Well, as we come now to the time when we worship the Lord through the study of His Word, let's begin by turning to Matthew chapter 21. The text in front of us is verses 1 to 17, and I've entitled this morning's message, The Presentation of the King. The Presentation of the King. Now, that's different than probably what most of your Bibles say. In fact, it's different than the title that most commentators give to this text. It is commonly referred to as the triumphal entry. However, the longer that I have studied the scriptures and the more that I have become familiar with the whole of the biblical narrative, the more convinced I am that if you really want to see the triumphal entry of Jesus, you will instead turn to Daniel 7 or you will turn to Revelation 19 or one of those texts wherein Jesus is described as coming in glory. That will be His triumphal entry. Revelation 19 says that He is on a white horse and He comes. And with the word, which is the sword that comes from His mouth, with a word, He levels all of His enemies. That is a triumphal entry. What we have in front of us here this morning is the presentation of the King to Israel as one who is meek and lowly and yet has a rightful claim to the throne. One who speaks for God and acts for God and has the compassion of God that is on display. One who is set apart unto God and is holy, but one who comes merely to present himself to Israel. and offer himself as their king so that they might either accept him or reject him. This is the presentation of the king to Israel. Now, through the last couple of centuries, liberals and others have challenged the historicity of the Bible and yet still seek to claim to be Christians. You know, you are free to disbelieve what the Bible says. You are free to reject its historic veracity, that is, that it's recording truthfully what actually happened. You are free to not believe that it is the inspired word of God. And if you choose not to believe it, that's between you and God and your eternal destiny will be between you and him. I might actually say it will be between him and him. and you will simply get the verdict. But in the meantime, I will say it this way. You are free to disbelieve the Bible, but don't tell me that it doesn't mean what it says and then say you're still a Christian. You cannot deny what it says. You can say you don't believe what it says, but today I'd like you to see very clearly that what it shows us is that when Jesus presented himself to Israel. He offered himself deliberately and purposefully as their king so that they could either accept him or reject him. That is what Matthew records for us. And what's really interesting and significant about this text is that it is one of the events in the Gospels that is recorded in all four Gospels. That makes it very significant. You know, when you when you come up on the Christmas season. There are there are two gospels that record the the narrative of the incarnation specifically. That is, Matthew begins with the baby in a manger and well, it starts with the genealogy, but then it immediately gets to the virgin conception and the birth of Jesus and Bethlehem, etc. And Luke starts a little before that with the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist. But then it goes straight into that narrative as well. Mark actually just starts right at with John the Baptist ministry. And and John goes all the way back to the beginning of creation and says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And then it gets down to verse 18 and says in the word became flesh and it gets into the narrative. So. Even even the Christmas narrative technically only occurs in two of the four gospels, and that's a rather significant event, wouldn't you agree? When you look at the rich young ruler, the account of Jesus meeting with the rich young ruler and sharing the truth with him and calling him to repentance, you know, that is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke. But John doesn't have it. And there's a lot of stuff John has that the other Gospels don't have, like the wedding at Cana, like the Samaritan woman, like the man born blind, like the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Those are pretty significant accounts, wouldn't you agree? And yet only John records those. This triumphal entry, this presentation of Jesus to Israel when he rode into the city at the beginning of Passion Week, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. This account is recorded in all four gospels, which means that all four gospel writers under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit deemed it essential to tell this account and set the stage for the crucifixion narrative. That's how we know not only is this true, but it's really significant to recognize and understand in order to understand the gospel message. And as we go through the text here, what you're going to see very clearly as we work through verses 1 to 17 of Matthew 21, verse by verse. And by the way, if you're visiting with us, I'd really encourage you to turn in your Bible to Matthew 21 together with me. And if you don't have one with you, there's a little black hardback in the pew in front of you. Go ahead and pull that out and turn to Matthew 21. I want you to see that this is what the Bible says. Even in my own household, nobody cares what I say. We do care what the Bible says. And that's what we want to look at today. And I want you to see that this is very clearly what the Word of God teaches. And as we look at Matthew 21, verses 1 to 17, what you're going to see is that Jesus fully intended to present himself to Israel as their king. And to act as such when he gets to Jerusalem in order to give them every opportunity to either accept him or reject him as their king. That's the significance of Passion Week. He came as the Messiah in fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures in order to offer himself to Israel as their Messiah, as their anointed King from God, in order to give them every opportunity to either accept him or reject him. Now, you know how it's going to go. And Jesus has known from the beginning how it's going to go. He has. Have we not seen over the last several chapters? How many times Jesus said, when I get to Jerusalem, this is the way it's going to play out. And it's going to end in my