Know Who This King Is

It was quite a few years ago but it seems like it just happened yesterday.  He walked up to where I worked with my little desk and chair.  It’s the same place where everyone in town had to come and visit me to drop off their tax payments with the interest I charged them in order to keep the Roman soldiers from kicking down their doors.  Anyway, this guy walks up and looked me straight in the eye and said, “Follow me!” (Matt 9:9).  There was something in those eyes, in his tone of voice, something compelling and yet with such tenderness that stirred up my heart and drew me in. 

I dropped everything I was doing and all I could think to do at that point was invite him to dinner at my house.  He actually took me up on the offer!  How about that!  Me!  A person the people hated.  I was an outcast.  On the streets people wouldn’t even look at me, but they sure looked at all my stuff.  I had the nice lawn and the latest model chariot—they were green with envy but red hot with hatred because they knew I bought all these things with the money I had squeezed out of them.  But, can you believe it?  He came to MY house!

But, enough about me. There is someone else I would like for you to think about today.  He made some amazing claims about himself and then performed miracles to back his words.  You might find this hard to believe, but I was there.  I saw it happen.  I watched scabs fall off faces and arms of people with leprosy, a paralyzed man stand up and do the jig, a healed blind man could suddenly read the eye chart well below the 20/20 line; a dead girl sat up in bed, hugged her parents and headed to the kitchen for something to eat. 

Now, you might be able to process these things I’ve told you about, but there was something else that we all had a hard time grasping.  With all his God-power we all knew he was the one who could get rid of the Romans and set up his capitol in Jerusalem, but he told us all something that we just couldn’t process.  He told us that he had come to the Passover festival to be arrested, accused and killed.  You should have listened to us whisper and question each other about what in the world he was talking about.  Yes, he was our friend, our teacher, our social worker and leader, but this statement about ending his career boggled our minds. 

We wanted to know who this king is?  Why was he on this path and this mission?   Thankfully, I learned the answer and today I’m going to share God’s Word with you so you can have the answer, too.  So, today I want you to join me on that sunny afternoon about 2026 years ago so you, too, can

Know Who This King Is

Revealed by His Knowledge

I want to take you back to that bright sunny morning.  We had just observed the Sabbath Day and now it was the beginning of the week.  If you had seen me with the disciples scratching our heads here’s why.  Jesus said to two of his disciples, “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.”  We disciples had been with Jesus for about three years, now, and there wasn’t one time we could remember that Jesus asked for a donkey/Uber.  Jesus walked everywhere, like most other people.  People who rode donkeys were usually so weak or poor that was all they could afford to ride.  But, there we learned three reasons why Jesus asked for a donkey.

1. A king arriving into Jerusalem would typically ride in a gold chariot or on a stallion because a king riding on a dirty donkey would be showing humility and lowliness. Who would want a king like that?  We all wanted to have a king who could free us from the Roman taxes—and I knew plenty about that!  But on that Sunday it finally happened.  Jesus had tried to show us this over and over, but we just couldn’t grasp it.  Jesus wasn’t the king I wanted, he was the king I needed!  The king I needed knew how important it was to keep his power under wraps, not flaunting his power, but keeping it under wraps so he could take the rap for me and make my payment for sin to God.  And he knew my sin, just like he knows yours.  Have you been cheating?  Is it greed?  It is addiction?  It is laziness at work, at school, at working on your marriage? Is it lying or lust?  Do you want a king who will overlook all those sins or a king who will humble himself to the point of death and pay the penalty of all those sins?  Jesus knew exactly what he was doing as our King—revealed in his knowledge to keep his power under wraps to save us when he defeated Satan, Sin and Hell on the cross.  That’s the exact King you need.  He rode that donkey knowing that he needed to be humble for you.
   
2. Second reason Jesus rode the donkey:  What does a donkey typically do?  It bears burdens.  This donkey was baring the burden of a rider.  But, the rider on this donkey was bearing a much greater burden!  He was carrying the burden of our sins of cover-up, selfishness, my skeletons in the closet, my fears, and my lack of trust.  The weight of all our sins was on Jesus. Isaiah said, “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering” (Is 53:4). Our King was riding on this donkey to picture for us what he knew:  He was carrying the burden and the baggage of our sins.
   
