Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as described in John 12, highlighting its prophetic fulfillment and Jesus' humble approach. It contrasts the people's expectation of a conquering king with Jesus' arrival on a donkey's colt, emphasizing this act as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies from Genesis and Zechariah. The message underscores that Jesus, though King of Israel, came not for earthly power but for redemption, setting his face towards the cross. The sermon concludes by likening humanity to untamed colts and urging listeners to yield their lives to Jesus, allowing him to take the reins and lead them on the path to salvation.
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coming chapters of the New Testament. John chapter twelve. For those of you that are visiting, we've been speaking on John's Gospel for some time because we're up in the twelfth chapter and we've gone all the way from chapter one verse one over the months as we've had opportunity of speaking on Sunday mornings. It's great joy to have Mr. and Mrs. Backman and Ms. Backman with us this morning. Joy to welcome them back after the summer in the north. John chapter twelve, verse twelve. 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, sat there on. As it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, thy king cometh sitting on a nazis coat. 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 was with him, when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from the dead, their record, For this cause the people also met him, for they heard that he had done this miracle.
The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, perceive ye how ye prevail, nothing. Behold, the whole world is gone after him. May God bless the reading of his word. Shall we pray? Blessed God, our Father, we thank thee for this wonderful chapter in the divine record. the word of God which thou hast given us, the word of God which is unchangeable, which liveth and abideth forever, this record of the great day, this great day in the life of thy beloved Son here on earth. We pray, Lord, that thou write it upon our hearts and speak to us. And may the Holy Spirit take these words this morning and apply them to our hearts.
to exalt the name of thy beloved Son. We ask it in His precious name. Amen. Just let me look one moment, if I can cut out. There may be one thing. I'm convinced it's not our PA system that's squeaking. Now, this incident about which we have been reading is a very, very, very important incident in the history and the story of the Lord Jesus here on earth.
This is one of the great outstanding days. It's called the next day. That is today. It's the day after. That is to say, it's the day after. that supper at Bethany. I think we went into some details about this when we were speaking about that first verse, six days. You remember it says six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany. Then we referred to the other what we call synoptic gospel, Matthew and Luke, Mark, Matthew and Luke particularly where it says two days after.
And we said there seems to be a clash between the six days and the two days, but we found out, I think pretty clearly, I hope so anyhow, that there is no clash. The chronological order is in John twelve. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany. Two days before the Passover, the... Chief priests got together and Judas, who was terribly offended at that supper because he wanted that money, it says he was a thief and he had the bag and he wanted that money that was spent on the ointment that was poured upon the Lord Jesus.
He said this might have been sold for much money and he had the bag. And he went out very upset because the Lord really accused him there. And that's where Judas made up his mind he's going to get the money some way. Mary, in his judgment, had wasted it. He said, I'll get it. And he went out. And two days before the Passover, he met with the Jews, the leaders. And there he bargained with them and decided to sell the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. But the next day, after the supper, Jesus came to Jerusalem.
This was really his return to Jerusalem on the previous day, he only got to Bethany. Now we call this, and we've been calling this the period of crisis in the Lord's history here on earth, working from verse fifty-four of chapter eleven. Jesus therefore no more walked openly among the Jews, but went thence unto a country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim. And he stayed in obscurity now because the days of crisis had come. He knew, of course he knew every step of the way, but he knew how near the end was, and he kept out of the way now from these Jews who had determined they were going to put him to death.
But the hour was come all down through. In the story in John's Gospel, he always says, my hour is not yet come. Even in the second chapter, he says to the woman, to his mother, mother, he says, Woman, what is this to thee? Mine hour is not yet come. And he keeps saying, My hour is not yet come. But in this very chapter twelve, he says, The hour is come. The hour is come. That one hour set aside by God from all eternity when the Son of God would die upon the cross. We sometimes sing of it as the center of two eternities. that look with raptor-doring eyes backward and on to thee, and there in the center of two eternities, is the cross of Christ standing, and that hour is drawing here.
