Palm Sunday: The King's Arrival

Such a joy to worship and sing with you guys.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sean.

I'm one of the pastors of Trinity Cambridge Church,

and it's my joy and privilege to preach God's Word to you this morning.

If you have a Bible, please turn with me to John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

We have been in a series in the book of Exodus,

but for Palm Sunday and Good Friday and Easter,

we're going to be in the book of John.

If you don't have a Bible, just feel free to raise your hand,

and we'll bring a Bible along to you that you can use while you're here.

John is in the New Testament after the book of Luke

and before the book of Acts.

And let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Father, we humble ourselves before you,

submit ourselves to your Word, to your authority.

We ask that in the preaching of your Word this morning

and in the hearing of your Word,

that Jesus Christ, your Son, our King, would be exalted.

That He would be made known,

made more real in our hearts,

magnified in our minds,

so that we might follow Him

in His footsteps

toward the glory of the cross.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

If you are able, please stand with me

for the reading of God's Word

from John 12, verses 12 to 33.

John 12:12–33

The next day,

the large crowd that had come to the feast

heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

So they took branches of palm trees

and went out to meet Him,

crying out,

Hosanna!

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

even the King of Israel.

And Jesus found a young donkey

and sat on it,

just as it is written,

Fear not, daughter of Zion.

Behold, your King is coming,

sitting on a donkey's colt.

His disciples did not understand

these things at first.

But when Jesus was glorified,

then they remembered that these things

had been written about Him

and had been done to Him.

The crowd that had been with Him

when He called Lazarus out of the tomb

and raised Him from the dead

continued to bear witness.

The reason why the crowd went to meet Him

was that they heard He had done the sign.

So the Pharisees said to one another,

You see that you are gaining nothing.

Look!

The world has gone after Him.

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast

were some Greeks.

So these came to Philip,

who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,

and asked him,

Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Philip went and told Andrew.

Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

And Jesus answered them,

The hour has come

for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Truly, truly, I say to you,

unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,

it remains alone.

But if it dies,

it bears much fruit.

Whoever loves his life loses it,

and whoever hates his life in this world

will keep it for eternal life.

If anyone serves me,

he must follow me.

And where I am,

there will my servant be also.

If anyone serves me,

the Father will honor him.

Now is my soul troubled.

And what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour?

But for this purpose,

I have come to this hour.

Father, glorify your name.

Then a voice came from heaven.

I have glorified it,

and I will glorify it again.

The crowd that stood there and heard it said

that it had thundered.

Others said,

An angel has spoken to him.

Jesus answered,

This voice has come for your sake,

not mine.

Now is the judgment of this world.

Now will the ruler of this world be cast out,

and I,

when I am lifted up from the earth,

will draw all people to myself.

He said this to show by what kind of death

he was going to die.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

Nowadays,

it's not uncommon for people to have virtual friends,

whether it's a friend you made on Reddit,

or while playing a game online,

or someone you met on a dating app.

So it's likely that

some of you have also had the experience

of meeting someone,

a virtual friend,

in person

for the first time,

only to find out

that this friend of yours

that you thought you knew

is nothing at all

like the person you had imagined.

Maybe the profile picture

was a little bit outdated.

Maybe you imagined him

to have a deep,

baritone voice,

but instead,

he has a high,

squeaky voice.

Maybe you imagined him,

maybe you imagined her

to have,

you know,

a social,

you know,

be social and talkative,

but in real life,

she's very withdrawn,

and maybe timid,

tends to isolate herself.

It can be a jarring experience

when your expectations

are not met.

It's upended.

And often for us,

the reality is worse

than our fantasies.

For hundreds of years,

the Jews had also been

waiting for something,

expecting someone.

They'd been waiting

for the Messiah,

the King,

the Savior,

to come and redeem them

and rescue them.

Having been conquered

by nation after nation,

Assyrians,

Babylonians,

Persians,

and Greeks,

and then finally

under the Romans,

the Jews had been longing

desperately for the Messiah

finally to come.

