Well, turn with me to John chapter
12, the passage we read just before. I've entitled the message,
The King Proclaimed. There's so much here, so much,
and I have to be selective as we go through this. I'm not planning
to spend years and years and years in the gospel of John,
but I want to look at the verses from verse 12 to 18 or 19, basically
about the account of the Lord Jesus Christ riding into Jerusalem
and being hailed king, the king proclaimed. Let me remind you
why we have John's gospel given to us. John himself tells us
in chapter 20 and verse 31, I've quoted it many times, These are
written, these scriptures, these accounts of what Jesus did while
he was here on earth. These are written, why? That
you might believe, that's you, that's all of you, me, all of
us, that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, that the
man from Nazareth, that the son of Mary is the Christ of God,
the promised Messiah of God, the one come the seed of the
woman to redeem his people from the curse of the law, that you
might believe that this man Jesus of Nazareth is that very Christ,
the Son of God, God manifested in flesh, and that believing
In the process of you believing, you are aware of, you attain
to, you apprehend the concept that you have life through his
name. It's an experience that you have,
you experience life through his name. We're talking about life. You know, people dramatically
say it's a matter of life and death, you know, the way we react
to this virus. Do we lock down? Do we not lock down? It's a matter
of life and death. They don't know what they're talking about,
that this truly is a matter of life and death. Do you believe
on the Son of God? To believe, you have eternal
life. To not believe, you're condemned
already, for you have not believed in the only begotten Son of God.
Most people, going through this life, they take life for granted
until the moment comes when they're faced with death, don't they?
Most do, they just take it for granted, oh it's not going to
happen to me, but I tell you it's going to happen to all of
us, every single one of us. Most take life for granted until
they're faced with death. It's an unavoidable fact of life,
is the fact that we're all going to die, some sooner than others,
of all sorts of different causes, but die surely we are going to
do. The gospel of God's grace in
Christ, God's free grace, his free gift in Christ, the gospel
is about the redemption, the purchase back, the buying back
from sin's curse that his death and his shed blood has accomplished
for his people. And that gospel, that gospel
truth of what he has done, For those people for whom He did
that guarantees true and eternal life. And what am I talking about? I'm talking about life in the
unending blissful presence of God. It's communion with God. This is the picture of heaven.
This is the picture the Scriptures set before us. I will be their
God and they shall be my people. We will be in perfect harmony.
We who by nature in this life are sinners, cleansed from every
sin, cleansed from the curse of the law, redeemed from it,
made righteous with God and an ending blissful presence with
and fellowship with God. And this is the possession of
all who believe, as John says, that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God. Not just a fact that you believe,
but the implications, the consequences of it. of what he has done to
accomplish your justification before God. We've already in
John's Gospel seen what John calls seven signs that this man
is God incarnate, ending last week, the seventh one, with Lazarus
being raised from the dead, his friend Lazarus, from Bethany,
the brother of Martha and Mary, raised from the dead, when he'd
been dead for four days, a rotting corpse, and he was raised from
the dead. And we see him at the start of
chapter 12, eating a meal with Jesus and other friends around
the table and conversing. And here he is, genuinely alive. And many people, as we read earlier
on in the chapter, they came because this news had got out
and was widely known. We've seen seven signs. including
that last one, that this man Jesus is God in flesh, God become
man, so that he can accomplish satisfaction of his own offended
justice. And with these signs, as they're
revealed to us, as they're unfolded, we see in the account increasing
polarization and the reaction of people to the man that they
saw performing these signs. We see deep love and devotion
of many. especially the family at Bethany
and those that gathered with them. And Simon the leper, as
he's called, the meal apparently was in, the meal of chapter 12
was in Simon the leper's house, but Martha served there. Love
and devotion. And we see there's the feast
of the Passover coming on, and many come, not just from Judah
and Jerusalem, the Jewish leaders, the Jewish core, but Others that
counted themselves Israelites from around the scattered parts
of Israel, from Galilee, distant parts, they'd heard of Him. They
wanted to see Him. They came seeking Him, wondering
if Jesus would be at this feast. We see many seeking Him. We see
them, you know, there's Greeks that come and say, Sir, to Philip,
we desire to see Jesus, we want to see Him. There were many who
were devoted and determined and anxious to see Him. And you set
that on the one end against the hatred and the murderous plotting
by the Jewish leaders, the scribes, the Pharisees, the high priest
and all of his entourage. Hatred and murderous plotting.