And he says, the hour has come. Six days to go, and he'd be hanging on that cross of shame. So, facing it, as the Scripture says, he set his face as a blint to go to Jerusalem. He leaves Bethany, and I love to think of him spending the nights of that last week in that lovely home at Bethany. And he leaves Bethany, and he comes toward Jerusalem. He's coming to his city for the last week. He's coming to behold his city to look over it. I'll never forget spending a whole Saturday on the Mount of Olives looking down upon the city of Jerusalem.
I had to speak the next morning at the garden too, and I spent the day all alone under the olive trees, on the Mount of Olives, looking down on the city. As the Lord came around the bend from Jerusalem, he looked down upon the city, and he wept. They call it the triumphant entry. Maybe better to call it the weeping entry, the weeping entry of the Son of God into his own city. Now ago we read and talked about Psalm twenty-four, lift up your heads, so ye gates and be, lift up your everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. That will take place, I believe, in the coming day when the Lord Jesus returns and enters his city of Jerusalem.
But here he's entering it, not as a conquering, triumphant warrior riding a horse, but lowly, meekly riding an ox, the foal of a colt. The last week had come, and Jesus enters his own city. 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. Now this was in accordance with prophecy. The Old Testament scriptures had prophesied what would take place.
All the ways and all the pattern and the pathway of the Son of God was in accordance with the Word of God. I always do those things which please the Father, he said. And he never took one step unless it was God's will. Oh, what a lesson we can learn from the lowly Son of God. He didn't plan his pathway and say, I'm going here, I'm going there. How many people say, I'm going to change my job and go somewhere else and get another job and get more money? That's not the way. That is not the way I've proved through life. That is not the way. Don't move until the Lord tells you to move.
Don't have your own plans. Your own plans will only end up wrongly. Let him lead. And when he leads, it's bound to be right. And how wonderfully he leads, how clearly he leads. how he plans our pathway, that we might be in his will and in the pattern of the path that he has planned. And the Lord Jesus did everything according to the plan, the plan which was made in heaven in a past eternity. And it was foretold that he would come this way, riding on an ass, lowly, riding into Jerusalem. There were much people.
Now there seems to be two groups of people here. If you notice down in verse eighteen, for this cause the people came to meet him. The people came to meet him. That is to say the people of Jerusalem. For they, for that they heard that he'd done this miracle. It seems that to them the greatest milk of all was raising a man from the dead. And the news had spread that he raised a man from the dead. It says in verse eleven, for this reason, because Lazarus was there, for this reason, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus because the Lord Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead.
And this had spread to Jerusalem and they were waiting. They were waiting for the Messiah, they were waiting for the king, and there were those who believed that this was the king coming. When they heard he raised a man from the dead, they said, this is it. This crowd went out from Jerusalem. But there's another crowd. Go back to verse seventeen. The people, therefore, that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from the dead, bear record. I would say these were probably people from Galilee. whilst the other crowd were people from Judea. And these two, they never got along too well together. But the Lord had more liberty in Galilee than he had with the Judean.
He spent most of his time in Galilee. And it says in chapter seven and verse one, things were so bad in Jerusalem. Then, chapter seven, verse one, it says, after these things Jesus walked in Galilee. for he would not walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him. Now he's coming back. He knows they're going to kill him. So there were Jews from Jerusalem and probably Galileans and those that were with him. They'd all gone up to the feast, of course. They were all there and they were there to be prepared. It says in verse fifty-six, wait a minute, verse fifty-five of chapter eleven, the Jews Passover was not at hand.
and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. Then they asked the question, they sought for Jesus and spake among themselves as they stood in the temple. What think he? That he will not come to the feast? So they were ready. And when they heard he was coming, then they went out. And they were so thrilled with what they heard and what he had done that they took out the branches of the palm trees and they met him and they did just what the Old Testament scripture said they'd do. Look at Psalm, a moment.
