Chapter 21

There are two discourses at the end of Matthew. The first is the temple discourse in chapters 21-23 which comes out of the Palm Sunday incident. It is begun in chapter 21, continued in chapter 22, and concluded in chapter 23. The purpose of the temple discourse is to once and for all refute the position of religion. Religion is removed completely and totally as far as having anything to do with the spiritual life or with believers, and religion is placed on the Satanic side of the fence as Satan’s ace trump. The second is the Olivet discourse in chapters 24 and 25.

Last time we studied the Palm Sunday incident as it occurs in Psalm 118 and in Mark chapters 11 and 12. We will now review it as it occurs in Matthew chapter 21:1-11.

Verse 1 — “And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples.”

Verse 2 — “Saying unto them” — dative of advantage. It is to their advantage to have specific instructions, just as by principle of guidance it is to our advantage to have specific instructions in the Word of God with regard to everything in life. There is nothing in life that does not have a complete explanation in the Word of God. The great principle that we need to remember is that the Word of God prepares us for every exigency in life; it is the basis of all guidance. This does not mean that the Bible is going to tell you what to do at five minutes after nine tomorrow morning, and it doesn’t mean that the Bible is going to tell you what to do at twelve thirty! But the Bible gives you principles of doctrine and various types of techniques whereby you can determine the will of God for your life at any point. There will be times when you will be so involved in the difficulties of life that objective viewpoint is hard to discover, and therefore you will go to someone else who apparently has doctrine or apparently is mature to seek guidance and advice. But generally speaking the believer should be spiritually self-sustaining and this means that he handles his own problems, takes responsibility for his own actions, and is in general relaxed and has a wonderful relationship with the Lord.

The instructions were specific. “Go into the village [Bethphage, which means the house of figs] over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them and bring them unto me.”

Verse 3 — “And if any man say ought to you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.”

Verse 4 — “All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying.” And now we have a quotation from two passages: Isaiah 62:11 and Zechariah 9:9. Now actually Jesus didn’t say, “This fulfils” etc., but Matthew says that this fulfil these two passages. The quotation is in verse 5.

Verse 6 — the disciples obeyed to the letter.

Verse 8 — the threefold action of the crowd. “And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way.” This crowd wanted to use Jesus to make life easier for them. They were not interested in eternal life, they were interested in an easier life on earth. The second thing they did was to cut off branches and these were the ones who recognised Christ as Messiah, the Branch. Then the third thing they did was to cry out — verse 9 — “Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord [this was the second advent part of Psalm 118, and they were trying to put the cross before the crown].”

Verse 10 — “And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved [they were shaken], saying [kept on saying], Who is this?” So Jesus Christ is the centre of discussion on that day.

Verse 11 — people in the crowd were answering. “And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.” In this answer, of course, they have missed the boat. Instead of Messiah, the son of David, it is Jesus a prophet rather than a King, and instead of being from Bethlehem which is home town, the place of His nativity, they say He is from Galilee where He lived part of the time. They are deliberately ignoring the fact that He is the son of David, that He is Messiah, and that He has a spiritual kingdom at this time. They gave the wrong answer. To them this was just another prophet.

Why do the people give a wrong answer to the question: Who is this one? The answer to that is very simple” they learned it in the temple. Religion provides the wrong answers to the person of Christ.

Verses 12-22, the first day in the temple. The temple discourse lasts over a period of three days, starting on Palm Sunday and the Monday and the Tuesday following. So it is a lengthy discourse and it involves several days of activity. And after each day Jesus will not stay in Jerusalem, He will go back to Bethany up on the hill and stay with Lazarus because the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees, are trying to kill Him. So He spends His nights in Bethany; He spends His days in the temple.

We have seen how the people had switched around some verses in Psalm 118. In addition they also wanted relief from the Roman empire rather than an eternal kingdom. They have rejected Jesus Christ and the reason they have rejected Him is because of the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees, who teach in the temple. Therefore Jesus goes to the source of the trouble and first of all He will cleanse the temple and then He will begin His discourse about religion.

The first cleansing of the temple is recorded in John chapter 2, verses 13 through 16. That was at the beginning of His public ministry. Now that His public ministry is coming to a conclusion — in a week He will be on the cross — Jesus Christ is going to cleanse the temple again.

Verse 12 — “And Jesus went into the temple; “of God” is not found in the original. Jesus is rejected, and since He is rejected and since the source is religion He goes to that source.

Why Jesus went to the temple

1. Apostasy has removed the possibility of the temple being of God — “of God” is not found in the original. The temple was a means of teaching doctrine but apostasy has removed that.

2. At this moment Jesus comes to grips with the real issue. If things were wrong in the temple they would be wrong throughout the city.