Their expectations

were high,

and their anticipation

was at a fever pitch

by the time of this event.

But when Jesus,

the Messianic King,

finally came,

he was not

what the Jews

expected him to be.

He came in humility.

He came in mercy.

He came to die.

And to follow Jesus,

that means,

for us,

is to follow his path

to glory through death.

That's the main point

of this passage.

To follow King Jesus,

is to follow him,

his path,

to glory through death.

And we're going to explore

three ways in which

Jesus defied

the people's expectations.

First,

the King's agenda.

Second,

the King's audience.

And the third,

the King's ascendance.

The setting for this scene

is the Passover feast,

which is the greatest

and most widely observed feast

of all the Jewish feasts.

Verse 12 notes

that there was a large crowd

that had come to feast.

And that's not an understatement.

Or that's not an overstatement,

rather.

Jerusalem's normal population

around this time

is estimated to be

about 30,000 people.

But during Passover,

historians estimate

that the number of people

in Jerusalem

swelled to around 200,000.

And so obviously,

that city can't fit

200,000 people,

so people would pitch tents

all around the city,

and the whole city

would be bustling

with the influx of pilgrims,

tens of thousands of them.

And a large crowd

in a section of the city

hears that Jesus

is approaching the city,

says in verse 12.

And the teacher,

this teacher that is famous

for his authoritative teaching,

this healer

who's healed cripples

and the man born blind,

this miracle worker

who not long ago

raised Lazarus

from the dead,

is coming.

So notice that Jesus

is already famous

among the people.

He says in verses 17 to 18,

the crowd that had been with him

when he called Lazarus

out of the tomb

and raised him from the dead

continued to bear witness.

The reason why the crowd

went to meet him

was that they heard

he had done these things.

So Jesus is a celebrity.

Here, people are flocking

to just get a glimpse

of this man

who raised someone

from the dead

when they hear

that he is approaching.

So everywhere,

you're hearing murmurs

of people,

hey, there, Jesus.

Jesus is coming.

I think that's Jesus over there.

Some people are shouting,

hey, Jesus.

Jesus is coming.

Make way.

The men of God

who raised a man

from the dead.

And what this large crowd

expects from Jesus

is clearly seen

in the following verses.

It says in verse 13,

the Jews took branches

of palm trees

and went out to meet him,

crying out,

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes

in the name of the Lord.

Even the king of Israel.

This is a quotation

from Psalm 118,

which says,

Save us, we pray, O Lord.

O Lord, we pray,

give us success.

Blessed is he who comes

in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna!

is a Greek translation

of the Hebrew phrase

that means save us.

So this psalm

was sung

during many

of the Jewish feasts,

such as the Feast of Tabernacles

and the Feast of Passover.

So observant Jews

would have been

intimately familiar with it.

They probably knew it by heart.

But this psalm

was originally used

to pronounce blessing

on those who were coming

to worship the Lord,

coming in the name of the Lord

to worship him.

But the Jewish commentary

on this psalm

also reveals

that the Jews

understood this line

messianically.

The one who comes

in the name of the Lord

that they were expecting

to see

is the Messiah himself.

And the messianic interpretation

is confirmed

by what the crowd

says afterward.

Blessed is he

who comes

in the name of the Lord,

even the King

of Israel.

The crowd

surrounding Jesus

is proclaiming

Jesus

to be the King,

the promised Messiah.

Remember that

at this time

the Jews are under

Roman occupation.

Imagine that you

were the Roman governor

at this time,

over Jerusalem

at this time.

You're already

on high alert

because there's

an unusually

large gathering

of Jews

in the city

and with just

the right spark

crowds can quickly

flame into mobs,

dangerous mobs.

And not only that,

there are Jews,

these are Jews

that are gathering

to celebrate

the Passover

which is when

the Lord delivered

the nation of Israel

from another oppressor,

from another

occupying nation,

the Egyptians.

Egyptians.

It's the Jewish

equivalent of

American Independence Day

as I've said before.

