JOH 12:12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!"
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
15 "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt."
16 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.

Our passage before us is in the context of Jesus having been anointed by Mary, the sister of Lazarus, with a costly perfume at a dinner which was given in honor of our Lord as the friends and family of Lazarus, including the resurrected Lazarus, were there to give thanks to their Master.

The time frame is the last week of Christ’s ministry. In fact, as we come to our text there will be only four more days left before Jesus will be nailed to a cross for the redemption of our sins.

It is now the day after this supper given in honor of our Lord and it is a day which will be set apart to issue in the King of the Jews as He comes from Bethany and rides into the heart of Jerusalem. Let’s look at the text.

There are a number of things going on here that we need to take a look at to put into perspective the wonderful way in which God’s word must be fulfilled to the letter. The first thing we notice is that a great crowd was coming for the Feast.

This crowd was made up of Jews who were coming from different parts of Israel to descend on Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. These were pilgrims who were probably coming from regions east and north of Jerusalem, since they seemed to hook up with Jesus and His disciples in Jericho according to Matthew 20:29.

According to Matthew it was in Jericho where a large crowd was following Jesus, and evidently as they were leaving Jericho Jesus was approached by two blind men whom He healed.

We often picture Jesus entering the city gates of Jerusalem and then getting the donkey as the crowds of Jerusalem gather around Him to hail their King, but the reality is that Jesus had a very large entourage some 15 to 20 miles outside of Jerusalem as they made their way to the capital city, picking up more people as they got closer.

As they came to Bethphage, which is a small village just outside of Bethany, a couple of miles outside of Jerusalem, Jesus commanded two of His disciples to go and get a donkey for Him.

MAT 21:1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.

Keep in mind that there were hundreds of thousands of Jews in Jerusalem in a festive mood as they anticipated the Passover. Jesus is about two miles outside of the city and Matthew tells us that a large crowd went ahead of Jesus praising Him as they said, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"

This last two mile stretch was filled with excitement. There were people going into Jerusalem ahead of Jesus proclaiming that the Son of David was on His way and that their new King was about to ascend to the throne of David. Mark points this very thing out in his gospel.

MAR 11:9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
10 "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!"

This was an unbelievable time for Israel. Many Jews felt that their new King would fulfill prophecy and deliver them from the hands of their enemies.

This language is unmistakably Messianic in nature. The Jews knew they were declaring that God’s word was being fulfilled in Jesus as they may have had the prophet Jeremiah in mind.

JER 23:5 "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.
7 "So then, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,'
8 but they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' Then they will live in their own land.

“Hosanna to the Son of David.” “Finally David’s righteous branch will rule and reign and we will have our own land once again.”

This was the reason for the palm branches being thrown before the path of Jesus. By the way, palm branches had nothing to do with the Passover per say, but had more to do with just expressing joy as seen when the Jews were commanded to rejoice before the Lord at the Feast of Booths in just this way.

LEV 23:40 On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

We get a picture of praise before the throne of God in the book of Revelation as the multitudes use palm branches to express their joy.

REV 7:9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
10 And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

This is what the great crowds surrounding Jesus were doing as they shouted Hosanna in the highest. The word Hosanna means, save now. Long live the King as He saves Israel, if you will.

Unfortunately, what the Jews didn’t understand is that Jesus had no intention of becoming their deliverer and King who would rescue them from Rome. I’m sure some of these same Jews may have been around when Jesus fed the thousands with bread and fish, who then wanted to take Him by force to make Him their king at that time.

JOH 6:14 After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world."
15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

When Jesus stood before Pilate He testified that He was a king, but not a king whose kingdom was of this world.

JOH 18:36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

But you know, if the Jews had been observant they would have wondered about Jesus coming in as a conqueror. After all, we’re told that He came into Jerusalem on a donkey. This was in fulfillment of another prophecy as John points out in our text.

JOH 12:14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
15 "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt."

This prophecy was penned under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the prophet Zechariah.

ZEC 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

The reason this is significant is because if the Jews had thought about it they may have rejected Jesus as their conqueror at this very point.