3. The source of the rejection of Palm Sunday is the temple, and therefore Jesus goes to cleanse the temple.

4. The issue must be clarified in the temple before it can be clarified in the city of Jerusalem. So Jesus is going to spend the week before His death in the temple to clarify the issue there.

5. Why? Because it is religion which leads to the rejection of Christ and the headquarters of religion is in the temple.

“and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple.” The word “cast out” means to throw out by physical violence. Before Jesus can open His mouth and even give some straight doctrine in the temple discourse He has to get rid of something that is obviously horrible. Religion is always trying to find a way to bleed people out of money. There is no justification for pressurising individuals for money. Those things which belong to the Lord cannot be purchased. There is not enough money in the world to buy one soul’s salvation. So the racket being carried on in the temple has to go. There is a principle here: the world must be removed from the Church before the Church can go out and reach the world. You cannot give Bible doctrine and make the issue clear and at the same time hit people for their money. Example: Taking up an offering at evangelistic meetings is wrong. (All expenses should be taken care of by the local church)

“and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves.” The dove was a poor man’s offering, and it means they were not only fleecing the rich but they were fleecing the poor.

Possibly, behind all of this there is something else too. In a few days Jesus Christ will go to the cross and die for the sins of the world. When he does all animal sacrifices are no longer legitimate because the reality is come. Once the reality comes the shadows are removed so this is the end of the line. Jesus Christ is saying to the people who did not properly identify Him: Messiah is here, all of these sacrifices must cease.

Verse 13 — a divine rebuke. “And said unto them, It is written,” perfect passive indicative. Perfect tense: it is written in the past with the result that it stands written forever; passive voice: the Bible was received from the Holy Spirit. Now we have a quotation from Isaiah 56:7; Jeremiah 7:11 — “My house shall be called the house [His house = the temple. Every article of furniture in the temple spoke of Christ] of prayer.” In other words, this is a place where people can reach me; “but ye have made [keep on making, literally] a den of thieves [robbers].” Note: A thief always sneaks up on you, a robber takes by force or pressure. The word “thieves” is not a correct translation here.

Verse 14 — the divine credit card. “And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.” First of all He cleanses the temple and then He presents once again His own credit card.

Verse 15 — the reaction of the religious leaders. “And when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things,” they see with their own eyes the demonstration that Christ is God, “that he did, and the children crying [singing] in the temple [they were singing Psalm 118], and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased.” Religion hates Christ.

Verse 16 — Jesus recognises their antagonism and so he quotes a Messianic Psalm, Ps. 8:2. “And said unto him. Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read [the word is not “read” but studied], Out of the of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” In other words, Jesus is saying that this verse is fulfilled, 1000 years later on this Palm Sunday. In the temple there was perfect praise. Outside of the temple when the two crowds came together just outside of Jerusalem and gave this same Psalm, they were out of line because they were trying to put the crown before the cross. But here are children who are in line, they have accepted Christ as saviour and when they sing this it is meaningful, but when it was sung by the crowds outside the gates it was blasphemy.

Verse 17 — Jesus departs from the temple for the night. “And he left them.” The word “left” means He walked out on them, He forsook them; “and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.” He did not dare remain in the city during the night because the religious crowd was trying to get rid of Him.

Verse 18 — “Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.” Apparently He left without breakfast.

Verse 19 — “And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only.” On a fig tree the figs grow first and then the leaves. When you see a fig tree in the distance and you see leaves on it, it means that it has figs on it and you can now pick them. The leaves grow to tell you that the figs are ripe, ready for picking. Here is a fig tree that has leaves but no figs.

Now what is the issue? The Jews happen to be the fig tree, it refers to Israel. The leaves indicate that the Jews say, We are productive (because they were centring everything in religion, they were proud of their religion, they counted on their religion). Their religion was a system of works, they were trying to be saved by keeping the law. They were saying in effect that God should accept their leaves but they were minus figs. Figs is the production of grace, the production which God intended for the Jews when He founded the Jewish nation. God intended that they should produce. They were custodians of the written scriptures and responsible for dissemination of the gospel. They have failed as custodians, they have distorted the scripture into a system of religion, they have failed to disseminate the gospel to the Gentiles, and within 40 years, in 70 AD, they will go into the fifth cycle of discipline which ends with the second advent, and they are scattered throughout the entire Church Age. So the fig tree has no figs, and that is a picture of Israel. This tree is a reminder to the Jewish nation that they are on the brink of great discipline, a discipline which continues right down to the present moment and will continue until the second advent of Christ. Why? Religion never produces figs; religion never produces anything that glorifies God. Religion is leaves without production. And when is the first time we ever hear of fig leaves? In the Garden. The first parents put on fig leaves in order to be respectable to God. They knew that they were naked and they tried to adjust to each other, they tried to put on fig leaves; this was the work of their hands. But they had no production because they were spiritually dead. So fig leaves from the beginning of time speaks of human good — works. Religion is not saved, it has no regeneration.

