A Parade For Jesus John 12:12-19 Before Reading the Passage: Let me tell you where we are in relation to our Lord's life and His death on the cross. -Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead! He was the talk of the town! A man was dead for four days and Jesus raised him from the dead! -Then Simon the Leper, who Jesus healed, invited Jesus to a Supper, along with His disciples, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. There were seventeen there in all. -It was after this supper that Mary anointed our Lord's head and feet with perfume and wiped His feet with her hair. Judas rebuked Mary, calling what she did to Jesus a waste. It was then that Jesus rebuked Judas and told him to leave her alone. What she had done was a good thing. -Matt. 26:14-16 tells us that Judas slips away that night to the Chief Priest and agreed to betray Jesus to them. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray Jesus. The next day is Sunday. It is only four days until Passover. The Jewish leaders want to put Jesus to death, but not during the Passover Celebration. There plan was to seize Him and execute Him after the feast was over and the people had dispersed. -But regardless of the enemies desires, the Lord would die at the precise time foreordained in God's eternal plan. -Fittingly, the Lamb of God would be sacrificed on the same day that the Passover lambs were being sacrificed, because He is Christ our Passover sacrifice (I Cor. 5:7). Therefore Jesus prepared to publicly enter Jerusalem to force the issue of His death. The exact day that the Lord chose to enter Jerusalem fulfilled one of the most remarkable prophecies of the O.T., Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks. -Notice Daniel 9:24-26. Through Daniel, the Lord predicted that the time from Artaxerxes' decree, ordering the rebuilding of the temple (in 445 B.C.) until the coming of the Messiah would be 69 weeks of years or 483 Jewish years. That means that the Royal Entry would take place on the Ninth of Nisan, A.D., or April 6, A.D. 30. Our Lord entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, on that very day. This day was prophesied 400 years before this day and it took place on the exact day. -God's word is inspired, inerrant, and infallible. It is True, Dependable, and Trustworthy. The Scriptures are God-given! Read the Passage All four Gospels record our Lord's Royal Entry into Jerusalem, but John's record is somewhat shorter than that of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Remember that John wrote his gospel some forty years after the synoptic gospels. He did not record most of what had already been recorded, but he filled in the details that the other three gospel writers did not record. About ninety percent of what John wrote is new material, so John does not tell his readers much of what happened during the last week of our Lord's life on earth. -He does not tell: Now Jesus prearranged for two of His disciples to obtain the donkey and its colt. 170 How the Pharisees insisted that Jesus silence those who were praising Him and that Jesus refused, saying that if He did so the rocks would cry out in praise. How our Lord wept over Jerusalem or how He cursed the barren fig tree. How He cleansed the temple or did miracles of healing.
Of our Lord giving the Olivet Discourse with the prophecy concerning the last days. Of the agonizing prayer of our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. John limits his focus to three important incidents which occurred in the final week of our Lord's earthly ministry: 1. Mary's anointing of Jesus in preparation for His burial 12:1-11 2. Jesus' Royal Entry into Jerusalem 12:12-19 3. The request of the Greeks to meet with Jesus 12:20-26 As we look at this Parade for Jesus, I want us to see: I. The Engineer You need to understand that Jesus was in control of everything that happened during His Royal Entry. The book of Exodus required that every family have its own lamb to sacrifice. They were to bring the lamb four days before Passover and have the lamb inspected for defects or blemishes. -While the lambs were being brought in and inspected, in rides Jesus, the Lamb of God, and He, too, is inspected and those who inspect Him declare, I find no fault in Him! It is estimated that during the time of Jesus, approximately 30,000 Jews normally lived in Jerusalem, but that during Passover, four to six times the population of this city gathered to observe Passover, camping all around Jerusalem. Rather than 30,000 people in Jerusalem, there were some 200,000 people and thousands of lambs. Look at the Procession! Again, Jesus is engineering everything that happens! He's in control! -Jesus is riding on an unbroken donkey's colt. That within itself is a minor miracle. Most folks who tried to ride an unbroken colt would have been thrown to the ground. I wonder if the young colt recognized that Jesus was the Lord of creation and considered it life's greatest privilege to serve the Son Of God. -Jesus is fulfilling the prophecy of Zech. 9:9; Ps.118:25a 26a Thousands are around Him and behind Him shouting, Blessed is the King of Israel who comes in the Name of the Lord! They cut Palm branches and wave them before Him and lay some before Him on the road; others spread their cloaks before Him. -Usually Kings would ride in great triumph on a strong white horse AFTER a great victory, but Jesus comes BEFORE His victory, riding not a war horse, but a donkey, the symbol of peace. The waving of Palm branches started 200 years earlier. Antiochus Epiphanes had desecrated the Jewish temple alter by slaying a pig on the alter, throwing its blood everywhere and even 171 drinking some of its blood. Antiochus Epiphanes had brought shame on the Jewish Temple with his Syrian army. -It was them that Judas Maccabeus, known as the Hammer, and the other Maccabees came in and drove out the Syrian army. In celebration the Jews waved Palm branches before Judas Maccabeus for overthrowing their oppressors. -Now the Jews were oppressed by the Romans. They expected Jesus to overthrow the Romans. When they realized He was not going to do that, the crowd that shouted Hail Him on Sunday would shout Nail Him on Friday!
