Good morning. Our scripture reading today is from Matthew chapter 21. I will just be reading verses 1 through 11. It is the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Today we come to the second of a three-part message series focusing on Jesus as King of the kingdom. Last time, we looked at Peter's identification of Jesus as the Christ, the anticipated king, appointed by God, heir to the nations, all the nations of the earth, and whose worldwide rule would bring righteousness and justice and peace. At that time, Jesus cautioned the disciples not to speak about this publicly, but now all of that's changed. We are now less than one week away from the crucifixion of Jesus. And he chooses this moment to finally announce to the people that he's the Christ, God's promised king. And he'll do that by riding into Jerusalem into the capital city of Israel, the king will come to them riding on a donkey. Now next week on Easter Sunday, we'll talk about how this king who was identified and announced is then powerfully confirmed, confirmed by God to be this king through his resurrection from the dead. Well, the passage we're about to read begins in a village called Bethphage that was located on the Mount of Olives. We don't know much about Bethphage or its exact location, but we know a lot about the Mount of Olives, which is a small mountain. located on the east side of Jerusalem. The mountain is separated from the city by the Kidron Valley, and because the mountain is a bit higher than the city, if you go to the top of it, you can look down on Jerusalem. It was here that, on another occasion, Jesus looked over the city and wept because of its unbelief. At the north foot of the Mount of Olives is the Garden of Gethsemane, just opposite the city. And in a few days, Jesus will bring his disciples here to pray, and it's where he will then be arrested. So with that Introduction let's look at the passage. This is Matthew chapter 21 beginning at verse 1 and Let's hear the Word of God Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus said to two disciples, saying to them, go into the village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord needs them and he will send them at once. 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 cult, the full of a beast of burden. The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him that followed him were shouting Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, who is this? And the crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. May God add his blessing to this reading of his word. Well, it hasn't been a very well-kept secret. People have been abuzz about it since he was born. King Herod even tried to have him killed when he was still an infant, but Jesus knew what announcing himself to be the Christ would mean. And so he kept it quiet until now. The day had finally come to go public with the news. And this morning we'll look at this announcement that Jesus makes to the people in Jerusalem. And as we do, I have two points. The first is that it was an unmistakable announcement. The second point will be it was a welcomed announcement. So first, an unmistakable announcement. By riding into Jerusalem, Jesus claims to be the promised king spoken of by the law, the prophets, and the writings. Matthew tells us in verse four that Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was in direct fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah. In Zechariah chapter nine, verse nine, it says, behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey. His ride into the city is reminiscent of what we see in 1 Kings 1. That passage happened to be the scripture reading for our Wednesday men's group this past week. It was good timing for Palm Sunday. In 1 Kings 1, we find the account of Solomon son of King David, being made king in his place. David, now old and weak, commands Nathan the prophet, Zadok the priest, and Benaiah, the captain of David's bodyguard, to place Solomon on David's mule and to lead him through the city to the place where they would anoint him as king. And the writer of 1 Kings tells us there that all the people went up after Solomon, playing on pipes, rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split with their noise. You can see it was a joyful and greatly celebrated event, Solomon becoming king. God had promised to David that one of his offspring would sit on his throne as ruler over God's people forever. You can read about that in 2 Samuel chapter 7 and also in Psalm 89. Who was it that God was talking about? Could it be Solomon? Well, we now know that it wasn't Solomon. But now, almost a thousand years after Solomon's announcement as king, another descendant of David, Jesus of Nazareth, is claiming to be this son promised to David, the promised ruler, the promised king. And the people recognize this. And as with Solomon, they joyfully celebrate him. And they cry out to him and call him. the son of David. The crowd, you see, understands the message that Jesus is sending here. They understand the announcement. It's unmistakable. This is God's anointed king. It's the man whom God has chosen. It's the king whom God had promised who would come from David's line. It's the one who is predicted by the prophets. And this is important for us to see. It's important to see that Jesus is not some upstart. He's not a brand new thing that just appears on the scene out of the blue, someone who is not to be taken seriously. His claims have roots. It's an identity that is rooted in God's stated plan for the world, a plan that God has been unveiling since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, thousands of years before. I'm astounded by some of the depictions of Jesus' life that are shown on TV at this time of year. They portray Jesus as a clueless individual who has no idea of who he is, until his mother pushes him out of the house. And