The Triumphal Entry of Christ

Transcript

GR 717
8/18/1985
The Triumphal Entry of Christ
Matthew 21:1-11
Gil Rugh

Matthew recorded the life of Christ. His purpose was to demonstrate to the Jews that Jesus was indeed their King, the Messiah that had been prophesied throughout the Old Testament. In recording Jesus’ life, Matthew focused on certain key events and some of these stand out as highlights. One of those events is found in Matthew 21, the Triumphal Entry of Christ. In many ways, this was the climax of Matthew’s emphasis on Jesus Christ as the Messiah since in a full and clear way, recognized by many within the nation, this was the formal presentation of Jesus to the nation as their Messiah. And yet their understanding was limited, and for most, they continued in their unbelief.
The Messianic Ministry of Jesus Christ began back in Matthew 3. For the first 30 years of His life, Jesus was growing in stature before God and men. He was not carrying on a Messianic Ministry during those first 30 years. But when He was about 30 years of age, He came to be baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. This marked the beginning of the Messianic Ministry of Jesus Christ, the beginning of His public ministry, and the beginning of the offer of a kingdom to the nation of Israel.
Jesus addressed John in Matthew 3:13-15, “Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to Me?’ But Jesus answering said to him, ‘Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he permitted Him. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”
In being baptized by John, Jesus identified with John’s message: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He identified with the faithful in the nation who were following John and his message. The Spirit of God descended on Him as a dove in fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 42 that God would place His Spirit upon His Messiah, and from there Jesus embarked upon His public ministry.

Three years later, the climax of that ministry has come in Matthew 21: Jesus had presented Himself to the nation and proclaimed the truth of the coming kingdom and the truth concerning His own person as God’s Son and God’s Messiah, but the nation said no. In Matthew 21 there was a final unveiling and presentation to Israel of Jesus as the Messiah. The details of this were carefully orchestrated, if you will, by Christ, because it was done in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. It is interesting to see that Jesus was not only being acclaimed the Messiah, but He was arranging for that acclamation and encouraging it.
Earlier in Matthew He had told His disciples to stop telling the nation that He was the Messiah. Matthew 16:20 says, “Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.” In recognition of His rejection by the nation, Jesus instructed His disciples to no longer announce Him as the Messiah. In Matthew 21 there was a reversal of that policy. Christ Himself took the initiative and arranged events so that the nation could see for one final time that He was their Messiah; He was their King.
All four gospel writers record the Triumphal Entry of Christ, but each one gave a different perspective and added or omitted details according to his purposes. John gave some interesting background information in his gospel regarding events that transpired leading up to this that Matthew did not record.
John 12:12 begins the account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, but the end of John 11 gives background into what was happening in the days leading up to this. John 11:55, 56 says, “Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. So they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, ‘What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?’” The Jews went to Jerusalem early to prepare themselves for the coming Passover in great numbers. They were looking for Jesus. The Feast of Passover was one of those feasts required in Israel. It was required that all Jewish men come to Jerusalem to observe Passover. They were wondering if He would observe Passover at Jerusalem.
John 11:57 continues, “Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.” Even as this dramatic, triumphal event approached, the leadership of the nation had already committed itself to seizing and executing Christ. In John 11:47, 48, the Sanhedrin, the governing body, had been convened, “Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, ‘What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.’” They were concerned because of the popularity of Christ, and they were afraid that if Christ got too popular, the Romans would interpret that as a threat to them and they would come and take away the independent authority of these Jewish leaders.

In John 11:49-51, God used a religious leader to give a prophecy, “But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.’ Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation.” Caiaphas did not really know what he was talking about because God was using him to give a prophecy, which was that Jesus was going to die for the sins of the nation. What Caiaphas meant was that they should execute Jesus so they would not have to worry about the Romans coming and taking away their power. But God was using Caiaphas as a mouthpiece to declare what He was going to accomplish: redemption by the death of Christ for the nation and for the world.

So as the events of the Triumphal Entry began, the leadership of the nation was already committed to arrest and execute Jesus Christ. And not only did they determine they would kill Christ, but they also decided they would execute Lazarus because the people believed through the testimony of Lazarus. This is evidence of how settled in unbelief the nation was. The leaders were not even impressed that Lazarus had been raised from the dead. Instead they wanted to kill Lazarus so that he could not give his testimony anymore. They were not looking for more evidence or for more proof. They were trying to suppress the evidence and execute Christ.