rejection. It's going to end in my execution, crucifixion, death and ultimately resurrection. God knew from the beginning. Jesus knew from the beginning exactly how it was going to play out. But he nevertheless gave Israel every opportunity to repent and to receive him. And in a very real sense, this is not unlike what God does with the world today. Every time you hear a message from the gospel, and some of you here this morning need to listen up, every time you hear the gospel message preached, every time you come here and you hear the word of God proclaimed, and you are invited to turn from your sins and be reconciled to God through Christ, every time you are given an opportunity to repent. And if you continue to persist in rejecting, at some point you will breathe your last and you will answer for your sins. because the only name under heaven that has been given by which we must be saved is Jesus Christ. The day for Israel to decide as a nation came right here, beginning in Matthew 21. Jesus purposefully presents himself to Israel as their Messiah and invites them to either accept him or reject him. And he does it in two ways that you'll see right here in the text. He presents himself as Messiah. Both by the way he entered Jerusalem and by the way he acted in Jerusalem from the very beginning of the week, he entered Jerusalem as king and he acted in Jerusalem as king from the very beginning of Passion Week. If you're taking notes, those are the two points that will be hanging our thoughts on this morning as we work through the text. First, he enters as king or he enters as Messiah. Remember that the term Messiah, the term Christ, Christ is just from the Greek Christos, which means anointed one, anointed for a special task or a special role, function or office. And Mashiach or Messiah is simply the Hebrew term that means the same thing. So when you talk about Jesus Christ or Jesus the Messiah or Jesus as the anointed King, it's the same essential term. Now, you'll notice here, starting in verse one of Matthew 21, that when they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord has need of them. And immediately he will send them. The narrative begins with Jesus coming up now to the edge of Jerusalem. If you've been with us for the last several weeks, you know that really Jesus, having completed his ministry in Galilee, he began the basically hundred mile trek on foot from Galilee all the way down to Jerusalem in order to offer himself up as the once for all sacrifice for sins. He told the disciples repeatedly, this is what's going to happen when we get there. And now he's gone a hundred miles and he's basically about two miles outside of town at this point. And he stops and he singles out two of his disciples and he says to them, OK, go to the little town opposite here, the village opposite you right now. And immediately you're going to find a donkey and her colt. Go on time and bring him to me. Why? You're going to see as we get into the text, because he intends to ride the cult into Jerusalem. And the whole reason he intends to do that in verse four is because he intends to fulfill scripture. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you gentle mounted on a donkey, even on a cult, the fall of a beast of burden. He stops before he gets to Jerusalem, sends two disciples to get a cult. and bring him to him so he can ride the last mile and a half to two miles. Now, when you're told this at the beginning of the narrative here this way, this is Matthew making it clear that Jesus didn't just get tired after walking 100 miles. This isn't, you know, he turned his ankle and now I'm going to need some help getting in. This isn't that, you know what? Yeah, I'm just tired of walking. This isn't I got a callus or a a blister. This is this is a very deliberate, purposeful act on Jesus's behalf, where he is he is intending to fulfill scripture deliberately. This is part of the plan of God. This is Christ acting in obedience to his father and presenting himself in fulfillment of scripture, presenting himself to Israel as their messiah, giving them every opportunity to either accept him or reject him. You know, the liberals have offered up suggestions in the past that suggest, you know, the Gospels were written after the fact and they were they were written kind of in a revisionist history trying to. to suggest that jesus had intended all this stuff all the time but the reality is uh... the real jesus was just an everyday guy and he thought everybody would love him and so when he when he rode into town he was fully expecting to play out really well and lo and behold all know they were upset with him and they crucified him and this is the disciples trying to come up with some story to suggest otherwise you know what if you want to reject the bible you can do that you can do that I believe the Bible for many reasons. But I'll tell you what's most important is that we agree that what the Bible is presenting as the case is that when Jesus rode in on the Colt, the fall of a donkey into Jerusalem that day, he did it and he did it on purpose and he did it deliberately to fulfill what the Old Testament promises were. You want to reject that, you can reject that. But at least be honest enough with me to recognize that's exactly what the Bible says. They approached Jerusalem. They're on their way in for Passion Week. They had come to Bethphage, which is it's just a suburb of Jerusalem, basically. It's a it's a little town in the vicinity of the Mount of Olives. It was considered a part of the greater area of Jerusalem itself. It's about a mile and a half from the walls of Jerusalem. You remember last week we left off where they were in the vicinity of Jericho. That's about 15 miles outside of town. So they walk the next 13 miles and they get here to the edge of town and Jesus stops and he sends his disciples to the little village opposite Bethphage and says, go into the village and you're going to immediately find a donkey tied there and a colt with her. Untie them both and bring them to me. Why? Because he intends to ride the colt into Jerusalem and fulfillment of scripture. Now, it's interesting here when you read through the commentators, there are there are some significant things here that that can be pointed out. First of all, the detailed instructions that Jesus gives to his disciples