Welcome to the Cary Baptist Church's Thy Word Has Settled in Heaven radio broadcast. Cary Baptist Church is in Athens, Alabama. I'm Pastor Ben Donohue. Today we're preaching on the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, his last entry into that city before he's crucified. This is taken out of John chapter 12. And there we'll pick up in verse 12 and read down to verse 24, about 10 verses. This is the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. On the next day, much people that were 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, said thereupon, as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. These things understood not his disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified. Then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. The people, therefore, that were with him, when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bore record. For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? Behold, the world is gone after him. There were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came before to Philip, which was a Besadia of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip telleth Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Brother, we're going to stop reading there. That's John 12, verses 12 through 24. We're talking about the triumphal entry, the last time Jesus entered Jerusalem. It's a week approximately before his crucifixion. And what a difference in one week. Here is a triumphal entry. We'll see what that means. But there are much people at this time because Jerusalem was packed for people coming to the Passover feast or the Feast of Unleavened Bread that ran for about a week. Within that period was the Passover day, but many people came from all over. all over the country and even outside the country. They were packed in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was overflowing with people from all over. They're there and the city is full and Jesus makes a very public entry. And we remember the feast of the Passover way back in the Old Testament. You remember they were commemorating it every year. And originally that's when the angel passed over. The Lord had said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Notice the common people, that were there from all these places outside of Jerusalem. They had palm branches in their hands, and that's a sign of triumph, a sign of victory. And here we see that the common people, the massive people, were praising Jesus as he enters the city. It's a very public event. They're there to greet Him. That's why this section of Scripture is called the Triumphant Entry. With palms in their hands, they cry out, Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. Now let's stop right here. Notice what they're saying. This is a quotation from the Old Testament. They recognize that Jesus is the king of Israel. That's exactly what they say, blessed is the king of Israel. And they say that cometh in the name of the Lord. So here's a public acknowledgement by many people that Jesus is the king, he is the Messiah, and this is a triumphal entry. This is a triumph, this is a victory march, and Jesus is coming into the city. So Jesus is the king, but notice what kind of king is he. He is a humble king, and we say that because he took a donkey A very humble beast, he took a donkey, small compared to a horse, and he rode that donkey. That's also fulfillment of Scripture. And brother, we're going to say this more than once today, that the Bible is full of fulfilled Scripture. And Jesus did so much to fulfill Scripture. So many Scriptures in the Old Testament look forward to the coming of Christ, and he fulfilled all those Scriptures. That's one way you know your Bible is supernatural. It is inspired by God, preserved by God, and one of the ways you know that is so much fulfilled scripture. Many, many hundreds of years previously, prophecies were made about Christ and Christ fulfilled them literally, exactly as they were given. And Jesus, to fulfill scripture, got a donkey and rode in on the donkey. He is a king, but he's a humble king. The Bible says elsewhere that Jesus is lowly of heart and humble. What a paradox. We have a king, but riding on a donkey. Yes, Jesus came to die to humble himself. The Bible says he was a man of sorrows, a man of humility to fulfill scriptures, and Christ fulfills all scriptures. And so notice the respect that was paid to our Lord Jesus by the common people. They had palm branches in their hand and they were saying, Hosanna, the King of Israel is come. Now next we notice the indignation of the scribes and Pharisees. They were indignant. The scribes, the Pharisees, the lawyers, the leaders of Israel, they were indignant that the common people that had come into Jerusalem, that were filling Jerusalem during this feast, Jesus would be treated in such a way. Notice verse 19, The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye, speaking to themselves, Prevail nothing, behold, the world is gone after him. Little did they know that this is a prophetic statement. Yes, the world would be going after Jesus in the future. The next verse is also indicative of the future. And there were certain Greeks among them that came to worship at the feast. Three times a year, the Old Testament commanded the people of Israel to come to Jerusalem for a feast. And this was one of those three. And the Greeks, the God-fearing Greeks joined them. They came to worship. And what did