THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM
MATTHEW 21:1-11
The following is a true story. My mother-in-law was driving home one night. The weather was rather nasty. The rain was coming down very hard and it was very difficult to see. Seeing tail lights ahead of her she followed the car in front. Not being able to see the car in front seemed to be going the right direction. So she stuck with it.
All of sudden the car in front of her came to stop. She began wonder what had happened, perhaps the car in front had it a deer or some thing like that. She began to feel uncomfortable, thinking being stopped in the middle of the road can often times lead to accidents.
Much to her alarm the car in front of her turned off their lights. Her concern was perhaps now turning to anger. Why was this person stopping in the middle of the road and then turning off their lights. I know my mother-in-law rather well and I can safely say that she most likely did not have many kind words for driver of the car in front of her.
She was then startled by a knocking on her window. She looked up and there was a man standing in the pouring rain wanting to speak to her. She cracked the window open and asked the man what the problem was. The man replied by stating that that was the question he was going to ask her. She retorted that she was not the one who had stopped in the middle on the road and then turned off the lights. The mans reply was that they were not in the road but in his driveway.
From this story we can see that my mother-in-law had chosen the wrong leader. She had chosen a leader who would not take to where she wanted to go. Many times in life we too are faced with storms and trials and it can be hard to see that road ahead. It is at this time that we too need to find a leader who can guide us. We need to make sure that we are on the right road. The road that get us to where we want to go. We have to choose the right leader who is on the right road.
Today as you may well know is Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday marks the day that Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. It marked the beginning of the last week that He would spent as a man on this earth among His disciples.
Please turn with me this morning to our passage, which is Matthew 21:1-11. That passage in Matthew speaks of the road to Jerusalem which Jesus rides into town on.
“Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. "And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ’The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them." All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “Tell the daughter of Zion, ’Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’"
So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! ’Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!" And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."
Here Jesus is the beginning of the end for Jesus’ earthly ministry. One that road to Jerusalem Jesus is traveling towards his death, burial and glorious resurrection. And while the road led Jesus to Jerusalem, the Jerusalem road will lead us to heaven. If we are willing to follow Jesus long that road. We must be willing to travel the road that Jesus traveled, that road to Jerusalem.
This morning I want to take a look at that road, as we see it in our passage this morning. Notice first that it was a road of humility. Notice verses 1-3; “Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ’The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”
Now normally we like to see our hero’s enter with a blaze of glory. We like it when the good guy makes a grand entrance.
And when we think of the King of Kings and Lord of lords, making a entry we would think that there would be all the pomp and pageantry that would be befitting for such a king.
And as Jesus rode into town I am sure that there where many people there who had those type of thoughts in their heads. Here is the one who will free us from Rome, Here is the one who will run these filthy Romans right out of town and set up the kingdom of David, with all it’s glory.
But the Kings of kings chooses the road of humility. He does not come riding into town on white stallion, but on the back of the colt of a donkey. And it wasn’t even his donkey but a borrowing one at that.
This reflected the life of Christ which was a life of humility. Jesus did not come into this world with wealth, but he came in poverty. He did not in grandeur but with meekness. He was not one who had a lot of material fortune and fame, but in humility.
When Jesus spoke of his kingdom he spoke in terms of it begin one of service and servanthood, and one of humility.
What is interesting is on the last night that Jesus spent with His disciples, only hours before He was to die, his disciples were arguing over who would be greatest in the kingdom. Luke 22:24: “Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.”
After all they had been thought with Jesus they still not get it. They simply did not understand that the road Jesus had traveled on was a road of humility, and it is a road that He requires His disciples to travel on.
I think sometimes we lose thought of that ourselves. We love and desire the blessings of God, but do we really want to follow Jesus on this road of humility. To follow Jesus means going down that road, the road of the cross. It means giving up our selfish desires, it means denying ourselves, it mean putting not only God first in our lives, but putting others first as well. Our family, our friends, even our enemies.
The road of humility is the road that says I will live like Christ lived, I will strive to be conformed to His image. The Jerusalem road is a road of humility a road that we are called to follow Jesus on.
This road was also a road of fulfillment. Notice what verse 4-5 say; “All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: Tell the daughter of Zion, ’Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
The fact that Jesus enters Jerusalem on a colt of a donkey is not just by change or luck. That fact that the colt was right where Jesus said it would be was not just a lucky guess on His part, but it was all part of fulfilling the divine plan of Almighty God.
Those of you who know my e-mail address may wonder where I got the “zech” from. Will it comes from Zech 9:9, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.”
This is just one of the many prophecies that we see in the Old Testament concerning Jesus. In fact there are some 332 prophecies in the OT which are fulfilled in Christ. That is really amazing. The mathematical odds of all of those prophecies being fulfilled by one man is unreal. The odds are one in 84 to the 123rd power. That is 84 with 123 zeros after it. That is unreal.
What is shows is that Jesus is indeed the Messiah foretold of in the OT, that God will bring pass His mighty plan.
As I said Zech 9:9 is just one of many. Some other ones include being betrayed by friend, Psa. 41:9, sold for 30 pieces of silver, Zech 11:12; False witness accusing Him, Psa. 27:12; Silent when accused, Isa. 53:7, Struck and spit upon, Isa 50:6; Suffered in our stead, Isa. 53:4-5; Hands and feet pierced, Ps. 22:16; Mocked and insulted Ps. 22:16-18; His side pierced, Zech. 12:10; Soldiers cast lots for his clothe, Ps. 22:18; Not a bone broken Ps. 34:20; Buried with the rich, Isa. 53:9. And we could go on and on.