John 12:1 says, “Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.” In the week of Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives, which was the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He spent a little time there, and from Bethany He proceeded to Jerusalem. In Matthew 21, Christ had left the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha in Bethany.
In Matthew 21:1-2, Jesus was already moving toward Jerusalem, “When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, instructing them, ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.’” Bethphage was evidently a little town on the Mount of Olives between Bethany and Jerusalem, but its location is no longer known. It may have been mentioned for two reasons: one, it was the location of the animals Christ needed; and two, its name is significant in light of coming events. The name Bethphage means house of unripe figs and it depicted the spiritual condition of the nation as unripe or unprepared for the Messiah. This was dramatically drawn out in a miracle that Christ performed near this location and recorded later in Matthew 21: cursing the fig tree because of the absence of the ripe figs.
Jesus gave specific instructions to two disciples: Go into Bethphage, find two donkeys, a donkey and her colt, and bring them to Me. He was carefully arranging the events because of their importance in light of prophecy.
He continued in Matthew 21:3, “If anyone says something to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” Jesus was in sovereign control of all these events. He knew the location of the animals. He also knew that a question would be asked of the disciples, so He told them exactly what to say. Luke 19:33-35 says, “As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord has need of it.’ They brought it to Jesus.” The sovereign control of Christ was evident in all of these events as they moved toward Jerusalem for the climax of His earthly life.
Matthew tells the importance of these details in Matthew 21:4, “This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet.” The repeated emphasis in Matthew’s Gospel is that Christ fulfills Old Testament prophecy. He is the fulfillment of the promise of the Old Testament. Matthew indicated that this was the fulfillment of what the Old Testament prophesied in Matthew 21:5, “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” The prophecy is from Zechariah 9:9, but Matthew introduced it with a quote from Isaiah 62:11. This gives insight into how specific the Spirit of God is in the fulfilling of Old Testament prophecy.
In Zechariah 9:9 it reads, “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.” Note that Matthew omitted part of verse 9 since not all of this prophecy was fulfilled in this coming of Christ because He was rejected by the nation. Matthew did not record “Rejoice greatly, . . . Shout in triumph, . . . He is just and endowed with salvation,” because the Messiah would be rejected. The leadership of the nation had already planned for His arrest and execution, and He would not bring salvation for them in the sense that they were hoping for on this occasion. So that was omitted by Matthew as he recorded this prophecy; rather, he took the statement from Isaiah 62:11, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘He is coming,’” and then emphasized His coming and His humility, but there would be no deliverance for the nation on this occasion because they were unwilling to have Him as their Messiah.
Zion was a reference to Jerusalem. It was a name for one of the hills on which Jerusalem was built, and it became a synonymous title for Jerusalem. The site of the city being Zion, it became the city of Zion for the city of Jerusalem. The “daughter of Zion” is a reference to the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem meaning Israel, since the capitol city was Jerusalem.
The next statement summarizes the theme of Matthew, “Your King is coming to you.” That king is Jesus of Nazareth. This is an awesome statement that puts this event in its proper context. Your king, the One prophesied over centuries of time, the One who would rule and reign in glory, who would give the kingdom to Israel and rule over the world with Israel as the key people, is coming to you. As Christ rode into Jerusalem, their King was arriving.
He came on a colt: “Gentle, and mounted on a donkey.” The disciples got two animals, the donkey and the colt of that donkey. Why they brought them both, we’re not told. Perhaps to make the colt easier to lead, they brought the mother. Christ rode upon the colt that had never been ridden before, and that fit with His kingly position: an unused animal being made available to Him. The fact that He rode on this beast of burden emphasized that He was gentle. Zechariah 9:9 says “He is . . . humble, and mounted on a donkey.” Triumphant, victorious, conquering kings would come on horses or in chariots; but Christ came as the lowly, humble, gentle Messiah. This fits with what Isaiah recorded in Isaiah 53 of His lowliness and His humility. Paul emphasized this aspect when he wrote in Philippians 2:8 that Christ humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to death on a cross.
