The Gospel of John

The Triumphal Entry

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 40- 70

Genre:

Track: 040

Dictation Name: RR197W42

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Year:

Let us worship God. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto Thy name oh Most High. To show forth Thy loving kindness in the morning and Thy faithfulness every night. Delight Thyself also in the Lord and He will give Thee the desires of Thy heart. Let us pray.

Almighty God our Heavenly Father, who hast ordained all things in heaven and earth in terms of Thy holy purpose. We give thanks unto Thee that we are a part of Thy ordination. That all things that befall us whether pleasing to us or unpleasing are a part of Thy ordination and Thy purpose for us to prepare us for Thy eternal kingdom, to prepare us for Thy service everlastingly, to give us to maturity in Jesus Christ. And so our Father we give thanks unto Thee for all things, we thank Thee for Thy mercies, for Thy chastening, for Thy providential care. Bless us now as we give ourselves to the study of Thy word and the things of Thy kingdom. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Our scripture is from the Gospel of John, chapter twelve, verses nine through nineteen. John 12:9-19, and our subject: The Triumphal Entry.

“Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

10 But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;

11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.

12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,

15 Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.

16 These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

17 The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.

18 For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.

19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.”

This Passover brought out many people. They wanted to see Jesus, was He the Messiah? He had raised Lazarus from the dead and this miracle had become so widely known that the chief priests considered executing Lazarus also. Many came to the Passover to see Lazarus, a man who had returned from the realm of the dead. Because of Lazarus many Judeans believed on Him. The news of Lazarus’ resurrection had raced across the country and there was an air of expectations. The statement in verse eleven that many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus means that they withdrew from their previous associations to become believers in Jesus. A polarization of belief had begun. On the next day as many were coming into Jerusalem for the Passover news raced about that Jesus was coming to the city. The pilgrims took palm branches and went out to meet Him, they shouted as they saw Him words from Psalm 118:25-26: “Hosanna, blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord”. Their doubt was gone, this they believed was the Messiah. Meanwhile Jesus had found a young ass and mounted it as Zachariah 9:9-10 had prophesied.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.”

The donkey is emphatically not a military animal. Thus for the Messiah to enter Jerusalem riding a colt of an ass meant that the reign would be one of peace, of conquest, not by overpowering military might but by conversion. It also indicated since the donkey was the animal of the ordinary man that this kingdom would be on their level.

As His kingdom advances so does peace advance, His kingdom will in time conquer all nations and govern all the earth. The triumphal entry on Palm Sunday was thus an open declaration of the non-political nature of Christ’s kingdom. This in itself was an offense to the religious leaders. Fallen men have all through history seen the road to world transformation as one of power. By power and statist control the true and new world order will be established. Part of this power strategy involves compulsory education into some form of humanism. The disciples at this point did not understand what Jesus meant and why the cross was necessary. They failed to see the necessity of the atonement, the Pharisees and Sadducees understood the purpose of Jesus better than the disciples and they hated it with all their being. Although the disciples lacked understanding they did not lack faith in their Lord, a faulty faith but one with a capacity for growth. Both understanding and faith are necessary; for life in Christ we need both faith and understanding.

When Jesus was glorified the disciples remembered all that Jesus had said and they then understood Him. The religious leaders did not grow an inch. The resurrection only intensified their hatred. But Old Testament prophesies now became an open book to the disciples after the ascension. The great crowd on Palm Sunday was in large part due to the raising of Lazarus. It had been a very public event. Those who had been present had born witness to the event far and wide, we are told in verse eighteen for this cause the people also met Him for they had heard that He had done this miracle. John stresses the public nature of our Lord’s life and works as do Matthew, Mark and Luke. The notion that these three other gospels do not is a myth that modernists tried to propagate. Matthew for example tells us at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount that the people were astonished for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. Exactly! They knew He was more than man, the prophets spoke in the name of the Lord, Jesus spoke as the Lord saying ‘I say unto you’. There was never any hesitation on His part to speak as the Lord, as the Lord He taught them the meaning of the kingdom. The entry into Jerusalem made clear to the religious leaders that action was necessary if they were going to survive. The entry into Jerusalem made clear to the religious leaders that action was inescapable, they were either going to bow down to Him or they were going to wage total war against Him.

