"The Kingdom of Our Father David" Sermon: Mark 11:1-11

“The Kingdom of Our Father David”

[Mark 11:1-11]

April 1, 2012 Second Reformed Church

            Each Sunday, as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we pray that God’s Kingdom would come in all its fullness.  As we pray that, do we understand that we are confessing, as Christians, that we live in a monarchy?  Our knee-jerk reaction might be to say, “Oh, no.  This is a democracy.  We don’t have a king – that’s why we broke off from England, so we could put whomever we want in government and vote them out, as well.”

            The truth of the matter is that Christians serve – first – their God and King – Jesus.  Christianity is a monarchy; we serve a King.  The One and Only Eternal King, the Almighty God.  And we ought not to think, “Oh, that’s very clever, but in our real life – in our day to day life, what really matters is the President and the other leaders in office.  They have precedence over our submission to God’s Rule and His Kingdom.  After all, there is a separation of Church and state.”

            When God called Abraham to be the father of a people for God, God was their only King.  In fact, they were not merely a monarchy, but a theocracy.  They were God’s nation – God’s people.  God had a special relationship with them and directly ruled over them and their nation in a different way from which God rules over all of Creation.

            But in the days of Samuel, the people rose up and told God that it was not enough that God was their king – they wanted a human king – just like all of the nations.  God warned them through the prophet, Samuel, that this would not end well for them, but the people insisted.  Samuel went to God and God told Samuel,  “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7b, ESV).

            So, God raised up Saul to be the first king of Israel, and then God took him away.  And then God raised up David, a man after God’s Own Heart, yet a sinner.  But a promise was made, as it is recorded by the Psalmist:  “The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back:  ‘One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.  If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.’  For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place:  ‘This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.  I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread.  Her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy.  There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.  His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine’” (Psalm 132:11-18, ESV).

            God promised David that his sons would sit on the throne of Israel forever, if they obeyed God.  (Which they did not.)  However, God chose to reign from Jerusalem – from Mount Zion – and from there, God decided to raise up a Savior from the line of David.  Despite the sin of David and his sons, for God’s Sake, God would raise up a Son of David to sit on the throne of Jerusalem – on God’s Throne in Jerusalem.

            Today is Palm Sunday – the day in which we remember that about a week before Jesus was crucified, He made a trip to Jerusalem.  And He sent the disciples ahead of Him once they got close to the city, and He told them to enter into the city.  And He told them that immediately, as they entered the city, they would see a colt tied.  They were to borrow the colt and bring it to Him.  Jesus would ride the colt into the city.

            Why? 

For at least two reasons:  One, to symbolically announce that Jesus was the New King of Jerusalem.  (Riding a donkey into Jerusalem was the symbolic announcement of a new king.)

Secondly, to fulfill 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).

            Zechariah had prophesied that, after the Babylonian exile, God would destroy Israel’s enemies.  In the midst of the litany of people God would destroy, God told them that He would send a Savior King – a Messiah – would come in righteousness, bringing salvation.  And He would come to them in humility, using the symbols that they knew – coming into His Kingdom – His Reign in Jerusalem – as signified by riding a donkey through the gates.

            So the disciples went into the town, and they saw the colt immediately as they entered.  And they took the colt and told those who asked that the Lord had need of it.  And we might wonder what any of them understood in calling Jesus, “Lord.”  The word that is translated “Lord,” Adonai, can mean, depending on the context, a property owner, a respected official, or God, Himself.  Who did they understand Jesus to be?

            They returned with the colt, and Jesus got on it and began the symbolic ride into Jerusalem.  Along the way, people threw their coats on the ground and also branches – symbolizing peace – for the colt to ride over.

            And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:9-10, ESV).

            Let us notice three things in their shouting:

            First, the people were moved to express faith in God’s Salvation.

            “Hosanna!” 

            The word can be a cry of distress, “Save us! Help us!”, or a prayer or praise of thanksgiving, “Savior, we praise You!”  In the context of the whole shouting, they people were praising God and thanking Him for Salvation.

            Second, the people identified Jesus as blessed and coming in the Name of the Lord.

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

What did they mean?

