The Prophecies of Palm Sunday

--- John chapter 12, we're going to be looking at a few verses here and kind of reminding ourselves of the Palm Sunday events. We call it Palm Sunday because this is the day that Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem to great excitement, fervor, and jubilation of the people. And we're going to look at some of the things related to it, particularly how Jesus came in and fulfilled prophecy during this Palm Sunday event. You know, this last week of Jesus' public ministry, starting with Palm Sunday, we're in the last week of his public ministry. This is going to be a huge week for him in terms of just that historical significance. On a Sunday, you know, Jesus rode into the city on Sunday, which would be the day after the Sabbath for the Jews, and it was in that final week that we had a lot of things going on. The Passover will take place, the arrest of Jesus, the mock trial, the trial before Pilate, and finally, of course, you know, the crucifixion. You got to know that with such a monumentous week that is before us here, the events of this day had to be very significant, and they were. So let's take a look at it, starting in verse 12, chapter 12, verse 12. It says, the next day, the great crowd that had come for the feast, and that's the feast of Passover, heard that Jesus, excuse me, was on his way to Jerusalem. And they took palm branches and they went out to meet him. And by the way, a palm branch was traditionally and historically used as a means of expressing joy in victory. It would be something that you would have seen when a conquering general would have ridden his steed into the city after a successful military campaign, and as he comes proudly riding into the city, the people would have taken up palm branches and waved to them as he came in, so as to kind of herald his coming and rejoice at the victories that were gained and so forth. So the palm branch had a very specific meaning related to that, and it was a way of the Jews to say that same thing as Jesus now was coming into the city, victory. They're saying victory. Now they don't have a clue what kind of victory they're talking about. Well, no, they do. They know what they're talking about. They're talking about victory over Rome. They don't have a clue what Jesus is about to accomplish as it relates to the victory that is going to be won on the cross, but that's a whole other situation. They even shout Hosanna, which is a term that means save now, and we're going to see the prophetic significance of that statement in just a little bit. They also said, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the King of Israel. So they recognize him from some standpoint as a king, but once again, they don't recognize the true significance, and we're told in verse 14 that Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it. As it is written, do not be afraid, O daughter of Zion, see your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt. And then here's the verse that I really kind of want to use as a springboard this morning. It says, at first, his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. Let's just pause for a moment and pray. Father, open our eyes, open our hearts, fill us with grace and understanding. We look to you, Lord, through Jesus Christ, our savior, amen. John marks this event for us, that event which, of course, for us, singularly, you know, marks this Palm Sunday celebration. But he confesses to us as he's relating it for us that he and his fellow disciples, and I'm talking about the closest to Jesus, really didn't understand, they really didn't have a clue about the historical and prophetic significance of what this event was. In fact, he said when it was happening, you know, I'm paraphrasing here, we just, we didn't know, we didn't understand, we were clueless. It wasn't until later when Jesus was glorified that we started to connect the dots and realize that these things had been spoken of beforehand and so forth. And how many prophecies Jesus actually fulfilled just in this last week? I have no idea, but we're going to take a look at some of the ones that we know for sure that he fulfilled, and we're going to look at basically three different things that John is telling us here in this passage. The first thing that, and I'll put these up on the screen for those of you that are taking notes. The first thing that he's going to tell us about, of course, is the entry of Jesus into the city. Next, of course, he's going to deal with the response of the people. And then finally, he's going to deal with the unbelief of the Jews, which we'll see a bit later. We didn't read that verse yet. We'll read it in just a moment. What you and I need to know about this point in Jesus' public ministry is that it's winding down. It's coming to an end. And Jesus is on his way into Jerusalem for the last time. And make no mistake about it, people, Jesus is coming to die. He knows that. He's been telling his disciples for a long time that that is what was going to happen. In fact, he's been saying to them prior to this point, it is not yet my time. My time has not yet come. My time has not yet come. My time has not yet come. Well, guess what? His time has come. This is now the time. And he knows exactly what's going to take place as he goes into Jerusalem. The people don't know. The disciples, as John says, they weren't connecting the dots yet. But Jesus knew and understood that his time had come. He knew that the Jews would reject him, that they would turn him over to the Gentiles, that he would be crucified for our sins on the cross. He knew exactly what was going to take place. And that, too, has been prophesied 700 years before the birth of Christ. Isaiah, moved by the Holy Spirit, I'll put it on the screen, wrote these words,

