The King Enters His City

And the multitude said, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee. Let’s pray together. Lord, we just want to take a moment to ask You for Your help and grace and guidance as we study and look into Your Word. Lord, make Your Word is already alive, but make our minds alive to it. Lord, give us hearts to understand, eyes to see and ears to hear. Lord, help us not to sit and listen to these truths, that these narratives and be unmoved by them.

Lord, let us not hear the gospel message and hear the truth of why You came into the world in song and in the Scripture and be calloused or hard or unresponsive to Your Word. Lord, I pray that You would awaken us and stir us up even tonight, even this morning rather. Lord, teach us Your Word and Your ways. Help me, I pray, as I try to explain the Scriptures to Your people and I pray that they would receive it and that You would give them a heart that’s open and receptive.

Lord, we need Your help. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. What is amazing to me is in verse number one, is really verse number one in this chapter, they drew Nihon to Jerusalem. We’ve already seen how that in the previous chapters of Matthew, how that the Lord is traveling from Galilee for the last time to go to Jerusalem and yet here He is, He’s coming over from the east.

Now you remember what we studied last week, how that they would come down the Jordan Valley and then once they got to Jericho, about eight miles from the Jordan River, then they would take the Jericho Road from Jericho and walk up those hills for about, I think it’s about 23 or so miles to Jerusalem and they would walk up that hill and the whole way that they’re going up that hill to Jerusalem, the Lord is no doubt thinking about what’s ahead.

What’s amazing to me is as He comes over the hill of the Mount of Olives and the surrounding villages is that He is unmoved by what is ahead of Him. He is unmoved. He knows the mission that is before Him. His mission is singular and it’s not glorious by any means. It’s not glorious at all. The Lord’s mission is, it ends with a cross. It ends with suffering.

It ends with our Lord being stained with the sin of mankind. He who was, as we sang, holy, holy, holy was made sin for us and then suffered as the sinner in the place of the sinner. He knew that was the destination. He knew that was what was going to happen and He knew it was required for your salvation and for mine. He knew that. And if at any point the Lord Jesus hesitated, if at any point He repented of that and turned back, there would be no hope for us.

None at all. There would be no hope for you. There would be no hope for me as a sinner, guilty for us to be delivered from the just wrath of a truly holy God. There would be no salvation at all. It all depended upon our Savior coming up over that hill and pressing forward to go into that city for the last time. That’s what’s in verse number one.

Nothing dissuaded Him. And you know the fact that the Lord Jesus being the one who’s all-knowing, you know that was on His mind. And you know, the book of Hebrews tells us that He endured the cross by looking at that thing that was ahead of Him, the glory, looking at what He would accomplish that was set before Him. And that, His love for us, is what caused Him to press forward even though He knew the suffering that would be.

That is the love and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. It had nothing to do with our goodness, nothing to do with our religion, nothing to do with anything like that. It had to do with the Savior who would not turn back because He had salvation to win. He had salvation to perform. And we’re going to see it in just a minute. Now this was not the first time the Lord Jesus had been to Jerusalem, but notice this is the only time in Scripture you see the pump and you see the acclaim and you see the crowds as He enters into Jerusalem.

And technically this is not the last time He’s entering into Jerusalem. He would go in and He would stay the night in Bethany for the next few nights. But this is His last primary entrance to do His work. And so He comes over the Mount of Olives and He goes in and before He gets there, He sends, the Bible says in verse 1, He then sent Jesus two disciples.

We don’t know which two, but He sent them for a specific purpose. Verse 2 says this, saying unto them, Go into the villages over against you, and straightway you shall find an ass tied in a colt with her, loose them, and bring them unto Me. And if any man say, I ought unto you, you shall say, The Lord hath need of them, and straightway He will send them.

Now there’s a very specific reason that the Lord Jesus sends these men to go get this donkey and the colt. And there’s a very specific reason that He mentions not only getting the donkey, but also the donkey’s child, the donkey’s offspring child, the donkey’s offspring, the colt. Look if you would at Zechariah in the Old Testament, near the end of the Old Testament, Zechariah chapter number 9, Zechariah chapter 9.

