[Machine transcription]
In the name of Jesus, amen.
Dear Saints of God, Zechariah, when he prophesied that the King will come into Jerusalem, righteous
and having salvation, says that he’ll be humble and mounted on a donkey and goes on to promise,
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem and the battle
bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations.”
It’s not just that Jesus rides a donkey, it’s also what He doesn’t ride.
He doesn’t ride a war horse.
He doesn’t ride a chariot.
He doesn’t ride a camel or an elephant.
Can you imagine Jesus on an elephant, triumphant, that would be triumphant, coming to save a
stomp the enemies over. That’s what triumphal entries were for, after all, to
show strength, power, to show who was in charge. I was reading this week about the
triumphal entry of Alexander the Great into Babylon. If you want a triumphal entry,
this is a triumphal entry. October 22nd, in the year 331 BC, Alexander the Great
comes up against Babylon the Great and they simply give up. Now this is amazing to think
about because Babylon was this great and magnificent city in the ancient world. It had these huge
walls. The walls of Babylon were so big that they had all these gardens in them with trees
on top. The hanging gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
These walls were so wide that you could have chariot races around the top of the walls
of Babylon. It was so broad that there was farmland inside the city, and the great river
Euphrates ran through the center of the city. This is great Babylon, but they see Alexander,
who was on quite a conquering spree, and so they said, okay, fine, you can have the city.
And to indicate that Alexander was going to be the king, this is what happened. There
There was a guy, Begophones I think is how to say his name, he was the, he had oversight
of the citadel and the royal treasury of Babylon and so he went out to meet Alexander.
This is what he did.
He had the road coming into the city carpeted, the whole road with flowers and garlands and
he set up stages, intervals along the side of the road with silver altars piled up with
incense and perfume and frankincense.
And he came out to meet Alexander
and he had with him huge herds of cattle
and of horses and lions and leopards in cages
to give to Alexander.
Can you imagine?
Alexander comes to meet him.
Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not finished with the procession.
I gotta, this is from Curtius Rufus, by the way,
an ancient historian. He says, next came out from the city magicians who were all chanting
their songs in their native fashion, and then behind the magicians were the Chaldeans, the
stargazers, and then the Babylonians who were represented not only by the priests but also
by musicians with all of their native instruments singing the praises of Babylon and the praises
of Alexander. And then the Babylonian cavalry, who were fully equipped, but the historian
says not to demonstrate majesty, but extravagance. They were polished up sharp, and here comes
all the cavalry to concede. Coming in the other direction is Alexander the Great, and
And he’s surrounded by an armed guard.
He has his soldiers all around him, then behind him his infantry, and then behind him the
people of the city.
And he enters into Babylon riding on a chariot and makes his way to the citadel and sits
on the throne.
Now can you imagine this, parade into Babylon, all of these soldiers, all of this might,
all of this riches, all of this glory, with the incense and the choirs and all of the
instruments that are there, no one would have any question what Alexander was there
to do, but to sit on the throne and to rule and to reign according to his power.
That dear saints, is not why Jesus came.
It is not His triumphal entry.
The key word in the promise that Zechariah gives us is this word, humble, lowly, 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.
He cuts off the chariot, the war horse is cut off, the battle bow is cut off.
He comes to speak peace.
We might think it rather jarring to hear first the Gospel of Jesus’ triumphal entry,
and then to hear the Gospel reading of Jesus’ death on the cross.
But they are, dear saints, all of one peace.
It is why Jesus came.
Not to conquer, but to be conquered.
Not to kill, but to be killed.
not to judge, but to be condemned, not to punish sin, but to be the punishment for sin.
He came to be the King that was crowned with thorns. The only spear He has is the one that makes a hole in His side.
And His throne, His chariot, is His cross, adorned with a purple robe for mockery, honored
by the soldiers to put Him to shame, lifted up, not in glory, but in death.
and all of it for you because Jesus would be the King in this way. Not to rule
and reign with an iron fist like Alexander in Babylon, but to bless and
forgive as the kind and merciful Savior. His kingdom is the kingdom of peace.
peace, the peace of the forgiveness of sins, the peace of the redemption that He won on
the cross, the peace of His death and of His resurrection for you. This one is your peace.
So we rejoice that Jesus came in order to die. We rejoice that He gave His back to the
whip, his face to the smiter that he was spat upon and abused because he did all of these
things for you, for me, for our life and salvation. And Jesus wants us to rejoice in it. There’s
going to be a temptation, I think, this week to be sad as we reflect on the sufferings
of Jesus, but listen to the Lord’s explicit instructions.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.
Shout aloud, daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, your King is coming to you, righteous
and having salvation.
May this death and resurrection of Jesus
give us joy that never ends.
In the name of Jesus, amen.
and the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and
minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
You may stand or kneel for prayer. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
We give thanks to you, O Lord Jesus Christ,
that you have come in the name of God
to rescue and redeem us, to be our King and our Savior.