shows this is a deliberate act by Jesus. He didn't just get tired or have sore feet after walking over 100 miles. And and so it tells his disciples to go get him a ride. No, this was purposeful. This was to present himself in fulfillment of scripture as the king. Second, the detailed instructions also show that Jesus either exercised divine omniscience in knowing that the animals would be there in the state that they would be in, or as other commentators have suggested, he made arrangements well in advance for this to take place. Now, both cases show you that that Jesus orchestrated the events pertaining to his entry into Jerusalem. He meant to ride the colt, the fall of a donkey on the way into Jerusalem. He meant to fulfill scripture by the way he came into Jerusalem. And I think the majority of commentators, at least of those that I read, suggested that he had made arrangements in advance. And the little statement in verse three, where he says, if anyone says anything to you, say to him, the Lord has need of them. And immediately he will send them that that was like a password. So that when somebody came up and was asking for the animals and they had made a prearrangement to have them tied in a certain place. And so when they come and you start to take the animals so that they know that you're not stealing them, they're going to ask, you just say the Lord has need of them. Well, I think that's possible and it's certainly interesting. And this is very much like what we'll see again in Matthew 26 and verse 18 regarding the use of the upper room on a night in which Jesus was betrayed. But I personally don't see the need for a password. Because why wouldn't you just say, yeah, I'm Peter and this is John, we're Jesus's disciples, he said to come and get the cult that you had ready for him. I mean, maybe I've you know what, maybe I've got too much experience in my own travels that you walk up to the desk there at Avis or Enterprise or Hertz or whatever and say, yeah, I need a car. I rented it. Oh, let me look at the system. I know they don't have computers and all that stuff, but If listen, if you made arrangements in advance, wouldn't you just say, yeah, Jesus said to come by and pick up the the animal? Why do you need some special catchphrase? I think and frankly, I just. The fact that it's all being done in fulfillment of Scripture, the fact that Matthew says that Jesus said, go into the village opposite you and you'll immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her. I mean, what normal situation would they be in? Would they would they just normally be tied up or would they be in their pens or in the barn or where? It just seems to me there's no reason not to see this as Jesus exercising divine omniscience. Knowing that God the Father has prepared these animals in advance for him, and I have no objection or reservation about recognizing the exercise of of divine attributes by Jesus, he has the Holy Spirit upon him in fullness. In either case, it's very clear. This is deliberate and purposeful and intentional on Jesus's behalf. And in my opinion, also on the father's behalf, orchestrating the events. And when he says, if anyone says anything to you, you say to him, the Lord has needed them. Why say it that way? Because this is an exercise of divine authority. This is a this is the exercise of the authority of the king of a king. He's presenting himself to Israel as a king. And the king has every right to make use of the animals of the citizens of the nation. And the fact that he says if anybody says anything to you means that most likely somebody what will say something to you. Let me ask you a question. If if if we had these blinds open and those of you that are parked over here, if you noticed somebody coming up to your car and opening the door, hopping it up and starting it out, wouldn't you immediately go, what are you doing? Right. And and and this is this is what's going on. Well, not the theft illustration, but you get the point. If anyone says anything to you, you say the Lord has need of them and immediately he will send them. And indeed, that's what happened. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you gentle. The word gentle basically speaks of meekness, strength under control. mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden." The quote itself is from Zechariah 9. You don't need to turn there. Just listen as I read. Zechariah writes, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and endowed with salvation. Humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Centuries in advance. God said that, indeed, this is the way the Messiah would enter into Jerusalem, and this is precisely the way Jesus enters, presenting himself now deliberately and purposefully as Messiah. If you've been with us as we've gone through the study of the Gospels up to this point. Tell me something, has Jesus presented himself as king? Has Jesus repeatedly told people he's the Messiah? Has he made an issue of it? No, quite the opposite. Up to this point, he has regularly sought to avoid the confrontation with religious leaders. He has instructed his disciples not to tell anybody that he was the Christ, the Messiah. You remember the night that Jesus is sitting with his disciples in Matthew 16? And he says, now who do people say that I am? render all the suggestions. He says, well, who do you say that I am? You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He says, you're right. And you didn't figure that out on your own. The fathers reveal it to you. But don't tell anybody. Don't tell anybody. Till it's time. Now it's time. Now it's time because we have come to the point where Jesus formally is presenting himself to Israel as their Messiah so that they can make their decision once and for all whether they accept him or reject him. And this was something he did deliberately. And yes, he knows full well that he'll be rejected. He's been telling his disciples this from the beginning. But today is the day to today is the day he presents himself. And what's really interesting is that if you and I have it written here, but it's Daniel. Daniel 9 and verses 24 to 26. It's really interesting. I don't have time to develop this this morning, but this is the ninth of Nisan 30 A.D., precisely 483 prophetic years from the decree of Arctic Xerxes, exactly as prophesied