Matthew chapter 21 verses 1 through 11. Let us now hear God's holy word. Now when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord has a need of them. And immediately he will send them. All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet saying, tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them and set him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? So the multitude said, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this portion of your word today. And we do ask with the psalmist that you would revive us with your word. Sometimes, Lord, we get sleepy spiritually. Sometimes we are lethargic and we need to be revived. And so we pray that you would revive us today through the preaching of your word. We ask your blessing now in Jesus' name. Amen. I am reading a history of the medieval world in preparation for the upcoming school year at Smiley Academy. And one of the things that you can't help but notice when you read history books like this one is just how wicked kings were in the ancient world. I mean, I don't know why anybody wanted to be a king because coming right behind you with someone who's ready to stab you in the back, literally, and get rid of you so they can have your position. And it's just amazing. There's a common thread, whether you're in Asia or you're in India or you're in Christian Europe, if you will, or the Arabic Muslim world, no matter where you are in the medieval period, you've got people grasping for power and they are wicked. They are fallen. And what do they do? They are constantly striving to keep their hold on power through whatever means necessary. And they're constantly getting replaced, killed, murdered, shipped off into exile by people who are no better than them and sometimes worse than them. So the history of the world is filled with kings, with different rulers in different lands, in different places. It's not enough that we have a ruler. It's not enough that there be a king, but we need a good king. We need a righteous king. We need a just king. It's a mess when the king is evil, when the king is wicked. We're here in Matthew 21, and Matthew 21, the passage here, Verses one through 11 is traditionally known as a triumphal entry. But what this passage is about, it's about Jesus. It's about who Jesus is. It's about the character of the Messianic King. We started last week by looking at the preparation for entering the city of Jerusalem. Matthew tells us where Jesus and his disciples are. They come to Bethphage, this little place there in close proximity to the Mount of Olives. Jesus sends two disciples, sends them into the village across from them, telling them they'll find a donkey, a female donkey and her colt, her offspring there. As soon as they enter the village, they're to loose those animals and bring them to Jesus. If anyone says anything to you, Jesus says, you say the Lord has need of them and immediately they will let them go. Why is this significant? Why is it important? That's where we left off last time. And we started with the fulfillment of prophecy. What is this about? Why a donkey? Why does Jesus need to ride into Jerusalem on the back of this humble animal? Verse 4, all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet. That's why it's important, because the Word of God had decreed, had foreordained, that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. And so we took that and we went back to the book of Zechariah chapter nine in order to look at the character of the king that the people of God are told to recognize and rejoice in and celebrate. So let's go back there. Let's go back to Zechariah 9, 9 and finish our look at the original prophecy that is fulfilled in Matthew 21. Zechariah 9 and verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Now, last time, We talked, we left off talking about the righteousness of Jesus. Jesus is a just king, a righteous king, and boy did Israel need that. After centuries of kings that did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, here comes the righteous king, the perfectly, ultimately righteous king, and that's none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's take up the next aspect of the character of the Messianic King, and that is his humility. You see it there in verse nine, lowly and riding on a donkey. Jesus is lowly. He's humble. And that is what the donkey signifies. We'll come back to that here in a moment. Now in Matthew 21, the Greek word that is used that is translated as lowly is prowse. And prowse is used elsewhere in the gospel of Matthew. For example, in the Beatitudes, one of the Beatitudes is blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. What's behind the word meek? It's prowse in Greek. Or when Jesus made that wonderful statement in Matthew 11, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle, prowse and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. That's the word used in Matthew 21 or Matthew chapter 21 when Matthew cites the prophecy of Zechariah. Now in Zechariah, You've got the word lowly there in verse nine. In the Hebrew, that's ani. And ani means to be low and can mean to be afflicted. And it has the idea of lowliness or humility. And so when Jesus comes, he is announced as the humble king, the lowly king. And again, this is where