II. Hear the Cheer Does it seem strange to you that Jesus accepts and even encourages this praise? -This is completely different from anything He has done before. Up until now we find Him withdrawing from public notice. -When the people wanted to make Him King before, He would slip away. When He raised Jairus' daughter from the dead, He charged His disciples to say nothing about it. When He comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration, He warns those with Him not to tell anyone what they have seen. Now He doesn't discourage the praise. In fact, He encourages it and enters into the preparation for it. Why the change? Up to this point, Jesus has said My hour or My time has not come. Notice John 2:4 (at the wedding), 7:30 (They wanted to kill Him, but they could not lay hold of Him because His hour had not come); 8:20 (again they wanted to ill Him, but His time had not come.) -But from this point on, He says, My time is come He knew it was time for Him to give Himself as a sacrifice for sin 12:27; 13:1; 16:32; 17:1. I know something the Jews didn't know that day. On that day Jesus rides in Jerusalem as a LAMB, willing to die as our sacrifice. The day is soon coming when He will ride into Jerusalem, not on a donkey and not as a Lamb, but He will ride in on a strong white horse and the saints will follow Him and He will ride in as a LION to RULE! Rev. 19:11-13 When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more And the morning breaks eternal bright and fair. When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore, and the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there! Ride on, King Jesus, Ride on! 172 Sir, We Would See Jesus John 12:20-26 The pacific Garden missions is located on State Street in Chicago. It was there that Billy Sunday was saved and later preached. Billy Sunday was a professional baseball player. As his fame as a baseball player began to grow, he began to drink. Soon he became an alcoholic. One night, as he was going back home from a bar, he passed by the Pacific Garden Mission. He heard singing in the mission and sat on the steps to listen. There God spoke to his heart and there he was saved. Later, He preached at the mission. On the pulpit he placed a plaque which read, Sir, we would see Jesus. It was a reminder to him every time he would stand to
preach, he must preach Jesus, for only Jesus could meet the deepest need of man's heart. Not long after I surrendered to preach, the pastor of my home church had those same words printed on his pulpit. It so spoke to my heart, that I put the words on the pulpit where I was pastoring: Sir, we would see Jesus. As we come to this passage, I want us to see: I. The Request of the Greeks 12:20-21 That is still the cry of our world today. Sadly, in many of our churches, folks see everything but Jesus. They see: 1.Personalities Sadly all some churches see is the Pastor or the staff. Sometimes the pastor exalts himself: He is the hero of every story or illustration he uses; he wants you to be impressed with his knowledge or his education; he wants you to call him, Doctor. -One man said that there are so many doctors in our pulpit, you'd think God was sick. 2.Performances -Music has become nothing more than flesh on parade in many churches. It's no longer about praise or worship, but performing. -Some churches have 45 minutes of singing and ten minutes of preaching the word. Rather than the music and the preached word being used together to lift up Jesus and point the way to Jesus, there is competition between those singing and those preaching. 3.Programs Nothing wrong with programs as long as they focus on Jesus. Why did these Greeks want to see Jesus? No doubt they heard of His teaching, miracles, even Lazarus. ALSO, because they were dissatisfied with what they had given themselves to, which was philosophy; the search for answers to the great questions of the universe. -I heard a good definition of philosophy: Philosophy is like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. Let me give you an example: There was a poor old man who had nothing but one beautiful white horse. They said to the old man You have nothing but that beautiful white horse. But 173 that horse is a good thing. Why don't you sell the horse so you can live well the rest of your life? The old man said, Whether