Hey everybody! Thank you for joining me in daily Bible reading as we seek to glorify Jesus, know Him more, and interpret the truth of His Word.
If this is your first time going through the Bible, I am incredibly excited to have you here. If this is your 5000th time, I am humbled that you are here and hope you grow in your relationship with Jesus along with me. May we all seek to know Him more and apply what we learn to further our mission of spreading the gospel. If you missed a day and want to catch up, visit the archives page HERE! But there is no shame if you start today! Day 236, Matthew 21:6-11 — Jesus’ Triumphant Entry Matthew 21:6-11 (NASB1995) “The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, 7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. 8 Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. 9 The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!” 10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” Review Yesterday, we started reading about Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Jesus and His enormous crowd of followers arrived in Bethpage, which was a suburb of Jerusalem, located around one mile outside the city. Jesus stops here to plan His royal entry into the city. However, before continuing, He sends two disciples to a nearby village to get a donkey for Him to ride into Jerusalem, which fulfills Old Testament prophecies from Zechariah 9:9 and Isaiah 62:11. Discussion Today, we continue reading about Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Matthew writes, “The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, 7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats.” This might seem redundant to the casual reader, but Jesus follows these specific steps before entering Jerusalem to properly fulfill the Old Testament prophesies we referenced yesterday (Zech. 9:9; Is. 62:11). The disciples bring Jesus the donkey and the colt and lay their coats on the animals for Jesus to sit on just as Zechariah prophesied. If Jesus entered the city any other way, then these prophesies would not have been fulfilled. However, He does, which further reveals He is the awaited Messiah. As He mounted the donkey and began His humble trek into Jerusalem, “8 Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road.” This is the exact Scripture modern Christians refer to for ‘Palm Sunday’ or other Easter or Resurrection Day-related services. Many modern Christians around the world also celebrate the entire week and call it ‘Holy Week’ or ‘Passion Week.’ This is because there was one week between His entry into Jerusalem and His death on the cross, which is a pillar of the Christian faith. This is also why Christians call Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem the ‘Triumphant Entry’ as it symbolizes His coming triumph over sin and death. Jesus has explained His coming death and resurrection to His disciples multiple times. This news likely made their trip a solemn affair at times, but His glorious entry into Jerusalem likely gave them hope as the crowds laid their coats on the road as He approached. Think of their coats and the palm branches being laid out like how people lay out the red carpet for celebrities. The people are showing deep, kingly reverence and honor to Jesus as He enters the city. Notably, it was an ancient Jewish custom to welcome a king this way. Jehu received the same welcoming when he became king of Israel in 2 Kings 9:13. It says, “Then they hurried and each man took his garment and placed it under him on the bare steps, and blew the trumpet, saying, ‘Jehu is king!’” However, most pilgrims in ancient times made their entry into a city by foot.[1] Thus, Jesus’ entry on the back of a donkey likely confused most people, including the disciples. As John 12:16 clarifies, “These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him.” According to John’s account, not even the disciples discerned the current event as the fulfillment of prophecy until after the resurrection.[2] As Jesus further approached the city upon the reverential laying of garments, “9 The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!’” This proclamation refers to Psalm 118:25-26, which says, “O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity! 26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD; We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.” The incredible parallel in this Psalm is found in the word ‘save.’ In ancient Greek, the word for ‘save’ was yasha, which means ‘to save’ or ‘to deliver.’ The word ‘hosanna’ offers a similar interpretation meaning ‘save us’, ‘please save us’, or ‘save us now’ in an exclamation of praise.[3] The people proclaiming ‘hosanna, hosanna’ was the very highest form of salutation used toward Jesus as their promised Savior and Deliverer.[4] However, Hare notes that the literal meaning of hosanna was sometimes forgotten and was simply used as a proclamation of praise like ‘Hallelujah,’ like how one may pray to God.