the significance of the transportation comes in. Why a donkey? Because this donkey is a humble, lowly animal. It's a lowly beast. Jesus does not ride upon some magnificent creature that speaks of his arrogance or pride for he has none, but he rides upon this animal that speaks to his humility, his lowly heart and his kingdom that is characterized by humility. In addition to that, When you think about it, when you compare and contrast how Jesus could have ridden into Jerusalem like some other great men in the history of the world, you know, maybe on the back of a war horse with their army marching with them or following behind them or what have you. What does that tell you about that king, about that particular ruler? It tells you that this is a man of might and strength and he's got the force of arms behind him. But what happens when the king is riding a donkey? It speaks also to the peaceful, gentle nature of his kingdom. And so you saw in that Greek word that we just mentioned a minute ago, that it's translated lowly in one translation, in another it's meek, in another it's gentle. You say, well, which one is it? Well, all of that stuff kind of goes together, does it not? Those words, although they don't mean exactly the same thing, they are connected to one another. The gentle one is the humble one. The meek one is the lowly one. So Jesus here on the back of a donkey, and the prophecy tells us that this is because Jesus is lowly. The Messiah is lowly. Now, two things you don't normally put together, and that is king and humble. Right? Those are usually opposites. King and humble. It's usually like sweet and sour. Those things don't go together. And you can think about all of the arrogant people who have held power in the history of the world and who still have power today, who still rule like kings. You think of Nebuchadnezzar in the Old Testament. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar was taken down and sent out to act like a beast in the field. Why? Because he was arrogant. because he was proud. Daniel chapter four says that Nebuchadnezzar was walking about the royal palace and he said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty. And in the next moment, he is reduced to a very lowly position because of his pride, his arrogance. The long and sad history of our world is filled with prideful, arrogant rulers. But here we have someone who is completely different. He's different because he's humble. He's lowly. This is his attitude of heart. And this is why he rides this donkey into Jerusalem. Pride is one of the chief sins of man, if not the chief sin of man. It's not just rulers who are proud. It's everybody who's proud. But Jesus is different. And aren't you glad he's different? Here we have the perfect king and he's perfect because he's humble. Think about it. If Jesus were prideful and arrogant, what happens to the proud? Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Jesus will never fall. Destruction will never befall Jesus. Why? Because he's humble. There's no sin of pride or arrogance in him. The people of the first century could look at the Caesar And when they looked at Caesar, they did not see humility. They could look at King Herod in their own land, and they did not see humility when they looked at Herod. But when you look at Jesus, and that is exactly what we are told to do here, behold your King, look at him, pay attention to him, see what he is like, see what his character is. When you do so, you see that Jesus is humble, This is one of the reasons that Jesus was despised and rejected. You have learned to value it because you've been redeemed and your heart and your mind have been changed and you can see the beauty of it now. But how is a humble King, according to first century thinking, supposed to get anything done? How is a lowly Messiah going to rid our land of these evil Romans? Well, That's not what Jesus had come to do. He had come to save his people from their sins, and there is no one better to do that than the humble king. Next, notice in Zechariah's prophecy what Jesus comes bringing. We touched upon this last time. Let's just do it once more briefly. He is just and having salvation. Yes, indeed. Here comes the king. Look at him. What does he have with him? He has salvation. That is what he comes to bring. Now, the people in Jerusalem who are praising him at this point, they don't really understand. They typically think of salvation in terms of rescue from earthly troubles. But Jesus has come to bring the ultimate salvation. Salvation from sin. So this king is righteous, he's humble, and he's a savior. He's a savior king who comes to rescue his people. Remember how the Gospel of Matthew began. It began with an announcement of the conception of the birth of Jesus. And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. Why? For he will save his people from their sins. His very name means salvation. The Lord saves. The Lord is salvation. This is what Jesus has come to bring, and it is the most wonderful salvation of all, the greatest salvation, the salvation that you and I need. As we noted last week, many people, they just want some freedom from earthly problems. And if they can get someone who will provide them with some earthly benefits, with some pleasures, that's all they're looking