by Daniel and Daniel 9 verses 24 to 26. This is to the day. The day that Daniel prophesied that the Messiah would come to his people and present himself in Jerusalem. Jesus is very deliberately fulfilling scripture in the way that he comes to Jerusalem and presents himself to the nation. And his entrance was accompanied by affirmations that he is indeed the king. Look at verses six and seven. The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them. And they brought the donkey and the colt and they lay their coats on them. And he sat on the coats. The word for coats basically means garments. It's a general word for garments. In this context, it almost certainly means the outer garments. And so they laid their coats over the animals, most likely to pursue provide something as a saddle cloth. And at the same time, it's a great show of respect to Jesus as the one in authority. Most of the crowd, verse 8, spread their coats in the road. Others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. And the crowds were 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. Most of the crowd. Now, who is this crowd? Remember that this is the beginning of Passover week. Remember, this is one of the three main feasts or festivals in Jerusalem every year. This is one of those major festivals that most of Israel tended to to attend. And this is that this is normal. It happens the same time every year. So the normal practice, since everybody, for the most part, walks, they all leave at about the same time. And they wind up journeying pretty much together. Those who leave in Galilee are about 100 miles away. Those who live around Jericho are about 15 miles away. And so you just keep picking up more and more of the pilgrims along the way to where you have a multitude. So this is a multitude of people that live outside of Jerusalem and outside of the greater area of Judea. And they're all traveling in for the festival. And now that Jesus is mounted on the colt, the fall of a donkey, and by the way, the other gospels tell us that it is a donkey that had never been ridden. It was a young colt, according to John 12, and it had never been ridden before, according to Mark 11 and Luke 19. And so now the disciples put their cloaks over the animals and Jesus is riding the younger of the two. Somebody says, well, why is it that the both of them are there? Well, remember, there are multitudes present. And so the mother is there together with the colt that's never been ridden as Jesus rides in. And Jesus didn't ride both animals. He actually rode the younger of the two. And the crowd begin to spread their cloaks on the road. Well, what is that? It's like the red carpet treatment. It's a show of extreme respect. Tell me something. How often have you ever taken off your coat and laid it on the ground so that Somebody doesn't get their feet dirty. So that's kind of foreign to us. Do you know who you do that for back in these days? Royalty. Royalty, this is the royal treatment. And and notice it says most of the crowd spread their cloaks in the road. They let him ride his donkey over those cloaks so that even his donkey doesn't get his hooves dirty. They're treating him as royalty. What's more, they're cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. Now, I just want to clarify something here. When you think of cutting branches, have you ever been out here for a work day? Right? And we got the oak trees and whatnot. So what's that really big one over here? An elm tree? OK, so the biggest one that we have to cut over and over and over again is an elm tree. And you keep cutting off those big limbs. And now you think about people in a procession like this and we're talking thousands of people. And they're going through and they're cutting off limbs. Does that seem like it's easy to progress over? But see, these aren't those kinds of limbs. Those would be obstacles in the road. The idea that's being described here is this is where the idea of Palm Sunday comes in. These are those long palm branches, mostly leaf. laid out as one big green carpet together with the garments of people laying them down. They're treating him as royalty. And they're acknowledging him as such as well. The crowds were going ahead of him and those who followed were shouting Hosanna to the son of David. Hosanna. You can tell that's not even English word, right? Hosanna. comes from the Hebrew Hosanna or Hosianna. And those of you that have been paying attention in your Hebrew class, right, Denver, notice the Na particle on the end. That little Hosanna, that Na at the end is a Na particle. It strengthens the idea of the request. It makes it urgent. It makes it a strong appeal. The root idea of this Hebrew term means save us. And the now is save us, please. And I do need to correct one thing here where it says Hosanna to the son of David. Some people take this as by the time you get to Jesus's day, instead of meaning save us, it meant praise. So praise to the son of David. I think that's an incorrect translation here. This is an instrumental use. So it is not praise to the son of David. This is save us by the son of David. Now, the sense is ultimately the same. They're both identifying Jesus as the son of David, which means they recognize what he has a rightful claim to the throne. He has a rightful claim to the throne. But the request, if you if you understand the word Hosanna, you understand the crowds are actually lifting up a prayer. This is this is taken right out of the the hell else. This is taken right out of what was normally sung on the way into Jerusalem and the festivals. They're saying, save us, please, by the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord as acknowledging that Jesus has indeed is the coming one and he is coming in the name of God. Save us in the highest, either in the highest regard or by the highest places. Heaven save us by the son of David. I find this really fascinating, the more you look at it, the more you start to realize they were asking God to save them by Jesus. And their expectation is he's going to come in and throw out the Romans and straighten everything out and elevate all of them to to positions of power and prosperity. And in reality, God answered their prayers in the eternally significant way. And Jesus came and died to pay for our sins. He answered their request. But that's what that's what the crowd is saying, save us, please, by the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna by the highest. Notice, it says the crowds were going ahead and they were shouting The idea of we're shouting here is an imperfect with a present participle. In other words, they kept doing this and they were in the process of doing it all the way in. The whole crowd, can you just picture all these people, Hosanna, Hosanna, save us, save us. Save us by the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. There's this huge procession. It's a celebration. You know, it was normal to enter into the festivals. and sing Psalm 118, where this comes from, and the rest of the Psalms. It was typical for them to sing songs of praise and worship and hymns. Sing the Psalms as they went into the festival. Only this time, they have the King with them. And they're singing and proclaiming that they have the King with them. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest, save us by the son of David. And notice the way that his entrance indeed became a catalyst to the very confrontation over his kingship. Who is Jesus and will you accept him as such? Verse 10, when he had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred. The word stirred means in a frenzy or caught up in a state of commotion. It's a it's a word that that fits typical new behavior in the parsonage. Every family we have had since I've been here that's moved into the parsonage has had the same reaction that Kath and I had when we first moved up here to the Antelope Valley. And those of you that are engineers and test pilots, you know exactly what I'm talking about. There is something to be said. I still remember sitting at my desk the first time one of you fly boys did a fly-by and and we don't exactly have the best windows here in the office and I used to have a window out there and I would face the window and I'd look out over the beautiful field of monstrous tumbleweeds rolling by and and I still remember the first time a sonic boom happened as I bam and it literally set me up for my death what happened and you know I did I immediately went out to see what was going on What tickles me now is I ignore them. I still remember, actually, my favorite vehicle of all time, best vehicle in history was my beat up old Dodge Ram 1500. Love that truck. I remember when we went to buy it. Okay, I'd been here about three months or something like that. We went out to the Dodge dealer and we were standing in the parking lot and a B1 flew over while we were standing there in the parking lot. And we were conversing about, you know, I don't remember what we were talking about trucks somehow. And we stopped in the middle of our conversation and looked up as this thing went over. And I still remember, uh, we just stood there for a minute and watched and listened. Cause it shook the ground and the whole bit when we were all done, the salesman looks at me and he says, makes you proud to be an American, don't it? And it was just, it just, it was just one of those things. When you hear the roar coming, it's like, what is that? you know something the people lived in Jerusalem the people lived in Jerusalem every year at this time at the beginning of of Passover week they would have all the people from out of town were all come in town all the people that were that were making money from providing rooms and and selling the basic needs to all the people coming in from out of town for the festival. We're looking forward to this day. They couldn't wait for the crowds to get there. They made their big profits for the year, etc. All that stuff is normal. And the people, when they come in in crowds, they come in on this first day of the week and they all come in singing the halels. Well, you know what? This time is different. This time they're not just singing the halels. This time there's There's all this hubbub and there's all this hype and there's all this jubilation and celebration. And instead of just the Hillel's, they're going Hosanna by the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Well, they're being invaded now by all these Galileans and others from around Jews from around the world that have come in and are caught up in this idea that the one with them is the Messiah. And that's what they're talking about and that's what they're celebrating. And the people there in Jerusalem are in a frenzy. They're in a state of commotion. They're wondering what's going on. They're running out in the street. What's going on? Saying, who is this, because this is clearly about somebody that's coming in the procession, it's obvious this is all about the one who is coming in with the multitude. And the crowds were saying, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee. Now you know what's really interesting? Notice what Matthew stresses. This is the prophet. They don't say straight up this is the Messiah. Even though they've been calling him the son of David on the way in. They say this is the prophet. Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee. Yeah, they're accepting him, they're just not accepting him. They recognize that he is one who speaks for God, but not necessarily as their king yet. You know, this is exactly what Jesus intended to facilitate by the way he entered into Jerusalem that day. He intended to fulfill scripture to the letter and present himself to the nation as Messiah. And it wasn't just the entrance that was his deliberate effort to present himself to Jerusalem, to the to the nation as Messiah. It was the way he acted when he got there. He not only entered as king, he acts as king. He acts as God's anointed and demonstrates his divine authority in three ways. Notice, first of all. His cleansing of the temple, verse 12, Jesus entered the temple and he drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers in the seats of those who were selling doves. And he said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you're making it a robber's den, literally a hideout for robbers. The temple itself was a major portion of the city of Jerusalem in those days, it took up about a sixth of the footprint of the whole city within the walls. If you want some dimensions here for the whole area of the temple mount, the temple grounds were about five football fields from north to south and about