March 10, 2025 • 27 mins
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Jesus arrives in Jerusalem riding a humble donkey while crowds shout "Hosanna!" - but what does this seemingly simple event reveal about the radical difference between God's kingdom and human kingdoms?
At the heart of Palm Sunday lies a fascinating paradox. Standing before Pilate, Jesus declares, "My kingdom is not of this world," establishing a fundamental contrast that runs through this entire episode. As we examine Jesus' triumphal entry more closely, we discover three profound characteristics that set God's kingdom apart.
First, God's kingdom transcends time itself. Multiple prophecies converge on this singular moment - Daniel precisely predicting the day of Messiah's arrival, Zechariah describing the donkey He would ride, and Psalms providing the very words the crowds would shout. This reveals a God who doesn't simply have endless time but exists completely outside it, seeing beginning and end simultaneously. For believers facing uncertainty, this brings extraordinary comfort: while we cannot see tomorrow, our eternal King already holds it in His hands.
Second, God's kingdom operates through humility rather than dominance. No conquering hero on a majestic stallion here - just a carpenter with His feet likely dragging on the ground while riding a baby donkey. This counterintuitive image perfectly captures Christ's mission: "The Son of Man came to serve, to give his life a ransom for many." The world's rulers demand service; the true King came to serve us.
Finally, God's kingdom begins spiritually before manifesting physically. After entering Jerusalem, Jesus immediately went to the temple, foreshadowing His cleansing work the next day. Similarly, He desires to enter our lives and lovingly challenge what doesn't belong. This spiritual transformation often proves uncomfortable as He gently asks, "Can I sit there?" of the throne we naturally want to occupy.
What throne are you occupying today that rightfully belongs to the King? Your time? Your resources? Your deepest desires? The invitation of Palm Sunday remains unchanged: to welcome not just a King, but your King.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
All right, two places that you can get to in the
Bible, two places.
The first one is John, chapter18, verse 36.
John, chapter 18, verse 36.
And then the passage we'rereally considering today, that
was Mark, chapter 11,.
You figured right Mark, chapter11, verse 1, next place in
(00:30):
study there.
So John, chapter 18, verse 36,and then Mark, chapter 11, verse
1, and you know, as we've beengoing through the book of Mark,
we are headed to the cross.
Jesus has had his eyes set onthe cross and going to the cross
(00:51):
and chapter 10, we had a littlebit of a detour, six months or
so, of final bit of ministry tothe area called Judea.
But the next five chaptersinvolve less than a week of time
, the time right before thecross and the cross.
So think about that.
We've got 16 chapters in thebook of Mark and five of them
(01:16):
cover about a week of time.
So things are slowing down andgetting a little more intense as
we look at this Now.
It'll probably take us monthsto get through those five
chapters, but really they onlycover about a week.
Today we will start here in John18, but we're going to consider
(01:39):
what we know as Palm Sunday.
Most of us would call PalmSunday, or was one commentator
pointed out this morning PalmMonday, and he had a great case
for why this Palm Sunday wasactually on a Monday and how
that fits in time.
But I think I'd probably boreyou if we went over that.
So I can give you the link andyou can watch that study if you
would like.
(01:59):
But Palm Sunday, palm Monday,you picture it.
It is the week before the cross.
The cross will come on Fridayand again time slows down
considerably.
Now, as we look at this PalmSunday, this triumphal entry, we
(02:22):
see Jesus coming as king.
That's what they're saying,that's what he's doing and it's
this idea of the kingdom beingestablished.
Now Jesus gives us some greatcommentary on what it means the
kingdom of God, what this ideaof the kingdom of God means.
Notice John, chapter 18.
(02:42):
You don't get better commentarythan Jesus.
John, chapter 18, verse 36.
Jesus is standing before Pilateand it says here in verse 36,
jesus answered my kingdom is notof this world.
If my kingdom were of thisworld, my servants would fight.
If my kingdom were of thisworld, my servants would fight
(03:04):
so that I should not bedelivered to the Jews.
But now my kingdom is not fromhere.
So as we consider this kingdomof God, we realize that it's
(03:25):
completely different than thekingdom of man or the kingdom of
earth.
The kingdom of God, jesus says,is not of this world.
My kingdom is not from here.
So we're going to look at thiskind of comparison and this
kingdom of God today.
But I wanted us to have thiscommentary that Jesus says my
kingdom is different than thekingdom of the world.
Now turn over to Mark, chapter11.
(03:46):
Mark, chapter 11, verse 1.
Let's read it.
Notice now, when they drew nearto Jerusalem, to Bethphage and
Bethany, at the Mount of Olives,he sent two of his disciples
and said to them go into thevillage opposite you and as soon
(04:09):
as you have entered it, youwill find a colt on which no one
has sat.
Loose it and bring it.
If anyone says to you why areyou doing this, say the Lord has
need of it and immediately hewill send it here.
So they went their way and foundthe colt tied to the door
outside on the street, and theyloosed it.
(04:30):
But some of those who stoodthere said to them what are you
doing, loosing this colt?
No kidding.
And they spoke and said just asJesus had commanded them.
So they let them go and theybrought the colt to Jesus and
threw their clothes on it and hesat on it and they spread their
(04:50):
clothes on the road and otherscut down leafy branches from the
trees and spread them on theroad and those who went before
and those who followed cried outsaying Hosanna, blessed is he
who comes in the name of theLord, blessed is the kingdom of
our father David that comes inthe name of the Lord Hosanna in
the highest.
