our gracious God and Heavenly Father, how we look forward to that day and hope when all of the nations will bow before your son, Jesus, our King, at his triumphal return. We pray, Lord, that you would make us ready for that day, that you would fill us with zeal for your good news, for the gospel, as we proclaim the swift coming of that day of Jesus coming back again to raise the living and the dead, to judge his enemies, and to vindicate his name and his people, to establish a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. May that be our hope, even tonight we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. It is great to see you all on what feels like a more normal Wednesday night. I have been looking forward to the day that I can roll this back out and not be behind my bulletproof pulpit and look out at day swingers without masks. Well, we are continuing on in our Bible study in the Gospel of Mark. And so I invite you to take your copy of God's word and turn there with me to Mark chapter 11. We are beginning chapter 11 today. And so just as a reminder where we've been these past months has been with Jesus and his disciples. as they've been making their way from the outskirts of the edge of the nation of Israel through Galilee. towards Jerusalem, getting closer and closer. And last time we saw that they were all the way to Jericho, which had indicated that they were almost there. The crowds had gotten a lot thicker. And here in chapter 11, we finally arrive in Jerusalem. So I'll begin reading for us in verse one. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the village in front of you and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, what are you doing untying the colt? And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest. And he entered Jerusalem. and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve." Well, I just want to point out the fact that the very beginning of our passage mentions Bethany, and the very end of our passage mentions Bethany. So they start in Bethany, they end up back in Bethany. Those are the bookends that sort of let us know that this is one particular section. And just out of curiosity, does anyone know what the significance of Bethany is in the Bible? Anything that you can think of that happened in Bethany or anyone that you know of in the Bible who comes from Bethany, lives in Bethany? No, I think that's somewhere else. Yeah, I think so. No, not the Woman at the Well. That was closer to the area of Samaria. I'll give you a hint. Two sisters and a brother. Lazarus and Mary and Martha. And in fact, one of the details that Mark has left out in his story is that just before this entry into Jerusalem, Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead. And so the crowds have gathered around him in more significant numbers. at this point because of the astounding miracle of raising a man from the dead. And of course, one of the most inviting things that Jesus ever said was, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Jesus spoke those words to a grieving woman named Martha. She just lost her brother. to an untimely death. And Jesus spoke those words before he did the work of bringing her brother Lazarus back from the dead. And it was an event that so excited the crowd in our passage that it made them so eager to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem as their Messiah, as the King. It was that great miracle Jesus had performed at Bethany, raising Lazarus from the dead. It says in the 12th chapter of the Gospel of John, starting in verse 9, that a large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there in Bethany, and they came not only on account of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. So the whole incident about raising Lazarus, one of the most amazing in all of the scriptures because of the fact that Jesus, remember he let Lazarus die in the first place. Remember the sisters, Mary and Martha, they sent him a message that he was sick when Jesus was away from Bethany saying, behold, he whom you love is sick. And he said that this illness, doesn't lead to death, it's for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it. And then you find one of the most powerful and amazing passages in scripture. It says, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Isn't that amazing? He loved them so He stayed longer where he was. Just a testament to the inspiration of scripture. If we're making up a religion with a false messiah, a mythical messiah, we would never have written such a thing. That Jesus loved these sisters so much that he turned a deaf ear to what they were requesting him to do. And he permitted their brother to actually die so as to do something even greater than what they were asking of him, which would glorify God even more in their lives. So Jesus's timing, we all have to learn this, his timing, it often doesn't match our own timing. His timing often surprises us. And here in Mark 11, we see that Jesus's timing, he finally reveals himself publicly as king here. And this great event, it's what begins the final week of Jesus in which he goes to the cross to lay down his life for sinners. One of the things I taught long ago when I taught a series of lessons on how to study your Bible and learn how to study scriptures for all its worth. We looked at different literary genres that are in the Bible, such as history and poetry and epistles prophetic literature, wisdom literature, apocalyptic, and all of that. And we saw that all of these different genres, they existed outside of the Bible in extra-biblical literature as well as within the Bible, with one exception. Does anyone remember what that one exception is? It's been a long time. There's one genre which is only in the Bible. No, it's the genre of gospel, of the gospel. So in many ways, the four gospels find common ground in ancient biographies, but there are certain characteristics of the gospel genre, which set them far apart from biographies. And