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John 12:12-50 - Part A

Connect with Skip Heitzig / Skip Heitzig
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January 3, 2025 5:00 am

John 12:12-50 - Part A

Connect with Skip Heitzig / Skip Heitzig

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January 3, 2025 5:00 am

Pastor Skip looks at Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and how it set him apart from all others.

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This is Connect with Skip Heitzig, and we're so glad that you're joining us today. We begin on a special date with a special event, a unique event, an event Jesus never participated in up till this moment. Up until this moment, Jesus told others whenever he would heal them or perform a miracle, he'd say, don't tell anybody about this. Keep this quiet. Keep it to yourself.

Don't spread it around. He never allowed himself to publicly be accepted or allowed himself to publicly be presented to his nation as their Messiah until now. This day was different. This event was different.

Now he will call public attention to it on purpose. The event is the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. It's called the triumphal entry. It's given that title. It's not a title you find in the Bible, but it is a theological title, the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.

Very, very famous. It's the Palm Sunday story. This is a story that is written about in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That makes it unique because so many of the events Jesus did were covered by one but not the others or another, maybe two but not the others.

This one is covered by all of them. So it is mentioned then four times in the four gospels. Now you know sometimes Jesus will say things twice.

He'll repeat himself. If he wants you to really listen to something important, he'll say, verily, verily, I say unto you, which means like, okay, stop, listen up. Sometimes God will show something or have a reaction to something three times like in the book of Isaiah with that vision that Isaiah saw and the angels procrastinating not once, not twice, but three times, holy, holy, holy is the Lord. He's not just holy. He's not just holy, holy. He's holy, holy, holy. He's the max. He's superlative.

He's holy turned up to 11. But here, this is the fourth time God tells us something. Now when he repeats himself twice, it's important. When he says something three times, it's really important.

When he says something four times, do you think we ought to listen? So it's a very key event. The date is an important date. In the Jewish calendar, it is the 10th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, spelled like the car almost. It would be transliterated into English N-I-S-A-N. I think the car has two S's, but the month has one S. So it's the 10th of the Hebrew month, Nisan.

Or in the Julian calendar, our calendar, April 6th, 32 A.D. What's important about that date? On the 10th of Nisan, according to Jewish law, lambs were selected for Passover. They weren't sacrificed.

They were selected. Each home would select a lamb, a little cute, furry, fluffy lamb. It would be brought into the home for a few days.

It would be inspected, looked over, made sure that it's nice and healthy and has no external or internal flaws. Of course, it would have to be inspected by the priest before the sacrifice on the 14th day of Nisan or the Passover. So on the 10th day, the lamb was presented to the family, brought into the family, inspected, only to be sacrificed on the 14th. It is interesting that on this very day, the 10th of Nisan, Jesus decides this is the day that he would present himself to the nation as the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, their savior, their sacrifice. On the 10th day of Nisan, the lamb would come, the deliverer would come. He would be inspected by the nation.

They will reject him and kill him. But as God would have it, he'll be sacrificed on the Passover, the 14th day of Nisan. It is fascinating chronology.

It is indisputable history, and it's very, very applicational to us. So that is the setup. It is that date. Jesus comes into Jerusalem. He has been in Bethany.

If you remember from last time, we just covered part of chapter 12. And we got to the story of the festival, the feast that Jesus was at, the dinner at the house of Simon the leper. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were there. Martha was serving. All the disciples were there.

Lazarus, who had been dead, now alive. That incredible feast they had together. So that was a feast, a dinner. But now we come to the feast, the feast of Passover.

And can I refresh your memory? You probably know this, but if you don't, it is one of three mandatory feasts for Jewish people to appear at in Jerusalem. Now, not everybody around the world could, but you have to know that it was always the desire, still is, to go at least one time to Jerusalem if you're Jewish at the Passover. So in the Passover itself, if you've ever celebrated one, there's a line in it that says, next year in Jerusalem, that's the hope, maybe next year, maybe it will be next year that we'll have the money to go to Jerusalem and celebrate it there in the land.

So this city is filled with people, people within the immediate environs of Jerusalem, people from as far away as Galilee, as far away as Greece, we will see, from around the world. According to Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, at a Passover around this time, whether it was this one in particular or another one, in the temple, on the altar, were sacrificed 256,000 lambs. 256,000 lambs killed in Jerusalem during one Passover.

Why is that important? Because that will tell us about how many people were in Jerusalem celebrating it. According to Jewish law, you would average one lamb for 10 people. One lamb per family. The family could be up to 10 people. You may want to invite a few single friends to make it 10, but it was typically around 10 people for one lamb at the Passover.

