Matthew 21: 9
Palm Sunday, A.D. 27

'Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes 
in the name of Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!"

I. THINK ABOUT THE HISTORICAL EVENT

1. It is sometimes lost in reading this passage that the action was a deliberate reenactment of the coronation of King Solomon in I Kings 7: 33ff.  It was in the midst of a palace revolt when David was a very old man and nearing the end of his life.  And David, in order to foil the intention of the conspirators, had Solomon made the next king-in-waiting- by public acclamation, the way in which a king was "crowned" (as we would say in medieval and modern times).

2. In support of this understanding of the passage, the reaction of the religious enemies of Jesus in Matthew 21: 16 shows it to be true -- even if we moderns, who do not know the customs of ancient Israel, fail to see it.  These hostile observers were said to be "indignant" and according to v.16: "they said to (Jesus): "Do you hear what these are saying?"  It was not that they were saying "He's a jolly good fellow," or "Hurrah, Hurrah," but that they were acclaiming him the Messiah, the King of Israel and who is in our age, the great King -- of the  God's people for as long as time shall last! 

II. NOW, THIS KINGSHIP WAS REALLY A DIFFERENT KIND OF KINGSHIP THAN THEY WERE USED TO AND, PERHAPS, EXPECTED.  BUT IT WAS AN INFINITELY BETTER KINGSHIP!

1. It is a spiritual kingship, though we who are pre-millenarians believe that it will have a quasi-political significance in the millennium when there will be an earthly rule of Christ over all the nations, probably administered by the resurrected and glorified saints, as we will be in that time.

2. But his kingdom for us now is a submission to his Lordship even as we who are Christians have submitted to his Saviorhood -- whether or not all of us fully realize the full significance and outcome of that Kingship/Lordship.  He is King right now in the lives of all who have accepted him as Savior!  And this is a part of the Gospel.

III. NOW JUST WHAT DOES THAT MEAN IN PRACTICAL TERMS?

1. It is not just a matter of grand, dramatic, Palm Sunday pageants put on in magnificent temples of worship -- which are more reminiscent of pagan temples than of the humble churches founded by the Apostles of the Lord.

2. I find it interesting that the Apostles usually changed the word from "kingship" to "lordship," probably to avoid the antipathy that both the Romans and the Greeks had toward kingship, which the Greeks and the Romans thought was tyranny.  There were a lot of dirty words in Rome, and Rex was certainly one of them -- as was baseleus among the Greeks.  But the Lord Jesus -- King Jesus, if you please -- is not only not tyrannical but is a blessing beyond all description to those who are called to be his subjects -- a blessing that will not end in this life but will go on and on and on into eternity, years and centuries and millennia without end!

3. Several; things are included in that kingship, that Lordship:

a. One of them is his representation of the Trinity.  His kingship means his preeminence in the Godhead.  Though, in eternity -- beyond time, God the Father will be preeminent, in the present age, God the Son is the preeminent member of the Godhead.  I spoke about this 2 or  3 weeks ago and will not repeat myself.  Suffice it to say, we are not just Theists or Spiritists but we are well-called by that name of  "Christian," a name by which the disciples of the Lord were first called in Antioch (Acts 11: 26).

Our dear Lord Jesus Christ is the image of the blessed Triune God existing in incarnate form, through whom we understand and approach the Father and the Spirit.  We glorify the whole Trinity when we glorify the Son, the Second Person who is our King and Divine Sovereign.

These ancient people, on that first Palm Sunday, waved their palm branches and cried out "Hosanna!  Hosanna!  Hosanna to the son of David! And we do the same in hymnody and in prayers of praise and thanksgiving!  He is our King; He is our Lord; He is our Divine Sovereign!

b. And in a sense, we imitate his lifestyle -- not that we go about dressed in imitation 1st century clothes made out of old bathrobes and PJs.  But we represent him as if we are emissaries of his Kingship in such things as his love for all who will receive it, his concern for others, his effect even on secular history where in a large part of the world, even the calendar testifies to him.  This headship over our lives calls us to imitate his life upon the earth, representing our King.

He was the perfect demonstration of what is called "common grace" because the whole world benefited even in the secular-culture aspects of society.  Look at North America, the British Isles and much of Europe and see how the coming of Christ has benefited humanity in general.  These parts of the world, in their best constituents and their best years clearly saw Jesus as their king and they intended to follow their King in the way they lived their lives involved in society -- not hidden away in monasteries and hermitages but, as subjects of Jesus, involved with the general society, living for him as their dear Lord, their King.  And this will be true in your life also, so far as Jesus is king in your life.

And as we look back in history, we see that the efforts of Christ's subjects had a significant salutary effect upon society in the realms of government, living standards, civic integrity.  It was a secondary response to his kingship.

c. But his Kingship/Lordship also calls us to obedience regarding specific commands whether they are recorded in the four Gospels, as quotations from the Lord's teaching during the days of his flesh, or were delivered by the Apostles, who were his appointed successors and had authority to speak for him -- or even in the moral commandments of the Old Testament which was under his kingship, unbeknownst to most of the people of the time.

Our obedience to the King is evidence as to whether he is indeed our King and Savior.  Of course, we continually fall short because we are not yet made perfect in holiness and will not be until we go to be with him.  Thank God that there is forgiveness for the sins and inadequate obedience of Christians, and not just a one-time salvation after which there was no forgiveness.

We continually follow the Lord's instruction in his sample prayer in which he instructed us to have the functional equivalent in our prayers of "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."  And the most godly saint has reason to pray in this vein -- not chanting the model-prayer outline, thoughtlessly, but praying as he meant us to do, using it as an outline of some things to pray for -- not just ripping off the phrase "forgive us our debts," but specifying our sins, repenting of them and confessing them and rejoicing in his atonement which covers them.

If we were perfect, it would be assumed that we would always obey our Lord and King.  But we are not perfect and test his grace repeatedly.  And he demonstrates great grace toward us whom he loves, great grace that is unfathomable.  But even in that grace, that amazing grace, we are called to obey our divine Sovereign!

The communion, which we celebrate this morning on this first Sunday of the month, speaks to this.  The cup is a celebration of and confession of his Saviorhood as the divine sacrifice "who bore our sins in his body on the tree."  He said: "This cup is my blood, which is poured out for the remission of sins."  It is a confession of, and repentance for, our sins and a sign given by the Lord of the forgiveness of those sins.  The bread is a celebration of and confession of his divine/human person and also of Kingship over our lives.  And we should also take it as an assurance, by our Lord, of the benefits of his Kingship over our lives. 

Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes 
in the name of the Triune God!  Hosanna in the highest!