for. And so many times, economics becomes the key factor in American political life. Who is the guy who can turn the economy around so that we can get more money back in our pockets? Now, don't get me wrong, the economy is important. And I deplore the prices at the grocery store just like you do. But that's not what Jesus comes to do. Jesus doesn't come to just bring the people of Jerusalem a few earthly benefits and pleasures. No, he comes to bring them something far, far greater. And the same is true for us. What is it you want from him? What kind of salvation do you want from Jesus? If you want salvation from sin, he's your king. He's the one who can do that. There's nobody else who can do that. And that's what we need the most. Now, what do we have before us here? What we have before us is the greatest King ever. He's King of Kings. He's Lord of Lords. It doesn't get any better than Jesus. All you need do is look around you at the people we currently have in places of power. And if you're a student of history, which I encourage you to be, read a good history book. and read about all these kings from the past and you will be thoroughly disappointed. You will say, man, this is terrible. So-and-so rose to power. His son stabbed him in the back and took over. He reigned for three years and his royal cup bearer came and poisoned him and he died and on and on it goes. We need a perfect king and we have him. He is here before us in the pages of scripture. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the greatest king of all. You remember the story in the Old Testament 1st Samuel, right? The people of Israel had been ruled by judges God had raised up judges to deliver them to help them and after a while the people wanted what? They wanted a king and they went to Samuel and they told Samuel we want a king just like everybody else has We want a king will lead us out to battle and bring us back and you know We want to have what everybody else has And Samuel's grieved by their request because he knows what it means. And he warns them. He warns them. Do you remember the warning? And if I can boil it down, it's this. He will take and take and take and take from you until you cry out to God. He will take your sons. He will take your daughters for his kingdom. He'll take your food. He'll take your animals. He'll require them for his service. All these things that ancient kings did back then, that's what he'll do. And it'll get worse and worse and worse until you'll call out to God and ask him to deliver you from the very thing you asked for. Well, with Jesus, we have the King, not one who takes and takes and takes. but the one who gives and gives and gives some more. The King who will give his life on the cross in order to rescue us from our sins. Praise God. No wonder he is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He rules over all other earthly authorities in his sovereignty and because he's perfect in character. All right, from Zechariah 9 back to Matthew 21. Back to Matthew 21. Next, Matthew tells us of the accomplishment of the Aaron that Jesus sent his disciples on, verse 6. So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set him on them. Now Matthew's brief here, you get a little more detail in Mark and Luke. But Matthew just briefly describes the obedience of the disciples and doing what Jesus told them to do. They bring the animals back. They set Jesus on the young donkey that had never been ridden before. And they put their clothes on that donkey to serve as a kind of saddle for our Lord. Okay, now let's move on to the third or second part of our study, and that is the acclamation of Jesus. Jesus is acclaimed. He's praised as he rides into Jerusalem. Verse eight, and a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Let's first think about the welcome that Jesus receives as he makes his way toward and into the city of Jerusalem. First, notice that we've got a huge crowd here, or say a very great multitude. spread their clothes on the road. Remember, we've said before that you've got a lot of pilgrims, a lot of people traveling into Jerusalem at this time because it's Passover time. And so you would have had all sorts of people coming in from the surrounding area in Israel in order to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the feast of the Passover. And so this huge crowd moving along the road are now going to celebrate Jesus and welcome him as the Messiah. Notice what the crowd does, they take their clothes and spread them on the road. Now these would have been their, kind of their outer garments and outer robe that they would have worn. And so they take them and they spread them along the road. Why do they do that? Well, think about the Old Testament, for example, Jehu, one of the kings of Israel in the Old Testament, when he is welcomed as king, 2 Kings 9 says, then each man hastened to take his garment and put it under him on the top of the steps. And they blew trumpets saying Jehu is king. What was that? That was a way of welcoming and honoring the king. We might say it's something like rolling out the red carpet for us today. You know, you look at the movies and, you know, award shows and things like that. And they've got this red carpet that they roll out that the important people will come and walk