Matthew Chapter 21 Verses 1 – 5

• Now remember, Matthew’s whole aim is to present Jesus as the King. Yes the King of kings but also to present Him from the lineage of King David to show the nation of Israel that their prophesied King has come…but al

• l throughout his gospel, this entire book, only once has he been this clear! All the way back in Matthew Chapter 2 verse 2…only other place Jesus has been called King so far and that was when the wise men asked, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?”

• Different tone now. It’s like we’ve had 20 chapters to watch Him, to follow Him, to observe and listen to Him and now Matthew reveals what’s been concealed and yet obvious this whole time…that this Jesus is the King…the rightful King and the only King! Prophecy walking, man…or riding! HA! And in terms of prophecy, this scene is thick.
• These are the words of the prophet Zechariah, given in Zechariah 9:9, a full half century before Jesus came on the scene…and here are his words, “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. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.’”
• You look so unimpressed! Man, consider this! This is detail BABY! Here He comes! And when He comes He will enter the city riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Not one…but two…a donkey and a colt…and precisely, 500 years later that was perfectly fulfilled in and only through Jesus! You do realize that is like George Washington saying, “Lo! Behold there will come one with a huge ridiculous hair piece, the owner of the tower speaking great adjectives without objective reference!” HA! Oh yea, but times two…since GW was on the scene 225 years ago! Not enough for you? Check this out!

Matthew Chapter 21 Verses 6 - 11

• He enters the city with great pomp. They spread palm branches in front of Him as He entered and cried out acknowledging Him as Lord as they proclaimed Psalm 118, “Save now, Son of David! Save now in the highest!”       And what’s stunning is that one week later, Jesus will be abandoned, nailed to the cross in open condemnation from the Romans and rejection from His people. These people.
• What happened? They loved the Lord so much! They rejoiced that He was there and active in their lives! They sang for Him, worshipped Him, they were so into Him…what happened? The answer may be a little shocking…He was faithful to His Word…and in that, He didn’t meet their earthly expectations…I’ve so seen this so many times…folks, even when we are faithless, He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself…No matter what you’re into, no matter what you’ve twisted up in your own life, God is faithful to His Word…we ought to expect that rather than build the expectation that is given to us by so many false talking heads…that God is mushy gushy slushy fluffy fuzzy and if God is love then God would want me to be happy and if God is good...God is…but is your eye evil because He is good? Expect this…He will be faithful to His Word…and so it would be smart to learn it…
• Along those lines, something huge just happened…Something precise and illuminating and amazing…you see there was a prophecy about this.       Daniel Chapter 9 Verses 24 through 25. Daniel speaks of 70 weeks being determined to make and end of sins and bring in everlasting righteousness! And so 70 weeks, that’s it!! 70 periods of 7…or 70 weeks…
• First, there shall be seven weeks, or 7 periods of 7 (7 days in a week) and so 7*7 is 49. From the command going forth for the temple to be rebuilt which was given to Nehemiah by Artaxerxes, 49 years later…guess what? Restored…walls up after 52 days and 49 years later, 7 periods of 7 the streets are built again, along with the wall even in troublesome times…and then comes the period of 62 weeks. 7 Weeks have gone by and now 62 sevens remain. 62*7 or 434 years…so what, just wait!
• Nehemiah Chapter 2 verses 2 - 9 we find the command…the command given by King Artexerxes to not just rebuild the temple…but to restore and rebuild Jerusalem! Now, from clues given of this account within the Bible, this command by Artexerxes, strengthened with artifacts uncovered even by modern archaeology, we are able to actually nail down the exact day that this command was given in the month of Nisan or March 14th, 445 BC!
• So there are seven weeks and sixty two weeks. That equals what? Sixty nine weeks! So what’s the starting point? The command to restore and build Jerusalem…and what’s the ending point? The Messiah the Prince. We’ve covered this before in our verse by verse study through John and through Mark but here is one of the most fascinating pin-point accurate examples in the Bible where we can hang our hat upon its divine inspiration…thanks to a Biblical genius and mathematician by the name of Sir Robert Anderson. 

• Seven weeks and sixty two weeks…that’s 69 weeks total, right? Or as we talked about before, 69 sevens. So take 69 weeks or 69 periods of seven years and you get 483 years.　 Understand the Jews held to a lunar 360 day year so take 483 years and multiply that by 360 days per year and you arrive at 173,880 days. Boring! Settle down battle cat…you’re going to like this! 

• Daniel Chapter 9 we read the prophecy that says from the giving of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there that shall be 69 weeks and then Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself…Nehemiah Chapter 2 verses 2 - 9 we find the starting point…the command given by King Artexerxes to restore and rebuild Jerusalem and we can nail the exact day that command was given! Now, convert the 173,880 days into solar years, adjusting for leap years, beginning at March 14^th, 445 BC, you arrive precisely at April 6^th, 32 AD or prophetically specifically, THE day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey…for the FIRST time allowing for a riot in the city…showing Himself finally as Messiah the Prince!
• And the multitudes said, “This is Jesus…” That they got right…but then, “The prophet from Nazareth.” No. So much more than that…the King. The Savior of mankind…the only Way, the only Truth, and the only way to find eternal Life!!! One that can be trusted. One that is eternally perfectly faithful and He has given us His word so that we know exactly who He is, what He is going to do…today and tomorrow…and what exactly we should do…and you know His command? What we should do…? Simply this…come to Him.