Matthew 21 – Hosanna to the son of David!
Introduction
A. Jesus' last visit to the city of Jerusalem. After His three-year ministry, the Son of God had manifested the glory and majesty of God by his works: works of righteousness and mercy, works of power healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead.
1. He presented himself to his people both with the rich and the poor as the meek and lowly Lord. Matthew 11:28-30. The sinners sought him and the public regarded him as the Prophet of God, Matthew 21:46.
2. However, the priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees rejected him. They were envious of him and in their pride hated him when He corrected their sins and false doctrines.
B. Finally, Jesus of Nazareth returned to Jerusalem and entered the gates as the Anointed of God, the Messiah or the Christ: the King, Son of the dynasty of David. He seized the reins of authority and denounced the wickedness of Israel's "builders." He judged them.
C. Let us examine the message of Matthew 21: The triumphant entrance into Jerusalem.
I. Matthew 21:1-11. Hosanna to the Son of David!
A. When Jesus rode the donkey with her colt, He presented Himself as King using the same symbolism as David used with the coronation of Solomon, 1 Kings 1:33-38.
B. Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecy and promise that God gave to David (2 Samuel 7, 22) which is the basis of Psalm 89:49. The whole psalm is dedicated to reminding God of that promise.
C. Jesus also fulfilled the words of Zechariah 9:9 and Psalm 118:25.
1. Psalm 118 was the psalm that was sung in observing The Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast itself is called, "The Great Hosanna." There was a parade with palms and branches.
2. "The King" draws our attention to the prophecies of Isaiah 9:6-7 and 53:3 (Mentioned in Acts 13:34)
3. "Hosanna" means "praise" and literally is a petition for salvation: "Save us, we plead."
D. The whole city was stirred, v. 10.
II. Matthew 21:12-17. Jesus Cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem.
A. Jesus took the role of the legitimate priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
1. Hebrews 6:18-20; 7:1-28. Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Psalm 110:4: The king who was also a priest, though not of the genealogy of Levi. Psalm 110 was a psalm of David that declared that his descendant would be his Lord.
2. Melchizedek belongs to the history of Abraham, Genesis 14:17-20, The patriarch of the nation Israel. Abraham paid tithes to that priest-king. In this way, The Psalm declared Christ as superior to Abraham and Levi.
B. Jesus judged the priests and condemned them for being corrupt, “A cave of thieves.” (or den of robbers) He used the words of Isaiah 56:7, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’” Then, He reminded them of the cutting words of Jeremiah 7:11, “but you make it a den of robbers.” He called them “robbers,” thieves who serve in the Holy Place of God, a house of prayer.
C. When the lame and blind came to Christ, he healed them in the Temple of God, doing the works of God, which only God could have done: the Son of God in His own place, doing works of mercy.
D. The chief priests and the scribes were indignant, Seeing the wonders and hearing the children say, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" They said, "Do you hear what they say?" They thought they were scolding Jesus for allowing such praise as if it were false. Before their blind eyes, it was blasphemy because they did not believe the obvious truth that the children and the public could see clearly.
E. Jesus answered them with the words of another psalm, Psalm 8, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”
-- Again, Jesus speaks as the Lord whom the whole universe praises, even when some men deny Him what He deserves receive.
III. Matthew 21:18-22. Jesus Cursed the Fig tree for Hypocrisy, for Having Leaves Without Fruit.
A. It was a symbolic judgement. The fig tree first produces fruit, and then the leaves grow out, giving shade to the fruit as it matures. Seeing the leaves, one would anticipate the fruit under the leaves. The fig tree served as a parable of the hypocrisy of the unbelievers of Jerusalem. They pretended to be righteous, but they walked in sin and corruption.
B. Seeing the wonder, Jesus promised that the disciples, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.”
1. Since the subject was the hypocrisy of the powerful and their unbelief, we can make the application that Jesus was going to overcome the power of the wicked and that they also could overcome all the forces arrayed against the gospel that they were going to preach.
2. The prayers that the disciples were going to offer in Jesus’ name, would be for God's help in their own struggles against sin, against false doctrines, and against the false "builders" in the future. Jesus promised that God could do much more than they could ask and think.
-- Ephesians 3:14-21, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, … 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
IV. Matthew 21:23-27. Who is really in command?
A. Wounded by the corrective words of Jesus, the truth that cuts like a two-edged sword, the chief priests and scribes questioned the authority of Jesus to do what belongs to the dominion of the priests in the temple. They ignored the righteousness of what Jesus did and also the divine power present in the healing of the blind and the lame.
B. Jesus silenced them by questioning their abuse of the authority of the priests of God for not believing and backing the prophet John the Baptist. He offered them a defense of the authority of His own actions if they would answer Him His question, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
--John gave testimony about Jesus, and just like Jesus, condemned the hypocrisy of the "builders."
C. Obviously, Jesus commanded, an authority greater than that of the priests.
1. John fulfilled the prophecies of Malachi 3:1-5 and 4:5-6. He was a prophet after the order of Elijah, the most honored prophet of the Old Testament.
2. Jesus ordered the temple to be cleansed. Then he commanded healing for the blind and lame, the merciful and almighty Son of God.
D. Matthew 28:18 ends with the proclamation, "All authority is given to Me in heaven and on earth." (See Also Ephesians 1:20-23, Colossians 1:15-19)
V. Matthew 21:28-32. Parable of the two sons
A. Which of the two did the father's will?
1. The one who said no but then repented and obeyed his father?
2. The one who said yes, but never obeyed his father?
3. Reply: the first one.
B. The first one refers to the so-called "Publicans and Harlots" Who believed John's preaching and that of Jesus. The second one refers to the “builders,” those who seeing the repentance of the sinners don't repent and believe Him.
1. The use of the word "believe" in this context obviously refers to the repentance and baptism of John and Jesus. In the New Testament, many times the word "believe" is used in the comprehensive sense that covers all the consequences of true faith.
2. Therefore, it is reasonable that one could "believe" after repenting. It doesn't mean just believing, because believing is what gives us the reason to repent and be baptized.
VI. Matthew 21:33-41. Parable of the Labradors
A. The farmers did not pay the fruits they had to pay according to their contract with the owner of the vineyard. They are symbols of the "chief priests" who walked in corruption instead of justice, and did not bear fruit for God, the owner of the vineyard, Israel. (See the Parable of the Vineyard, Isaiah 5)
B. The unbelievers of the Jews mistreated the prophets and finally Jesus who came asking for the fruits. Jesus gives us the details in Matthew 23:29-36.
C. Jesus judged them, the King and Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
--The divine Sentence: “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
VII. Matthew 21:42-46. The Prophecy of Psalm 118:22-23.
A. “Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
B. This psalm was read during The Feast of Tabernacles and it's called the "Great Hosanna."
1. The voices still sounded in the ears of the priests, of the children who proclaimed Jesus, the son of David.
2. Jesus makes the application of the psalm to the present priests, "the builders."
3. He declares the Divine Judgment against them for having withheld the fruits which they owed to the Lord.
C. “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.”
D. The people who produce the fruits.
1. Colossians 1:13
2. 1 Peter 2:9
3. Hebrews 12:28-29