A King Arrives: Jesus' Coronation

Thank you, Father, for making yourself known to us and showing us the way of salvation

through faith in your Son.

Teach us through your word and equip us for every good work, for the glory of our Lord

Jesus Christ, Amen.

On May 6, 2023, there was an event that took 20 years to plan.

Charles Philip Arthur George made his way towards Westminster Abbey from Buckingham

Palace in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, which had all the mod cons, air conditioning

and hydraulic suspension.

He was making the journey for his coronation as King of the United Kingdom.

Apart from the many thousands of people in the crowds, there was an army of 5,000 members

of the British Armed Forces on the sides of the street, showing the power of the monarch.

Once at Westminster Abbey, Charles Philip Arthur George was declared King, with the

crowds shouting in unison, God save King Charles!

All of England, and now the world, recognises that King Charles is the rightful ruler on

the British throne.

That was an event that took 20 years to plan.

A coronation committee met once a year for 20 years to ensure that the coronation would

be fitting of a monarch of the United Kingdom.

Today we look at a slightly different coronation that was also a long time in the making.

Much longer than 20 years.

A king makes his way towards his throne, not in an air-conditioned coach, but on a donkey.

Not with an army, but a small crowd, to become King of a kingdom that will surpass all kingdoms.

And the question for us this morning as we look at this coronation is, will we recognise

this king?

Will we join the shouts of the crowd that proclaim that Jesus is King of God's Kingdom?

At this point in the Gospels, Jesus has spent three years teaching about the Kingdom of

God, showing that he is the King of God's Kingdom.

And from Palm Sunday onwards, we see the climax of Jesus' ministry, as he is arrested, unjustly

condemned, hung on a cross to die for our sin and then to rise.

And yet, just the week before his death, we've got this scene where the crowds recognise

and rightly proclaim Jesus as King.

We're going to look at our passage this morning under the following headings, the plans for

the King, the coronation of the King, and the response to the King.

If you've got the passage there in the Bible, it's Matthew 21, or in the pew sheet, it's

written out there for you as well, so you can follow along.

First, the plans for the King.

Now Jesus, as he goes into Jerusalem, he knows what is about to happen.

He knows the significance of what's going to take place.

Jesus instructs two of his disciples to go, in verse 2, to the village, where they will

find a donkey and a colt, there to untie them, bring them to Jesus.

Jesus even says, if anyone says anything to you, in verse 3, say, the Lord needs them

and he will send them right away.

Jesus instigates this event.

God is the organiser of this event.

He knows what is about to happen.

It's not spontaneous, it's not an accident.

See, with God, there are no chance events.

God is in control of all the events of all of history.

It means that Easter, Jesus entering Jerusalem, his death, his resurrection, they were not

happy accidents.

Jesus was not caught off guard.

Jesus very intentionally walked into Jerusalem on a donkey and was proclaimed as King.

And to show us that this wasn't spur of the moment, we see the words in verse 4, this

took place to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet.

Jesus was fulfilling words that were breathed out by the Spirit of God, authored by the

prophet Zechariah, 500 years before Jesus was born.

God is telling us here in Matthew that these words in Zechariah were really talking about

Jesus.

You see, in Zechariah 9, verse 9, a coming King is prophesied.

Zechariah 9:9

We see it quoted for us in verse 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.

It's the promise of a King.

And in the context of Zechariah 9, it's the promise of a Davidic King, who is none other

than God himself riding into Jerusalem to take up his throne, where he will protect

and save his people.

And this prophecy itself draws on another Old Testament event, where King Solomon in

1 Kings 1, the wisest King of all Israel, the King who made Israel the greatest nation,

a world power, the King who established the temple where God himself dwelled on his coronation

day, he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey.

And so Jesus in orchestrating this event on Palm Sunday, as he goes into Jerusalem, is

telling us that he is this King.

He is the one fulfilling the Old Testament.

He is the one that is coming to protect and to save his people.

Now the crowds that are shouting are likely thinking that Jesus is going to do that in

a different way than what happens as Jesus goes to the cross.

But the prophecy of Zechariah leaves us expecting this King, Jesus.

Now one of the applications that we see from this passage is that the Old Testament, it

points to Jesus, but it also helps us to better understand Jesus.

Without the prophecy of Zechariah, Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, that would be

odd, wouldn't it?

It would be strange.

But with it, we see that Jesus is helping the crowds and he's helping us to see that

he is King of God's kingdom.

The Old Testament gives the New Testament depth.

It lays the foundation for us to be able to see that Jesus is King and to understand the

cross and its significance.

