Prisoners of Hope
April 2, 2012
Sermon on Zechariah 9:9-12 for Palm Sunday, on Jesus' kingship and how He came to set us free.
Sermon Talking Points
Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com
Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com
- Read Mark 11:1-11 about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. How was this an intentional fulfillment of the words of the prophet Zechariah (520-518 BC), in Zech. 9:9-12? What were the characteristics of the King and His coming reign?
- What were the “kingly” actions that surrounded this event? 1 Kings 1:33-40; 2 Ki. 9:13; Ps. 118:25-26. The scene looks like a king riding to His coronation. What crown would Jesus wear? Why did many then abandon Him? How did the path to His coronation intersect with suffering and imprisonment?
- What does it mean for us to “lay down our cloaks” for Jesus? Read Eph. 4:22; Jude 23; Gal. 5:24; Col. 3:5. How is repentance a humbling of ourselves, and a laying aside of our pride? How is laying down our material possessions for the Lord a sign of obedience and service to Him?
- Jerusalem received Jesus with palms and praises. How does Christ come to us today, and how do we properly receive Him? Look at the hymn verse: “Then cleansed be ev’ry life from sin; make straight the way for God within, and let us all our hearts prepare, for Christ to come and enter there.” (LSB 344:2)
- Zech. 9:11-12 describes “prisoners of hope.” What does this mean? How are we “prisoners of hope”? What other examples of “prisoners of hope” can you find in the Bible? Read their stories: Joseph, Samson, Jeremiah, the 12 disciples, Peter, Paul and Silas, etc. How does Scripture speak comfort to the prisoners? Ps. 69:33; 102:18-22; 107:10-16; Is. 42:6-7. How did Christ become one with us, as a “prisoner of hope?”
