As you can see from the bulletin, God's Word, our reading of God's Word this morning, comes from Psalm 118. And then immediately following the reading of Psalm 118, we'll turn over to John 12 to read our New Testament text. Elizabeth I was born on September 7th in 1533. She died on March 24th in 1603. She was the Queen of England and the Queen of Ireland from November 17th, 1558 until her death. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and she was born a princess. But her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed just three years after her birth. And Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, that is, for the sake of succession. She would not become queen. Perhaps for that reason her brother Edward VI cut her out of that succession. His will, however, was soon set aside in the Third Succession Act of 1543, in which Elizabeth was named as successor, provided one thing, namely, that her half-sister, Mary I of England, would die without issue, would die without progeny, that is, children. Well, indeed, in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded Mary, who died, and she had been in prison the whole year before that for giving support to the Protestant rebels. And this psalm became very important for Queen Elizabeth, who at that time, when she ascended to the throne, Quoted this psalm and compared her enemies, namely her half-sister who had imprisoned her, to bees that surrounded her as we read. And also quoted and immortalized the line, This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our sight. Children, men and women, teenagers, this psalm is about much more than any national king or queen. Even one of the most famous queens in all the world who produced one of the greatest English writers in the whole world, namely William Shakespeare. For Martin Luther, that mighty reformer of old, when he commented on the first verse, Praise the Lord for he is good. His steadfast love is forever rightly taught. And I quote, this verse shows the aim of the whole psalm like a title. The psalm wants to thank and praise the Lord Jesus Christ, who was to come for the mercy and the spiritual deliverance to be accomplished by him. And for some 60 pages after that, he goes on to shamelessly comment how this psalm showcases and redounds to the glory of the Father's Son, namely Jesus Christ and his work performed. More specifically, this psalm has as this purpose. to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the Messiah King who has come. And he has defeated the enemies of Israel. And of course, Israel is ultimately the church. And that in contrast to the old exodus, there was a new exodus that was coming that would be announced in the person and ministry of this king who was coming. And that this new exodus would be more glorious in its accomplishment and its wonders than even the first exodus performed by the Father. It's all about Christ. It's all about the second exodus that He brings in His person and ministry. Now for the seminarians here, if I were to ask you what psalm is quoted the most in the New Testament, or for many others, even those who attend the school across the street, my guess is that you would say Psalm 110. Psalm 110 is quoted quite a bit in the New Testament. But you know what? This psalm is quoted more than even Psalm 110. In fact, if all the allusions and citations could be proved true that have been suggested, this psalm, Psalm 118, is quoted 35 times in the New Testament, kids. In fact, if all the allusions could be proved true, This psalm receives citations or allusions in every New Testament biblical book except for two. Namely, James and Jude. So I submit to you, people of God, that surely a psalm which had such vast importance in the early church deserves our careful consideration and attention so that we may see how these writers, borne up by the Holy Spirit, Why they consider Psalm 118 as so important to testify to the ministry and work of the coming king, namely Jesus Christ. And to unpack this purpose this morning before you, I want you to focus on just two things. First of all, the original and future king. That's my first point. The original and future king as talked about in this psalm. And then the second point, something that would be familiar to you in this cultural context, perhaps from another venue, the return of the king. The return of the king. So the original king and the future king, point number one. Now, understanding the original context of the psalms is hard to do for many psalms, even if they come with titles. In fact, for this psalm, there have been over 30 suggestions for its original historical contest. What was going on when this psalm was originally penned? How was it sung? How was it celebrated? What happened? And we are not going to enter into speculation. We don't want to say, nor should we ever say, more from the pulpit than the Word of God allows us to. But I suggest to you, if you look at verses 19 through 27, we may say at least a couple of things confidently based upon the internal evidence in this