This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Life of Elisha” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 19, 1989.

Rather than Matthew 6 this morning, we are turning to Luke chapter 19. And we are reading from verse 28 of Luke’s 19th chapter. And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Go ye into the village over against you, in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, were on yet never man sat loose him and bring him hither and if any man ask you why do you lose him thus shall you say unto him because the Lord hath need of him and they that were sent went their way and found even as he had said unto them and as they were losing the pope the owners thereof said unto them why loose ye the pope and they said the Lord hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus, and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon. And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way. And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”

And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that if thee should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. And when he was come near, he beheld the city. and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the day shall come upon thee that thine enemy shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side. and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.’ And he went out into the temple and began to cast out them that sold therein and them that bought. saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. And he taught daily in the temple that the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him and could not find what they might do, for all the people were very attentive to hearing.

Lord, it is not here alone that your word is proclaimed today. Even, Lord, throughout the earth, your word is proclaimed by servants raised up by you. And, Lord, though we are zealous for the proclamation of your word here, we would likewise be zealous for that proclamation throughout the world. And we are asking, Father, that you may preserve your servants, that they with self-consciousness may reflect upon the truth and proclaim that truth that is in keeping with the Scriptures. So, Father, bless, yes, them and us. And here, Lord, if there be no faith, May faith come, and if faith be weak, may you make it strong. We pray these things through Christ our Savior. Amen.

The journey is coming to an end. If there is any gospel writer who has concentrated upon that journey, it is Luke. He takes up as many as eleven chapters to describe the journey Jesus makes from the north country, Galilee, southward to Jerusalem, and to his appointed end. You read in the ninth chapter of Luke, 51st verse, that Jesus then set his face to go to Jerusalem. And in keeping with that statement that he should make to others, that once you put your hand to the plow, you don’t look back.

He didn’t look back. So Jerusalem was in view. So he traveled, so he progressed. to that end. And now he is arriving. And as he does, he is portrayed for us by Luke in a wonderful way. We are given three pictures of our Savior as he comes close and enters into the city.

They are glances, if you will. They are momentary, they come, they go, but in each, in turn, there is such wonderful content, such grand instruction for us, for our souls, for our benefit. Let’s work through them backwards. Let’s start at the end of the chapter and consider them in reverse. Verses 45 through 48, as the chapter concludes there, Jesus enters the temple.

He casts out those who are buying and selling. He makes statements there in keeping with fulfillment of prophecy from Isaiah with respect to the fact that this house which belongs to God is a house of prayer, but It seems that God’s people have made it a den of thieves. Then, having cleared them all out, he sort of sets up shop and begins to teach the people.

The insight here, of course, is of our Savior, our Christ, as He is, the priest. The priest. The temple is, after all, His. the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple and when he does there is a purification and now there begins an instruction in the ways of God the likes of which has been never heard before the priest but we also have verses 41 through 44 Jesus has approached the city, he has surveyed it, we know what city is in view, Jerusalem, and as he does so, he weeps over it. He offers his forecast, he sees yet future years, he sees circumstances not as yet accomplished, He knows, in fact, what will happen there. The city is going to be destroyed, not one stone left upon another.

So he prophesies. And thus we have moved from priest to prophet. But then, of course, we have verses 28 through 40. And as you would expect, in keeping with the pattern that we are establishing here, what comes to the fore is Christ the King. Priest, Prophet, King. Christ all three.

And there has never been anyone better in those offices. But we are focusing this morning on verses 28 through 40 and the passage that pertains to Christ’s kinship. It is a remarkable passage and one the depths of which we could hardly come this morning. But we’ll give it a try make suggestions as to how we might appropriate better what is here for us in God’s word.

You can’t miss the royal office. You can’t miss the royal office. Everything is done so deliberately All of the words so carefully chosen, all of the descriptions laid out for you so that you may be impressed with the royal character of this one presented.

The King. The King. Why he is even ascending to Jerusalem. Verse 28. He is even ascending the hill of the Lord. It’s almost as if you can hear in the background the beat of those measures from the 24th Psalm. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and pure heart. And when he appears at the city gates, the gates ought to be lifted up, that he might enter in, the very King of Glory. The King. There is the description of him as such, you cannot miss it, throughout the passage as a whole.

He describes himself as such. He calls himself the Lord in giving instruction to his disciples as they are to go into that village over against them. When they encounter the owners of the colt, they are to tell them, the Lord, this is Jesus speaking, the Lord has need of it. Jesus is speaking here, he is calling himself the Lord. The term is loaded, filled with all of its regal words, and how strange it is to hear so many say that Jesus never once made such claims for himself with his own lips that would then confer upon himself such honor and dignity as those who followed him gave to him. Here he speaks, the Lord has need of it. So he calls himself, and so he is recognized to be by those owners of the pulse when the disciples come. For they are told by the disciples the Lord has need of it, and they give the pulse because the Lord has sequestered it.

There is also the carriage of the king. We may not be impressed with one riding upon a colt, but the image is in keeping with prophecies of old. You can think of Zechariah, the ninth chapter, the ninth verse. Your king will come to you in such a manner. So they were told, and so he comes in fulfillment of that prophecy. His entrance is a kingly, a royal entrance. The garments are spread, and he is hailed. Hailed is what? The multitude has gathered. They’ve acknowledged his greatness, and they say, Blessed is the king. Verse thirty-eight. So is this one acknowledged to be king and lord.

