THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY
TEXT: MATTHEW 21:1-11
INTRODUCTION: This morning I want to look at the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. There are many aspects to His entry and things that followed that we will be looking at.
We will start in Matthews account and go to the other three accounts to see what each one adds to the story.
The first thing we want to look at is;
I. THE DONKEY
Vs. 1-2
A. The Omniscience Of Jesus
Jesus knew exactly where the donkey and her colt would be. He also knew that the owners would ask why the disciples were taking the donkey. How did Jesus know this? Because He is God, and God is omniscient, all knowing.
Heb 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
There is no creature that is not seen by Jesus. Jesus even knows when a sparrow dies;
Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
It has been said that God is the only one present at a bird’s funeral.
Psa 50:11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
Now if Jesus knows even when a sparrow dies and knows every beast of the field and everything about them, you should know that He also knows everything about us.
Prov 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
God knows every evil thought and action, and if you die without salvation it will all be revealed when you stand before Him at The Great White Throne.
Mark 4:22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.
And the disciples found the donkey just as Jesus said they would.
Luke 19:32 And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.
B. The Obedience Of The Donkey
Mark 11:2 And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.
Whereon never man sat. Have you ever seen someone break a horse or pony or donkey? We used to have ponies when I was a kid. They don’t like to be sat on when they aren’t broke. It’s just like you may have seen in a western. They buck and buck and buck.
But this one didn’t.
Mark 11:7 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.
Why didn’t this donkey buck Jesus off? Because Jesus was God and God has command over the animals and they obey Him always.
This isn’t the first time God has used a donkey. Look at Numbers 22:21-33.
Balak the king of Moab was afraid of the children of Israel when they had left their captivity in Egypt and when he saw the great multitude he was afraid they would conquer him.
So he sent for the prophet Balaam and asked him to curse the children of Israel. God told Balaam that He shall not go with those that came for him because he was not to curse the children because they were blessed. But he went anyway. So we read.
God also used an animal to speak to a disciple of His. Although this animal didn’t speak in an audible voice the message was crystal clear.
The night of the last supper Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Him three times before the cock crows, but of course, Peter didn’t believe Him. So we read in Luke 22:54-62.
Who do you think made that cock crow at that exact time? Jesus. Look at vs. 60-61.
If the animals are smart enough to obey God, why aren’t we?
Heb 5:11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
Dull = Slowness to perceive. Used of a mule. Many Christians are mule-headed.
I. THE DONKEY
II. THE FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY
Look at Mat. 21:5
Zec 9:9 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.
This was written hundreds of years before Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Prophecy is a big reason we know the Bible is God’s Word. No other religious book has prophecy. The Bible has been accurate 100% of the time.
The Bible told exactly how Jesus would enter Jerusalem and that’s exactly the way it happened. Their King would come riding in on a donkey. Which brings us to the next thing we want to look at.
III. THE OFFERING OF HIMSELF AS KING TO THE JEWS
Look at Luke 19:37-40
Previous times in the Gospels we read where the people wanted to take Jesus and make Him their King, but he always slipped away from them.
After the miracle of the feeding of the five-thousand we read;
John 6:15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
But this time He not only accepted their declaration, He encouraged it. He is the one that told the disciples to get the donkey for Him to ride in on. Back then a donkey was a noble animal for kings to ride on.
So Jesus comes riding down the Mount of Olives and the people start to cheer and praise God in loud voices saying “Hosanna, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
As we learned from the video, Hosanna means “Oh save” It was a political term more than a religious declaration. They were saying “Save us king from these Romans. Free us from being under their authority.” They were looking for a king that would conquer and kill their enemy.
All this excitement made some of the Pharisees nervous. There had been trouble before because of a false Messiah that had caused quite a commotion with the people at the time of Passover. The Romans came and slew many people that time and the Pharisees where telling Jesus to quit the people down so that wouldn’t happen again. Vs.39
But Jesus says in vs. 40.
Now why did Jesus say this? Why did He say if the people held their peace the stones would cry out? Many churches have taken this to say that if we don’t praise God, the rocks will.
That’s not what Jesus was saying. Jesus was presenting Himself as the King of the Jews. He was their Messiah and He was showing the Jews that He was who they were looking for. He was offering Himself as their King.
This is also a fulfillment of prophecy. Look at Daniel 9:24-27
I could do a whole sermon and then some on this passage and I will when we study the Book of Daniel. But for now let me give you the main teaching without explaining it in the great detail that it deserves.
Seventy Weeks = Seventy weeks of seven years or 490 years. God was going to deal with the nation Israel for 490 years.
Now look at vs. 25 The command to restore and build Jerusalem and streets and walls was given in the Book of Nehemiah chapter 2. The decree was given in 445 B. C.
It also says in vs. 25 “seven weeks and three score and two weeks. One score is 20 so this is a total of 69 weeks or 483 years. Now when you study this out as we will do in the future you find out that there was a little gap in these 483 years, thus the division of the seven weeks and the 62 weeks.
