Matthew 21:15, commentary and pictures

After He cleansed the temple courts of trade, the blind and the lame came to Him and were healed, and the children cried Hosanna to the Son of David, which angered the chief priests and scribes so that they objected, but He upheld their praise from Scripture that praise is perfected out of the mouth of babes and sucklings. The title Son of David confessed Him as the prophesied Messiah and King, whose kingly authority He exercised in healing and in confronting the corrupt priesthood. The rulers were displeased because prejudice, jealousy, love of gain, and unbelief blinded them to the evidence and fulfillment of prophecy, so while they had tolerated buying and selling and strife in the sacred place they treated the joyful shouts of children and healed sufferers as improper and tried to silence them. That praise fulfilled prophecy and could not be silenced, for when adults were pressured to be quiet the children took up the proclamation, and if they had been quiet the very stones would have cried out. So God working through children then is the pattern for the last days, when children filled with the Spirit will help give the final warning and the glory of the third angel's message will lighten the earth, which no opposition can stop.

Temple Scene and Meaning

After driving the sellers and moneychangers from the temple, Jesus remained there where the blind and the lame came to Him and He healed them, and the children cried Hosanna to the Son of David in the temple courts. When the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things He did and heard that praise they were sore displeased at both His works and the children's voices. They objected to the children's words with the challenge, Hearest Thou what these say, and Jesus answered Yea and upheld the children by Scripture that out of the mouth of babes and sucklings praise is perfected.

The scene belongs to Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the events surrounding it, a chapter of Matthew 21 to be studied carefully together with the barren fig tree. The fruitless fig tree represents people who profess to serve God and belong to the church but whose lives produce no fruit to His glory. The rejoicing and hosannas of the entry were Christ's final appeals of love and compassion to Jerusalem, and their rejection pointed to the city's doom.

The temple court had been filled with trade and noise, but after the cleansing Jesus taught the people, healed those who came seeking mercy, and freed them from suffering. The wonderful things were His healing of every disease among the poor who remained after the priests fled, so that the blind beheld their Restorer and the dumb opened lips in praise. The contrast stands between that joyful praise for mercy received and the displeasure of the religious leaders at His wonderful works and the acclamations.

Parents whose children's lives had been saved put palm branches in their hands and told them to lift up voice and praise Him, and those children walked through the temple crying Hosanna and leading the rejoicing and waving palm branches. Youth, fathers, mothers, friends and spectators joined them, blending thanksgiving and praise with hope and gladness and peace as those restored in soul and body told how pain, disappointed hopes, painful days and sleepless nights ended when Christ healed them when hope seemed dead. The restored sufferers vowed to devote life to His service and returned home proclaiming everywhere His matchless love. The rulers could not silence the people, who continued praising Jesus for His works.

The title Son of David identified the Messiah foretold by prophecy, and the praise recognized His messianic identity. The people had used that title when Jesus healed the sick and restored the dead and during His entry into Jerusalem, and the children in the temple echoed those joyful hosannas to Jesus as the Son of David. The temple authorities heard the people loudly honoring Him with titles foretold by the prophets.

Jesus had accepted the people's homage and the role of Israel's king, and in that kingly authority He acted in the temple to confront the corrupt priesthood. He thus gave an unbelieving people evidence of His divine mission even though the effort to reform the leaders would be in vain. The temple leaders were unable to explain or challenge His authority, were perplexed and disconcerted, and dared not join the praise. His mighty works in Jerusalem and the people's enthusiasm could not be suppressed or turned aside.

The chief priests and scribes and elders were displeased because prejudice and jealousy kept them from accepting the evidence of His power shown in healing the sick and dying in the temple. Concern for the temple's profits left them unmoved by the joy of the healed people and the children's praise that sprang from that joy. Their understanding was so blunted by unbelief that they could not see the fulfillment of prophecy in that very act and rejected truth necessary for salvation.

In contrast to the joyful praise of the children and healed people who acknowledged Jesus as the promised King, the leaders treated the children's joyful shouts as improper although they had tolerated buying and selling, animals and angry disputes in the sacred place, exposing intolerance and hypocrisy. The children's sincere praise was acceptable to Him, though the religious leaders tried to silence it and dared not join it. They reacted with astonishment and anger and threatened to exclude those who acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, yet could not stop the crowd from confessing His kingdom.

Prophecy and Final Proclamation

Christ's riding into Jerusalem amid cries of Hosanna to the Son of David was the fulfillment of prophecy, and the children's crying of Hosanna in the temple was prophecy fulfilled through the children themselves. The religious leaders were disturbed and sore displeased by the attention given to Him and by His wonderful works, yet their understanding was so blunted by unbelief that they could not see the fulfillment of prophecy in that very act and could not explain or challenge His authority. When the people's joyful welcome had been silenced by the priests and rulers and adults stopped proclaiming Him under pressure and intimidation, the children in the temple courts took up the joyful proclamation of Jesus as the Son of David. They led the rejoicing, repeated their hosannas and waved palm branches, and the people continued praising Him for His works so that the rulers could not silence them. If the children were quiet the very stones would cry out, for prophecy must be fulfilled.

As opposition could not silence that praise, so opposition cannot stop the proclamation of God's message. The crying people picture the final proclamation of the third angel assisted by a mighty angel that lights the whole earth with glory, which no man can stop any more than the voices crying Hosanna could be stopped. God worked through children to proclaim Christ at His first advent, and He can use children to proclaim the Saviour's coming in the proclamation of His second advent. Their voices are a pattern for children in the last days who will help give God's final warning message to a perishing world. When older workers are prevented from presenting the truth the Spirit of God will come upon the children and they will carry the message forward, and rightly educated children will speak with simplicity and astonish those who pride themselves on higher education.

Prophecy must therefore be allowed its workers, and those who serve God should not suppress willing workers merely because they do not follow the same methods, but each should work in the capacity God has given. Those thus healed knew Him as Saviour from felt sympathy and wonderful power giving health of body and light to the soul. At the crucifixion they did not join the throng crying for His crucifixion but sympathized with Jesus, and afterward they listened to the preaching of the apostles until the entrance of God's words gave them understanding. In this way they became agents of God's mercy and instruments of His salvation.