That's powerful. Maybe, I don't know, maybe I'll dare say one of the most powerful prophetic passages in all of Scripture, because it so beautifully, so poignantly, so powerfully describes what Jesus is going to do there as he goes to Jerusalem for this last time, to be ultimately rejected by his own people, the Jews. But this is where Jesus comes into the city to basically extend one more offer of reconciliation, one more offer of peace. And you might kind of ask yourself the question, why even bother? I mean, he knows what they're going to do. He knows they're going to reject him. So why even bother with extending this last olive branch, if you will, to the people? Well, that's the heart of God. It's the heart of the Lord. Knowing what he knows, always knowing what he knows, he never ceases to give more opportunities. He never ceases to pull back his arms. His arms are always extended for as long as they might be extended. The arms of the Lord are out so that people might take that opportunity. And all of this is foretold by the prophet Zechariah, once again on the screen, in these words,

Whereas Isaiah was written some 700 years prior to the birth of Christ, Zechariah penned these words about 500 years before the birth of our Lord. And in specific prophetic terms foretold that he would come through the gates of the city, riding on the colt of a donkey, and that he would come. But I want you to notice how Zechariah says he would come. Five things I want to bring out here very quickly. First of all, he comes as a king, right? Again, the people didn't understand the full dynamics of what that meant. They were looking for their Messiah king to come and set them free from bondage to Rome. But Jesus came as a different king. As he said to Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world. The kingdom of God begins in the heart of man and grows there. but he also says Zechariah tells them he comes to you he said see or a daughter of Zion you know your see your king comes to you Jesus made a specific appearance to the Jews this was a very privileged people to receive the the the human incarnation of God Almighty see your king comes to you people of Israel and he comes also thirdly righteous completely righteous before God next having salvation they course you know salvation has an interesting meaning throughout the the scripture salvation can simply mean being saved from death being saved from your enemy being saved from a well if you happen to fall into one the word salvation doesn't necessarily always refer to spiritual salvation but in this case of course it does they didn't know that but Zechariah prophesied seers your king comes to you righteous and with salvation he comes with with with an offer of salvation this is where it says his arm is out he comes with salvation did Jesus come with a sword no he came with salvation did Jesus come to punish no did he come to condemn Jesus said you know I haven't come to condemn I've come to save and then lastly he says he comes gently did you catch that you know that's all the the symbolism that we see of him riding through the city gates on a donkey if a king came riding on a donkey you know he was coming in peace if he came riding on a white horse he came as a conquering king and you better buckle up you know because things might get nasty but no this King comes riding on a donkey as a show of peace he comes peaceful Zechariah foretold all of these things in in beautiful detail and what do we see the people how do we see the people responding to this situation well of course the jubilation the excitement boy that must have been so wild for the disciples you know Jesus had always attracted pretty large crowds but they of course knew that there was a lot of opposition as well and that they had to move from town to town place to place sometimes just to kind of be safe because of the the threats that came against them from time to time but now here is Jesus and that and that and the city is full of worshipers because it's Passover time and the people are just pumped they're excited and and not only that but they're heralding him as the Messiah you know these disciples had heard Jesus time after time after time speaking to people doing miracles but yet saying to those whom he touched don't say anything to anybody don't tell anybody of course that didn't stop a lot of the folks from going out and you know running off with their mouth but but the point is he was constantly saying keep it on the DL because there was a timing issue that Jesus had related to this whole thing of being heralded publicly as Messiah and Jesus knew that if things got out of hand the people might take him by force and crown him King or at least attempt to do something in some stupid attempt to overthrow Rome which was not God's in God's plan but the point of this is that the disciples must have been so excited to see the people just in an uproar of excitement over Christ and him coming in and they're yelling and they're waving palm branches and they're taking off their outer garments and laying them down on the ground and they're saying Hosanna save now and then they're declaring blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord wonderful it's exciting you know I mean just thrilling and I think that's one of the reasons the disciples had a hard time connecting the dots of what prophetically had been said about Jesus they probably looked at this scenario coming into the city thinking wow we got this thing dialed in I mean we our popularity just absolutely went through the roof and and and we're probably good to go here now all this what was all this talk Jesus was saying about being rejected turn over to the Gentiles stuff like that there's nothing no sign of that right now things are looking good they're looking great we are we are on the rise you know sort of thing but you know as the week went on I think the people who believed that Jesus was coming as their picture of what the Messiah should be realized that he didn't have their agenda in mind and these very same people who are shouting Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord many of them will be shouting crucify him in just five days that's how quickly things can turn south that rise of popularity Jesus knew better than to try to ride any wave of public sentiment you know or popularity that might somehow suggest he's got this he's got these people in the palm of his hand he knows better he knows the fickle nature that we humans have and so forth that they might say save now Hosanna and in five days crucify him but you know it's interesting even this duplicity of the crowd is something that the prophets included interestingly enough there is a song that is connected very much to Palm Sunday and his triumphal entry into the city it's one of