I wonder what we would have made of it, you would have made of
it, if you'd been there at the time. Do you ever think that,
when you read these accounts? What would we have made of it
if we'd been there at the time? In John chapter 12, we're in
the week that is running up to the Passover. The Passover was
that annual remembrance, that annual festival, remembering
when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, finally, when the
angel, the slaying angel, the angel of death went through the
land to kill every firstborn in the land of all Egyptians
and of all the Israelites. except that the Israelites had
a lamb slain as a substitute for their firstborn. They had
a lamb that was slain in the place of the firstborn of their
house. And therefore, wherever the angel
of death saw the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and the
lintel, he passed over, hence the name, the Passover. He passed
over, he passed by, but all the rest were sacrificed. And now,
here, in this week, You know, at the start, that John the Baptist
told his disciples, he pointed, he saw Jesus walking at the start
of his ministry, and he said, behold, look, there is the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world. All of those lambs
of which the Old Testament sacrifices pictured and patterned and spoke
of, here he is, the fulfillment of every one of them. Here is
the one who is going to be sacrificed, and as Paul says in Corinthians,
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Here he is, the Lamb
of God, in the week running up to the sacrifice of Passover,
where he would die on the cross of Calvary. The hour of which
Jesus had spoken so often that it had not yet come, now it has
come. Look at verse 23. Jesus answered
them, saying, The hour is come. Previously he kept saying, My
hour is not yet come, but now he says, The hour is come that
the Son of man should be glorified. And then look down to verse 27.
He's a man. He's a real man. And he says,
now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Shall I
say, Father, save me from this hour? Is that what I should pray?
But for this cause came I unto this hour. For this cause, to
die for the sins of my people, to shed my blood, to pay redemption's
price for the sins of... That's why I came. Why did Jesus
come? That as a man, he might die. God couldn't die. for people. God in the essence of his spiritual
being could not die, so he became man, that he might pay the penalty
for man's sin, for the sins of his people. Jesus had spent his
entire ministry keeping a low profile. He told the beneficiaries
of the miracles. You know, when he performed a
miracle, when he healed somebody, he told them, tell no man. Don't
tell anybody. In John chapter 6, we see it
in verse 15, after the feeding of the 5,000. Verse 15, he perceives that the
great crowd was so impressed that they would come and take
him by force to make him a king. His hour hadn't yet come. He
departed again into a mountain himself, alone. He hangs back,
his brothers say in John 7, chapter 4, come up to the feast. If you
want to make a name for yourself and get some fame and fortune,
come up to the feast, do the things, do your miracles there
in the front of the crowds. No, his hour has not yet come,
he's not going. But now, at this time, in the
account of John chapter 12, in this week in the run-up to the
final Passover of his ministry, he takes the initiative. We'll
read the account in Matthew 21, the first nine verses, because
that gives more detail than John does.
All of these are complementary. The gospel narratives are not
contradictory, they're complementary. They add to one another. They
don't all tell the same details. John tells lots of things that
the others don't tell, but here Matthew tells things that John
doesn't tell. So let's read the first nine verses of Matthew
21. And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethpage,
unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying
unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway
ye shall find an ass tied, horse, type of horse, and a colt with
her. Loose them, and bring them to
me. And if any man say, Ought unto you, you 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,
saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy king cometh
unto thee meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of
an ass. And the disciples went, and did
as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass and the colt,
and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And
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 so we find John's account
in verses 12 to 15, on the next day, the day after the meal that
he'd had at Bethany. On the next day, much people
that were come to the feast, there were many of them, look
at verse 55 of chapter 11, the Jews' Passover was nigh at hand.
And many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover
to purify themselves. They had to be there for a few
days. It was a ceremonial purification, readiness for this feast. So
they were there, much people that would come to the feast.
When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches
of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna,
blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the
Lord. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, it doesn't
mean that Jesus went looking for a young ass, it was what
Matthew told us. But he's got a young ass and
he sat on it as it is written, But do you know many of this
crowd, this same crowd that cried Hosanna to the Son of God, four
days later, you know what they cried in Jerusalem? Crucify Him. Crucify Him. Put Him to death.
