Photo by Yusuf Onuk on Unsplash

Matthew 21:1-11 And when {Jesus and His disciples} drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an {donkey} tied, and a colt {young donkey} with her: loose them, and bring them unto Me. 3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. 4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet {Zechariah 9:9-10}, saying, 5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an {donkey}, and a colt the foal of an {donkey}. 6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7 And brought the {donkey, a Jenny}, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set Him thereon. 8 And a VERY GREAT MULTITUDE spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 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. 10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, ALL THE CITY WAS MOVED, saying, Who is this? 11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.

It Was Holy Week In Jerusalem

Jesus was going to Jerusalem one last time. This was the week when all Israel was supposed to celebrate the Passover. The Passover commemorated the Grace of God, when He freed Israel from slavery to Egypt, and established the nation as His chosen people. The Passover reminded Israel that God keeps His promises, that God is faithful. God promised Abraham that a nation would come from his loins, and that nation was Israel. God also promised Abraham that from that nation Israel a Redeemer would come, the Messiah Who would offer salvation to the whole world (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:5-6; 17:4-8; 17:19). God promised:

Genesis 22:17-18 In Your Seed, Abraham, shall ALL THE NATIONS of the earth be blessed.

When God made this promise, as Paul tells us, the “SEED” of Abraham that would bless the whole world is Jesus Christ. The Apostle writes:

Galatians 3:16 (LSB) Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as [referring] to many, but [rather] to one, “And TO YOUR SEED,” that is, CHRIST.

The Passover was a time when lambs without spot or blemish were sacrificed at the Temple to commemorate the night that God saved Israel from Egypt. The lamb was to be slain, and its blood placed on the doorposts of the home. God said “When I see the BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU, and the plague will not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13). The Judgment of God is coming tonight – and only believers who are under the Blood will be spared. The catastrophic events of that night caused Egypt to release Israel from slavery. God said “Let My people go, that they may SERVE ME IN THE WILDERNESS” (Exodus 7:16; 8:1; 9:1). Egypt let them go. And God ordered that the Passover be commemorated. God told Israel:

Leviticus 23:5-7 (ESV) In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD’s Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.

God was very specific. On the Passover, the 14^th day of the first month (Israel was freed – Nisan also called Abib – Exodus 13:4; Esther 3:7) lambs were killed, and the Feast of the Passover was celebrated. The very next day was the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread – a special or high Sabbath. For 7 days the Jews would eat unleavened bread, reminding them that they could not loiter nor delay, but ran from Egypt. There was no time to make risen bread.

This was a long explanation, I know, but it sets the background for WHY Jesus is going to Jerusalem at this time. Jesus is going – as did all the Jews – to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. But Jesus is going for another reason.

On the Passover, lambs will be ceremonially killed in the Temple to remind Israel how God in Grace saved them from Egypt. But the slaughter of lambs was but a shadow of what Jesus was coming to do. Jesus Christ is:

John 1:29 … the LAMB OF GOD Who TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD

The animals that would be sacrificed on the Passover Day would only temporarily cover the sins of the people. Humans are not animals, and no animal can pay for my sins or yours. These lambs that were brought into Jerusalem, came on ropes, came as captives, came as unwilling sacrifices on a man made altar. But Jesus Christ came WILLINGLY. The REASON He is coming to Jerusalem is not to take a lamb to the Priests to be slaughtered. Jesus doesn’t even take a lamb with Him. JESUS IS THE LAMB!

The Apostle tells us in 1 Peter 1:17-20 (NKJV) … if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay [here] in fear; 18 knowing that YOU WERE NOT REDEEMED WITH CORRUPTIBLE THINGS, [like] silver or gold, from your aimless conduct [received] by tradition from your fathers, 19 but WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST, AS OF A LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH AND WITHOUT SPOT. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

Jesus doesn’t tell His Apostles to go and get Him a lamb for the Passover. Instead, He tells them:

Matthew 21:2-3 Saying unto {The Apostles}, GO INTO THE VILLAGE over against you (Bethphage near Bethany), and straightway ye shall find an {donkey} tied, and a colt {young donkey} with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. … The Lord hath need of them

Preach! Why did Jesus ask His disciples to bring a female donkey and her colt? Our Lord Jesus came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17), to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15), and to fulfill the Prophecies of the Messiah (Matthew 5:17). We read:

Matthew 21:4All this was done, that it MIGHT BE FULFILLED WHICH WAS SPOKEN BY THE PROPHET {Zechariah 9:9-10}, saying, 5 Tell ye the daughter of Zion {a reference to Jerusalem}, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon a (donkey), and a colt {young donkey} the foal (offspring) of an (donkey).