what we call the Hillel Psalms that Hillel means praise and it was sung during feast celebrations of Israel it's Psalm 113 through 118 is these make up these Hillel Psalms and this is the last of them and you'll notice as we look at this on the screen together that it'll contain language that very much connects us to Palm Sunday and the events that take place here from a prophetic standpoint again the Jews didn't or the disciples didn't make that connection yet but as we look at it here on the screen it says this is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter I will give you thanks for you answered me you have become my salvation the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone the Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes this is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it Oh Lord save us there's basically that as the essence of that Hosanna declaration Oh Lord grant us success blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord that's verbatim what they were saying when Jesus came into the city from the house of the Lord we bless you the Lord is God and he has made his light shine upon us with here we go with boughs in hand or branches if you will join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar this has long been considered a messianic Psalm meaning that it points to and speaks of the coming of Messiah again the disciples didn't connect it but you and I now looking in retrospect we can see Palm Sunday all throughout this section of this Psalm with taking their boughs in hand and joining the festal procession and blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord and and Lord save us and we see all these things connected here now but did you notice in the midst of all the praise and all the rejoicing and all the jubilation did you notice that one note of rejection right in there let me highlight it for you right kind of in the first part of it it says the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone or if you will the cornerstone so in the midst of it all we see this prophetic insight into the duplicity of the mind of Israel that they would rejoice in the coming of this one and joining in the festal procession and yet right there in the middle the understanding that he is the stone the builders rejected that he is a rejected King anyway we then turn to the continuing unbelief of the Jews this isn't something we've read yet join me though in there in John chapter 12 if you'll skip down to verse 37 it says this even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs and look at this in their presence it says they still would not believe in him we talked about unbelief last Sunday as part of our study in finishing up Matthew chapter 12 but I want you to notice here how John highlights the unbelief of the Jews even as he's talking about how Jesus clearly performed miracle after miracle after miracle in their presence and that's exactly what Isaiah prophesied that they would do going back to chapter 53 of Isaiah I'll put this on the screen for you two questions that the Prophet basically asks who has believed our message and to whom is the arm of the Lord been revealed now that second question is interesting remember in the The word arm always means strength. So the arm of the Lord means the strength of the Lord. So it's saying, to whom has the strength of the Lord been revealed? Well, what's the answer to that question? The answer is the Jews. They saw the arm of the Lord, the strength of the Lord clearly, powerfully. In fact, not too long from this very time when Jesus comes into the city, he's done one of his most powerful miracles that has gotten the attention of everyone. It's the raising of Lazarus. And you remember Lazarus and his sisters lived just a mere two miles from Jerusalem in Bethany. And that was an easy distance for people to travel. And many people who knew Lazarus and his sisters and respected them came to mourn with the ladies when they heard that Lazarus had died. And there was a crowd there when Jesus got there. And they were impressed when Jesus showed up. They were impressed that he cried at the tomb of Lazarus. And they were horrified when he said, take the stone away, roll the stone away. Even one of Lazarus's sisters objected and said, yeah, there's going to be a stink here because he's been there for a while. But Jesus insisted, just believe. And you guys know the story. The stone was rolled away. And Jesus stood at the mouth of the tomb, thanked God for always hearing him, and then called Lazarus by name out of the tomb. And he came out alive. The people were blown away. In fact, we're told in this very chapter of John that people were flocking from Jerusalem to Bethany to see Lazarus. They wanted to see the man who was dead and had been raised to life. They'd heard about it. Many of them had been there. Many of them had seen him come walking out of the tomb. And even more, probably by the hundreds were making their way to Bethany to see this man. In fact, the crowds were so huge going to see Lazarus. It tells us here in John chapter 12 that the Pharisees and religious leaders decided they needed to kill Lazarus too just to stop the excitement of the people. Can you imagine? What a dumb thing to do. To kill Lazarus? He's already been dead. It's like been there, done that, you know? But, you know, it's just, it's that heart of unbelief. It's interesting that the religious leaders didn't even attempt to try to explain the raising of Lazarus away. They just said, we just need to kill the guy. Keep him dead this time. You know, he's causing problems. But in the midst of all that, there is still a fundamental unwillingness on the part of the religious leaders and many of the Jews to believe, and so much so that it creates this dangerous condition in a human heart. And I want to kind of end with this thought, and it's not necessarily a fun thought, but it's an important one. And that is that repeated unbelief, unwillingness, stubbornness to embrace God and what he has shown us has, can have a lasting effect on a human heart whereby an individual then becomes unable to believe. Now, when does that take place? I don't know. I don't know what the cutoff point is, and God's not telling. He doesn't say to you and I, well, you know, there's a