The King is Coming – part 2

Aug 30, 2026 • Rory Mosley

067 The King is Coming – part 2

Mark 11:1-26 (12-24)

August 30, 2026

This morning we began this popular narrative story.

It is the day on which Jesus prophetically entered Jerusalem

As the Messiah that Zechariah was waiting for.

As we said there are many important truths

And many important angles from which you can view this event.

But we are interested in Mark’s purpose.

We said that Mark tells his story through things he wants you to see.

He stops and focuses on different markers

His intent is that we will too

We saw two this morning.

Let me quickly recap

#1 A COLT

Mark 11:1-6

We noted how Mark spent 7 verses to make sure

That we knew all the details about this colt Jesus selected.

· We noted the PROVIDENCE of God to have it ready.

· We noted the PROPHETIC value of Jesus riding a colt.

· We noted the PURPOSE here was Jesus publicly and openly declaring Himself to be the Messiah.

He wasn’t hiding it.

He was revealing His identity

In what was one of the most famous prophecies.

In His ministry He had been sort of keeping that under wraps.

But on this day HE CAME OUT IN THE OPEN with it.

“Go get me that colt! I’m going to ride it into Jerusalem”

As we said, the crowd that followed Him must have been ecstatic!

#2 A CROWD

Mark 11:7-11

We discussed their recognition of Him as King.

· They symbolically submitted to Him by throwing their coats under Him.

· They led and followed Him into the city

· They sang about Him a heavily charged Messianic Psalm.

They had to make a split-second decision regarding whether they believed Him to be capable of taking the throne and they signed on.

They lead Him into Jerusalem.

They are shouting “Hosanna!” – It means “save now!”

AND WE RECOGNIZE WHAT WAS HAPPENING.

They are ready for a kingdom.

They are offering Him a kingdom.

They are offering Him their allegiance.

But that is where we learned something

That perhaps we haven’t noticed before.

Only Mark shares this piece of information.

The other gospel writers sort of cram it all together.

(11) “Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.”

We often talk about Jesus being rejected by the people.

And that is true, He was.

· After a few days teaching in the temple

· He will be betrayed and arrested and condemned

· And ultimately the crowd will push Pilate to crucify Jesus.

They will reject Him.

But what we see taking place from Mark’s gospel is that

The first rejection that took place was NOT their rejection of Jesus.

The first rejection was Jesus’ rejection

Of their broken kingdom.

They offered Him the throne.

He walked into the temple, looked around, and rejected it.

(11) “Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.”

Jesus doesn’t compromise on righteousness or justice.

Jesus doesn’t compromise on His Father’s will.

He is not so eager for a throne that He will compromise to obtain it.

HE IS NOT A CARNAL KING.

He rejected the throne they offered.

TONIGHT you’re going to be even further shocked when we learn that

Not only did He reject their throne, He’s about to tear it down.

He knows what kind of kingdom He wants.

And so we want to pick up the story where we left off this morning with our 3rd marker.

#3 A CURSE

Mark 11:12-14

This is the part of the story that drives many commentators a little crazy.

William Barclay says that it is a story that is “not worthy of Jesus”.

He even questions if it literally happened.

BUT IT DEFINITELY DID.

Mark is not the only one to mention it.

It happened and it had a profound impact on the disciples.

But the full story is actually split in Mark’s gospel.

· In verses 12-14 all we get is the account of the curse,

· We don’t get the result or the explanation until later in the text (19-26).

Mark tells it this way on purpose and that’s how we’ll examine it.

He wants you to let it soak for a little while before he explains it.

SO HERE WE SIMPLY FOCUS ON THE CURSE.

(12) “On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry.”

I like to think that

· After witnessing what He did in the temple,

· Jesus spent the night in prayer and contemplation

· This morning has gotten an early start.

He is eager to go and do what must be done

And as such He left before breakfast.

But as He sets out on the walk “He became hungry”

And verse 13 is the one that causes us some trouble.

(13) “Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.”

Matthew’s account is admittedly much easier to swallow.

Matthew 21:18-19 “Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.”

We studied that text 14 years ago so I know it’s fresh on your mind.

· We took notice of a tree “by the road” and noted the opportunistic location of this tree.

· We talked about how it had “leaves only”

We noted that a fig tree puts on figs before it puts on leaves.

And so this tree was putting out an advertisement.