Zechariah promised that when the Messiah – the King of Glory – rode into Jerusalem, that He would be seated on a female donkey or a Jenny. When a King rode into a capital city as a CONQUERER, He rode on a white horse. When our Lord Jesus returns to this earth at the end of time, HE WILL RIDE A WHITE HORSE (Revelation 19:11-16), and come JUDGING AND MAKING WAR.

Jesus does not enter Jerusalem this last time on a white horse. He comes on a donkey, leading a young donkey. Jesus comes with meekness, not to overthrow Rome, but to save us all by going to that terrible Cross!

The Multitude Wanted A Conquerer,
An Avenger Over Rome

Jesus is not coming to overthrow Rome. The Prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 said that “He (the Messiah) is JUST {ṣadîq, righteous, lawful, pleasing to God} and HAVING SALVATION {yāšaʿ, Niphal Active Participle, literally ENDOWED WITH SALVATION}”. When the Messiah came, the Prophet said, He would be without sin, and He would be the Possessor and the means of salvation. Jesus Christ is both of these. Jesus Christ has just spent 3 ½ years among Israel. Jesus “went all about Galilee, TEACHING IN THEIR SYNAGOGUES, and PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM” (Matthew 4:23). When His enemies met Him, they were both angered and amazed at Jesus. Men who were sent to arrest Jesus refused to do so, saying:

John 7:46 (AP) No one ever spoke like this Man

The Bible says “all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:22, ESV). When Jesus taught, the Bible says:

Matthew 7:28-29 (ESV) … the crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as One who had authority, and NOT AS THEIR SCRIBES.

Jesus taught as if He wrote the Bible. And no wonder, because Jesus is “The Word become flesh Who dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Jesus is God become flesh (John 1:1, 14; Colossians 2:9; John 20:28; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8; Philippians 2:5-6; John 10:30). As the early Church stated at Nicea:

“Jesus is Begotten, not made, being of One Substance with the Father,
by Whom all things were made”

We could not save ourselves. Animals could not be sacrificed to save us. God Himself would have to come to earth, and give Himself for our sins. We know He is God in the flesh by the miracles He accomplished. He raised a young girl from the dead (Matthew 9:24-25). Jesus healed a woman with an incurable disease (Matthew 9:21-23). JESUS DID 37 RECORDED MIRACLES, things that only God could do.

Jesus HEALED the blind, the lepers, the paralyzed.
Jesus CONTROLLED weather, WALKED ON water
Jesus MULTIPLIED a child’s lunch to feed thousands.
Jesus RAISED the dead
Jesus CAST OUT demons
Jesus TURNED WATER into wine

The King is coming! This is the long promised Messiah. We are told that:

Matthew 21:7-9 … they set Him thereon {on the donkey}. 8 And a VERY GREAT MULTITUDE spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And the MULTITUDES that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the SON OF DAVID

In many of your Bibles – even in mine – there will be a man made header above our focal text that reads:

The Triumphal Entry Of Christ

Just out of curiosity I looked up “The Triumphal Entry”. The Biblical text never calls this “The Triumphal Entry”. From the 1^stto the 4^th Centuries of the Church this is not called “The Triumphal Entry”. From the 5^th to the 12^th Centuries of the Church two phrases were used among Latin Speaking Theologians:

adventus Domini in Jerusalem = The Lord coming into Jerusalem
ingressus triumphalis = Triumphal Entry

Was this a “Triumphal Entry”? Yes and no. Jesus will triumph over sin and death by – in just a few days – going to the Cross and dying for our sins. Jesus will rise from the Grave on the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1), an event we will celebrate next Sunday we call “Easter”.

Hebrews 2:14-15 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—and FREE THOSE who all their lives were HELD IN SLAVERY BY THEIR FEAR OF DEATH.

Jesus defeated sin and death on that Cross of Calvary!

Colossians 2:13-17 (LSB) And you BEING DEAD IN YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS and the uncircumcision of your flesh, HE MADE YOU ALIVE WITH HIM, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions. 14 Having CANCELED OUT THE CERTIFICATE OF DEBT consisting of DECREES AGAINST US which was hostile to us, He also has TAKEN IT OUT OF THE WAY, having NAILED IT TO THE CROSS. 15 Having disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them in Him. 16 Therefore, NO ONE IS TO JUDGE YOU in food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day– 17 things which are [only] A SHADOW OF WHAT IS TO COME; but the SUBSTANCE BELONGS TO CHRIST.

If you look at what Jesus would accomplish this week, how He would die on the Cross for us and rise again after the third day, how He would pay for our sins in His Blood, that indeed is a Triumph! But a “Triumphal Entry”? From the perspective of the crowd,

The multitude laying down palm branches before Jesus on a donkey, this same multitude in just a few days would be persuaded by the chief priests and elders to cry out “Crucify Jesus! Release Barabbas the murderer, but Let Jesus be crucified!”