Unless we be left with nearly some earthly potentate, just another king who rises for a time and then descends and dies and disappears, this is no common king, this is an uncommon one. This is the most extraordinary king. that is ever walked upon road. As of this road of this world. If his entourage of multitude multitudes, if his disciples themselves are silenced, then the stones themselves will cry out.

Nature itself will honor this one as the king, as the lord. But recognizing this, we are being pushed along a line that draws us even deeper. for it’s not merely a matter of his own disclosure of his name and power, or the acknowledgement of others, or an affirmation of the fact that creation itself will affirm him king. It is the way in which he literally controls all things around him.

Jesus is approaching Bethphage and Bethany. He’s near the Mount of Olives. And while staying there, you see, he sends out his two disciples into this unnamed village. They go into the village, and there they find things as he tells them they will find. Now, one may think that all that is being underscored here is the fact that Jesus, in speaking as he does, merely foresees the future. He sees the events that are going to take place in that village when his disciples arrive there.

But that’s not the depth of it. You see, the full power of the passage is this. Not only does he foresee them, but as king, he controls them. The events themselves are working themselves out by his decree, by his ordination, by his appointment. He is the one who is in control. As king, he is in control of all the circumstances and the affairs surrounding him. and his people.

What kind of authority has this one who is here so portrayed for us? What kind of lord is he? What kind of king may he be? So great is his kingship, so land is his lordship that there is nothing to compare with it short of the kingship and lordship of God.

There is marvelous instruction and comfort here extended to you Do you see it? Do you feel it? Do you understand? The one who is Cain is standing in the region of the Mount of Olives as he dispenses his disciples, sends them over into this village. They enter the village. Jesus is back there.

He is absent from the circumstance, yet he controls the circumstance. He is not present in his body, yet he controls the circumstance at a distance from him. Do you realize the dimensions of this lordship, this kingship, which this one claims? You see, there comes a day when in his body he is absent from his people. He is distant, yet his disciples are still operative in the world. What attitude might they have? What spirit might they exhibit? Will it not be that confidence that though he is absent in his body, he is yet present and controlling all the circumstances that pertain to their life?

Such is the kingship and the lordship of this One He has presented for us. Though He is absent from us, though you don’t see Him, He is perfectly and absolutely in control of all the circumstances of His people. and that is precisely why you need not despair or fret do you not know he cares for you? do you not know that he loves you? and into whatever village you may enter He has already preceded you and all circumstances are prepared for your sake and your good.

Now this for our comfort This for your encouragement. But I said there was comfort and instruction here and let’s hear the instruction too. You want the good. Now let’s listen to the hard stuff. There’s a very interesting literary fact about verse thirty-three. Those of you who have marginal notes in your Bible, you might have that word owner rendered for you there out of the literal Greek. And as they were untying the colt, the owners, that’s what it reads in the King James, that’s what it reads in the New American Standard. Look in the margin. You see what it reads there?

It’s lords said to them. You see, the Lord has come to the lords. Those who own in this world have now been confronted with the command of that one who owns everything. And all lords, regardless who they are, are addressed through the disciples of this Lord. and called upon to submit and surrender everything for him. The Lord of the Lords has come and he makes his demands. The Lords themselves must now learn how to be servants, how to submit, how to surrender, how to own his allegiance and acknowledge him. But we’re not done. You see, as the Lords have been now commanded to submit, instructed to give up themselves for him, he presents himself, this one the Lord, as their servant.

What kind of king is this? He comes mounted upon a colt. He comes in the clothes of humility. He comes dressed up as one who is the servant. The Lord makes himself the servant, and thus gives instruction to all lords of the earth, how they might live, how they might behave, how they might think. He does not come as kings ordinarily come. He does not parade himself as they ordinarily would parade themselves. He comes to them in meekness and lowliness. That is his posture. He comes as the servant unto those he would instruct.

So if it is demanded of them that they become servants, they do so after Him who has become the servant. They are not left then out there all by themselves not knowing what to do or where to go or what to imagine. They are given the pattern and they are given the power that is found only in and through Him. If lords are to become servants, they will do so through Christ, the Lord, who has been made the servant in them.

And what extent, what extent will there be then for the servanthood of this one who is the Lord? Truly, to what extent will he go to demonstrate his servanthood, this one who is the Lord? Let me tell you, he will die. Here is a Lord who will die. for the sake of those he loves. He’s come to Jerusalem to die. What kind of king is this? Would you do the same? Or do you imagine yourself a Lord who doesn’t need to be served? Who doesn’t need to submit? In the face of Jesus Christ, what excuse do you have? What excuse can you make?

Well, the priest, we know how that’s going to end the prophet, we know how that’s going to end the king, we know how that is ending and how it is being revealed and manifest for us here. Not just to tell us a nice story about a man who rolled into Jerusalem on a donkey’s back so many years ago, but how you ought to live.

If in fact you would be identified with this one who is the king. he’s coming back you know and when he does not just the rocks but the hills and the trees and the seas and the streams and every aspect of this creation will acknowledge him and you who have learned how to be servants in his image will receive him gladly and you will be blessed by him to live in his kingdom forever. On a day long ago, our father, you observed your son fulfilling prophecy, ordering, controlling events, affirmed and underscored the fact that he was king. What a marvelous demonstration it was. We, Lord, are not far from those events. for even now we are those who have submitted unto him and are found in the company of his disciples and are learning, Lord, how it is that we, though imagined lords, are servants still trained and taught by him who has become servant for us that we might live and reign with him forever. Glory be to you, our God, through Christ. Glory in the highest, peace in heaven, and upon your people here.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.