And Jesus went into Jerusalemand into the temple.
(05:14):
So when he had looked around atall the things, as the hour was
already late, he went out toBethany with the twelve.
So here we see this kingdom ofGod coming right and we see,
different than the kingdom ofman, some things about this
kingdom of God.
In verses one through seven wesee that it's an eternal kingdom
(05:37):
.
It's not temporal, it's eternal.
And we see this in this gettingof the donkey right.
You picture this and it's kindof almost humorous.
Here Jesus sends his disciplesinto the town and says look,
you're going to find a donkey, acolt of a donkey.
(05:59):
You're going to find it tied.
I want you to go and loose thatand take it and bring it to me.
If anyone, we just read it,right?
If anyone says, hey, what areyou doing?
Tell them the Lord has need ofit.
Now, that's kind of sketchy ifyou ask me, but Jesus knows
exactly what's going to happen.
The story right here involvesprophecy.
Now, come in for this oneProphecy.
(06:23):
We know the term prophecy.
It means to we get the idea oftelling the future before it
happens, and the Bible is filledwith prophecy.
But this is kind of ashort-term prophecy that Jesus
gives here.
He tells his disciples this isthe way it's going to be, this
is what's going to happen, thisis what they're going to say,
but it's all going to cometogether.
Jesus predicts the future.
(06:47):
Now, as we look at this, weshould be kind of blown away,
because prophecy is one of thosethings that only God can do.
It has to do with relationshipto time.
Right, god is eternal.
We look at that and we go Godis eternal.
Well, he's just got a lot oftime.
You know years and years andyears and years and lots of
(07:10):
thousands and millions of years.
God has it all.
He's eternal.
And we look at ourselves and wego well, I'm not eternal.
Right, I've got a schedule,I've got 24 hours in a day, and
where did the hours go?
I don't know Time.
You know, as in last nightright, time kind of mugs us.
You know what I mean.
It comes and knocks us down andsays I'm taking an hour from
(07:33):
you right now, you know, and wego oh, I'm a slave to time.
But God is not Now.
Check it out.
When we look at prophecy, we dothink about God having just lots
of time.
When we say that he's eternal,we think he has lots of time.
But that's not really a goodway to look at it.
A better way to look at it isthat he's outside of time.
(07:56):
God isn't just filled with time, he doesn't just have a ton of
time on his hands.
He's outside of time.
Time is like the timelines thatwe remember from school, right,
and you know, we see all thedifferent events of American
history or whatever it is, andwe look and go there's the
timeline and we're stuck righthere in 2025.
(08:18):
That's where our time is.
Well, god is outside of time.
He looks down at the timelineand he sees the beginning and he
sees the end.
Both are just as real andpresent to him as the other
right, the garden, adam and Eve.
He sees it and it's right therethe end of time and the
(08:40):
establishment of God's literalkingdom on earth.
He sees it and he knows it.
So God is eternal and here inthis event, we see his eternal
nature and prophecy.
Now Matthew in his account saysall this was done, that it
(09:00):
might be fulfilled, which wasspoken by the prophet.
So this whole event, matthewsays and we see lots of
different prophecies comingtogether on this day that we
have in front of us here in Mark, chapter 11.
I'll just list a few.
(09:21):
Try to track all right.
Daniel, chapter 9, verse 25.
There's an amazing prophecythere.
We could talk for an hour onthis prophecy, daniel 9, 25.
It's known as the 70 weeksprophecy.
Study it, it would be a greatstudy.
But what does it say?
This prophecy to Daniel givesthe exact day that the Messiah
(09:45):
would come as the king, theexact day, and it starts a timer
for us.
Daniel is told from the goingforth of the command to restore
and rebuild Jerusalem to thecoming of Messiah, the prince
will be.
And then you work the math andit's like 178,880 days.
And so, just like one of ourAlexa, timers don't want to say
(10:09):
it too loud you set that timer.
You say set a timer for mybaked potato or whatever, and it
counts down.
So Daniel is given a prophecythat starts at a specific date
and time and the timer starts.
That starts at a specific dateand time and the timer starts
173,880 days later, it ends andit comes to this exact day.
(10:33):
Now you can study this and go,wow, that's crazy, the exact day
.
But that's why Jesus will say inMatthew's gospel I believe he
would say you know what, ifeverybody was quiet, the rocks
would cry out.
It's so important that I'mproclaimed as king and Messiah.
(10:54):
Jesus says that even the rockswould do it if nobody else did.
But here we see the peopledoing it.
They're yelling Hosanna,blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord, blessed is thekingdom of our father David.
So this amazing prophecy,daniel, chapter nine.
It is fulfilled here in Mark,chapter 11.
(11:16):
Check it out.
Zechariah, chapter nine, versenine, also fulfilled.
Now Matthew quotes, quotes it,but Mark does not.
But here's what.
Here's what Zechariah 9.9 saysListen to this.
Rejoice greatly, o daughter ofZion, shout, o daughter of
(11:38):
Jerusalem.
Behold, your king is coming toyou.
He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey,
a colt, the fool of a donkey.
And so here Zechariah tells usthis is how the Messiah is going
to come.