Psalm, Can't put my finger on the verse. Verse twenty-two, the stone which the builders refused has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
But there's another verse there somewhere. Twenty-five and twenty-six. Yeah, that's right. Save now, I beseech thee. Now this word Hosanna, the word Hosanna means save now. That's what it means, save now. They were hoping he would save them out of the hands of the Romans. They were hoping he'd set up his kingdom. So when they cried Hosanna, it was deep in their hearts, they were looking for their own satisfaction really, save now they were crying. And so it says in Psalm Verse twenty five, save now, I beseech thee, O Lord.
I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. They took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him and cried, Save now. Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh. Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. They added this, the King of Israel. And so there were some that thought he was the King. I don't know how deep their thoughts were, because it was less than a week they were saying, away with him crucified. Same crowd.
How fickle they were. I often think that they were thinking of themselves, their place in the kingdom and so on. And the Lord was thinking of you and me. And he wasn't thinking of a kingdom, not that kind of a thing. He was thinking of a cross. And he was thinking of redemption. He was thinking of what we were thinking about this morning. The captain of our salvation, he was. The leader of his people, who endured the cross and despised the shame. And he's now sat down at the right hand of God. Now, this is probably, as I said before, one of the greatest days in the world's history.
Daniel had prophesied years ago, Daniel nine, let's look back a moment to this wonderful prophecy. Daniel nine. Now this is the great prophecy of the seventy weeks There was a great writer of the last century or the early part of this century called Sir Robert Anderson. He was the head of the criminal investigation department over there in Great Britain, a wonderful Christian. And he wrote a very wonderful book, amongst others.
He wrote a book called The Coming Prince. And there this clever man, Sir Robert Anderson, worked out in detail the dates. And he said these words. Daniel nine and the prophecy of Daniel's seventy week is the backbone of prophecy the backbone of prophecy how well I remember many years ago when I used to be in the same meeting as Walter Scott who wrote that very wonderful book the exposition of the revelation by the way we got five new copies of that book in the bookstore this week the exposition of the revelation wonderful exposition of the book of revelation probably the best And he makes note there, in that book, and I heard him say it many times, he keeps on saying, Sir Robert Anderson said, Daniel nine is the backbone of prophecy.
If you can understand these seventy weeks, then you can get the layout of things that are about to take place in the world today. Verse twenty-six, after three score, well, let's read in verse twenty-four. Seventy weeks or seventy-ebbdumad, seventy-seven are determined upon thy people, upon thy holy land, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most High. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince should be seven weeks and three-score and two weeks, and the streets should be built again, and the wall even in troubledest times.
And after three-score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince that shall come should destroy the city and so on." Seventy-seven, four hundred and ninety years. And from the time that Cyrus gave the command to go back and restore Jerusalem and build the city and build the temple, from the time that that commandment went forth, he said, There's going to be counted so many weeks. Add them all up. And Sir Robert Anson works them out in days. And he proved, I can't do it, but it's in his book.
He proved that to the very day, the very day, the Lord Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem here in the twelve chapters. This is why he says, look at Luke nine-teen a moment. Chapter nine-teen of Luke. Verse forty-one. Now when he was come near to the city, when he came near, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hast known, even thou at least in this day, understanding the original, the word thy is not there. If thou hast known in this day, what day? This one day that God had set aside in the eternal record.
When Messiah the Prince would enter his city. And Robert Anderson works it out to the very day and he says, that's when he entered the city. And so the Lord Jesus says, this is a most important day, one of the most important days in history. This was recorded a way back in heaven. This was recorded in your wonderful prophecy of Daniel. If you only understood your own prophets, you'd know what's happened. Messiah is entering his city. And the Lord said it would be so many days, so many years. to the day. And Robert Anderson worked it all out and said to that very day, and so the Lord Jesus said, If thou hadst known, even thou at least in this day, even thou, at least in this day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they hid from thee, hid from thine eyes for the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemy shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground.
and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, that thou, because thou knewest not the day of thy visitation. This was the day of the visitation of God. They didn't know. They went out and sang who was there, and they welcomed him into the city, but they didn't know what they were doing. It's very important. No wonder the Lord went. When he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it. He looked on a few more years, how many, not forty years ahead, when the armies of Titus, the Roman Emperor, would be gathered all around that city of Jerusalem. He said, the days coming upon thee when they won't leave one stone upon another.
