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Matthew 21:1-22 ESV

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, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and 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.” And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

I. A HERO’S WELCOME (1-11)
A. Jesus announces He is Messiah by fulfilling ancient prophecy.
B. For first time, Jesus accepts the recognition of the masses.

II. ANNOUNCEMENT VS CONSUMATION (1-11)
A. Big difference between first arrival in Jerusalem as king & second one.
B. First ride in was an announcement. The next ride in will be a consummation.

III. CASHING CHECKS AND BREAKING NECKS (12-17)
A. Jesus foreshadows He will violently set all things right in His kingdom.
B. Kingship of Jesus is good news for the righteous & bad news for the unrighteous.

IV. A THEOLOGY OF THE CONSUMATION OF ALL THINGS
A. Heaven is not a place but wherever God takes up residence.
B. Heaven is a place on earth.
C. Heaven is about Jesus, not us. We will still find ultimate joy in in it.

V. THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (18-22)
A. The commands and sacrificial system were judged and found insufficient. Jesus will take their place.
B. All who are found fruitless will suffer the same fate as the fig tree and Judaism. Death at the hands of King Jesus.

VI. A CULTURE OF URGENCY
A. Return of Jesus is for His followers a certain fact, not a comforting fantasy.
B. The certainty of His coming creates in His church a sense of urgency.