Matthew 21:9, commentary and pictures

Matthew 21:9 is the shout of the multitudes at Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem to keep the Passover near the close of His ministry, acclaiming Him as Messiah and King, the promised heir to David's throne come in the Lord's name, with Hosanna as praise and appeal for salvation directed to heaven. He rode humbly on a donkey without royal pomp while the crowd spread garments and palm branches of victory before Him and honored Him for His works of mercy, including many He had healed, cleansed and raised, with children taking up the same cry in the temple. Many who cried it expected Him then to take David's throne, free Israel from Rome and establish a prosperous earthly kingdom, and Jesus accepted the homage He had before refused, though suffering and death lay just days ahead. The cry had to be uttered to fulfill prophecy of the lowly King coming to Zion, so that when rulers demanded silence Jesus answered that even the stones would cry out, and when the people fell silent children continued the praise. Within days the same voices turned to demand His crucifixion when hopes were shattered, yet the words will be spoken again at His future coming in glory, when even those who rejected Him will be compelled to acknowledge His majesty.

Triumphal Entry Setting

Matthew 21:9 belongs to Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem as He rode in to keep the Passover, one of the closing events of His ministry when crowds joined Him on the way and welcomed Him as the promised King. It is part of the account of Christ riding into Jerusalem that also warns through the fruitless fig tree that professed service without a life bearing fruit brings no glory to God, while expressing the longing to see the despised and rejected Christ crowned and seated on His throne. It was a deliberate public demonstration to draw attention to Him before His final sacrifice.

Multitudes going before and following joined the procession on the way, with people gathered for the feast joining those escorting Him and swept up in the moment, swelling the shout welcoming Him as coming in the Lord's name. Their triumphant joyful shouts echoed across the hills and valleys and across the slopes of the Mount of Olives. Many flocked from all the region eager to see Jesus, and the raising of Lazarus had drawn a large crowd to welcome Him triumphantly into Jerusalem. Their response spread through the gathered multitude with powerful inspiration of the moment.

The crowd honored Him by spreading garments and leafy branches in His path and waving palm boughs, with palm branches raised as they gathered around Him approaching on a donkey. Those palm boughs were natural emblems of victory, used when they had no royal standards, in a joyful triumphant welcome of Him as promised King. Yet He came humbly on a donkey without heavenly spectacle or royal pomp and costly gifts, remaining humble and bearing humanity's burden until He gave His life for the world, unlike the triumphs of earthly conquerors. Among those praising Him were His trophies rescued from Satan's power, people He had healed, cleansed, and raised from death: former cripples, those whose sight He restored, cleansed lepers, and those He raised from the dead. Their praise and hosannas celebrated His works of mercy and deliverance and made the procession a triumph unlike the victories of earthly conquerors, though they joined in fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy without knowing it.

Children took up the same hosannas, repeating in the temple what the crowd had cried and acclaiming Him as Son of David, the one who comes in the Lord's name and is their King. Their praise filled the temple with palm branches and joy at His wonderful works, and continued there the next day where children joined in rejoicing over Jesus and His works of healing. The same title had been used by those seeking healing. The people would not be silenced by the rulers. The public entry presented Himself as Redeemer, with the triumphal welcome drawing attention to His approaching sacrifice, when at Passover Jesus voluntarily set Himself apart as the antitypical Lamb whose death would be an offering for the sins of the world. The acclaim made the events leading to His death widely known, so that afterward people would connect the entry with His trial and death and search the prophecies, recognize Him as Messiah, and believe in Him.

Even as thousands rejoiced around Him crying hosannas and waving palm branches and proclaiming Him king, Jesus was overwhelmed with sorrow and tears over Jerusalem. His tears were final appeals of love and compassion to a city that rejected Him and did not recognize the things that would bring peace. The rejoicing surrounded those final pleas while the entrance pointed to Jerusalem's coming doom and destruction for its blindness and impenitence.