So Jewish religious

fervor and national

patriotism is

peaking right

at this season.

So it's code red

if you're the administrator,

if you're the governor

of this city.

And this brazen

Jewish crowd,

instead of

minding their

overlords,

starts proclaiming,

here is the

King of Israel,

save us.

save them from what?

From the Romans,

of course.

In the Roman Empire,

there's only one king,

Caesar.

This is a treasonous

statement.

And the palm branches

provide yet another

clue to what the

crowd is expecting.

These are not palm trees

you find in California

and Florida.

These are date palm trees

which are a lot shorter

and very numerous

in this region.

And the Old Testament

doesn't prescribe

anywhere that people

should worship God

with palm trees

during the Passover

feast.

But this had become

a national symbol

by this time

for a number of reasons.

Just two centuries

earlier,

when the Syrian

ruler Antiochus

Epiphanes

overran Jerusalem

and desecrated

the Jewish temple

by setting up

a pagan altar

inside it,

the Jews,

under the leadership

of the Maccabee brothers,

Judas,

Jonathan,

and Simon,

staged a successful

military campaign

to recapture

and re-consecrate

the Jewish temple.

And it's written

in the first book

of Maccabee,

chapter 13,

verse 51,

that on the 23rd day

of the second month

in the 171st year,

the Jews entered it,

the temple,

with praise

and palm branches

and with harps

and cymbals

and stringed instruments

and with hymns

and songs

because a great enemy

had been crushed

and removed

from Israel.

Simon Maccabee

and his men

triumphantly entered

the temple

that they had retaken

and rededicated

in carrying palm branches.

And so by greeting

Jesus with palm branches,

these Jews

are betraying

their true expectations.

They want Jesus

to be another

Simon Maccabee.

They want Jesus

to lead them

into military victory

and political liberation

from the Roman

occupiers.

But Jesus defies

their expectations

in verses 14 to 15.

It says,

Jesus found

a young donkey

and sat on it.

Just as it is written,

Fear not,

daughter of Zion,

behold,

your king is coming,

sitting on a donkey's colt.

This is a reference

to Isaiah 49

and Zechariah 99.

Zechariah 99

we read during the

call to worship

which speaks of

how the Messianic king

will come riding

on a donkey,

humble and mounted

on a donkey.

By procuring a donkey

and sitting on it,

Jesus is consciously

fulfilling this

Messianic prophecy

of Zechariah.

So in doing so,

he is confirming

the crowd's expectation

on one hand,

that he is

the Messianic king.

So there's a,

and I say this

every Palm Sunday,

but there's a widespread

misunderstanding

that riding on a donkey

is a lowly,

humble thing,

something reserved

for the common village folk.

But that's not true.

Common village folk

don't ride donkeys,

they walk.

In fact,

riding a donkey

is a sign of royalty.

To give you some examples,

Judges 10

says that

Jair of Gilead,

a judge of Israel

for 22 years,

had 30 sons

who rode 30 donkeys.

They ride donkeys

because they're the rulers.

1 Kings 1, 32-35,

when King David

commands Zadok the priest

and Nathan the prophet

to have Solomon his son

ride on his own mule

when he wants to declare

that he is his choice

for his successor

to reign as king.

Riding on David's mule

showed David's stamp

of approval

that Solomon

is the royal heir.

Finally,

there's a letter

that archaeologists

found from Mari,

which was an ancient

Sumerian city

around 1760 BC.

It says this,

Verily,

you are the king

of the Heneans,

but secondly,

you are the king

of the Akkadians.

My lord should not

ride a horse.

Let my lord ride

in a chariot

or on a mule,

and he will thereby

honor his royal head.

A military general

seeking to conquer

a city

would ride in

galloping on a stallion,

but a king

who owns the city

will come in peace,

and he would trot

in on a mule.

Jesus knew this

full well,

and that's precisely

why he chose

to ride on a young donkey

into Jerusalem.

Jesus is not being demure

about his kingship.