the horse is a good thing or a bad thing, I cannot tell. I must wait and see. The next day the white horse ran away. Then they said to the old man, Your horse ran away; that's a bad thing. The old man said, Whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, I cannot tell. I must wait and see. The next day the white horse came back and a beautiful black horse followed him home. They said, Old man, the white horse is back home and brought a black horse with him. That is good. The old man said, Whether it's good or bad, I cannot tell. I must wait and see. The next day the old man's son tried to ride the black horse and it threw him and broke his arm and leg. They said, Old man, the black horse was a bad thing. It broke your son's arm and leg. The old man said, Whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, I cannot tell. I must wait and see. The next day a war broke out and all the young men had to go to war and all of them were killed. They said, Old man, it's a good thing your son's arm and leg were broken or he would have been sent to war and he, too, would have been killed. The old man said, Whether it's a good thing or not, I cannot tell. I must wait and see.
-It was that kind or thing the Greeks were involved in and it didn't meet the needs of their hearts. No wonder they said, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. They asked Phillip to take them to Jesus. Phillip had a Greek name so they thought Phillip would help them. But, Phillip didn't know what to do. They were Gentiles. He had heard Jesus say that He had come to the lost house of the Jews. Jesus did say, I have other sheep that are not of this fold, but he didn't know if that meant Gentiles. So he went to Andrew for advice. Phillip and Andrew went and told Jesus. I like Andrew. He was quiet, always in the background, but every time you see him in scripture, he is bringing somebody to Jesus. He brought his brother, Peter to Jesus; He brought the lad with his lunch to Jesus and Jesus fed 5,000 with the lunch; now, he brings these Greeks to Jesus. There is no record that Jesus ever spoke to them, but I think He did. I can't see Jesus turning anyone away. II. The Response to the Greeks 12:23-26 This was the turning point in Jesus' ministry. These Greeks showing up, wanting to see Jesus was a signal to Jesus. His hour had come. -The Jews have rejected Jesus, their messiah. He came unto His own and His own received Him not. -Israel and the Jews had rejected Him; Now He must reject them and turn to the Gentiles. -Israel's rejection had been foreseen in the O.T. In Romans 9:25-29. -There will be a partial hardening in Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in Rom. 11:1,5,25-26 III. The Reward of the Greeks 12:23-26 What does it mean that the Son of Man should be glorified? 174 I use to think that Jesus being glorified meant that Jesus was ascended into heaven, seated at the right side of the Father on His throne, with the light of glory coming from His person. All of that is true, but that is not what Jesus meant when He said that He should be glorified. Jesus being glorified meant His death. Then He talks about a grain of wheat. If you put a grain of wheat up somewhere, it remains one seed. But if you plant it, it produces fruit. It dies so it can bring forth life. -Jesus could have stayed alive, but there would have been no life. There is no life without the cross. Someone has calculated that if you plant one wheat seed, take the crop and plant all the seed from that crop, plant all the seed from the next crop, ect., that it would take only fourteen years for the whole land space of the earth to be filled. -Jesus dying, being planted, rising to life will bring life to Jew and Gentile. -Notice: Jesus is talking about planting seed; not burying seed. A young man visited an old missionary in the deepest parts of the jungle. He said to the missionary, You have really buried yourself out here in this mission field. The missionary said, No, I have not buried myself here, I
have planted myself here. The same is true of us as we follow Christ 11:25-26 -The only Jesus folks will see is the Jesus in us. People need to see Jesus in our Attitude, Actions, Accomplishments, Aims, Attire, and Appetites. - Sir, we would see Jesus! Let others see Jesus in you. Then we will hear Him say, Well Done!