The Jews did not accept this. The Jews loved the concept that was revealed in the Old Testament prophets that they would have a king that would rule and reign, that He would bring physical deliverance to the nation, that there would be a physical kingdom and that the Jews would rule the world. But they could not accept the Old Testament prophecies of their Messiah as a lowly, suffering Savior.
They were like many people today who believe portions of the Bible they like and throw away the portions they don’t like. People today do not grasp the reality of their sin and their need for redemption, so they do not recognize their need for a Savior. They love what the Bible says about love but they do not like what God says about vengeance and judgment and sin. They like what the Bible says about heaven and glory and happiness, but they do not like what the Bible says about hell and suffering. They like what God says about being created in His image, but they do not like the fact that that image is marred by sin and unacceptable to Him so that all our righteousness is like filthy rags. Many people pick and choose what portions of Scripture to believe. That was what the Jews did. They accepted certain prophecies regarding the Messiah, but they discarded others. The result was disastrous for the nation. Their Messiah was present, but they were unwilling to recognize and accept Him.
The disciples did as they were told. “The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats” (Matt. 21:6, 7). The disciples made a saddle using their own cloaks, and Christ sat on this colt as the procession began to wind its way to the city of Jerusalem.
There were multitudes going before Him, “Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road” (Matt. 21:8). There were crowds of people, not only in the city of Jerusalem but also in the surrounding countryside. They were staying in tents and temporary dwelling places on the outside of the city and on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. As Christ began His descent down the Mount of Olives and through the Kidron Valley into the city, the multitudes came out to meet Him. The other gospel writers mention that the crowds heard Lazarus’ testimony and heard about the miracles of Jesus. So they were throwing their garments in the road as a way of honoring Him by preparing the way for a King. They cut down branches from trees and spread them in the road.
Today we talk about rolling out the red carpet for someone who comes. When you watch the news showing a dignitary from another country, you often see a carpet rolled out to honor this person. This was the same kind of scene, honoring Jesus by giving Him a special road to travel.
The crowds were also calling out: “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!’” (Matt. 21:9). This was another truth from the Old Testament concerning the Messiah applied to Christ. These statements were taken from Psalm 118:25, 26. The word ‘Hosanna’ is actually two words, Hosa and Na, meaning ‘save now’ or ‘save we pray.’ It came to be an inscription of praise, acknowledging God as salvation and crying out for His salvation.
The crowds cried to Christ with His Messianic title saying, Salvation, the Son of David! This title goes back to 2 Samuel 7:12 where God promised to David that his son, his descendant, would some day sit on the throne and rule an eternal kingdom. Out of that promise, the Jews took the title “Son of David.” One of David’s sons would be the Messiah to rule forever. So “Son of David” became a technical title for the Messiah. And this crowd was crying out, “Salvation to the Son of David! ” They recognized Christ as the Messiah and the Savior.
The fact that the crowd was giving this attention to Jesus had a tremendous impact on the Jews and particularly on the religious leaders. Luke 19:39 says, “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.’” They wanted Him to tell His followers to stop calling Him the Messiah and announcing salvation through Him. Note the importance of this event; it is unique in a way that no other event ever was during Christ’s earthly ministry.
Jesus answered in Luke 19:40, “But Jesus answered and said, ‘I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!’” Do you understand what Christ was saying? “This is the focal point of history! This is my time to be announced to the nation as the Messiah, and that announcement will be made if God has to use the stones of the land to make it! ” This was God’s time to present to Israel their Messiah. There would be no way to restrain or hold back this mighty announcement! Remarkable statement! The announcement has to be made. The nation must know, and the nation was hearing it even though the leaders were asking to silence the declaration.
Luke also recorded an event that puts things in proper perspective. Jesus was not being swept along by the excitement of the multitude. Jesus was well aware of what was happening. He was well aware of the prophecy that He was fulfilling. The unbelief of the unbeliever is amazing; a commentator wrote that Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem because He was tired and it was uphill. It is amazing that the Pharisees of Jesus’ day missed what was going on, but it is more amazing that this commentator who has had 2,000 years with the completed revelation of the New Testament would still think Jesus was riding a donkey into Jerusalem because He was tired and it was uphill. It shouldn’t be too surprising what their unbelief did to the Pharisees; but Jesus was aware of the unbelief that pervaded the nation.