They said one to another perceive ye how you prevail nothing, behold the world is gone after Him. They despaired of any hope except from drastic action, a legalized murder. In John 4:42 the Samaritans had declared to the woman at the well now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard Him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. Given the great throngs that met Jesus on Palm Sunday we can wonder how many truly believed. No doubt many did because from the day of Pentecost on the number of believers grew rapidly but both the disciples and the crowds had their faith tested as every faith is. But often our faith or someone else’s faith is tested in ways invisible to those around them. It is common to speak of the trials of faith, and they are real. Perhaps we should also speak of the trials of unbelief, the vast emptiness, the total meaninglessness of all things and the inability progressively to make moral distinctions. The ungodly may outwardly seem to be thriving and enjoying a life of eat, drink and be merry but within their lives are different. Their lives are very commonly lived in the suburbs of hell. The Greek and Hebrew words for hell in the old and new testaments refer to the city dump of Jerusalem. The city of God, the city dump is hell. It is a place where everything is broken, disconnected, useless, and meaningless. No two things are related one to another; it is all a meaningless jumble. This chapel has everything in it placed in terms of a purpose, your living room, your kitchen, your bedroom, everything is geared to a particular focus and meaning.

But hell is the place of total meaninglessness, no relationship of anything to anything else. Without faith a society becomes less a society and more hell and we have this situation today wherein the cities people live more and more to themselves with less and less contact with their neighbors. When, I think it was two, two and a half years ago, I visited Andrew at his church and home community it was like stepping backward in time, why? Because the city was one of neighbors and neighborhoods. I was interested as I read the local paper to read about block parties when all the people on a block would come together during the summer or the spring for a party, a barbeque, a picnic together right there on the block. Some, the article said, had been in that same home for three generations. That is community. What we have increasingly is such a disconnected life in our cities that is like hell. For without faith a society becomes less a society and more a hell. The randomness of life outside of God places fallen man in the suburbs of hell. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto thee that by faith Thou hast made us citizens of Thy kingdom and even here and now we have citizenship in a realm, a kingdom, whose builder and maker Thou art. Give us grace day by day to move in the confidence that we are citizens of no mean kingdom, that the king of kings is our Lord, that Thou wilt undertake for us day by day in all things and we shall be blessed for Thine eternal kingdom. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

All four gospels deal with the triumphal entry. It sets forth very powerfully that Jesus Christ presented Himself as the great king, the messianic king, king over all kings. They were therefore without excuse since they had chosen to disregard Christ’s self-proclamation. They knew who He was and what He was.

So that this incident is a powerful testimony to a fact that very few people want to face up to, that man is a sinner! That we cannot deal with the human scene apart from the fact of sin. And yet what newspaper ever or magazine ever deals with that fact? The solution to sin is salvation through the atoning blood of Christ but when we listen to the media its more money for education and the schools today are a major contributor to the problem we face. Or it is more money for welfare or more money for this, that or the next thing. Money has become the means to salvation and as a result everybody is seeking to become wealthy because somehow this will be the answer to all their problems. And wealth has never been from day one of history until now the solution to sin and its problems. Not that wealth is bad in and of itself but it’s now the answer any more than education is. So we are in a crisis today that is deepening precisely because the wrong answers are given. Consider what would happen is Jesus Christ were to march down the main [unknown] of Washington D.C. towards the capitol. They would want to get rid of Him as quickly as possible as someone who is insane. For the leaders of the people in Judea He was a threat. They knew He was real, that He was what He claimed to be but they wanted no part of Him because they hated God even though they practiced their offices in the name of God.

Well if there are no questions let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, we live in a world where the enormity of man’s sin is rebellion, his hatred of Thee becomes more and more obvious every day. We thank Thee that as we face these things we know that Thou art on the throne and that Thy power far exceeds the most imaginary powers of men. Give our eyes faith so that like Elisha’s servant we may see not the enemy only but the majesty and the omnipotence of Thy heavenly hosts when all the thousand hills of man. Make us strong in faith and resolute in Thy service. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.