Let's get rid of Him. Four days later, crucify. In
the eternal purposes of God, none of this is a chance happening.
As it says in Acts chapter 4 verse 28, Peter was preaching to the
crowds and he's saying, to do whatsoever God's hand and counsel
determined before to be done. You did it, you are totally guilty
of it, you are culpable for your wicked crime, but it was whatsoever
God's hand and counsel determined before to be done, for that way
he would redeem his people from the curse of the law. Because
God's kingdom always must triumph over the kingdom of Satan. This
is the final objective. The kingdom of God must triumph
over the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of this world, the kingdom
of Antichrist. And so Jesus always acted with
His Father's glory as His objective. The glory of the Father was paramount,
that God might be glorified, that God might be honoured in
all things. and also that everything might
be done in full accordance with the word of God. You know, God
has honoured his word above all his name, it says in the scriptures. This word of God, he's honoured
above all his name, and everything that it says must be perfectly
worked out, because it is God who inspired it, who ordained
it, who predestined it, it must all be in accordance with his
world. So that we find in the Psalms, a thousand years before
Christ came, in Psalm 40 verses 7 and 8, and Hebrews quotes it
as well, but in Psalm 40 we read, then said I, then said who? Then
said the God-man. Then said the Messiah, then said
I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book, which
book? This book. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. He came
to do the will of God and for For what is God's will? What
is God's will? Other than what we read in John
6, 39. This is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all
that he has given me, all the people he has given me, the elect
multitude that no man can number, that the Father gave to the Son
as his bride before the beginning of time, that all that he has
given me, what's the will of the Father? Jesus said that I
should lose nothing, that I shouldn't lose one, that every one of them
will be seen to be qualified, made meat for eternal glory and
will be there where I am in eternal glory and will behold my face
and behold my glory. That's the will of the Father.
All Jesus Christ did in his earthly life and ministry was to fulfill
God's Word. These are they, he said in John
5, 39, these scriptures are they that speak of me. So, here's
the question. How did riding a young ass into
Jerusalem fulfill the prophecies of God's Word? And if it did,
as recorded here by John, Will it not persuade you? Maybe there
are some listening now who do not believe. Will it not persuade
you that God's word is true? and cause you to believe in Christ,
and believing in Him, know that you have life through His name.
I want to look at three prophecies this morning. I want to look
at Jacob's prophecy that we read at the start of the service,
then I want to look at Daniel's prophecy, and then I want to
look at Zechariah's prophecy. All of them very quickly, but
nevertheless, I just find this, if it's nothing else, it's utterly
intriguing. that the best written novel and
plot you could ever devise in humankind, that you could ever
find, comes nowhere near the majesty of these accounts. Let's
start with Jacob's prophecy, and turn back with me to the
verses we read right at the beginning, in Genesis chapter 49. Genesis chapter 49, Jacob, old,
shortly to die, is prophesying, he has them gathered round him,
his twelve sons, and he's prophesying concerning them. the different
characteristics of them, the different things that would happen.
This is all under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and it's
recorded by Moses hundreds of years later, but nevertheless,
the Holy Spirit gave Moses a perfect record of what was said and why. 2,000 years about, if we say,
give or take, before Christ came, Here, Israel. Who? I thought, you thought I said
Jacob, didn't you? Israel. God called him Israel. Jacob, the sinner, the cheat,
the liar, was made Israel. Israel? Prince with God. Prince
with God. God's people. Israel, under Holy
Spirit inspiration, spoke God's word concerning one of his descendants. One who would come from one of
his sons, Judah, the tribe of Judah. One of his descendants
that is in verse 10, Shiloh. The scepter shall not depart.
The scepter, the symbol of power. The rod of power, the rod of
self-determination shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver
from between his feet until Shiloh come. Shiloh, the peacemaker.
Who is the peacemaker? is the Messiah of God. Messiah
the Prince is the Peacemaker, the Lord Jesus Christ who should
come. He is the Peacemaker. And unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. Here he comes, unlike any of
the other tribes. When we read of Judah, Benjamin
was a very small tribe, and that's lumped in together with Judah.
So the other ten tribes, the northern tribes, the other ten
tribes, their political identity had been completely taken away.
