Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

Home » Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday

Our God Shall Come

Our God Shall Come

by ·

The 18th century American missionary, David Brainerd (1718-1747), labored amongst the Indians of New England. His life was very short with continual afflictions of illness and infirmity. Nevertheless, he was a man of fervent prayer, and diligence in ministry. As his body gave way at 29 years old, his dying words were a citation of Hebrews 10:37: “He shall come, and will not tarry.” 

On this Sunday, in which we celebrate the regal entrance of Christ into Jerusalem to accomplish our salvation, we should have those same words as our motto. The steadfast confession of God’s people is this certain confidence that “He shall come, and will not tarry.” The OT saints were often brought to cry out for God to come for their deliverance, and He always did. In fact, we should argue that all their prayers for immediate deliverance, were in fact prayers for ultimate deliverance. That ultimate deliverance arrived in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who entered the city of peace upon the foal of a donkey; His face set like flint to face death and damnation on your behalf.

In light of this ultimate deliverance, we do not discontinue our cries of “Maranatha, come, Lord Jesus, come.” Rather, we persist with them. Jesus shall come politically, and overthrow the schemes of evil tyrants. He shall come ecclesiastically, and thwart the schisms of men of strife. He shall come domestically, and turn the hearts of fathers & sons towards each other. He shall come to us in our death, and bring us to be with Him where He is. And in the final judgement, He shall come to rectify all injustices, all the persecutions of the Righteous, and all the sorrows within this yet to be resurrected earth. This is our certain hope: our God shall come, and shall not keep silent (Ps. 50:3). 

A Certain Hope

A Certain Hope

by ·

Imagine the disciples at the Last Supper. All their lives, as good sons of Abraham, they’d heard the prophecies, partaken of the feasts, prayed the Psalms, and hoped for the Messiah to come. Here He was, at last. He’d come. He sat in their midst, telling them that His body would be broken like the bread He passed to them, His blood would be poured out like the wine in the cup.

God’s people had cried for deliverance. Deliverance from the wicked sons of Cain. Deliverance from Pharaohs, giant, Canaanite Kings, Philistine champions, demon-gods, Assyrian, Babylonian, Grecian, and Roman empires. “Avenge us, oh Lord,” they had prayed. And God had done so. Repeatedly. 

But now, in the carpenter from Nazareth, this Deliverance had a face. This Deliverance had a human body. This Deliverance shared with them a meal of bread & wine. Hope had come.

It’s been keenly observed that, “Hope is certainty of outcome, uncertainty of timing.” So, when you look upon these signs, you see the certain outcome of all things: Christ once crucified, now ruling evermore. With certainty we know that the Christ who shed His blood for the remission of our sins, now sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; thrones, angels and powers all made subject unto His majesty. He must reign until all enemies are subdued, then He shall come to judge the living & the dead, and offer up the Kingdom to His Father, that Christ may be all in all.

While the timing is uncertain, we rest assured that this is how it will all play out. This certainty is held out to us here in this meal. Christ is our head, we’re His body; He dwells in us, and we in Him. We are bound with Him who rules the world. This is our certain hope.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ

Sin’s Madhouse

Sin’s Madhouse

by ·

The Christian faith is not a privately held religious belief. As if we could fold up the greatest news which has ever occurred upon this planet, stuff it in our coat pocket & go whistling along as if nothing has happened. Christ is the great fork in the road of history.

You don’t get to ignore Him, or go around Him, or avoid Him. He is the immovable fact which must be reckoned with. He came to mankind, and you must either fling wide the gates, or bar them in stubborn unbelief. Christ entered Jerusalem, the City of David, to assert His right to earth’s throne. And then He won it by dying the death which you deserved.

Thus, the question that is perpetually before each of us is this: what have I done about Jesus? You either cling to Him in faith, fleeing from all your sin and unbelief in so doing. Or else you have determined to live in the house of mirrors which is your unbelieving pride. To pretend as if Christ didn’t enter Jerusalem to take up the Kingship of the World which was promised to His father David, and which he obtained by His blood, is to admit yourself into the madhouse.

While Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem has global & eternal significance, each individual must look this truth in the face. You either live in the peace of Christ’s Kingdom, or in the madness of pretending that the blood-thirsty demons of paganism still run this place.

Sin is trying to create a world, out of nothing, where you are in charge, & where Christ isn’t King. But this is insanity. So, repenting from your sins is admitting that you’ve embraced the crazed lies of Satan, turning from that lunacy, & then walking in the clear light of Christ’s Kingdom.