psalm. First of all, notice that this is clearly a processional hymn. There is a procession that is going up to the gates of the temple here and clamoring to get in, asking, open up the gates so that we may enter in. And I suggest to you that this is also happening on a festival occasion. Children, what I mean by that is the Hebrews celebrated festivals on a regular basis. And often they went to the temple in order to carry out this festival. Look at verse 27. And what does it read? Not only do you read in 19 and 20, open up the gates of righteousness that we may enter in, but look at verse 27. Bring the sacrifice bound to the horns of the altar. You see, so this psalm and what is sung here originally happened on a festival occasion at the temple. And it may be, and indeed in my judgment it probably was, sung by a king at the end of a great military victory. In other words, God has provided a great victory from their enemies. And now they want to return thanks for the great victory that God has provided. And so they march at the temple, to the temple, as is appropriate, to give God praise and thanks for the deliverance that he has secured for his people. Notice how they come, as mentioned before, to the gates of righteousness, the portals of Yahweh, in verse 19 and 20, as it says. Open to me the gates of righteousness, and I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. So what happened here was probably this large procession going up after a military victory. And then, at the gate, there had to be an attestation of loyalty to Yahweh. And then once that loyalty to Yahweh, to God himself, is attested, then they're allowed to go into the sanctuary and worship the Lord. Now I suggest to you that it is the desire not just to the Hebrews of old, not just to Christians in Escondido or elsewhere who worship the one true God, but I suggest to you that it is the desire deep down within each and every human being to return thanks to a divinity for what they have received, good favor on their behalf. So for example, listen to a gate liturgy, and by liturgy I just mean a form of worship, just like we have here in our bulletin this morning. Listen to this liturgy from Mesopotamia. Kids, you know where this was. Babylon, east of Israel. Okay, a huge superpower. And listen to the desire, this lament. Here is a person who suffered some kind of disease and he describes it almost like a death. And listen to how closely this corresponds to the psalm we read this morning. To perform prostration and prayer, I, who had already gone down into the grave, entered Esagila, that is the temple of Marduk in Babylon, and returned to Babylon. At the gate of plenty, an excessive amount of something was given to me. At the gate of the protected deity, my protected deity approached me. You hear the gate liturgy? At the gate of salvation, I beheld salvation. At the gate of life, I met life. At the gate of the sun's rising, I was again counted among the living. At the gate of beaming wondrous beauty, my good omens beamed forth. At the gate of redemption from sin, my debt was freed. At the gate of praise, my mouth asked. At the gate of redemption from misery, I was released from misery. At the gate of water cleansing, I was sprinkled with water of cleansing. At the gate of salvation, I met Marduk. At the gate decorated with luxuriance, I fell down at the feet of frugality. They who had already celebrated his burial, now they sat at the meal of joy. When the Babylonians saw that Marduk had brought them back to life, all mouths glorified his greatness. Now, do you see the similarities between these two gate liturgies, these two psalms? There's a sense of being hard-pressed by enemies, and even by sin. There is a person who is rescued from death, but here the differences become apparent. Instead of giving praise to the one true God, they give praise to an idol. This is a perversion of the one true gate liturgy. They give praise to this factory of their own mind that has produced Marduk, giving Him praise instead of God for the delivery from death. But here, the rights of religion accompany the act. My point is, the whole world, though they push it down, though they suppress it in truth, what is man's chief end? It is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And whether you be like those outside who are not bringing their worship and their praise to God for everything good in their lives and instead worshiping idols. Nevertheless, we see this as the desire of all humanity to praise God, to open up the portals so that we may come in and worship God. So there, here's the desire of a pagan idolatrous people drawing near to God, giving praise for deliverance from death. Is that not what Adam was supposed to do? Adam should have obeyed. Adam should have been a king. Adam should have led all his progeny through the portals to worship God forever, to enjoy him. But he did not. He was not a faithful king. And thus we need a faithful king. Children, did you notice there's at least a couple of speakers in this psalm? How does it open? First four