They were mingled with the Assyrian Empire about five or six hundred
years before Christ came. They had been completely lost,
that's why the Jews despised the Samaritans, because they
were the mongrel race of what had been the tribes of Israel,
the mongrel tribes. They'd mingled with the Assyrians,
and they weren't pure anymore, they weren't the pure line of
Israel. In Judah though, political identity
shall be maintained. I know they've got the Romans
in charge, but they had their own rulers. They had their own,
you know, Herod and the Tetrarch and then Festus and Agrippa and
all of these different ones that came later. Until Shiloh come,
until Christ comes, and here he now is. The people are gathering
to him, as he rides a young ass into the capital of the vine. Look what it says there, verse
11. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto
the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes
in the blood of grapes. Pay attention, because this is
so, so important. This is God speaking to us from
His Word. What is He talking about? The
vine, Isaiah chapter 5 and verse 7. The vineyard of the Lord of
hosts is the house of Israel. His people, the people of His
choice. And the men of Judah, His pleasant
plant. Here, He's coming. Shiloh is
coming. to his vine, his people. And
Jesus Christ himself is the choice vine. His ass is called unto
the choice vine. The choice vine? John 15 verse
1. I am the true vine, said Jesus. He is the true vine. Surely the
wine The blood of grapes speaks of his impending blood shed for
sin. His death to pay redemption's
price, doesn't it? Surely that's what it's meaning.
His imminent burial, for which Mary, back in verse seven of
John chapter 12, back in verse seven, Jesus said, let her alone,
Mary, for the ointment that she poured on his feet. Against the
day of my burying has she kept this. She'd kept that ointment
for his burying. He's in the week where he's going
to end up being buried, crucified, shed his blood, die and be buried,
and she's kept that ointment for that thing. It's all pointing
in this way. Redemption's price being paid,
his blood being shed. As we think on these things,
do you not have a sense that we're on holy ground? These things
are so, so, so profound. But there's much more. That's
the prophecy of Jacob. I used to think, when I used
to be told the story of Palm Sunday and the Lord Jesus Christ
riding into Jerusalem, that it was just a thing that happened.
No, it wasn't. It was the fulfillment of the
intent of God that his nominal people, Israel, should see their
true king, their true king, proclaimed before them. And many of them,
despite the opposition, despite everything to try and kill him
and do away with him, he should be proclaimed as the king of
his people. Turn now to Daniel chapter 9,
Daniel chapter 9. Daniel, we're now some 500 years
or less from the coming of Christ, 450 or so, something like that. And in Daniel 9 verse 24 to verse
27, let me read those verses to you. 70 weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and
to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity
and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and
prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand,
that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks,
and threescore and two weeks, the street shall be built again,
and the wall even in troublous times, and after threescore and
two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself, and
the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the
city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood,
and unto the end of the war desolations are determined, and he shall
confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst
of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and ablation to cease,
and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it
desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be
poured upon the desolate. amazing words here. We're at
the end of the 70 years of captivity in Babylon. Daniel had been praying
in accordance with the scriptures. It's a prayer of repentance for
the sin that had caused them to be sent into exile. It's a
plea for God to fulfil His promise. Look at the first verse of chapter
9. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus of the seed
of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,
in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books
The number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in
the desolations of Jerusalem. So he looked, he'd read the prophecy,
he'd read the scripture. God's word cannot fail. God said by Jeremiah that it
would be 70 years. It's now 70 years. What does
Daniel do? Does he fatalistically sit back and wait for it to take
its course? No, he prays to God. He prays. He prays a prayer of
repentance, a plea for God to fulfill his promise. And while
praying, in verse 20, an angel, the angel Gabriel, comes to give
Daniel skill and understanding. And in verse 24, we read these
strange words that we've just read. 70 weeks are determined. What does it mean? Well, the
word translated week is actually hebdomad in the Greek, meaning
a period of seven years. So seven seventies is 490. Any of you young ones here know
your tables. Seven sevens, 49, I don't know, 490 years. 490
years until redemption is accomplished, until the finish of transgression.