one of the most significant differences is that in biographies, attention is given to the whole life of a person. So it tells, you know, their early, years and the key events which shaped in their development, their setbacks, their great achievements, their final years, and then their death. But in the Gospels, what you find is that a surprisingly disproportionate amount of space is dedicated to just five days in the life of Jesus, from his entry into Jerusalem to his death and resurrection from the dead. In fact, taken together, there are 89 chapters in all four gospels combined. And of those 89 chapters, 29 and a half of them are taken up with the events of this final week. That's exactly one third of the gospel narratives devoted to this one week. And so our passage tonight is the inaugural event of that momentous week, what we call Holy Week. And you might think, you know, we've been on our way to Jerusalem with the disciples this whole time. Now we're finally here in Jerusalem, Mark's gospel must be almost over. And that's not the case because right now everything just slows down and we focus in on this all important final week in the life of Jesus. So here tonight is just one of the most famous events in the life of Jesus. It's recorded in all four of the Gospels. Of course, it's awarded its own commemoration day in the church calendar, Palm Sunday. This is the moment where Jesus triumphantly enters into Jerusalem for the final time. And because he enters to the acclaim of the crowds of pilgrims who were going up to the Feast of Passover, this moment has been called the triumphal entry of King Jesus. But to call it that really requires some reflection on what was going on behind the scenes and what was being implied in Jesus's action. Because Jesus began this last week of his earthly ministry to shouts of adoration, but ended it in virtual abandonment just five days later. So members of this crowd, they were either not present at his crucifixion or else they had actively turned against him by the week's end. So this was not a triumphal entry in the sense that Jesus did not do what the crowd expected him to do as Messiah. And in the sense that they who are now hailing Jesus as their promised Davidic King, they didn't follow him ever after. Instead, it was a triumphal entry in that it accomplished what Jesus had attended by revealing who he was in his own timing. Our Lord, he orchestrated this whole event in such a way that it was a triumph for him, whether any of this crowd saw that or remained faithful to him or not. So here's what this event shows us about our Lord. It shows us, first of all, that with Jesus, there is perfect timing. So one of the things that Jesus said repeatedly throughout his ministry was, my hour has not yet come, or my time has not yet come. And with Jesus, there's a definite sovereign choosing of the times and the moments in which he will act and whatever he desires to do. Earlier, remember in his ministry, when people had recognized Jesus as Messiah, whether it be demons or Peter's confession that he was the Messiah, the rightful one to sit upon David's throne, Jesus has always said, don't tell anyone. Be quiet. Don't tell anyone about that. He's always urged silence, and he's tried to redirect the thinking of those who both recognize him and tried to honor him as Messiah by reminding them that his time had not yet come, that he had to go up to Jerusalem to be delivered into the hands of the chief priests and the scribes and to be flogged and crucified and on the third day rise again. He's been teaching his disciples this and he's only now permitting himself to be publicly revealed as the Messiah, as the coming King. With Jesus, there's perfect timing. And you can't always understand Jesus's timing. You can't understand things like his delaying two days when his coming would have made the difference. to whether or not Lazarus was healed. And in your own lives tonight, you cannot always understand why so often you seem to pray and he doesn't answer you in the timing that you expect or in the timing that you want. Many of you know that my own parents, they prayed and agonized for many years for the Lord to convert me. But there was a delay and he converted me in his own perfect timing. There are reasons for God's delay, reasons for his timing that we don't always see and don't always understand. Reason for Jesus intervening sometimes and then seeming to withdraw himself at other times. So brothers and sisters, remember that the ultimate reason is always the glory of God, which is what Jesus explained to his disciples back in John 11, here Jesus has his own sovereign timing. He's in absolute control of this triumphal event. He did not want to be known as Messiah until this day. And so now here he is, he's willing to reveal himself to the crowds as their king. And so the first thing in the triumphal entry is that with Jesus, There's perfect timing, and we in our own lives, with our faith, we need to trust Jesus for that. The second thing to see here is that with Jesus, there is all knowledge. So you see this just in the opening verses, where in verse two, Jesus says to them, go into the village in front of you. Immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. So just the knowledge there. Untie it, bring it. If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord has need of it, and we'll send it back here immediately. And as it unfolds, that's exactly what they find. The people say exactly what Jesus said that they might say. And when they respond, they say, oh, take the colt, just an amazing sovereign knowledge that is really quite remarkable. Jesus is talking about going into a village that's quite a distance away, telling the disciples something that he knows in his sovereignty, that there's a young donkey colt. This isn't a horse colt, but a donkey colt we know from the other accounts. And it's mother. is there. He knows all of the details. He knows that they will immediately