Now, zechariah says this about400 years before Christ, about
(11:59):
the same time as Daniel.
But he says this is how itcomes down the Messiah will come
on a donkey.
So this donkey here, not aflute, it's all part of the plan
that God knew beforehand.
Now one more passage actuallytwo, but they're started
together is Psalm 118, verse 25and 26, and Psalm 148.
(12:22):
Mark actually quotes it here inverse 9 and 10.
That's Psalm 118 and Psalm 148,kind of just a mix of both of
those he puts down in there andwe read those would cry out
saying Hosanna, blessed is hewho comes in the name of the
Lord.
Now that passage again.
(12:44):
About a thousand yearsbeforehand, david writes in a
Psalm those words and the peopleknew Hosanna, save now that
this was a picture of theMessiah coming.
Now, check it out.
Did they know what they weresaying?
Maybe, maybe there were somethat had done the math on
(13:09):
Daniel's prophecy and said theMessiah will come to Jerusalem
on this day and I'm gonna bethere saying this messianic
psalm, hosanna say now, maybe,maybe not, I don't know, but one
way or another the people weregoing to say that Jesus was
going to come, and he was goingto come riding on a donkey.
(13:31):
So check it out.
God's kingdom is an eternalkingdom.
Time is not an issue.
One little bit of applicationbefore we move on from this.
God is eternal.
That should bring a huge amountof comfort to us.
Now follow this, please listen.
(13:52):
God is eternal.
That means he knows thebeginning from the end.
You don't, I don't, you don'tknow what the future looks like
for you.
You don't know what this weeklooks like.
You don't know and I don't meanto be ominous about that
there's some good stuff too,right but you don't know what's
going to happen.
You don't know where you'regoing to be a year from now, but
(14:12):
God does.
A year from now, but God does.
So the application is so hugehere.
Trust God, he knows the future,he knows your future and he's
really good.
Trust him and just casteverything on him.
(14:33):
So God's kingdom, unlike man'skingdom, is eternal.
The next thing we see in verse 8, specifically 8 through 10, is
we see that God's kingdom isheavenly, not earthly.
Again, remember what Jesus saidthere in John 18, 36.
My kingdom is not of this world, my kingdom is not from here,
(14:54):
it's a heavenly kingdom.
Now, check it out.
If you were planning a kingdom,what would you expect?
Maybe, some might, a mightykingdom, some armies marching in
a parade, right?
You know?
You see on the news, you knowsome missiles and some tanks and
saluting a mighty army, amighty kingdom.
(15:17):
That's man's kingdom.
Maybe majestic, a king ridingon a white stallion, galloping
and waving majestically mypeople.
Yes, majestic kingdom.
A monarch with a robe and acrown.
But what does it look like inthis heavenly kingdom?
(15:38):
So different, right, it'shumble, not mighty.
A donkey, Now you have to kindof think about that.
A donkey is so different from ahorse, isn't it?
I mean, donkeys make you laugha little bit, you know, when
they're not being stubborn,right, they kind of make you
laugh.
Horses, they gallop into the.
(16:00):
You know, you can picture oneof those movie scenes of horses
rushing into battle with thesabers and you just go right
there, man, it's just a horse.
Then you see a donkey, and whatdoes it do?
Clippity-clop, clippity-clop,clippity-clop.
I don't know what story thatwas, but I remember
Clippity-clop, clippity-clop,and even just the way they walk,
(16:22):
you just kind of want to laugh.
Now the Antichrist in the bookof Revelation, chapter 6, he
comes riding on a white horse.
Jesus will come on a whitehorse too, but the Antichrist
comes with this look of power.
Jesus comes riding on a donkey,but not just a donkey, it's a
(16:45):
colt, a foal of a donkey.
I don't even quite understandthose words, but I know it's a
baby donkey, right?
So picture this buff carpenter,right?
I mean, that's the way Ipicture Jesus.
He's a carpenter, works withhis hands, he's no wimp.
And there he is, riding a babydonkey into the city His legs,
(17:09):
his feet, dragging on the groundas he goes.
You're not going to win abattle on a donkey.
Imagine trying to get away on adonkey.
All right, let's go, you know.
And there he comes, humbly.
Now we know that he didn't cometo rule when he first came.
(17:31):
He came to serve.
Mark tells us that, that theSon of man came to serve, to
give his life a ransom for many.
Let's turn to Psalm 118.
Turn to Psalm 118.
It's quoted in part here in ourpassage, but 118, verse 25,
(17:53):
this is kind of where thatstatement comes from, psalm 118,
verse 25.
And let's listen to all thewords Save now.
I pray, o Lord.
The save now.
There is where we get the wordHosanna from.
(18:14):
Hosanna means save now.
So save now.
I pray, o Lord, o Lord, I pray.
Send now prosperity.
Blessed is he who comes in thename of the Lord.
They said that we have blessedyou from the house of the Lord,
the temple.
God is the Lord and he hasgiven us light.
(18:36):
Now look at verse 27.
Bind the sacrifice with cordsto the horns of the altar.
So you've got this song that'slike God, save now, be our
Messiah, be our king Hosanna.
And then, before you even getdone with the idea, they say
(18:57):
bind the sacrifice to the altar.
And we know that's exactly whatthe king did.
He became a sacrifice for us.
