Thank you. You may be seated. The King who is the Lamb. What is it going to take to redeem a people, to ransom a a people from their bondage and bring them to an eternal inheritance, what will it take? I am so thankful that in the Hebrew Scriptures, we have illustrations given to us by God to all of humanity to teach the work of the king who becomes the lamb and redeems. We see that in the history of Israel when God will redeem them from the land of Egypt, to ransom them, to rescue them, to bring them to their inheritance, the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And you're very much aware of the story in the book of Exodus. And in those opening chapters where God will send the plagues on Egypt, until the very final plague, when there will be the death of the firstborn. And yet, God would reveal to the people of God that their sons, their eldest sons would be rescued if they would take a lamb, kill the lamb at the threshold of the door of their house, and then take the blood from that lamb and sprinkle it on each side of the door and at the top. And so now is a door covered, surrounded in blood. And that night when the death angel came through the camp of Israel, every single house that had the door covered in blood, the death angel would pass over. And the firstborn would not be killed. But there was wailing that night all over Egypt as Egyptians lost their oldest son. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. And with the shed blood, God ransomed a people. and gave them that feast every single year. Matter of fact, that feast held the first month of the year, the month of Nisan, held on the 14th day of the month, a springtime festival, Passover, followed by unleavened bread, followed by Pentecost. Those spring feasts were a picture God gave the entire world. They're His feasts, the feasts that He gave to the nation to share with the world. Those springtime feasts are pictures of the first coming of Christ. For He is the Passover Lamb. He is the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. He is the King who is the Lamb. The fall feasts that begin with the sound of trumpets are pictures of his second coming, for he will come with the sound of a trumpet. And then the 10 days of mourning that separate the sounding of the trumpet from Yom Kippur will take place. And then a fountain of cleansing will be opened representative on the day of atonement. And there will be great salvation for the people of God. followed by Sukkoth, the Feast of Booths. For when God redeemed the nation from the land of Egypt, they would dwell in temporary housing before they would enter the land and be able to build cities and homes. But the Feast of Tabernacles was to remind them of the exodus from Egypt. But there's a greater day coming. There's a greater redemption for the nation of Israel. It is yet future. It is promised by God. And though they are scattered around the world today, there's a greater Succoth coming, promised in the prophets. For the prophet said that no longer will you say, blessed is the God who redeems us from Egypt, but blessed is the God who redeems us from all the nations of the world and brings us back to the land. That day is yet future. But a trickle, we are watching a trickle come back to the land of Israel today. All of the promises of God are yes and amen. And all of the feasts will probably be fulfilled just as the spring feasts were, the fall will as well. And so now it is Passover season. And the Lord Jesus has left the region of Galilee. He is on his way to Jerusalem to offer himself as the Passover lamb. And do you realize that all of history is beginning to funnel down to this entrance of Christ in the city of Jerusalem? Do you realize the focus that the Word of God has on this final week in the life of Christ? Have you ever considered that Matthew will give the last quarter of his gospel to this final week, that Mark, will give the last third of his gospel to this final week. We are entering this final week in the year 2023. Luke will give the last fourth of his gospel, but John will give a half. There could have been a lot of things that were recorded in the Word of God. Jesus would minister for three and a half years. Think of all the sermons that he preached. Think of all the people that he healed. Think of all the events that he was a part of. And yet, there is something about this final week that God wants all of history to draw their attention to. It would be on the first day of the sevens. when the Lord Jesus would leave the regions of Galilee and make his way toward Jerusalem, and he would cross the Jordan River. Do you realize where the Lord crossed the Jordan River that final week as he approached the city of Jerusalem? He crossed it right where Jericho is. The very first city that the nation would come to as they crossed the Jordan River into the land of promise, the land of their inheritance, and Christ would choose to cross right there. And he would make that approach. from Jericho toward Jerusalem. It was nearly a 17-mile walk, but he would not go the entire distance. He would go about 15 miles that day. He would make his way from Jericho all the way up to the little town of Bethany. And he would be there that evening, and they would prepare for him a supper. Sunday night, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, and the alabaster box would be broken, and the body of Christ would be anointed for his burial. For there was one woman there that understood that he had come to Jerusalem to lay his life down, a sacrifice of redemption, the Passover lamb, the king who was the lamb. It would be the next day. It would be on the 10th of Nisan when he would enter the city of Jerusalem. And why the 10th? Well, you go back in the book of Exodus and you discover that it was on the 10th of Nisan that God demanded that the Jewish community would