The King is Coming!

On April 18th 1775 Paul Revere rode into Lexington with a very simple message, “The British are coming!” He brought this message as a word of warning to the residents so that they could be prepared.

While this coronation was a celebration of the entry of Christ. Truly it was a warning to Satan. Your time is up.

I. The Plan of Christ

One thing that Christians often say is that “God has a plan” and this simple truth has sadly become a cliche. Whenever someone goes through a tough situation we often answer with “God has a plan”. Yet instead of comfort this often brings remorse to the partaker of the situation. They sit and wonder, how can this terrible thing be apart of God’s plan? How can a God who is so good, let something so bad happen? For that we must look to Christ. For what happened to Him is much worse than anything that can happen to you and I. Worse than any sickness, brokenness, and pain is the fact that Jesus Christ hung on a cross and bore the full wrath of God. I can assure you this, that on that cross there was not a hint of surprise. Christ knew that this was all according to plan.

a. Calling of the Steed

God has His way in accomplishing His purpose. Before heading into Jerusalem Christ needs something to ride in on. Typically these celebrations would come after the naming of a new king or if an army general was returning from a successful battle. They would either ride in on chariot or on a beautiful white horse, in that same sense the King of kings. The Lord of lords. The Alpha and the Omega. He needs something to ride in on as well. What could match His glory? What could represent the wondrous victory that is about to take place? Jesus rides in on a donkey.

One may be tempted to ask, “Why a donkey?” and we will explore that in a moment, but first I want to look at HOW He got the donkey. This is important to understand because one may assume that Jesus was pressed for time, maybe from taking too long with Bartimaeus, and just says, “This will do.” That is not the case at all. Christ is not scratching the bottom of the barrel here rather this was His first choice.

Notice what He says, in verse 2.

Matthew 21:2 NKJV

saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.

Christ is speaking as one who knows all things. He is speaking as God here. This is not a vague request. It is a specific command that aligns perfectly with God’s will. He points them in the exact direction and says exactly what they will find. He then says exactly what He wants. The donkey is no accident, He wants it specifically. From the gospel of Luke we learn that this donkey He wants has never been ridden before. No one has ever sat on this donkey. Almost as if it is reserved solely for Christ. He wants that specific donkey.

One may be led to say that Christ is stealing here but that is not true as indicated by verse 3

Matthew 21:3 NKJV

And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

So, not only is Christ describing perfectly which donkey He wants, He is also describing how to get it. All the disciples had to do was say, “The Lord needs it.” This is exactly what happens, the disciples go over and go to untie and the owner says, “What is going on here?” to which they say these words, “The Lord needs them.” The owner, as Jesus predicted, immediately lets them go.

If only we would understand what this guy did. That donkey wasn’t his to begin with. It belonged to God and he had the privilege to steward it.

Chaney’s deal with jeep owner.

We must have that same response with whatever God has blessed us with. That when we here, “The Lord needs it.” We simply reply with, “ok”. Through this act of obedience the Lord receives His chosen steed . It is not the cleanest horse or the fastest chariot. It is not a war symbol, but a symbol of peace. He calls on the lowly colt to carry Him into Jerusalem. Why a colt though? Why something so stubborn, something so tiny, something so dirty? This is what Christ has called to carry Him into Jerusalem and the same questions may be asked of why He calls on the stubborn, tiny, dirty, sinners to carry His name into the cities today. He does it to put to shame the wisdom and the power of this world. In other words He does it for the completion of the Scripture.

b. Completion of the Scripture

We see how Christ got His donkey and in verse 4 we receive the answer to why He got His donkey.

Matthew 21:4 NKJV

All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

The prophet Zechariah is being quoted here as He predicts the coming King. He tells the daughter of Zion (Jerusalem) that her King is coming to her. This is astounding because typically if you wanted to see the king. You had to go to them. You had to ascend the steps. You had to get through the guards. You had to make the appointment. All of that and you were not even guaranteed to meet the king.

Yet, this King is different. He knows our inability. He knows that we can’t make the climb, pay the price, or even plan the appointment. Instead of pointing and laughing at us this King is one who comes down. Who, in the words of Paul, made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in likeness of men. Zechariah is describing someone Who is powerful yet humble. He goes on to say this King will be seated on a donkey. Specifically the foal of a donkey. Christ sought to fulfill this Scripture. By calling on a donkey and her foal. He fulfilled this and rode in on the humble steed.

Jesus Christ’s plan went according to the Scripture. Why? Because the Scripture is His very word. II Timothy 3:16

2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

How do we know that what Jesus is doing here is according to plan? Because it is fulfilling Scripture. Please take this very simple principle from this that if you want to know the will of God for your life, read your Bible!

This entrance into Jerusalem is all according to plan and we know that from Jesus calling on the donkey in accordance with the Scripture.

c. Comfort in Salvation

With that said I want to point out one final thing about this plan and that is our comfort in salvation. This is not explicitly stated here in our text, but it is implied and I would be wronging you if I ignored it. By calling this a plan we understand that Christ going into Jerusalem was something that was set in motion long before it even happened. We know this because not only did the prophet prophecy about it. Christ also fulfilled it.