We live in a world which is filled with madness, chaos, and confusion because it is insanely attempting to go back to darkness. But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is David’s promised heir, the One who would eternally sit upon the throne of the earth, judging righteously. Our sins are pretentious attempts to live as if the Son isn’t King. We’ve despaired and envied. We’ve lusted and lied. We’ve been anxious, proud, and lazy. All these sins are lame attempts to live in the daydream, instead of living in the light and life of Jesus Christ, the ever-living Son of David.

The world tempts you with insane words about “trying harder”, “doing better”, “trusting yourself”. Confession, however, is the act of coming into the Light of the sanity of Christ’s kingdom of peace. All sin is insanity, but confession is walking in the truth, walking in reality, walking in the Kingdom of Christ. The Gospel speaks a clear word of sanity: your sins are forgiven through Christ.

Jesus is Coming

Jesus is Coming

by ·

Introduction 

The danger of clichés is that they are usually quite right. To illustrate this, one French poet remarked that, “The first man who compared a woman to a rose was a poet, the second, an imbecile.” Because clichés are often right, they too easily get consigned to poster-board behind the goalposts of a televised football game. What should shake the foundations of darkness is met with an eye-roll.

The Text

And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

Zechariah 9:8-10

Summary of the Text

Judah was once more enduring an occupation by foreign nations (Zech. 9:1-8). Zechariah assures the returning exiles that God was soon to come and would cast out those powers (9:4), and would see to it Himself (9:8). The assurance of this promised deliverance would be that Messiah would enter Jerusalem upon the foal of an ass, with rejoicing shouts filling Zion (9:9); Zechariah also elaborates on Isaiah’s earlier prophecy of the Messiah entering Zion endowed with salvation (Is. 62:11). This joyful entrance would result in the expulsion of the foreign forces while establishing peace with the heathen (9:10). Messianic texts like this one convinced godly Jews to conclude that under Messiah’s reign, the boundaries of the promised land would be universalized. To the ends of the earth, enemy nations would either crumble or convert.

Riding Upon A Donkey

Roman generals were accustomed to enter a city either on a donkey or upon a horse, signifying peace with the former and as a conqueror in the latter. So some point to this easy explanation. However, at one point in Biblical history, riding an ass was for the illustrious (i.e. Balaam, the early Judges of Israel, etc.). By the time of Zechariah’s prophecy riding upon an ass was a sign of lowliness.

We don’t necessarily have to choose sides here. Was Jesus coming like an ancient judge (i.e. Samson, Gideon, Barak)? Was Jesus taking a Roman custom and using it for his own purpose? Was Jesus coming in humble lowliness to defeat the dragon alone? The answer can be yes to all three.

But the full sum of the picture should be guided by what the text explicitly states. Matthew tells us that Christ riding into Jerusalem was the prophetic sign which Zechariah foretold come alive and fulfilled (Mt. 21:4-5). Which means that Christ’s entrance wasn’t a publicity stunt, it was a fork in the road. Either Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah as attested by His many signs, this being perhaps the most public, or He wasn’t. The gears of war which occupied Israel were soon to be overthrown. The Messiah is described as being just, having salvation, and lowly. Whatever other symbolism might be involved, Jesus riding upon the ass was a claim to be the Messiah.

His kingdom was not of this world, but by His sufferings, He would conquer all the kingdoms of this world. Yes, Israel was once more occupied by a foreign power. But the foreign power which Jesus had come to defeat was the spiritual principality of Satan’s kingdom.

Our Evangelical Heritage

Perhaps no motto shaped 20th century American Evangelicalism than the statement: “Jesus is coming soon.” In the late 1800s a new end-times position rose to popularity. It hinged on a belief that the world was on the verge of an apocalyptic end. One sign of this would be growing apostasy, followed by Jesus secretly rapturing true Christians. At the same time, many of the mainline denominations––which held to the more prevalent postmillennial view––were being duped by various errors: German theologians’ Higher Criticism, the implications of embracing Darwin’s theory of the origin of species, and a Gospel that was neutered into merely a “neighborhood clean up”.

The premillennialists saw that the authority of Scripture was under attack, the Gospel was at stake, and Christian morality would be compromised by these threats. Their defense of Scriptural authority was truly heroic. They sought to return to the fundamentals of the Christian faith, and thus this movement came to be known as Fundamentalism, while many  leaders in the movement––J. Greshem Machen, as a prime example––sought to retain the more historic term: Evangelical. 

The engine driving much of the modern Evangelical fervor was that conviction that “Jesus is coming.” This sentiment motivated the Evangelicals to fight against the looming darkness so as to be found faithful when Christ came. A noble aim, even if situated atop flimsy exegesis. It’s like the Algebra student who, despite faulty steps to solve the problem, comes to the correct answer. The thing which marked 20th century evangelicals was urgency in light of Christ’s imminent return.