And we give thanks to you for your triumphal entry
into Jerusalem, for your bitter suffering and death,
for your rest in the tomb, and for your resurrection,
which brings us peace and life and hope,
the forgiveness of all of our sins.
We pray that by your Holy Spirit we would remain trusting in you in life and
in death and unto life eternal, Lord in your mercy. We give thanks to you, O Lord,
that you have set your people and your church to be in every place and in those
places to be a light, to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people
Israel. We pray for our congregation that we would be a beacon of light and hope
in the midst of this dark world, we
pray that you would give us confident joy in all
of your work for us, that we would rest knowing that you
continue to intercede for us.
We pray that this Holy Week would
be one of joy and blessing by your Holy Word.
We pray, O Lord, that you would give wisdom and patience
to all those who are elected and appointed
to serve in this congregation, especially for David, Jim, Mike,
and Karen, for our Board of Elders, our Board of Finance, our Board of Trustees,
for all of the volunteers and committees and those who serve you in all different
ways, we pray that you would bless and grant peace, that we would continue to
abide in your word. Lord, in your mercy. We pray, O Lord, for those who have
requested our prayers, that you would hear them, you would visit them, that you
would deliver them, we pray especially for Nicole, Dot, Elizabeth, Stana, and
Noreen, for Harper, Leroy, Pam, Valerie, Rick, Leo, Bruce, Sally, Ruth, Kane, and
Taquan, that you would comfort with both your presence and promises in suffering,
in sickness and in peace and health, Lord in your mercy. We pray, O Lord, that you
would grant your Holy Spirit and faith and repentant joy to all who approach
your altar this day, that this gift would be for us an establishing of our own
hope in your mercy. We pray that you would prepare us to both live and die in
your name, that as our last hour comes you would be with us. We ask all these
things through you, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and
the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Lord be with you.
Lift up your hearts.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give
thanks to you, Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Everlasting God, through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who accomplished the salvation of mankind by the tree of the cross, that where death
arose, their life also might rise again, and that the serpent who overcame by the
tree of the garden might likewise by the tree of the cross be overcome.
Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud
and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and saying,
our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us
our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen
our lord jesus christ on the night when he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks
he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying,
take and eat, this is my body which is given for you,
this do in remembrance of me.
In the same way also he took the cup after supper
and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying,
drink of it all of you, this cup is the New Testament
in my blood which is shed for you for the remission of sins,
this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
The peace of the Lord be with you always.
Now may this true body and blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, strengthen and preserve
of you in the true faith to life everlasting.
Depart in peace.
Amen.
Peace your word has done for me.
My own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in me.
We give thanks to you, Almighty God,
that you have refreshed us through this salutary gift.
And we implore you that of your mercy
you would strengthen us through the same
in faith toward you and in fervent love toward one another.
Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
⪠Amen âª
⪠The Lord bless you and keep you âª
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Amen.
You may be seated.
God be praised for his mercy to us in Christ.
Uh, most of the announcements are, uh, I’m gonna encourage you first to this Wednesday
take a nap because our, our, uh, Holy Week festivities really begin in earnest on Thursday
this week.
So Monday, Thursday, uh, this week, seven o’clock service, we celebrate the institution
of the Lord’s Supper and all the gifts that, uh, the Lord gives us in the Supper.
Good Friday, we’ll hear of the passion of Jesus again and consider what this means,
that He suffers and dies for us.
Seven o’clock on Good Friday.
A Holy Saturday is the Easter Vigil.
That starts at 7 o’clock as well, and that is an opportunity to remember all the works
that the Lord has done throughout history to rescue us and save us, and how those all
fit together.
So 7 o’clock Saturday.
And then next Sunday is already the Sunday of the resurrection.
We’ll rejoice in the Lord’s life, His eternal life for us.
Our services will be 8 o’clock and 11 o’clock.
No Sunday school in between.
We’ll have a little Easter egg hunt for the children and time for fellowship between
the services next week. Next week would normally be the week of our first Sunday of the month
picnic but because it’s Easter we’ve delayed that for one week so on April the 11th we’ll
have that picnic, bring your own everything, and we’ll meet together as a congregation
after the late service. That’ll also be volunteer recognition. So if you know how to recognize
volunteers you have to come for sure. So, but we want to thank all the, there’s so
much work that’s been done this last year in the church. It’s been a wild year, so to
recognize all the work that’s been done and to thank the Lord for that.
One last announcement, and that’s this. You’ll notice that our prayer list in the Weekly
Word this week is quite a bit shorter than it has been in weeks past. This new year,
we decided to put in a policy that when a name goes on the prayer list, it’ll stay there
for two months, and then in the third new month, it’ll go off unless it’s requested to stay.
So that’ll hopefully that’ll help keep that list a little bit more manageable
But also up-to-date if someone was taken off that prayer list that needs to be back on it
Please do not hesitate to contact the office
We’ll just put the name right back on and just let us know if you want us to keep those names on there if there’s
People that need our constant prayers. I think that’s all the announcements. God’s peace be with you