Now that's foreign right.
Israel didn't understand thatin the day especially.
You're gonna be the king,you're gonna kick out the Romans
.
No, I'm gonna be the king.
You're going to kick out theRomans.
(19:18):
No, I'm going to be the king.
I'm going to die, I'm going togive my life, I'm going to rise
again.
But that's the king, that's thekingdom.
Humble, a servant, and it's notphysical, but it's spiritual.
Look at verse 11.
Let's go back to Mark, verse 11.
(19:38):
It's spiritual, we'll finish itup with this.
And Jesus went into Jerusalem,into the temple.
So when he had looked around atall things, the hour was
already late.
He went out to Bethany with the12.
So after Jesus rides into thecity of Jerusalem, bethany, we
find him in the temple.
(19:59):
Now in verse 15 through 19,.
We'll get to it next week,probably In 15 through 19,.
Jesus goes into the temple thenext day and he cleans house.
You picture it right, not on adonkey, but he comes into the
temple and he just whoops up onpeople who are misrepresenting
(20:21):
God, who were selling sacrificesat a profit.
And he just whoops up on peoplewho are misrepresenting God,
who were selling sacrifices at aprofit and making people resent
coming to worship God,misrepresenting the heart of the
Father.
And Jesus goes in and he's notjust gentle about it, right, he
makes a whip out of a cord andhe goes in and starts just
lashing people on the rear.
(20:42):
You know, he chases people out.
It says he didn't even let himlike walk.
He overturns tables and letsthe doves out and all these
different things.
Jesus goes in and he cleanshouse and sometimes we forget
about that spiritual nature ofthe kingdom?
Right, because God does thatwith us.
Right, god comes into our houseand he says hey, what are you
(21:07):
doing?
This isn't right, this isn't myheart for the world.
That attitude, that's not myheart, that obsession, that's
not what I want for you.
And it's painful.
When God comes into our livesand he cleans up things, he says
you know what, as much as ithurts, you've got to get rid of
that.
That's not it.
(21:27):
That sanctification is apainful thing and we want to
call the shots.
That's why it's so hard.
You know, there's this thronein our heart that authors talk
about often, this throne in ourheart and we want to sit on it
and be king.
You know, we've had the sametable.
(21:50):
Yeah, what.
We've had the same table sincewe got married.
We refinished it and when wefirst got married, we had two
chairs right, and we actually,when we first got married, we
ate on a right and we actually,when we first got married, we
ate on a side table.
That was really fun.
But that's where you start andthen you get everything and you
have too much.
But check it out.
We had this table and itstarted out with two chairs and
(22:12):
then when we got kids, wefigured we better get some more
seats.
So we got these benches fromIkea.
It just worked, it looked cool,it worked.
But you know, the benches whereI'm at now in life, the benches
are not a happy place to sit,you know.
And it's not because I have tobe at the front of the table,
that's not I don't, I don't care.
It's because my back hurtsRight, so often.
(22:35):
You know I don't do this veryoften, but sometimes it's your
back hurts.
And you know the kids aresitting in the good chairs
because who could blame them.
And you go, hey, could I sitthere?
You know, humbly, could I sitthere?
Your dear old dad, can he sitthere?
And you know to sit in thatchair with the back because the
back hurts.
(22:56):
Well, you know, I just thoughtabout it, I thought about that
phrase Can I sit there?
And I think about God, who hasevery right to be at the head of
our table.
That's more of the thing.
He has every right to call theshots.
And here we are, just sittingin the throne of our own life.
You say, here's my plan, here'swhat I'm going to do.
(23:17):
You know, five-year plan,10-year plan, whatever.
Here's what I got planned.
And we're sitting on the thronein our own life and I really do
think in all love, but inauthority, he comes to us and he
says, hey, can I sit there?
And that's like the thing oflife.
(23:37):
We're like, no, no, I'm driving, yeah, and I I'll sit here.
Can I sit there?
And God says those kinds ofthings in our life and it's
painful and it can be kind ofhumbling, but we see that the
kingdom of God is a spiritualthing.
Jesus said in Luke the kingdomof God is within you, a
(24:03):
spiritual thing.
That's where the kingdom of Godstarts and Jesus goes in and
cleans.
It's painful, but Jesus doesthe same thing with us.
Now, all of this, this is theking that we have right, not a
temporal king, we're talking aneternal king, not a worldly king
, a heavenly king who comeshumbly to seek and save and
(24:26):
serve, a spiritual king whowants to rule in our hearts.
Now check it out, the end ofthe book.
You can always ruin the end ofthe book and go to the book of
Revelation.
You see that one day Jesusactually comes.
Psalm 1 says he'll rule with arod of iron.
He'll rule and reign.
(24:47):
Literally, I don't even knowwhat that looks like, but he'll
establish a physical kingdom onearth.
Oh man, everything's going tobe great, right?
He'll rule over things likedeath and war and violence no
more, right.
He'll rule over things likedeath and war and violence no
more, right.
There'll be no more bills Yay,none of that junk, you know.
(25:10):
And Jesus will rule and reignphysically over all of it.
And we look at that and we go.
So that kind of kingdom, thekingdom here on earth, will come
.
But right now it's a littledifferent.
But it will be that and reallyit comes down to it.
(25:32):
It always comes down to it.
He is the king, but is he ourking?