take a lamb, a male lamb, A lamb that was at least one year old. A lamb that had been inspected. It was a lamb that was without blemish and without spot. And they would set aside this lamb to celebrate the Passover. And for the 10th of Nisan and the 11th of Nisan and the 12th of Nisan and the 13th of Nisan, they would examine that lamb. And if it was without spot and blemish, it would be offered on the 14th of Nisan, Passover day. And in Jesus' day, outside the city of Jerusalem, a couple miles away, you would find where the shepherds were tendering their flocks. These were special shepherds. They were not ordinary shepherds. They were shepherds connected with the temple and the worship of the temple. And they had flocks. And these flocks were special flocks. These were temple sacrificial flocks close by Bethlehem, in the region of Bethlehem. And when those male lambs were born, the shepherds would take the little lamb and wrap that little lamb in swaddling and lay that lamb in a manger. And it would begin its journey, and it would be inspected constantly. And if there was any blemish or any spot on that sacrificial lamb, it could no longer be offered as a Passover lamb. as a peace-offering lamb or as a burn-offering lamb. No, it had to be removed from those shepherds' fields around the regions of Jerusalem and close to Bethlehem. Do you begin to see the picture now? Here is the king approaching the city of Jerusalem. getting ready for his triumphal entry on the 10th of Nisan. And on that very day, that very year, a prophecy is being fulfilled that Daniel makes hundreds of years previously. And he would give a timetable. He would give an exact date on which the Messiah would come and die. the time in which the Messiah would be cut off, but not for himself, 173,880 days previously, God said that there would be a decree, and that decree made by Artaxerxes, and God said 173,880 days from now, the Messiah will come. and he'll be caught off, but not for himself, but for others. Can you imagine such a prophecy in the Word of God? Can you imagine a prophecy given by Zechariah? The book of Zechariah in our Old Testament should be held dear by believers. Zechariah, a young priest, God gives him four major visions, communications. He calls the nation of Israel back to himself. He answers questions about their fast, but the final chapters of his book, chapters 7 through 14, are going to focus on two phases of the life of the Messiah. In chapters 7 through 11, he's going to speak about the first coming of the Messiah. And then he's going to turn to the second coming of the Messiah and the events that will take place before he comes a second time. But it is in the section 7 through 11 in chapter 9 and verse 9 that we find this incredible prophecy. And Zechariah would write, "'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. I'll cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem. The battle bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace to the nations. His rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. Chapter nine, a reference to his first coming. Chapter 10, a reference to his second. Made by Zechariah. After the Jews had returned to the land and Herod's second, which became Herod's second temple is now being built. But he is prophesying. And during the Passion Week of Christ and all four Gospels, it is the prophet Zechariah that is quoted the most. All kinds of information given to us in that great text. The Messiah who would come, the Messiah who would save. The very fact that the Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver is in that text. The fact that he would be smitten and stricken and people would flee. I mean, that is a rich, ripe book for prophecy. And besides the book of Ezekiel, the book of Zechariah has a greater influence on John's writing of the final book of our Bible, the revelation of Jesus the Christ. But it is. Passover season and the 10th of Nisan. And the Lord is going to Jerusalem and he has left Bethany, approaching the city. And the hillsides are full of paschal lambs. Probably 250,000 will be offered during the Passover season and 33 years previously. Most probably on those same fields where shepherds were abiding, watching over their flock by night outside of Bethany. outside of Bethlehem. The Lord would see all of that, and He would see most probably a tower. It's called the Tower of the Flock. There are towers over there now, towers that rise up from the soil with windows on every side. right in the middle of the shepherd's fields, outside the city of Bethlehem. And those shepherds would make their way into those towers, and at night, they would look at all of the flock there on the hillsides, keeping watch over their flock by night. And it was to them that the angels came, announcing the birth of Christ, And where did they say that they would find the Christ? That they would find the Christ? In a manger. Wrapped in what? Swaddling clothes. Outside the city. were the Paschal lambs and the peace offerings and the burnt offering lambs born, swaddled, and laying in a manger, awaiting the day that they would become that sacrifice in the city. What a great communication. From His very birth, it was said, He is the Passover lamb. He is the peace offering. He is the burnt offering. Oh, the pictures that God gives us. that we might not miss him. And so he gazes out on those fields with all their paschal lambs, knowing that the hour has come. How many times did he say during his ministry, the hour is not yet? But this week, it is the hour. This week, it is the 10th of Nisan. This week, this day, it is 173,880 days since that decree was made, and it was time. And he enters the city of Jerusalem. And when they drew near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village in front of you and immediately you'll 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'll