“and he said unto it, Let no fruit grow [getting ready for the concept of the 5th cycle of discipline] on thee henceforth forward forever.” It is not “Let no fruit grow,” it is “Let no fruit come to pass.” It is the Greek word ginomai, which means to come to be or to become. In other words, under the 5th cycle of discipline to the Jews Israel as a nation no longer has custodianship of the scriptures, even the Old Testament doesn’t belong to the Jews; “henceforth forward forever,” that generation would be eliminated from production forever.

“And presently [immediately] the fig tree withered away.” A perfect picture of what happens to Israel. Jesus Christ knows what is going to happen. He is going in to expose religion. He is going in to deal with the headquarters and the leaders of the people — the religious leaders. These people are do-gooders, they are sincere do-gooders, they are full of all sorts of religious activities. All of it is meaningless. None of them are born again. They have lot of ritual but ritual without reality is meaningless.

Verses 20-22, the production of the believing remnant.

Verse 20 — “And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!” They were amazed. He just talks to a tree and it is dead! He is going into the temple to talk to the dead so that they might have life but the religious leaders didn’t respond except to try to kill Him.

Verse 21 — “Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If [3rd class condition: maybe you will, maybe you won’t] you have faith [faith-rest technique], and doubt not, ye shall not only do,” future active indicative, a logical future as the result of a powerful faith-rest (minus doubts). The logical result of the faith-rest technique is production. The indicative mood is the reality of the production of divine good; “this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.” The mountain is the mount of Olives, and this anticipates a future generation — Zechariah 14. The point: faith does not move mountains, faith is the victory in the worst type of crisis.

Verse 22 — the faith-rest technique which will be used in the Tribulation in such a way that the mountain will be split is the same faith-rest technique we have right now. How do we use it? We don’t stand up and talk to mountains, we talk to God through prayer. “And all things [unlimited opportunity in the field of prayer], whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer [in the sphere of prayer], believing, ye shall receive.”

The temple discourse is the greatest attack in the history of the human race on religion. Remember that religion is the devil’s ace trump and is the worst thing that ever happened to this world. Religion is any form of legalism whether it is salvation by works or spirituality by works. The chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, are the ones who are opposed to the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. They fail to understand the principle of grace: that grace depends on who and what the Lord is, and that the plan of God is completely executed by God. They fail to comprehend the meaning of the cross where all of the work is accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died for our sins and took our place so that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The plan of God is perfect because the person who designed the plan is perfect. The plan of God is perfect because it is executed by perfect persons, the three members of the Godhead. There is no place for man to do anything, therefore there is no place for man to get any credit. Under the principle of grace, grace = God does the work, man does the receiving and God therefore gets the credit. But under religion and/or legalism, man does the work and God is supposed to receive the work of man, and therefore man gets the credit. Religion recognised in Jesus Christ their greatest opposition and therefore they sought to discredit Him in every possible way. For two and a half chapters now we will see the Lord Jesus Christ setting religion back on its ears, bracing religion, discrediting religion.

In this particular discourse the second day was devoted to parables which denounced religion. The background: Verse 23 — Religious people are always rude. They talk about “brotherhood,” they talk about “love.” And, of course, when they talk about loving everyone they want you to love them, and they are often maudlin sentimentalists but they are very rude and very vicious. This is illustrated by the fact that the worst things that have ever happened in world history have occurred in the name of religion, and the worst sinner who ever lived was a sinner because he was more religious than anyone else — Saul of Tarsus who later became the apostle Paul. So the Bible has nothing good to say about religion.

In verses 12-25 we had the first day of our Lord’s ministry in the temple discourse. That was Palm Sunday.

Verse 23 — the rudeness of the religious crowd. “And when he was come into the temple.” Jesus has come back from Bethany where He has spent Sunday night; “the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching” — “as he was teaching” is present linear aktionsart. In other words, He had been teaching for some time and they came along and interrupted His teaching] and [they, the religious crowd, broke in and interrupted Him] — said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?” They kept breaking in on Him as He was teaching, they were rude and indifferent to the rights of others. So the rudeness of the religious crowd is the background for the religious crowd. In their jealousy they would like to discredit Him and so they want to know by what authority He does these things. In other words, they can discredit Him because of the framework of Judaism where He has no authority. But Judaism is religion and the sponsorer of Judaism is Satan, and Jesus Christ does not come under the authority of Satan or in the power of demon possession. He comes under the authority of God the Father and in the power of the Holy Spirit. When it says “they said,” that is a present linear aktionsart in contrast to the aorist tense, and the contrast is very simple: they kept on heckling Him, they kept on being rude, they kept on saying these things; but the aorist tense means they didn’t say them constantly, they broke in. Here is the cheap authority of religion questioning the authority of God.