Jesus IS Coming

The reality is that Jesus is coming. Our evangelical heritage got that right. Indeed that sentiment outdates 20th century Fundamentalism, and was expressed during the Reformation by the emphasis on living coram Deo.

The true saint, in any age, waits expectantly for Christ’s coming, whether it be in revival, in death, or in the final judgement. Note the rejoicing of the Palm Sunday crowds, and the substance of their song: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Jesus is coming, and their response was the right one, joyfully receiving Him as the Messiah which He claimed to be.

The Christ we preach is ascended to the right hand of the Father. He isn’t playing video games with Cheeto-dusted fingers, until His dad tells Him to come get us. Jesus is not a dispassionate observer of human history. Rather, Christ is ruling the world. He is present and involved in the affairs of history. Jesus is not disengaged from the affairs of history. He is holding the scepter of the universe.

So we rightly join the Palm Sunday crowds in declaring Jesus is coming. He is coming to cleanse the temple. He is coming to make dry bones come alive. He is coming to topple tyrants. He is coming to mend the brokenhearted. He is coming to humble overbearing husbands and rebuke sniping wives. He is coming to rescue prodigal sons. He is coming to defeat His enemies.

He comes in fire and fury. He comes in gentle words of redemption. He comes to usher saints to their eternal rest in His presence. He comes to undo the wicked and their evil designs. Neither you nor I can stop Him. Congress can’t pass bills to halt the advance of His Kingdom. Jesus is coming.

The Kingdom is Christ’s

Ezekiel was given the vision of God’s throne, and it rested upon wheels within wheels (Ez. 1:15-28). The implication being that God’s authority was swift, immediate, and universal. Christ’s authority is not like a bureaucracy of committees, where we need to wait until the regularly stated meeting to take up the business of motioning and seconding to take up this or that question at the next stated meeting. No. When Christ comes, it is as King, endowed with salvation, so as to overthrow the wicked and establish peace.

We’re at the point where a generation will be saturated in their sins (both real and imagined). But there’s no way to be saved, forgiven, atoned. You can’t grovel enough, no one is righteous enough, no one has enough intersectionality points to escape the coming mob. Sooner or later your tweets will be found out, your unorthodox opinion on some vital matter will be discovered, and the pitchforks will come for you. We are a generation laden with guilt and shame. But the black midnight of this generation’s soul, is just the sort of moment in which Jesus will come. His Holy Spirit will convict of true sin, reveal the righteous Judge who comes endowed by the Father with the power to save. Jesus is coming, and when He comes we shall be turned. The enemies will be driven from our midst and we shall be free.

Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem is a claim to be the Messiah, who would not only overthrow evil nations but would overthrow the evil which dwells in you, and then would establish His dominion upon every inch of this world. You must either receive Him as the Lord of all the earth, or reject Him. You must either throw wide the gates of faith to have Him rule in your heart, in your family, in your business, in your temptations; or you must close the doors. But the Gospel which the church has faithfully preached through her many windings, is this: Jesus is coming indeed (Ps. 50:3).

King & Judge

King & Judge

by ·

The Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey. This detail of the narrative might be easy to skim past, but we must pause here in this part of the story of Christ’s ministry in order to fully appreciate the symbolic punch which this image carries. 

The first thing to note is that the means of transportation which a king or governor entered a city held significance; if he came to wage war he’d ride a mighty war-horse; whereas, if he came in peace, he would ride in on a donkey. Thus, Jesus’ mode of entry is an assertion of his kingship; but He was inaugurating a kingdom of peace. He came in meekness, as a servant King. But His next act, after entering Jerusalem, might feel out of place. This peaceful King goes to the temple and drives out the moneychangers (Mt. 21:12-16).

But this episode is not out of place, because there’s a second layer to Jesus riding in on a donkey. A more ancient cultural cue is happening; we are being hearkened back to the days of the Judges. Those judges would ride through Israel on a white donkey (Jdg. 5:10, 12:14). 

Jesus employed cultural symbolism from Israel’s history to make a clear point. He was riding into Jerusalem like an Israelite judge of old. But remember, those judges were not solemn, black-robed judiciary bureaucrats; they fought Philistines with jaw-bones, they smuggled in knives to stab tyrant kings, they overthrew wicked regimes, destroyed favorite idols, and they delivered God’s people. 

The triumphal entry is a vivid depiction of a King and Judge. A King coming into His peaceful kingdom, a Judge coming to bring judgement on evildoers. He comes to avenge and deliver God’s people.  He comes to deliver us from the greedy moneychangers within us, in order that we might be houses of prayer, where the Prince of peace might reign in glory.

Ben Zornes