The King’s Entrance – Matthew 21:1-11

The King’s Entrance

Matthew 21:1-11

Introduction: 

• John 1:11–13, Jesus came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
• This is April, the month of Easter.
• I want to take 4 messages to unpack those vss. 1:11-13
• But not from John.1, rather from Matthew ch. 21-28
• I want us to see:
  • 1) The King’s Entrance
  • 2) The King’s Betrayal
  • 3) The King’s Death – Good Friday
  • 4) The King’s Resurrection – Easter Sunday
  • (Possibly) 5) The King’s Commission

Matthew’s Gospel is written to show:

Jesus of Nazareth is the Kingly Messiah of OT Prophecy

• By my quick count, Matthew states 14x Jesus words/actions fulfill OT Prophecy of Christ as Saviour & King.

To give U a quick overview of Matthew’s Gospel re: the King, to this pt.

• 1, we see Kingly genealogy fr. Abraham, thru David to Jesus.
• 2, The Magi come to honour Jesus, Born the King of Jews
• 4, we see the King’s Spiritual Victory ovr Satan & Temptat’n
• 4, we also see the King began to Preach. Gospel of His Kingdom saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
• 5-7, The King gives His Disciples (us) His Kingdom Ethic,
  • for all His Disciples to believe and to live under
• 8-12, we have King’s Words and Works
  • Lepers cleansed, Sick healed, Demons cast out, Paralytic cured, Disciple called, more healings, and so on.
• 13, we have King’s parables/teaching concerning His Kingdom
• 14, Jesus’ forerunner is murder’d, a foreshadow of future.
• 16-17, we see King’s reveal. His suffering/glory to Disciples
• 18-20, the King’s further teaching re: His Kingdom
• 21, our text for today, Jesus rides into Jerusalem
• Jesus has come into the city on previous occasions
  • 2:23, Jesus was in Jerusalem
  • 5:2, Jesus was in Jerusalem, at Bethesda
• But, this time it’s different.
• Jesus has been preparing His Disciples for what will happen:
  • Matthew 16:21, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
  • Matthew 17:22–23, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; ²³ and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.
• And Matthew the writer has skilfully built the tension of the narrative up to this climactic point
• Here, in 21, Jesus Christ, the King, makes His Royal Entrance into the Royal City of Jerusalem
• The crowds are going before, and following after,
• They’re cheering/singing, it’s a festival, a time of joy/feasting
• At centre of it all, Jesus creates most unusual figure. of “King”
  • Not riding a great white stallion war-horse
  • Not riding inside a glittering Gold plastered Chariot
  • Not trailing legions of soldiers & prisoners of war
  • Rather he is riding a donkey’s colt!?!
  • Not 12 legions of soldiers, but 12 misfits, of dubious reputation & history, following Him as His “army”
• How would the people of Jerusalem receive Him?
• What do they expect Him to do…this teaching, preaching, miracle-working carpenter-turned-Rabbi, of apparently illegitimate birth, what did they expect Him to do?
• Matthew has laid out thru 20 ch’s, proving Who Jesus is:
• He’s the Rightful king, by His Genealogy & birth,
• He’s a Righteous, Holy King, by His Life of absolute Sinlessness
• He’s a Powerful King by His Works & Miracles
• He’s a Wise King by His Words, Parables & Teachings
• Will they accept Him, as the King He Truly is?
• Will they submit to Him and His demands, as their King?

My friend, listening to this message,

• Do we receive/submit to Christ, on His terms, as he Truly Is?
• Or…Do we come with our demands, and in effect, hold out our faith, our allegiance as a “reward” for His doing our will?
• In a sense its like this:
• I will believe U and follow U, Jesus, if you heal my diseases.
• I will believe U and follow U, Jesus, if you fix my circumstances
• I will believe and follow you, Jesus, if you greatly bless me
  • with financial prosperity,
  • with happiness,
  • with security, love & riches…. Etc., etc.
• I will believe you, only if you meet all my demands?
• Or do we come and from the depths of our hearts cry to God
  • Tho you slay me, yet will I hope in You!
• Even Tho you leave me in the worst of circumstances, yet I will still trust in you, for You are my Lord, My Saviour & My King

Well, let’s examine: text to see How Jesus-King made His Entrance:

• Within the text of the Matt.21:1-11, Matthew gives us several clues to see fully who the King is, who rides into Jerusalem