The donkey in Israel was a noble beast of burden. It was an animal that was respected as it enabled people to travel great distances with heavy loads. It was a first century SUV. But it was an animal that was associated with peace, not war, which is what the Jews expected of their warrior King.

No, Jesus came not as a warrior, but as the Prince of Peace gentle and riding on a donkey. Had Jesus come as conquering King He would not have been riding a donkey, but a horse. In fact, this is exactly how we see Him in the book of Revelation.

REV 19:11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.
12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.
13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

This is not the scene in our text where Jesus rides casually in on a donkey. No, Revelation 19 shows Jesus on His second return, not His first. He will come as the conquering King, but His first coming was to humble Himself as He took our sin to die for the penalty we deserved to pay for. As a lamb led to slaughter He was sacrificed on our behalf as he came to bring peace as He reconciles us back to the Father.

If the Jews had picked up on this they would have wondered why He was coming in on a donkey instead of a stallion, but it escapes them as they are just excited to think that their hope might be in Him.

Another thing that is interesting here is that this is the first time in the ministry of Jesus that He actually initiates this whole scene as the One who comes as King. Every other time in His ministry He avoids the accolades and the praises for the works He does on behalf of the Father, but now He is the One who commands His disciples to get the donkey that He might ride into Jerusalem.

Jesus is the One who actually encourages the crowds to give Him praise and adoration as their King. Why the change? Because, unlike all of the previous times, His hour has now come. He is about to fulfill the Father’s will as He looks forward to going to the cross with the express purpose of defeating the grave and sin’s penalty.

He is the Son of David, the royal Kingly Son who will purchase a place for all who embrace Him as Lord and Savior, as He will ascend, not to some earthly throne, but ascends back to the Father in a few short days after His crucifixion and resurrection.

From His Father’s side Jesus will rule and reign from His throne as He anticipates His second return to set up a Kingdom in this world for a few short thousand years as He looks forward to an eternal reign with us at His side in heaven.

What an awesome God and Savior we have. But our text is about a humble servant who declares His kingship as One who is the rightful heir to David’s throne, which was always meant to be in anticipation of that eternal and magnificent throne in heaven.

So, why does Jesus go to all of the trouble of getting a donkey and encouraging all of Israel to shout praises to Him if He’s about to be led away as a common criminal? To fulfill Scripture. Everything He did was done because of what the Scriptures said about Himself as Messiah.

The Jews missed this as they shout hosanna and spread palm branches before their King whom they think will conquer Rome. This is why the church today refers to this time as Palm Sunday.

And it would be accurate to say this because it is a Sunday, the first day of the week, on which this takes place. This too has great significance. With Jesus essentially initiating His coming out party, if you will, He is placing Himself on display for all of Israel to see.

Display? Yes, display. Why is this important? Because the day on which He does this, according to the Jewish calendar, is Nissan the 10th. Not Nissan the car, but Nissan the month.

This was significant because on this particular day, according to the Scriptures, the Passover Lamb was to be taken out of the flock and displayed for 4 days under close observation with the intent of making sure it was without blemish.

EXO 12:3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month [Nissan 10] each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.
4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat.
5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. (This would be between 3 and 6 P.M.)

This is one more amazing example of the omniscience of God, who not only knows all things, but determines all things relating to the salvation of His people here in our text. We don’t want to miss this.

This is four days before the Passover. On this very day, Sunday Nissan the 10th, all throughout Jerusalem every Jew has taken a lamb and has set it aside according to the law so as to reserve it for sacrifice. A lamb without blemish.

And on this very day, Jesus has put Himself on display as the Lamb of God without blemish who came to take away the sin of the world who will in four short days become our Passover lamb. It’s not a coincidence.

But there’s more. Nissan the tenth fell on a Sunday that year and the reason we know this is because of the Saturday Sabbath which, of course for Jews, begins Friday when the sun begins to go down. But there were two Sabbaths that particular year which were back to back.

Passover was that second Sabbath which means that Passover started the previous day, or Thursday when the sun began to go down. If Passover began on Thursday when the sun began to go down this means that the meal Jesus had with His disciples was on Wednesday which was always referred to as a preparation meal for the Sabbath.

