The Triumphal Entry (Matthew 21:1-11)
Sermon Summary
Pastor David Yan
13 April 2025
Jesus did many miracles. Huge crowds followed him even as he arrived in Jerusalem days before his death.
The crowds would have him as their king. They wanted a political king but Jesus was not a political king. His rule is spiritual not political. He came to rule in our hearts.
Throughout the clamour he was in control. He sent his disciples to obtain a donkey. They obeyed without understanding the reason. The donkey’s owner surrendered the animal without resistance. Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth.
The people cut down palm leaves and laid them on the road. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a carpet of leaves. The people received him with a spontaneous gesture of welcome. Where Christ is, there is spontaneous joy.
Note the fulfilment of Zechariah’s prophecy about the King riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. This prophecy was messianic. Zechariah lived about 500 years before Jesus. In that period no-one with messianic credentials rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Jesus fulfilled the prophecy. Since Jesus’s time no other person of significance has ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey, which is to say there is no other Messiah. The Messiah has come. He is Jesus.
The fulfilment of prophecy shows that God has a plan. That plan was effected by Jesus. Jesus came to save his people from their sins. There was nothing accidental about the salvation Jesus accomplished. Everything was according to the plan of God.
Note the humility of Jesus. He rode a donkey not a horse. Men of war rode horses. Jesus, the man of peace, rode a donkey. He came to make peace not war. He was truly a man of peace.
Note the joyous reception of the people. Their joy was irrepressible. The presence of Jesus stirs up pure emotions of adoration. Pray for a greater awareness of this presence in our churches that this irrepressible joy be with us.
The triumphal arrival of Jesus was a prelude. He saw beyond the crowd’s adulation and focused on his coming to death. The people saw in Jesus deliverance from Rome rather than deliverance from sin. But deliverance from sin was essential. Jesus came to save us from our sins.
The people wanted to crown Jesus. But Jesus did not see a crown but a cross. His ultimate glory would be preceded by suffering. Pain precedes glory. This is what Jesus’s death is about. It was a prelude to something else.
Our lives are a prelude to greater things. We do not look for perfection on earth. We look for the second coming of King Jesus and a new heaven and earth where righteousness dwells.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem and shortly was to pay the penalty of our sins. Thank God for our Saviour’s steadfast obedience. He set his face like a flint to enter Jerusalem. That entry paves the way for our entry into the heavenly Jerusalem. Praise be to God.