And you come back to that pointwhere you go.
It's so natural for us to sit inthe driver's seat, it's so
natural for us to sit on thethrone in our life and call the
shots.
That's not the way it's meantto be.
(25:55):
That God would not just be aking but be our king.
That's the punchline everysingle time, that he would be
our king, that we would trusthim and put ourselves under him.
But he's so good a sacrificefor us.
He loves us, god.
(26:16):
It's so easy to just considerthese things in a technical way
and yet it's all practical inthe end.
God, that you're not just aking, but you're our king.
God, I pray that you would beking over all of our desires.
Where we have some good desiresin our life, god, I just pray
that you would be the ruler overthose things, god, over the
(26:40):
real, practical things in ourlife, our time, our money.
God, I just pray that you wouldbe king of those things too,
and we would let you rule andhave your way.
God, I pray that you would makethese things real to us even
today.
Thank you, these things real tous even today.
All right, two places that you can get to in the
Bible, two places.
The first one is John, chapter18, verse 36.
John, chapter 18, verse 36.
And then the passage we'rereally considering today, that
was Mark, chapter 11,.
You figured right Mark, chapter11, verse 1, next place in
(00:30):
study there.
So John, chapter 18, verse 36,and then Mark, chapter 11, verse
1, and you know, as we've beengoing through the book of Mark,
we are headed to the cross.
Jesus has had his eyes set onthe cross and going to the cross
(00:51):
and chapter 10, we had a littlebit of a detour, six months or
so, of final bit of ministry tothe area called Judea.
But the next five chaptersinvolve less than a week of time
, the time right before thecross and the cross.
So think about that.
We've got 16 chapters in thebook of Mark and five of them
(01:16):
cover about a week of time.
So things are slowing down andgetting a little more intense as
we look at this Now.
It'll probably take us monthsto get through those five
chapters, but really they onlycover about a week.
Today we will start here in John18, but we're going to consider
(01:39):
what we know as Palm Sunday.
Most of us would call PalmSunday, or was one commentator
pointed out this morning PalmMonday, and he had a great case
for why this Palm Sunday wasactually on a Monday and how
that fits in time.
But I think I'd probably boreyou if we went over that.
So I can give you the link andyou can watch that study if you
would like.
(01:59):
But Palm Sunday, palm Monday,you picture it.
It is the week before the cross.
The cross will come on Fridayand again time slows down
considerably.
Now, as we look at this PalmSunday, this triumphal entry, we
(02:22):
see Jesus coming as king.
That's what they're saying,that's what he's doing and it's
this idea of the kingdom beingestablished.
Now Jesus gives us some greatcommentary on what it means the
kingdom of God, what this ideaof the kingdom of God means.
Notice John, chapter 18.
(02:42):
You don't get better commentarythan Jesus.
John, chapter 18, verse 36.
Jesus is standing before Pilateand it says here in verse 36,
jesus answered my kingdom is notof this world.
If my kingdom were of thisworld, my servants would fight.
If my kingdom were of thisworld, my servants would fight
(03:04):
so that I should not bedelivered to the Jews.
But now my kingdom is not fromhere.
So as we consider this kingdomof God, we realize that it's
(03:25):
completely different than thekingdom of man or the kingdom of
earth.
The kingdom of God, jesus says,is not of this world.
My kingdom is not from here.
So we're going to look at thiskind of comparison and this
kingdom of God today.
But I wanted us to have thiscommentary that Jesus says my
kingdom is different than thekingdom of the world.
Now turn over to Mark, chapter11.
(03:46):
Mark, chapter 11, verse 1.
Let's read it.
Notice now, when they drew nearto Jerusalem, to Bethphage and
Bethany, at the Mount of Olives,he sent two of his disciples
and said to them go into thevillage opposite you and as soon
(04:09):
as you have entered it, youwill find a colt on which no one
has sat.
Loose it and bring it.
If anyone says to you why areyou doing this, say the Lord has
need of it and immediately hewill send it here.
So they went their way and foundthe colt tied to the door
outside on the street, and theyloosed it.
(04:30):
But some of those who stoodthere said to them what are you
doing, loosing this colt?
No kidding.
And they spoke and said just asJesus had commanded them.
So they let them go and theybrought the colt to Jesus and
threw their clothes on it and hesat on it and they spread their
(04:50):
clothes on the road and otherscut down leafy branches from the
trees and spread them on theroad and those who went before
and those who followed cried outsaying Hosanna, blessed is he
who comes in the name of theLord, blessed is the kingdom of
our father David that comes inthe name of the Lord Hosanna in
the highest.
And Jesus went into Jerusalemand into the temple.
(05:14):
So when he had looked around atall the things, as the hour was
already late, he went out toBethany with the twelve.
So here we see this kingdom ofGod coming right and we see,
different than the kingdom ofman, some things about this
kingdom of God.
In verses one through seven wesee that it's an eternal kingdom
(05:37):
.
It's not temporal, it's eternal.
And we see this in this gettingof the donkey right.
You picture this and it's kindof almost humorous.
Here Jesus sends his disciplesinto the town and says look,
you're going to find a donkey, acolt of a donkey.
(05:59):
You're going to find it tied.
I want you to go and loose thatand take it and bring it to me.
If anyone, we just read it,right?
If anyone says, hey, what areyou doing?
