The Jewish People Knew Jesus Was Coming | Mysteries in the Gospel of John

Did Yeshua, did Jesus really fulfill prophecies about the Messiah from the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible that we call the Tanakh? We're looking today in the Gospel of John. I'm beginning in chapter number 12, verse number 12, the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord abides forever. We're going to see deep into the lens of Messianic prophecy as we examine several of them that are brought out in this 12th chapter of the Gospel of John. Hear the word of God. On the next day, the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him and began to shout, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel. Now, some of you recognize this scripture because it's oftentimes quoted on what Christians refer to as Palm Sunday, Yeshua's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And John here is actually quoting from the Hebrew Bible, from the book of Psalms, chapter number 118, verse 26. Let's continue. Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt. These things the disciples did not understand at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of him and that they had done these things to him. And this is from the book of Zechariah, chapter number 9, verse 9. The Hebrew prophet, Zechariah, wrote about the fact that the king of Israel would come to them humble and lowly, seated on a donkey. So John, the writer of the Brihad Hashad, the New Testament, understood this. And so in referring to Yeshua's entry into Jerusalem, seated on a donkey or a colt, John pulls from the Zechariah, book of Zechariah, and quotes the 9th chapter, the 9th verse. Notice also that John speaks here of the fact that not only did Jesus fulfill the Messianic prophecy, but the people of Israel fulfilled the Messianic prophecy because they honored

him as the one that comes in the name of the Lord. We look just a second ago at verse number 13, when they shouted, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This is in Hebrew, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. Maybe you want to say that with me. It's blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. So the prophecy is perfectly fulfilled here. Yeshua comes into Jerusalem on the donkey, and the people are crying out, just as the Hebrew scripture spoke of when he rode into Jerusalem, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. So the people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify about him. So what John is talking about here is just the momentum. All the people are in Jerusalem. Yeshua rides into Jerusalem on the colt. The people are ecstatic. They're crying out, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. Some of the people that were there when Yeshua rode into Jerusalem were the ones that witnessed and heard about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. So that's what John is speaking about here. The people who were with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continue to testify about him. So all this drama, all this divine momentum is building up. It's building up to a finale, and of course the finale is Jesus ends up being crucified for our sin. Let's continue on. For this reason also, the people went and met him because they heard they had performed this sign.

In other words, it's the same phenomenon. John is recounting the fact that other new people were coming because they were hearing about the miracles. Listen again. For this reason also, the reason is, is that they heard about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. They heard about the miracle. For this reason also, the people went and met him. They wanted to see the miracle worker. They wanted to see this prophet that had raised somebody from the dead because they heard that he performed this sign. The people were coming because they were hearing what he did. I want you to hear the gospel of the kingdom spread in the first century church, and the gospel of the kingdom continues to be spread today. When the Word of God and the Word of the Kingdom of Heaven is proclaimed, followed by signs and wonders. Everywhere Jesus went, he did three things. He preached the gospel, he preached the Word, he healed the sick, he did miracles, and he performed healings and signs and wonders. All these things he did everywhere that he went. And the same way that the church began with the Word being preached, and then it being confirmed with signs and wonders, this is the way the gospel is still penetrating the earth today. I remember reading the story of a very well-known missionary who was called to India. And he and his wife flew to India. They knew in their heart they were called to India. They were so excited to go there and reach the people of India with the good news of Messiah Jesus.

But with all the gods in India that people were worshiping, they found themselves completely impotent in being able to convert people to Messiah Jesus. They would get up and preach. Everywhere they would go in India, they would preach the gospel. But the people, beloved, weren't responding. To them, it was just some other god that somebody was preaching. There was no fruit. So this beloved couple left India. They were on the plane. They were completely broken. They were completely defeated. They had spent years invested in reaching the people of India with no fruit. They left feeling like absolute failures. But once they were back into the States, they were exposed to the ministry of signs and wonders. They began to hear teaching that God is still performing miracles today, just like He did when the apostles preached. And the scriptures say that as the apostles preached, the Lord confirmed their word with signs and wonders. The Lord confirmed the word that the apostles were preaching by backing it up with signs and wonders. People were being healed. Demons were coming out of people. So this couple that had gone to India and failed, they came back to the States once again, just dejected, downcast, just really broken. But they were exposed to the teaching that God was still confirming the word with signs and wonders. They opened up then to the possibility of God performing miracles.

