This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom. I want to welcome you to chapter 21 of the book of
Matthew. That means it's our 23rd week studying through Matthew together, our
first day of looking at chapter 21.

And as we head into chapter 21 of Matthew, we are starting the final week of
Jesus's earthly life, Jesus's life before the cross, before the resurrection.
This week, Jesus coming into Jerusalem begins with a fulfillment of prophecy.
The week, in fact, is filled with fulfillment of prophecy, but it begins with a
very strong fulfillment of prophecy beginning in verse 1.

"As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, 'Go to the village ahead of you, and
at once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt by her; untie them and
bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell them that the Lord needs
them, and he will send them right away. ' This took place to fulfill what was
spoken through the prophet.

Say to the daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on
a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ' The disciples went and did as Jesus
had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks
on them, and Jesus sat on them.

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches
from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowd that went ahead of him and
those that followed shouted, 'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest!

'" When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is
this? " The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth and
Galilee. " So Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth and Galilee, comes into
Jerusalem, and they shout, "Hosanna!

" That's the familiar scene that we have, Hosanna with the branches being spread
and the coats being spread, Hosanna, which means, "Save now, save now! " They
are not just praising Jesus, they are actually praying to Jesus. They're saying,
"Will you save us now?

" Particularly, they wanted him to save them from the Roman occupation that was
going on in Jerusalem. But I want to look more closely at the beginning part of
this, because it's a fulfillment of prophecy. All through this week, this last
week of Jesus' life, he's going to fulfill prophecy after prophecy after
prophecy.

He did it all during his earthly ministry, but it multiplies in the fulfillment
of prophecy as you get into this last week of Jesus' life. Now, as you look at
the ways that Jesus fulfilled prophecy, it's interesting to note that sometimes
he intentionally fulfilled a prophecy because he knew what they were. He knew
the Old Testament, and sometimes they were fulfilled through the actions of
others, something he couldn't have controlled at all.

So sometimes, like here, he rides in on a donkey because he knew the Scripture
said he was going to ride in as a king on a donkey, or cleansing the temple as a
fulfillment of the prophecy that we'll talk about later this week, or being
silent before his accusers. That was a choice that he made to fulfill prophecy.
But many of the prophecies that were fulfilled came through the actions of
others, like being sold for 30 pieces of silver, or his hands and his feet being
pierced, or his bones not being broken, or the piercing of his side, or even the
casting of lots for his garments and being buried in a rich man's tomb.

All of those were prophecies from the Old Testament that were fulfilled in the
life of Jesus. Here, the prophecy specifically is that Jesus would be riding in,
and if you look at the prophecy from the Old Testament, it is the prophecy that
he would ride in on a donkey. He would ride in on the cult of a donkey, or the
baby, you might say, of a donkey.

Now, it says ride a donkey and ride the cult of a donkey. So the question is,
which one is it? Which one is it?

These are the discussions they had before Jesus came the first time, trying to
decide exactly how he would fulfill this prophecy. Would it be the donkey, or
would it be the cult? Why did it say both?

We can't understand why it said both. Because it says both, maybe it would be
neither. Maybe it's just something symbolic.

We don't understand what it means. And here we come to the story, and we see
Jesus rides both. Both are brought to him, bring both the donkey and the cult.

The coats are put on both of them, and apparently it says he rides them. He
rides on the cult, on the donkey. Now, I guess he could have done it at the same
time, but I don't think that's how it happened.

I think he rode on one, and then he rode on the other. Then he rode on one, and
then he rode on the other. But the truth is, we don't know exactly how he did
it.

And people today are still arguing even about what happened 2,000 years ago. How
did he exactly ride on both? If you read some of the other Gospel accounts, it
only talks about one donkey.

Now, that doesn't mean there couldn't have been two, by the way. Some people
think, well, that's a contradiction in Scripture, if one place it says one and
the other place it says two. Actually, it's more of an affirmation of the
eyewitness accounts.

