"They Continued to Testify" Sermon: John 12:12-19

“They Continued to Testify”
[John 12:12-19]
April 5, 2009 Second Reformed Church

Last week, Rev. Mast pointed out that the resurrection of Lazarus was the beginning of the end for Jesus; even more people began to follow Jesus after He raised Lazarus from the dead, and the Pharisees determined that this following would lead to Rome punishing Israel, and the Pharisees, so, it would be best for the nation if One Person – Jesus – died for the sake of the nation. They thought if they could put Jesus to death, Israel would be saved. They had no idea how wrong and how right they were.

Lazarus also followed Jesus, and the crowds followed both Jesus and Lazarus because of the miracle Jesus had performed and to see Lazarus with their own eyes. After all, they had heard of resurrections in their history. Most believed that resurrection was promised by God in the Scripture, but few had ever seen someone risen from the dead.

Once the crowd arrived at Bethany, Mary broke open a costly jar of nard ointment and anointed Jesus. To the confusion of the crowd, Jesus explained that she was anointing Him for His Burial. They didn’t know what Jesus could mean: Jesus kept telling them that He was going to be put to death – what could that mean? They sound like our denominational officials and the discussion we are having now – “What could Jesus mean?”

The Pharisees understood that, whatever Jesus meant, more people were following Him now that He had raised Lazarus, so they decided they ought to kill both Jesus and Lazarus. The instigator Jesus would be no more, and there would be no proof of His Power. So they thought.

But word had traveled that Jesus was heading for Jerusalem. Jesus was going to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover with His disciples, even with the threat of death hanging over His Head. What could this mean? The crowd from the country knew – they ran after Jesus and tore down branches from the Palm trees and threw them on the ground. Why?

In the book of Leviticus, we find the instructions for the Feast of Booths. The Feast of Booths is an eight-day celebration in which Israel remembers that the generations after the deliverance from Egypt lived in booths in the wilderness. The Feast of Booths is a feast in which the people remember God’s Salvation and deliverance of Israel from Egypt and through the wilderness. Symbolically, we read that they are to do this: “And you shall take on the first day the fruit of the splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days” (Leviticus 23:40, ESV).

Throwing down the palm branches before Jesus meant that they recognized Him as the Messiah – the Savor – of Israel. They were symbolically affirming that Jesus is the Savior and Deliverer of Israel. The symbolism would have been obvious to everyone who saw it. The Pharisees were not happy.

John confirms this understanding: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb ’” (Revelation 7:9-10, ESV).

Yet, the crowd does more than just throw down branches – they open their mouths and cry out, “Hosanna Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel ” “Hosanna” means “save us – we praise you” – it is a cry of triumph – it is an assured request of salvation – a call to God for salvation which the speaker already is confirmed of having. So, the people were calling out to Jesus as Savior, Lord, and King of Israel.

The crowd was crying out, quoting from Psalm 118 which is a Psalm about God’s steadfast love for Israel and the Savior that He would send: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord We bless you from the house of the Lord.”

Let us noticed here that Jesus accepts them calling Him Savior, Lord, and King. Jesus does not deny that He is the Savior, Lord, and King. He doesn’t stop and tell them not to tell anyone – to keep this news to themselves. And we will remember that Jesus had told just about everyone He had taught and healed not to tell anyone, to keep quiet, and to give an offering in the temple, but to tell no one. Why has Jesus suddenly become willing to have Who He is be known to the world?

This is a unique event in the Gospels – one that all four mention – that at this time, Jesus allowed the crowd to loudly announce Who He is. He was no longer quieting the crowd, going away from them. Because it was now time for Him to be revealed – for Him to fulfill this part of prophecy where the world hears Who He is. (Though they didn’t understand what that really meant.)

The crowd that saw Jesus as the fulfillment of Psalm 118 would have known the verse following the one that they cried out to Him, “The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with the cords, up to the horns of the altar ” (Psalm 188:27, ESV). It is clear as we look at the record of Holy Week, that they didn’t understand this verse of the Psalm. The Psalmist tells us that the Savior is the Light and that He would be sacrificed.

John, himself, wrote much about Jesus being the Light: “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:9-13, ESV).

And He gave Himself as The Sacrifice for all those who would believe, as the author of Hebrews reminds us, “But as it is, [Jesus] has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:26b-28, ESV).

But the crowd was mistaken in this: they thought Jesus was going to overthrow the Roman government – after He rode into Jerusalem – and restore the kingdom to Israel. The Pharisees thought similarly, though they were largely concerned with losing their power. So the Pharisees yelled at Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples” (Luke 19:39b, ESV). “Tell your disciples to keep quiet. Tell them You are not the Savior – You are not the King – You are not going to overthrow Rome.” And Jesus answered them, “‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (Luke 20:40b, ESV). “If the crowd – if my disciples – became silent, the inanimate creation would cry out praise and adoration to Me.”