voices. It's all plural. But now look at verses 5 through 21. It's singular. It's odd. Did you ask, who is the main speaker here? Who is this that's speaking? Well, likely it's some representative of the people. I suggest to you probably a king. So you have an antiphony going on. You have a choral procession and many voices. And then it emerges into one voice. Verses 5 and following. standing for one representative of the people, a king. And notice how this processional hymn goes forward. They sing in the language of the national hymn of the Hebrews. Now what was the national anthem of the Hebrews, children? Do you remember the deliverance from Pharaoh and all his minions and the spears and swords and chariots? What did they do when they crossed the Red Sea? And then God brought up a hot east wind and caused that sea to collapse round about them and destroyed their enemies. What did they do when they got to the other side? They sang God's praises in the song of Moses, chapter 15 of Exodus. And that song becomes a kind of national anthem for them. In fact, that song develops into a kind of Exodus grammar. So that now, whenever the people of God want to tell of his great mercy, tell of his great praise. They want to utter and testify to what God has done in their life, not only then, but throughout their history. How do they do so? They do so through the lens and the interpretation of the Exodus. Look at this verse. Exodus 15.2. What does it say? The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. Well, we read that very verse in this psalm this morning. So if you look at verse 14, that's an exact quotation of this national anthem of the Israelites. And then it's echoed in verses 21 and 28. And if you go back to Exodus 15, kids, and you read the next verse after this verse, the Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. You know what it says? The Lord is a man of war. And that should inform how you read this psalm. God is a man of war. He is a divine warrior. And he comes as a king victorious. Ready to deal a death blow to any enemies who would rise up against God's people. Look at Exodus 15 verse 6 and then Psalm 118 verse 16. Exodus 15 verse 6 says, Your right hand, O Lord, your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy. Psalm 118.16. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord is triumphant. Do you see what I'm trying to press home? This psalm is about a king. And this psalm is shot through with Exodus imagery of the first Exodus. So that when you read this psalm, you ought to be thinking about the original Exodus and the great delivery that God, Yahweh himself, provided for his people as their enemies were in hot pursuit upon their heels in order to destroy them. This is how they express God's great deliverance. In the old Exodus, God fulfilled the role of warrior and redeemer on behalf of his people, bringing them out of the furnace, the hot furnace of oppression. And kids, did you ever ask, why Egypt? Why would God choose Egypt? Perhaps one of the greatest superpowers of that time in order to demonstrate his victory and his deliverance. I'll tell you why. Because if God can destroy Pharaoh, if God can make nothing out of the greatest superpower of that time, then there is nothing that God cannot do on your behalf in destroying all your enemies. I'll remember when I was on the way back from the Ukraine with a colleague and good friend of mine who will be preaching in this pulpit, I believe, shortly, familiar to you all, Dr. Van Drunen. He picked up quite a cold, but we decided to stop in London on the way home in order to take in the sights. Now, it's a dangerous thing to be attached to a person trained in Semitic languages and literature, especially when you have a horrible cold and you're visiting the British Museum. So there I was, yanking him and dragging him by the collar through the British Museum, seeing all these things I had seen in pictures, but now seeing them face to face. And there was this huge, in the Egyptian room, right next to the Rosetta Stone, there was this huge red granite fist and arm like this, from Egypt, from the same time that the Israelites were brought out of the iron furnace of oppression. It was about three times as large and bigger than this communion table. Everybody was fascinated with the Rosetta Stone, and it is fascinating. I was fascinated with that fist. Because I thought to myself, is it possible this comes from Egypt? Is it possible that this is what Moses saw when he described that great delivery of the Hebrews? Because God has to accommodate and talk to us in baby talk, is it possible that he saw this and used this as a simile or a metaphor to describe God's great iron fist, delivering the Israelites, destroying the enemies? I would not want to have been crushed by that iron fist, by that red granite fist. How much more so should we not want to be crushed by God's arm? But thus the enemies of God will be and have been. Now these points, namely that Psalm 118 is full of Exodus imagery, are supported by another line of