place, and it's right there. And once you hit that spot, you're past the point of no return. There's no turning back. You have a reprobate mind, and you're unsavable, and that's just it. He doesn't give us that specific place. And I'm glad he doesn't, because if he did, we'd play around with the edge. We try to get as, you know, one pace from the edge and play there, you know. I've even heard people say when hearing the gospel, you know, well, you know, that's all interesting. It's all good, but I need to live my life first. Maybe I'll consider these things when I get older. Consider maybe that Jesus is who he says he is, and that I should maybe open my heart to that. I'll do it when I'm older. Hey, you don't even know if you're going to get older. You don't know if you're going to get any older than you are. None of us do. And that's just playing Russian roulette with time and fate and all the other things. And in the end, it's just stubbornness and unbelief. And we're told in the word that there comes that place where you can no longer believe. And again, where that is, I don't know. But you know, Isaiah speaks of the hardness of heart that the Jews portrayed when they saw the miracles of Jesus repeatedly. And still refuse to believe. Let me put this on the screen for you. Isaiah chapter six. God speaks to the prophet. He says, make the heart of this people calloused. Make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn and be healed. I know you might read a passage like this and think, well, that's cruel. It sounds like God's fixing the situation so they can't believe. Please understand here, people. God is not rejecting people. God is responding to the repeated ongoing rejection by people of him. You know, when people reject God, when they repeatedly say, I don't want this in my life, there will come a point when again, where that point is, I don't know. But there will come a point where God will accommodate you. You know, I mean, what I have done here this morning is I've shared with you just a couple of the prophetic fulfillments of Palm Sunday. I've shown you in some passages here where God spoke either 700 or 500 years before the fact and called these events, you know, called them to detail, you know, and so forth that we can look at in the scripture. And even then, there, and you know, this is going to happen throughout our nation today as I'm sure it is right now. We're going back, we're reading these passages, we're looking at these, we're mentioning the fact that these were prophetically spoken of. And there will be people, and maybe even in this room, I hope not, but there will be people throughout the churches here in the United States and elsewhere who will get up from church and they will leave unchanged. Even in the face of the prophetic evidence, even knowing that these things can be proven, that these prophetic words were given hundreds of years before the fact in explicit detail, and yet they will walk out of church and they will not believe and they will not change their lives. They will not come to God. And I want to just issue a warning that the scripture gives a sober reminder to you and I that you can't play that game forever, that eventually there's a time of reckoning. Eventually, there's a place where we need to respond to what God has given us in his word. And I think, so I thought about this, I thought, boy, I hate to end on such a dreary note, but my heart is the same as the writer of Hebrews who, after speaking of some fairly sobering, harsh reminders of life, said this, even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case, things that accompany salvation, not things that accompany death. And so this morning, I want to just exhort you and encourage you that if there's anyone here who's been holding back in just opening your heart to the things of the Lord, just know this, you don't have forever. And even as I make this appeal to you, know that the Lord himself is making the appeal and his arms are open wide and that willingness on his part to receive you is still very much there and he wants you to come. He wants you to open your heart. He wants you to put your faith in him today. God has bent over backwards to give you and I a faith that we can look at that's reasonable. You know, people who don't believe and don't want to believe, they call what we have blind faith, anything but blind faith. It's not blind at all, it's visual. I mean, we have biblical historical records that can even be corroborated outside of the Bible that speak of the things that we've looked at here today. You know, the triumphal entry of Christ into the city. These are historical writings. And it's interesting that the triumphal entry is something that's covered in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all four of them. It's there, it's corroborated elsewhere. Not that it needs to be, but it is. And we have that historical evidence and we have biblical proof that God spoke of these things beforehand and that these things would take place. And you and I have. that evidence, that reasonable evidence on which to base our faith and say, Lord, I believe I opened my heart to you today. You know, it's not blind faith. You know, you want it, you want to hear blind faith. It's what comes out of the mouth of an atheist. When he says, I can't believe the Bible because it doesn't make sense to me. What he's done is he's placed the faculties of his own intellect above the revelation of God. Now that takes faith. And that's blind. Because you have no proof that your intellect exceeds the revelation of God and yet you believe it. Who's got blind faith? We've got a faith that's reasonable. And that is why God says through the prophets, come, let us reason together. Though your sins were like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Let us reason together. This is a reasonable thing that we have today. This is a reasonable revelation, a reasonable body of truth that is given to us in the word of God. It's not unreasonable. It's not outlandish. God has taken great pains to prove and to lay things down and to speak of things before they take place so that you and I might look at the prophetic evidence and go, yeah, God knew this. He talked about it. We know it. You know, we understand these things and we embrace them.