find both animals. And he knows that if anyone says anything when the disciples take the animals, that when they reply that the Lord needs them, they're not going to be arrested for theft. They're going to be released to the disciples at once, which is exactly what happens. Jesus, of course, he does the same thing days later when it's time to prepare the Passover. Remember, he says, Go into the streets. You'll see a man. You're going to go into the streets. You're going to see a man carrying a jug of water and you'll follow him to his house. And then you're going to go in there and you're going to ask the man of the house, where's the room for the Passover to be prepared? So Jesus, he's the one who knows our thoughts. He knew the thoughts of those who thought he was blaspheming when he claimed to forgive sins. He's omniscient, right? Because Jesus is God. He's actually identified himself here when he says, if anyone says anything to you, you shall say to them, the Lord needs them. He's declaring himself to be Yahweh. the Lord Almighty God. He will be the Lord God of Israel, the one who sees and knows all. He's the Lord of Psalm 139, where the psalmist says, even before a word is on my tongue, behold, you, O Lord, know it altogether. So this kind of knowledge, of course, it can be a little scary. To know that you live under the penetrating gaze of God. But also it can be very good for you and that it can drive you to repentance. It can lead you to understand that Jesus is much greater than you perhaps thought him to be. That he does see all things. Nothing is hidden from his sight. And that can cause a person to want to get right with the Lord. It's also, I think, a great comfort, isn't it, to his people, to know that your king knows all things and that you live under his constant gaze. I think of my two daughters back when they were younger at the age where they loved to just go out to the play parks all the time. That's what they wanted to do. And so often I would walk with them down to one of the many play parks near our home. And then off they would go just full of energy. And I would usually just take a seat on a bench, watch them play, and they would just go at it, swing on swing, slide down slides, dangle from the monkey bars. But every now and then, they would look around until they saw me, where I was sitting watching them. And I could see the comfort that, hey, Daddy is there. He's watching over me here in the park. It's a comfort, right, that your Heavenly Father is watching over you. It's a comfort to know that he understands all things, even when others misunderstand you. Well, Jesus is able to discern the thoughts and the intentions of the heart, and I think that that's comforting when no one really knows what you're going through, and Jesus does. He understands. You know, there's some of You here tonight, streaming online, going through suffering that no one around you has ever gone through before. They can guess, they can fathom a fraction of it, but it is Jesus, our merciful high priest who knows all about your suffering. We don't have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with us, Hebrew says, but who was in all points tempted as we are. yet without sin. And therefore, we're encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy, to find grace to help in time of need. Because with Jesus, there is all knowledge, even where a donkey colt and its mother are tied, and that whoever owns them is going to relinquish them as soon as they're told that the Lord has need of them. Well, the third thing about this great event that reveals something to us about Jesus is that with Jesus, there is the fulfillment of God's purposes and promises. So we see Mark doesn't specifically say what Matthew says here, but we know that it's the fulfillment of God's promise from the Old Testament. So in Matthew's account, he says this, this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. So Jesus here is consciously fulfilling God's word. He was consciously fulfilling what had been promised. He even did that on the cross, right? When he said things like, I thirst, down to that kind of small detail, Jesus fulfills all that was written about him in the law and the prophets. So we have in Isaiah 62.11, behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the ends of the earth, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your salvation comes. So here's a wonderful promise about the Lord Jesus. And that phrase from Isaiah 62, Matthew combines that with Zechariah 9.9. which says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. So as Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem on this donkey, He comes consciously fulfilling God's purposes from Zechariah 9.9. So he wasn't going to be deterred from his purpose until everything had been fulfilled. And he needed to go to the cross, which is why he was sent into the world to give his life, as he just said, son of man, to give his life as a ransom for many. He must rise again. He must ascend. reign and he must return again. So these are all things that he must do. They're the plan, a divine purpose of God. All things that were written down in scripture will be fulfilled. So, I mean, you know, Jesus didn't need to ride into Jerusalem, right? He'd already walked the entire distance through Galilee to Jerusalem. In fact, this is the only time in all of the Gospels that we ever read of Jesus doing anything but walking as he travels. And so Jesus purposely rides in on this young donkey so as to fulfill the promise of God. Well, the fourth thing that we learned from this passage is that with Jesus, there is restrained power, restrained power. You see this in the fact that this donkey that Jesus rides in on, it was highly symbolic in two important ways. So first it was symbolic because it was not a horse. So, so here is Jesus. with a ragtag multitude around him, not on a prancing charger, but on a lowly donkey. Now in these days, the donkey, it was not