CHAPTER 21

(A.D. 33)

THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM

¹And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem (the last six days of the Lords earthly life began here), and were come to Bethphage (very near Jerusalem), unto the Mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two Disciples (tradition says that it was Peter and John),

²Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you (probably refers to Bethphage), and straightway (immediately) you shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto Me.

³And if any man say ought (anything) unto you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them; and straightway (immediately) he will send them.

⁴All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,

⁵Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, your King comes unto you, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass (Zech. 9:9).

⁶And the Disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,

⁷And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes (a saddle of sorts), and they set Him thereon (He rode the colt, with the other one, its mother, following with its back also prepared for a rider, nevertheless absent, which served as a symbol of Israel which rejected Christ).

⁸And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way (concerned the thousands who were coming into Jerusalem to celebrate the three great Feasts, The Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First-fruits; Christ would fulfill all three); others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed (scattered) them in the way (probably referred to palm fronds and branches from olive trees).

⁹And the multitudes that went before, and that followed (represents Israel before and the Church which followed), cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David (this was a Feast of Tabernacles expression, but premature): Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest (all of this was terminology by the people recognizing Him as the Messiah; but He was not recognized as such by the religious leaders of Israel).

¹⁰And when He was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? (Was moved refers to quake as in an earthquake; thousands before and behind Him, were making the city ring with the great Salutation, Hosanna in the Highest.)

¹¹And the multitude said, This is Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee (this is the title that was most understandable to the people. On this day, the 69 th week [483 years] of Daniels prediction was completed [Dan. 9:27]).

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE

¹²And Jesus went into the Temple of God, and cast out all them who sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them who sold doves (this was in the Court of the Gentiles; it was a different incident than that narrated in Jn. 2:13; the first commenced the beginning of His Ministry, this last one, its close),

¹³And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves (Isa. 56:7).

¹⁴And the blind and the lame came to Him in the Temple; and He healed them (Heaven condemned the wrong use of the Temple, He now showed them the right use of it).

¹⁵And 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 (most of the modern Church world is sore displeased as well, at any demonstration of the Holy Spirit),

¹⁶And said unto Him, do You hear what these say? And Jesus said unto them, Yes; have you never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings (little children) You have perfected praise? (The strength of the weak is praise, and worship of Christ is strength [Ps. 8:2].)

THE BARREN FIG TREE CURSED

¹⁷And He left them (the religious leaders), and went out of the city (Jerusalem) into Bethany (home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha); and He lodged there (probably out in the open; there was no room for Him when He began His Life, and no room for Him at the end of His Life).

¹⁸Now in the morning as He returned into the city (Jerusalem), He hungered (suggests that He did not spend the night with Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, but rather in the open).

¹⁹And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only (symbolic of Israel; all leaves and no fruit), and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on you henceforward for ever (during the whole of time unto Israels present position). And presently the fig tree withered away (immediately began to wither; Israel, upon her rejection of Christ, immediately began to whither).

²⁰And when the Disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! (This was the next day. They saw the miracle, but did not know what the miracle was intended to teach.)

²¹Jesus answered and said unto them (He deals with them on their level, not on the level the miracle was intended to convey), Verily I say unto you, If you have faith, and doubt not, you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if you shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done (symbolic terminology respecting the power of true Faith; all Faith must rest in Christ and Him Crucified, meaning that its correct object is always the Cross; the Will of God will then be carried out, and mountains of difficulties removed).

²²And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive (all things according to the Will of God; Believing pertains to the correct object of Faith, which must always be the Cross [I Cor. 1:17-18, 23; 2:2]).

JESUS ESTABLISHES HIS AUTHORITY

²³And when He was come into the Temple (early in the morning), the Chief Priests and the Elders of the people (religious leaders) came unto Him as He was teaching (interrupted His teaching), and said, By what authority do You do these things? and who gave You this authority? (If He claimed that God gave Him this authority that would have been admittance that He was the Messiah. This they wanted Him to do, in order to accuse Him of blasphemy.)

²⁴And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things (in effect, by the question He will pose, will be the answer).

²⁵The Baptism of John (of repentance), from where 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 you not then believe him? (John introduced Christ as the Messiah.)

²⁶But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a Prophet (whichever way they answered, put them in a dilemma; if they admitted that John was the predicted forerunner of Christ, then they were bound to receive Jesus as the Messiah).

²⁷And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell (this was untrue; they were the religious leaders of Israel and were supposed to know right from wrong). And He said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things (Jesus showed that they knew and were unwilling to answer.; in effect He said, If you will not be honest with Me and the people, it is pointless to continue this conversation).