At a minimum of 10, you have two and a half million people in Jerusalem crowded around. There's no hotels, there's no Wyndham or Holiday Inn or things like that. People would camp out anywhere they could find a place on the Mount of Olives, in homes which were usually open for anyone who was a pilgrim, Jewish, a brother or sister from someone. But how cool would it be to have homes opened up for a celebration like this, where people just say, come on in.

We don't know you, but we will by the end of the week. And enjoy our hospitality, enjoy our city, etc. That's the kind of hospitality that went on, but it was a packed, crowded city. A great multitude that had come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him and cried out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.

Then Jesus, when he found a young donkey, sat on it 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 were written about him and that they had done these things to him. Wherever Jesus went, he had a crowd of people.

The crowds grew. He was controversial. He was popular all at the same time. But now he had done something that marked him as being different than anyone ever. There is no mistaking that this man has power no one else possesses, for now a person who's been dead four days that everyone knew about is walking around.

He's alive. So people want to just get a glimpse of him. They take a selfie with him if they could, but they just want to see him. They want to hang out and they've heard about this incredible miracle. And so wherever Jesus went, he attracted a crowd. And by the way, it was the blue collar worker that loved Jesus.

The common people, the Bible says, the common people heard him gladly. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, starting the year with a structured Bible study can shape your spiritual journey for the months ahead and help align your life with God's truth. We want to help you do that with Pastor Skip's book, The Bible from 30,000 Feet and Companion Workbook. Journey through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, gaining a deep panoramic understanding of God's word that helps you understand the big picture of scripture with greater clarity. These resources are our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copies when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. He was simple. He was like them, a man of the earth. He wasn't part of the religious elite. They were sort of tired of the scribes and the Pharisees and being alienated and isolated by them. Jesus was a breath of fresh Judean air. He came to Jerusalem and the people gathered. They wanted to see him.

And they took palm branches and trees. And John gives to us the text that they quote. It sounds like a spontaneous worship and it was, but there's more to it than that. They're quoting Psalm 18 or 118, the messianic Psalm, Hosanna, save now. That's what it means. Save us now. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

But you ought to know something that would help, I think. The idea of bringing palm branches out and waving it before a would-be deliverer goes back a couple hundred years in their history. When there was a struggle among the Jewish people for independence and the Maccabean revolt gave them that independence. I've told you before, even in this series on John, that between the Old and the New Testament, 200, 250 B.C., that there was a Syrian king named Antiochus IV. Typically, he's called Antiochus Epiphanes. It's a name he gave himself.

It means I am God made manifest. Humility was not a strong point. The Jews so hated him, they gave him their own nickname, Antiochus Epimenides, which is the madman, the beast, the insane dude. Antiochus hated the Jews, persecuted the Jews, killed the Jews.

I've told you the stories what happened. The Maccabean revolt overturned the Syrian stronghold on the people, drove them out, and they celebrated the feast of independence called Hanukkah, the feast of dedication mentioned in the Gospel of John. When Judas Maccabeus and his brothers were successful, the people of Jerusalem brought out palm branches. So bringing them out again was their way of saying we hope that this is a deliverance like that one, that you are a political messiah, that you are going to overturn our new enemy, not the Syrians, but now the Romans. We want you to deliver us, save us now. They're not saying save us. I ask Jesus to come in my heart and be my Lord and Savior, not that kind of save now.

Save us from the political threats of foreign enemies, Rome. That's what they're crying for. Now they're going to be disappointed because he is their king, he is their messiah, and he will rule and reign and save Israel from its enemies, but not on his first coming, on his second coming. In round two, Jesus 2.0 will accomplish that when he comes again. Jesus 1.0, he has to deal with something more important, and that is sin. That's why he's going to a cross. So this is his time to show up in Jerusalem at the appointed time by the Father to die on the cross for their sins.

Then he's going away. It's been 2,000 years. One day he'll come back, and he will rule and reign for 1,000 years in Jerusalem over the earth and then in a new heaven and a new earth. But they want that deliverance now. Save us now. The sad thing, the ironic thing, is many people that are in this crowd welcoming Jesus, shouting at Jesus, saying, Hosanna! You know, we might say, there they are in church, praise the Lord, praise the Lord.

Oh, yes, we're so excited. In a few days, we'll no doubt be part of the same crowd shouting, crucify him. The people, the crowds will cry that, crucify him, crucify him. Which goes to show you it's always easier to shout with the crowd than to stand at the cross. It's always easier to say, yeah, man, let me just get really excited and shout about Jesus, but when it comes to sacrifice and death and dying to yourself and following Jesus the way he really demands that you follow him, it's like, not so much.