along as they go into the building. In addition to that, notice the branches that they cut down and use. Verse eight, others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. What is this about? Well, if you know your Old Testament, this will make you think of the Feast of Tabernacles. Part of the Feast of Tabernacles, the people were instructed to take tree branches and rejoice before God with those tree branches. Luke 23, Leviticus 23, 40, says, And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. Now, it's not Feast of Tabernacles time right now. It's Passover time in Matthew 21. But you can see why the people do this because it's a way they know of celebrating, of rejoicing. And that's what they're doing here. They're celebrating the arrival of the son of David. And so they take these branches and welcome Jesus and they spread them out on the road. John records in his gospel that the people took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Jesus. Now, what did they say? What is their praise consist of? Let's look at that now in verse nine. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out saying, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. The people now respond, whether they know it or not, to the summons of the prophet. Remember what the prophet had said. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Now the people do this, right? They rejoice and shout. cries of praise out to Jesus and you've got this huge procession you got people in front you got people behind as Jesus is traveling on the road and they are shouting out these cries of praise notice the word cried out or the phrase cried out this is no quiet procession they're shouting they are crying out these words of praise to the Lord Jesus Now let's look at the actual words of praise that they utter. The first one you notice is the word Hosanna. That's how things begin and end here. Hosanna to the son of David. And then at the end, Hosanna in the highest. What is that? What does that word mean? Well, Hosanna goes back to Hebrew. It's Hebrew. Its roots are in the Hebrew. And in Psalm 118, you'll find this language, but hosanna goes back to Hebrew. The Hebrew phrase is hoshia na, hoshia na. The hoshia is to save and na is please, or a way of requesting salvation. So hosanna originally in the Psalms, in the Old Testament period means save us. It's a way of crying out to God for salvation. Here in this story, it's used as a cry of praise, but it has its roots in that statement, that cry out to God for salvation. Psalm 118, verse 25 says, save now, I pray, O Lord, O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. What is that? That's that Hoshianah. that you find kind of put together in one word here in the New Testament in the word, Hosanna. You also see it as Hosanna in the highest. What's that make you think of? That should make you think of the song of the angels in Luke chapter two, where they say, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. So here, the people are praising Jesus and saying to Jesus, save us. Now that's significant, is it? You might think the people don't understand all that they're saying. No, they don't. I don't think they do. I don't think they understand the significance and the depth of meaning in their words, but hopefully you do. This is what we say to Jesus, right? Save us. Save us, Lord, from our sins. It's what we say at conversion, and it's what we continue to say to our Lord Jesus Christ until the very end. We praise him as our savior, as the one who rescues us. Next, notice what they call Jesus, Hosanna to the what? To the son of David. Now we talked about this with the story of the two blind men at the end of chapter 20, so we won't go all the way back through all of that. But suffice to say, son of David is a way of referring to the Messiah. It's a way of referring to the Christ, okay? So God had made a promise, the Lord made a promise to David that one of his descendants would sit on the throne eternally. And so the people of God had expected, they'd been looking forward to this descendant of David, this son of David, who would take the throne and rule forever. and the people recognize Jesus as that one, as the son of David. And again, they don't understand everything about him, obviously, but this is accurate. Jesus is indeed the son of David. He's the Messiah. Finally, another important element of their praise here is this next phrase, that phrase in the middle, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That phrase or that way of praising Jesus comes from the Old Testament as well. It comes from Psalm 118, for example. Psalm 118, verse 26, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. On the surface, this is a recognition of Jesus as being a representative of the Lord, of the one true God. But once you know who Jesus is, you know that he is the ultimate representation of the Lord, of the Father. He is the one truly, in the truest sense, in the greatest sense, who comes in the name of the Lord. And so they say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, a way of praising him and giving him praise. So here you have the people praising the Lord Jesus Christ, joyously, loudly welcoming him as he heads toward the city. Now, we're not yet in the city until we get to verse 