[5] Regardless, the people praise God for sending the Messiah. Hare also notes that ‘The Son of David’ in the proclamation “connects this passage with the immediately preceding healing of the blind men.”[6] Furthermore, ancient Israelites regularly sang the Hallel, which includes Psalms 113–118.[7] They sang these psalms of praise during the Passover season, which later generations then applied to pray for their hope of future redemption.[8] Jesus will also messianically cite Psalm 118 later in Matthew. Additionally, Psalm 118 relates to festival pilgrimages to Jerusalem and is a ritualized welcome for such pilgrims, especially during the great feasts of Tabernacles, Passover, etc.[9] People from all over would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate such feasts. Matthew concludes the passage, writing, “10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, ‘Who is this?’ 11 And the crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.’” The people’s response to Jesus’ grand entry reveals that they did not understand His true identity yet, or why He had come. Certainly, most believed Jesus to be the Messiah but they did not understand His divinity as they simply referred to Him as a ‘prophet from Nazareth.’ Remember, these people believe Jesus has arrived to overthrow the oppressive Roman occupation and establish His messianic kingdom. However, He has come not as a warlike conqueror upon a horse, but as a humble suffering servant upon a donkey. Jesus will soon die for humanity’s sins and defeat death by resurrecting to provide eternal life and salvation for all people who put their faith in Him. But sadly, many of the people professing Him as the Savior now will turn on Him when He is arrested in the coming days. They will change their tone of praise to a tone of persecution in unison with the religious leaders who profess Jesus as a false prophet. Thus, “the Son of David enters David’s city, but the only throne He finds is a cross.”[10] In the end, the city that welcomed Him will reject their gentle king. Hare writes, “How easy it is for us to think that by celebrating Palm Sunday we acknowledge Jesus as king in a way that Jerusalem failed to do! We need constantly to be humbled by those harsh words that remind us of the superficiality of our Hosannas—[and remember]—‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.’”[11] Application I did not plan to end this post on a convicting note as it is one of the most celebratory moments in the Bible. But Hare’s quote pierced deep and rings too true—especially in the American church. How many of us will celebrate Christ and publicly profess in the coming weeks and then go right back to rejecting Him as we remain unchanged in our sins? How many of us proclaim Christ and give Him ‘praise’ yet our hearts are far from Him? How many of us praise Jesus when life prospers, yet reject Him when trouble arises? Reject Him amid doubt? Amid persecution? Peer pressure? Indeed, we should praise God for sending Christ, recognize all the amazing ways He fulfilled the Scriptures, and trust that He will return for us one day. But will you be ready? Do you genuinely live for Jesus? Do you obey Him and have genuine faith in His work on the cross? Of all God’s commands, His requires us to love and obey Him with everything we have. This includes remaining faithful and enduring to the end, turning from sin, and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us more into Christlikeness. Do you find yourself praising Him one day and rejecting Him the next? This is a stern warning to the professing Christian who will celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection over the next few weeks and then go back to their sin and forget about Him the rest of the year. Let us remain faithful to Christ and glorify Him for all He has done, is doing, and will do. Let us not be like those shouting ‘hosanna’ to Jesus one day and spitting on Him the next. Let us reflect on our faith and see if it is true. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” May we praise, worship, honor, and glorify Jesus every day in all that we do while continually pursuing righteousness, holiness, and forgiveness as He forgave us. Looking Ahead Thank you for joining today’s daily Bible reading! Next, we read Matthew 21:12-13. I hope you join me! I have made commenting available, so please feel free to discuss the reading and ask questions. If you do not want to discuss publicly, you can reach out to me privately. We are on this journey together. References [1] Douglas R. A. Hare, “Interpretation Commentary.” [2] Ibid. [3] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, “Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary.” [4] Ibid. [5] Hare, “Interpretation Commentary.” [6] Ibid. [7] Craig Keener, “IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Second Edition.” [8] Ibid. [9] Doug O’Donnell, “New International Greek Testament Commentary.” [10] Hare, “Interpretation Commentary.” [11] Ibid.
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