send them at once. This took place. to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 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 the donkey, the king who is the lamb. What a scene that must have been. Can you imagine that? When he left the city of Jericho the day before, already there were crowds following him. And when the blind men would call out, have mercy on us, son of David, the crowds would seek to silence them. Be quiet, be quiet. They'd cry out in the middle of... Son of David, have mercy on us. Be quiet, be quiet. But oh, my friend, the ears of Christ will always hear the call of those in need. And he stops. And the text says, he had compassion on them and he healed them and they began to follow him. And they became a part of that crowd that made their way with them from Jericho to Jerusalem. The festive seasons, a Jewish community was coming from the four corners of the globe. One of the festivals every male had to attend, Passover, and then Pentecost, and then Tabernacles. So the crowds were gathering, they were streaming into Jerusalem. Some of them were already there, and the hillsides covered in sheep were probably covered in festive tents. from the pilgrims. And people hear he's coming. And the Gospels will tell us that there were people in Jerusalem that heard he was coming and they began to leave the city of Jerusalem. And now you have all these festive crowds from Jericho and Bethany and Bethphage coming with him. And he is mounted as a king on a foal of a donkey that has never been ridden before. And the crowds are there, and they're taking their cloaks, and they're throwing them on the ground. And in throwing their coats on the ground, they are saying, we are under your feet. You are the sovereign one. You are the king that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. Those hosannas that were rising from the Book of Psalms, a section in your Bible called the Songs of Ascent. A number of them. Why are they called the Songs of Ascent? It is because they were the pilgrim songs. And as the pilgrims would approach the city of Jerusalem during these festive seasons, they would sing from these psalms. And found in that section of the psalm, psaltery is the hosannas, and blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. Oh, what a sound coming from the festive group. Others would take palm branches and throw them down. He is the King, blessed. And they're crying loudly, but the religious leaders are there, too. The Pharisees are there, too. The whole world is going after Him. And they order Jesus to silence His disciples. Oh, the Lord Jesus knows that this is the hour, and he would say that if they are silent, the stones would cry out. You know that rocks could talk, didn't you? Listen, our God can make anything talk. Made a donkey talk once. What a scene that was. He's left Bethany. He's going over the top of the Mount of Olives, and he reaches the top of the Mount of Olives, and right below him, the entire city bursts into view. And he sees all those festive white tents of the pilgrims. He sees the wall of the city of Jerusalem. He sees the eastern gate called the Golden Gate, called the Gate of Mercy, and that will be the gate through which he comes. and the white stones of the temple are there, and the gold glistening in the daylight sun, all out in front of him, and yet he stops, and he begins to weep. He begins to weep, and he testifies that, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I would just love to gather you like a hen does her chicks under her wings because a dark day is coming. The day is coming when this city and that beautiful temple is going to be destroyed. The Lord made that prophecy and 40 days, 40 years later. from the same spot where Jesus stopped and wept would stand Titus, the Roman general. And he would oversee that city, but he would watch it burn and be destroyed. Jesus said to Jerusalem, you don't know the day of your visitation. Jerusalem, you don't understand who I am. You don't know that I am the seed of the woman, the son of Shem, the son of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Judah, and David. You don't know that I am the prophet that Moses wrote about, the one who's face to face with God, and I am not only the law giver, but I'm the law keeper. And I am the Passover lamb, and I am the sin offering, and the trespass offering, and the peace offering. I'm the burnt offering. I'm the morning and the evening sacrifice. I am all of that, and you don't understand." No wonder he wept. But his work must take place, and he would enter the city, crossing over the Kidron Valley, and then up a little incline, and enter that eastern gate. That walled up eastern gate that you can see today is probably right on top of the original gate that Jesus entered. And what did he do? He made his way to the temple. And he entered it. But one of the authors tells us that it was late and all he did is he looked around. You know what he observed? He observed the money changers. They were there in the court of the Gentiles. He heard the bleeding of the little lambs. This was the 10th of Nisan when the lambs would be sold to pilgrims. You see, you might have journeyed from as far away as Rome. You didn't carry your lamb with you. No, you carried your money with you. So that when you got to Jerusalem, the special lambs, those approved by the priesthood, Those raised on the hills outside of Jerusalem near Bethlehem, those lambs would be offered for sale to the pilgrims. But guess what? You couldn't buy those lambs with your money. No, you had to turn your money into temple money. And, oh, they figured it out. you would charge a fee to get temple money. And now you had the temple money and could purchase the lamb, and they could charge you whatever they wanted to. And the very house of God, the place of prayer