Why would the crowd change so quickly? Because they thought that Jesus was coming to overthrow Rome.

Matthew 21:9 the MULTITUDES that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna {means “O save us, we pray”} to the SON OF DAVID: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the Highest.

As they laid down their palm branches, they shouted “HOSANNA”, a Hebrew word created by blending yāšaʿ (Deliver us) and nā’ (pronounced yaw-shah’-naw). It means “Oh save us, we pray!”. They are not asking Jesus to save them from their sins. They are asking Jesus to save them from ROME. To restore Israel to its rightful kingdom. They are not addressing the Son of God, but “the SON OF DAVID”. They know that it is the Son of David Who will one day sit on the Throne of Israel, not Herod or Pilate, but the Son of David (2 Samuel 7:12-16). They see ROME as the enemy.

Beloved, Rome is not the enemy. The reason that Israel has repeatedly found herself in captivity is because Israel ceased to follow the God Who saved them from Egypt. The Israel that loved God could walk through water. The Israel that loved God could make the wall of Jericho fall. The Israel that loved God their Savior could defeat thousands with 300 men, some candles and clay jars. The Israel that loved God drank water from Rock, bread (manna) as dew, and flocks of birds from the air.

The Problem Is Not Rome. The Problem Is The Creature.
We Need To Be Re-Created.

In just a few days – three by my reckoning – Jesus will be condemned to the Cross. As Jesus enters Jerusalem, few know why He is here.

Matthew 21:10-11 … ALL THE CITY WAS MOVED, saying, WHO IS THIS? 11 And the MULTITUDE said, This is JESUS THE PROPHET of Nazareth of Galilee.

They didn’t have a clue Who Jesus was. They knew He did miracles. They knew He was of the line of David. They wanted to make Jesus a KING, the KING OF a RESTORED ISRAEL. After Jesus fed the 5000 (John 6:14-15), “the MULTITUDE came to TAKE HIM BY FORCE to MAKE HIM A KING”. This same multitude wants to make Him a King over Israel this very day. Jesus refused it then, and refuses it now. You see, THE PROBLEM ISN’T ROME. The PROBLEM IS THE PEOPLE. The PROBLEM IS ISRAEL. The PROBLEM IS JERUSALEM. The PROBLEM IS RELIGION.

The problems you and I have aren’t from someone else.
The problem isn’t America.
The problem isn’t gas prices.
The problem isn’t the economy.
The problem isn’t the white man, the black man, or the man.
The problem isn’t the President.
The problem isn’t that you were born in the wrong gender.
The problem is US. We are born into this world BROKEN.
We need a King. We need a Savior. We need JESUS!

Jerusalem didn’t know Who Jesus was. The multitudes thought He was coming to replace Herod. They called Him “JESUS THE PROPHET of Nazareth”.

Jesus is more than that. Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Kingdom that Jesus establishes is by changing the HEART of His people. The Bible says:

Luke 17:20-21 (NKJV) Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 “nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU.”

Are you saved by the Grace of God? The multitudes weren’t. They’ll turn on Jesus in a few days. Jesus goes to the Temple, during this High and most Holy Week. What does He find in the Temple? Are the people worshiping the Lord? No – they are making merchandise of religion.

Matthew 21:12-13 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

At the beginning of His ministry, 3 ½ years ago, Jesus did the exact same thing. After 3 ½ years of preaching and teaching, of miracles, of being the Messiah – Israel has not learned a thing! They are still serving themselves and not God.

Beloved, hear me: If you are saved by the Grace of God, you are saved to serve Him Who saved you. Jesus did not come to be a temporary fix to our problems. He came to die for us, and to rise again for us. He came to save whosoever will receive Him as Lord and Savior.

The Kingdom of God is WITHIN You. Who is YOUR King? Is it YOU, or Jesus?

Religion will not save you. A change of outward circumstances will not save you. A motivational speech will not save you. Israel needed Jesus. The multitudes needed Jesus. YOU need Jesus.

Sadly, Israel would not receive Him as the Messiah. Jesus told them in Luke 19:41-45 (LSB):

“as Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He cried over it, 42 saying, “If you knew in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because YOU DID NOT RECOGNIZE THE TIME OF YOUR VISITATION.”

The King of Kings came – and Israel didn’t have a clue. They wanted a temporary fix, a replacement for Rome and Herod. But had they received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they would have changed, and their circumstances would have changed.

What about YOU?

Don’t leave here today unless you have surrendered your life to Jesus. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will bless His people. Buy you MUST be His people.