The city destroyed, the temple destroyed, everything burned to the ground, and the Jews cast all over the world for two thousand years. And that was coming. Why? Because they rejected their Messiah. So the Lord says it's a very important day, the entering of the Lord Jesus into the city of Jerusalem. Now let's go back a moment to Genesis forty-nine. See how important this prophecy is. Genesis forty-nine. Here's old Jacob at the end of the road and he said, telling about what's going to happen to his son and to their families and their generations after them in the latter days.
Verse one, Genesis forty-nine. And Jacob crawled unto his sons and said, Gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. And this was written Nearly two thousand years, sixteen hundred, seventeen hundred years before Christ came into the world. And he writes there, look at verse nine, Judah is a lion's wealth from the prey. My son thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, as an old lion who shall rouse him up. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet.
until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Listen to the words, written now, all these hundreds and hundreds of years before it took place, binding his fall unto the vine, and his ashes cold unto the choice vine. He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. Who was the vine? The vine was Israel. Who was the choice vine? The choice vine was the Son of God. He kind of binds them both together. And he says, Judah will still be in power when Messiah comes. Judah will still be there.
All Israel is being carried away. The other tribes carried away into captivity. But Judah was still there. Judah remained. The one tribe that remained there when the others were taken away. That's why it's called the Land of Judea. And he says, binding is poor. Remarkable language. He came in on a coat, the fold of an ass. How wonderful after so many years. Let's look at Zechariah chapter twelve. The last book but one in the Old Testament. Zechariah chapter twelve.
Thank you. I made a note of verse ten, but I don't think I've got the right verse. Let's read it. I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his own son and shall be in business for him, be in business for his firstborn.
That is his coming by and by. But I want the verse that tells of how he came riding upon an ark. I think it's here in Zechariah. Can somebody find it? Nine and nine. Thank you very much. This is the verse I want. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just in having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ark and upon a colt the fall of an ark. Here he is. riding upon an earth and upon the cove, the fall of an earth.
And so these prophecies, from the first book of the Old Testament and from the last book of one of the Old Testament, these prophecies are being fulfilled this day as the Lord Jesus drives, comes into his own city Jerusalem. I don't think the people understood what they were doing. They came out by the thousands, they welcomed him. And when the leaders heard about this, they said among themselves, Perceive ye, how ye prevail, nothing, behold, the world is gone after him.
That's what he looked like to them. Thousands of people went to meet him. And he came in lowly, sitting upon a colt, a full of a lamb. Now when a monarch comes and drives into his own capital, he usually drives, rides on a beautiful charger. The sadlery and all the equipment on the horse's back is wonderful. The bridle and the reins and all the accoutrements. What a glorious sight to see a warrior driving in on a grave. War horse. The Lord Jesus, the King of Kings. He's not driving on a war horse. In fact, you know, God had given instructions to Israel.
He said, don't be led away by horses. Horses belong to Egypt. Don't go down to Egypt and get horses. That's what Solomon did. He made stalls for forty thousand horses. His chariot horses. He had twelve thousand chariots used to drive his chariot. And he had these wonderful prancing horses. Solomon did this. God says, that's not for my people. My people are humble people. I'm not talking about warrior kings. I'm not talking about the monarchs of this earth, God says.
And when the Lord Jesus came, he didn't drive on a horse. Ah, two by and by. Revelation, when the door of heaven is open, he's coming out on a white horse. He's coming out. as a king of kings to bring victory and defeat his enemies. But when he came into Jerusalem, he drove on an ark, lowly, meekly, sitting upon an ark. Now John says little about this donkey. John says little about the arrangement. All he says is that verse fourteen, Jesus, when he found a young ark, sat there on. Well, Jesus himself, literally speaking, didn't find it. He did.