evidence. This psalm occurs at the end of six psalms that are called the Hallel. The Hallel, this group of six psalms, are sung annually and regularly when the Passover is celebrated. And they were sung at the time of Jesus, we know. Starting with Psalm 113 and then marching up to Psalm 118. Here's how it went, kids. First cup of wine is mixed and passed around. And then there's a benediction over the wine. Then unleavened bread, lettuce, horoseth, this finely ground fruit mix. And the roasted lamb itself is brought to the table. Then a second cup of wine is mixed. And at that time the son asked the father, What means this? Namely, the lamb. And this event, the bitter herbs. The night that we were brought out from underneath the furnace of oppression of the Egyptians. The night that the angel destroyed the firstborn of the Egyptians. What does all this mean? And the son would answer the father. and describe how God had protected them by spreading the blood over the lentil of all the Hebrews. And then Psalm 113 and Psalm 114 possibly were recited. And then the meal was eaten. And then the third cup of wine was mixed and grace was recited. And then the fourth cup of wine was mixed. And the remainder of the Hallel, these six songs, namely Psalm 115 through Psalm 118, Psalm 118 being the climax, was sung. to celebrate the Passover and the military victory that God had provided. Now we have seen that this is about a king in its original setting, leading a great procession up to the temple. Remember the first point where we are, the original and future king. But people, had God provided a king that could deliver them from all their enemies, Ultimately, no. So when they celebrated the Passover, even at Jesus' time, there was great anticipation of a future king who would come. Go through a time capsule. Enter into the world of Jesus and the Roman civilization at that time. There were the people. Some of you history teachers here in our presence could tell everybody What happened when they celebrated Passover at Jesus' time? Tens of thousands of people came to Jerusalem. And Josephus, a contemporary historian, tells us they had to make military preparations because often there was such anticipation for a king to come and bring deliverance, just like he did in the Passover, that there were often riots and tumults and they had to prepare for that. You see, that's the anticipation. That's the expectation that would have happened at this time. But I ask you, has God returned? Has a king come to satisfy all their wants and desires? To quell all their enemies? To subdue them to himself and deliver them? King David couldn't do it. They went into exile. King Solomon couldn't do it. No king had yet come. And yet we come to John and we see that what is he announcing? He's announcing not just the original king, not just the anticipation of a future king, but John is telling us about the return of the king. John quotes verse 25 and 26 of our psalm in such a way that he shows that Jesus is the royal agent. He is the king that's coming to enthronement. Now a king is coming who would bring Israel's peace and prosperity, although not in the way they expected. Now a king is coming, not just to deliver them through the Red Sea, but to accomplish an exodus that far supersedes any exodus that had happened before. And how does John present this? Two ways. First, by showing Jesus comes riding on a donkey. and secondly, by quoting Zechariah 9 as he does in our passage. Now this may sound somewhat surprising to you kids, but John presents Jesus riding on a donkey not to communicate to us that Jesus was coming meek and mild into Jerusalem in contrast to the zealous and zealot expectations for a future king. Rather, I submit to you that the image of coming on a donkey is actually a kingly, royal image. John is concerned to present Jesus coming as a warrior Messiah king. Now, the Roman soldiers and centurions who are watching on would not have gotten this. They would not have understood. But I submit to you that those who knew their Hebrew Bible, those who knew their Jewish history would understand, at least in part why Jesus was coming as a warrior king the donkey is a sign from Old Testament imagery of authority and kingship turn to 1 Kings chapter 1 with me kids and the rest who have their Bibles and you will see why I say this what's the picture? Solomon is coming to ascend to the throne but interestingly there's competition here. There's tumult. There's opponents to this happening. Who are they? Adonijah and his cohorts. So the issue is, who will really be king? Will it be in David's lineage, in David's line? Will it be Solomon who will come, or will it be Adonijah? And David's seed will be thwarted, and he won't come to the throne. And then look at verses 38 through 40. And this is what you see. So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Karathites, the Pelathites went down and they put Solomon on King David's mule and they escorted him to Gihon. On David's mule. And Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and he anointed