· This tree was announcing the presence of fruit, but when Jesus arrived there was no fruit.

It was easy to talk about fruitlessness.

But admittedly Mark’s gospel makes this analogy a little more difficult.

Mark does say that Jesus saw the fig tree “at a distance”.

· That doesn’t mean it wasn’t by the road, it was just a ways up ahead.

But the difficult part is that Mark specifically notes that

“it was not the season for figs.”

That piece of information causes us

To want to render the fig tree innocent.

GRANTED THAT LEAVES ARE PRESENT,

But can one really expect figs from a tree when it is not the season for figs?

Can you really curse something for not bearing fruit when fruit is not natural expected at this time?

That is the sort of thing that has commentators up in arms

Regarding the action of Jesus here.

There is way in which to read this story that makes Jesus

Sound petty, ill-tempered, unreasonable, and even self-centered.

And yet, if that is our take, WE KNOW IT IS WRONG

For Jesus was never any of those things

And if He had been God would not have raised Him from the dead as a sinless man.

So any take that finds fault with Jesus here is the wrong one.

WHAT WE HAVE is a fig tree with “nothing but leaves”,

Regardless of the season.

And Jesus “said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!”

As we work our way through these 3 verses

There are some other passages that rightly come to mind.

One, though I doubt it is what Mark had in mind, is Paul’s statement to Timothy.

2 Timothy 4:1-2 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

I realize Paul had not yet written that verse,

But the truth is none the less relevant.

Fruitfulness has never been a seasonal requirement.

Obedience and effectiveness is never limited by the season.

Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem in a totally “out of season” culture

And maintain unyielding faithfulness and fruitfulness.

We can’t help but think about that.

PERHAPS A LITTLE CLOSER TO HOME

Would be a story that Luke shared about Jesus.

Luke 13:6-9 “And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”

When we read that sermon from Luke’s gospel

We can take this incident with a wider lens than what we presently see.

Have you ever witnessed a situation unfold that caused you to make a snap judgment about what happened, only to later realize that you didn’t have all the facts?

Think about the substance abuse problem in our culture.

· Some young man comes to his family and asks for help and his family refuses,

· You see it for the first time and pass judgment on the family for their

insensitivity and cruelty to reject help.

That is until you learn that they have helped time and time again and it has only managed to enable the addiction and has not helped.

When you get the whole story your perspective changes.

Could it be that we have not gotten the whole story regarding this tree?

Luke 13 paints a picture of a tree

That Jesus had examined for 3 years and it never bore fruit.

His patience was not in question, that had been proven.

Now is the time for judgment.

Jesus may appear impatient here,

But you don’t know how many times He’s already passed that tree.

And the tree can give any excuse it wants.

“You can’t judge me now, it’s not even the season for figs”

To which Jesus could rightly respond,

“Would it matter? You haven’t produced fruit the last 3 seasons, your judgment was earned years ago.”

NOW: Think about men like Pharaoh

Who had totally rejected any notion of truth from God,

But God patiently endured him for years

Until his judgment could be used to the glory of God.

In fact Paul states in Romans

Romans 9:22-23 “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,”

That is certainly what God did with Pharaoh.

He allowed a hardened sinner to remain

So that he could be destroyed in such a way as to teach God’s people.

Now go back to Mark’s gospel

Look at one more phrase which ONLY MARK includes.

“And His disciples were listening.”

This WASN’T a petty moment of impulse from Jesus.

If we learn anything in Mark’s gospel it is that Jesus has totally rejected impulse.

· He didn’t grab the first donkey He saw, He used a specific one divinely placed.

· He didn’t fly off the handle the first time He entered the temple, He looked around and then departed.

· And He is not impulsively cursing out a tree here.

THIS IS INTENTIONAL.

This is a judgment that is a long time coming

Which is now being expressed for the benefit of His disciples.

HE DID THIS FOR THEM.

Now, we’ll see why in a moment,

But before we move on LET THIS WARNING HIT YOUR EARS.

Just because God has not judged sinners today does not indicate that He is pleased with them or that they have gotten away with it.

Some are preserved, NOT for salvation,

But so that their judgment might be used for His glory.

Some are what we might call the walking dead.

Listen to Peter:

2 Peter 2:1-3 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

Their time has been determined,

They are just allowed to stay until God is ready to use their judgment

For His purpose and glory.

