Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the Gospel according to Matthew
chapter 21, and reading from our text, verse 9. Matthew 21, verse 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. Matthew 21 and
verse 9, Hosanna being a term of adoration and praise unto
God. This is the account of our Lord
coming into Jerusalem preceding the sacrifice he was to offer
up at Calvary. We've read deliberately the three
portions because the scriptures, they must be fulfilled. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
spotless and pure, sinless, paschal Lamb. The lamb that we read,
the children of Israel were told to lay up on the 10th day of
the month. They had to choose that lamb
out, all the children of Israel, four days before it was to be
offered. It was a significant event before
that lamb then in the evening of the 14th day was to be offered
up. Now I know it is tradition amongst
the churches that today is this day, this day that our Lord came
into Jerusalem, and I believe that that is correct, that it
would be the first day of the week that the Lord actually came
the day after the Jewish Sabbath into Jerusalem. What seems to
be very inconsistent, though, is the thought that our Lord
was crucified on the Friday. I can see how it is, because
the Scripture is saying that the next day was the Sabbath,
or a Sabbath. But we would remember at this
time there were other Sabbaths, there were other feasts during
this week. The scripture is not clear that
our Lord actually was crucified on the Friday. What is very clear,
and I know it can be reconciled, because the Jews, they counted
their days, any part of a day counted for a whole day. So our
Lord could have had, in that way, three days in the tomb,
for the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, if you like, but if it's to be
whole days, and if it is to match with the four days, then it would
be that we have our Lord brought forth, we would say betrayed,
on the Wednesday, our Wednesday, that was the evening, this night,
the Lord desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, so
that Wednesday would be the four days after he had come into Jerusalem. And it was that night, that corresponding
night of which the Passover lamb was taken and slayed, that night
he was betrayed, taken in the garden of Gethsemane, and then
brought before the rulers to the next day, which would be
our first day, that he was to be then crucified and slain. We can't of course be dogmatic
on that, but you think of some of these scriptures, we have,
if we trace it in Mark, in Mark chapter 11 and verse 1, we have
the corresponding account of him coming from the Mount of
Olives and coming into Jerusalem. That is his entry, so we'd say
that is day one. Then we have in verse 12, Mark
chapter 11, verse 12, on the morrow, when they would come
from Bethany, he was hungry, this is the fig tree, that was
cursed, and then we have in verse 20, and in the morning they passed
by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots, then we have
that is day three. But then when we come to chapter
14, we have in verse one, after two days was the feast
of the Passover. And if we compare that then with
Matthew 26 as well, our Lord beginning in that chapter, you
know in verse 2, you know that after two days is the feast of
the Passover and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified and
he is pointing that Passover, the Feast of the Passover and
the time that is betrayed, as that is equivalent as like the
Passover night of the, in Exodus 12, when the Passover lamb was
slain. And we do know, we know very
clearly that the lamb was set apart those four days before
it was slain. And here we have a very remarkable
and clear event in the time of our Lord upon the earth. His
crucifixion was very clear, His betrayal very clear. The event
here of Him coming into Jerusalem was a very remarkable event. And I believe directly corresponds
to that setting apart of the Lamb. This is what they said
when the multitude was asking, who is this? This is Jesus, the
prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee. This is the Paschal Lamb. And so we do need to be careful
sometimes, we don't just follow along we want to keep close to
the scripture, compare scripture with scripture. We know scriptures
say our Lord was three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth, and we know of these four days as well. So I want
to, in thinking of this and of our Lord's entry into Jerusalem
at this time, What a picture that that was. We have the prophecy
in Zechariah of the ass and the cult of the ass and these both
are mentioned here and how that he came into Jerusalem with such
praise and not in an inconspicuous way but in a very, very followed the cleansing of the
temple, much teaching, many parables was taught, and then much speaking
to his disciples and trying to comfort them and prepare them
for what was coming. Much of the Gospels is taken
up with what happened in this last week or last four days or
so before He was crucified. So I want to look with the Lord's
help, three points. Firstly, the Lamb of God coming
to be slain. And then secondly, they went
before and they followed. Our text says that the multitudes
that went before and that followed. So that is our second point.