This is a prophetic passage of Scripture some hundreds of years before Christ came, but notice what it says. And there’s no disputing, this is referring to the Messiah. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. You see not only the donkey is mentioned, but the colt of the donkey is also mentioned.

Notice this. So the prophecy is very specific that the king would come and he would be meek and he would be lowly indicated by the fact of a donkey, the fact that he’s riding a donkey and not a chariot or a horse or some other kind of stately animal. Has anybody here ever raised donkeys or had or anything like that? They’re not exactly stately animals, right? They’re a work animal.

They’re like an ox. They have a functional use. They’re not a stately kind of animal that you would see a king normally on. And yet that is the one associated with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now go back to Matthew and notice in verse four what it says here. All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet saying, and then we read in verse five, tell you the daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek and sitting upon an ass, the colt foal of an ass.

Notice they left out the judgment part. He is just is what Zechariah says. He is just and having salvation. That part’s not mentioned. And I think there’s an indication there’s a reason for that because the coming of Christ is actually in two parts. There’s actually two comings. The first coming is what we’re reading here. When he goes into Jerusalem, he has come, but he’s coming into Jerusalem in order to what we’ll see in just a minute.

Hosanna, the son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, which is to save. But then the Lord Jesus is going to one day, he is going to return as we view it from our time. He’s going to return and he’s going to go into Jerusalem and it will be with justice and righteousness. And he will come to save his people. Israel at that time will be in dire straits and Israel will definitely need salvation.

But he will come and judgment will be on his mind. But in this case, he comes in meekly, not to conquer, but in meekness and in lowliness. The prophecy was very specific that it required not only the donkey, but also the donkey’s cult, the foal of the donkey. And so Jesus specifically tells his disciples to get both of them. And then we go down to verse number six, and the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.

Did they understand what was happening? Did they understand this was a prophecy? Did they understand the implications of all this? The answer is plainly no, they did not get it. But that’s not the important thing. The important thing for you and for me is not that we understand everything that God is doing, but to just obey him. Is just do what he says, because he knows what’s going on.

And he said, he told the disciples just you go do this and this is what you’ll find and you just obey. And obedience was part of all of this, this entry, this they call it the triumphal entry. And then you get to verse number seven, and brought the ass and the colt and put on them their clothes. And they set him thereon. Now verse eight says, a very great multitude spread their garments in the way, and others cut down branches from the trees and strawled them in the way.

And the multitudes that went before and that followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. The Bible says there’s a great multitude, I don’t know hundreds, thousands, I have no idea how many people. There was a reason there were so many people. I’m going to show you in just a minute. But what I want you to see is this.

Is that all of this is happening from the disciples getting the donkey, bringing the donkey, setting the clothes on the donkey, and then the people, the multitude gathering and laying their clothes in the way, and getting these palm branches and laying them in the way. All of that is all spontaneous. In fact, the only thing that the Lord actually does is tell them to go get the donkey.

Everything else happens spontaneously, which is actually quite remarkable. The Lord didn’t prompt any of it. But by doing all of these things, all of these people who had no idea of a prophecy, all these people who had no idea of what the purpose was, demonstrate that Jesus was the fulfillment of those scriptures that we just read. In fact, in John, John chapter 12, you can note this reference, I won’t turn there for time’s sake, but notice it says this.

These things understood not his disciples at the first, referring to what we just read. But when Jesus was glorified, that’s after his resurrection, then remembered they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him. So after Jesus had risen from the dead and they were pondering the matter, they said, Zechariah 9 says this, and we did it and had no idea what we were doing.

It’s not like they were scheming. It’s like, well, let’s make Jesus the Messiah. How do we do it? No, they weren’t doing that at all. It was all spontaneous. And so in verse 9, you see them saying, Hosanna to the son of David. That’s a quotation from Psalm 118 verse 25. In fact, I’d like you to look at that if you would. Psalm number 118, I want you to see it firsthand.