Here, the people were announcing and recognizing that Jesus was blessed by God – that what He was doing in riding into Jerusalem, would be recognized and praised and supported by God and His Grace.

We enter into the mystery of the Trinity:  we confess that God the Father is God and Jesus is God, and They are the same One God, but different Persons.  God the Father sent God the Son in the human Person, Jesus, to fulfill the prophecies made about the Savior and bring God’s Salvation to all those who would believe in Him.

Jesus is at the same time, the One Almighty God, and the Perfect Human, Jesus, in One Person.  Jesus submitted to the Father, obeying His Will.  Jesus said, “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father” (John 14:31a, ESV).

In the light of this Mystery, it was right for the people to call on God the Father to confirm His blessing of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.

After all, He was coming in the Name of the Lord – that is, in the Power and Authority of God.  There is no question of Who is meant by “Lord” in this text – it can only be the One God Almighty, the God of Israel.  Jesus had come to do His Will, and He was empowered by God and praised for what He was doing.

Third, the people associated Jesus’ symbolic action of riding into Jerusalem with the coming of the kingdom of their father David.

“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”

But what is “the coming kingdom of our father David”?

We have already seen in the Psalm that God promised that a son of David would always sit on the throne of Jerusalem, if they obeyed God.  But, we know that they did not obey God.  However, even though the line of David did not merit reigning on the throne for eternity, it was God’s Plan that the Savior would be from the line of David and reign eternally. 

            Isaiah prophesied:  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.  You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.  For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.  For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this” (Isaiah 9:2-7, ESV).

            This is a text we often hear during the Advent season:  God Promised to send a child who will be a light to the people in darkness.  A child who will cause joy.  A child who will be given to the nation.  A child who will bear the government – a child who will reign.  A child who would sinlessly bear the full burden of governing.

            This Child will be known as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Understand, the prophecy states that this Child is God; He is the Everlasting Father.

            And this Child will grow and mature into adulthood and His Peace and His Government will increase eternally.  Just as the Child grew, so His Peace and His Government grow.  The Reign of Jesus Christ in these last days began with His Incarnation – with His Birth as that Little Child – and it will fully come when He returns as Judge of the world, and Savior and King of His people.

            The angel told Mary, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33, ESV).

The coming kingdom of our father David is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.  The Kingdom of David failed until the coming of David’s Final Son, Jesus.  Jesus is bringing the fullness of the Kingdom of David – the restoration of the Creation and salvation for His people – to pass.  From the moment of the Incarnation to Jesus’ Triumphal Return, the kingdom of our father David is coming, and will come.

            Paul tells us “[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:15-20, ESV).

            From the beginning, God intended that the kingdom of David would end and be fulfilled with Jesus.  Jesus Alone is the legitimate and eternal heir to the throne of David, as a direct descendant of David and the Holy God.  Jesus is reigning in Heaven now, but He will reign from earth after He returns.  And then we will be with Him in the Kingdom forever.

            This is the image we are given by John:  “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Revelation 21:22-27, ESV).

            This ought to all be a comfort to us.  Ought we to not be comforted?  Paul wrote, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32, ESV).

            How can we do less than join with the crowd saying, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

            He is the Incarnate God – our Savior – the King Who sits on the throne of David and rules eternally.  We are sons and daughters of the Eternal Ruler of all Creation.  Great is our Savior.  Great is the Lord.

            As we turn to receive the bread and the cup, we remember that Jesus had to die to save us from God and His Wrath for our sin.  We understand that Jesus will meet with us spiritually in the bread and the cup, ministering to us – giving us grace to do all that He asks us to do.  And we look forward in hope, knowing that our King is coming back to reign forever in His Kingdom on earth.  And we will be with Him, in blessed joy forevermore.

            Let us pray:

            Almighty God, You sent Your Son to fulfill all the prophecies of the Messiah – the Savior of Israel.  He even rode a donkey into Jerusalem to announce that He is the Rightful and Only Eternal and Sinless Heir to the Throne of David.  Help us to submit to Your Reign in all ways, seeking to follow Your Will.  And as we receive the bread and the cup and meet with You, we ask for Your Grace to be Your people this day, that You would be glorified, and our joy would be made full.  For it is in Jesus’ Name, we pray, Amen.