Meaning of the Shout

The shout is homage to Jesus as Messiah and King, the promised heir to David's throne coming in the Lord's name. It belongs to His entry into Jerusalem on the way to keep the Passover, when the crowds joined Him with rising hopes of a new kingdom and the disciples expected Him to claim royal power in the capital, thinking they were escorting Him to take David's throne. The repeated hosannas answered a prophetic call from Israel's past and fulfilled Zechariah's prophecy of a lowly King coming to Zion, breaking out as a public outpouring of joy that honored Him despite efforts to silence it, though the procession was in fact a prelude to His suffering and death and the disciples mistakenly took it as a sign of a coming prosperous reign.

"Son of David" is the prophetic title of the Messiah spoken by the prophets in the past, and the crowd's use of it confessed His kingdom and recognized Him as fulfilling that title. It was the same title already used by those who had sought healing from Him, and the people now applied it publicly to Him as He rode in, to the astonishment of priests and rulers who heard the witness but refused it. Many who used the title did not recognize that the Messiah was also the Son of God. Their expectations that He would free Israel from Roman rule and restore the kingdom accompanied the joyful welcome, but did not define the homage they gave Him.

"Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" welcomes Christ as coming in the Lord's name. It is the response of those who come to Him as learners, receive His teaching, and are enlightened in mind and quickened in heart to holy admiration. "Hosanna" expresses both praise and appeal for salvation, and "in the highest" directs that praise to heaven. That praise rose with the procession to heaven as the shouts grew, celebrating His works of mercy and making His triumph unlike the victories of earthly conquerors.

Hopes and Disappointment

The shout of welcome carried the expectation that Jesus would then be acknowledged as Israel's King and take David's throne, establishing a temporal, prosperous earthly kingdom. The multitude thought they were escorting Him to royal power in the capital, imagining Him driving out the Roman armies, freeing Israel from Roman rule and its oppressors, and restoring Israel as an independent nation. Jesus accepted this public homage, though He had not previously permitted it. The disciples took that acceptance as proof that their hopes of seeing Him crowned would be fulfilled and that deliverance was near.

They joined the celebration but forgot His repeated warnings and did not grasp that suffering, judgment, and death lay ahead. They expected Him to reign prosperously on David's throne, imagining a kingdom different from the one He had described. Only a few days before His crucifixion and trial the joyful welcome stood in stark contrast to His march to Calvary disgraced and about to die. Joyful hope turned to fear and despair as high hopes were disappointed, hopes were shattered, and the darkness of death closed about them.

Many who praised Him then later joined the cry to crucify Him, because their praise had followed popular feeling and excitement rather than lasting loyalty. Some who had shouted His praise because it was popular swelled the demand for His crucifixion only days later, while those He had healed and raised from the dead still declared His works and asked what He had done to be treated as a wrongdoer. The same fickle multitude that had been moved to proclaim His wonderful works soon made the opposite choice for Barabbas instead, a sudden reversal that was the hour and power of darkness. After His resurrection their hope revived when He appeared to them. Only then did they understand that prophecy had also foretold His suffering and rising from the dead, showing He was true to His promises with sweet consolation and rich reward for the true and faithful.

Prophecy Fulfilled and Foreshadowed

The shout fulfilled prophecy, for the lowly King coming to Zion foretold in Zechariah 9:9 rode in as promised heir to David's throne, and the repeated hosannas answered a prophetic call from Israel's past, including Isaiah's prophecy and Isaiah 40:9-11 of God coming as a shepherd who gathers and carries His flock. The multitude joined that memorable entry without knowing they were fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy, looking forward to His reign on David's throne as a prelude they did not understand to suffering and death. Their acclaim occurred while that prophecy was being fulfilled, though they expected a prosperous temporal reign and did not grasp what lay ahead.

The cry had to be uttered because God's word about the Saviour's coming must be fulfilled and served God's purpose. The shouts were a prophetic witness to Jesus as Messiah and a public confession of His kingdom, and the rulers heard the testimony but refused to accept it as inspired. When priests and elders wanted the multitude stilled it could not be stopped.

When priests, elders, rulers, and Pharisees threatened them and sought to silence the public outpouring of joy, the praise could not be stopped, for if the people held their peace even the stones would cry out. That unstoppable cry marked the prophetic fulfillment of the event. The Pharisees' efforts to silence it failed to prevent honor being given to Jesus as the promised Son of David and King.

