When Christ Jesus was walking the dusty roads of Israel, there were whispers that He was the King of Israel. There were also whispers that He was insane – in a day when there were no mental institutions. In that harsh society, the way to deal with lunatics who called themselves royalty was to kill them. In Luke’s version of what we have just read here in Matthew 21, the penultimate verse says, “But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to kill him.” And what was their reason? The people were saying that this “frog” from Galilee was the Messiah, the promised King of Israel.
In the midst of OUR needs – the needs of today – the needs of this moment – we need the assurance that Jesus of Nazareth is truly the King of kings and Lord of Lords. I need to know that Christ Jesus has the power and authority to properly govern me and to govern my enemies – whatever or whoever they might be. I need the assurance that through Him, there is eternal life and forgiveness of all my sin. We need to know that by the command of Christ, “all the things in our lives work together for good, because we love God, and because we are the called according to His purpose.”
Thus far in His short ministry, Jesus has stopped just short of actually making that kind of statement. Yes, we have seen Him display divine power – raising the dead and healing the sick. But we want to hear those words with our own ears. And we want to see that same power directly touching our lives and our needs. “Who is the King of glory? Is Christ Jesus the LORD of hosts, is he the King of glory?” Can this man meet my needs?
As that verse in Luke 19 suggests, the leadership of Israel was not prepared to say that Jesus is king. However, I believe that these nine verses teach exactly that. Not only is there evidence of Jesus’ deity here, but there are examples of His sovereignty and authority. Not only do some of the people say that they believe Him to be the Messiah, He doesn’t correct them. “Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.”
We see here a hint of Jesus’ deity when we consider His OMNISCIENCE.
By “omniscience” I refer to knowledge which only deity can possess – a knowledge of ALL things. But first, let’s catch up on the background – Christ and His band of disciples were returning to Jerusalem from a preaching tour in Perea – Judah beyond Jordan. Apparently Christ’s followers at this time were not limited to the twelve disciples and a few godly ladies. There may have been a small army of people surrounding and following Christ in their ascent up from Jericho. After reaching and walking across the plateau above the Jordan, they were once again climbing a slight rise toward the top of the Mount of Olives. Ahead and down below the western side of Olivet was Jerusalem, but they were still approaching the community of Bethpage followed by Bethany – the town where Lazarus, Mary and Martha lived. Also residing at one of those communities was a donkey and its foal – a young ass colt. Jesus sent two unnamed disciples ahead of the crowd, telling them to bring the animals to Him.
We are told that “the Lord hath need of them” – but what exactly was Jesus’ need? Was the Lord too tired to go on? Was He not feeling well? Was He worried about the descent into Jerusalem? No way. The Lord Jesus Christ was never in need of transportation because of any weakness or danger. Do you ever remember reading about Him riding any animal anywhere? Weakness was not the necessity for this animal, but I’m going to table this subject in order to consider simply the details.
Matthew gives us the gist of the Lord’s instructions to the pair of disciples. Immediately upon entering into the city, they would see the mother animal and her foal. They were to loose both animals and bring them back to the Lord. There was nothing said about asking permission to take them. And notice that Jesus didn’t say, “If the owner tries to stop you tell him, the Lord hath need of them.” He said, “And if any man say ought unto you….” here is how you are to reply. “And straightway (without hesitation) he will send them.” Both Mark and Luke add another interesting comment from Jesus’ lips, “As soon as ye be entered into (the community), ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat…” This was an unbroken colt, and the Lord knew it.
I know that this will not convince the man whose mind is prejudiced against Bible Christianity, but it is clear to me that none of this was pre-arranged in any human sort of way. There is no natural explanation for Christ’s knowledge of these animals and what would happen. But if that is true, then how did He know about these two animals? How did He know that they would be right inside the entrance to the city? How did He know that the colt would, as yet, be unbroken and unprepared to accept a rider? How did He know that someone would question the disciples? How did He know that permission would be immediately granted without argument, verification or receipts? Forget about looking for plausible explanations – the circumstances are just a little too complicated. The primary reason that Christ could detail each of these details, is due to His omniscience – as deity. God is never surprised by anything – Deity knows all things and all possible all things. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the Lord Jesus had described the color of each of the animals. I wouldn’t have been surprised if hadn’t given His disciples the address or more of the details of the place where the animals were tied. As easily as He could have given us the names of the two disciples, He would have given us the name of the owner or the names of the two asses. He could have told us the number of hairs on the owner’s head or left eyebrow, if He had wanted.
The disciples who went to pick up the animals were most likely not surprised to find everything just as Jesus had described. They didn’t go into town worried about whether or not they would be arrested for grand theft. They knew exactly what would happen, so they weren’t surprised that things went so smoothly. Earlier all the disciples had learned of Christ’s omniscience and confessed – “Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.” Jesus Christ is not the Son of God in some limited way – He is deity – divine – He is the Almighty God.
Beside the omniscience of Christ, we also see His SOVEREIGNTY here in these verses.
One reason that those disciples came away with the ass and her colt, was it was the decreed will of God. “All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. 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.” Every step in this transaction was planned in eternity and prophesied in the Old Testament, then it was re-prophesied by Christ Himself. One of the most powerful proofs of the veracity and authenticity of God’s Word are its many fulfillments of prophecy – and this is just one of them. “Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.” And His name is Jesus Christ, our Lord!