He knew where it was. Let's go back to Luke nineteen again. Luke nineteen. He says, verse twenty. When he had thus spoken, he went before them, ascending up to Jerusalem, and it came to pass when he was come night at Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Oives, at the Mount called Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Go ye into the village over against you, in the which that you are entering in he shall find a coat tied whereon yet never man sat.
Loose him and bring him hither. And if any man asked you, Why do ye lose him? Thus shall he say unto him, Because the Lord... hath need of him. And they that were sent went their way and found even as he had said. And as they were losing the coat, the owners thereof said unto them, Why lose she the coat? And they said, The Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus. And they cast their garments upon the coat. And they said, Jesus thereon. And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.
And when he was come nigh, even unto the mount, of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began with a loud voice, to praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works that they had seen saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Here's the picture. I'd like to close our meeting this morning on this thought. You know, it says that man, man that is born a woman is like a wild-assist cult.
Can you think of anything so self-willed and stubborn as an untamed cult? You see them on the television sometimes as these rodeos, fellows riding on untamed horses, kicking and galloping and dashing around. And every horse has to be tamed. It's quite a serious thing to tame a horse. And he says, man, it's like an untamed cold. That's how we were before God saved us. We wanted our way. And the world today wants to do his thing.
Untamed, he wants to have his own way. Like a wild-ousy cold. I'm going to go my way. And nobody's going to ride me and nobody's going to tell me what to do. And when the Lord Jesus came along, they took this. It says, no man had ever ridden on his back. So you think he'd be charging and kicking and galloping. That wild creature was calm and placid in the hands of his Creator. And the Lord Jesus came riding into Jerusalem. on that creature that nobody else could have written because he was untamed. What a wonderful picture, Shelby, that when the Lord Jesus came into your life and mine, when we were having our own way and we wanted to do what we wanted to do, the Lord came in.
Somehow he got on our backs, you know, and he took the reins. Have you noticed in the other scripture that says, you'll go to a place where two ways meet. The crossroads somewhere. Somewhere at the crossroads, they were going to find this place, and they had to go to the owner. Somebody owned him. Somebody said, he's mine. And you've got to go to the owner. He's going to give him up. And you'll find him at a crossroads. And there was some way in your life and mine where the two ways met, you know, some crossroads somewhere. Where we were trying to go our way on the broad road which leads to destruction.
And somehow there at the corner of the foot of the cross, we met the Son of God. Somehow he took over. And now we're on another road, the narrow road which leads to heaven. And the one that's got the rain is the blessed Son of God. You had that experience? I'm sure I suppose all of us have here this morning. Maybe there's someone, I don't know. and you've never yet yielded to the Lord Jesus. You've never said, Lord, you take the reins of my life. You take control. I'll be meek and placid, and I'll do just what you want me to do. That's what the Lord did. He did God's will. We were saying that just now.
And that's what he wants you and me to do, to yield to him. And if there's one here unsaved this morning, you're at the place where two ways meet, the place of decision. You've got to go this road or that way this morning. Why not bow at the feet of the Lord Jesus? O name is your Lord and Master. As the one who went from this entrance to Jerusalem through this week of crisis, through that awful Friday morning when they hung him upon the cross and he died and suffered and bore your sins in his own body upon the tree. Why not yield to him this morning? Why not accept him as your personal Savior?
Why not let him take control and take the reins? Let's yield our lives to him. Every one of us, every Christian here this morning, are fresh, yet yield our lives to him for his name's sake. Shall we pray? Blessed God, our Father, we bow before thee now. We thank thee for thy beloved Son who came in this lowly way to enter his own city. Oh, they should have cried, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and the King of Glory shall come in. We thank thee he came not riding a great charger like an earthly king, but he came in lowliness, and yet he came in charge the whole situation.
He took charge of that animal. We bowed his feet this morning and we say, Lord Jesus, take charge of my life. Help me to submit my life to thee and you to thee. Take the reins, blessed Lord. And lead us for thy glory. We ask it in the precious name of our Lord Jesus.