The King Comes to Give His Life

(John 12:12-19)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
Last time, we were in Johns Gospel,
We saw the King anointed for burial.

Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem for His final Passover.

But before He arrived,
He stopped in Bethany to minister/serve those He loved
Martha, Mary and Lazarus
And to allow them to serve Him as well:
Mary had saved a very precious ointment
That she applied to His feet and wiped with her hair.
She didnt realize it at the time,
But she was preparing Him for His burial
That for which Jesus had come into the world
Was now just a few days away,
When He would lay down His life
For everyone who had or would believe in Him.

He had earlier told His half-brothers

The children Joseph and Mary had after Jesus
Who didnt believe in Him,

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When they were trying to get Him
To go to the Feast of Booths,
That He might proclaim Himself as the Messiah,
Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not
yet fully come (John 7:8).
He didnt mean He wouldnt go up at all
God required it of all Jewish men
But He wouldnt go publicly:
The Jewish leaders were already watching the roads
Hoping to find Jesus outside the city
That they might kill Him
Because He had healed a lame man on the Sabbath.
They couldnt take Him
God would not let them take Him
Because it wasnt yet His time to die.
John writes in verse 30, So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his
hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come,
And in chapter 8:20, These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the
temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.

But now that time had come

This would be Jesus last Passover.

B. Preview.
Easter is when our attention is drawn to this event
When we remember the events of Passion Week:

His entrance into Jerusalem;

His Last Supper with His disciples;
His betrayal, trial, death;
And particularly,
When He was raised again to life:
When we remember what Jesus did
To save those of us who trust in Him
From what we justly deserve
And to give us life that has no end
In a paradise of perfect love and blessing
Purely as a free gift of His love.

This morning, were going to focus on His entrance into Jerusalem,

Since thats where we are in our study of Johns Gospel.
This evening, well consider why the resurrection is important.
Lets consider three things from this passage:
1. The Kings presentation.
2. The Kings purpose.
3. And the response of the Kings disciples.

II. Sermon.
A. First, lets consider the Kings presentation.
1. John writes, On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when
they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm
trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, Hosanna! BLESSED IS

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HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel
(vv. 12-13).
John tells us a large crowd went out to meet Him.
There were many Jews present in Jerusalem
Because Passover was one of the three required feasts
All the men had to be there.
Many of the women also came
Because they wanted to celebrate
The Lords deliverance of their forefathers out of Egypt.
Passover commemorates the final plague God inflicted on Egypt
That took the lives of all their firstborn
The plague that finally compelled Pharaoh to let Israel go.

Before that judgment,

God promised He would spare His own people
If they would sacrifice a lamb
And put its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses.
That sacrificial lamb was pointing to Jesus
It was a picture of the Lamb of God
Who takes away the sins of the world
Whose blood would cause Gods judgment
To pass over all who would believe in Him.

What better time could there have been for Jesus to present Himself?
Most of the Jews from all over the Roman Empire were there,

Celebrating a feast that pointed to Him.

Its almost surprising to see

How many Jews actually came out to greet Jesus,
Especially considering how many times Johns already told us
That the Jews in Jerusalem wanted to kill Him.
But lets not forget:
Not all of the Jews had rejected Him;
There were many other Jews
From all over the Roman Empire
Who had come for this feast
Who had never seen Jesus, but only heard about Him.
There were also many
Who had either seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead,
Or had talked to those who had,
Who were inclined to believe.
John writes in verses 17-18, So the people, who were with Him when He called
Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about
Him. For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that
He had performed this sign.

This shows us how powerful personal witness can be.

We may not have seen the miracles of the Bible with our own eyes,
But we have read the eye-witness testimonies of those who did.
We also have the testimony of our own lives:

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The Lord has raised us to life;
He has changed us by His grace;
Hes given us a supernatural ability to love
Not only one another,
But all men: even our enemies.
Jesus said this would be the most powerful testimony we could give:
By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another (John 13:35).

2. John tells us that those who had come out to see Jesus
Had also brought palm branches with them.
Since God doesnt fill His Word with unnecessary details,
What did He want us to see here?

We know there were many palm trees in that area.

On one side of the Mount of Olives
There were many olive trees
Which is why its called the Mount of Olives.
But on the southern side
The side Bethany was on
There were many palm trees.
Since Bethany was close to Jerusalem,
The palm branches were near at hand.

But why bring them at all?

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John Gill tells us that to the Jewish mind
The palm tree was a symbol of joy and victory:
Those who carried these branches out to meet Him
Were rejoicing that their King
The promised Messiah
Had finally come to the city of David to sit on His throne.

That this is what they were thinking

Is clear from the Messianic psalm they were quoting:
Psalm 118:26, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD; we
have blessed you from the house of the LORD.

What this means is,

The One they had waited and prayed for, for so long,
The Son God promised to David
Whose throne He would establish forever,
The One who would save them
In their minds, from the tyranny of Rome
Was finally here.
This was a time to celebrate.

B. Second, we see the Kings purpose:

I just mentioned that these Jews
Expected the Messiah to lead them to victory over the Romans
But they were wrong.

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If that wasnt His purpose,
Why did He come?
He came to save them from another tyrant
One that was much more dangerous,
Because its consequences were much more deadly: sin.
Rome can only kill the body,
But sin can destroy the soul.

They didnt realize it at the time,

But the psalm they were shouting,
As well as the animal Jesus was riding,
Were both meant to teach them this.