Tell them the Lord has need ofit.
Now, that's kind of sketchy ifyou ask me, but Jesus knows
exactly what's going to happen.
The story right here involvesprophecy.
Now, come in for this oneProphecy.
(06:23):
We know the term prophecy.
It means to we get the idea oftelling the future before it
happens, and the Bible is filledwith prophecy.
But this is kind of ashort-term prophecy that Jesus
gives here.
He tells his disciples this isthe way it's going to be, this
is what's going to happen, thisis what they're going to say,
but it's all going to cometogether.
Jesus predicts the future.
(06:47):
Now, as we look at this, weshould be kind of blown away,
because prophecy is one of thosethings that only God can do.
It has to do with relationshipto time.
Right, god is eternal.
We look at that and we go Godis eternal.
Well, he's just got a lot oftime.
You know years and years andyears and years and lots of
(07:10):
thousands and millions of years.
God has it all.
He's eternal.
And we look at ourselves and wego well, I'm not eternal.
Right, I've got a schedule,I've got 24 hours in a day, and
where did the hours go?
I don't know Time.
You know, as in last nightright, time kind of mugs us.
You know what I mean.
It comes and knocks us down andsays I'm taking an hour from
(07:33):
you right now, you know, and wego oh, I'm a slave to time.
But God is not Now.
Check it out.
When we look at prophecy, we dothink about God having just lots
of time.
When we say that he's eternal,we think he has lots of time.
But that's not really a goodway to look at it.
A better way to look at it isthat he's outside of time.
(07:56):
God isn't just filled with time, he doesn't just have a ton of
time on his hands.
He's outside of time.
Time is like the timelines thatwe remember from school, right,
and you know, we see all thedifferent events of American
history or whatever it is, andwe look and go there's the
timeline and we're stuck righthere in 2025.
(08:18):
That's where our time is.
Well, god is outside of time.
He looks down at the timelineand he sees the beginning and he
sees the end.
Both are just as real andpresent to him as the other
right, the garden, adam and Eve.
He sees it and it's right therethe end of time and the
(08:40):
establishment of God's literalkingdom on earth.
He sees it and he knows it.
So God is eternal and here inthis event, we see his eternal
nature and prophecy.
Now Matthew in his account saysall this was done, that it
(09:00):
might be fulfilled, which wasspoken by the prophet.
So this whole event, matthewsays and we see lots of
different prophecies comingtogether on this day that we
have in front of us here in Mark, chapter 11.
I'll just list a few.
(09:21):
Try to track all right.
Daniel, chapter 9, verse 25.
There's an amazing prophecythere.
We could talk for an hour onthis prophecy, daniel 9, 25.
It's known as the 70 weeksprophecy.
Study it, it would be a greatstudy.
But what does it say?
This prophecy to Daniel givesthe exact day that the Messiah
(09:45):
would come as the king, theexact day, and it starts a timer
for us.
Daniel is told from the goingforth of the command to restore
and rebuild Jerusalem to thecoming of Messiah, the prince
will be.
And then you work the math andit's like 178,880 days.
And so, just like one of ourAlexa, timers don't want to say
(10:09):
it too loud you set that timer.
You say set a timer for mybaked potato or whatever, and it
counts down.
So Daniel is given a prophecythat starts at a specific date
and time and the timer starts.
That starts at a specific dateand time and the timer starts
173,880 days later, it ends andit comes to this exact day.
(10:33):
Now you can study this and go,wow, that's crazy, the exact day
.
But that's why Jesus will say inMatthew's gospel I believe he
would say you know what, ifeverybody was quiet, the rocks
would cry out.
It's so important that I'mproclaimed as king and Messiah.
(10:54):
Jesus says that even the rockswould do it if nobody else did.
But here we see the peopledoing it.
They're yelling Hosanna,blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord, blessed is thekingdom of our father David.
So this amazing prophecy,daniel, chapter nine.
It is fulfilled here in Mark,chapter 11.
(11:16):
Check it out.
Zechariah, chapter nine, versenine, also fulfilled.
Now Matthew quotes, quotes it,but Mark does not.
But here's what.
Here's what Zechariah 9.9 saysListen to this.
Rejoice greatly, o daughter ofZion, shout, o daughter of
(11:38):
Jerusalem.
Behold, your king is coming toyou.
He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey,
a colt, the fool of a donkey.
And so here Zechariah tells usthis is how the Messiah is going
to come.
Now, zechariah says this about400 years before Christ, about
(11:59):
the same time as Daniel.
But he says this is how itcomes down the Messiah will come
on a donkey.
So this donkey here, not aflute, it's all part of the plan
that God knew beforehand.
Now one more passage actuallytwo, but they're started
together is Psalm 118, verse 25and 26, and Psalm 148.
(12:22):
Mark actually quotes it here inverse 9 and 10.
That's Psalm 118 and Psalm 148,kind of just a mix of both of
those he puts down in there andwe read those would cry out
saying Hosanna, blessed is hewho comes in the name of the
Lord.
Now that passage again.
(12:44):
About a thousand yearsbeforehand, david writes in a
Psalm those words and the peopleknew Hosanna, save now that
this was a picture of theMessiah coming.
Now, check it out.
Did they know what they weresaying?