For example, without the Old Testament, we wouldn't know the history of sin in the human

race.

Nor would we have the promise of God to reverse that sin through a human divine King.

We wouldn't know that for sin to be atoned for and forgiven, that a blood sacrifice is

necessary.

See the whole Old Testament points to Jesus.

Imagine that the Old Testament is a big neon sign that flashes and it says,

Jesus is coming, and this is why you need him to come.

And that's why we do well to study our Old Testaments.

They are God's word to us, written for our encouragement and learning, so that we can

better understand and know Christ.

It's good that in our church service, we actually read two Old Testament readings every week.

We have a psalm, and then we have another Old Testament reading.

And in time, I look forward to going through with you some of the Old Testament, showing

you how it points to Christ.

But I just want to flag now that in Term 3, I want to run a course that is called God's

Big Picture.

It's a course that looks at the whole story of the Bible as an overview.

And in that course, we see how the Old Testament and the New Testament fit together and point

to Jesus.

And I raise this now to plant the idea in your mind, so that when I start talking about

it in six or seven weeks, you go, oh yes, I want to sign up for that.

I want to do that course.

So we see God's plans for the coronation of Jesus.

They are intentional, they are well-planned.

And so then we come to the coronation of the King.

In verse 6, the disciples do what Jesus has asked.

In verse 7, they bring the donkeys to Jesus.

They place their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

And expectation is in the air.

See they've read Zechariah 9, they're waiting for a moment just like this.

And they're thinking that Jesus might just be their long-awaited King, the one who will

bring in God's kingdom.

And you can imagine the buzz in the air.

It's like when you go to a show and you're waiting for the event to start, and there's

that nervous energy about the place.

People hopping up and down.

People asking, when's it going to start?

Is it going to happen soon?

Well imagine in the Mount of Olives in that first century, a crowd of people, excited,

expectant.

The buzz, the questions.

Is that Him?

In verse 8, someone gets their cloak and lays it down on the road.

Others follow suit.

Then others go and grab palm branches from nearby trees and lay them.

They make a path for Jesus.

And then Jesus enters on a donkey, and the crowds go wild.

They shout, Hosanna, the Son of David.

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest heaven.

They praise God.

They repeat that chorus over and over again, the energy, the moment, the coronation.

Now people are proclaiming that Jesus is King.

We're going to slow down a bit from the excitement, and we're just going to look at what they

shout.

In verse 9, Hosanna, the Son of David.

Hosanna means save, I pray.

And in Jesus' time, it was a shout of acclamation, of praise.

And as they sing praise, they're praising Jesus, the Son of David.

The one who is heir to the throne of the Old Testament, King David.

Once again, the Old Testament is giving us the significance of what is happening.

One of the key promises in the Old Testament is that King David, who was King of Israel,

would always have an heir on the throne.

But in Zechariah's time, and through to Jesus' time, there was no king on the throne.

But there was expectation, because God's promises never fail.

So God's ancient people were waiting for the Messiah, the anointed King, the King who was

in the line of David.

And in their shout, they recognized that Jesus is the Son of David, that He is that King.

And they also shout, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

This refrain comes from Psalm 118 verse 26, another Old Testament reference, where once

Psalms 118:26

again it speaks of the Lord saving and protecting His people.

The psalm talks about God's enduring forever love, who has saved His people in the past,

who will save His people again in the future, and will do so through one who represents the Lord.

The crowds are right in applying this verse to Jesus.

He is the divine human King who comes in the name of the Lord to bring God's forever kingdom.

And so they rejoice.

They praise God.

Hosanna in the highest heaven.

They are witnessing the fulfillment of everything that God has promised in the Old Testament,

proclaiming Jesus as the King of God's kingdom.

And they are right to shout praise, because when we recognize what God is doing and has

done in Jesus, we too should be moved to praise.

It's right.

It's fitting.

Jesus, our King, is worthy of praise.

We can shout.

I think we're not very good at shouting praise, I think, in our culture.

We tend to sing God's praise more or pray God's praise.

Lots of the Apostle Paul's prayers in the New Testament start with praise to God.

It is a good habit for us to start our prayers with praise.

Heavenly Father, we praise you for your love and faithfulness.

Heavenly Father, we praise you for sending Jesus, your Son.

Heavenly Father, we praise you for the forgiveness of sin that Jesus, our King, brings.

But then we also can praise God in song and praise God for our musicians.

They help us and accompany us in praising God.

One of the dangers, I think, of our culture today is that we can mix up our feelings with

praise of God.

And so the way that it works is we think that because we're feeling good or we're having

a good day, we can praise God.

