"God, the Stranger" Matthew 21:1-11

This is Palm Sunday, and it is my custom to preach on the kingdom of God. Thus, I have chosen to read this passage in Matthew, but my remarks will include the parallel passages in Mark and in Luke.

These are strange events. As Calvin says, this would be a ridiculous display, if it had not been in accordance with the prediction of Zechariah 9:9. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." Please note these things, which are unusual.

A. Notice what was not according to the course of the world.

1. It was not his own donkey; it was borrowed.

2. There were no saddle, bridle or such things; the disciples threw their garments.

3. There were no noble men, rich men, great men in attendance; but multitudes of the common, ordinary people

4. There were no banners; no horses; no soldiers in array; no pomp that the mighty of this world hold so dear.

5. How contrary to course of this world; how certain to cause contempt and scorn from the great men of the earth.

B. Notice the display of His divinity.

1. His divine knowledge: He knows where the animals will be; God does not have to experience things in order to know them: He knows His own will. To know the man would be home; the animals available; such power belongs only to God.

2. His power over the souls of men: They will be willing to let the animals go. God is the Lord over the souls of all men.

I would like to make several points concerning these unusual events before us.

I. The Lord Jesus lived as a stranger in the world that He had created. What other explanation, but that Jesus was presented to Jerusalem a view of a kingdom that was alien to their thinking? These were strange things; and what a strange figure it was that sat upon that lowly ass riding into Jerusalem! John 1:10, 11: "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not."

A. The Jews longed for a Messiah who would take up the political power and drive the Roman tyrant from their midst

. B. Christ offered a strange and alien view of a kingdom. But they should have known their prophets: Zech. 9:10: "I will cut off the chariot fro Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." Man's own power: maximize it as much as possible: make a bow; make a club; ride a horse; build a chariot. This would be a kingdom of a completely different order. More of this later.

C. They would have accepted Christ if he had fit into their own plans: into their own agenda. People are very happy to believe and go along with Christ as long as he is an adjunct to their earthly plans. They will follow and acclaim Him as long as He is useful to them. It is when they begin to see the nature of his heavenly kingdom, unless they are renewed by His mighty power, they will turn away as from folly and weakness. Only one kind of people, then, will truly follow Him and stay the course: Those who are like Him and and been taught of God to understand His mission. They are strangers like He was.

They received Him as long as He fit within their plans; but a few days later they were clamoring for his blood; standing before Pilate's judgment seat, crying for His crucifixion. Thus these events, are fully in character with His life and His mission.

D. Christ, the stranger.

1. Luke 9:57,58: "And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nexts; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Why did the Son of God come in this manner?

2. He was born in a stable: not even in his own home. His birth was announced by angels, not men of the earth; Strange and alien kings came from afar, led by a star. He was of the house and lineage of David, but no one of that lineage had ruled in Jerusalem for many years, and he had no earthly influence or following that could hope to elevate him to the kingdom; he also did absolutely nothing that would have brought about such an elevation. What a strange person! He was said to be born of a virgin, but who could believe that? But why did Christ come this way?

3. What alien doctrines he taught:

a. "If your right hand offend thee, cut it off...."

b. "Blessed are the poor in spirit...." Blessed are they that mourn..." Blessed are the peresecuted. What a political program this is!

c. Except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.

d. Except ye eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood; ye have no life in you.

e. The Son of man must go to Jerusalem; be crucified, and rise again the third day.

Who could make any sense of these things.

II. God has a special heart for stangers.

A. Noah: what a strange person in the ancient world!

B. Abraham: went to a strange land

C. Moses: stranger in the land of his birth; stranger in a far country, even among the land of his father in law.

D. Rahab: a stranger to her own people in Jericho

E. Israel in Egypt: they were strangers in Egypt: Deut. 10:17-19: "For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardth not persons, nor taketh reward; He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."

F. Psalm 39:12,13: David: "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more."

G. David blessing Israel: "For who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding." I Chron. 29:14,15. H. Leviticus 25:23: "The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me." This is not your eternal home. Not Israel; not the United States; not Colorado Springs.

I. There was to be one law: The stranger was to received among them, for they were strangers in Egypt.

J. This attitude toward strangers is continued in the N.T.

Matt 25:15: 'I was a stanger and ye took me in."

I Tim. 3:2: Bishop: husband of one wife: given to hospitality.

I Ti. 5:10: Widows: If she have lodged strangers

Tit. 1:8 Elders/bishops: "Lover of hospitality"

Heb. 13:2 "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Rom. 12:13: "Given to hospitality"

God loves strangers, and warns us about mistreated them, or setting them aside.

III. The people of God are pilgrims and strangers on the earth; and Christ came to save the lost, the alienated, the poor. So Christ came as one of them: he came looking for those whose home is not on the earth: to those who had the promise of a better city:

A. God says of the men of faith: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better coutnry, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is nto ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city." Heb. 11:13-16

I Pet. 2:11,12: "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles; that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may be your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation" Live as a citizen of heaven; live as belonging to Christ, whom you represent.

B. Christ came as a stranger; to find the meek and the poor; to prepare and take them to Heaven, their true home. John 10:25-30. He came to find his sheep. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest....." Psalm 107 is a figure of this: He gathers them from all lands, and from among all people: that they might go to a city which of habitation: a clear reference to Heb. 11:13ff.

IV. How different is this strange Kingdom represented by this solitary figure sitting on top of garments thrown on the back of an ass, riding into Jerusalem! What a discontinuity there is between His kingdom, and all the kingdoms of the world.

A. The kingdom is spiritual and in the hearts of men:

1. The king is poor, meek, and lowly. He is without form and comeliness. He came to to be ministered to, but to minister. Subjected himself to his parents and to the Roman authority, and paid his taxes.

2. His throne is not earthly and visible, but in heaven, and the right hand of God. Ps. 110

3. His scepter is not of gold or silver: but a scepter of spiritual strength: the Gospel, which subdues the hearts of men. Is. 2:3; Ps. 110:2; But this scepter is the power of God unto salvation. It breaks the rock to pieces, and changes hard stony hearts into hearts of flesh.

4. His subjects are not carnal, powerful men; but those humbled and contrite: they are born of the Spirit, not of the mighty of the earth; not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. Those who receive him are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. No earthly king has such a following as this. Their citizenship is in heaven; they are a willing people who would spring from the womb of the morning, from the light of the Gospel, according to Turretin. They are adorned with the beauty of holiness.

5. He rules in a spiritual manner: : His laws are to the heart, the motive; the spirit of men. he is served in spirit and in truth. It is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of God. The weapons of His kingdom are not carnal, but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. But he breaks the bow and throws down the engines of warfare.

6. The blessings of His kingdom are not carnal; not of the world, but spiritual, from heaven:

a. Forgiveness of sins; peace with God.

b. Eternal righteousness

c. Gift of the Holy Spirit

d. Salvation and everlasting life.

B. Jesus stood before Pilate: "Art thou a king, then?" Pilate asked. How fraught with danger those words. What danger for this silent, strange man who stood before the powerful Roman.

"Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witnes unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice."

The salvation of the SOUL, not of the body, but at the resurrection of the dead, the transformation of the body into a spiritual body, fit for heaven, and the heavenly kingdom prepared for us.

C. Finally: Where is your kingdom? What are the rewards of your kingdom? What are the methods and the manner of your kingdom. When you are tempted to immerse yourself in the ways and manners of this world, remember that solitary figure riding an ass into Jerusalem, and remember the manner of His kingdom.

My God bless you.

God bless you.
Amen and Amen