for all of the nations, had now become a den of robbers. And that is what he saw, a people that didn't know who he was taking advantage of the poor and the alien and the widow. You see, after he would observe that and chase him out the next day, He would speak of a widow who he saw giving an offering in the temple. She gave a mite, the smallest coin that could have been given. And yet in giving that, she gave more than anyone else. God has a special heart as you study the Old Testament scripture and as you study the new. God has compassion on the widow. on the orphan, on the alien, and on the poor. And I am so thankful that the compassion of God can still be seen even in a city like this and even in a place like this. As with compassion, we help the widow and the orphan and the poor. and the aliens that sojourn among us. And they are coming from all over the world into this space. And may they find the compassion of Christ in this place. And may they come to know the one who is a king, but is also the Lamb. And having looked around at that temple, the Bible tells us that he left. and made his way to Bethany in the night, two miles away on the 10th of Nisan. And then the 11 dawns, and you continue to harmonize the Bible, and you discover that he's entering Jerusalem again. And he passes a fig tree, Because he's hungry, he looks to eat and there are no figs. And so he curses it. Curses it because that fig tree should have had fruit. And he is going to use that fig tree against the religious leadership that missed him and missed compassion for the people. They were like a barren fig tree. They had no fruit. And he would hammer them for the next several days, but they would come after him. For on that Tuesday morning, he goes into the temple and he drives out the money changers. He cleanses the temple at the end of his ministry, just like he did at the beginning. And having cleansed the temple, there is a voice that comes from heaven like at his baptism and reminds all of humanity that this is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased. The father had inspected the lamb and didn't need the 12th and 13th of Nisan. He knew from the very beginning of time that this was the lamb without blemish or spot, well-pleasing to the father. What a day it was on Tuesday, the Greeks would come. And they wanted to talk to Jesus. Isn't that wonderful? That the nations of the world were there during Passover season and they wanted an audience with Christ. And they had to go through quite a few apostles to get it, but they got it. What an audience that must have been. What a day that must have been. But then he leaves the city again. And he comes back on Wednesday, the 12th of Nisan. And that is probably one of the busiest days of the week. More information in the Gospels given to us as to the events of that day when he would face the religious leaderships, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, and the lawyers, and anyone else that could be brought before him And they were there to discover something, some blemish, some spot, and so they would seek to trick them. And they would ask him questions. And those questions are delineated for us in the gospel accounts. And they were different questions. First one is, by what authority do you do these things? I mean, by what authority did you go into the temple and chase out the money changers? The Lord said, okay, I'll answer that question if you answer mine. By the way, that's a good way to deal with your opposition. Ask them a question. Don't give them their answer, their law, I'm trying to trick you. No, just ask them a question. The Lord does this over and over again in his ministry. He said, the baptism of John, was it a man or God? They didn't know what to say. If they said it was of God, then He would have to ask them, then why didn't you believe Him? And if they said, no, it's of man, then they had feared the people because the people knew that John was a prophet. I wish we had the time to go over the Lord's response to their unbelief. But then they would come and ask Him a secular question. You see, they like to split the secular from the sacred, too, like people are trying to do in our country today, to make this country a truly secular, progressive nation, to eradicate from the public arena anything that has to deal with God. I hope you understand that that is of Antichrist, the very beginning of the time of the end. But should we pay taxes? So Jesus asked for a coin, and on the coin is the image of one of the Caesars. He says, whose is this, you know? Well, it belongs to Caesar. Well, give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, but none stop there, does he? He says, but give unto God the things that are God's. Yeah, secular, these are Caesar's, whatever Caesar decides. But there's another kingdom, and it's called the kingdom of God. the things that belong in that kingdom. Well, they couldn't trip him up there, so they asked him another question, a theological question about a man who had a wife, and he dies, and she marries another man, and he dies, and marries another. Listen, by the time seven of them died, I think the number seven should have asked, why did six die? They thought they had him. These were the Sadducees. They didn't believe in the resurrection. That's why they're sad, you see. You've heard that. That one's been around forever. Well, whose wife is she going to be, Lord? Lord said, you know what you're talking about. You have no idea. In the resurrection, they neither marry or are given in marriage. Aren't you ladies glad for that? They were ignorant of the Word of God. They couldn't trip him up with a question about his authority. They couldn't trip him up with a secular question about taxes. They couldn't trip him up with a theological question about the resurrection. And then he would give some of the greatest