And then thirdly, what they cried. The multitudes 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. So firstly, the Lamb of God coming
to be slain. What we read of here, we might
say is right at the end. The Lamb coming to be slain. When our Lord began his ministry,
John Baptist, he pointed out the Lord and he said, behold,
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. But it
was going to be a few years before this time when he came into Jerusalem
to be slain. But He is, as set forth in Scripture,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That is in the
purposes of God. God's children are chosen in
Him before the world was. The Father gave them to the Son
to redeem. The very first promise in the
Garden of Eden, that the seed of the woman should bruise the
serpent's head, was pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
when the Lord gives a promise, He will fulfil it. And those
promises are yay and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. God never
will not fulfil His promise. And all those Old Testament saints,
they died resting on God's assured provision of the Lamb of God. Abraham, as he went up the mount,
Mount Moriah and read it in Genesis 22. God had told him to offer
up his son Isaac. Now the promises of the Messiah
were in Isaac and yet God had told him to offer him up. We're
told in Hebrews that Abraham believed that even if he had
slain Isaac, his son, God would have raised him from the dead
to fulfil the promises of Christ through that line. But when Isaac
asked his father, my father, the fire, the wood, but where
is the lamb for a burnt offering? He said, my son, God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And the remarkable thing is,
is not God will provide a lamb, Pray burnt offering, no, God
will provide Himself. He was to be the Lamb, God manifest
in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. He was
to lay down His own life. I often think of what was said
to Jacob when Jacob had been told that he had to send his
son Benjamin to Egypt. He didn't know it was Joseph
requiring him, but he didn't want to part with his beloved
Benjamin. But Reuben, he said that if he
did not take care of Benjamin and bring him back again, let
him slay his two sons. And that was very generous of
Reuben. If Reuben had not kept Benjamin
safe, his two sons would have paid for it. But Judah was very
different. Of course, our Lord comes through
the line of Judah and he says, I will be surety for him. Whatever Benjamin, whatever was
required of Benjamin, he would pay the debt personally. not
his sons, not anyone else but him. And that is the true surety
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He pays the debt of his people. He suffers, he bleeds in their
stead, like it was in Egypt on that Passover night. There was
death in every house in that land of Egypt. either the Lamb
or the Firstborn. In that way, the Paschal Lamb
was a substitutionary offering. That Lamb was slain. They sheltered
beneath the blood, they sheltered beneath the promise, when I see
the blood, I will pass over you. And so the coming forth of the
Lamb of God to be slain, His goings forth were of old, goings
forth in the first promises, goings forth in the times, going
forth now to be slain. And here he comes, comes to be
slain. A willing sacrifice, a willing
offering, a freewill offering, Our Lord says, no man taketh
my life from me. I lay it down of myself. This
commandment have I received of my father. Remember the type
had to be not just a spotless lamb. And again, referring to
Abraham and Isaac, the ram that God provided that took the place
of Isaac was caught in the thicket by his horns. not by his fleece
to mar it and make it imperfect, but by his horns. The Lamb of
God had to be spotless. The Paschal Lamb had not to be
one injured or with some tear in it or something wrong with
it. He was pointing that the Lord Jesus Christ had to be spotless
and pure, not a sinner as you and I, but truly God and truly
pure. But not only that, it was to
be a lamb or a kid of the goats or of the lambs of the first
year. First year. In other words, in
its prime. Not an old lamb, not an old ram
that was just about ready to die anyway. Our Lord was in the
prime of His life, 33 years of age. Emphasis in scripture. He did
not have to die. Even his last breath upon the
cross was a loud cry. He wasn't dying through weakness
in that sense. He yielded up his spirit unto
his father. Who did he die for? He says in
John 10, I lay down my life for the sheep. When those of the scribes and
the Pharisees came, the Lord said to them, ye are not of my
sheep. My sheep, they hear my voice,
they follow me. Ye hear not my voice because
ye are not of my sheep. The Lord did not die and lay
down his life for those that were not his sheep. His name
is called Jesus in Matthew 1, For He shall save His people
from their sins, they're already His people, given Him by the
Father to redeem, a particular redemption. You read Numbers
3, and you read about a particular redemption, and in that type
it is the redemption of the firstborn by the Levites, the numbers of
the Levites had to match the numbers of the firstborn of Israel
and if they didn't then the difference was to be paid with five shekels
according to the sanctuary into the sanctuary. It is a sacrifice
made with a particular love to his people. God commendeth his
