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John 12:9-15  JESUS RIDING INTO JERUSALEM AS KING

Introduction:
	
	Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave at Bethany.  Then In
He left Bethany and He took refuge at Ephraim near Jericho
from the Jewish leaders, who sought to kill Him.  In our
text last Sunday Jesus returned to Bethany where He was
anointed with an ointment by Mary, one of the sisters of
Lazarus.  Jesus said that Mary had anointed Him for His
burial.
	In our text today, there is not the slightest hint that
He is about to be crucified and buried.  Rather, it appears
that He is about to be crowned as king of Israel.  He makes
a grand entrance into the city of Jerusalem and is
proclaimed to be the King of Israel.
	
I.  The people coming out to Bethany to see Jesus

	V. 9, "Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he
was there..."  That is, much people knew that He was in the
village of Bethany just two miles out of Jerusalem.  There
was hardly any way to keep this news secret.  Even the chief
priests and elders, who sought the life of Jesus, knew that
He was in Bethany.  When He left Ephraim He had joined a
caravan of people from the north who were headed toward
Jerusalem to observe the Passover.  He and all that
multitude, had passed through the city of Jericho, where He
gave sight to two blind men, one of them being Blind
Bartimeus.  Bartimeus was the one who had cried out to Jesus
saying, "Thou son of David, have mercy on me."  That is,
Bartimeus had even then back at Jericho proclaimed Jesus to
be the promised King who would be born through David's
lineage.
	The great crowd of people who were traveling with Jesus
to Jerusalem to observe the passover had witnessed that
great miracle at Jericho.  Many of those in the crowd were
convinced that Bartimeus was right.  They concluded that
Jesus was indeed the promised Christ, the promised king.
	Then Jesus and that whole great crowd of people came
together to Bethany, where Jesus had earlier raised Lazarus
from the dead, and where the whole village was excited about
that resurrection.  Many of them must have attended the
supper given in honor of Jesus which was in the home of
Simon the leper, whom Jesus had healed from his leprosy.
They had seen Simon, as host, sitting at the table with
Jesus and Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead.
	It was only two miles from Bethany to Jerusalem and
there was just no way to keep this kind of news from
Jerusalem.  Everybody in Jerusalem, including the Jews, who
sought the life of Jesus, must have learned that He was
there.  Those who were His enemies did not dare to arrest
Him among some many admirers.  They would have to wait to
catch Him off from the crowds so that they could arrest Him
without opposition from the crowds.
	But a lot of people did come to see Him there at
Bethany.  A huge crowd was already with Him.  They had come
with Him from Jericho.  Now vast numbers of others from
Jerusalem joined them at Bethany.  This swelled the crowd to
number well up into the thousands.  They were chiefly
interested in seeing Him because of the miracles which He
had performed, especially the miracle of raising Lazarus
from the grave.  (V. 9,), "...and they came not for Jesus'
sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had
raised from the dead."

II.  The Jewish leaders wanting to  put Lazarus to death

	The Jewish leaders who had plotted the death of Jesus
were greatly disturbed.  They had repeatedly met trying to
find a way to arrest Jesus and put Him to death without
interference from the crowd.  Now they also consider putting
even Lazarus to death.  V. 10, "But the chief priests
consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death."
Earlier they had decided that they would put one man to
death, Jesus.  Now they consider putting two men to death
--- Jesus and Lazarus.
	The reason they wanted to put Lazarus to death was
because of his resurrection from the dead that so many
people were now attracted to Jesus.  V. 11, "Because that by
reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on
Jesus."  That is, many of the people now believed that Jesus
is the Christ, the king which God had promised through the
prophets.  They seemed to think that if they had Lazarus out
of the way that they could prevent others from turning to
Jesus.  I wonder if it occurred to them that if they were to
kill Lazarus that Jesus could raise him from the dead again
and that this would just attract all the more people to
Jesus.