three football fields across from east to west. It's about 1500 feet long. Just picture a picture, a rectangle with a small bottom is about 1500 feet down both sides. About a thousand feet across the top and about 900 feet across the bottom. Three football fields across the bottom, a little more than three across the top and five down both sides. That's that's a pretty large area, wouldn't you agree? We're talking about a massive complex. Now, the temple itself, the temple building was a smaller center structure. The court of the Gentiles, which is where everybody was welcome to come as long as you were ceremonially clean. The court of the Gentiles was about a 25 acre area in the southeast quadrant of the temple grounds. And this is where the money changers and the sacrificial animal sales booths, et cetera, had been set up. And this is where Jesus went first, this is where everybody entered first into the temple grounds. And Jesus gets there. And by the way, Mark 11 tells us this was the second day. So these are. So he comes in the first day and this is when he comes back in the second day. Now he begins to do the things we see here in verses 12 to 17, starting with the cleansing of the temple. This is the second time that Jesus cleansed the temple in Jerusalem. The first time is recorded in John chapter two. Some people want to say that this is two different narratives of the same account, but the differences are too different. There are too many differences. And frankly, John points to the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus' ministry because it is exactly what facilitates, number one, the conflict with the religious leaders, the priests and the priesthood, and the Sadducees and what gains a measure of leverage and an open door for interacting with the Pharisees from that point on. That's why in John chapter 3, John tells us that night Nicodemus comes to Jesus. Why? Because after Jesus cleanses the temple in the morning, Nicodemus comes at night and says, hey, we know you're a man sent from God because nobody could do the things you're doing unless God were with him. And that's where Jesus, from that point on for the next three years of his ministry, continues to fellowship with, eat with and sit down and challenge the Pharisees in their religious legalism and call them to repent, just like he confronted the priests. When you get to the end of Jesus's three year ministry, you get to the beginning of Passion Week. The first thing he does when he comes into town is present himself as king. The next day he comes in and enters the temple and cleanses the temple. He drives out those who are buying and selling in the temple, overturned the tables of money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. I did a little research again this week, and it's interesting with regard to the corruption that was taking place here. I read this week that the money changers included typically a 25% commission, not including any additional surcharges and the like for any exchange of currency. You say, well, why would you need to exchange currency? Well, because you can't not put anything into the offering plate there in the temple. You can't you can't make any offerings with any kind of foreign currency. Some of it has images on it, and that would be idolatry. And it's all foreign currency. So the first thing you have to do is you bring your money from wherever it is, you bring it in here and you exchange it for temple currency. And by the way, there's a there's a small fee of 25 percent. So you bring in a dollar, I'll give you seventy five cents worth of temple currency. And there were annual tithes and all that kind of stuff. So, I mean, that's just a racket, right? It's just a money making racket. In addition to that, they would sell the animals for sacrifice. Now, you could bring your own animal, but the priest had to approve it as being spotless and without blemish. What do you think the likelihood of that is? Pretty small, unless you bought it here and they're all pre-authenticated. So what did you have to do? If you brought your animal, you sold it outside and then you came in and you bought one and you paid way more. In fact, you want to know what the percentage was? So I read this week. I've never read these numbers before. So Matthew specifically makes reference to doves. Do you know why he references doves? Because that was the offering for poor people. If you could not afford a sacrificial animal, then if you because you were poor, you were allowed to just offer two doves or pigeons. Now, in in modern currency equivalents, You know what two pigeons cost in the temple? Four dollars equivalent. You know what they cost for those same two pigeons outside the temple? A nickel. OK, and this is the offering for poor people. The whole reason God accepted the offering of two doves was what? Because if you can't afford to worship me, but you still want to worship me, then you bring me what you can bring, and I will accept it. See how they've corrupted the whole worship? Listen, it's more than just turning it into a money-making scheme. It is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a robber's den. You know the difference between a thief and a robber? You know what a thief is? A thief is someone who comes in and takes your stuff. You know what a robber is? A robber is someone who comes in and beats you up and takes your stuff. Or makes you give him your stuff under threat of violence. That's the term Jesus uses here. You have turned the temple into a robber's hideout. You guys are abusive. You guys are worse than corrupt. You haven't just corrupted the worship, you are You're beating up and taking stuff from people, you're robbing people. And when he comes in and he drives out the money changers. When he cleanses the temple, you notice there is no reference to anyone lifting a finger. Can you imagine going into a bank and saying you guys are charging twenty five dollars? I don't know what it is anymore. You guys are charging 50 bucks. You guys are charging $100 for a bounced check. I don't know what it is. And you guys are charging $100 for being a day late on my mortgage or $1,000. I don't know. It's exorbitant. Can you imagine somebody being upset and going in there and driving out the tellers and flipping over the cash registers or whatever they use? Look