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. And this, every child of God,
is to know that the Lord, in great love to their souls, put
away their sin, suffered in their place, went to Calvary willingly
for their sin, not just for a general atonement, not just for putting
away every sin, and that whoever then accepts that will be saved. No, it is a certain salvation. It is a particular love. It is
like throughout the book of Proverbs, a just weight and a just balance. The Lord delights in that. If
you do not like something, you wouldn't go to a shop and say
well here is a here's a million pounds and now I just go through
the shop and I just pick out several of these goods and you're
not concerned whether what you buy matches with what you've
paid at all. You could well think well I've
paid well above what I'm going to take from this shop but it
doesn't bother me at all, no. It's like a person going and
selecting out what they want to buy from that shop and paying
the exact amount for it. I often marveled when Abraham
was to buy the field to bury his wife in, when David wanted
to buy the threshing floor of Verona, the Jebusite and the
oxen and the things for it, Both of those men that were going
to give, they wanted to give their land or give their oxen
to Abraham, to David. They said, what's this amongst
us? They were all rich men. The value of the land was but
little. But the price was mentioned. They paid the exact price. They
didn't say, well, you've asked 400 and, oh, just as a goodwill,
I'll give you 500. No, exact price, what was asked,
it was paid. And so it is, with that which
our Lord has done for his people, he's purchased them, specifically
them. And here we have the Lamb of
God coming to be slain. The joy, the proclamation, You
imagine those in Egypt, those with a paschal lamb, the shepherd
going through his flock, can I take this lamb? No, that's
got a tear here or there. Look at another one, that one's
limping a bit, I can't take that one. And then he finds one and
it's spotless, it's pure, he can't see any blemish in it at
all. The joy to bring that one, here
is the lamb. Here is the one that I can offer.
Here is the one that God will accept. When we think of the
sacrifices offered by Abel, by Cain, God had respect to Abel's
sacrifice, but not to Cain. Cain was not a blood sacrifice. He was not a slain lamb. Yes,
it does matter with God. about the sacrifice. It does
have to be a blood one. It does have to be a spotless
Lamb. It does have to be freely offered,
rightly offered. And here is the Lamb of God coming
forth to be slain, proclaimed in a very great way. Here is
the fulfilment of Exodus. Here is the fulfilment of Zechariah. Here is the Lamb of God coming
to be slain. 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. But secondly, they went before
and they followed. Now, in a literal way, this was
the case. You can picture our Lord in the
midst of a multitude, and some were in front of Him, and some
were behind Him, and they were all crying, Hosanna to the Son
of David, Hosanna to the Highest. They were praising God, giving
glory unto God, before and after. I think you'll find when the
children of Israel went around Jericho as well, we had the Ark
of God and there were those before it, and there were those behind
it. The Ark, of course, typifying
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But apart from the literal event
here, again, there is a significance of what is said. of those that
went before and those that followed. Again, we have read these three
portions this morning. We think of the types. The Passover
was a type that went before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The types are not just things
that just happen to illustrate what was to really happen. They were given by God, and we
have them in the inspired Word of God, showing us thousands
of years before the actual event took place that this is what
God had in mind. This is what was appointed, and
sometimes in the types, And in the shadows, we can see more
of what is in the actual event, and in the work, and in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, than we can in the actual event. They are very illustrative of
what our Lord Jesus Christ truly is. And so there are many, there
are many different times. Another one of course is the
manna from heaven. You read John 6 and our Lord
speaking of the manna and he's saying that he is that manna
from heaven. We think of the smitten rock
in the wilderness and Paul says they drank of that rock that
followed them and that rock was Christ. Again the Lord is that
great antitype or the fulfillment of the type of the rock that
was smitten in the wilderness. There is one great plan and purpose
of God and there is that which went before the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ actually upon this earth and his sufferings
and there is that which goes after. And one of the things
that went before was the types, the types and the shadows specifically
given to Israel through Moses, they were the gospel in their
day. They could look upon those types
and those that had faith, they looked past them and could see
the Lord Jesus Christ. Then there was the prophecies,
those that were very clear prophecies of what should happen. We read
of that and it's referred to here. and how that it is fulfilled. In verse 4 we read, All this
was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy king cometh
