalem that day with that cross in view. Perfect obedience
was Christ's work. Securing a justifying righteousness
was Christ's work. Redemption was Christ's work.
Pardon for sin, atonement, propitiation was Christ's work. The shame,
the suffering, the blows, the buffeting, the bleeding, the
dying was all Christ's work. And it all lay before him that
day as he entered Jerusalem. And yet how little was understood
by those who were with him of all that he had to endure and
all that he would accomplish. Even then his disciples still
did not grasp the significance of what was happening around
about them. Here is the King of Glory, seated
on an ass, purposefully displaying the humility of a servant, the
attitude of meekness and lowliness that characterised his whole
life. Yesterday in that little introduction,
I asked a question. I asked, why, having walked his
whole ministry, Thousands, tens of thousands
of miles perhaps. Why did the Lord Jesus choose
this moment to change the habit of a lifetime and travel by donkey? Why now? In that little introduction,
I called the last section the silent testimony of a subdued
donkey. And here's what I meant by that.
Nobody really understood, even at that late stage, what the
Lord Jesus Christ was doing. The visitors that had all flocked
to Jerusalem for the feast, Jerusalem would be heaving. There would
be hundreds of thousands of people in Jerusalem at that time. The
residents of Jerusalem, They didn't understand. The scribes
and the Pharisees, Pilate, Herod, everybody failed to grasp the
true identity and the significance of the work of the God-man as
he made his way to the cross, even his disciples. And yet that
unbroken colt carried the Son of God placidly and gently into
Jerusalem. between the heaving crowds of
thronging people. They were shouting, they were
waving their hands, they were cutting down palm leaves, they
were throwing their coats onto the ground. And that coat carried
the Saviour without a trace of fear in it. Now I don't know
if you've ever been close to a wild, unbroken colt, a colt
upon which man never sat. But I would not want to ride
a colt, an unbroken colt, at the best of times, in the calmest
of circumstances and surroundings. So the point that I am making
to you here today is that I put this incident of the unbroken
coat being ridden into Jerusalem amongst those thronging crowds
of yelling, screaming people waving their palm leaves and
their coats as being a miracle of the animal kingdom on a par
with the wind and the waves obeying Christ's voice in the kingdom
of nature. That was a miracle, that colt. And Christ rode through a crowd
on the back of a colt where on never man had sat. In doing so,
he demonstrated that all creation was subject to him. He demonstrated
that in the days to come, all the natural world, all the physical
world, all the spiritual world would bend and bow to Christ's
dominion. but the hard hearts and ignorant
spirits of men and women would remain adamant and aloof. one little donkey understood,
a colt of an ass where a never-man sat, walked calmly, serenely
and in perfect subjection to the Son of God, in an honourable
service, carrying on its back the Creator to His cross and
to His glory. Zechariah said, Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. He is just and having salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an
ass. Isaiah says, Behold thy salvation
cometh. Behold his reward is with him. Behold his work is before him. May the Lord bless us and grant
us a glimpse of the Saviour in his glory, in his majesty, in
his dominion and in his success. Amen.