Solomon. And then they sounded the trumpet and the people shouted, Long live Solomon, King Solomon! And all the people went up after him playing flutes and rejoicing greatly so that the ground shook from the sound. My purpose here, people of God, is not so much to compare Christ with Solomon as it is to compare one kingly processional with another kingly processional. And to those who knew their Jewish history would immediately recognize Far from being a sign and symbol of meekness and mildness, here is a warrior king who is bringing peace and shalom by means of kingly ascension and promotion and processional. This is the king of kings, and that's what John wanted them to see. Blind would be the Romans. Not nervous about the tumult and possible riot. But to those who knew their history, to those schooled in the ways of the Hebrew Scriptures they would have understood. And I submit to you this is reinforced by another line of evidence. Did you notice in John, immediately afterwards, what passage John quotes? He quotes Zechariah 9. Kids, you might turn to Zechariah 9 and you will see that coming to rain is the theme there as well. Because you see that Zechariah 9 is a new Exodus passage. Especially in light of Zechariah 10 and Zechariah 14, messianic and future-oriented, if there ever was a future-oriented passage. The people of God in Zechariah's time knew that the exile and restoration had not fulfilled all the promises. So when would God come? and Zechariah 9 tells us God will come when there will be a new conquest not like the conquest of old when there will be a new Joshua not like Joshua of old if you look at Zechariah 9 you will see the borders far exceed the land of Canaan that was conquered by David and even Solomon now we're talking about Celestia and those five cities that mark out her now you will talk about Joshua who will come and the people will be so secure, verse 8, they will never fear again. This king, this new Joshua will come and he will provide a greater conquest than even Joshua of old did. And how will he come? Zechariah 9.9. He comes riding on a donkey. Not meek, not mild, but as a man of war. No, not as they expected. because God's kingdom is not of this world. It is a spiritual kingdom that this king is coming to inaugurate. And if you doubt my words, then you see what's behind this. This is not merely about Zechariah 9. This goes back all the way to the testament of Jacob in Genesis 49. And there, as Jacob was dying, he made a pronouncement to his sons, a testament, a kind of will. And things were set in motion that must come to pass. Which son would be the son of blessing? Which son would bear the seed that would ultimately bring the seed? Not Reuben. Children, Reuben had committed a grievous and egregious sin. Not Simeon, not Levi. For they had taken revenge into their own hands. And revenge belongs to the Lord. But Judah. Judah, your brother shall praise you. Genesis 49, verse 8 through 11. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Hear the military language. Your father's son shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches. He lies down like a lion. And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? The scepter will not part from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes. and the obedience of the nations is his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. People of God, this is a blood-bought peace. John wants to present the Prince of Peace as a warrior king, not bringing in an earthly kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom. And things have been set in motion and now we're being accomplished, which must, absolutely must, come to pass. And the gates of hell cannot prevail against them. Who is the judge of the enemies of God's people? It is none other than the Lord Himself. And what does He save His people from? Children, I beg you, listen to this if you get one thing. What was the first exodus all about? It's destroying the enemies of God. The greatest superpower which threatened their very lives. But now the king has come. Identified with Yahweh himself. The right hand of God. Salvation. Who comes up to the portals of the gate of the temple and says, open up and let us in. What does this king deliver you from? Enemies far greater. Enemies far more injurious than Egypt or Pharaoh of old. This king comes to deliver you from sin. From the dominion of Satan. From Satan himself and all his minions who would ruin your life and ruin your soul. This king not only comes, he has come. And he has definitively dealt the death blow to Satan himself. He protects his people. The return of the King has taken place. Christ is God and Christ performs the deliverance of the people of God in a manner that excels even the first Exodus. When John quotes verse 25 and 26 of our psalm, he sends you back to the entire psalm. He wants you to understand Psalm 118 as he quotes it and as he presents it. This is a kind of trigger and lens for you to go back and read the psalm as new covenant Christians as you ought to read the psalm. And