When the people fell silent under pressure from the rulers at the city gates, children in the temple courts continued the Hosanna refrain, repeating the royal praise after His healings. This fulfilled the prophecy that praise would come from children. God made the children witnesses to Christ's glory when priests and rulers refused to proclaim it.

The triumphal ride foreshadowed His future coming in glory, accompanied by angels and the rejoicing of the saints, and the words welcoming the One coming in the Lord's name point to that future triumph. Those same words will be spoken again when Christ returns after the thousand years and the wicked dead rise to face their doom. Those who rejected and mocked Him will then see Him in heavenly glory and be compelled by the force of truth to acknowledge His majesty and authority from unwilling lips, while remaining rebellious and hostile without love for Him.

Pattern for Last Days

The shout that welcomed the Son of David into Jerusalem was part of prophetic fulfillment and could not be silenced, and the proclamation of the third angel will have that same public, unstoppable character.
The joyful praise with palm branches fulfilled prophecy, and when the people fell silent under pressure and threats from priests, elders and rulers at the city gates, children in the temple courts took up and continued the Hosanna refrain. That continuance fulfilled the prophecy that praise would come from children, showing that God's word about the Saviour's coming must be fulfilled and that when adult messengers are silenced God makes children His witnesses to Christ's glory. The same pattern belongs to these days and to the message of Christ's second advent, for children repeating in simplicity what they have been taught will again raise their voices to give the last warning to a perishing world. Children who have been rightly educated will thus make God's message known and make His saving health known to all nations.

As people who had gathered for the feast joined those escorting Jesus and were swept into swelling the shout welcoming Him as coming in the Lord's name, so visitors to Adventist meetings were swept into the response. Even those who came from curiosity or to ridicule felt the convincing power and force of the message that the Bridegroom was coming and joined in its response.

The disciples and the multitudes flocking from all the region welcomed Jesus triumphantly as King, expecting Him then to be crowned and to reign on David's throne as an earthly, temporal prince. The cry had to be uttered because prophecy, spoken in Zechariah 9:9, must be fulfilled, so when priests and elders wanted the multitude stilled it could not be stopped, for if the people held their peace even the stones would cry out. Within a few days those same joyful hopes were shattered when their Master was stretched on the cruel cross above mocking Pharisees, with high hopes disappointed and the darkness of death closing about them. After His resurrection their hope revived when He appeared to them, and Christ proved true to His promises with sweet consolation and rich reward for the true and faithful. That joyful acclaim, crushing disappointment, and revived hope illustrates the Advent movement, whose later disappointment was less than the disciples' greater disappointment.

Call to Respond Now

Proclaiming the entry lifts Jesus up and exalts Him as the Son of God come to draw all to Himself. That lifting up proves that honoring Christ more fully is not being saved by law, and it convicts hearers and draws them to faith, baptism, and uniting with the church. The cry calls every hearer to consider Christ and to respond to the word with eternal seriousness. It is to be spoken with freedom so people listen for their lives and take hold upon it, calling each one to do his part well now so he will stand acquitted in the day of final accounts, when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened and every one's account is balanced. It calls for faithfulness so that hearers will be saved through the words spoken and meet again among the saved in that great day.

His coming brings not peace but a sword, and His entry calls His followers to walk in the light of His glorious example without questioning the cost in labor, trial, and suffering. They are to give themselves to maintain the truth in its purity, to push the triumphs of His cross, and to extend His kingdom. Yet a person can join the crowd's excited cry of praise and still fail the test of true Christianity in ordinary life. That picture of the multitude illustrates religious enthusiasm that may fade when there is no special excitement, while true faith is shown instead by doing Christ's will and obeying Him.

The loftiest praise springs from gladness of heart in those who, after repentance and confession with true remorse of soul, look intently and undividedly to Jesus Christ as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. They sense His all-sufficient sacrifice and realize the fulfillment of the promise in pardon, with the live coal from the altar of atonement touching the lips as the pledge of forgiveness. It is given in answer to prayers for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The chapter joined to the entry also warns through the fruitless fig tree, and through the barren fig tree, that professed service to God without a life bearing fruit brings no glory to Him. It expresses the longing to see the despised and rejected Christ crowned and seated on His throne.