 First, Vs.1) Jesus Entered Jerusalem as the Saviour of His People

• {Read Matt.21:1a}
• Notice Matthew says that Jesus sent two disciples…
• His Name is Jesus, for He will save His People from their sins…
• We’ve become so accustomed to using Jesus name, like John, or Michael, to us it has settled to just being His name, w/o meaning
• But bound up in that name is a great truth:
• Jesus, like Joshua, or Je-Hoshea means Saviour
• , writing under the H. Spirit’s inspiration gives us the clue that Jesus Enters the City as the Saviour of His People.
• The Jews of Jesus day, much as all peoples today, were then looking for a Saviour, someone to rescue them from calamity
• They expected Him to rise up in military might, as had Joshua and David to be used by God to deliver the people of Israel from their mortal, human, enemies and oppressors
• But, Jesus came to Save them/us infinite. greater enemies:
  • From Sin that enslaved us to its power and its punishment
  • From Death not merely the physical death, but the unending spiritual death-separation from God
  • From Satan’s Dominion of Darkness
  • From the wrath of God, Himself who holds us all under the sentence of condemnation for our sin against Him.
• Jesus the King entered the city as their Saviour, but they did not receive Him – as we’ll see in the following passages
• They wanted a Saviour of their own making.
• Society today is looking for a Saviour of our own making
• Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Avengers, Ironman, etc., etc.
• In every one of those modern creations there is a reflection of man’s understanding that they need to be saved…
• But, like the Jews of 1st. cent. it is a Saviour who fixes our circumstances,
• It’s a flawed hero, with fatal weaknesses, that can be defeated, who will rescue the cat from the tree, catch all the bad guys, be available when we need him, but never make any demands of our own personal lives, who will all solve the world’s circumstances,
• rather than fix the world’s greatest problem – Sin, against God, Wrath from God

Mini-Application: Has King Jesus, the Christ Saved You from Your Greatest Enemies:

• the Sin which enslaves you to your own lusts-desires
• Satan which holds you in His Dominion of Darkness
• God’s Wrath held back by His Grace, leaving you time to turn to Christ to be saved from His wrath which is to come.
• Jesus the King Came into His Royal City as Saviour!

Second. Vs.3) Jesus Entered Jerusalem as the Lord of all Creation

• {Read Matt.21:1b-3}
• Jesus tells the two unnamed disciples to go and gather a donkey, the colt/foal of a donkey
• If any of its owners objects to their taking of this young animal, They’re to say to its owners: “the Lord has need of it”
• Jesus was displaying His Lordship over all Creation
• (Wed, Night Bible Study, Remember Colossians 1:16),
  • 1) All of Creation was created in Christ
    • He Conceived in His Mind, all Creation’s Complex.
  • 2) All of Creation was created by Christ
    • Christ: Craftsman-King Fashioned & Shaped it
  • 3) All of Creation was created for Christ
    • Creation Belongs to Christ 4 His Use & Enjoym’t
  • Donkey’s colt belonged to Christ, He had need of it, for his use,
  • Those simple words were used by God, thru divine intervention, to bring its owners to an understanding of who Christ is to exercise such authority over his own belongings.
  • It was needed to bear: greatest burden ever born in all history of man riding beast – A Donkey Colt to Carry King of Kings
  • The only time (to my memory) Christ is ever described as riding
  • The Lord has need of it…
    • The Donkey was His;
    • The City was His
    • The Land was His;
    • Everything belongs to Christ!
  • He entered the city of Jerusalem as The Lord of All Creation!

Mini-Application:

• Do we understand, do we live in Light of that reality?
• Do we live with our-possessions, our-selves, our-lives, our everything in submission to Christ as: Lord over all creation?
• Do we see all that we own/possess/have belongs, in ownership under Christ as Lord?
• Christ the King Entered the City as Lord of-over all Creation