Luke recorded Jesus’ understanding in Luke 19:41, “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it.” For Christ this was not a time of great rejoicing and celebration. He recognized that even though His disciples were acclaiming Him the Messiah and the nation was being exposed to Him as the Messiah, the nation was still in unbelief and unwilling to have Him as its Messiah and King. “He wept over it” is a strong expression. When Lazarus died and Jesus heard of it, Scripture recorded that “Jesus wept. ” This word used for weeping means to shed tears; but the word in Luke 19:41 means an overt crying, crying out loud. So Jesus was audibly weeping and sobbing as He looked at the nation. It was a tragic event; such an awesome time! The Messiah was riding into Jerusalem to the acclaim of the multitudes just as the prophets prophesied, and yet it climaxed in His execution.
Then Jesus said, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 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, 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” (Luke 19:42-44). Jesus told them that they did not understand what was going on and what would bring real peace to the nation. If they would just believe in Him, but they were blind to what was going on, so tragedy awaited the nation.
There was some irony in this situation. Jesus descended the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, and the nation would not have Him. Titus, who led the Roman legion to destroy Jerusalem in 70 A.D., camped those legions on the very Mount of Olives that Christ descended from in the Triumphal Entry, and those legions fulfilled that prophecy that Christ gave. If you visit Jerusalem today, you will see the stones from the city of that time as they were cast down and are being excavated. They are huge stones, boulder size stones that were cast down and scattered by the Roman legions.
The nation of Israel did not realize how close they were to peace and salvation. In their very presence, riding into that city in fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy, was the One who could bring eternal peace and salvation to the nation! They were that close! Is it any wonder that Jesus said, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace!” So close, and yet disaster and tragedy was the result because, even though they were brought face to face with Jesus their Messiah and the fulfillment of this prophecy, they did not believe. The result was the destruction of the nation and turmoil over the centuries that will climax in the Great Tribulation in anticipation of the second coming of Jesus Christ to earth.
As Jesus entered Jerusalem, He caused a stir: “When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, ‘Who is this?’” (Matt. 21:10). This great multitude has been following Christ and leading the way before Christ down to the city. As they came into the city, the people in the city heard the great commotion and wanted to know what it was all about. That word “stirred”, doesn’t really give you a strong enough feeling. It was a word that was used for an earthquake, so all the city was shaken. The focus of the entire nation was on Jesus Christ at this point in this dramatic presentation of Himself as the Messiah.
It is interesting to note the great numbers of people that would have been in Jerusalem at this time. Josephus, the historian of the time, has written about it. It was Passover time. Since all Jewish males were required, if at all possible, to come to Jerusalem to observe this feast, there would have been a lot of people in Jerusalem. Josephus estimated the number of people that would have been in Jerusalem based on the amount of lambs that were sacrificed at the Passover. There were 256,500 lambs sacrificed. According to the instructions of the Old Testament, you were supposed to get enough people together to eat the entire lamb so that nothing would be left until morning. So even on a very low estimate, with only 10 people for every lamb, there would have been almost 2,700,000 people present at Jerusalem. That was many times over the population of Jerusalem, and that was why the multitudes would have been encamped in tents and in temporary shelters all over the countryside. This, in fact, would have been about one-half of the total population of all of Galilee in the north and Judea in the south.
What is amazing about this is that God chose this time when the whole nation was in Jerusalem to unveil His Son in the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy so that the nation was confronted with Him and the nation bore responsibility for His rejection. The impact was so great that initially the Jewish leaders thought they had lost the battle.
John recorded the reaction of the Pharisees in John 12:19, “So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.’” It
would have seemed that way with millions of people assembled there, all stirred or shaken by the presence of Christ. It seemed to the Pharisees that the whole world had turned to follow Jesus, but it was superficial. They had not really come to understand who He was and what their need was and submitted themselves to Him in faith.