an ignoble animal. In fact, as all these pilgrims came walking up to Jerusalem for Passover at the sight of someone riding on a donkey, they would have seen, oh, here's an important person. kings did ride on donkeys in these ancient days. When David appointed his son Solomon as a successor, he had him seated on his personal mule, a beast of burden to ride to where he would be anointed as king over Israel and to sit upon the Davidic throne. But kings did not ride beasts of burden in times of war. times of war, they rode their war horse. And so this donkey symbolizes that Jesus was coming in peace. He was not coming for battle. He's not coming for war. His reign would be gentle. It would be a peaceful reign. Now there is a day coming when Jesus will be mounted. on a horse. We read about it in Revelation 19, that at his second coming, he comes on a white horse to make war, it says, to judge. And his robe is described as soaked in blood as he executes his wrath. And so that day is coming, but here the king comes in peace. And the kingdom he brings is a peaceable kingdom in which his subjects turn the other cheek to their enemies, right? Love their enemies. They're meek. They are peacemakers. Now, the second thing that riding of the donkey symbolizes was that Jesus himself was meek and lowly. It indicates that Jesus, he was a very different kind of Messiah, anointed forever king that they were expecting. They were expecting a mighty savior warrior who would come in great authority and liberate them physically with an army from the oppression of Rome, their enemies. They were expecting another very literal David who would literally sit upon the throne of David in the palace and reign gloriously over earthly Jerusalem, which would grow to all of its former glory beyond that even, and the nations would stream in and bow themselves to this king in Jerusalem. But Jesus comes as a man of meekness and lowliness and riding on a Donkey. Notice where he goes when he gets to Jerusalem. Where does he go? He goes to the temple. They would have expected him to go to the palace, right? Remove the usurper, non-Davidic, phony king who was pretending to be a king, King Herod. Depose him. And of course, he was in cahoots with the Romans, and then establish the Davidic line again, to establish the Davidic king there in the palace. But he doesn't go that way. He goes the other way, and he goes to the temple, to the place of sacrifice, to the place of the presence of the living God. And we're gonna see more about the temple in the next couple of passages. But one fascinating thing that you see about Jesus here is that you never know when he's going to show forth his glory and unleash his power, because he will unleash his power in just a few verses. In verse 15, when he takes a whip to those inside the temple, he clears it out. He would unleash his power in the presence of his disciples, when he stilled those storms, when he fed those multitudes. And of course, he had just shown forth his power when he brought Lazarus back from the dead right before this event. So you can never tell when Jesus is about to divinely intervene in some powerful way. But Jesus is the mighty Lord who invites you to come to him, all who are weary and heavy laden. Because he is meek and lowly of heart, and in him you will find rest for your souls. Jesus is someone who will receive and accept, right, the filthiest, the vilest of sinners. Jesus himself as a kind and lowly and gentle and loving Savior invites the worst of the worst. to come to him for mercy. So he's reigning over everything as king, has tremendous power and glory, and yet he is gentle. He is meek. He's the one in the book of Revelation whom John is told to look and to behold the conquering lion. And when John looks to see this mighty, ferocious lion, when John looks to see that lion, what does he see? Lamb as though slain So with Jesus there's restrained power And he restrains his powerful wrath even now today as he offers Salvation to the filthiest of sinners as the one and only Savior but there will come a day in the future that that he will unleash his powerful fury and full force as the one and only judge. So there'll come a day when he comes back in great and mighty power, with fire and judgment, and he will put all of his enemies under his feet. And you don't want to be an enemy on that day. You don't want to be one of the ones to whom Jesus says, I never knew you. If you're here tonight or streaming online and Jesus doesn't know you as his own, well now is the day of grace. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the day to come to this gentle and meek lowly savior to be rescued, to be saved, repenting of your sin, trusting in his sinless life and his atoning death on the cross. So we see here the restraint on this day that he came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, meek and lowly. With Jesus, there is restrained power. And just the fifth and final thing that I want us to see tonight is that with Jesus, there is salvation. With Jesus, there's salvation. You see this in the rest of the passage. Notice what the crowds are shouting. So they throw down their branches, their leaves, and then in verse nine, those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest. So they took care for their king's comfort. They laid clothes on the colt, and then others, they spread garments on the road. They cut down palm branches and not only waved them, but they put them down on the road so that the colt's steps would be cushioned. They gave Jesus just great honor here. And they said, Hosanna. What does Hosanna mean? Does anyone know the translation of that? Nope. That's hallelujah. Hosanna means, Lord, save now, save us now. So they reference the kingdom, the coming kingdom of our father, David. And they say, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. They shouted, Hosanna. So they were calling him the Messiah, the king, the Davidic king, and they were pleading with their