the Greeks say? Well, they came to Philip and they said to him, sir, we would see Jesus. This is also anticipation of the future. We read in the book of Acts in the epistles, how that so many of the Gentiles were brought to salvation. And this would be anticipation, prophetic statement about the Greeks will be coming, the Gentiles would be coming. and they would be part of the kingdom of God. And we see here, the Pharisees saying the whole world is going after him, that's a prophetic statement, and the Greeks saying we would see Jesus, that's a prophetic statement. Jesus coming, and it was a triumphal entry. He's entering Jerusalem at the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but brethren, within one week's time, There would be another crowd gathered, a crowd gathered by the scribes and Pharisees, stirred up by the scribes and Pharisees, another group of people that would say, crucify him, crucify him. What a change in one week's time. And that too was a fulfillment of scripture. Christ must come. He must die. He must be crucified. He must become our atonement. That is a fulfillment of scripture. Jesus knew when he came in that he came to die. He said, I've come to give my life a ransom for many. And often he warned his disciples that he must be put to death in Jerusalem and three days later rise again. So what a change a week can make. The triumphant entry where people were saying, by the thousands, Hosanna, blesses the King of Israel that comes in the name of the Lord. And within one week's time, crucify him, crucify him. That would prevail with Pilate, the governor, and Jesus would be crucified. But we have here the triumphant entry. And we're going to notice some things about his first coming and his second coming. In his first coming, Jesus came to die. He came to be humbled. He came to give his life a ransom for many. But brother, we have another entrance of the King into Jerusalem. Now let's turn to see another vision of the King coming to Jerusalem. This is Revelation chapter 19 verse 11. Another view of Christ's coming, let's read verse 11 of Revelation chapter 19. And 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. His eyes were a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he that had a name written, that no man knew but he himself, And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and that he should rule them with a rod of iron, and that he treadeth a winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. and on his vesture and on his thigh was a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Brethren, here's another vision of the King coming, and this time he comes not on a donkey but on a white horse, and this time he comes with an army on white horses following him, an army from heaven, and he comes To judge he comes with vengeance, and it says out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth a winepress, and the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. So we see two comings. We see the coming, the triumphal entry when Christ came, The week before his crucifixion, then much later in the future, we see another coming, when Christ is coming on a white horse with the armies. Between those two comings, his first coming and his crucifixion, and his second coming sometime in the future, is the church age, is the age of grace, is the age of the gospel. In between Christ's first coming and his second coming, He has a glorious period, and that's the period we're in, the Church Age, in which God, in all of his grace, invites men to be saved. And this is the gospel dispensation, as we said, the Church Age, the Age of Grace, between the two comings. For after Christ died, was buried, and rose again, the disciples were given this message to preach the gospel in all nations, making disciples of all nations. This has been happening since that time, and it will continue until Christ comes again on a white horse with the armies of heaven behind him. Then he's going to judge the nations. So, brethren, this is what we have in John chapter 12 in the triumphal entry. Brethren, first of all, we see a great number of people from all over the country coming to Jerusalem for this feast, and some number of that company are rejoicing when Christ enters into the city with hosannas, with palm branches. That's the triumphal entry Jesus gets on the donkey, and he comes in in fulfillment of Scripture. Some people are indignant, the scribes, the Pharisees, the lawyers, the leadership were indignant that Christ had such a power over the common man. and they were indignant. Within a week's time, they would have him crucified. But we see that the Gentiles, the Greeks that were there, the God-fearing Greeks said this, we would see Jesus. And brethren, that's the future. That's also fulfillment of Scripture. That's what is to be anticipated in the book of Acts and the epistles. The Greeks would be brought into the kingdom of God by the preaching of the apostles. And so here we have it. Just before Christ's death, we see the Greek world beginning to come to understand Jesus and to seek him out. You know, wise men still seek him. And this is a prophetic statement of what would happen in the future in the book of Acts. Brethren, we're about out of time, so we better close it up here. You've been listening to the Cary Baptist Church radio broadcast. I'm Pastor Ben Donohue. Let me thank you for listening. We hope you join us again next time, and until then, we'll say goodbye.