In answer to the question in Matthew 21:10, “Who is this?”, Matthew records the response of the crowd, “And the crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee’” (Matt. 21:11). That response tells you wonders about the spiritual condition of the nation. His followers and many of the multitudes have acclaimed, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” But in the city, the crowd said that He was a prophet from Nazareth in Galilee, not the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. This evidenced a failure to recognize who He really was and an unwillingness to submit to Him.
There is an important event in prophecy that was fulfilled at this time that is not mentioned by Matthew. It may be what was in view when Jesus remarked in verse 19, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace!” Daniel had written a prophecy that unfolded the future history of the nation Israel. According to Daniel, seventy sevens are determined for the nation Israel. Seventy times seven is 490, so 490 years are laid out for God’s program for the nation of Israel. In Daniel 9:25, Daniel wrote, “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.” Until Messiah the Prince comes, there would be sixty-nine weeks, or sixty-nine seven-year periods, which is 483 years, until the time to rebuild Jerusalem. Sir Robert Anderson in his book, The Coming Prince, and more recently Harold Hoehner, who has made some corrections in Sir Robert Anderson’s chronologies, have come to the conclusion that the 483 years were complete on the day of the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. From the giving of the decree by Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem in Nehemiah 2 until Messiah the Prince, there were to be sixty-nine weeks or 483 years. That period was completed when Messiah the Prince was offered to the nation on the day of the Triumphal Entry into
Jerusalem
Striking as that is, the nation did not know it. They did not understand it or believe it. I think that stands out to me as much as anything, the clarity of the presentation. The prophecy was being lived out before them! It would seem that anyone could see it. Yet John 12 indicates that even the disciples did not understand until after Christ was glorified. The disciples did not go get the donkey and put their garments on it and walk along and hear the crowd and say, “We are fulfilling Zechariah 9! Can you believe it? ” It was after Christ had been buried, raised and ascended to the Father that the disciples could look back and realize that when they marched into Jerusalem with Him on the colt, Zechariah was being fulfilled! But they missed it.
The nation missed it. Because they did not understand these events, they were unwilling to have a Messiah who was meek and lowly, riding on a beast of burden. You can’t help but think how close Israel came to the dramatic event that would have changed all the future history of the nation of Israel. But they turned away from Him because they did not know who He was. They had not honestly evaluated their true spiritual condition and their true spiritual need in light of God’s Word. They did not see their greatest need as spiritual salvation. They were consumed with the desire for a physical kingdom. They were unwilling to consider the real truth concerning Jesus Christ, and so they were unwilling to believe in Him as their Savior. They turned from Him on this occasion. After the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Jesus returned to Bethany and began the final week leading to the crucifixion.
There is a parallel in this event with the way we lead our lives today. The Jews were so close to their Messiah, and some people today come close to being confronted with Jesus Christ. They are present and hear what God says concerning their own personal sinfulness and guilt before God. They hear that God says His Son Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for their sin and that they can have forgiveness only in and through Him, but they are unwilling, first of all, to step down in their pride and acknowledge their sinfulness. And they are unwilling to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Savior that they need so desperately. The time goes by, as it went past for Israel. We see this so clearly as Jesus’ life draws to a close: the passing of opportunity.
Israel rejected its final and last opportunity. Even before it happened they were set in their mind that they would not have Him be their King. They would not acknowledge Him as their Savior. Too many people are like that. They come and hear the Gospel but they have already made up their minds not to have anything to do with it. The grace of God is amazing in that He continues to draw and woo unbelievers, so that even today Jesus Christ provides salvation to Jew and Gentile alike if they will but believe in Him.
It is amazing to me to think that there are people who will come to this auditorium and sit and hear what God says about their sinfulness, hear what God says about His Son, Jesus Christ, and His death in love on their behalf, and yet they leave and go on their way like so much of Israel did, unmoved and unaffected.

Have you come to recognize your own personal sinfulness? Have you been willing to say, I am a sinner; I am unworthy; I am guilty before God. I am one who needs a Savior and the salvation that only He can provide. Do you recognize why Jesus Christ went to the cross? He died to pay the penalty for your sin so that you by believing might have forgiveness and cleansing. I trust you won’t be like the nation of Israel and allow the opportunity to pass, because if you reject that opportunity, all that awaits is what awaited Israel: judgment, condemnation and destruction.