Anytime you have an eyewitness account, they're going to bring out different
things, different people. So, some of the Gospel writers just chose to talk
about one donkey. Matthew, who is writing particularly to the Jewish audience,
particularly to let them know about their king, takes some extra time with this
fulfillment of prophecy of the king who is riding into Jerusalem to make sure
that we know that when they went to get the animals, there were two animals, and
that when they came into Jerusalem, there were both animals involved.

Just as it said in the Old Testament is just as it happened in the New
Testament. But today, still, because some New Testament letters, Gospels, talk
about only one and the others talk about two, people are trying to figure out
exactly how did it work. If only we had a YouTube video of Jesus riding into
Jerusalem on this donkey, then we'd know exactly how it happened.

But because we weren't there, we don't have a video of it, it's hard for us to
visualize. Either both together or one at a time, the issue is what the Old
Testament said he would do, Jesus exactly did. Now, why am I talking about two
donkeys so much?

When you look at the study of prophecy today, you can see a lot of parallels to
the discussions of these two donkeys. People have one opinion or another
opinion. This is how it's going to happen in the end.

This is how it's going to happen in the end. And there are some parts of
prophecy that you read in the book of Revelation, from Daniel all the way to
Revelation, that when we look at it, it's hard to put the two together. How are
these two things going to happen at the same time?

I'm not going to get into all the discussion of the second coming prophecies
now. If you're an expert in those, you know exactly what I'm talking about as I
say these things. As we look at those two different ways it can happen, what
begins to emerge is different opinions about how Jesus is going to fulfill what
the Bible says he's going to do.

So if you take this donkey prophecy for instance, in the end you get the one
donkey group of people, you get the young donkey group of people, you get the
old donkey group of people, and you get the two donkey group of people. And
sometimes if you get them all in a room, they argue with each other like they're
not even believers. They're not even fellow Christians because they're so intent
on their opinion.

Now I believe Jesus is coming again. I believe there is a second coming and I
believe the New Testament teaches us some things about how he's going to come
again to get our hearts ready and that it's important for us to study these
things. But in our discussion of these things we have to discuss with humility.

We have to discuss with a sense of the fact that Jesus is going to do exactly
what he said he would do. When it comes to the second coming of Jesus, Jesus'
goal is not going to be to affirm one view of prophecy. Jesus' goal is to do all
that he said he would do.

And often, like with these two donkeys that day, often it will be both somehow.
Now I know if you're an expert in prophecy you're thinking, "Well, that's
impossible with this one. " It could not be both until you see him do it.

At the end, when Jesus accomplishes everything that he said he would do, watch
out for Jesus' surprise. And in the meantime, as you and I study prophecy
together, we need to realize that at the end, when Jesus comes again, one
proponent of one view of prophecy is not going to turn to the other proponent of
another view of prophecy and say, "I was right. " We're not going to look at
each other when Jesus comes again and say, "I was right," or "you were right,"
or "they were right.

" When Jesus comes again, we're just going to look at him and say, "He is Lord.
He is Lord. " That's what prophecy is all about.

And to me, when I read the story of a colt and a donkey, it's a reminder to me
that God's going to be faithful in the end. He will accomplish each and
everything that he said he will do. That is true with all the details of
prophecy that we read.

It's also true with every promise for your life in the end. The promise of no
more tears, the promise of victory, the promise of an inheritance, the promise
of eternal joy with him. You can trust that every single thing will be done
because he keeps his promises, everyone.

Let's take a minute to pray together and thank him for that. Our Father, we do
thank you together that you are trustworthy. And we praise you that even as
Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies of the first time that he came and walked on
this earth, he will fulfill all of the prophecies when he comes back again.

Thank you that in the fulfillment, we see your faithfulness. In the fulfillment,
we see that you can be trusted with every promise that you've ever made. And so
we trust you.

In Jesus' name, we trust you. Amen. Tomorrow, we're going to see together Jesus
Cleansing the Temple.