And the more teaching they received, the more they became convinced that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He still confirms His word with signs and wonders. So after being built up in the faith, being built up and having now a sense of expectation that God was going to confirm His word when they preached it, going back to India with signs and wonders, they went back. They got on a plane. They went back to India. They preached the word, believing that God would perform miracles. They began to declare healing over people. They began to preach the gospel and then speak over the masses, even in the hundreds of thousands of times, crowds that had gathered. By Jesus' stripes, they proclaimed, be healed. They began to teach the crowd to believe in God, Yahweh-Rapha, for healing. They taught the crowd how Jesus healed people on earth when He walked on earth 2,000 years ago of every kind of sickness and every kind of disease. And they encouraged the people to believe the same one that walked the earth 2,000 years ago for their own healing. And you know what? People started getting healed. Signs and wonders and miracles took place. And from there, the gospel exploded in India. When they didn't have signs and wonders following their ministry, they were fruitless because they were just another voice proclaiming another God.

Nothing made them any different than any other God, you know, any other God that someone was proclaiming. But when they preached Yeshua, and they preached the kingdom of heaven in the name of Jesus, and then God broke in and confirmed the word that they were proclaiming with signs and wonders, just as happened when the church was first birthed, when Jesus came and raised Lazarus from the dead, and as a result, news about Him spread far and wide, which is evidenced when He came into Jerusalem on a donkey, and great crowds gathered because they had heard about Him raising Lazarus from the dead and wanted to see Him and hear His word. Beloved, the same is true today. I want to encourage you to believe that your God is still a miracle worker, that God by nature is a miracle worker because God by nature, beloved ones, is supernatural. By nature, the God that you have a relationship with is supernatural. What do I mean by that? He's spirit. He is above the natural world. He created the natural world. He's supernatural. He's above the natural world. If we're gonna walk in harmony with Him, we have to be open to and expect the supernatural to be at work in our life, because the God that we have a relationship with

is supernatural, and He moves in supernatural ways. And so when we read the pages of scripture, whether it's the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, or whether it's the New Testament, what do we read about? God is continually doing miracles. Whether He's supernaturally providing manna on the ground for Israel in the desert every day, six days a week for 40 years, manifesting Himself above the tabernacle in the wilderness, parting the Red Sea so the children of Israel could be redeemed. Whether we come to the pages of the New Testament and we see Jesus turning the water to wine, healing the man with the withered hand, casting a demon out of somebody, even in the synagogue in Capernaum, all these miracles are what cause people to wake up and look up and pay attention. And they said about Jesus, nobody that was just a natural man could do these things. They believed because they saw that the God of wonders was with Him. So I just want to encourage you today, beloved, don't be trapped in the natural world. There's a solution to your problems, whether it's emotional, whether it's psychological in the area of your thought life, whether you're trapped in an addiction, whether it's a financial need, whether it's a physical need,

there are answers for you and I beyond the natural world. We thank God for the natural world and we take advantage of all the gifts that God has given us in the natural world. We appreciate healthcare, we appreciate doctors, we appreciate all that God has made, but beloved, beyond these things, there's a miracle working God who moves supernaturally in the lives of every one of His children. Maybe it will speak to you in a dream tonight or this week, giving you wisdom, showing you an answer to a problem or bringing deliverance to you and setting you free because He allows you to see something in your dream that gives you understanding about what you're trapped in, showing you how to come out of it. Believe God, beloved, to work wonders in your life. This is how the gospel began. They saw Jesus doing the miracles, they were attracted to Him and followed Him. And beloved, the same one that Jesus bore witness to, His Father that was doing the miracles through Him, He's at work in your life. Let's continue on. So let me once again read this. For this reason, also the people went and met Him because they heard that He had performed this sign, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. So the Pharisee said to one another, you see that you are not doing any good. Look, the world has gone after Him.

The Pharisees are so frustrated. They're so defeated. They're arguing with each other about what to do. And they're saying, you're not doing anything. All these things that you're doing to try to stop Jesus, all these measures that you're taking to try to silence Him and His disciples, everything that you're doing. The Pharisee said, it's not working. We can't stop Him. The move is too great. So listen again. So the Pharisee said to one another, you see that you're not doing any good. Look, the world has gone after Him. They just couldn't stop the movement. They couldn't stop the movement, the movement that is now called Christianity, the movement that the New Testament referred to as the way in the book of Acts. In the book of Acts, we don't read about Christianity. That was a term that was later given to the doctrines that surround the Christian faith. That was termed by church theologians years later. In the New Testament, the followers of Jesus were those that belonged to the way. And so they couldn't stop the way. They couldn't stop Jesus, who's the way, the truth, and the life. They couldn't stop this.