Our God is not a god that does things off the cuff. He does not wing it. He does not hope for the best. Joseph Parker put it like this.

He is now about to fulfil a scripture. “All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.” He did nothing extemporaneously, his most sudden act was a flash from a volcano which it had taken an eternity to gather.

Our God is a planner and praise Him that not only does He make plans. He keeps plans as well. Let me point you briefly to another Scripture that Jesus Christ fulfilled Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53 NKJV

Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

Please understand that your salvation was not a last minute decision. It was not something in which God glanced over and said, “Sure, you can come to.” It was lovingly thought out. From the moment Adam and Eve sinned against God you were already on His mind. The beloved song says it nicely, “While He was on the cross, I was on His mind.”

Take comfort in that fact. Find peace that God perfectly planned out how to get you from point A to point B. From sinner to saint. From lost to found. From enemy to child. If God is able to meet that need I assure you He can meet your other needs as well.

II. The Proclamation of the Crowd

As mentioned already these parades that would take place were something that people flocked to. They would gather around and shout to the king as he entered the city. The multitude with Jesus did something quite interesting as He entered the city.

a. Their Subtle Submission

Matthew 21:6–8 NKJV

So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

What the disciples are doing here is making a sort of saddle for Christ to sit on. Just to provide a little comfort. This makes perfect sense but what happens next is a little perplexing. This “Very great multitude” Obviously the people around Christ has grown since His meeting with Bartimaeus because we have grown from “great” to “Very great”. They throw their outer garments on the ground and lay down palm leaves as well. Now this was not weird at this time.

This was common during these coronation parades for the citizens to lay down their clothes as a way of showing submission to the king. They were subtly saying, “I will follow your command.” with this red carpet of their outer garments. Although this was commonplace for this ceremony what happens next is more peculiar as they begin laying down palm branches, learned from John, onto the ground. These branches symbolized salvation. So this group of people saw Jesus not only as king but also as Savior. This is coupled by their song of salvation.

b. Their Song of Salvation

Matthew 21:9 NKJV

Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!”

This is a beautiful picture of worship! Christ is being centralized and lifted up physically by His donkey, but also verbally by this song of praise from the multitude. This is something that we should seek to emulate in our worship services and in our life! Christ being center of it all.

In this short worship service the choir is singing “Hosanna to the Son of David!”. Hosanna is a word of praise that literally means “save now”. This coupled with the messianic term “Son of David” gives us a clear message that the multitude desires. They are saying, “Save us now! Messiah.”

The only issue lies in their definition of salvation. They sat under Roman oppression and sought it to be ended quickly. They saw their biggest need as freedom from soldiers and Christ knew it to be freedom from sin. They wanted a quick solution to their problem not a permanent salvation from their sin. This is why later in the week the song of praise will turn to shouts of anger. The hosannas will turn into crucify!

Christ knew this to be the case all along.

III. The Purpose of the Coronation

Matthew 21:10–11 NKJV

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

One may be led to ask, “Why would this brief worship service have happened if these people were so quick to turn on Christ?” Once again we must know that everything is going according to plan. The purpose of this is found in three little things.

a. The Inquiry of the Citizens

All the city was moved when Jesus came into town. The population would have been pushing hundreds of thousands of people at this point. Yet every single one was wondering “Who is this?” They were moved that they were being met by a very great multitude who were shouting and screaming and submitting to the Lord and were wondering who He was. This is an understandable question and one that we should be able to answer. One that we should smile about to answer. One that we get excited to answer. How would you answer? I pray not in the same way as the multitude.

b. The Insult from the Crowd

I describe their answer as an insult for good reason. Not because what they said was rude or demeaning. Not because what they said was false. I call this response insulting because it does not match what they were just saying. The citizens are crying out, “Who is this?” and the multitude just says. “This is Jesus, the prophet.”

This is equivalent going to a football game and watching someone break three records in a single game. Shouting your lungs out and then when someone asks you about it later you just say, “Yeah, they’re a good player”

Or when someone gets saved in church and we are crying and shouting and rejoicing and then when we get home and someone says, “How was church?” Oh, it was alright.

These people were just proclaiming that this man named Jesus is the Messiah who is able to save and yet when confronted about it. “Yeah, he is just a prophet.” They were caught up in the excitement about the song and forgot to understand what all of that meant. Already we are beginning to see the down slide from Hosanna in the highest! to Crucify! Crucify! and yet Christ was aware of this the entire time.

c. The Intention of Jesus Christ

Jesus knew very well that as soon as He jumped on that donkey the worship would be loud and short lived. Yet He went in anyway. He understood that the praise would turn into anger. Yet He went in anyway. He knew the cost of walking through that gate. He went in anyway. Why? He did it for His people. He did it to save. He did it all according to plan.

Jesus entered the city so that He could exit the tomb!