Now when you study this out you will find that the 69th week ended with the Triumphal Entry. Messiah the Prince offering Himself as King. By the way, what is a Prince? A King in waiting.
But they didn’t crown Him with a royal crown, they crowned Him with a crown of thorns. They crucified Him. But notice, the 69 weeks didn’t end at the crucifixion, it ended with the Triumphal Entry. Dan. 9:26 “AFTER three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off.”
Jesus wasn’t crucified at the end of the 69th week, He was crucified after the 69th week. Jesus entry was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel’s 69th week. That’s why Jesus said if the people held their tongues, the stones would cry out.
If the people didn’t proclaim Him as King, the stones would because this was the fulfillment of prophecy. Someone or something was going to point Him out as the Messiah.
The Pharisees and scribes knew the Bible, they knew the Book of Daniel. They should have had no doubt that Jesus was their king because Daniel told them when He would come.
But where is that last week, where is the last seven years of the prophecy? Dan. 9:27. There’s the last week. It is the Tribulation period. The seven years of tribulation that the anti-Christ rules the world.
This is when God deals with the Jewish nation once again. We are now in the Time of the Gentiles.
Just as there was a gap between the seven weeks and the sixty-two weeks, there is a gap between the 69th week and the seventieth week. It has been about 2000 years.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem down the Mount of Olives, meek and sitting on a donkey to end the 69th week.
Look what He will ride on when He comes once again to the Mount of Olives at the end of the 70th week.
Rev. 19:11-21. No more meek and lowly Jesus.
This is why the Triumphal Entry is so important. This is why;
IV. JESUS WEPT OVER JERUSALEM
Look back in Luke 19:41-44.
Jesus wept because He knew what was coming. Titus in 70 A.D. Not one stone upon another.
But He also wept because;
A. They Missed Their Peace
Vs. 42
Jesus wept over a lost generation of people. He cared not only for the nation, but for every person within it. The Lord saw the city, He saw the souls of the people within it’s walls, and wept at their rejection and coming punishment.
The Prince of Peace was in Jerusalem. Jesus was their peace, and the people looked right past Him. They rejected their peace and nailed Him to a cross.
Even the religious people missed God’s plan for peace. Here was the Messiah that they had been praying for, and they missed Him.
In our day we see the same thing. People are busy searching for something that will bring meaning and peace to their lives.
Some will even go to church and hear about Jesus, but they won’t understand that He is the One they seek. Only Christ brings peace, but many are willing to look elsewhere to try and find it. They don’t want Christ.
B. They Missed The Evidence Of Their Eyes
Vs. 42
“Hid from thine eyes.” The people in Jesus day didn’t reject a secondhand report or a centuries-old story. They saw the One the prophets had foretold about with their own eyes and still dismissed Him as Messiah.
Unlike unbelievers in our day, they had had a personal confrontation with the King of Glory. They witnessed His ministry and miracles but still chose to reject their King.
Have you ever heard someone say, “If only I could see Jesus performing miracles then I’d believe Him.” But it didn’t change the hearts of most people in Jesus day and it wouldn’t be enough for people today.
C. They Missed Their Visitation
Vs. 44b
God Almighty, because of His love and desire to see people saved, made a personal visitation into their lives. But most people missed it.
So Jesus wept over the blindness and ignorance of those who, having seen, did not see. Saddest of all, some of those people who began their week calling out “Hosanna to the King!” a few days later were calling for His death.
They declared Him to be King but didn’t understand that He was, in fact, King of Kings. They proclaimed Him and rejected Him at the same time.
This is just like what happens in many churches today. There is a lot of talk about Jesus being King but rejection of Him as the only way to heaven.
The Jews missed their Messiah;
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Which brings us to our next point.
V. JESUS REJECTS THE JEWISH NATION
Mark 11:12-14 This is right after His Entry
The figs are representative of the Jewish nation. Hold your place in Mark and turn to Jeremiah 24.
Jesus was making a comparison with the fig tree that had leaves but no fruit. The Jews looked religious on the outside but had no fruit on the inside. They had a form of Godliness but denied the power therein.
So Jesus said vs. 14 Forever = an age. Now look at vs. 20 Up from the roots. Mat. 24:32-34
As we’ve already covered this speaks of the 70th week when God will once again deal with Israel.
The Time of the Gentiles is quickly coming to a close, the branch is blooming and Jesus is about to make another Triumphal Entry! Will you be ready? Or will He reject you by saying;
Mat 7:23……… I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
VI. THE LAMB OF GOD
John 12:20-33
Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem at the same time that the people brought in their lambs for sacrifice. At the same time that hundreds of thousands of lambs were being brought into the city for Passover, THE LAMB OF GOD Entered.
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
John 12:24 25 26 32-33 He died for us.
CONCLUSION: Many call this “Palm Sunday” but as we’ve seen this morning from the Scriptures, this was much more than people putting down palm branches for Jesus to ride on. It is really The Triumphal Entry of Messiah the King.
Do you know Him?