He's putting the whole city

on notice,

saying,

I am the king.

I am the Messiah,

and here I come.

And Jesus is riding

on a donkey,

and I love imagining

this scene

from Mount of Olives.

We know from the other gospels,

Jerusalem is filled

with the pilgrims

all on their foot.

According to the Mishnah,

which is the Jewish

oral commentary

on the Torah,

Jews were specifically

expected to arrive

in Jerusalem

for their pilgrimage

on foot.

So tens of thousands

of pilgrims,

perhaps hundreds

of thousands of pilgrims,

all on foot.

And Jesus and his disciples

are always on foot.

This is the only time

in the gospels

that he is riding

any kind of animal.

And yet,

in a sea of people

on foot,

there is one man

rising above

the whole crowd,

and he is sitting

on a mule,

and he's riding in

as the glorious king.

Heads are turning.

People are making way.

It's a glorious scene.

It's the king's arrival.

But on the other hand,

Jesus is also correcting

the crowd's

messianic expectations.

Remember the palm branches.

The Jews are hoping

and expecting Jesus

to be another Simon Maccabee,

a rebel,

an insurrectionist,

a revolutionary,

a conquering king,

galloping in on a stallion

to rally his troops

and wage war against

the cruel oppressors.

But instead,

Jesus trots in gently,

meekly,

on a donkey's colt.

I mentioned to you earlier

that verse 15

is a quotation

of Zechariah 9.9,

but if you turn

to Zechariah 9.9

and read the verse

that follows immediately

after that,

verse 10,

it says this,

I will cut off

the chariot from Ephraim

and the war horse

from Jerusalem

and the battle bow

shall be cut off

and he shall speak

peace to the nations.

His rule shall be

from sea to sea

and from the river

to the ends

of the earth.

Jesus speaks

peace to the nations.

He cuts off

the battle bow

and the war horse.

But the Israelites

did not want Jesus

to speak peace

to the nations.

They wanted him

to speak vengeance

to the nations.

Do you think

that there weren't

any Jewish women

who were raped

by Roman soldiers

during this time?

Do you think

there weren't

any Jewish men

who were unjustly

tried and arrested

and maybe even killed?

Do you think

that there weren't

any Jewish discrimination

and bigotry

toward the Jewish people

in the Roman Empire

at this time?

The Romans

were a sinful bunch

like the rest of us.

I can assure you

that all of those

things happened.

The Israelites

were a conquered

and oppressed people

under Roman rule

and yet

Jesus came riding in

on a donkey

and spoke peace

to the nations.

Wait a minute,

Jesus.

You're supposed

to crush

our enemies

not save them.

Something's wrong

with the picture here,

Jesus.

Where's the war horse?

Where's the battle bone?

Do you know

what these people

have done to us?

1 Peter 2, 19-25

tell us that

Jesus was reviled

but did not revile

in return.

He suffered unjustly

yet he did not threaten.

Instead,

he entrusted himself

to God

who judges justly.

And it says

that Christ

suffered

in this manner

for us.

Quote,

leaving us

an example

so that we

might follow

in his steps.

Do you know

that the Bible

commands us

to suffer unjustly?

As Christians,

we say that

we love

Jesus' humility

and his meekness

that he is

a suffering servant.

But when I look around

at how many Christians

behave,

it makes me wonder

whether that's

really true.

Some Christians

prefer to carry

pitchforks

rather than

to carry the cross.

I think many

Christians nowadays

want Jesus

to look more like

Che Guevara

than a king

riding on a donkey.

a revolutionary

to overthrow

the establishment.

They'd rather

punish their enemies

than suffer

unjustly

in their hands.

They'd rather

cancel their enemies

than forgive

their enemies.

They'd rather

slap back

than turn

the other cheek.

But that is

not the pattern

that Jesus

set for us.

We serve

King Jesus,

the Prince

of Peace.

I'm not saying

that we shouldn't

seek institutional

justice for the

sake of others.