10. So let's look at the reaction now. Jesus comes into Jerusalem verse 10 and when he had come into Jerusalem all the city was moved saying Who is this? What is the reaction of the city of Jerusalem? Now, Matthew is personifying Jerusalem here. He's talking about the reaction of the people in general to this huge procession, this loud celebratory procession coming into the city. Now, it wouldn't have been surprising to have a lot of people coming into Jerusalem at this time, but the way in which they celebrate Jesus and how this is all done obviously draws a lot of attention. The word used here in the New King James is moved. The city was moved. The Greek verb here is seo and seo can be used in a variety of ways, but it has the same basic connotation. For example, this is the word used. to describe the earthquake at Jesus' crucifixion. Matthew 27, 51, then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth quaked. Seo. Or it's the word used to describe how the Roman guards shook with fear at the time of the resurrection. And that's a 28-4. And the guards shook Sayo for fear of him and became like dead men. We get our English word seismic from this term. And when do you usually use the word seismic? You often use it in relation to an earthquake. Well, figuratively speaking, we've got a kind of earthquake going on with Jesus coming into the city of Jerusalem. It shakes the city with this joyous celebration and the people of Jerusalem are moved by it. It reminds you of Solomon, In a way, remember when Solomon came to the throne in the Old Testament? 1 Kings 1 says, Then Zadok the priest took a horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon, and they blew the horn. And all the people said, Long live King Solomon! And all the people went up after him, and the people played the flutes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth seemed to split with their sound. Now Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the horn, he said, why is the city in such a noisy uproar? Well, here we have a similar situation as Jesus comes in to the city of Jerusalem. Now notice the question that they ask in verse 10. All the city was moved saying, who is this? Now Jesus has been to Jerusalem before. You know that from the gospel stories. He's been there a number of times. But here, this is unique. It's unique because of this huge, noisy procession in which Jesus is coming into the city, and they wanna know who is this? Who is the subject? Who is the focal point of this huge procession coming into our city? They hear the noise, they see the people, but they don't know exactly who is at the heart of all of it. But notice that question. That's an important question, is it not? aren't too many more important questions. Who is this? That's what we've been thinking about, right? As we looked at Zechariah's prophecy, we thought about who is this king? What is he like? Well, the people of Jerusalem ask, who is this? On one level, just merely wanting to know who it is that's the subject of this huge ruckus. But make no mistake, this is the all important question. that each one of us must ask and answer correctly. Who is Jesus? The Bible tells us who he is. He's God incarnate. He's the son of God. He's the savior. He's the Messiah. He's our only hope. What about you? Have you answered the question? Who is Jesus? Have you answered and asked the question correctly? Who is he to you? Now, I don't mean your personal opinion changes who Jesus is. I mean, do your beliefs about Jesus line up with what we have here in the Bible, in the word of God? At the end of the day, this is a question that every human being must wrestle with and answer. Who is Jesus? Remember the question that Jesus asked his disciples way back in chapter 16. They came to Caesarea Philippi and Jesus said, whom do men say that I, the son of man am? And they answered saying, some say you're one of the prophets. Some say you're John the Baptist risen from the dead. And then Jesus asked the all important question, who do you say that I am? What is your answer? That's what we have to ask. And that's what we have to answer. Who is Jesus? Do you believe that Jesus is the son of God? Do you believe that He's the ultimate, perfect, righteous, lowly Savior King, and the only one who can forgive your sin and bring you eternal life? Let that question weigh on your heart today. Who is Jesus to you? Finally, the multitude now answers the question of verse 10. Who is Jesus? Okay, the crowd will answer, excuse me, verse 11. So the multitude said, this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. Now, as far as it goes, that's a correct answer. Everything that's said there is accurate. His name is Jesus. He is a prophet. He is the prophet. And he's from Nazareth of Galilee. Again, the people don't understand the full significance of all of that, but you and I do, or at least much, much better. Then they did. Think about that name, Jesus. What does it mean? It means Savior. It means the Lord saves. The Savior has arrived. The one who has come to save his people from their sins. Secondly, notice the prophet. Who is Jesus? Now, maybe the people thought, hey, he's a prophet like Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Elijah or somebody like that. Maybe they did. Maybe that's all they