It's a period of seven while Jerusalem's rebuilt, then 62
of these seven-year lots until Messiah the Prince comes. In
Revelation 1 verse 5, the Lord Jesus Christ in glory is the
Prince of the kings of the earth. Now, I don't want to spend, we
haven't got the time, I don't want to spend a lot of time in
historical detail, though we could, we could look at all the
Medo-Persian emperors, Ahasuerus, and so on, Artaxerxes, all these
different ones, but the point is, here we have an accurate
prophecy, of the time from the command to rebuild Jerusalem
Cyrus said go back you know he comes to in the time of Ezra
go back to Jerusalem rebuild the temple that was prophesied
by Isaiah 200 years before and then in the time of Nehemiah
a little bit later go back and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem
is Artaxerxes the king gives him command and let us to go
and do it the command to rebuild it for the 400 years before Christ
came, until Messiah the Prince shall come. There he is, in verse
25, unto Messiah the Prince. He is lauded, he is praised as
the rightful prince riding into Jerusalem. then to be cut off,
but not for himself. What we have in John chapter
12 is that prophecy fulfilled. Here is Messiah, the prince,
the prince of the kings of the earth, riding on a lowly ass
into Jerusalem and being hailed by the crowds, hailed by the
crowds. Here, Hosanna to the son of David,
Hosanna to the Messiah. Here is the prince of peace.
Prince of peace? Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,
the Prince of Peace. This is his name. He's hailed
as a king on his way to death, and few of them knew it. Why
was this public display at this time? Answer, his hour had come. Scripture must be fulfilled. Gabriel's message to Daniel must
happen. Messiah the Prince must be acknowledged
by people there at that time as Messiah the Prince. Hail the
King! Hail the King! Then let's look
at Zechariah's prophecy. And again, just briefly, very
briefly, Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9. Chapter 9 and verse
9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion! 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. Your King. your king, lowly on
a young ass. This is prophesied, Zechariah
prophesied in the time of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, 400
years plus before Jesus came, before he was born. 400 years
before these events in John chapter 12. Why an ass and not a horse. Isn't a horse a symbol of kingly
power and majesty? You know, even when we have our
Trooping of the Colour and the like, I mean she doesn't do it
now because she's too old, but the Queen used to ride a horse
along Horse Guards Parade and it was a symbol of sovereignty
and majesty and a symbol of the rule of the state. Why an ass
then? Why not a horse? An ass is a
symbol of fallen mankind. Again, I won't take time to show
you from the Scriptures, but it is throughout the Scriptures.
An ass is a symbol of fallen mankind, sinful mankind. And
this is a young one, a young one, one that had never been
worked, because the animals that were used in the temple sacrifices
had to be those that had never been worked. If it was an ox,
that was sacrificed, it had to be an ox that had never borne
the yoke of pulling a plough. It had to be one that hadn't
ever worked. That was what was required for
sacrifice. Here's a young ass. Here's speaking of his sacrifice.
Horses were power symbols of the Gentile empires, of Assyria,
of Egypt, of Babylonia, of the Medes and the Persians, but not
in Israel. Not in Israel. Listen to this.
Deuteronomy 17, verse 16, speaking of the kings of Israel that were
to come. The king of Israel, says God by his prophet Moses,
the king of Israel, he shall not multiply horses to himself,
nor cause the people to return to Egypt to the end that he should
multiply horses. That was the command. The leaders
of Israel will not rely on horses. And that was one of Solomon's
great sins. was that when he became full
of his power, although God had given him great wisdom, he didn't
obey God and he went to Egypt and acquired great numbers of
horses, even though the Word of God says he shouldn't do that.