But that if we're having a rubbish day or a bad day, that actually, well, maybe we can't

praise God.

But here's the thing.

Our praise of God is actually not dependent on our feelings, but on what God has done

for us through his King Jesus.

It's as we consider our King Jesus that we should be moved to praise.

It's our King Jesus that should be stirring our emotions and our feelings, not our feelings

determining whether we should praise our King.

That means that if you wake up and you're having a rubbish mood and everything just

doesn't work, you wake up, you hit your head, you stub your toe, you can't get your hair

to sit right, you can praise God.

Or if you wake up and you're having an absolutely fantastic day, everything goes well, your

hair sits just beautifully.

You can praise God.

Because praising God is not dependent upon our feelings, but it's dependent upon Jesus

and his Son, our King, and what he has done for us.

What is to stir our praise is Jesus.

And as we praise Jesus, it's right that our emotions are stirred.

It's right that our mind is overcome by the greatness of God.

But it's Jesus that we praise first, and he affects our emotions, not our emotions

determining whether we praise God or not.

Now so far we've looked at the plan for a coronation, we've seen it was orchestrated

by God, we've seen the coronation itself where the people recognise Jesus as God's King,

and now we see the aftermath, how people respond to the King.

Jesus, he enters Jerusalem, and word has spread to the point in verse 10, the whole

city is stirred, and they're asking, who is this?

And you'd expect that their answer would be something along the lines of, this is God's

long-promised, awaited King coming to save his people.

But actually the answer to their question is a little bit more underwhelming.

Have a look in verse 11.

This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth and Galilee.

Now that is true, that is who Jesus is, but it's kind of underwhelming given what has

just happened with Jesus entering Jerusalem.

They don't share that he is God's promised King.

See they continue to miss the significance of the event, and that's a danger for us too.

Jesus was more than just a prophet, more than just a good teacher, more than just a

man of God.

As he enters Jerusalem, he's coming to be enthroned as King.

He's going to be clothed in a purple robe.

He's going to be crowned with the crown of thorns.

He's going to be placed on the cross and declare in his dying words, Father forgive them for

they do not know what they do.

It's on the cross Jesus is truly coronated as King.

See Jesus didn't come with an army to rule Jerusalem, with an iron fist to overthrow

the Romans, but he came instead with humility, knowing that his victory would come through

his death and resurrection.

That forgiveness of sin could come through no other way but for God's long-awaited, recently

proclaimed King to give up his life as a sacrifice for our sin, to shed his blood.

But then Jesus was raised to be King of all.

And Jesus now sits at God's right hand with all power and authority, so that one day every

knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, the King of God's Kingdom.

And the question for us today is will we recognize this King, Jesus?

Will we praise God for Jesus?

Will we throw down not our coats, not our palms, but our lives?

Will we take our little crown that we wear and lay it before Jesus' feet and let him

rule over us?

Like in the hymn we sing, holy, holy, holy, all the saints adore thee, casting down their

golden crowns around the glassy sea.

Are you willing to lay down control of your life before King Jesus?

Palm Sunday is here so that we can be invited to join in the crowds, proclaiming Jesus as

the everlasting King, so that we can sing and shout and praise our God.

But not just praise God with our lips, but praise him in our hearts and minds.

That's what a Christian is.

A Christian is someone who trusts Jesus as their Saviour and lives with Jesus as their King.

Are you living with Jesus as your King?

Is your little crown at his feet?

If it is, praise God, you are a member of his kingdom with all the blessings that being

in that kingdom provides.

But we also need to know there's always that temptation for us, isn't there, to pick up

our little crown and put it back on our head, to ignore Jesus, to do things our own way.

It's what the Bible calls sin.

But we need the encouragement, we need the reminder to keep turning to Jesus, to keep

proclaiming him as King.

He's not just a man from Nazareth, but he's the Lord of all, the King of kings.

Let's praise our Heavenly Father in prayer.

We praise you, Heavenly Father, that Jesus is the long-promised King.

We praise you that you've revealed that to us in the Old Testament, that Jesus would

come, that he forgive our sin, that he bring us into relationship with you, that he'd save

and protect us for all eternity.

And we ask that by your Spirit you would help us to better understand our Old Testaments

so that we can better understand and know Jesus.

And we ask that you would help us each and every day to recognize that Jesus is our King,

to live with Jesus as our King, to lay down our crown before you.

And in those moments when we're tempted to ignore that Jesus is King, convict us, help

us to return and repent and to lay our little crown at his feet, knowing that there is forgiveness

to be found in him.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.