Jesus Goes To Jerusalem
Matt. 21:1-17
Jesus’ road to Calvary was deliberately foreordained. Paul tells us Jesus arrived on schedule to complete His mission as planned on planet earth. "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Gal. 4:4-5)
Peter confirms that God’s incarnation into the flesh of man, His ministry and His passion were all part of the Godhead’s pre-foundational preordained plan. "And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:" (Acts 2:21-23)
Jesus Himself confirms on more than one occasion that His life, ministry, death on the cross and resurrection from the grave were not historical aberrations or accidents. "As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep, And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again." (John 10:15-17)
The cross was no surprise to Jesus. Neither were any of the events leading up to it; including His triumphant entry into His City, Jerusalem, the City of peace and the place of the throne of David.
Our Savior was omniscient. Nothing was hidden from Him. He had known from eternity past every crook and turn of the path He would tread to Calvary. As He prepares to enter into His City for the last week He will spend upon earth before His crucifixion, He is fully aware of all the momentous events that will mark the days ahead. All of it would be the working out on earth of the drama of redemption the Godhead had set into play in the eons of the ages.
But it had clearly been part of this eternal plan that the day of the cross would be hidden for awhile. The commission given to the twelve and then the seventy was to announce in the towns and villages the good news of the King’s coming. They were to herald the presence of the Messiah King in Israel. They were to first give God’s chosen people the privilege of recognizing and receiving their long awaited King. That’s what all the miracles, signs and wonders of His ministry had been basically about until this time. "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him." (John 2:11) These were designed and performed primarily to confirm and authenticate His identity and His ministry to unbelieving Jews in an unbelieving Jewish nation.
In a few days they will decisively and ultimately reject their personal and national Savior and add insult to injury by cruelly crucifying Him on an ignoble Roman cross. But first He must make this final presentation of Himself as their Messiah and King. He must do it at a time of great national and religious significance and in Jerusalem: the city to which all observing Jews were obligated to go to celebrate Passover and the other feasts of the law. The national cry was always, "This year Jerusalem!"
His entry into His City is the beginning of that last week of His earthly ministry; the week of His passion. These six days before His resurrection will be marked by many momentous events. He will purge the temple of God. He will preach His last sermon of warning to the Jews and Jerusalem. In the Upper Room, He will teach His give lessons of comfort, humility and love to his disciples. He will institute His Supper. He will agonize in the Garden of Gethsemane. He will be betrayed by Judas and denied by Peter. He will be tried before both Herod and Pilate. He will be scorned, scourged and brutally beaten. He will be cruelly crucified for you and me. The stone will be rolled away and He will rise triumphantly from the grave.
THE PREPARATION FOR HIS PRESENTATION TO ISRAEL is simple but significant. He procures a proper mount appropriate for His humble entry into His City. The details of His action confirm His perfect knowledge of all things. It begins by the Mt. of Olives. This is the place He will retire to after celebrating the Passover with His disciples and instituting His Supper. He sends two of His disciples into the nearby village of Bethpage. They return with the proper mount miraculously prepared and procured for His presentation to the people of God. He rides down the side of the Mt. of Olives, through the Garden of Gethsemane and enters His City through the Golden or Eastern Gate. He will take the same route and enter the same Gate when He comes as the conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords at the beginning of His Millineal Kingdom. (See Zech. 14:1-9, Rev. 19:11-15)
The events of His preparation to enter His City confirm that He had perfect knowledge of all things and that He made and owns all things. It is clear he knew the location and condition of the donkey and her colt. He evidently saw the scene His two disciples would encounter just as clearly as if a spotlight was shining upon it. He not only anticipates what His disciples might be thinking but what the owner will say. Can you imagine the situation. To His all seeing eye there is no darkness deep enough nor distance far enough to remove us from His Holy sight.
I have often told the little children’s story about the little boy who followed his father as he slipped into the field of the farm next door to steal a water melon. Before snatching the melon, he looked up the road and down the road and across the field to his neighbors house. All seemed clear. But as he started to grab the melon his little son said, "Dad, you forgot to look one way. You forgot to look up!" Let us never forget the all seeing eye of God is in every place beholding both the evil and the good. "For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." (Luke 12:2-3
One could not blame His disciples if, with human reasoning, they assumed he was asking them to steal two beasts of burden. They could have said to Jesus, "What are we to say if someone asks us if they belong to us? What if someone accuses us of trying to steal them?"
Jesus said they should simply say that the Savior had need of them and that should settle the matter. You have to give them credit for a bit of faith here. They did exactly as He said. They quoted the Words of the Lord to the owner. Perhaps we could get out of more tight situations if we quoted the words of the Lord as well. But what they were really saying was, "The Creator who made these donkeys and everything else sent for His donkeys." This is about all we know about the owner. But he must have been a true believer in Jehovah.
