Mar 24

Coronation of the King: The meaning of Palm Sunday, Pastor David Welch

March 24, 2024

1 “When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. 3 “If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your King is coming to you, Gentle, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”

6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, 7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. 8 Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. 9 The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!” 10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?”

Matthew 21:1-10 (NASB1995)

The Idea:

This is the meaning of Palm Sunday: Jesus declares Himself King.

And that should be incredibly real and personal to you.

The meaning of Palm Sunday

I. Jesus Declares Himself King

Matthew 21:1-10 (NASB1995)

“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.”

Zechariah 9:9 (NASB1995)

II. His Claim Deserves an Honest Response

9 “The crowds … were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David;

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;

Hosanna in the highest!”

10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?”

15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done … they became indignant”

Matthew 21:9-10,15 (NASB1995)

“A man who is merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He’d either be a lunatic on a level with a man who says he’s a poached egg, or else he’d be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse, but don’t let us come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

-- C.S. Lewis