Why not? Why shouldn't he do it? Psalm
20, verse 7. Listen to these words. Is this
not the Holy Spirit speaking through his Word? Psalm 20, verse
7. Some trust in chariots and some
in horses. But we, the believing people
of God, is what that means, we will remember the name of the
Lord our God. We won't trust in these human,
worldly kingdom symbols of power. No Roman soldier watching Jesus
ride on an ass into Jerusalem in John chapter 12, no Roman
soldier would fear rebellion from a leader riding on a young
ass. But when he comes again, When
he comes again, Revelation 19 verse 11, I saw heaven opened,
and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was
called faithful and true. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. Look at, back to John, back to
John chapter 12. In verse 13, Many people took
branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried,
Hosanna, blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the
name of the Lord. These are many people, in the
main, not Jerusalem residents. These are people that have come
from wider Israel for the Passover feast, as it says in John chapter
11 and verse 55. And they took palm branches and
hailed him. The one who was despised and
rejected of men. Polarization. Those who loved
him and were devoted to him versus those that sought to murder him
and do away with him because they feared their place would
be lost under the rule of the Romans. That was the motivation
of the priests and the Pharisees and the scribes. No. These people
there in the midst of that took palm branches and hailed him
as king. They proclaimed, here is the
king, the king of Israel. You know, they asked him at his
trial in a few days time, are you the king of Israel? So you
say. And Pilate wrote upon him, Jesus Christ, the king of Israel. And they said, don't say that,
say he said it. And he said, what I've written,
I have written. In Revelation seven, verse nine, We read this
in heaven. You see there's an echo of what's
going to happen in heaven. John says, Is that not the elect
of God? Jesus Christ so loved the world,
that's the world that He loved, that He gave. God so loved the
world that He gave His only Son, that's the world that He loved.
They all stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes and with palms in their hands. Is that not symbolical
of what's happened here? Palms in their hands, symbols
of adulation for the one who is King. Seven signs have proven
that Jesus is the Christ, that He is God incarnate, become man,
to redeem a multitude of mankind. Are you among them? Do you know
you're among them? Has He given you faith to believe that you're
among them? Now He comes to the hour of redemption. You know,
God says, Paul said to the Galatians, when the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem those who are under the law. Why? That
they might receive the adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. A people who are sinners and
rebellious by nature made the sons of God. Abba, Father. And
He comes in the midst of time, the hour has fully come, and
He fulfills every detail of God's Word concerning Him. in lowliness
as a king, riding on an ass, not on a majestic white stallion.
Riding on an ass! A young ass! Riding on an ass,
the lion of the tribe of Judah proceeds to Calvary, where, as
the lamb as it had been slain. You know in Revelation, when
John is told to look, Revelation, is it chapter 5, isn't it? Who
is found worthy to unloose the seals, the seven seals of the
book on the hand of God? Who is found worthy? And none
is found worthy, and John weeps much. and one of the elders says
to him, don't weep, look, look there in the midst of the throne,
the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. Oh, a lion, yes,
a strong kingly lion, a lion, the king of the beast, the lion
is going to redeem his people from the curse of the law. The
lion is going to make the kingdom of God triumphant. And John looks
and he sees in the midst of the throne, not a lion, but a lamb
as it had been slain. Here's the king, the lion of
the tribe of Judah that we read in Jacob's prophecy in Genesis
49. Here's the lion of the tribe
of Judah riding on a lowly ass and a few days later he's the
Lamb of God. He's the Lamb of God going to
the Passover sacrifice on Calvary. Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of a world
of his people. There he is in the midst of the
throne as a lamb as it had been slain. and he would bleed and
die to pay the price of justice. Do you find these arguments overwhelmingly
powerful? You know, a thousand years before
he came, then 450, 400 or so years before he came, those prophecies
that are so clear about this incident. Are you not persuaded
by that? How could this be unless it's
God that foreordained it? Unless what God is telling us
is the truth. You know, He doesn't lie. God,
who cannot lie, is He not telling us the truth? Are you perhaps
somewhat persuaded? that this fits together remarkably
well, doesn't it? This really is intriguing. You
know, when Paul was before Agrippa, you know, he had various trials
in the Acts of the Apostles. In Acts 26, verse 28, he's before
Agrippa, and he's presenting the gospel to him, and the account
of what's happened to him. And Agrippa said to Paul, almost
thou persuadest me to be a Christian. This is a compelling argument.
Does it almost persuade you to be a Christian? Does it give
you convincing arguments? Do you know you need saving faith? It's saving faith, which is the
gift of God. It's not just mental assent.
And do you know what goes hand in hand with saving faith? It's
repentance. God has given to the Gentiles
repentance, is what they said in the Acts of the Apostles.
God has given that gift of repentance, repentance and faith, that goes
hand in hand, faith and repentance, hand in hand, Crying out for
forgiveness from God. Cry to God for mercy. Cry to
God for him to make it saving faith, the faith of God's elect
in your heart. Desire to follow in Christ's
footsteps. Are you persuaded by these things?
Amen.