Jesus makes it clear by this incident that everything in this universe belongs to Him. We should never forget the great truth the Psalmist shared when he said "The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof." Surely He who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and all the silver and gold had a right to use two of His donkeys. He who made all things by the world of His mouth and upholds all things by the power of His hands also Has a right to use anything we have and everything we are. Paul said He does not necessarily want that which is ours, but He wants us. If we truly present ourselves as living sacrifices, then there will be no question about His ownership of what we temporarily hold in trust for Him.
It seems all God’s creatures obey Him, except the one made in His image. God said to a donkey, "Speak," and it did. God prepared a great fish and told it, "Swallow that rebellious prophet," and the fish gave Jonah a three day submarine ride. God said to a female bear, "Destroy those rebellious and blaspheming young men who are harassing my prophet," and she did. God made sure a rooster was in the proper place and awake at the proper time and was prepared to stretch its neck and crow on cue, and it did.
The Creator God has a double claim on all of us. "All things were made by him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." (John 1:3) An old story that has been used in Sunday School and Youth Groups for years illustrates this truth in a marvelous way.
A little boy spent many hours making a beautiful little sail boat. He went to a local billabong to sail it for the first time. Afraid the strong wind might blow it away, he tied it with a string and let it sail out into the water. The wind was too strong and the string was too weak and it broke and the little boat went sailing out of sight. In vain he circled the shores for an hour or more looking in vain for his pride and joy.
Not long after this he saw his little boat displayed in an antique shop window. He ran inside and said to the owner, "That’s my boat!"
The owner said, "No it isn’t. I bought that boat and paid good money for it. It belongs to me. If you want it you will have to buy it."
The brokenhearted little boy gave the man a down payment and asked the him to hold it for him. He went away and worked his every spare moment for a number of weeks to earn the high price the man had placed on the boat. The day came when he had enough money. He went into the shop and handed the owner the money and took his boat and stuck it under his arm. As he made his way home he was heard to say, "Little boat, you belong to me for two reasons. First of all because I made you. Now you belong to me because I bought you back.!"
We are His because he made us in His image. We are truly His because He redeemed us with the price of His precious blood upon the cross of Calvary.
HE PROPHETIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THAT DAY is clear. I have already mentioned Zechariah’s prophecy concerning Christ’s Second Coming in the context of concept that His first entry into His City foreshadows that great event. We often tend to forget how many times very specific prophecy about our Saviour are fulfilled in the most minute detail in the Word of God. There are at least thirty-eight of these in the Old Testament. One of the most detailed is Daniel’s prophecy of the actual date this event will occur. Some of you may have seen the chart I have of the accurate calculations of the number of days involved and how exact the prophesy really is. I can furnish copies of this if anyone wishes to have one.
Amazingly, nearly five hundred years before the event God gave Zechariah a prophetic telescope and he peered into the far future and then took up his prophetic horn and began to blow loudly and clearly, never missing note or a nuance. He saw the Messiah riding into His City upon the back of the colt of a donkey as it walked alongside its mother. He heard the acclaim of thousands of people as the threw their garments and palm leaves to pave the Kings way into His City. He said, "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." (Zech. 9:9)
His humility is emphasized in this prophecy and in its fulfillment. As King of the universe and King of His City he could have ridden in a splendid and elegant chariot and behind a span of great and beautiful horses, as the Roman conquers did. Even the rulers of the poorest nations in our world can sometimes be seen entering cities in luxury limousines costing millions, leading a entourage of dozens of expensive vehicles. But Jesus came as a servant to die on the cross for the sins of the world. He did not parade as a prideful and powerful potentate when He entered His City.
Considering such prophetic detail it might be fair to ask, "Why didn’t the readers of the law and the prophets and the religious leaders of that day immediately recognize Him? Why does it seem they ignored this confirmation of His first coming?" But even more important: "Why do so many people ignore the prophecies concerning His Second Coming?" Many religious teachers and leaders not only ignore it but ridicule those who are anxiously awaiting His return. The world does not seem to think He is really coming again. But that is a true sign of His coming. He said that at an hour when the world is not expecting Him, He will come again as a thief in the night. Although He came in meekness and mildness the first time, He will come again in all His glory and with might and power put down the wicked one and the rulers of this world.
THE PAVING OF HIS WAY AND THE PRAISE OF THE CROWD stands as one of the most fleeting and fickle acts of human kind. In a matter of a few hours many of those singing, "Hosanna to the King!" would be shouting at the top of their lungs, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!! We have no King but Caesar!" What a sad commentary upon the nature of man.