thought about, Jesus. But we know that the definite article there is accurate. The prophet, Jesus is the prophet, par excellence, none better, none greater than Jesus. All of the prophets of the Old Testament pointed forward to the one prophet, Jesus. The prophecy was given in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, the Lord, your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, him you shall hear. Who is that? It's Jesus. It's the one who rides in to Jerusalem. Third, finally, notice that they identify where he's from. He's the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. Why would they do that? Well, they're here in Jerusalem. Jerusalem's in Judea, right? It's in the south of Israel. Galilee's up in the north. And Galilee has its own unique characteristics and features. People are a certain way, they talk a certain way up in Galilee versus those in Jerusalem. And so Jesus is identified with his hometown here, his hometown of Nazareth. And as we have noted before, Nazareth was nowhere. It was nowhere's ville. It was not a notable place. It was not a place to say, I'm from Nazareth, like people would say that with great pride. You remember the question that Nathanael asked, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Kind of a backwater, no name place in Israel. But isn't that fitting? Isn't it fitting for the humble king to be from nowhere in Israel? Yes, it is, isn't it? Jesus comes into the world and he's born in relative obscurity. You know, the entire world doesn't show up at Bethlehem. Jesus goes to live in the hometown of Nazareth. Nobody cared about Nazareth in the first century. Jesus, later on in his ministry, he doesn't even have a home of his own. As he tells somebody, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. He's come in humble circumstances, and now here he is again in humility, identified with his hometown, Nazareth. Now, this story is traditionally known as the triumphal entry. You can see why it's called that. In a sense, there is a sense of triumph here. The Messiah has come. The people praise him. They are right to praise Him. They are right to give Him honor. And that's what they do here. But in another sense, this is really not a triumph at all, is it? And you heard that in the Gospel of Luke, did you not? And that's why I wanted to read that in the scripture reading. You've got the triumphal entry. And then what follows is the story of Jesus as He draws near the city of Jerusalem. And what's He doing? He's crying. He's weeping. Why? Because he knows what's coming. He knows what's on the horizon. He knows they will reject him. He knows that they do not understand the time of their visitation and judgment is coming. 70 AD is right around the corner and Jerusalem will be destroyed. And this whole joyful scene will turn into a sorrowful scene. Jesus is indeed who they claimed him, who they acclaimed him to be. He is the son of David. He should be given praise as the Messiah. But because this triumphal entry happens in this fallen world, on this side of the cross, it's mixed with sorrow. But even now, there is a greater acclamation of Jesus going on. Where is it occurring? It's occurring in heaven, around the throne of God. It is no coincidence that the scene in Revelation chapter 7 is described in terms reminiscent of this. Listen, Revelation 7. After these things, I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, Crying out with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb These people here are fallen their Understanding of Jesus is inadequate woefully inadequate Their praise is not entirely pure for they don't understand who Jesus is and what his mission is and But there is a scene in heaven where the praise is pure, where it is given by people who really know who Jesus is, who really know the character and identity of the son of David, and that's in the glory of heaven. The crowds of the redeemed praise him for his suffering, his death, and his resurrection. And one day we'll join that multitude. will be part of that great multitude, giving praise to Jesus, waving those palm branches as it were, and rejoicing in our King, the one who came to save us. So let's ensure that in the here and now, we praise our King. We behold our King, we see him for who he really is, and then we give him the praise that he deserves. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this account of the triumphal entry. The people didn't understand Jesus, and yet they praised Him. How much more should we praise Him? And so we ask, Lord, that you would help us to be a people who knows who our Savior is, who our King is, what His character is, and that we would praise Him, and that we would shout and cry out praising Jesus for his righteousness, for his humility, for the salvation that he accomplished on Calvary's Hill, for the empty tomb, and the hope of eternal life that that gives us. We thank you that Jesus truly is the son of David. He's the Messiah. He's the great king of all, king of kings and Lord of lords. Help us to love him, to celebrate him, to trust in him and to praise him. And we'll thank you for it, Lord. And we pray in his name. Amen. As you leave today, please receive the Lord's benediction from Romans chapter 15. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.