Around Calvary Baptist Church, most often when we use the word “sovereignty” we are thinking about the Lord’s sovereign choice when it comes to salvation from sin. Jehovah saves whom He elects to save; He is not coerced into saving anyone by any human means. He elects; He chooses those whom He wants to save; in fact He did so in eternity past. But salvation is just one aspect – one area – of the sovereignty of God. Generally speaking, “sovereignty” is the exercise of the supremacy or authority of a true and legitimate king. There is no higher King than Jehovah – Elohim. Christ is the King of all kings and the Lord of all earthly lords and monarchs. He is the King of all His creation and rules all things down to the blowing of the wind and the behavior of cattle.
I am not an horseman, so I cannot speak as an expert in this area. But I have read that horses have to be taught to carry burdens and especially riders. They aren’t willing to let people ride them. I don’t know if this applies to mules, camels and donkeys just as it does to horses, but I’ll assume so. Perhaps this ass was used to riders, but we are distinctly told that her colt had never experienced anyone on his back. It is as though Mark and Luke wanted us to fully understand that this was an unbroken animal. And yet, after some of the disciples threw their outer cloaks and coats over the back of the beast, when Christ Jesus sat on him, he was as tame as if he had been ridden a thousand times. I can just imagine, the animal’s fright as those cloaks fell over it – He may have bucked them off at first; He may have bolted and run to the other side of his mother. But as soon as the Lord Jesus walked over to him, there was a peace and willingness to serve that was greater than Michael’s or Gabriel’s. That animal knew who was his King. The Lord Jesus was the first and foremost “horse whisperer.”
The sovereignty of Christ can be seen in His omniscience and in the prophecy. It is seen again the acquisition of the animals and then in their behavior. We will come to this later, but we will again see the sovereignty of the King, when He later enters the temple. “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Was Christ merely quoting Jeremiah 7:11 or was He saying, “This temple is supposed to be MY house, but you have made it a den of thieves”? A great many godly men had visited the Temple over the years, but not one of them had attacked the commercialization found there – none but the King. Following that we again see the sovereignty of the king when ”the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them” – verse 14.
Christian, the point of all this is to remind you – and me – that this Jesus of Nazareth, whom we worship, is indeed greater than any of our needs. He who healed the blind and lame can still heal them today. He who can tame the wildest donkey can tame our wild fears and temptations. We can and should still worship and serve Him, not only because we are convinced of His sovereign power, but we are convinced of His love as well. Romans 8:32 may be speaking of God the Father, but it applies equally to God the Son – “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
There is yet another aspect of Christ’s sovereignty related to this so-called “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem. Luke tells us that “some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples” (for all this shouting and praise). But He “answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” Some people might have you think that this was just boastful talk – bravado in the face of His enemies. But I am foolish enough to insist that under the sovereignty of Christ, He could have caused voices to come out of those stones. He who made an Old Testament donkey to speak with a human tongue, could have given a tongue to the donkey on which He was riding. And He who could make asses to speak could also give tongues to stones. Look at the sovereign power of Christ – put your faith in the Christ of that sovereignty.
There are other things here which I might address later, but there is one thing which I cannot put off.
Somewhat hidden in the words of these verses is a declaration that Christ is the SAVIOUR.
Jesus Christ is the omniscient God, the sovereign King and the blessed Saviour. You don’t see this last point? “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.” The word “hosanna” is a transliteration – which means that it hasn’t been translated into English. But it’s not what you might first expect – it’s not a transliteration from Greek, but rather from Hebrew. The people were crying out in Hebrew, not their usual Aramaic or the common Greek. Five times this word is found in the New Testament – twice in this chapter, twice in Mark’s account and once again in the Book of John. A day or two later when Jesus was once returning from Bethany into the city, a great crowd of people met Him. They “took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
The reason that they were using that particular word is that it took them back to Old Testament scriptures. That word “hosanna” has the same root as Jesus’ name and it means “Saviour.” “Yasha‘ (yaw-shah’) is translated “save” just shy of 150 times, then it is rendered “saviour” and “deliver.” In calling Christ “the son of David” they were ascribing to Him the office of the Messiah. And He didn’t attempt to correct them, because they were absolutely correct. And than in shouting “hosanna” they were saying, “Save, we pray” – “save us.” And once again Jesus did not correct them.
I am not for a minute going to say that all those people fully understood what they were shouting. Many of them were probably pleading for and in hope of the Messianic Kingdom. Most had no concept of individual salvation and their need of redemption. But I do believe that the sovereign God was in control of that entire scene whether those people, the two animals or any of the stones understood any of it. The millennial Messianic Kingdom was not going to begin with this “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem. Rather, Christ was riding into the city in preparation of giving His life as a ransom for many. “Hosanna” was indeed an appropriate shout, because the Saviour was soon to give His life as the Lamb of God, sacrificed for the saving of sinners like us. Those people were excited about the King, but it would have been better if they had been excited about the Saviour.
We need a king. We need THE King. But as sinners, we don’t simply need a sovereign to direct us, we need deliverance from our sins and the punishment which they demand. Christ Jesus is both, but each in its proper order. Today is not the day for throwing palm branches down to soften the footsteps of the King. Today, humble repentance is more appropriate; today we who are sinners need to throw down our hearts in humble faith before Him. Repent before God the King, but at the same time believe on the Lord Jesus Christ who gave His life as a sacrifice for your salvation.