Messiah to save them. And so we come to the very heart of the matter, the very reason that Jesus came to Jerusalem for Passover on this day, when all the bleeding lambs, they were being brought into Jerusalem And he was to offer himself as the Passover lamb of God so that all who believed in him might be passed over by the eternal wrath of God. The apostle Paul, he declares in 1 Corinthians 5.7, Messiah, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. So he came to Jerusalem on Passover. to be slain as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And like those lambs which had pointed to Him for all of these years, His blood was to be applied between wrath and sinners. What these lambs did symbolically, Jesus did in reality, taking away the sins of His people. He did that by being the Passover Lamb. And so here he is, he's riding into Jerusalem, he's receiving just this praise, this love, this adoration of the crowd. And what they meant by Hosanna, and what I think we sometimes so often mean, is Lord, please save me from my difficult situation. Bring me financial help. Return my health to me. Give me a turnaround in my life that's gone astray. Help me in some earthly way because I'm suffering here. And of course, what they meant was, Hosanna, save us, Messiah King, from this Roman oppression. The Gentiles rule over us. Rescue us. Do what we expect Messiah to do. And if you don't do that, Well, we're going to be through with you. We'll be through with you within a week. The brothers and sisters, Jesus came to do as he rode in to Jerusalem, was he came to answer that prayer, Hosanna, Lord save. in the deepest and most powerful, profound sense possible, to die on a Roman cross to be the substitute for sinners, to be forsaken by God, and take the full wrath of God for all who will believe on Him. And one day, as we sang about at the beginning tonight, He will come again, and when He comes again, He will answer that prayer, Hosanna, in its final, fullest sense, delivering his people forever from the indwelling sin that remains in them. They will be made like him. So he will have one final triumphal entry. But this will be an obviously triumphal entry into the world to gather his elect to himself as his bride. and to bring vengeance upon every enemy, living or dead. So this triumphal entry will come in this way. Paul tells us, 2 Thessalonians chapter one, 2 Thessalonians chapter one in verse five, he writes, this is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering. Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Now notice the description here of Jesus in comparison to meek and lowly and riding on a donkey. With his mighty angels from heaven revealed. in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. So here's just an awesome sight, the Lord Jesus returning from heaven in like manner as they saw him go, bodily, with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who don't know God, those who don't obey the gospel. This is the triumphal entry of Jesus into the world. And all of us who need to say, Hosanna, Lord, save now, save now, not from my earthly circumstances, but save now from your eternal vengeance, which is justly coming against all who have not sought their refuge in you. Now's the day to cry out for eternal salvation, because on that day, of triumphal entry, it will be too late." Well, Paul, later in 1 Thessalonians 4.13, he gives another preview of this coming triumphal entry of King Jesus back into the world. 1 Thessalonians 4.13, it's one of my favorite passages, and Paul says, we don't want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep. So he's talking about the those who have died in the Lord, that they have grieved their loss. And there's some question in the Thessalonian church as to where they are and what happens to them. He says, we don't want you to be uninformed about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, Through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words." In other words, This is King Jesus's triumphal entry. When he comes again with the shout of the archangel, the blowing of the trumpet, King Jesus returns to institute the new heavens and the new earth. This is his triumphal entry, his final triumph. And unlike that triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, this time there will be all the pomp and ceremony that was not there on Palm Sunday. So there will be the Lord's commanding cry as he descends, that voice of the archangel, the great sound of the trumpet of God riding upon his horse. This time the graves themselves will be emptied out. It won't just be a crowd of Jewish pilgrims calling out that he's the Messiah. It'll be the living and the dead who will speak his name and bow their knees and say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord as he brings in a new Jerusalem in which righteousness dwells. And we will be united with him. We will be reunited with one another, and we will worship him forever and ever. Let us pray. Our God and our Father, we thank you for Jesus, for his lowliness and meekness, for his incarnation in which he became one of us, frail, our brother forevermore. We thank you that his timing is always perfect, that he ever sees us and understands us. We pray, Lord, that if anyone doesn't know him, that you would answer the hosannas of their heart by saving them from the coming wrath to come. We pray, Lord, that you would make us ready, that you would make us love your appearing And we thank you, Lord God, that on that day, we will be made like you. We will be reunited with our brothers and sisters who have gone before us. And we will ever be with you, praising you and worshiping you in a new heaven, a new creation in which righteousness dwells. We pray all of these things in Jesus' precious name, amen. All right, well, let's respond to this word by taking our red hymnals one more time. And let's see about singing, I Love to Tell the Story. 478 in the red. I'd love to tell the story