Psalm 118 verse number 25. Where does the word Hosanna come from? Psalm 118 verse 25 says this, I’ll read verse 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made. I know we often quote that on Sunday, right, when we come to church. This is the day which the Lord hath made. That’s, I mean, it’s perfectly okay to apply it like that, but the Lord is specifically referring to it as an important day.

We will rejoice and be glad in it. Now notice verse 25. Believe now, I beseech thee, O Lord. O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Here’s what’s happening here. Psalm 118 is a Psalm in which the Psalmist is crying out to the Lord, to God, saying, Lord, save us now. Deliver us now. And all of this is prophetic. And so you fast forward to Matthew and this great crowd without any premeditation or planning or scheming starts shouting, Hosanna, which is the Hebrew words for save now.

Hosanna, save now. That’s what it means. So they’re saying save now, but what they’re doing is they’re saying it to Jesus. So what they’re acknowledging that Jesus is the God being referred to in Psalm 118 is coming from these people extracted from Psalm 118, ascribing the identity of Jesus as Jehovah. They know it relates to the Messiah. They know it relates to the King. They say, blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Now there was a reason why there were so many people here and they were shouting it. They were excited. Look if you would at John chapter 12. I know we’re bouncing around a little bit, but hang with me. John chapter 12 and also we’ll look at Luke 19. John chapter 12. John 12 verse number... Now if you remember verse 16, I read it to you a minute ago, but I’ll read it just to pick up the context because Jesus enters Jerusalem.

This is the parallel passage in John. Notice what verse 16 says, these things understood not his disciples at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him and that they had done these things unto him. The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave and raised him from the dead, bear record. You got to realize, here’s what you have to understand.

So Bethany is just a short walk from the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem. Bethany is the town of Lazarus and his sister Mary, sister’s Mary and Martha. So it is not a great distance from where Lazarus died and was buried to the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem. And so the people there and over the Mount of Olives, which is between the two, the people in Bethany and the people in the area of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem there would have been familiar with all that had happened with Lazarus, which was remarkable if you remember.

It was miraculous. And so you look at verse number 18, for this cause, the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. Why were there so many people there? You know why? Because recently Jesus had raised a man from the dead. It caused quite a stir. So that’s the, they had heard he had come to Jerusalem. Look at Luke 19. Luke chapter 19, you see something similar there.

Verse number 37 says this, and when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen. That’s why they were there. They heard about Jesus. They heard about Lazarus. They heard of all the good things he had done, the wonderful, miraculous things he had done, and so they wanted to welcome him into Jerusalem.

Now if you would go back to Matthew 21. And so they come in at verse number 10, they’re yelling, all these people, hundreds, probably thousands of people shouting, Hosanna, which really bothered the religious leaders of that knowing they were claiming Jesus was the Messiah and that he was the King and all of these things. Verse 10 says, and when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, who is this?

And the multitude said, this is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee. The triumphal entry, that’s the background of it. Did you notice as we were reading everything that was missing from his entry? You know what you don’t see? You don’t see heralds. You don’t see people appointed to go before him, people with, you know, well-dressed people to go before him and announce his coming, which you would normally find with a king or with a president.

I mean, think about the president. Have any of you ever been in a town, in any town where the president was coming to speak? Have any of you, do you remember what it was like prior to that? You have secret service and you have motorcades and you have streets blocked and you have announcements and you have news and all this stuff. That’s exactly the way it is with the king.

There are people that go before him and herald his now and prepare the way and do all of these things to give honor to the king. He had none of that. And when the king would come in, he would be on a royal chariot or on a horse, a war horse, and he would come in and with all the regalia and all the glory and honor that comes with his place.

