The Prophetic Jesus 

Matthew 21:1-22

“What we need to know about this story is that it is the most carefully orchestrated event in His earthly ministry. Everything Jesus did that day, except weeping over the sight of the city, was orchestrated to make a statement. Everything was scripted, if you will, to make an open declaration of who He is and what He came to do.” -Darrell Johnson

Outline:

1.) A Prophetic Entry (vv 1-11)

2.) A Prophetic Confrontation (vv 12-17)

3.) A Prophetic Sign  (vv 18-22)

A Prophetic Entry (vv 1-11)

Matthew 21:1-11-- Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 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. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 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, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 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!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Isaiah 62:11-- “Say to the daughter Zion, Behold your salvation comes: behold his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.”

Zechariah 9:9-- “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout around, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Psalm 118:26-- “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.”

 “Jesus has to be identified as the Jesus ‘from Nazareth of Galilee,’ both because Jesus was a common Jewish name (Joshua) and because the village of Nazareth was so obscure that it required localization.” -Dale Bruner

A Prophetic Confrontation (vv 12-17)

Matthew 21:12-17-- 12 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. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 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, 16 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’?”17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

“Think of how tumultuous, loud, and confusing our financial trading floors are—and then add livestock. And this was the place where the Gentiles were supposed to find God through quiet reflection and prayer.” -Tim Keller

Isaiah 56:7-- “…for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Jeremiah 7:11--  “Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?”

Zechariah 14:21-- “And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day.”

Malachi 3:1b-2--  “…Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 2 “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes.” (NLT)

A Prophetic Sign  (vv 18-22)

Matthew 21:18-22--18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 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.

20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 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. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

“The cursing of the fig tree is a parabolic enactment of the judgment Israel will soon face because the people have rejected God’s Messiah and defiled his house, the temple.” -Grant Osborne

“This isn’t a random little teaching on prayer and how to do super miracles. Jesus is reflecting on the faith He Himself is having as He is predicting what seems preposterous to all of them—that God would abandon His Temple again.” -Tim Mackie

“Jesus is saying that he wants more than busyness; he wants the kind of character change that only comes from realizing that you have been ransomed. If you’re an anxious or impatient person, is it clear to everybody around you that you are overcoming that? Do you have the power to wait through Jesus‘s delays? If you’re an angry or unforgiving person, have you clearly begun to conquer anger? Are you learning to absorb the cost of forgiveness? If you’re a fearful person, a self-hating person, or a self-aggrandizing person, is it very clear to the people who know you best that your character is undergoing radical regeneration?” -Tim Keller