That is a

faithful application

of the command

to love our

neighbor as

ourselves.

But when it

comes to you,

personally,

do you seek

justice for

yourself?

Or are you

willing to take

the path of

humility and

meekness and

suffer unjustly?

When your

boss belittles

you,

when your

neighbors

mock you,

when your

friends offend

you,

are you willing

to suffer like

a lamb that

is silent before

its shearers?

Or is your

response,

how dare you

do this to

me?

I'll show

you.

I'm going to

blast you on

social media and

make you sorry

for what you

did.

If someone's

committing a

crime against

you,

that's one

thing.

Report it to

the proper

authority,

sure.

But when

someone sins

against you,

and it's a

choice between

leaving justice

in God's hands

and taking it

into your own

hands,

which would

you choose?

When we

refuse to

take justice

into our

own hands

and entrust

ourselves to

God's ultimate

justice,

in doing that,

we're honoring

God.

That's our

vote of

confidence.

God,

I trust you.

God,

I know that

you are just.

God,

I know that

I might suffer

now,

but that day

is coming when

you will come

with perfect

justice.

And when we

suffer in that

way,

we're imitating

Jesus,

our suffering

Savior.

And in doing

that,

we're pointing

people to

the good

news of

Jesus Christ,

to the

gospel.

Look at

my life.

Look at

my unjust

suffering.

Who does

that remind

you of?

That's my

Savior.

If Jesus

had come

merely to

execute justice

in his

first coming,

he would

have crushed

the Romans,

yes,

but he would

have also

crushed every

single one

of the

Israelites.

Because they

had all

fallen short

of his

glory.

Because they

had all

rebelled

against him.

I think we

missed this

point for

similar reasons

in our own

lives.

I think we're

sometimes too

eager to pick

up the

pitchforks for

this very

reason.

It's because

we're not

carrying the

cross.

We don't see

ourselves as

sinners at the

foot of the

cross.

Instead,

we're

self-righteous.

We think

we have

everything

figured out

and can

discern and

judge the

sins of

others with

perfect clarity.

We think

that sin is

more their

issue than

my issue.

But if we

followed in

the footsteps

of Jesus and

carried our

own cross,

then we'd be

more humble.

I think we'd

be quicker to

hear and slower

to speak.

I think we

would take the

logs out of

our own eyes

before we try

to remove the

specks from

our brothers and

sisters'

eyes.

Jesus came to

satisfy God's

justice on

the cross so

that he might

show us mercy,

so that he

might offer us

forgiveness.

To follow

King Jesus

is to follow

his path to

glory through

death.

And after

seeing the

crowd's reaction

to Jesus,

the Pharisees

are envious,

and they say

to one another

in verse 19,

you see that

you are gaining

nothing.

Look, the

world has

gone after

him.

And that

brings us to

the second

way that

Jesus appended

people's

expectations,

the king's

audience.

Jesus did

not come

only for

the Jews.

He came

for the

whole world.

The whole

world has

gone after

him.

The Pharisee

statement that

the world

has gone

after him

is even

truer than

they realize

in the

book of

John,

the word

world is

a key

word that

occurs again

and again.

It occurs

more frequently

in the

gospel of

John than

any other

book in

the New

Testament.

In fact,

it occurs

78 times

in the

gospel of

John alone,

which is

more than

a third

of all the

occurrences

in the

New

Testament.

In fact,

it occurs

several times

in this

passage.

It says

again in

verses 31

and 32,

now is

the judgment

of this

world.

Now will

the ruler

of this

world be

cast out.

And I,

when I

am lifted

up from

the earth,

will draw

all people

to myself.

Similarly,

it said in

John 1

29,

Jesus is

the Lamb

of God

who takes

away the

sin of

the world.

And most

famously in

John 3

16,

God so

loved the

world that

he gave

his only

son that

whoever

believes in

him should

not perish

but have

eternal life.

It doesn't

mean that

God saves

the whole

world without

exception.

only those

who repent

and believe

in Jesus

will be

saved.

