Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
(Matthew 21: 1-11)
“Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Other Ref: Mark 11:1-14; Luke 19:29-40; John 12:12-19
As the time drew near for Jesus to suffer and die for our sins, the Sunday1 before His victorious resurrection, He entered the city of Jerusalem. But His arrival didn’t go unnoticed. After three years of miraculous healings and preaching throughout the country, Jesus couldn’t show up anywhere without drawing attention. Jesus knew this day would come. He knew everything that was to happen was about to happen!
In order to fulfill Old Testament prophecy, there were a few important details that needed to be addressed. Zechariah 9:9 says, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Emphasis added) This prophecy would not have been missed by the Jews of the day. They’d heard this prophecy read many times in the synagogues.
The mention of the colt is interesting. John MacArthur comments: “Matthew is the only Gospel writer who mentions the mare donkey. But all mention the young age of the donkey, or state that no man had ever sat on him. The mare was brought along, possibly to induce the colt to cooperate. Christ rode on the young colt.” People spreading their clothes along Jesus’ path was an ancient sign that they acknowledged Jesus’ claim to be the ‘King of the Jews’. And don’t miss this: a person riding on a young donkey symbolized the intention to bring peace. The standard military mount, a horse, would have implied a more aggressive message.
Jesus’ entire life had been marked by peace and humility so why would His arrival at Jerusalem be any different? His whole life had been about what was about to take place; the Savior of the world, the King of kings lowering Himself to the level of servant, allowing Himself to be humiliated and crucified to save those who are His servants. Let that sink in. The Son of God allowed Himself to be disgraced by torture and death in order to reestablish relationships with us ⏤ those who don’t deserve even a moment of His time! WOW! So what do we do with this? How should we react to such amazing news? Jesus never passed up an opportunity to demonstrate how He wanted us to live. Matthew Henry commented about this passage: “As meekness and outward poverty were fully seen in Zion’s King, and marked his triumphal entrance to Jerusalem, how wrong covetousness, ambition, and the pride of life must be in Zion’s citizens!”
God’s perfect intentions for our lives are much different than the lives we live today. Our relationships with the Creator of the universe, God Almighty, are not what He intended them to be, therefore, our relationships with each other aren’t what was intended either. The first step in aligning ourselves with God’s plan is to build relationships with God. We do that primarily by prayer and obedience. But also, and I cannot express this enough, the importance of becoming active in a local church community. This can be a powerful catalyst to maturing your faith in God. With these changes, it won’t take long before you see your vertical relationship (with God) maturing and, as a result, your heart softening and your horizontal relationships (with each other) becoming stronger and more peaceful, as well! ☧
- Although we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry on the Sunday before His execution, some believe the actual date of this entry was Monday, 10 Nisan, AD 30, exactly 483 years after the decree of Artaxerxes mentioned in Daniel 9:24–26. ↩︎
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