at the look here. Oh, my. What would happen if somebody did that? Oh, yeah, the guys with the guns come and they hold you down. They call the police and you get hauled off. Do you not think now they didn't have any guns, but do you not think there were armed soldiers and guards for the temple? You know how much money went through that place? Yeah, there were soldiers on station. This is one of the things you're going to see when the religious leaders get upset that their guards won't address won't arrest Jesus. And they say, why didn't you arrest him? No one ever spoke as this man. Jesus went in and acted in a way that was absolutely righteous and demonstrated the authority of God on display. And you know something, nobody left to think to stop him. You know what that shows? By the way He acts, He is indeed God incarnate. He is indeed the Messiah. He is indeed the righteous King that has come into His house. Yes, that's exactly what you're looking at. And He even explains why He does it. Verse 13, He said to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer. This quote comes from Isaiah 56 and verse 7. You don't need to turn there, but I want you to just listen as I read Isaiah 56. Now, just give me your ear. Thus says the Lord. Preserve justice, do righteousness, because my salvation is about to come and my righteousness is about to be revealed. How blessed is the person who does this. And the son of man who takes hold of it, who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing any evil, how blessed is the person who obeys my word basically. Let not Even the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely separate me from his people. Don't even let the eunuch say, behold, I'm a dry tree implied. And so I won't really truly be able to be close to God. For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold fast to my promises to them. I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off. So to the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast my promises, even those I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer and their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. That's the verse Jesus cites. And did you catch the whole context? God says my temple isn't just for those who are of Israel. My temple is set up so that anybody I don't care if you're a eunuch, I don't care if you're a Gentile, I don't care who you are. If you want a right relationship with me, you come to me and I will accept your offerings. And what did the what did the religious leaders do? What did the priests do with the only place Gentiles were allowed to be on the campus? They turned it into a robber's den, they turned it into a moneymaking scheme and a place where they're ripping people off. When Jesus came in the first time and cleansed the temple, you want to know why the Pharisees were all, yay, yay, God's with you, because they agreed with that, because the priests were making a mint off of extortion from the people. They had corrupted the worship. Here Jesus comes in and he cleanses God's house as a very, very clear demonstration. The first thing that Jesus is interested in as if he is king of Israel, the first thing he's interested in is a holy worship of the one true God. Secondly, not just as cleansing the temple, but as curing the sick, look at verse 14. And this is one of those verses that when you're just reading along, you read it and keep going. Let's read it and stop, shall we? And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. Now, that's all it says. Well, what's significant about that? You want to know the second action that Jesus took when he went into the temple? First, he cleansed it of unrighteousness and corruption and made it open again for anybody to have access to God. And the second thing he did was demonstrate the compassion of God in freely healing anyone and everyone that came to him. Now, listen, if you were blind, you were allowed in the temple, but most of them didn't come in because you weren't allowed to bring anything with you. You couldn't come in if you were ceremonially unclean. You know, when Jesus cleanses the temple, he makes the way open for anybody that wants to come and worship God and have access to God now freely can come again and worship in spirit and in truth. And the second thing he does is he demonstrates that the type of king that he intends to be is one of compassion, one who uses his power for the benefit of God's people. The blind and even the lame came to him and he healed them. This is his second exercise of power and authority. When he comes in as Messiah, presents himself to the nation as their king, he not only cleanses the worship of the temple and sanctifying the worship of God, he cures the sick. This is more than just the power of a miracle. This is this is a picture of the type of king Jesus is. Yes, he has the absolute power to to cure every disease, to cast out every demon, etc. But Every bit as important as that is not just that he has the power, but he has the compassion for people and the readiness and willingness to use that power. And to use it for us. Jesus demonstrates not only the power of God that's on display in him and through him, but the compassion of God as well. This is the king that Jesus came to be. This is the king that Israel will reject. And this is the king who will reign from on high forever. And finally, he confirms the truth, look at verses 15 and 16, when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he had done. Now, just as a footnote here, the term wonderful doesn't mean they were happy about it. You know, when you come home and you see that your kids have cleaned up the whole house, mom, you just say, oh, this is what wonderful. And in your case, In your household, it might indeed be a miracle, essentially, that took place. But when the term wonderful is used here, it means the kind of things that have happened that only God could have done this. It doesn't mean they're happy about it. In fact, as you go through the rest of the text here, you'll see they're not only not happy about them, they're unhappy about them. But the chief priests and the scribes, those who are in charge of the temple, When they see the wonderful things that he had done, the cleansing of the temple and the healing of of all the sick there on the temple grounds. And most