Where God’s Good Plan and Man’s Evil Plan Intersected

Palm Sunday 

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

April 13, 2025

Where God’s Good Plan and Man’s Evil Plan Intersected

If you have your bible turn with me to John 12. I don’t know why but something hit me in John’s account that I had never put together before. Before he shares his account of the triumphal entry, he takes us to the day before.

⁹ When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, ¹¹ because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. John 12:9-11

We know from chapter 11 they were making plans to kill Jesus so now because people are flocking to Jesus and to see Lazarus, they’ve added Lazarus to their hit list.

¹² The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. ¹³ So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” ¹⁴ And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

¹⁵ “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!”

¹⁶ His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. ¹⁷ The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. ¹⁸ The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” John 12:12-19

Pray.

This is a dark and evil conspiracy. The crucifixion wasn’t a last-minute decision – they planned out how to do it, how to arrest Jesus, how to present their case to Pontius Pilate, how to pressure him into crucifying Jesus. When the Pharisees say to one another “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him”, it might sound like they’re resigned, giving up. We’re gaining nothing, not getting anywhere. Might as well pack it in and give up boys.

The opposite is true. This is the moment when their resolve to execute their plan is hardened. If we don’t do something we’re going to lose control of this thing. We need to go ahead with our plan.

In all the annals of history there has never been a more evil or devilish plan – and that’s saying something. The plans they devised as they huddled in that dark room were from the pit of hell. Just as the devil filled Judas’ heart as he betrayed Jesus, the devil filled their hearts as they plan to kill Jesus for doing miracles including raising a man from the dead. And now they plan to kill a man for the crime of being raised from the dead! There have been countless evil, devilish plans devised over man’s history but this is the closest that earth and hell have ever gotten as men – ironically religious leaders –plan the best way to kill God.

But God is a planner too and He has His plans. In the corridors of eternity past God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit planned how to save and redeem lost and fallen mankind. And the Passion week which began on that Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey was the apex of God’s saving plan. God’s entire plan hinges on that first passion week. If Jesus hadn’t entered Jerusalem, if he hadn’t been crucified, if he hadn’t risen from the dead, the Old Testament would be an unfulfilled and meaningless book and Jesus wouldn’t be able return to earth and set up his kingdom with the redeemed for no one would be redeemed. The Passion Week is the apex of all God’s good plans.

But it all hinges on this week: the triumphal entry, the trial by night, the crucifixion, and the resurrection.

1. God’s plan was to restore Jesus as our King

Hundreds of years before the triumphal entry the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophet Zechariah that Jesus the King would come riding on the foal of a donkey. In the garden man rejected God’s rule over our lives, Jesus came to bring those who believe in him back into his kingdom and rule.

I’ve been in the book of Judges in my personal reading and there is a reoccurring phrase in Judges that summarizes that time in Israel’s history: in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

The result in Judges is a chaotic and oppressive time. People were bouncing off of each other and oppressing each other. Every now and then it would get so bad Israel would cry out to God and He would bless them with a judge or leader. But it wouldn’t be long before they were doing what was right in their own eyes again. It is the human condition and it is the core reason for all the chaos and misery and conflict in our lives. We make lousy kings. Our

The crowd that day proclaimed Jesus as king of Israel but many of them didn’t really mean it. Jesus was trending. The excitement of the moment swept them up! In less than a week the excitement would be going in the opposite direction and some of them would switch their cries from hosanna to “crucify!”

Being a Christian is so much more than accepting Jesus as an advisor or personal life coach. Jesus came to be the king we need. We make lousy kings.It is bowing our knee to his Lordship, his kingship. When we ask Jesus to be the king of our lives and trust his rule over our lives, we can have peace in the storm. We know that Jesus is sovereign over all things and that he loves us so whatever he allows into our lives will ultimately work towards our good.

And sometimes what he commands won’t “feel” right. We need to believe that when our navigational

instruments read one thing and God’s word clearly reads another, trust God’s word.

One of the trickiest things I had to learn about navigating a school bus is that when you are trying to back up to a specific point, you can’t trust your eyes or what you see in the rear view mirrors. When it looks like the back bumper is where you want it, it’s actually about four or five feet off where you want it. You have to learn to gauge your bumper position off a reference point that feels wrong. Only as you learn that the reference point is reliable to you begin to back up with confidence in that reference point.

God’s word calls us to trust His heart even when we can’t see what He is doing. God’s word commands us to forgive when someone hurts us. God’s word commands us to love our enemy. What? That doesn’t seem right. I’m going to damage my life if I do that. God’s word says to walk in integrity even if it seems like dishonesty can get us ahead in life. God’s word promises that if we tithe to his work He will bless us, but man when things are tight it feels like that’s the last thing we should do. The question is, do we trust His word or do we trust our sight?

When Jesus is our King we trust his word as the word of a wise, and benevolent King who loves us more than we can imagine. Jesus is the King we need and want.

2. God’s plan was to save us from death through Jesus’ death

This is where God’s loving plan and man’s evil plan ran parallel. Their plan was to kill life, Jesus’ plan was to kill death but both plans were accomplished at the cross.

²² “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— ²³ this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Acts 2:22-23

Death is our enemy not our friend. But at the same time death is a mercy from God. In the garden when Adam and Eve sinned, God rushed them out of the garden before they could eat of the tree and live forever because God knew that our living forever in the state we’re in would be a horrible curse not a blessing. Death is our enemy but it’s also a mercy to us.

On Good Friday let’s remember how Jesus died in order to forgive us our sins AND to destroy death.

¹⁴ Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Heb. 2:14-15

One day all of us will face death unless Jesus returns first. We don’t need to fear death because Jesus died for us. Death is our enemy but for the believer it’s also the gateway to eternal life. Not because we lived a life that earned it but because Jesus lived a life that earned it and then he died for us.

The thief had nails through both hands, so that he could not work; and a nail through each foot, so that he could not run errands for the Lord; he could not lift a hand or a foot toward his salvation, and yet Christ offered him the gift of God; and he took it. Christ threw him a passport, and took him into Paradise. – DL Moody

Do you know that God’s plans for your life are the best plans? When we trust our lives to God, we know we are in good hands. I love the promise given in Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer. 29:11

This promise was given to Israel at a specific time in their history but the gospel tells us this promise is true for us. God’s plans for us isn’t to harm or hurt us, it’s to give us life and that more abundantly. His plans are to give us a hope and future that don’t end at the grave but continue on into eternity. Jesus said just before he raised Lazarus from the dead that he is the resurrection and the life and those who believe in him, though they die, yet will they live.

Lazarus is a symbol of all who believe in Jesus. We will be resurrected. That’s a message for next week.

We can trust God’s plans because we can trust Jesus the King who came to save us.