What it shows is that the whole life of Christ was the divine plan of an almighty God to redeem us, to save us from our sins. All that Jesus when through was for the fulfillment of the salvation of you and I.
Jesus traveled down that road of fulfillment knowing that it would lead to His death on the cross, but also knowing that He would bring salvation, eternal life with the Father in heaven for you and I.
We to must be willing to travel down that road of fulfillment with Jesus. We must be willing to fulfill and follow the will of God for our lives. To many times back off of what God would have us to do. We look down the road and see where it is leading, and sometimes it leads to where we in our flesh do not want to go.
But we need to follow Jesus down that road. He looked down and saw that it meant suffering, and dying. But He traveled down the road to fulfill the will of the father. And we need to follow our Lord Jesus.
The road to Jerusalem was also a road of submission. Submission to the Father, obedience to the Father. Notice verses 6-8: “So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.”
Jesus our Lord whole life was one of submission to the Father. Jesus first loyalty was to the Heavenly Father. Listen to John 3:38; "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
Jesus purpose was to do the will of God. A few days after His entry into Jerusalem, Jesus finds Himself in the garden of Gethsemane praying to the Father; “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
Jesus prayed “Father let this cup pass from me”, Jesus saw his coming death, his coming suffering, and He prays, that God would if possible take it away. But Jesus ends this prayer, as we should end all our prayers, “not as I will, but as you will.” Complete submission to the will of the Father.
Let us pray not for our own selfish wills to be accomplished, but let us pray that God’s will be done, that God be glorified.
Notice that the disciples obeyed him. They where told where and how to get the colt. They probably thought it strange, but they did it anyway. The obeyed, they submitted to Christ.
We too need to be willing to obey the Lord, to submit to His words. It does not matter whether we want to or not, whether we think it strange, of not.
We need to follow Christ on the road of submission, submitting our lives to God.
Also notice from our verse that the crowd lays down their garments before Christ as he travels along the road. If we look way back in 2 King chapter 9 when Jehu was proclaimed as king. We see the captains of Jehu lay down their garments before him as a sign of submission to his kingship.
The people in Jesus time do the same thing. They lay down their garments as a sign of submission to Christ as King.
They also lay down their garments as a way of welcoming Christ. Welcoming the coming king.
So let us ask ourselves what have we done to welcome Christ into our hearts? What have we laid down to show that we are submitting to Him as Lord and King of our live. I tell what we need to lay down before Christ to welcome, to submit to, we need to lay down everything! All we have must be brought to Christ.
Those people who laid down their garments before Christ were not afraid of getting their garments messed up. But sometimes we do not want to lay our stuff. We are afraid that Christ might take it. We are afraid that it will get messed up, if we bring it to Christ. We do not want to make that sacrifice before Christ, we cause we are still clinging on to material things.
We need to follow Christ down the road of submission. If we want to follow the road to the kingdom of Heaven, we must go by the way of the road of submission. Submission to the Father, to the Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and submission to the Holy Spirit.
May I also say that we can either bow down to the Lord Jesus in submission now or later. There will come a time when every one of here will submit to Christ.
As Phil. 2:9-11 tells us; “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
So we will all someday submit to Christ as Lord, we can either follow that road now or later.
Finally the road to Jerusalem as a road of destiny. Notice the last three verses of our passage;
“Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! ’Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!" And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Now destiny is the setting apart for a special purpose. It speaks of the inevitable. Christ is here met with words of destiny, “Hosanna to the Son of David! ’Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!”
From His very birth Christ was destine to die on the cross. God had foreordained, it Christ’s destiny.
Since His birth Christ was meant with words of destiny. Listen to Luke 2:34 as Simeon speaks to Mary Jesus’ mother, Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel...”
In Revelation we read of the “... lamb which was slain from the foundation of the world.”
From the very beginging of the world Christ was destine to die for us.
Christ understood his destiny. He knew that those cries of Hosanna would soon turn to shouts of “crucfy him!”.
Not even Pontius Pilate could prevent Christ’s destiny, Pilate tried to satisfy the people by offering Barabbas, but Jesus was destiny to hang on that cross.
My friends Christ came to bring a new destiny to mankind. He entered Jerusalem destined to suffer and die, but He was also destined to rise again. And all the legions of Satan himself could not keep Jesus in the grave.
But Christ was destined to die that we may live.
Now I ask you, what is your destiny? There is a choice of two destinies for all mankind. There is a marrow gate and broad gate. There is a straight path and a crooked path. There is road that leads to hell, and one that leads to heaven.
Which one are you on?
You need to follow Christ on that road that leads to heaven. That road of humility, and fulfillment, the road of submission, and the road of destiny.
Jesus stated “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one come to the Father except by me.” There is not other road to heaven. We must follow Jesus. I ask you to place your trust in Him as Lord and Saviour. Believe that you are a sinner in need of salvation, that Jesus and Jesus alone can forgive those sin through His blood. Will trust in Him today and begin to travel on that road that leads to heaven.
For those hear today who know the Lord Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Let us continue to stay on that road. Continue in humility and obedience. In submission to the Lord Jesus in all we do. Let us follow Him, not so much for our own sake but for the glory of God.
Follow that road that will lead to eternal life with Almighty God.
LET US PRAY