III.  A great procession accompanying Jesus into the city of
	Jerusalem

	V. 12-13, "On the next day much people that were come to
the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to
Jerusalem, 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."  On the day following
the great supper given for Jesus at Bethany the crowd which
was already there at Bethany swelled even greater by the
masses at Jerusalem who were there to attend the Passover.
They gathered there at Bethany and when Jesus started out of
Bethany to go toward Jerusalem they went before Him
proclaiming Him to be the promised king of Israel.  That is
they proclaimed Him to be the Christ.
	It was the custom of people in that part of the world to
go before a great ruler and to show him great homage.
Historians speak of the people laying out scarlet colored
silk on the ground for more than a mile for one royal ruler
as he entered a large city.  They people here on this
occasion were not prepared to do that.  They would have had
to laid plans in advance to lay out the red silk carpet.
But they used what they had available to them at the moment
to demonstrate their welcome to Jesus as the coming King.
John said that they broke off palm branches and used them to
lay before Jesus to make a carpet for Him to walk upon.
Other gospel writers say that they also stripped off their
outer garments and laid them on the ground to help make a
carpet for the royal king.
	Someone in the crowd started shouting praises to Jesus.
One of the gospel writers said that it was the disciples of
Jesus who started it.  But the whole crowd, made up of
several thousand people, were soon shouting to the tops of
their voices giving praises to Jesus as the promised
Messiah.  They were saying, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of
Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord."
	The word "Hosanna" means "Save us."  They were crying
out to Jesus as the promised king asking Him to save them.
But we need to understand that they were not talking about
the salvation of the soul.  They, and all of Israel, were
not thinking about a king who would save them from their
sin.  They were thinking about a king who would save them
from the Roman government which ruled over them.  They were
not asking Jesus to save them from their sins and to take
them to heaven.  They were asking Him to save them from the
Romans.  What they wanted was for Jesus to take over the
throne in Jerusalem and to use His miraculous powers to
defeat the Roman armies and to also to use His miraculous
powers to bring material prosperity to the nation.
	Now you well know that Jesus had not come to be an
earthly king at that time.  Rather, He had come that He
might go to the cross of Calvary and to give Himself as an
offering for the souls of men.  He had come  that they might
be saved and go to heaven.  Nevertheless, Jesus went along
with their move to proclaim Him as King of Israel.  He did
so because it had been prophesied by the Prophet Zechariah,
that He would make such and entrance into the city of
Jerusalem.  Zechariah 9:9 gives a preview of what would take
place at Jerusalem at this time.  "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."  Zechariah said that the King who would save the
people of Israel would come into the city riding upon a
colt, the foal of an ass.  That is, he would come riding
upon a donkey.
	John said that Jesus found such an animal to ride on in
order to fulfill the prophecy that had been made.  V.
14-15, "And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat
thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion:
behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt."
Other gospel writers tell us that Jesus actually sent two of
His disciples into the village of Bethphage, which adjoined
the village of Bethany, to get the colt and its mother.  One
of His disciples then took his own cloak and draped it over
the colt in semblance of royal tapestry.
	It was in this manner that Jesus then rode from the top
of Mount Olives down to the bottom where a small stream ran
across the road and up the slight incline into the city of
Jerusalem.  He road as a King.  He was professing to the
city of Jerusalem and to the whole nation of Israel that He
is their King.  Yet He was in no way proclaiming Himself to
be an earthy king.  He was proclaiming Himself to be a
heavenly King.  He was proclaiming Himself to be the Son of
God, the ruler of Heaven and earth.  He was proclaiming
Himself to be the King of a great spiritual kingdom.  The
people cried out for Him to save their nation from the Roman
government.  He had come to do something far greater.  He
had come to save men from the everlasting fires of hell and
to give them an eternal home in heaven.  He had not come for
them to place a golden crown upon His head.  He had come for
them to place a crown of thorns upon His head.  He had not
come to defeat the Roman army.  He had come to defeat the
armies of Satan and to provide salvation to all who would
place their faith in Him.

IV.  The reason Jesus rode on a donkey
	
	But now let me point out something special about this
event.  I call your attention to the choice of animals that
Jesus made.  He owns all the animals of the world and He
could have had any animal of His choice on which to ride.
But He chose to ride into Jerusalem on an ass, that is on a
donkey.  He had a special reason for this choice.  If an
king rode into a city on a white horse it was a sign that he
had already been to battle and that he had already won the
victory.  It was now time to rejoice and the white horse
would indicate that he was inviting all to join him in his
victory celebration.  Jesus did not ride the white horse
into Jerusalem.  We will ride a white horse when He comes in
the air returning from heaven.
	If a king rode into a city on a horse which was not
colored white, it was a sign that he was still at war and it
could mean that he was about to make war against the city
toward which he rode.  Jesus did not ride a red horse or
black horse or pale horse into Jerusalem.  He was not there
to make war on anybody.  He most certainly was not there to
make war on Jerusalem nor on the nation of Israel.
	If a king rode into a city on a donkey or a mule, it was
a sign that he had come to that city to seek to make peace
with it.  He had come to make peace between the people of
that city and the nation which it represented and himself
and the government which he represented.  Jesus chose to
ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.  He chose to ride a donkey
because He was there on a mission of peace.  He was there to
seek to make peace between Himself and God the Father in
heaven with the people of the city of Jerusalem and with the
whole nation of Israel and with all the world.

V.  The prevailing question today

	The question is not whether or not God was willing to
make peace with the people.  Rather is was a question of
whether or not the people were willing to make peace with
God.
	That is still the prevailing question today.  God has
sent Jesus to the world to be the Savior of men.  He has
sent Him to the cross to be the Savior of men.  Today it is
not a question of whether or not God will receive you and
forgive you and save you, but rather it is a question of
whether or not you are ready to make peace with God.  If you
are aware that you are a sinner against God and if you are
ready to make your peace with God then you must do so
through Jesus Christ.  You must place your faith in Jesus as
the Christ of God, as the Son of God and as your own
personal Savior to save you from your sins.

Conclusion:

	I am here as a messenger of God and of Jesus Christ the
Son of God and I call upon you to come to Jesus Christ this
morning and place your faith in Jesus to save your soul and
take you to heaven.  Come and make your peace with God
today.
	If you are already saved and if there is something you
need to do to get your life straightened out with God, then
I am going to ask you to come this morning and let the Lord
take control of your life.  If you wish to unite with this
church to serve the Lord, then I am going to ask you to come
and present yourself for membership.