They are tares who only survive until the wheat is in the barn.

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF IT’S THE SEASON FOR FIGS OR NOT.

THEIR FRUITLESSNESS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SEASON

IT FURTHER REMINDS US THAT

You do not reject Christ when He calls.

At any moment your time and judgment may be secured

Even if that judgment does not come for many years down the road.

Today the time for this fruitless tree was up and Jesus announced it.

Certainly we already see a foreshadowing

Of the fruitless vineyard Jesus will expose in chapter 12.

It is not difficult at all to see here a reference to fruitless Israel.

Jesus had gone all over that land for 3 years looking for fruit and had found none.

He marveled at the faith of a Centurian:

Matthew 8:10 “Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.”

He commended the great faith of a Sidonian woman:

Matthew 15:28 “Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.”

But He hadn’t found anything like that in Israel.

Clearly we see that point as well.

It is a further revelation of Jesus’ rejection

Of the kingdom they were offering to Him.

HE DOES NOT WANT A FRUITLESS VINEYARD.

BUT FOR NOW, Jesus just made an announcement of judgment

Against a tree that had born no fruit

And Jesus intentionally did it for His disciples to hear.

A Colt, A Crowd, A Curse

#4 A CLEARING

Mark 11:15-18

Here is a part of the story we are much more familiar with.

Thanks to Mark we know that this action was totally pre-meditated.

Jesus didn’t lose composure when He cleared the temple,

· He waited, prayed, meditated, contemplated,

· And came to the conclusion that this was absolutely the right course of action.

Most people today see every outburst as totally unwarranted.

Most people today see every outburst as a loss of control.

Not here, this was perfect.

In this situation Jesus did exactly what was needed.

(15-16) “Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.”

We have certainly discussed this dynamic before,

But in case you have missed it or forgotten it, we need to discuss it again.

THE PASSOVER WAS A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR CORRUPTION.

God had made a declaration in the Old Testament

That had been take great advantage of by the religious elite.

That declaration by God was that the sacrifices which were offered

Must be “without blemish”.

WE KNOW WHY.

· A holy life is the only thing that can be offered to pay the debt for sin.

· If you offer a defiled life it will only die for it’s own sin.

And of course all of those sacrifices were meant to picture Jesus

Who would be the only truly unblemished offering for sin ever given.

But what was happening in Jerusalem was corruption based on that fact.

You came to Jerusalem with your lamb or dove

In order to make a sacrifice to God,

But one of the first things you encountered was someone who would “examine” your offering to make sure it was in fact unblemished.

What a shock it must have been when a blemish was discovered.

Some priest would look it over, find a flaw,

And then scold you for “having the audacity to bring such an unworthy offering to God.”

They might even quote the book of Malachi to you:

Malachi 1:12-14 “But you are profaning it, in that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.’ “You also say, ‘My, how tiresome it is!’ And you disdainfully sniff at it,” says the Lord of hosts, “and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?” says the Lord. “But cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King,” says the Lord of hosts, “and My name is feared among the nations.”

· Malachi confronted the apathy of his day when people thought so little of the

LORD that they intentionally brought Him offerings that were of no other value.

But you can certainly see how a verse like that

Could be easily weaponized against anyone.

Find a flaw in your lamb or your dove and the priest quotes that verse

And just rips you for your irreverence.

“I should run you out of Jerusalem for such an attempt. How dare you bring such a defiled animal as an offering to God! Do you not think God worthy of your very best?”

And of course you feel terrible.

But instead of running you out of town

The priest does decide to do the honorable thing

And show you some mercy.

He cannot in good conscience accept your offering,

But he does have an acceptable offering he can sell you.

A pre-certified unblemished lamb or dove.

Now, it’s going to cost a little more,

But after all, don’t you think God deserves it?

He might even quote David when he said:

1 Chronicles 21:24 “But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.”

So, “I’ll take this blemished lamb and deal with it and then sell you this unblemished lamb and all will be good.”

And because you have no leg to stand on, you submit to buy their lamb.

Of course after you leave they’re just going to

put your lamb in the pre-certified pen and sell it to the next guy.

But now you’ve determined to buy their “unblemished lamb”.

BUT YOU HAVE ANOTHER PROBLEM.

You came to Jerusalem with Roman currency.