3. Third reason Jesus rode the donkey:  This was made really clear to me when it happened and people were asking me, “Why is our King riding a donkey?”  Then I was inspired by the Holy Spirit to quote something to my people they all knew already—the Old Testament. It was no coincidence that Jesus told my companions, “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, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” This whole scene was prophesied by Zechariah 500 years earlier.  Jesus was riding on that donkey and knew full well that we would recall from Scripture that he was fulfilling exactly what God said would happen through his prophets.  And this is just one example!  If I had time I would share with you over 75 other major prophecies from the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Jesus.  This tells us the Scriptures are dependable and true.  Let me tell you some more: “⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ⁵ “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey’” (Zechariah 9:9).  Jesus is riding this donkey into Jerusalem as our King Revealed by His Knowledge of Scripture and fulfilling them perfectly for you and for me. It is Jesus our King who came to live and die for our eternal benefit.  You Also Know Who This King Is

Revealed by His Calling

When the crowds started gathering around Jesus waving their palm branches and putting the coats down on the ground for him to walk on, I glanced up on the walls around Jerusalem and notice the soldiers there.  You can well imagine their conversation!  “Look, the crowds are gathering around that teacher from Nazareth who does all those miracles.  That’s they guy the Jewish leader hate so much.  I can see why.  Look how popular he is!”  You bet, Jesus was creating quite a stir! “¹⁰ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”  ¹¹ The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Everyone that day was all too eager to receive Jesus as their King Because of His Calling.  They recognized Jesus was the King who was fulfilling what they thought his calling should be!

It’s amazing to me that this incident took place so long ago and still so many people are talking about it.  Even you guys are thinking about it today.  That’s the work of the Holy Spirit who saw to it that eye-witnesses of this event would be inspired to write down a perfect account of that day.  Hearing this today, don’t you wish you could go back to that time and grab the skeptics by the shoulders and shout, “Look at Jesus!  He is the King riding this donkey in humility and keeping his power quiet as he heads for the cross to fight against Satan, sin and the power of death for us!”  But, there won’t be a time machine for us to do that.  But, what we can do is tell people today!  We can point to Jesus’ calling as our Prophet, Priest and King.  We can talk to a co-worker, and neighbor, and relative and point them to Jesus.  We can invite them to come here and see Who This King Is Revealed by his knowledge and by his calling.  It is Jesus our King who came to live and die for our eternal benefit.  And we see this

Revealed By His Work

By now you have probably figured out who I am.  I’m Matthew. I was in that crowd that walked down along the ridge, past the Olive grove, stepped over the Kidron stream, and headed up the road to Jerusalem.  It was quite the day!  The crowds were lining the road 10 deep, elbows rubbing, pushing, shoving to get a good look at Jesus.  Then someone started it.  I don’t know who it was, but he started shouting ““Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Hosanna isn’t so much a word of praise as it is a word of plea.  Hosanna comes from the Hebrew that means, “Save us now!”  Save us from what?  That is exactly the work that Jesus our King came to do.  He didn’t come to save us from thunder and lightning, or our business going under, or our marriage on the rocks, or from AIDS, Covid or Cancer.  He didn’t come to save us from family dysfunctions or economic losses.  The Palm Sunday crowd was yelling, “Save us from political oppression! And we heard about that guy walking behind your donkey, Lazarus.  We heard that you have power to raise him from the dead, so you must have power to save us from the Romans! Hosanna!  Use your power now!  Hosanna!”  But, what a disappointment when he didn’t use his power for what they wanted.  No, Jesus our King came to use his power as Revealed in His Work.

Don’t be disappointed when Jesus doesn’t use his power according to what you think he should do that he never promised to do.  Instead shout, “Hosanna!!  Save us Now Son of David!  Save us from the most important thing!  Save us from hell!”  That is our King Who Revealed his Power by his Work!  Jesus’ work was to live a perfect life to make God happy in our place.  Jesus’ work was to die on the cross to pay the penalty of all our sins so we are covered in his holiness.  Jesus’ work was to die and rise again to prove his Work was finished.  Jesus is our King who Came to live and Die for our eternal benefit!

So, this is the 1^st Sunday in Advent and I thank you for letting spend some time with you today to tell my story about Who This King Is!  I hope you can see now exactly what type of King Jesus is by his Knowledge of Scripture, his Calling as our King, and his Work to save us. You Know Who This King Is!  He is our Savior, Jesus!  Amen!