Matthew 21
1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. 3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. 8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
1) In verse 4 we read, “all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet”. Very often one reads of an incident in the New Testament that was prophesied in the Old Testament.
Every scientist should realise that the Bible is God’s Word and Jesus is the Messiah.
Those who study the prophecies that pertain to Jesus, say that in the Old Testament there are 456 prophesies pertaining to Christ directly. Those are the promises given from the time of Adam till Jesus came. Right at the beginning it was prophesied about the serpent that will be trampled by the seed of the woman, the Messiah. The serpent will strike at His heel but He will crush his head. As was prophesied, thousands of years later, Jesus crushed the serpent’s head on the Cross. Yes, Jesus was crucified and His heel was bruised, but He arose from the dead and crushed the serpent’s head.
Is there any sin that still has the better of you? Then the Cross of Christ has not worked there in your life.
Another prophecy is that the virgin shall conceive to bring the Messiah into the world. So we find that Mary, being a virgin, was with child, and bore the Messiah according to the prophecy.
Jesus said to the religious leaders that the magnificent temple will be raised to the ground, not one stone being left upon another, which also happened in 70 AD.
The things of the world pass away. Only what is of God will stand forever.
The first sin came into the world through a woman. But the Saviour also came into this world through a woman.
2) We read here that Jesus instructed his disciples to say, “the Lord has need of it”.
He needs a tool through which He can work. He has need of you.
The minister should not get slack but be on fire for the Lord. The King of kings has need of you specifically. There is a job only you can do.
A child can be cheeky, proud, arrogant and just wants its own way. Why? Because the child was born in sin.
Unless you correct and break the child’s will before it’s three you will lose that child.
Now Jesus said unless we become like little children we shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
So what was Jesus referring to? He referred to a child’s faith. If you tell a child something he believes you. He trusts his parents fully and do not fret about the things of life for his parents care for him.
If you do not have faith you will question everything in the Word of God, but if you have faith you will believe and do His Word.
The Word says that when a brother sins you should correct him and not spread his sin and slander him.
3) They brought the donkey to Jesus according to His word. The other parallel places says that no one has ever sat on the donkey. Such a donkey would be very difficult to handle, but we find it tame and willing.
If you’re truly converted even a donkey will notice it.
Are people amazed at the change in your life or has nothing changed. Maybe someone was known for gossip and slander, anger, irritability, but after Jesus came into the life it is changed and those old things are gone.
Everyone is talking about the 2010 soccer world cup whereas we are shortly celebrating the wonderful news that Christ was born more than 2000 years ago, breaking the power of the devil over us.
The coming of Christ is far greater than any FIFA world cup.
Remember that the Lord Jesus came into the world and needs to come into your life. The old must come to an end and everything must become new. When you repent you need Godly remorse for your sin.
Remember when Peter had sinned and his eyes met the eyes of the Lord there was godly sorrow for his sin and he wept.
Today people come to the Lord with a smile on their faces. It’s a circus.
Have you ever experienced that Godly sorrow for your sin? See David’s sorrow for his sin how his bones dried up and he had a broken and contrite heart before the Lord (Ps 51).
A healthy person will laugh at you if you take him to the docter, but if he feels the disease and pain in his body he will grab the opportunity to be healed.
So too with the disease of sin. If you don’t see your sin and lost estate you will spurn the Cross of Christ but if your sins are revealed to you and you see yourself as a hell-deserving sinner you will run to the Cross of Christ for forgiveness and salvation.
So there’s joy in a person’s heart when his sins are forgiven and it is usually demonstrated by a person’s singing.