Jesus' Royal Entry

Minister:
Date: AM
Text: Matthew 21:1-11
Psalters: 317, 142, 4, 58
  1. The entry.
    1. Jesus sends two disciples to obtain an ass and its colt.
      1. To tell the owner that “the Lord hath need of him” was adequate.
      2. Large numbers of people are arriving at Jerusalem to commemorate the mighty act of salvation in the Passover.
    2. When Jesus rides toward and into Jerusalem He arouses much excitement.
      1. He finally is “acting” like a King and this after arousing much excitement by raising Lazarus from the dead.
      2. The disciples support the cause by spreading their clothes on the road and others lay cut palm branches on the way.
      3. The reception is tremendous as a spontaneous parade forms to welcome their king.
    3. This activity fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, that Zion was receiving her King.
      1. Zechariah, 500 years earlier, was given to see the Messiah coming as a conquering King who delivered Judah from Israel.
      2. Jesus’ royal entry is a temporary, preliminary, anticipatory and prophetic, and not the final fulfillment.
  2. Jesus’ entrance foretells suffering.
    1. He rides on a donkey, not on a horse or in a chariot.
      1. The ass is a beast of burden or was used by the poor for transportation.
      2. Jesus is a lowly king, one of humility, meekness, and poverty; without an army or armaments.
    2. Jesus kept God’s law and made His royal entry on the colt of an ass, without earthly pageantry and with meekness.
      1. He came to save, not an earthly, physical city, but the essence of the city of God.
      2. The humility shouts that the physical is only a picture of a higher, spiritual reality.
  3. Such humility foretold future glory.
    1. Zechariah saw God’s King coming as a victorious King Who would free the people from the yoke of bondage (Zech. 9:10).
      1. Whenever the people of Zion saw something like it, they would quickly conclude that it had come; hence Hosannas.
      2. So, though very humble, this ride into Jerusalem foretells better things to come (which we now have).
    2. We may say that the King has come and we may rejoice, confident of His victory.
      1. Earthly eyes only seek an earthly king with physical might and an earthly realm.
      2. Jesus is a spiritual King, with an heavenly Kingdom.
      3. He will come again in all the glory of heaven.