teaching in Matthew 24 and 25 and in Luke and Mark's gospel on the second coming. He would take them out of the city that night, and they would be on the Mount of Olives, and they would overlook that city, and the apostle would ask him, Lord, what's the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Beautiful questions, asked 2,000 years ago, and Jesus lays it all out. He tells us what's going to happen before he comes back in all of his glory. He tells us how the end is going to begin with the various earthquakes in diverse places. and the famines that will become more prevalent around the globe. He said, this isn't the end. This is the beginning. Matter of fact, Jesus said it's going to be like birth pangs when a woman delivers a child. And although I am not a woman and no man will ever deliver a child, my wife has. She's delivered six. And I've been with her for all six, and I have noticed something, and so did she, that those birth pangs get closer together and they become more intense. And Jesus said that when you begin to see earthquakes and famines that are closer together and more intense, this is the beginning. And then he maps out so much information there on that hill, that hill of Olivet. for them. Some of the greatest teaching. But then the next day is Thursday, the 13th of Nisan, but he's celebrating a Passover. Now, why is he celebrating a Passover? But yet the text says the next day is the Jewish Passover. Well, you have to understand what was taking place in Jesus' day. It's been well documented that there were so many people for Passover. that the Judean Jews would celebrate on the 14th of Nisan. But anyone outside of Judea, any of the pilgrims coming from a distance would celebrate the day before. There would be two days of Passover celebration. And where did Jesus come from? He came from the regions of Galilee. He was a Galilean Jew coming to Judea to celebrate Passover. And so, he did the night before, Thursday night, and you know the details of the Gospels, where he is in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he is praying, and he is arrested, and he is taken during the night to Caiaphas, the high priest, later to Pilate in the morning. It's the 14th of Nisan now, and he'll stand before Herod. And before some of them, he says nothing. Why? Because Isaiah 53 says he'll say nothing. But then he's sentenced by Pilate, mocked by the soldiers, and taken to a cross. And on Friday night of this evening, we're going to get to that scene. when he is hanging on a cross and there are seven things that he will say. But I will say this, for this final week of Christ's life, he is being offered on the cross of Kalilee when the Judean lambs for the 14th of Nisan celebration are being slaughtered. And he hangs there as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is a king, but he is the Lamb. And I'm thankful for his work. And I am thankful, as I close, that I can point out to you that your king is coming, shouting aloud for daughter of Zion, daughter of Jerusalem, this king is righteous. That's who he is. He's the righteous lamb, unlike any of us, for there is none righteous, no, not one, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but he is righteous. And he has something. You know what he has? He has salvation. That's what he carries. That's what he offers. He will be saved from death itself, but he is the one that saves us from our sin. And he is humble. He's not an arrogant king. He will be one seen as afflicted. carrying our sorrows, bearing the effects of the sin of humanity, all of the sickness, all of the disease over which he has all authority. Mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey, that's who he is. And so the question this final week as we approach it, And we remember that he is a king offering himself on the 10th of Nisan to be inspected for four days by all the religious leaders and all of the people so that he will be seen as the spotless, sinless, righteous lamb and then be offered on the 14th of Nisan and then be buried. on the 15th of Nisan. You see, the work is finished. God created the world in six days, made man the crowning jewel on the sixth day, and the work was completed, and he rested. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the second man, must do a new creation work. He must ransom and redeem and make us new. And he does that on the sixth day of the week. And when his work is done, he cries, it is finished. And he's in a tomb on Shabbat, the Sabbath day. Awaiting the 16th day of Nisan, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that 16th day when they would go out into their fields and gather up the barley, the first fruit of the barley harvest, and they would bring it in the temple and they would wave it before God. It's the first fruits which guarantee there's a harvest to come. And it would be on the 16th of Nisan, that first day of the sevens, when the Lord Jesus Christ would rise from the dead as the first fruits. There's a resurrection coming. And when will it take place? The book says at his second coming. What a day that'll be when humanity Experiences, those who are righteous in the first resurrection experience resurrection power. Can you imagine being given a new body someday? Made like the glorious body of Christ? It's coming. It's ahead of us. But the week when the King was the Lamb is behind us. If you don't know him as king of your life and you don't know him as the lamb who can ransom, come to him. I beg you, come to Christ. He has all the authority. He is the king. And he has a ransoming work that can deliver you from your bondage and slavery to sin. You can confess that he is the Lord from heaven. You can believe that he died for you, was buried and rose again. And you can determine that you're gonna follow him like those festive crowds did. And those two blind men from Jericho.