But it

does mean

that God

saves the

whole world

without

distinction.

Jesus is

the messianic

king,

not only

over the

Jews,

but over

all peoples,

over the

whole world.

He did

not come

to announce

judgment

of mere

Israel or

even of

the Roman

Empire only,

but the

judgment

of this

world.

He did

not come

to overthrow

a small

fry like

Caesar.

He came

to overthrow,

cast out the

ruler of

this entire

sinful world.

The title

ruler of

this world

occurs again

in John 14

30 and

1611 and

similar titles

are used

throughout the

New Testament

to refer to

Satan.

the true

king has

come and

Jesus'

glorification,

his enthronement

means Satan's

dethronement,

his overthrow.

Jesus'

coming into

his kingdom

means the

expulsion of

the ruler of

this world.

Don't ever

forget that

Jesus is

seated on

his throne

even right

now,

reigning at

the right

hand of

the Father.

We can get

worked up

and so

worried about

presidential

elections

and

geopolitics,

but the

ruler of

this world

has already

been cast

out.

And the

true king

is already

seated on

his throne.

Whether the

U.S.

or China

wins the

contest for

global

supremacy,

whether

Biden or

Trump

wins the

next

election,

Jesus is

still

king.

God has

not promised

to send

another

Messiah.

Jesus is

it.

He's the

one.

And no

matter who

your favorite

political

candidate is

or who

your

fantasy

Messiah

might be,

that person

is not

going to

save you.

Only

Jesus can

save you.

So be

watchful,

but not

fearful.

Be informed

and be

involved in

politics,

whatever degree

your vocation

calls for.

But don't

be consumed

by world

politics.

Jesus is

still

king.

And remember

also that

there is no

aspect of

your life

that's beyond

the reach

of Jesus'

rule.

If Jesus

rules over

the whole

world,

then you

cannot

confine or

compartmentalize

the scope

of his

authority.

His

sovereignty

is universal

and total.

19th century

Dutch

theologian

and prime

minister,

Abraham

Kuyper,

once famously

said this,

there's not

a square

inch in

the whole

domain of

our human

existence

over which

Christ,

who is

sovereign

over all,

does not

cry,

mine.

Is

Jesus

king over

every domain

in your

life?

Not only

on Easter

and Christmas,

but over

365 days

of your

life.

Not only

during

two hours

on Sunday

morning,

but 24

hours a

day of

your life.

Is

Jesus

Lord,

is

Jesus

king

in your

life?

In

every

square

inch

of your

finances,

every

square

inch

of your

speech,

every

square

inch

of how

you

work,

how

you

behave

when

no

one

is

looking,

is

Jesus

king

there?

Is

he

ruling

in

your

life?

The

reality

of

Jesus'

universal

rule

and

appeal

is

confirmed

immediately

by

verse

20.

It says,

now among

those who

went up

to worship

at the

feast

were some

Greeks.

The Greeks

are not

people

necessarily

from

Greece,

but as

elsewhere

in the

New

Testament,

this is

the way

they refer

to

Gentiles,

all

non-Jews

who come

from

different

parts

of their

Greek

speaking

world.

So the

nations,

indeed,

the world

has begun

to come

to Jesus.

And they

reach out

to

Philip,

maybe because

he's from

the area

near the

Decapolis

where the

Gentiles

lived,

Bethsaida

in Galilee.

They

approach

Philip,

and then

Philip

approaches

Andrew,

and together

they tell

Jesus

about it.

And it's

the arrival

of the

Gentiles

that prompts

Jesus to

say this

in verse

23,

the hour

has come

for the

Son of

Man to

be glorified.

Up to

this point

in the

Gospel of

John,

the hour

of his

glorification

has always

been future.

But now

the arrival

of Gentiles

has triggered

this hour

of Jesus'

glorification.

The appointed

hour,

the right

time,

has come.

Back then,

if you remember,

there was a

strict separation

between Jews

and Gentiles.