That’s the problem with the praise of men. Fame is fleeting and popularity is passing. Pleasing ones peers all too often pays pitiful and pathetic profits. Fair weather friends are here today and gone tomorrow. We could make a list of those in our nation who just a few years ago were peak popularity and pinnacle of prosperity; lionized and envied by the crowds. Many of the tall poppies have been cut down. Some are in poverty. Others went to prison and perhaps a number of others should have done so.
Jesus spoke of those who loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Paul spoke of those who sought to be men pleasers rather than God pleasers. Perhaps one lesson for us here could be that if the very Son of God was betrayed by the fickle crowd, how can we expect any less? If the Son of God sought to please and do the will of the Father even when the crowd turned its back upon Him, so should we.
THE POWERFUL PURGING OF GOD’S PLACE OF WORSHIP confirms our Savior had no hesitancy to act as the King of Kings and the Judge of this universe. His anger and action is not at all out of character. The image we have gotten of the lowly Jesus meek and mild, characterized as a weak and sissy sort of person, is certainly not the robust image the scriptures give us. No, He did not act out of character here. Is He any less divine with a whip in His hands than with His hands nailed to a cross?
He did not lose his cool, so to speak. His action is clearly calculated to completely cleanse this Holy place of God. We sometimes tend to forget that the God of love is also a God of wrath and terrible judgment upon sin. To let such severe sacrilege and sin go unchallenged and unpunished would be out of character for the Holy One of Israel.
But why did He so fiercely display a Godly wrath on this occasions? Why was He so filled with righteous indignation? Why was He so moved to bellow out against those who were making merchandise of things of God? Why did all this prompt Him to take such robust physical action against those who were desecrating the House of God? He gives us the answer in His own caustic and cutting condemnation of these desecrators. "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." Surely His anger is intensified by the fact He had first cleansed the temple in the same way just after performing His first miracle at the beginning of His ministry (see John 2:12-17). These merchandisers and idolaters have added insult to injury by their complete defiance of His initial anger and action.
What lessons can we learn from this incident? First of all, we should never forget that a day of judgment will come for all those who defy God and desecrate His world. The wheels of God’s judgment may grind slowly, but they grind to powder. The scriptures tell us it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. We are told that in that day of awful judgment men will cry for the rocks and mountains to fall upon them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. But their cries will not be answered. They will have to meet the judge face to face. One of the most sobering statements of the surety of such judgment is found in the Revelation. "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:" (Rev. 4:10)
We should also learn that we are allowed to be angry as well. Not only are we allowed to do so, but we are commanded to do so. If we are to be Christ-like, we are to emulate His anger at sin in this world. We are to hate the sin God hates. We are to despise the conduct that God despises. We are not only allowed to be angry at sin and those who promote it, but we are called to militant action against it as Christian soldiers. We are given weapons of spiritual warfare to use in our fight against it. We are certainly not called to be pacifists and sit idly by as our world goes to hell in a hand basket, so to speak.
There are so many evil things going on in our world that are harmful to our children, neighbors and nation it would be difficult to list them all. There so many injuries and injustices perpetrated against the little innocent ones of our community.
In years gone by great and good things have happened because those who were followers of Jesus became angry and upset. Hospitals were hellish and horrible places where more people died than survive, until Florence Nightingale became angry and did something about it. Abraham Lincoln watched a slave woman being sold at auction and then torn from the arms of her husband. He got mad and said, "That’s wrong and if I ever get a chance to hit it, I will hit it hard."
Perhaps we should also consider the other side of all this. Even though Jesus displayed righteous indignation on this occasion, He ruled His spirit well on all occasions. So should we. Paul said, "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Phil. 2:8)
We should also consider Jesus’ overall attitude to the House of God. We can be sure he had great reverence for it. Because He kept every jot and tittle of the Law, we know He would have been found in the House of the Lord on the Lord’s Day. He began His ministry standing up in the synagogue in His home town reading the scriptures. He ended His ministry coming to Jerusalem as a faithful Jew to observe the Passover. He cleansed the temple in the meantime. Our attitude to His the House of God today should be as His. "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." (I Tim. 3:15)
These lessons from that momentous day when our Saviour went to Jerusalem should both sober and inspire us. In this season, we should once again consider that the King of this universe should be King of our hearts and lives. That Has every right to use us in the great enterprise of getting the good news of His eternal Kingdom out to the world around us. After all, He has made us and redeemed us. What better time to remember His House is to be a house of prayer, praise and a place to reverentially worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