particularly, look at the the middle of verse 15 and the children who were shouting in the temple. And what were they shouting? Hosanna to the son of David or or save us by the son of David. They became indignant. That word indignant, the same word that we saw last week in Matthew 20 and verse 24. Remember when James and John? No. Yes. When James and John brought their mom to Jesus to try to get the two chief seats in the kingdom. Remember the reaction of the rest of the disciples? They were indignant. Indignant means sparking mad. They were just they were upset, not just mad, but mad because what had happened was so wrong. They had been cheated. Now, this is this is this is just absolutely wrong. What has happened? That's the word for indignant here related to the the chief priests and the scribes. They are sparking mad over the fact that that the not only over what Jesus is doing, tossing over the money changers tables. I mean, you can almost hear the coins tinkling across the stone ground, can't you? He comes in. You have turned my father's house into a into a robber's den. And then he drives out those selling the doves and charging exorbitant fees. You imagine what takes place and they're just standing there watching and they're waiting for their guards to take action and not a movement. They're mad. And then all these sick people, most of them normally wouldn't be gaining access to the temple period. And now they're all coming up to Jesus, all these blind people, all these sick people, all these. And he's just curing them. Can you imagine the hype? Can you imagine the excitement? Can you imagine? And the kids that came into the city yesterday with him going, Hosanna by the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. These are kids. They don't know any better. They're still jacked from yesterday and they see Jesus and they see all these miracles and they're running around the temple grounds and they're happy. Can you imagine how upset the religiously God doesn't like happy worshipers? See, and they especially don't like what they're saying. Save us by the son of David. And so they say to Jesus, do you hear what these children are saying? And Jesus says to them, yes. Yes, I hear what they're saying. Have you never read out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself? It's interesting he's quoting Psalm 8 there. We won't take the time to turn there. This is right from Psalm 8. Psalm 8 is a psalm of David. You know, the point of the beginning of the psalm. God is worthy of praise, and if his people won't recognize him, if the world won't recognize him and praise him the way he deserves, then he will be praised by little kids. You know what Jesus is saying here? Yeah, I hear what they're saying. Haven't you read the scripture? If the adults won't praise God, God will be praised by kids. You won't praise me as God and recognize me for who I am. So God will make sure I am praised, even if you won't recognize it. This is Jesus, even from the beginning, asserting not only that God is with him, but that he deserves to be praised just like God. And then you go to verse 17. And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there. Bethany is another suburb. It's just outside of Jerusalem in the vicinity of the Mount of Olives. It's on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about two miles outside of town. The one thing that's really significant, if you know your Bible well, is that Bethany also happens to be the place where a little family lives. Do you know which family? Mary, Martha and Lazarus. So I think he went and spent the night with them, which would have been normal practice. Some people want to make a big deal out of this. It says when he left them and went out of the city that that was him turning his back on them. You know, Jesus in the whole context here of Passion Week is presenting himself to Israel to let them to decide whether to reject him or not. His rejection of them ultimately will be when he returns. I think this is just like everybody You don't stay in the city, you go outside. You either pitch a tent or put up a lean-to kind of a thing, a booth, or you stay with somebody you know. Jesus went out and stayed with somebody that He knew. You get to the end of this narrative at verse 17 and what do we see? We see that Jesus is the King and He indeed intended to present Himself as such to Israel so they can decide whether to accept Him or reject Him. His entrance proves it. He deliberately made sure it was according to Scripture. So to all the reactions that accompanied it and his actions attest to it as well. And listen, there's more here than just the fact that he is king that's on display. The type of king that he is is also on display. He is a righteous king who is more concerned with the proper worship of God than anything else. And he has a merciful, gracious and saving king able to heal us from all infirmities and compassionate and willing and ready to heal us from all infirmities if we will but come to him. And at the same time, he is the divine king, the one who is none other than God incarnate in human flesh, worthy of worship and praise himself. Because he has indeed come to save us. Now, let me ask you this morning. Do you want this kind of king for your life? Do you want a king who is compassionate and loving? Are you willing to submit to a king that is righteous and holy? Do you want a king who is God? Or do you want to continue to be your own king? Do you want to continue to rule your own life and live your own life according to your own standards? The choice is yours, just like it was theirs. Now, hear me. God will take even your evil choices and turn them to his glory. But. The consequences eternally for you of not submitting are eternal. Father, thank you so much for your word and for sending your son to die for us. Please open our eyes to the truth of who you are, Jesus, and help us indeed to submit ourselves to you and not just to pay superficial homage to you. not just to lay our cloaks before you in the public throngs, but indeed to submit our lives to you as an act of worship. And may you receive the glory through us, through our regeneration, our repentance, and our life of obedience. And for those among us who do not know you, Lord, please open their eyes that they may see the truth. In Jesus' name, amen.