MAT 26:17 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"

In other words, where do you want us to have the preparation meal to prepare for Passover?

There is confusion on this because of other passages which seem to allude to Jesus eating the actual Passover meal. There are two problems with this. If Jesus is our Passover lamb then He must, according to the law, be sacrificed on Passover.

Well, if He’s celebrating the Passover meal in the evening with His disciples, how is it that He’s not crucified until the next day?

Remember, it was that evening at the last supper, that Judas betrays Jesus and He is arrested that night in the Garden of Gethsemene. He spends the night in the midst of a kangaroo court in front of the Sanhedrin. The next morning He is taken to Pilate. In fact, we have that encounter recorded for us here in John and the Jews say a very interesting thing.

JOH 18:28 Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.

They wanted to be able to eat the Passover? I thought the previous night in which Jesus was betrayed was the Passover. Why would the Jewish leaders say they wanted to eat the Passover? Because the actual Passover had not taken place yet.. It was to take place later that day, after they delivered Jesus up to Pilate.

This is now Thursday morning. It would be later that day when Jesus would be crucified. It was this very day, a Thursday, when lambs all over Jerusalem would be slaughtered at twilight which took place between three and six o’clock.

What time was Jesus placed upon the cross? About the third hour, or 9:00 AM, according to MAR 15:25.

We then read in MAR 15:33 At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" -which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

From 9:00 AM to noon, or the sixth hour, Jesus suffered on that cross despising its shame. From the sixth hour, or from noon to the ninth hour or three in the afternoon, darkness fell on the whole land.

At the end of the ninth hour or 3:00 PM Jesus breathed His last. The lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world was slain. It was precisely at this time when Jews all over Jerusalem were slaying their lambs according to the law.

EXO 12:6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. (This would be between 3 and 6 P.M.)

Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly by dying as our Passover lamb on Passover. Those Jewish leaders who didn’t want to defile themselves, as they brought Jesus to Pilate at his palace, so they could eat the Passover meal later that day, were now slaughtering their lambs.

It was at this precise time, 3:00 PM, that the temple priest would have been in the holy place as our Lord died and the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom, thus exposing the Most Holy Place, showing them that the way to God was now open as the great sacrifice was made by Jesus Christ.

All men may now have access to God through Christ. It was now Thursday at twilight when Jesus was taken down from the cross and since the next Sabbath was now approaching the disciples could not properly anoint the body of Jesus for burial.

They laid Him in a tomb hewn out of rock and a guard was placed at the entrance because the Jewish leaders were afraid that our Lord’s disciples would come and steal His body since they knew Jesus said He would rise in three days, which leads to the other reason Jesus had to be crucified on Thursday and not Friday as tradition has it, which has come to be called Good Friday.

We are told that Jesus was to be in the belly of the earth for three days. But not just three days; three days and three nights.

MAT 12:38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."
39 He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

If Christ was crucified on Friday, He could conceivably have been in the grave for a portion of three days. But there is no way to get three nights out of that time frame since you would have Friday night, Saturday night, and then the resurrection on Sunday morning.

If Christ was crucified on Thursday the sign of Jonah becomes a reality as He spends a portion of three days and three nights in the tomb, which takes us back to the entry of Christ coming into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Jesus tells us that the Scriptures had to be fulfilled of all that pertained to Him, from Genesis to the end of the Old Testament. They all bear witness that He is the Messiah as he fulfills it all.

Even Christ’s disciples didn’t understand all of this as our text points out.

JOH 12:16 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.

You and I are now on the other side of these events and His glorification, but they are no less amazing as we see how the Son of God perfectly accomplished our redemption. Our text takes place four days before His crucifixion.

The apostle John spends 10 chapters on these last four days. We’ll begin examining these last four days next week and in the coming weeks.

May we appreciate what Jesus is doing here in our text as He knows He is riding into Jerusalem on a donkey as one who is going to bring peace to the world through His death and resurrection, but who turns out to be the conquering King in the book of Revelation.

But in the mean time may we live as those who are more than conquerors in Christ who live victorious lives in His resurrection life. He is our King of kings and Lord of lords and there is none like Him. Praise God!

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