Third. Vss.4) Jesus Entered Jerusalem as: Fulfilment of OT prophecy

• {read Matt.21:4-5}
• Christ came as the Man of God, fulfilling the Promise to Adam & Eve, in Gen 3. of a descendant who would crush the serpent’s head, altho the serpent would bruise his heel.
• Jesus came as truly man and truly God, fulfilling the Promise of God to Adam & Eve and all of us made in the scriptures
• Christ Came came as Lamb of God, promised by Abe to Isaac
• Genesis 22:7–8⁷ Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
• Abe promised Isaac a Lamb, who would take His people’s place, just as surely as the Ram caught in the thicket had taken Isaac’s place on Mount Moriah
• John the Baptist made His great, shockingly controversial statement in John 1:29,
• he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
• Jesus was the fulfilment of that prophecy to be the only valid, acceptable sacrifice that could be made to the penalty for His People’s sin….
• Christ came as the Prophet of God, promised by Moses to the People of God, to speak on God’s Behalf, as Moses had to them
• Deuteronomy 18:18¹⁸ ‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
• Christ came and gathered His Disciples to Himself on the mountain top and gave them His Kingdome ethic which they and we, as His People and His Disciples, are all to live out forever
• Christ came and spoke in synagogues, on the roadways, in the streets, in houses, early in the morning and late at night
  • Christ spoke to Jews and Samaritans,
  • He spoke to Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians,
  • He spoke to men, to women, and to children
• Christ came and He was God’s Prophet, and as Hebrews 1:1–2, says, God has spoken to us in… Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
• Christ Came as the Promised Prophet of God, and His words, His life, His actions, His very person was God speaking to us!
• But, as always, the question is,
  • Are we listening?, were they listening?
• Christ came as the Suffering Servant of God, fulfilling the Promise of Isaiah to the people of Israel,
• From Isaiah 42:1–4¹
• He is the Lord’s Chosen Servant
• He is the Delight of His Father – His Baptism God said it
• He is Filled with the Holy Spirit – Luke 4, He: filled w/ Spirit
• He is a gentle and quiet servant
• Not raising His Voice – Never did Christ shout/scream in anger
• Not breaking the bruised reed – Remember the adult. Woman
  • Remember the Samaritan woman, the woman who washed his feet with her tears and dried with her hair.
• Not quenching the smoking smoldering wick
• In Isaiah 53, we see Him as the Suffering Servant
  • He was a man of sorrows
  • He was acquainted with grief
  • He was despised and He was rejected
  • He was pierced through for our transgressions,
  • He was crushed for our iniquities;
• Christ Came to Suffer For His People to endure for them the full weight of God’s anger against them… against us for our sin
• Christ entered into the city,. Riding a donkey’s colt as the fulfillment of the promise of a suffering servant, the lamb of God to take away our sin…
• So many more aspects of Jesus in Fulfilment of Prophecy
• God Keeps His Word, He is the Faithful God accomplishing all His Purpose, and Keeping All His Promises.

Fourth. Vs.5) Jesus Entered Jerusalem as the King

• {Read Matt.21:5}
• In 2Samuel 7:13 God speaks, thru Nathan the prophet, to David and promises, to establish the throne of David’s greater Son forever, and in Psalm 89:36, the psalmist promises that David’s descendants will endure forever and His throne as the sun before God S-U-N, sun.
• Christ came as the Fulfilment of that great promise!
• Matthew references. the actions of Jesus as fulfillment of OT Prophecy and Promises
• In this particular case, Matthew draws on two texts:
• Zechariah 9:9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
• Isaiah 62:11, Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth, Say to the Daughter of Zion, “Lo, your Salvation comes; Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”
• Matthew’s point is that as un-likely as it may have appeared this 33 yr old Jewish carpenter sitting on this v. small animal is not only the King of the Jews, But, he is the King over all kings
• He is, by His Genealogy the Rightful King, descended fr. David
• He is the King of Righteousness, “just” – Zech. says
• He is the King of Salvation, entering the city, to bring salvation from God’s wrath, from sin, from death & from hell for people
• He came as the Humble King, riding a donkey’s colt
• His appearance was the epitome of unequal, unfit-appearance
  • Majestic, Conquering Kings come riding great white stallion war-horses, they don’t come bouncing in on the back of a donkey!
  • If his appearance conveyed anything it was humility, and gentleness, and servanthood.
• He came as the King of Peace and the King to make Peace
• He came as their expected King-Messiah –
• but not to do as they expected Him