Maybe, maybe there were somethat had done the math on
(13:09):
Daniel's prophecy and said theMessiah will come to Jerusalem
on this day and I'm gonna bethere saying this messianic
psalm, hosanna say now, maybe,maybe not, I don't know, but one
way or another the people weregoing to say that Jesus was
going to come, and he was goingto come riding on a donkey.
(13:31):
So check it out.
God's kingdom is an eternalkingdom.
Time is not an issue.
One little bit of applicationbefore we move on from this.
God is eternal.
That should bring a huge amountof comfort to us.
Now follow this, please listen.
(13:52):
God is eternal.
That means he knows thebeginning from the end.
You don't, I don't, you don'tknow what the future looks like
for you.
You don't know what this weeklooks like.
You don't know and I don't meanto be ominous about that
there's some good stuff too,right but you don't know what's
going to happen.
You don't know where you'regoing to be a year from now, but
(14:12):
God does.
A year from now, but God does.
So the application is so hugehere.
Trust God, he knows the future,he knows your future and he's
really good.
Trust him and just casteverything on him.
(14:33):
So God's kingdom, unlike man'skingdom, is eternal.
The next thing we see in verse 8, specifically 8 through 10, is
we see that God's kingdom isheavenly, not earthly.
Again, remember what Jesus saidthere in John 18, 36.
My kingdom is not of this world, my kingdom is not from here,
(14:54):
it's a heavenly kingdom.
Now, check it out.
If you were planning a kingdom,what would you expect?
Maybe, some might, a mightykingdom, some armies marching in
a parade, right?
You know?
You see on the news, you knowsome missiles and some tanks and
saluting a mighty army, amighty kingdom.
(15:17):
That's man's kingdom.
Maybe majestic, a king ridingon a white stallion, galloping
and waving majestically mypeople.
Yes, majestic kingdom.
A monarch with a robe and acrown.
But what does it look like inthis heavenly kingdom?
(15:38):
So different, right, it'shumble, not mighty.
A donkey, Now you have to kindof think about that.
A donkey is so different from ahorse, isn't it?
I mean, donkeys make you laugha little bit, you know, when
they're not being stubborn,right, they kind of make you
laugh.
Horses, they gallop into the.
(16:00):
You know, you can picture oneof those movie scenes of horses
rushing into battle with thesabers and you just go right
there, man, it's just a horse.
Then you see a donkey, and whatdoes it do?
Clippity-clop, clippity-clop,clippity-clop.
I don't know what story thatwas, but I remember
Clippity-clop, clippity-clop,and even just the way they walk,
(16:22):
you just kind of want to laugh.
Now the Antichrist in the bookof Revelation, chapter 6, he
comes riding on a white horse.
Jesus will come on a whitehorse too, but the Antichrist
comes with this look of power.
Jesus comes riding on a donkey,but not just a donkey, it's a
(16:45):
colt, a foal of a donkey.
I don't even quite understandthose words, but I know it's a
baby donkey, right?
So picture this buff carpenter,right?
I mean, that's the way Ipicture Jesus.
He's a carpenter, works withhis hands, he's no wimp.
And there he is, riding a babydonkey into the city His legs,
(17:09):
his feet, dragging on the groundas he goes.
You're not going to win abattle on a donkey.
Imagine trying to get away on adonkey.
All right, let's go, you know.
And there he comes, humbly.
Now we know that he didn't cometo rule when he first came.
(17:31):
He came to serve.
Mark tells us that, that theSon of man came to serve, to
give his life a ransom for many.
Let's turn to Psalm 118.
Turn to Psalm 118.
It's quoted in part here in ourpassage, but 118, verse 25,
(17:53):
this is kind of where thatstatement comes from, psalm 118,
verse 25.
And let's listen to all thewords Save now.
I pray, o Lord.
The save now.
There is where we get the wordHosanna from.
(18:14):
Hosanna means save now.
So save now.
I pray, o Lord, o Lord, I pray.
Send now prosperity.
Blessed is he who comes in thename of the Lord.
They said that we have blessedyou from the house of the Lord,
the temple.
God is the Lord and he hasgiven us light.
(18:36):
Now look at verse 27.
Bind the sacrifice with cordsto the horns of the altar.
So you've got this song that'slike God, save now, be our
Messiah, be our king Hosanna.
And then, before you even getdone with the idea, they say
(18:57):
bind the sacrifice to the altar.
And we know that's exactly whatthe king did.
He became a sacrifice for us.
Now that's foreign right.
Israel didn't understand thatin the day especially.
You're gonna be the king,you're gonna kick out the Romans
.
No, I'm gonna be the king.
You're going to kick out theRomans.
(19:18):
No, I'm going to be the king.
I'm going to die, I'm going togive my life, I'm going to rise
again.
But that's the king, that's thekingdom.
Humble, a servant, and it's notphysical, but it's spiritual.
Look at verse 11.
Let's go back to Mark, verse 11.
(19:38):
It's spiritual, we'll finish itup with this.
And Jesus went into Jerusalem,into the temple.
So when he had looked around atall things, the hour was
already late.
He went out to Bethany with the12.
So after Jesus rides into thecity of Jerusalem, bethany, we
find him in the temple.
(19:59):
Now in verse 15 through 19,.
We'll get to it next week,probably In 15 through 19,.
Jesus goes into the temple thenext day and he cleans house.