with such a background, it is not surprising to see that John portrays Jesus as the coming Messiah King. The real and ultimate king who comes in the name of the Lord to bring deliverance to his people. John comes, presenting Jesus, coming in possession. This king having won or about to win a great military victory. And did you notice, he doesn't say, let me into the temple. If you flip over to the Synoptic Gospels, kids, that is to Matthew, for example, chapter 21, or to the other places in the triumphal entry. When this story is talked about in the other Synoptic Gospels, he doesn't come to gain entrance into the temple. What does he do immediately after coming riding on a donkey in the triumphal entry? He cleanses the temple. He destroys the temple. Because he is the final temple. And he creates a new temple according to John 2.19. A temple represented here this morning. Namely, the people of God. The coming Messiah King who comes in the name of the Lord to deliver his people is rejected. He is delivered over to death. But not ultimately. Because God raises him from the grave. And he becomes the capstone. The chief cornerstone. And what do the people say? Here's your application. This is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. God has conquered sin through his son, the warrior king, riding mounted upon a donkey. Kids, we began with a historical illustration. We talked about a very famous queen, perhaps the most famous, yet this is about so much more than any national king or queen we have seen in the context of this psalm that it is a professional victory psalm where a king leads a whole procession to praise God not to worship some idol but rather to praise God to whom glory alone is due and here we see the return of the real king the original king, the future king which was anticipated is fulfilled and testified to here by John as being the return of the real king who is Yahweh himself. Not only that, but as great and glorious as the first exodus was in killing and destroying those enemies of God's people there is a greater and more glorious deliverance that happens to God's people who fulfills in this ministry, in this very person this second exodus by destroying the dominion of Satan and sin and all its bondage, all its power, all its injurious effects. Christ comes. He destroys. Now I ask you the question again as I asked earlier. Who is the main speaker, Jeds, in this psalm? It is Christ. Christ is the ultimate voice that sings this psalm. Christ, properly qualified, indeed is the original singer of this psalm. Listen to how it is so clear when you turn to the psalm. The situation of distress in Psalm 118 fits Christ's situation. He undoubtedly felt confined with no way of escape. Psalm 118, verse 6. He felt surrounded by his enemies. Psalm 118, verse 7, verses 17 and 18. Even so, He was delivered as He trusted in His Lord, His Helper. Psalm 118, 6 and 7. He did not fear what mere man could do to Him. Psalm 118, verse 6. He could have called upon a whole legion of angels to come and wield their swords and destroy His oppressors. And yet, He did not. Although He was rejected in His humiliation, nevertheless, God raised Him from the dead and caused His people to rejoice at such a great deliverance. Psalm 118, verses 22 to 24. Christ has opened the portals of Yahweh, the gates of righteousness. He is the great King who is victorious over all His people's enemies. And now He leads this great procession up to the portals of righteousness and holy on His merits And perfected through his sufferings, he advances the kingdom of God worldwide and enables, by virtue of his spirit, people to come in his train and enter into the temple and worship God. Wherever your missionaries serve in the United Reformed Church, wherever our missionaries serve in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, As I heard in such an edifying way, testified to at General Assembly last week. Whether in Uruguay, whether in China, whether in Haiti, whether in Eritrea, where our whole church and two missionaries were thrown in prison this last year, and some still reside, whether in Japan, whether in Ukraine, whether in San Diego, whether in Escondido, God is a warrior king who is bringing peace and holy on his merits, announcing, proclaiming, break open the portals of Yahweh and let your people come in. His work as our king is the basis and ground children and adults by which we can cry out even as these in the original audience did. Verse 26 and 27. Oh, Lord, save us. His penalty-paying substitution and his probation-keeping, accomplishing all that that first king and first priest, namely Adam himself, failed to do, has been done and accomplished. No wonder the people of God, in old and in new, can proclaim, this is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our sight. What a fitting conclusion. Did you notice, kids, how the psalm began? Four times. Give thanks to the Lord. He is good. His love endures forever. And look at how it ends. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever. Shall we pray?