Gentiles could

not enter

into the

inner courtyard

of the

temple.

They had to

stay outside

in the

outer court.

If they

were to

transgress

that boundary,

they could

be killed.

It was on

pains of

death.

They were

threatened

to do

that.

But Jesus

came not

to save

the Jews

only,

but to

save all

nations,

to save

the whole

world,

in a sense.

That's why

it says

in verse

32,

when Jesus

says,

when I'm

lifted up

from the

earth,

I will

draw all

people

to

myself.

Salvation

is from

the Jews

because Jesus

is a

Jewish

Messiah,

but salvation

is not

merely for

the Jews.

That's why

the Great

Commission

does not

say,

make

disciples

of your

tribal

group or

your ethnic

group.

It says,

make disciples

of all

nations.

That's why

Jesus promises

his followers

before his

ascension to

heaven in

Acts 1-8,

you will

receive power

when the

Holy Spirit

has come

upon you

and you

will be

my witnesses

in Jerusalem

and in all

Judea and

Samaria and

to the end

of the

earth,

meaning not

only to

the Jews

in Jerusalem

but also

to the

Samaritans

in Samaria

and also

to the

Gentiles

in the

ends

of the

earth.

So you

cannot

reject

Jesus

with this

excuse,

saying to

yourself,

well,

I'm not

a Jew,

so I

can't believe

in the

God of

the Bible.

Well,

my parents

are atheists,

so this

can't be

for me.

Well,

my country

is Muslim,

so I

can't be

a Christian.

My culture

is Hindu,

so I

can't be

a Christian.

My family

is Buddhist,

so I

can't be

a Christian.

You

can't have

those excuses

because

Christianity

is not

a Western

religion.

It's not

an American

export.

Jesus

rules over

the whole

world.

Christianity

is the

only

major

religion

in the

world

whose

founding

document,

the New

Testament,

was written

in the

language that

is not

the native

language of

the founder,

Jesus.

Jesus spoke

Aramaic.

The New

Testament is

written in

Greek.

Why?

Because

Jesus is

the Savior

of the

whole world,

not only

of the Jews

but of the

Greeks,

the Gentiles.

The Atlas

of Global

Christianity,

it's a book,

it's essentially

a book of

maps and

statistics and

diagrams related

to global

Christianity.

It chronicles

the shifts

in the

gravitational

center of

Christianity

from 30

A.D.

to the

present day.

The center

of gravity

for Christianity

was at

first,

of course,

in Jerusalem

around 30

A.D.

and then

it gradually

shifted north

and west

so that its

gravitational

center was

in

Constantinople,

which is

modern-day

Istanbul

in Turkey.

That was

around

1000 A.D.

and then

by 1500

A.D.,

the gravitational

center

shifts

still further

north into

what is

Budapest,

Hungary,

and Vienna,

Austria.

By 1900 A.D.,

it shifted

further west

due in large

part to the

rise of the

United States

and the

gravitational

center was

Madrid,

Spain.

And then

since then,

the gravitational

center of

Christianity

has shifted

even more

southeast

rather than

northwest

so that it's

now in

Niger,

Africa,

and it's

expected to

continue its

shift southeast.

east.

That's

where the

center of

gravity for

Christians in

Christianity,

global Christianity

now is.

Let me ask you

some questions.

Do you know

where the

gravitational center

of Buddhism

is?

You probably

do.

It's

Southeast Asia.

It has

always been

Southeast Asia.

Do you know

where the

gravitational center

of Islam

is?

I bet you

do because

it's the

Middle East

Middle East.

Do you know

where the

gravitational center

of Hinduism

is?

Yes.

India.

And it

has always

been

India.

Christianity

is the

only world

religion

who has

truly one

adherence

from the

whole

world.

that has

shifted its

gravitational

center all

over the

world.

There is

no single

monolithic

Christian

civilization

or Christian

culture

because there

has already

been multiple

Christian

civilizations

and multiple

Christian

cultures.

Why?

Because King

Jesus is

king not