It is not possible to keep the Truth from coming out. The Communist government of China has done everything it can to silence Christianity, but all their efforts have led to their being a strong and faithful Christian Church in China. One famous story is that of the preacher, Watchman Nee, who was imprisoned for preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. It wasn’t long after he was imprisoned, that the communists realized that Watchman Nee’s writings were continuing to come out – you see, his guards converted under his preaching in prison, so they killed the guards and stationed new guards. But his writings continued – the second set of guards converted, so they killed those guards and stationed news guards, and for good measure, they cut off Watchman Nee’s arms. But his writings continued to come out of the prison.

It is a fact of history, that Christianity thrives under persecution. In lands where it is tolerated in some form or another, it becomes something other than Christianity. Look at Great Britain. Look at the United States. People are killed in Africa for confessing Christ. People are killed in the Middle East for confessing Christ. People are killed in China for confessing Christ. The crowd could have been killed for proclaiming Jesus as Savior and Lord and King. In the United States, we pick and choose the parts of the God’s Word that we want to believe and follow on any given day. May God cause us to faithfully stand for God’s Word and open our mouths to proclaim it.

Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9, ESV). The crowd recognized that Jesus fulfilled part of this prophecy in riding into Jerusalem – they thought He would fulfill it all and restore the kingdom then, bringing righteousness and Salvation to Israel. But this was only the first part – it will be fully fulfilled when Jesus returns to restore all things and judge the world.

We call this the Triumphal Entry, but A. W. Pink points out in his commentary, that this could well also be called the Tearful Entry from Jesus’ perspective. Remember what happened as they approached Jerusalem, “And when they drew near and saw the city, [Jesus] wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:41-44, ESV). Jesus cried as they approached Jerusalem, because He knew that they would reject Him and kill Him, and for that, God would send the Emperor Titus in 70 A.D., to destroy the temple and Jerusalem. Which is what happened, fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy.

But it wasn’t just the crowd and the Pharisees that didn’t understand Jesus and what He was doing – His own disciples didn’t understand until Jesus had been glorified. Then, they remembered that things that had been written about Him in the prophets, and they understood why all these things had to happen to Him.

Do we realized what a blessing that we have living on this side of the cross? Even the disciples who studied with Jesus, Himself, didn’t understand what was happening until He was Risen and Ascended to the Father. We have been blessed to live in this time when we have the Scripture and the explanation of how Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies made of Him. We have a knowledge and understanding of the Scripture, especially with the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, Who reminds us and teaches us God’s Word, which far surpasses those who knew Jesus in the flesh. What a gift we have in knowing all these things

Notice, that even though the crowd didn’t understand all that we understand now, they continued to bear witness to Him. They had seen Him raise Lazarus from the dead and they understood that He is the Savior, Lord, and King of Israel, so they continued to tell others. They continued to spread the news. Throughout Holy Week, and then after the Resurrection, they continued to testify to Who Jesus is and what He had done. They continued to open their mouths and speak the Truth of Jesus. They could have been killed – and many of them were – but the Good News of Jesus Christ was too important to them to keep their mouths shut.

These days, we have special services during Holy Week – and I encourage all of you to be here to worship with us on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and then on Easter. We have palms this morning. We will have flowers, Lord willing, soon. We sing special songs and hymns. But, do we tell anyone outside of these walls? Have you invited anyone to our Holy Week services? Have you told anyone this year why Easter matters? We say we don’t know what to say. We say we’re embarrassed to say something wrong. In the rear of the sanctuary, you will find copies of the booklet, History’s Most Spectacular Sin, which is a chapter from Rev. Dr. John Piper’s book, Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ. The booklet explains why Jesus had to die the way He did. Please take a copy for yourself. And, if you’re up for the challenge, take a few to give to others this week. This church’s name and address is in each copy. So, you can just say, “Our church was handing these out.” Or, “Here, this is for you.”

With the knowledge we have of what happened and why it happened during that first Holy Week – beginning with the Triumphal Entry – we cannot keep the news to ourselves The crowd saw the resurrection of Lazarus and saw Jesus fulfill prophecy as He rode into Jerusalem, and they had to tell everyone. We know He has risen from the dead and ascended back to the Father, having secured our Salvation, and given us His Righteousness. What greater news could there be – we’re talking about God and eternity.

The crowd only partially understood, and the Pharisees realized there was no simple way to silence the proclaiming about and worship of Jesus: “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

Let’s be like that crowd that ushered Jesus into Jerusalem. Let’s open our mouths. Let’s continue to testify. Let’s continue to tell the story of Jesus and His Salvation. Let us cry out about Him until the devil and his demons say, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

And let us get ready to testify to the Work and Salvation of our Savior and Lord and King as we receive the elements of the lord’s Supper. As Paul wrote, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (I Corinthians 11:26, ESV). May each one in this sanctuary hear that proclamation.

Let us pray:
O God, You are our God, and we give thanks to You. You are our God, we will extol You. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His Steadfast Love endures forever Lord, we thank You for saving us as a people to Yourself. Give us courage and the words to speak. Let us not be afraid of humans, but overwhelmed by Your Salvation. And let us be a glory to You and we continue to testify. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.