THE PARABLE OF THE TWO SONS

²⁸But what think you? (This Parable and the next are directed to these religious leaders, as well as the people.)A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard (the certain Man represents the Lord; the two sons represent the unredeemed, who made no pretense at Salvation, while the second represented the Pharisees and their followers, who made every pretense of religion).

²⁹He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went (this represents the first son, who at the outset made no pretense of Salvation, but later repented).

³⁰And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and he went not (this represents the Pharisees and their followers, who claimed much, but had nothing).

³¹Which of the two did the will of his father? They say unto Him, The first (this proclaims the only answer that could be given; they little realized in their self-righteous piety that the Parable was directed at them; they were the ones who proclaimed their allegiance to God and His Word, but in reality, had no allegiance at all!). Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you (He said this to their faces, and before the people; He could not have insulted them more, putting them beneath publicans, whom they considered to be traitors, and harlots).

³²For John (John the Baptist) came unto you in the way of righteousness, and you believed him not (speaking to the religious leaders): but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and you, when you had seen it, repented not afterward, that you might believe him (they saw the changed lives as a result of Johns Gospel, but still wouldnt believe).

THE WICKED HUSBANDMAN

³³Hear another Parable: There was a certain householder (represents God the Father), which planted a vineyard (the vineyard illustrated the Kingdom of Heaven, which was entrusted to Israel), and hedged it round about (the Lord protected it), and dug a winepress in it (represents Blessings), and built a tower (represents the position of watchmen who were to serve as protectors of the vineyard), and let it out to husbandmen (at the time of Christ, the husbandmen represent the Scribes and the Pharisees), and went into a far country (left the vineyard in their care):

³⁴And when the time of the fruit drew near (the time when Israel was to extend the Kingdom among other nations), he sent his servants to the husbandmen (the Prophets were sent to Israel), that they might receive the fruits of it.

³⁵And the husbandmen (religious leaders) took his servants (the Prophets), and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another (Mat. 23:37).

³⁶Again, he sent other servants (Prophets) more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.

³⁷But last of all he sent unto them his son (the Lord Jesus Christ), saying, They will reverence my son (this Parable also asserts the Doctrine of the Trinity).

³⁸But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir (the religious leaders of Israel knew that Jesus was the Son of God and, therefore, the Messiah of Israel); come, let us kill Him (the religious leaders of Israel were murderers), and let us seize on His inheritance (they imagined that if they could destroy Christ, they could continue in their position of the inheritance; they killed that they might possess, but killing was the road to their sure destruction).

³⁹And they caught Him (that which would take place a few hours later), and cast Him out of the vineyard (excommunicated Him, in effect, claiming to Israel that He was an imposter), and slew Him (was done only after they had pronounced their curses upon Him, which in their minds legitimized their hideous action of murder).

⁴⁰When the lord therefore of the vineyard comes, what will he do unto those husbandmen? (The religious leaders are not quite sure where Jesus is going with this, and consequently, will continue to bite until they hang themselves.)

⁴¹They say unto Him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men (they little realized that they were speaking of themselves), and will let out His vineyard unto other husbandmen (is exactly what happened! the Lord turned from the Jews to the Gentiles [Acts 18:6]), which shall render him the fruits in their seasons (after a fashion, the Church has done that).

⁴²Jesus said unto them, Did you never read in the Scriptures (Jesus directs them to the Word of God), The Stone (Christ) which the builders rejected (Israel rejected Christ [Ps. 118:22-23]), the same is become the Head of the corner (everything hinged on Christ): this is the Lords doing (the Plan of God), and it is marvellous in our eyes? (In the eyes of those who accept Christ.)

⁴³Therefore I say unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you (taken from the religious leaders and the people of Israel, which it was in 70 A.D., when Titus, the Roman General destroyed Jerusalem; in saving their lives they lost them [Mat. 16:25]), and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (refers to the Gentiles, of which most of the Church consists, who took the place of the Jews in the Plan of God [Acts 13:46-49; 15:13-18; Rom. 10:19; 11:26]).

⁴⁴And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken (refers to Judgment and not Blessing, as some claim): but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder (refers to those who put themselves in active opposition to Christ and His Kingdom; they will ultimately be destroyed, and without hope of recovery, which includes every religion of the world).

⁴⁵And when the Chief Priests and Pharisees had heard His Parables, they perceived that He spoke of them (speaks of the very leading religious leaders, who had conveyed to them that which Jesus had said).

⁴⁶But when they sought to lay hands on Him (proclaims the wickedness of their evil hearts), they feared the multitude (their only restraint), because they took Him for a Prophet (the last they speak of the multitude, and not the Pharisees and Chief Priests, etc.).