You picture it right, not on adonkey, but he comes into the
temple and he just whoops up onpeople who are misrepresenting
(20:21):
God, who were selling sacrificesat a profit.
And he just whoops up on peoplewho are misrepresenting God,
who were selling sacrifices at aprofit and making people resent
coming to worship God,misrepresenting the heart of the
Father.
And Jesus goes in and he's notjust gentle about it, right, he
makes a whip out of a cord andhe goes in and starts just
lashing people on the rear.
(20:42):
You know, he chases people out.
It says he didn't even let himlike walk.
He overturns tables and letsthe doves out and all these
different things.
Jesus goes in and he cleanshouse and sometimes we forget
about that spiritual nature ofthe kingdom?
Right, because God does thatwith us.
Right, god comes into our houseand he says hey, what are you
(21:07):
doing?
This isn't right, this isn't myheart for the world.
That attitude, that's not myheart, that obsession, that's
not what I want for you.
And it's painful.
When God comes into our livesand he cleans up things, he says
you know what, as much as ithurts, you've got to get rid of
that.
That's not it.
(21:27):
That sanctification is apainful thing and we want to
call the shots.
That's why it's so hard.
You know, there's this thronein our heart that authors talk
about often, this throne in ourheart and we want to sit on it
and be king.
You know, we've had the sametable.
(21:50):
Yeah, what.
We've had the same table sincewe got married.
We refinished it and when wefirst got married, we had two
chairs right, and we actually,when we first got married, we
ate on a right and we actually,when we first got married, we
ate on a side table.
That was really fun.
But that's where you start andthen you get everything and you
have too much.
But check it out.
We had this table and itstarted out with two chairs and
(22:12):
then when we got kids, wefigured we better get some more
seats.
So we got these benches fromIkea.
It just worked, it looked cool,it worked.
But you know, the benches whereI'm at now in life, the benches
are not a happy place to sit,you know.
And it's not because I have tobe at the front of the table,
that's not I don't, I don't care.
It's because my back hurtsRight, so often.
(22:35):
You know I don't do this veryoften, but sometimes it's your
back hurts.
And you know the kids aresitting in the good chairs
because who could blame them.
And you go, hey, could I sitthere?
You know, humbly, could I sitthere?
Your dear old dad, can he sitthere?
And you know to sit in thatchair with the back because the
back hurts.
(22:56):
Well, you know, I just thoughtabout it, I thought about that
phrase Can I sit there?
And I think about God, who hasevery right to be at the head of
our table.
That's more of the thing.
He has every right to call theshots.
And here we are, just sittingin the throne of our own life.
You say, here's my plan, here'swhat I'm going to do.
(23:17):
You know, five-year plan,10-year plan, whatever.
Here's what I got planned.
And we're sitting on the thronein our own life and I really do
think in all love, but inauthority, he comes to us and he
says, hey, can I sit there?
And that's like the thing oflife.
(23:37):
We're like, no, no, I'm driving, yeah, and I I'll sit here.
Can I sit there?
And God says those kinds ofthings in our life and it's
painful and it can be kind ofhumbling, but we see that the
kingdom of God is a spiritualthing.
Jesus said in Luke the kingdomof God is within you, a
(24:03):
spiritual thing.
That's where the kingdom of Godstarts and Jesus goes in and
cleans.
It's painful, but Jesus doesthe same thing with us.
Now, all of this, this is theking that we have right, not a
temporal king, we're talking aneternal king, not a worldly king
, a heavenly king who comeshumbly to seek and save and
(24:26):
serve, a spiritual king whowants to rule in our hearts.
Now check it out, the end ofthe book.
You can always ruin the end ofthe book and go to the book of
Revelation.
You see that one day Jesusactually comes.
Psalm 1 says he'll rule with arod of iron.
He'll rule and reign.
(24:47):
Literally, I don't even knowwhat that looks like, but he'll
establish a physical kingdom onearth.
Oh man, everything's going tobe great, right?
He'll rule over things likedeath and war and violence no
more, right.
He'll rule over things likedeath and war and violence no
more, right.
There'll be no more bills Yay,none of that junk, you know.
(25:10):
And Jesus will rule and reignphysically over all of it.
And we look at that and we go.
So that kind of kingdom, thekingdom here on earth, will come
.
But right now it's a littledifferent.
But it will be that and reallyit comes down to it.
(25:32):
It always comes down to it.
He is the king, but is he ourking?
And you come back to that pointwhere you go.
It's so natural for us to sit inthe driver's seat, it's so
natural for us to sit on thethrone in our life and call the
shots.
That's not the way it's meantto be.
(25:55):
That God would not just be aking but be our king.
That's the punchline everysingle time, that he would be
our king, that we would trusthim and put ourselves under him.
But he's so good a sacrificefor us.
He loves us, god.
(26:16):
It's so easy to just considerthese things in a technical way
and yet it's all practical inthe end.
God, that you're not just aking, but you're our king.
God, I pray that you would beking over all of our desires.
Where we have some good desiresin our life, god, I just pray
that you would be the ruler overthose things, god, over the
(26:40):
real, practical things in ourlife, our time, our money.
God, I just pray that you wouldbe king of those things too,
and we would let you rule andhave your way.
God, I pray that you would makethese things real to us even
today.
Thank you, these things real tous even today.
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