In verse 13, the crowd was shouting, Hosanna!

Which is another quote from Psalm 118.
The word means save now, we beg you.
The psalmist writes in verse 25, O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD, we
beseech You, do send prosperity!
What would have to happen to bring this about
Was mentioned a few verses earlier in this psalm,
Which we also read in our call to worship:
The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. This is
the LORDS doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD
has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (vv. 22-24).
Jesus must be rejected by Israels leaders,
Crucified,

And then be raised from the dead.

We also see this in the way He chose to enter Jerusalem:

On the back of a donkey.
John writes, Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, FEAR NOT,
DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A
DONKEY'S COLT (vv. 14-15).
He chose this animal for at least three reasons:

1. First, He did it to fulfill prophecy:

The Lord said through the prophet Zechariah,
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of
Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with
salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a
donkey (9:9).

2. Second, He did this to express humility,

As we just read, He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted
on a donkey.
God never allowed the kings of Israel to own horses
So they wouldnt be tempted to rely on them for victory
He wanted them to trust Him.
Its hard to picture a conqueror riding on the back of a donkey.
This is why when a king was anointed over Judah,
He would ride a donkey to the ceremony.

3. But there is another possible reason

Jesus came into Jerusalem on the back of this particular animal:

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Its because donkeys were used to make covenants.

If two men wanted to make a covenant,

They would take an animal not uncommonly a donkey
Cut it in two,
And then walk between the pieces as a declaration
That if either of them broke the covenant
That it should be done to them as was done to this animal.
Obviously, what was at stake had to be serious enough
To warrant such a penalty if the covenant was broken.

When the Lord made His covenant with Abraham,

He had Abraham take several animals
Cut them into two pieces,
And then wait for Him to arrive.
When the Lord finally appeared,
He caused Abraham to fall into a deep sleep,
While He alone walked through the pieces
And swore the oath,
To show that He was taking the obligation on Himself
To bring the blessings of the covenant
To Abraham and his children.

Now we see the Lord

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The same Lord who made that covenant with Abraham
Come to Jerusalem in our nature,
On the back of a donkey
To fulfill the promise He made with Abraham
To bless and multiply his children
As the sand of the sea,
And as the stars of the heavens
Not the physical children of Abraham,
But his spiritual children:
Those who believe like Abraham.

Jesus was coming to fulfill that covenant

By offering Himself as a sacrifice for sins,
So that all who believe in Him
Might not perish,
But have eternal life.
Paul writes, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,
So that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).

Now there is much more that happened after this.

The rest of Johns Gospel describes
What Jesus had to do to bring down
The blessings of His covenant
The blessings of salvation.

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Were not going to have time
To look at all of it this morning;
But let me give you a quick sketch:
Jesus allowed Himself to be betrayed into the hands of His enemies.
He was put on trial and found guilty
Though He committed no sin
Nor was any deceit found in His mouth.
He was handed over to the Romans to be mocked, scourged,
And then crucified
He was nailed to a cross between two criminals.
He suffered Gods full wrath on the cross.
And when He had suffered enough,
He willingly gave up His spirit and died.
He was buried and remained in the tomb for three days,
And on the third day, He rose against from the dead.
After showing Himself to His disciples,
And to over 500 at one time,
He ascended into heaven,
And sat down at the right hand of God,
To rule over all Creation
Until He comes again to judge the world.

He did all of this,

That He might save everyone who believes in Him.

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C. Finally, we see the response of the Kings disciples.

Did they understand all of this?
Did they know what was going on?
Surprisingly, having been with Jesus for three and a half years,
And having heard Him teach many times on this subject,
They still didnt seem to have a clue
But they would shortly.
John writes, These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when
Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him,
and that they had done these things to Him (v. 16).

When Jesus was betrayed, condemned and crucified,

They also thought Gods plan had failed.
They were still thinking like the rest of the Jews
That Jesus had come to overthrow the Romans.
They wouldnt understand until Jesus was glorified
Until sitting at the right hand of God,
He poured His Spirit out upon them.
When that happened,
They finally began to see
What Jesus had actually done for them.

Do you understand?
Do you know what Hes done to save sinners?

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Do you believe He is the Messiah,
The King of Israel,
The Savior of the world?
Do you believe He laid down His life willingly,
That He was buried,
That He rose again
To save all who would trust in Him?
Do you believe He ascended into heaven,
And sat down at the right hand of God;
That He is ruling this world,
And that one day He will come again
To judge everyone who has ever lived?

Believing these things,

Have you trusted Jesus to save you?
Are you turning from your sins every day
And following Him
His example of how He loved and served the Father and His fellow man?

If you do believe;
If you have trusted Him;
If you are turning from your sins
And following Him because you love Him,
Then the Lord has had mercy on you.

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He has also given you His Spirit.
You are safe.

If not, then Jesus freely invites you to come to Him this morning.
He will save you if you do.
He wont turn you away.
He did all these things
So that everyone who will turn from their sins
And come to Him would be safe.
He calls you to look to Him in faith
Like one of the thieves
Who on the cross
In the last few moments of his life,
Looked to Him and asked Jesus
To remember him when He came into His kingdom.
Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise
(Luke 23:43).
Is that what you want?
Do you want to be in heaven with Jesus
In a world of perfect love and holiness
Rather than in a fiery hell for your sins?
All you need to do is take Jesus at His word.
If you want Him, He is here for you.
Reach out and receive Him this morning. Amen.

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