Yet the king, the Lord Jesus, had not had, didn’t have that. He was sitting on a donkey. Not very impressive. And who were there were people that were announcing him. There were people, but you know who they were? They were just average people. Nobody from the house of Herod, nobody from the scribes, nobody from the Pharisees, nobody that was important or people of honor. It was all just common people.

You know what these common people were doing like the disciples and like the multitude? They took their clothes off. No doubt they’re like outer clothes, their coats and things, and they set them on the animal. There was no special things made for him to make him comfortable. No, they just put it on the animal and they took palm branches, rather common, and put them on the ground and laid their clothes down on the ground.

Do you see what I’m saying here? You’re seeing how substantial this event is. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God himself manifest into the flesh, coming in for the last time to his city where his temple is. If there’s ever appeared in history that those gates ought to have been opened and welcomed with the greatest amount of pomp and glory and honor, it ought to have been that day, but it was not that at all.

It was a meek savior, just a regular guy surrounded by the riffraff of society that were announcing his coming. Instead of a war horse, it was a donkey. Instead of a saddle or royal apparel, it was people’s clothes. Instead of expensive cloth or a red carpet, it was people’s coats and garments laid in the way. Instead of flowers or other rare things that were beautiful, it was branches of palm trees.

Instead of royal heralds, what was it? It was the shouts of just regular and common people. You know what you see through this? Common things. Common things. Look at verse 15 in the same chapter. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the what was it say? In crying, not boohoo, but shouting in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David.

They were sored as pleased. Even kids were heralding who he was. Not royal heralds, but children, kids, riffraff, average people. You know, I think this is important. days in the life of Christ. A prophetic moment, right? It’s his first coming equivalent of his second coming entrance into Jerusalem in judgment, right? That will happen in the future. But the Lord chose to use common people, common things, to show his meekness.

And not only that, it’s to show the accessibility of the Lord Jesus Christ, even at such an important event as his triumphal entry. Even the lowliest person who had nothing royal or expensive to offer was able to participate if they wished. Donkeys, those with donkeys, those with regular clothes, those with palm branches were invited to welcome the king. Is that not the way it is now? Listen, Christianity is made up of a whole bunch of not important people, but regular people.

We are the ones who are at this moment in this world welcoming the king of kings and lord of lords. He has no royal believers to speak of at all. There might be one or two, but it’s actually very rare. 1 Corinthians, chapter 1 actually tells us that those types of people are people that the Lord often doesn’t call. Look if you would at Mark chapter 12.

David therefore himself calleth him Lord, and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly. See that? The common people heard him gladly. We have got this all wrong. We think our faith in Christ, the church, Christianity is about honor and acclaim and status. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course we know people have treated it like that, right? It’s one of the things you’ve got to do to move up in society and all this stuff, be a part of a church and all that.

That is as far from what we see here as could be. In fact I would say the Lord prefers the praise and adoration of the common man to that of the honorable. Because the praise of the common man is authentic, or at least it should be, and should be without scheming. Whereas those in places of honor, those in places of power are always looking for an angle, always looking for some benefit, some calculating way to make themselves appear, something to retain and keep and guard their honor among men.

And the common people are just doing what comes naturally to them. I just, listen, you know, they say that the, you know, people say that at the foot of the cross it’s level, right? That cuts both ways. They can come, but it also means that those who have high opinions of themselves must humble themselves to be like a common man. And so there are common things, the Lord chose common things in this grand entrance of his.

But the second thing I want you to see is also about this multitude in verse 8. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. They cut down branches, they cried out, Hoseanna to the son of David. But I want to remind you, it’s Matthew chapter 21. In chapter 25 and 26, where are these people? We know how this ends. This great, this great event, thousands announcing, becoming common people, announcing the entrance of the Lord Jesus in Jerusalem.

And that’s all, wah, yes, we’re all up on a high, right? But we know how the story ends. In a few days, we’re literally five days from the crucifixion of Christ, and within five days all of these people will be gone. This very great multitude welcoming Christ with shouts of acclaim, within five days he will be completely deserted of them. Where’d they go? You see, what is at this moment, and that’s why I wanted you to see why they were there.