Jesus said, I will build my church, my ecclesia, and the gates of hell will not be able to prevail against it. And you know what? Neither, my beloved friend, neither can the gates of hell stop you. Think about that. They couldn't stop the movement. They couldn't stop Yeshua. They couldn't stop the people that were believing Him and following Him. They couldn't stop other people from coming. They said the whole world has gone after Him. And you know what? When you're born again, and you're passionately in love with God, and you're sincerely doing your best to follow Him, you know what? Nothing and no one will be able to stop you. They may slow you down, but they'll never be able to stop you. Even as the grave could not hold Jesus in its power, so too nothing, beloved, can hold you and I down for long. Sometimes it seems like we go a step backward, but we only go a step backward to go two steps forward. The Bible says we are more than conquerors through everything that we'll ever face in life, and that he that's born of God overcomes the world. The same victory that was operating in Yeshua's life on the earth and still up, obviously, is who he is today.

That victory, beloved, is imparted to all those that are born of him. So look up and be encouraged. There's hope for you. I don't know what your problems are today. Maybe it's your grandchildren. Maybe your grandchildren are dysfunctional right now. Maybe it's your son or your daughter. Maybe it's your marriage. Maybe it's something that's going on in your workplace. Maybe it's your finances. Maybe some of you are incarcerated right now. I want you to know there's hope for you. If Jesus rose from the grave, if death could not hold him in its power, if the Pharisees couldn't stop him, if nothing could hold him back, I got news for you. Jesus has an answer for you. Hang onto him. The Bible says he that sets their hope on him will not be disappointed. Let's continue on. Now, there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast. These men came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, "'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.'" Now, first of all, let me say, what feast are we referring to? Now, there were some Greeks among those

who were going up to worship at the feast. What feast? It was the feast of Passover. Jesus is making his triumphal entry into Jerusalem for Passover. Why? Because he's the fulfillment of Passover. Jesus is the fulfillment of Passover. He chose, and the Father chose, that he would be crucified during Passover. 28 times in the book of Revelation, Yeshua is referred to as the Lamb, referring back to the Passover. Paul said, Christ has become our Passover, so Jesus is riding into the feast, fulfilling Passover, just as that ancient lamb was gonna be slayed, or it was slayed now 3,500 years ago, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem 1,500 years ago. It was 2,000 years before that. Are you following what I'm saying? Jesus rode into Jerusalem, what we're reading right now, 2,000 years ago. But 1,500 years before that, Israel was sacrificing their lambs and taking the blood of that lamb and putting it on their doorpost, and through that blood on their doorpost, God delivered them out of Egypt. So Jesus is fulfilling all this, and some Greeks were going down also, and I love it.

They said this, let's listen. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida, these Greeks, and began to ask him, saying, I love this, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. What a humble, childlike question. I mean, questions and requests don't get too much deeper than that. Sir, we wish to see Jesus, they said. The scripture says, when we see him, we'll become like him, for we'll see him as he is. I just wanna pray with you right now. Father God, we ask you to reveal your Son to us. Father, we ask you to give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see Jesus, to see him in his love, Lord, to see him in his beauty, to see the colors of the Holy Spirit. Yeshua, we say like these Greeks, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Jesus, Yeshua, we wish to see you. We ask you to reveal yourself to us. Messiah, we ask you to breathe on us and open our heart, mind, and spirit to be able to see you in the Spirit, to behold who you are, not to look at you just with a natural lens, but to see you in the Spirit. Reveal yourself to us, we pray, by the Spirit. Eye is not seen and ear is not heard. The things that Father has prepared for those that love him and these things, beloved,

are revealed to us by his Spirit. We wish to see Jesus. In the book of Numbers chapter six, the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over his people. And the Lord said, when you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them. Receive the impartation of the Lord's blessings. ♪ Yeh-va-re-che-che-ya-weh-va-yeesh-ma-reh ♪ Yair Yahweh panayv eylecha vi'chuneyecha Yisra Yahweh panayv eylecha ve'asem lecha Shalom The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up by his countenance. And the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. God bless you and shalom.