Highlights From Sunday: Passover Lamb - The Presentation

 “Passover Lamb - The Presentation”

John 12:12-19

Introduction

This is the day each family selected the Passover lamb 4 days later, they sacrificed the lamb. They kept it 4 days to remember being saved from God’s wrath.

Is Jesus your Passover Lamb?

The Presentation of the Lamb (:12-18)

12 On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

Jesus leaves Bethany after Mary anoints his feet with oil and travels to Jerusalem, which John reports was very that close a “large to Bethany. crowd” also traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Scholars report that the crowd probably grew to hundreds of thousands of people during the city the of week Jerusalem of Passover was crowded celebration. and the land was cluttered with families who These set hundreds up camps of for thousands their stay of in people the city gathered for Passover. together to greet Jesus as He entered Jerusalem. That’s a lot all of of people! Picture the people gathered together, standing shoulder to shoulder stretching the necks to get a glimpse of Jesus.at other times in their past, Jesus rejected the crowd’s determination to make Him king. This Jesus time fed was 5,000 different, they however, planned because to make God Him determined king by force that (Jn Jesus 6:15). should be presented as the King of Israel. 

 13 took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” 14 Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” 

The waving of palm branches was a traditional way for the Jews to celebrate and honor someone who had done something great for the people. The palm branch had become a symbol of nationalism and liberation for the Jewish people. As the people crowded together and waved their palm branches in the air they yelled: 

“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” 

Messianic expectations are at an all-time high during the Passover Feast. Thousands upon thousands of people were caught up in the excitement of Jesus’ movement. His entrance into Jerusalem riding on a donkey fulfilled a prophecy written about the Messiah sent by God. The prophetic pieces were coming together, and the people became caught up in the eschatological frenzy. The words they shout are from Psalm 118:25 26 and Zechariah 9:9, which they knew were passages written about their coming Messiah. 

 Psalm 118:25–26 25 O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! 26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. 

Zechariah 9:9 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 

Beasley Murray writes, “Zech 9:9–10 describes the joyous coming of the King Messiah—he is righteous, gentle, bringing salvation, riding on a donkey, proclaiming peace to the nations. Nothing further from a Zealotic view of the Messiah could be imagined.” The crowd’s use of these passages indicates their belief that Jesus could be the Messiah and at that very moment He is initiating the messianic age. Their use of “Hosanna,” which means “salvation now,” perfectly articulated what Jesus came to do as their king, but He brought salvation in a much different way than they imagined possible. 

It’s important to identify the distinction between God’s plan for Jesus’ Kingship and the crowd’s plan for Jesus’ Kingship. The Jewish messianic expectation. (Political, Revolutionary, King David) Jesus’ actual role as Messiah. (Suffering Servant, Spiritual Savior) Jesus actually fulfilled the Messianic prophecies, but once the crowd turned against Him in John 18, they no longer seemed to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. 

 16 These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. 

Even Jesus’ closest disciples struggled with the difference between Jesus’ true mission: to seek and save that which was lost, and their assumption about Jesus’ mission: to restore the physical and political kingdom of Israel. Jesus’ disciples would need to experience His torture, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension before they put all of the pieces together about Jesus and His mission. One scholar writes, “They lacked the perspective of the cross and resurrection.” I am so thankful that God is patient! 

17 So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. 18 For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. 

Even after Jesus’ exciting entrance into Jerusalem, those who witnessed His miraculous sign of raising Lazarus from the dead continued to share the story. The story about Lazarus caused other people to come and see Jesus. Imagine how the disciples felt. From their perspective, it probably felt like Jesus was finally going to take the throne, conquer Rome, and lead Israel to their long-awaited independence and peace. But they didn’t understand that: the pathway to peace began on the cross. the freedom Jesus offered was freedom from sin’s consequences. the restoration and redemption God promised them was eternal and global in nature. the war Jesus will fight will be a war against sin and Satan. The victory Jesus will win will be one of heavenly proportions with eternal significance.

Application:

If we aren’t careful, we might believe things about Jesus that aren’t true... (Like what?) Jesus wants my life to be perfect...No conflict, plenty of money, happiness etc. 

 John 16:33 33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

2 Timothy 3:12 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Ephesians 6:10–13 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

But...Our trials and testing are worth it!

2 Corinthians 4:17 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

I don’t need to go to church...I can worship Jesus anywhere. Surely you will quote Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman who asked whether true worship took place in Jerusalem or Sychar.

He said: 21 “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The salvation Jesus provides certainly provides us with the opportunity to worship Him at any time in any place because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us! Jesus also wants us to regularly gather with other believers to worship Him, to be encouraged by one another, and to use our spiritual gifts for the building up of His church.

Hebrews 10:23–25 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

The first century church demonstrated the habit of regularly gathering together as Jesus commands.

Acts 2:42 42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

I can always repent of my sins, so I’ll live the way I want to live. That popular belief is true and false. God is willing to forgive our sins when we humble ourselves and repent.

Psalm 103:10–12 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Acts 3:19 19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 

Colossians 1:13–14 13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 1

John 1:9 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

True repentance means that we turn from our sin toward righteousness. When someone who professes to be a believer lives an unbiblical lifestyle, his life demonstrates what he really believes, and he should carefully consider whether he was ever really saved in the first place.

Romans 6:1–14 1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you for you are not under law but under grace.

Matthew 7:21-23 describes the danger of following a manmade Jesus as opposed to the Jesus of the Bible:

Matt 7:21 23-21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who  practice  lawlessness.’

How do we ensure that the Jesus whom we follow is the real Jesus and not some fake version of Him? We read and obey the Bible, which is the document that describes Him!

Timothy 3:16 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

Nothing will stop the Lamb of God’s movement (:19)

Jesus’ movement has reached a climax and the religious leaders are very worried.

19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the The world Pharisees has gone were after the Him.”

Jewish leaders in power at that time. They had the authority, power, and positions of influence. Jesus’ movement upset the applecart and they were worried that the Roman authorities would come in and remove them from power and violently attack the Jews. In their fear, the Pharisees utter a prophetic truth: The world has gone after Him! The world certainly has gone after Jesus! He is the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. Jesus came into the world so that the world would be saved through Him! Revelation 7:9 demonstrates Jesus’ fulfillment of His mission:

9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;

Application: 

Jesus came, lived a perfect life, died as an atonement for our sins, resurrected from the dead. God had purposed that Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection would be a blessing to the world...that through Him we would be saved. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved! Be encouraged today church. The prophet Isaiah reminds us:

Isaiah 14:27 27 “For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

The movement planned by God, foretold by the prophets, established by the Lamb, and fueled by the Spirit will grow and nothing will stand in our way!