You know why they were there? Because of Lazarus, and because of the miracles. That’s all recent news to them. Just weeks prior to this, I mean really not very long prior to this. And so there’s a lot of hype, there’s a lot of sensationalism associated with Christ’s entrance here. In a few short days, all that excitement will have cooled, especially under the extreme pressure of the religious leaders who are out for blood, which is going to happen shortly.

You know, and our Lord Jesus is under no delusions about this praise. It’s definitely not going to his head, because he knows, he still knows of what his end is, and what the will of his Father is, and that is the cross. But nevertheless, the praise that these people give to Jesus in this moment is still proper, because he is the one that’s coming in the name of the Lord.

Everything they said of him is true, even though in a few days they’re all going to be gone. That doesn’t negate the fact of the truth of their statement. Oh, I think of people who have turned away from Christ, who said such nice things of him prior, and who have turned completely away from him. You say, well, what does that show? Well, it shows a lot about that person, but what they said of Christ is still true.

But also, it also shows us that this kind of momentary excitement is not enough to sustain us in following the Lord Jesus. Listen, brothers and sisters, I know that sometimes we think of church services as what can we do to make them as exciting as possible? We’re going to be in the big speaker, we’re going to give away a motorcycle, we’re going to make it as exciting as we possibly can.

But let me tell you something, that kind of excitement, and that kind of hype, and that kind of sensationalism will never sustain your Christian life. They had all of it, way more excitement than we could have, and in a few days, they are gone. Don’t mistake the two. You and I will have to have something that is more profound, and something that is deeper than just outward appearance of excitement and froth.

We have to have something deeper. We have to have a true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that will endure temptation, that will endure testing and trial. Luke 8.13, you know this verse, speaking of the parable of the sower, but they on the rock are they which when they hear, they receive the word with joy, and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation, fall away.

That initial kind of flash of excitement, listen, we’ve got to have something more than that. You’ve got to have something deeper than that. You’ve got to have a faith that’s real, because it will be tested. It’s not just chasing one sensational thing from one sensational thing to another sensational thing, one exciting thing to the next exciting thing. No, it is about being firmly grounded and rooted in the truth and walking with Jesus on a daily basis.

And you know, some days, it’s exciting, is it not? And some days, it’s not. Can I be honest with you? How many of you can give me a slight nod? A not too embarrassing nod. Yes, some days, my walk with Jesus is not exactly super exciting. It should be. Shame on us, right? It should be every day, but it’s just not that way. But we still should walk with him.

The next thing I want you to see is this. Is in verse 9. They’re shouting, Hosanna to the son of David, which means, we’ve already covered, save now. They’re saying, save us, save us. What are they asking for though? What is this multitude asking for? If the disciples, if the Lord’s own disciples did not understand why he was going to Jerusalem, do you think this multitude knows what’s coming?

They have no idea. So what are they asking him to say from them? When they say, save us, they are not thinking of their sin. When they say, save us, they’re not thinking of a cross at all. They have a completely different idea. The thing that they’re asking Jesus to do is something completely different than what he’s actually doing. What Jesus is thinking at this moment and what the multitude is thinking are not the same.

They want Jesus to reign. They want Jesus to save them from the rule of the Romans, which is all part of this period of time. But Jesus came to save them from the rule of the devil and from the rule of sin, much worse than the Romans. The sad truth is they’re saying, save us, reign, reign, you’re the king, reign, reign. But the moment Jesus took the scepter and instituted his law is the moment everybody would be like, oh, I shouldn’t have voted for him.

They would change their mind on the first day. And here’s the kicker, because without a renewed heart, man does not want to do the will of God and does not want to obey the law of God. Here Jesus is holding the scepter and with a rod of iron instituting his law and everybody’s like, I got buyer’s remorse, I don’t like this anymore. I wanted to do what I was doing already.