· You work an honest job and your boss pays you with the Denarius.

· The problem is that the Denarius has Caesar’s inscription on it and that is a graven image.

Graven images are offensive to God!

Do I have to quote the second commandment?

“Are you really expecting to purchase your sacrificial lamb with an idolatrous Roman coin? Have you no shame?”

And we just start all over again.

“Well, fortunately for you, I will exchange your money into the Hebrew shekel so that you can purchase your certified unblemished lamb.”

Of course the exchange rate was totally inflated.

And now you weren’t just overpaying for a lamb,

You were losing out on the exchange as well.

IT WAS A SYSTEM DESIGNED TO EXPLOIT AND STEAL.

So we read:

“And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves;”

JESUS HATED WHAT THEY WERE DOING!

Did they really expect Him to come and rule over such nonsense?

HE CAME TO DESTROY SUCH NONSENSE!

This is not what God had intended!

This was blatant hypocrisy wrapped up in religious zeal

And Jesus hated it.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.

We also read (16) “and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.”

You are aware of the layout of the temple grounds.

· You know about the most holy place in the inner sanctuary behind the veil.

· You know outside of that was the holy place where the priests worked, then another veil.

· Then there was the temple court where Jewish men were permitted to come.

· Then there was the women’s court where Jewish women could come.

· Then there was the court of the Gentiles were anyone was welcome.

All of this made for a rather large structure

And people found it easier when carrying a load

To just cut through the Gentile court instead of going around it.

This made that court of the Gentiles something similar to a flea market.

· People passing through

· People exchanging money

· People selling doves

You can easily picture the scene.

AND JESUS HAS ENOUGH OF THAT TOO!

And He puts a stop to their traffic.

He won’t let them carry their loads through the temple.

It must have been quite the scene

To see the wrath of Jesus break lose

On the extortion and corruption of that place.

And once He got the temple cleared He was ready for HIS EXPLANATION.

He certainly has everyone’s attention.

He says:

(17) “And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.”

Jesus quotes two Old Testament verses here.

The first is:

Isaiah 56:6-7 “Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath And holds fast My covenant; Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”

It has always been the heart of God

· To welcome the nations to Himself.

· He has always been a God willing to save any Gentile who came to Him.

He was so committed to the idea

That He even provided them a court to His temple

Where they were free to come and seek His face.

But the Jews had turned their court into a flea market of distortion

And a busy highway for transporting goods.

Jesus cleared that place out and asked

Where Gentiles were supposed to pray if this court was so corrupted?

Where were Gentiles supposed to seek God?

It doesn’t speak well for the missionary heart of Israel

When they turn their mission center into a flea market.

Kind of hard to pray in the middle of a flea market.

Jesus exposed one of the reasons

He had no interest in ruling that system.

They had no heart for the nations.

Perhaps they should go back and re-read Jonah.

Perhaps we should re-read Jonah

As we seek to be a people whom Jesus delights in.

That was the first problem.

THE SECOND PASSAGE Jesus quotes is from Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 7:1-11 “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. “Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah spoke of people who totally corrupted the purpose of the temple.

· They weren’t using it as a place to seek God,

· They were using it as a place to hide from Him.

· They thought they could live as corruptly as they wanted,

· But as long as they were in the temple they were safe.

God would never destroy His own temple.

It’s sort of like people today who think they can live however they want

And then come to church and all is well.

Not quite!

The temple was to be a place of prayer

And they had made it a place of corruption.

THIS WAS NOT THE TYPE OF PLACE JESUS WANTED TO RULE

HE REJECTED THIS THRONE

So Jesus exposes their corruption and their misuse of the temple

And He clears that place out.

· He will not play a game of hypocrisy.

· He is not interested in money-making religion.

· He wants men to pray.

· He wants men to seek God.

· He wants men to draw near to God.

· He wants men to worship God.

WE ALSO NOTICE THE EFFECT IT HAD.

(18) “The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.”

Not only did Jesus succeed in clearing the temple,

But He also succeeded in throwing down the gauntlet

With the religious elite.

He would not allow them to ignore Him.

The guy just crashed the temple

And totally reorganized it for His purposes.

SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE.

THIS IS ALL INTENTIONAL.

· Intentional with that donkey

· Intentional with that crowd

· Intentional with that tree

· And now intentionally cleansing the temple.