Part of this crowd will no doubt be part of that crowd. But right now, tension is high, excitement is high as Jesus comes in. Verse 14 tells us that he's on a donkey. Why is that? Is it because he was tired?

Tired of walking, man, I've been walking all day and I just need to rest, get off my feet. Is it that he liked donkey rides? What's the deal? Well, John tells us it's to fulfill a promise from the prophet Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9. It's paraphrased here a little bit, but back in Zechariah, it's rejoice greatly, oh, daughter of Zion. Shout, daughter of Jerusalem, for your king is coming to you.

And that verse is alluded to and it is quoted here. Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9, the prediction that the Messiah will come to them riding on a donkey. Is that significant, a donkey?

Well, yeah, it is significant, not just because it's a part of prophecy, but it's part of history. It's a part of the traditional way kings would approach a city. If a king came to a city bringing terms of peace, he would ride an animal of peace, a donkey. If he was coming as a ruler to subjugate them or to rule and reign over them, he would ride on a horse. So when Jesus comes the first time, he is offering them peace, terms of peace.

He is the one and only time he is allowing himself to be publicly seen and preached as their promised Messiah is here and now. When he comes the second time, he will come on a horse. Revelation chapter 19, don't have to turn there now.

You can keep a marker there. You can write a little note in your Bible, look at it later. But Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven the second time to the earth to put an end to the great tribulation period, riding a horse. And it says, and he judges and makes war. He's on a war horse. So I don't know, I'm not that excited that he's coming to make war, but I'm glad he's coming to take over. But anyway, at this point, he's coming to make peace, terms of peace. Now, verse 16, I'm glad it says this. Boy, am I glad. There's certain verses that, you know, are popular.

This probably isn't. This is one of my favorite verses. His disciples did not understand these things at first. But when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done these things to him. Why is that one of your favorite verses, Skip?

I love the fact that it says they didn't get it because I don't always get it. I'm glad it says of the disciples, these things happen. It was written in the Scripture and the disciples are going, huh? I don't get it. And they won't get it until Jesus is glorified. After the crucifixion, after the resurrection, after all of that, when he's glorified and he's taken back up into heaven, then they'll remember it.

I can't tell you how many times I've read through parts of the Bible, only to read it again, after years of studying it even perhaps. And I'll look and I'll go, I never saw that there. I didn't quite get it. Now it makes sense. Ever had one of those moments? It's wonderful when you have those moments. The disciples had those moments. And what I love is that it's when Jesus was glorified that they got it. And I believe the more Jesus becomes glorified in your life, the more you'll get his word, his truth. It'll make sense to you.

You know, you've got the right heart. You're growing in your faith. You're growing in your relationship with God. He's more and more glorified. It's like, ah, enlightenment is coming.

I'm getting it. Therefore, the people who were with him, when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. They checked it out. They saw it. They agreed with it.

For this reason, the people also met him because they heard that he had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, you see that you're accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. Can you hear the frustration in their voices? They're losing the grip of control on the people. They're becoming less popular. Jesus is becoming more popular. They hate that.

Their influence is waning. Jesus is growing. And they make a statement, oh, I wish it were true. He said, oh, look, the whole world has gone after him.

Boy, do I wish that were true. I wish the world would go after Jesus. He's the only hope for the world. Sadly, the world hasn't gone after him.

They've gone away from him. But that's where you and I come in. We can, by our lives, by our message, but by our lives, create a hunger and a thirst. You're the salt of the earth. You know, part of salt's job is to create a thirst.

You can create a thirst so that when you're around, people go, man, whatever you got, I want. Give me some of that. You've got peace in this political hurricane. You've got joy. You're not stressed because you believe like God's in control. How did you get there?

And hopefully, though the world is gone mad, they may go after him as they see you pursuing him. Okay, so this is the 10th of Nisan, right? This is the triumphal entry. It's called the triumphal entry. I mentioned you'll never find that term in the Scripture.

I'm going to give it a different term, the tearful entry. Because when Jesus, according to the other gospels, crusted the Mount of Olives and looked at the city, he stopped. And Luke's gospel, chapter 19, says he stopped and he wept over the city. So he's not like going, wee, donkey ride, yay. He stops. He's their Messiah. It's the 10th of Nisan.

The lamb is being presented, but he weeps over. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program.

Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you gain a deeper understanding of the sweeping story of Scripture. Pastor Skip's book, The Bible from 30,000 Feet, and The Companion Workbook are our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copies when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox? Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-03 04:37:57 / 2025-01-03 04:46:26 / 8

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