So you know what Jesus did? He came, they are saying save us, and he did indeed. He came to save, but not in the way they assumed. He came to save man from his sin, to give him a renewed heart so that he could reign over him. Indeed Jesus came to save, and save he would within just a few short days, but it was not as they had hoped.

The salvation that Jesus would procure for them was one that they did not know they needed or wanted. And that’s the same way it is now. What people want from Jesus is different than what Jesus wants to give them. I’m going to say that again. What people want from Jesus is different than what Jesus wants them to have. They want money and prosperity and ease and permission to do whatever they want.

Jesus wants them to be saved from sin and the lake of fire and eternal damnation and have a relationship with him and walk with him and be holy. That’s completely two different things. And the point of repentance is where a person finally comes to understand, oh Lord what you want for me is better than what I want. You know I think what people want, I think people want to continue in sin and get the stamp of approval by the Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s what I think people want. And I think it’s written all over Christianity. Is that not what you see everywhere? Stamp God on something and make it okay. Let me indulge in the things that God forbids in scripture. The Lord wants to save us from that. The last thing I want you to see is this. The Lord uses for his great purposes those who offer themselves. There is a number, when we read through this triumphal entry, there’s a number of people in this passage who gave their property and gave themselves even to be used in this significant event.

And you know what? The reason why the event took place is because people gave themselves. You think of the disciples. Jesus says, hey go in there and find the donkey and the colt and bring them to me. Here you have two men who went to do it. They gave themselves just to serve the Lord and they went and got the donkey and brought the donkey back. But there was a guy, look at verse number three, and if any man say aught unto you, you shall say the Lord hath need of them and straightway he will send them.

And that’s actually what happened because I think it’s in Luke we read that they did go and there was a guy who stopped them and said, what are you doing with the donkey? And they said, the Lord hath need of him. And you know what he did? He said, take him. The reason why Jesus had a donkey to ride in Jerusalem on to bring salvation to us is because there was someone who gave a donkey, who yielded a donkey.

And these people, their clothes, they take their clothes off their back and lay it down on the donkey. They take their clothes off their back and lay it in the way. Giving their honor and their glory to the Lord Jesus so that he can save now. And people noticed it in verse 10, verse 11. Who is this they said? And they said, this is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth and Galilee.

So we see in this great work of the triumphal entry, it was accomplished. This last time that Jesus enters into his holy city, a city where he will accomplish our salvation. He chooses to do so by using people to do it. He doesn’t do it by himself. He borrows a donkey. He borrows some clothes. He borrows the service of his disciples. And these people offered themselves and offered what they had to the Lord Jesus.

And that was then used to proclaim, verse 9, to proclaim his salvation. And what came to my mind when I was thinking about this was think about the proclamation of salvation. This is Hosanna, save now, the proclamation of salvation. Think about the missionaries. You know, I put in the, talked about the mission conference coming up in April. You know, the Lord chooses to use us to proclaim his message of salvation.

You know, that over throughout the world. He chooses to use us, our coats, our palm branches, our cars, our bank accounts. He chooses to use our bodies, our animals, our means to do that thing. He could have done it without it, but he doesn’t. And in each step you see in his entry, he’s using this and using that, using this and using that. Other people are giving of themselves to him.

And that’s exactly how the Lord does his work. That’s exactly how missionaries take the gospel and proclaim salvation to those around the world. And so we come to verse number 3. And if any man say aught unto you, you shall say, the Lord hath need of them. That’s the verse I want you to think upon. I want to think upon. The Lord comes to you and says to you, I have need of you.

Are you going to be like this owner of these donkeys and be like, hey, it’s yours. What if the Lord says, I have need of your vehicle? What if the Lord says, I have need of your time? I’ve got something I want to do. I have need of your life. I have need of your wisdom. I have need of your finances. I have need of your education.

Right? What’s going to be the answer? The reason why the triumph of entry happened was because there were people that says, oh, he needs my donkey. He can have it. It’s his. So that save now can be proclaimed. Let’s pray.