then all of a sudden, to his surprise, people just start following him. I don't know where that idea of Jesus comes from, but it's not the picture of Jesus that we get from the Bible. He knew who he was. He knew who he was when he was 12 years old. And he knows who he is now, and he knows precisely what he's doing when he rides into Jerusalem, and everyone else sees this as well, including his enemies. And if his claims about himself are true, it sets Jesus apart from every other prophet, or religious teacher, or ruler in the world. It sets him apart from every philosopher. every celebrity that has gained a voice for himself or herself. Think about it. Jesus is making the claim that the nations, the very ends of the earth, were his inheritance. God had promised this to David a thousand years before. Psalm 89 says that God promised to make David his firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. and that this promise would extend to his descendants forever. Now that, of course, never fully happened. In fact, the kingdom was now in disarray at this particular time. First, it had been split in two. Then it was overrun by the Assyrians and the Babylonians and the Persians and the Greeks and now the Romans. Where was God? What happened to this promise that he made to David? Well, Jesus is saying he's the fulfillment of that promise, finally. He's not just claiming to be one more prophet in a long line of prophets. That's what the religion of Islam says. But that's not what Jesus is so clearly announcing. He's not even announcing that he's just one more Jewish king in a long line of Jewish kings. He's announcing that he's the king, the anointed Christ. And so this claim by Jesus must be reckoned with. It must. We and others cannot easily dismiss it or ignore it. It's in our face. It's unmistakable. It's indelibly woven into the fabric of thousands of years of God's revelation. And that's not something that we can just brush aside. As has been said by others, Jesus was either an outlandish liar or he was delusional. or what he said about himself, what he announced about himself was the truth. We must come to terms with his claims, because if what he claimed to be true, then it has great significance for our lives, because like it or not, he's claiming to be our king, your king, mine. And we can either humble ourselves and submit to him and receive all of the blessings that he promises to those who come to him. Or we can try to silence him, resist him, make him our enemy. Jesus came into Jerusalem humbly riding on a donkey. welcoming all into his kingdom, all who would welcome him. He offers mercy. He offers forgiveness. He offers love. He offers eternal life. Even to his enemies, he offers these things. If they will only acknowledge him as their king. and turn from their own ways and follow him. He also warns, though, against a future day when this time he will come, not to declare the good news of his kingdom, not humbly riding on a donkey, He'll come as the rider on the white horse that we see in chapter 19 of the book of Revelation. There it says that he will come to wage war, wage war against all who oppose the Lord and his anointed one. So the time to make up our minds about this king, that time is now. By God's grace, the time of mercy and pardon has been extended to this very day. How much longer that window of grace will remain opened is unknown. No one knows the day or the time of Jesus' return. But he assures us that he is coming, and so it's important that all of us welcome him. that we embrace him, that we submit to him as our king. And that brings us to the second point, a welcomed announcement. People were gathered in Jerusalem from all over to celebrate the Passover. There were three major feasts in Israel. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, which overlapped with the Passover. The Feast of Weeks, also known as Pentecost. And the Feast of Booths. Now at these three times each year, many people would come to Jerusalem to celebrate. And so the city at this moment was crowded with Jewish people from all over Israel and from the surrounding nations who had come to celebrate. And it was this great crowd who welcomed Jesus as he rode into the city. The nation of Israel was present at this time. And we already said that they understood what he was doing and what he was saying about himself, but it's important to see also that they embraced these claims. They welcomed these claims with celebration and hope. Verse 8 says, the crowd spread their cloaks on the road. And they cut branches from trees and spread these on the ground. It's kind of like rolling out the red carpet for somebody who we recognize as important and want to honor. These people were honoring Jesus as their triumphant king. I'm gonna be speaking now just a bit from Psalm 118. If you want to turn there to look at some of these things, I encourage you to do that. But the actions and the words of the crowd reflect the scene that we see in this psalm, and which we also read from this morning in our responsive reading. We didn't read the whole thing, but we read a portion of it. Psalm 118 is a celebratory psalm praising God for the victory he gives over enemies. The psalm begins with the words of a single individual who gives praise to God because when he was surrounded by enemies about to be crushed, the Lord delivered him. This individual then enters through the gates of Jerusalem. The psalm writer calls these the gates of righteousness. And as the psalm progresses, there's a crowd awaiting this person. And they begin to praise God for the salvation that he brings. And then in verse 25, They cry out the Hebrew words, Ana Yahweh Hoshiana, which means, oh Lord, save now. Now the Hebrew words Hoshiana become the word Hosanna in the Greek language. Next, we see the people turning to this individual who has entered the city, and they