unto thee, make, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal
of an ass. And so, The Lord's power over
providence, the power over who owned that ass, that colt, over
his disciples, the timing of it. May we really wonder and
marvel at how the Lord brought these things to pass. And may
we see it in our own lives as well. For the Lord is still the
same Lord, is still the same God, and how he brings to pass
his word how He calls His people, quickens His people into life,
and whoso will watch providence will never lack a providence
to watch. Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. And it is a wonderful thing to
see through the Scriptures, not only the types, but the prophecies,
the telling, hundreds, thousands of years before things came to
pass, what they would be. King Cyrus, who was to give the
decree to go back out of Babylonian captivity, named hundreds of
years before he was even born. Josiah, named hundreds of years
before he was born, and what he should do to the altars that
Jeroboam had made. Many instances like this we have. You're those that go before then,
in the types, in the shadows. But what about afterwards? What
about after this? Is there not the preaching of
the word? If in the Old Testament, the
types, the shadows, they were the gospel in their day, the
gospel in our day is a very clear light. We preach the word, we
preach what is recorded and set forth in the four gospels and
in the letters of Paul and Peter and the epistles, James, John,
Philemon, all of these. This is the holy word of God. And what we preach is not just
confined to the New Testament, remembering our Lord on the way
to Emmaus, and Philip to the eunuch preached based upon texts
in the Old Testament. We have a rich treasure in the
ministry of the Word. It hath pleased God through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The apostle
says, I determine to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Go ye, says the Lord, into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptised shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall
be damned. The commission of our Lord goes
after, and the blessing of his death, of what he came to do,
it follows after. May we remember again, going
back to Egypt, Back to that Passover, what happened after? Not what
happened after the nine other plagues. You might say nothing
happened. All that happened was Pharaoh
hardened his heart and another plague came and another plague
came. And Egypt, the children of Israel
were still in bondage, still, still captive in Egypt. But that
wasn't the case after the Passover. No, immediately. they were thrust
out of Egypt, immediately they were loosed, immediately they
were given, they were able to spoil the Egyptians, and they
went out with a high hand. You can read in the mercies described
in Psalm 136, that it wasn't just the mercy of coming out
of Egypt, but the mercy that they went out with a high hand,
clearly and surely. And this is what followed the
Passover as a time And what follows the Passover here, what follows
the sacrifice of our Lord, we think of the day of Pentecost.
The Lord said, tarry at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power
from on high. And when the Holy Spirit came
and Peter preached, there was 1,000, 3,000, 5,000 on those
occasions when the Word was preached. There were those that went after.
And so we may say as well, they went before and they followed.
God's people went before this time and they followed. Don't
ever think that those that are saved before Christ's death were
saved in some different way than those after. right from Abel
until the last one that shall be called by God's grace on this
earth. All have been saved by faith
in the Son of God. All have been saved because their
sins were put away at Calvary by this dear Lamb of God, Jesus,
the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee, the true, eternal, spotless Son
of God who should come. Those that went before and those
that go after, all saved in the same way. May we always remember
that. We join with those in the Kingdom
of Heaven, with those that were before and after. We look back
to see what Christ has done. They look forward to what He
would do. And each is saved by faith in
the Son of God. and in his precious cinder-toning
blood. We may ask ourselves, are we
amongst those? Are we amongst those that follow
after? Are we amongst those that look
back to see the burdens thou didst bear when hanging upon
the cursed tree and hope that our guilt was there? Well, what
is the thing that they cried then? in the third place we read
in our text 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 now if you notice
what they cried is divided into three parts The first part of our text, it
says that there are those that go before and those that follow. And Jesus was in the midst. And
what they say is divided into the same three parts as well. What is it that they are crying
that are going before? What they are crying is Hosanna
to the Son of David. They trace the Lord Jesus Christ
to David's greatest son. David, who spoke of him, the
beautiful Psalms 22, 69, the Psalm 22, speaking of the very
words our Lord would utter on the cross, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? David, he saw the Lord's day,
he spoke of him, Lord had a question to ask of the scribes and the
Pharisees that they couldn't answer, that which was written