Fifth. Jesus was “Received” in Jerusalem as King…

• Notice the Point heading has quotation marks and the 3-dot at the end, no mistake, you’ll see why…
• Notice how Matthew describes the scene and their response
• Matthew 21:8, Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. ⁹ The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,
  • “Hosanna to the Son of David;
  • Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!”
• Why would they do that?
• I’d argue, that it is in fact, an external Gesture of Submission
• If you remember back in 2Kings 9, Jehu and some fellow-army captains are sitting around talking.
• Elisha the prophet has sent a son of the prophets to Jehu
• He has charged him to anoint Jehu and give him a commission as the New King of Israel
• He comes, takes Jehu aside, pours the oil, gives the message
• He opens the door and beats it outa there, fleeing for the hills
• Jehu is asked of the strange visit by his army captain friends
• He tells them and their response in 2Kings 9:13 is:
  • they hurried and each man took his garment and placed it under him on the bare steps, and blew the trumpet, saying, “Jehu is king!”
• That action of laying coats, cloaks, leafy branches, under the feet of a dignitary is the ANE form of the red carpet
• It is designed to show honour, respect and above all submission
• This is exactly what the crowds did
• Notice they are shouting Hosanna, etc… Scholars tell us…
• It’s an Aramaic distortion of a Heb. Word, whose original meaning is: Save Indeed! But like our expression
  • “God Be With Ye”, which we’ve distorted to “Good-Bye”
  • This word’s come to be a form of greeting, or a blessing
  • They calling for God’s Blessing on His Work –
  • They’re recognising he is coming in the name of the Lord – representing God to them
• They’re shouting, cheering, rejoicing, but
• Their hearts are far from Him!
• They in their day were eagerly anticipating the coming of the Messiah, for whom they have already worked out what they want him to do
• They have the hope and expectation that He will set them free from the roman boot
• He will re-establish the Kingdom of Israel with them alongside to rule and reign over all other nations
• As Long as Jesus comes to be the Messiah they want, not the Messiah they desperately need, all is good
• As Long as Jesus sits Silently on the donkey’s colt, all is good
• As long as Jesus is the Messiah who do their bidding all is good!
• And lets not forget the disciples
• No doubt as the walk alongside Jesus, there was a great sense of Joy as they saw their beloved master receiving all the acclamation and praise of the crowds
• Here their faces are lit by the sunlight of a joyful, warm welcome…
• But less than a week later, their faces would be lit by torchlight… as a mob of temple guards led by one of their own, the traitorous Judas, meets them in the dead of night in the Garden of Gethsemane
• As Jesus allows his hands to be bound, no longer are the speaking the words of Thomas, in John 11:16¹⁶ Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”
• Now they abandon and flee into the night
• One betrayed Him, Another denied Him with oaths and curses
• All forsook Him and fled…

Conclusion:

• Christ Came
• Christ entered into Jerusalem
• He came as the Saviour of His People
• He came as the Lord of-over all Creation
• He came as the Fulfillment of OT Prophecy
  • The Man of God,
  • The Lamb of God
  • The Prophet of God
  • The Suffering Servant of God
• He Came, He entered the Royal City of God as their rightful, righteous, holy, humble, gentle, Saviour & King
• He came to His Own… But His own did not receive Him
• They received Him so long as He was willing to do their bidding
  • To fulfil their desires
• They received Him so long as he was their 1st cent. Super-hero
  • Rescuing them from their enemies – Romans
  • Fixing their circumstances
  • Dealing with their problems
  • But never demanding anything of them, personally
  • Never asking that they trust Him with-without the changed circumstances!
• Bros & Sisters, it is my goal always to preach the things that challenge me personally from the text
• As I read of the Crowds “submission”, their “reception”
• And knowing how long and how deep that submission will last
• Am I challenged down to my core
• How much is my faith in God dependant on
  • God fixing my circumstances
  • God granting me all my desires and wishes
  • God giving, protecting me from the hardships other Christian ministers, churches face – persecution
• How Much is our Faith dependant on
  • what we think He should be, and
  • what we think He should do
• The Bible says: Hebrews 11:6⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
• What does it mean when He says: He Is
• It means we come to God, not as the God of our own making, but to God exactly as he says, He displays Himself to be
• It means we come to God, in faith that God will save us
• It means we come to God, in the words and thinking of Job and Daniels three friends
• Job said: in Job 13:15¹⁵ “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.
• In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshack, & Abed-nego are standing face to face with an immensely powerful, angry king, refusing to obey the kings command, instead choosing to burn in the fire rather than disobey their God,
• Daniel 3:17–18¹⁷ “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. ¹⁸ “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
• In other words, whether or not our God leaves us to the fire, we will trust in Him we will not deny, or disobey Him
• Their faith in God was not dependent on their circumstances
• How much beloved is our faith dependant on God fixing our circumstances?
• We come to God, to the Lord Jesus Christ, as he is
• He is the King
• He is the Man of God to crush the serpent
• He is the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world
• He is the Suffering Servant of God dying for His People
• He is the Prophet of God thru whom God spoke to us
• He is the King of God, who rules and reigns over all
• He is who He said He is…
• Do You Believe in Him, regardless of the circumstances…