make him the object of praise. The crowd cries out, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Where have we heard those words before? And then this person becomes part of a festive procession up to the altar at the temple in the city. The description of this in verse 27 is difficult to translate. Literally, in Hebrew, it says, bind the festival with branches up to the altar. Bind the festival with branches up to the altar. Now most English translations translate this into the idea of binding a sacrifice on the altar with cords. But the problem with that translation is that there's no mention of a sacrifice in the Hebrew. And it requires a very odd translation of the word for branches, turns it into cords. I like the way the New International Version translates this, and that's why we read that version this morning in our responsive reading. It reads this way. With boughs, or with branches, in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. And this translation fits very well with what we see happening. as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. And so the picture that we get from Psalm 118 is the picture of a warrior king who has successfully led his army into battle against the enemies of God, and with God's help, has gained victory for the people of God. It's through this king that the salvation of God has come to his people. And so the words and the actions by the people in Jerusalem as Jesus rode into the city. We're not some random words or actions. These were Jewish people who knew their Psalms and who knew what they were saying. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, they were welcoming and they were celebrating their savior king. They were welcoming the Christ. And they were right to do that. For so he was. Jesus, the son of David, had come to defeat the enemies of God and the enemies of God's people and to sit on his throne to bring justice and to bring peace. He had come to save. But the thing was, that he had come to do that in a way that no one expected. To accomplish this victory, he would have to give up his own life. He would have to be arrested. He would have to be abused. He would have to be mocked. He would have to be crucified on a Roman cross. Why things had to be this way, that's one of the deepest mysteries of the universe. But it had to be this way, to save rebellious and sinful beings as all of us are. The Son of God, the Christ, had to die because it was in this way that the justice of God would be satisfied. The king would pay the price for the sin of his own people, unheard of. But that's what he would do. Now, initially, it looked like defeat, right? In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told Peter to put away his sword. His friends fled at his arrest. The king was captured, was put on trial, crucified, and he died. And just to make sure, a guard was set in front of his tomb. The writer of Psalm 118 paints a similarly hopeless picture. He writes this, he says, all the nations surrounded me. All the nations surrounded me. They surrounded me on every side. They surrounded me like bees. I was pushed hard and I was falling. But then something happens. He goes on to say, but the Lord helped me. I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely. But he has not given me over to death. Well, God also disciplined Jesus severely. Not because he deserved it, but because he took on himself the punishment that was due to us. And unlike with the individual in this psalm, God did give Jesus over to death. With Jesus, things took a step further so that they looked even more hopeless. What's more final than death? Unless, of course, there is a God who gives life even to the dead. God gave Jesus over to death, but even then the Lord helped him. And as another psalm says, he did not abandon him to the grave. Even though he died, he knew that he would live again to recount the deeds of the Lord. And so the celebration and welcome of their king in Jerusalem that day was not for nothing. It wasn't a matter of getting all excited about someone only to be let down. It might have seemed that way for a moment. It would seem that all was lost. But not for the Lord and his anointed one. Jesus was who he said he was. And that would be powerfully confirmed on the third day after his death. But we'll come to that next week. You and I also have reason to celebrate. and to hope, as those Israelites did in Jerusalem that day. Jesus didn't just ride into Jerusalem as the savior king of the Jewish people. He rode into the city to give hope to everyone, people of all nations, of every tribe and tongue, to everyone who welcomes him as their king. Jesus, our king, has come He's come to save us, to save us from our enemies, to save us from our sin, to save us from the miseries of this present life. You know, it may seem hopeless at times. There may be those days, right, where we're just not feeling it. But the Lord who was with Jesus, is with all who belong to Him, all who have welcomed Him as their King. So may God give us the grace to do that, to welcome Jesus as the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the King who has come to save. Let's pray. God in heaven, how great you are. How worthy are you of praise? You do deliver those who look to you. You do rescue us even from the most desperate and hopeless of situations. You have sent your king to do just that, to lead us, to help us. even to lay down his own life for us. Lord, we bow before you in humble adoration and praise, and it's our prayer that you would give us hearts, hearts of allegiance to this great king who is Lord of all and who has promised us blessings beyond measure. We thank you, Lord, for the hope that we have because this king who gave up his life did not remain in the grave, but did rise for victory for all who trust in him. Lord, give us this hope. We pray it in Jesus name. Amen.