in Psalm 110. How could it be that David calls
him Lord when he is actually his son? They couldn't answer
him. They didn't know that secret
of the eternal Son of God, that it is God manifest in the flesh. When our Lord said of Abraham,
Before Abraham was, I am. And they said, Thou art not yet
fifty years of age, and art thou greater than Abraham. But they did not know, they did not
realize, that before them was the eternal Son of God. But these that are crying, and
those that cry before, we might say, well they are. those are
representing the Old Testament looking on the line of David. Maybe you remember David's two
sons, Solomon and Nathan. You trace Solomon's line, you
get to Joseph, who was the husband of Mary. You trace Nathan's line,
you get to Mary. You get Joseph and Mary, you
trace them back, and back to David. David's very important
person in the line to our Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder in Matthew
1 we have 14 generations from Abraham to David and from David
to the carrying away into Babylon and from the carrying away into
Babylon unto Christ is 14 generations each time. It is in both lines
that our Lord can be said He is the Son of David. So that
is the first thing that they are crying. They are identifying
very clearly that here is He that has been prophesied to come,
the true line of David. Then there is the present. Blessed
is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ
very clearly came in the name of the Lord, not in his own name,
sent by the Father. He has come forth from the Father. And the works that he did, he
testified of that, that he truly was the Son of God. And these people, they bore witness
of this. They had wondered at The gracious
words that proceeded out of His lips. They'd seen His miracles. They'd heard His Father's voice
from heaven. They had before them the true
Lamb of God. His ministry had borne witness,
and God the Father had borne witness, and so had the Holy
Spirit, that He was. the Lamb of God, this is He,
blessed is He. So there is the Hosanna, there's
the praise to the Son of David, there's the blessing upon the
Lord Jesus Christ who comes in the name of the Lord. And then
there is Hosanna in the highest, those that follow after, that
praise that is above, The Scriptures are not silent as to what happens
beyond the grave and what is happening above. The praise of
angels, the praise of the redeemed from the earth, how that they
sing his praise. These are they that came out
of great tribulation. These are they that are praising
the Lord in heaven. We have the a song of the redeemed. Well, we have a song of Moses
after they came through the Red Sea. We have that same song of
Moses that's sung in heaven as well. And we have that song spoken
of in Revelation 1 of the Lord Jesus Christ, the first begotten
of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto
him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him
be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. And so we have,
again, those that go before and those that go after, those that
praised in the Old Testament, sang his praise and glorified
his name, There are those on earth, there are those in the
present, and there are those in the present in this Gospel
day as well. And there are those in heaven,
and they're glorifying and praising this same name, this same blessed
Lamb of God, that picture that we have in the Revelation, a
Lamb as it had been slain in the midst of the throne. This
is He. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. When we meet for the Lord's Supper,
and all those that have an interest in Christ's death, all those
that believe on him should be baptised, they should obey him,
they should sit round his table, the Lord has said this, Do ye
in remembrance of me, ye do show forth my death, until I come. There is a looking back to his
death. There is observing the ordinance
now in the present. And there's a looking forward
to when the Lord comes. So this idea here, they went
before and went after, is rehearsed again in the ordinance the Lord
has chosen for his church. They look back. They walk in
the present. And they look forward. They weep. know something of the present,
receiving of His grace here, trusting in Him here, seeing
of His praises here, glorifying Him here, and then shall be fulfilled
what is in Psalm 84, He shall give grace and glory. The Lord give us that abundant
evidence that He has given us of His grace, and that we Where do we come in this multitude? Are we before? Are we at present? Are we to come? What is our cry? What is our praise? Do we just
look on, but have no interest in it? No desire for it? Or those times that Lord has
so blessed our souls, that we couldn't but praise because,
you know, there were those that said when this happened here,
Master, restrain, restrain thy disciples, reprove them. You
know what the Lord said? If these should hold their peace,
the very stones should cry out. Have you had blessings like that? Lord, touch your heart and draw
your soul after him. that you couldn't but speak of
what you had seen and heard. You couldn't but praise him.
Your heart was filled with the glory and goodness of the Lord. Or like David, my cup runneth
over, not be able to take any more of the fullness and goodness
of God. Fully satisfied, filled with
his praise. May the Lord bless us to be amongst
such a multitude, 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. Amen.