Matthew 21
1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,
2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto Me.
3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
Everything is happening right on schedule and that's due to Gods timing.
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
First advent Zechariah 9:9 and the second Zechariah 9:10 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. 10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. He came the first time for us all as the price of His blood on the cross at Calvary, the second time He returns as the King of kings and Lord of Lords on that 7th trump, NOT UNTIL THEN!
6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set Him thereon.
Christ disciples made Him a saddle out of their clothing.
8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
"Hosanna" Hebrew word "save now."
10 And when He was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is This?
When Christ entered the city, it caused a commotion. The people wanted to know who He was.
11 And the multitude said, "This is Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
As a REAL Christian in the sugar coated "churches" of today, you would be looked at as evil if you did the same as Christ did here.
13 And said unto them, "It is written, 'My house shall
be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
This is but one of the many problems of the churches today. They think its a business instead of a house of prayer and of learning.
14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple; and He healed them.
15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased,
Christ had taken the focus off of them. Their egos are wounded when The One they should praise is right in front of them.
16 And said unto Him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
Christ had turned the way these priests and scribes gather money over to the dirt and woke some up to what was going on and who He was.
17 And He left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and He lodged there.
18 Now in the morning as He returned into the city, He hungered.
He has returned to Jerusalem from Bethany.
19 And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
The fig tree is symbolic of the nation of Israel. We will see more on this in our study of Matthew 23 and 24, but it started in the beginning, in the garden.
20 And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
On the 6th trump, satan is cast to earth and this "mountain" = fallen Israel and its "sea" = the people of the world, will fall for him. Those who understand they will see this happen, will be prepared for the battle to come and won't go whoring after him while he is claiming to be Christ Jesus.
22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
Condition here! You had better be "believing" it in order to "receive" it.
23 And when He was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto Him as He was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?
These "chief priests and the elders" want to know what right Christ had to destroy the temple and their ways of collecting money.
24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell Me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Christ showed us here, just how to handle know it all. We do it with a question, right back on them.
25 The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; He will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe Him?
26 But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.
One answer would be if they saw John as a prophet of God, why did they reject him; and the other would be if the baptism is of men, John's teachings are void and they're mocking the people for the baptism through the ministry of John.
27 And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And He said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
They wouldn't get it anyway and if they did, they would refuse it because of their evil.
28 But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
Christ is going to give them something to think about anyway, so He gives them a parable.
29 He answered and said, 'I will not;' but afterward he repented, and went.
One son said he wouldn't, but apologized to his father, went to the field and worked. Upon repentance, there is forgiveness, because we showed it and repent we have a new start with our father and our lives.
30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir:' and went not.
The second son lied. He said he would and didn't.
31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto Him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
If you know what is right but chose wrong, you're just as these.
32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.
After all they had seen and heard they still refused. We all have free will and with it we are held accountable for our own decisions.
33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
The winepress prepares the fruit, collecting it's juices. The tower is a watch tower, keeping an eye out for evil. This parable deals with creation and purpose. We are the husbandmen, left to care for Gods creations. To protect it and work it. Gods church should be taken care of in the way He has set forth in His Word. Christ Jesus is our example. He is our Way to everything good and perfect.
34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
Our Father God expects good fruits to come out of His creation.
35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
Our Father sent His Son, Christ Jesus.
38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
That evil one satan has been trying this since the beginning in the garden. He tried to stop the bloodline and throughout time has attempted to stop The Truth from coming. The House of Judah was in captivity in Babylon, stopping the Levitical priesthood, and the scribes duties. The Nethinims =Kenites took over the duties of the priesthood and the religious leaders allowed this to happen. I Chronicles 2:55 And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez; The Tarathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the kenites that came of hemath, the father of the house of rechab. They came out of Babylon in around 509 B.C. and these tares seized Levi's inheritance of the scribes, given by God.
39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
41 They say unto Him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
The parable was given to them and they pass the correct judgment upon themselves.
42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
He is asking them if they remember Psalm 118:22-23 22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. 23 This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
The day fast approaches us when our fruits will determine if we will be forever part of The kingdom of God.
44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
If The Lords day is tomorrow will you be ready?
45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they perceived that He spake of them.
They are catching on. They finely see Christ is talking about them.
46 But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitude, because they took Him for a prophet.
They wanted to take Him right then and there, but couldn't because the people had seen Christ heal and heard His Truth and they feared what the crowed would do.