Verses 24-27, discrediting the discreditors.

Verse 24 — “And Jesus answered and said unto them.” He is going to answer a question with a question. Jesus could have answered their question very simply except for this: they are not seeking information, they are simply trying to discredit Him. Since they are not seeking information Jesus uses debater’s technique. He answers a question with a question, and He does a beautiful job of tying them up in knots.

“I will also ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I will in like wise will tell you by what authority I do [keep on doing] these things.”

Verse 25 — “The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?” Where did John have his ministry? In the temple? No, he had his ministry out in the desert and the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees went out to hear him because all the people were leaving the temple and going out to the desert. And when the religious crowd went out to hear John he preached one of his best sermons! He called them a generation of vipers, a nest of rattlesnakes! They didn’t like John for that. After all, who likes to be called a snake? And John performed baptism but John had never been to their seminaries. John did not teach Judaism; John was not connected with religion in any possible way. He didn’t get his authority from them, he wasn’t under them and they weren’t able to bring John under their control. So when Jesus asks about the baptism of John this is a sore spot with them. He hits a nerve and you can see them wince. “Whence was it?” In other words, What was the authority for the baptism of John? Here is where the hecklers are heckled.

“And they reasoned among themselves,” they began to think about this question, “saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not them believe him?” So they are stuck, they can’t say that John’s baptism was from heaven. They realise their vulnerability there because they rejected the message of believing in Christ as uttered by John.

Verse 26 — the second alternative is a 3rd class condition. “But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold that John was a prophet.” Their dilemma can now be seen. They can’t answer this question. Furthermore, the reveal a very interesting thing: they fear the people. Religion always is concerned about what people think, it always has its public relations concept. The criterion to them is not, What is truth? but, What do the people think? This is the way religion operates. So religion doesn’t have the criterion of the Word of God, religion has the criterion of public opinion. It is always the sign of an organisation which is in decline, an organisation which is apostate, when it becomes more concerned about what people think than what the Word of God says. This is what happens when Christians get religion in them. One of the most relaxing things in the world is to grow up as a believer and not be concerned about what people think.

The religious crowd tried at the expense of Jesus to establish themselves as the authority, and so they were going to build their happiness on His unhappiness, they were going to discredit Him. But it boomeranged! (You can’t seek someone else’s misery without making yourself totally miserable) Instead, they found their own unhappiness and the authority of Jesus Christ was not even under question. So they had to admit that they had failed.

Verse 27 — “And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell [We are not able to say, literally]. “And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.” That shut them up and from that point on He had a captive audience. The religious crowd stayed to listen to Him now, for this reason: they were trying to find some other way to discredit Him. And since the crowd is now filled with the religious hierarchy Jesus now speaks directly to them in three parables. The first one is found in verses 28-32, the second in verses 33-42, the third in chapter 22:1-15. These are three parables of rejection directed to the religious leaders, condemning them.

Verse 28 — “But what think ye?” This is to refocus attention. A lot of people were shocked at the way Jesus talked to these priests and they need to refocus attention on what Jesus is saying; “A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go to work to day in my vineyard.” The vineyard immediately strikes a chord with all the Jews in the temple. They know from Isaiah 5 that the vineyard is Israel.

Verse 29 — “He answered and said, I will not [a desire based on emotion. He didn’t feel like it]: but afterward he repented, and went.” Generally speaking throughout the scripture wherever you find the word “repent” it is the Greek word metanoew, and it means a complete change of mind. It is strictly a mental attitude word. But there is another Greek word, metamellomai, which is an emotional word and it means to regret something. Here in this verse we actually have a case of regret. Apparently the father didn’t press his son. The point is that when God comes up against volition He stops right there, He doesn’t apply pressure. So the son then begins to think about it and he decides to go. The word repent here means that he regretted what he had said to his father and he went.

“Repent” isn’t the point of salvation. “He went” is the point of salvation, so this is a picture of the publicans and prostitutes (Verse 31) being saved during the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. A lot of them said, No, but they thought more about it and said, Yes.

Verse 30 — “And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.” Religion gives lip service to God but doesn’t get saved; “went not”: no salvation. So this is a direct criticism of the religious leaders because they talk about God, and they have ritual about God, and they put on a pious front and they offer prayers and do good deeds, but they are not saved, “they went not.” The second son was sincere: “I go, sir.” Sincerity is one of the most overrated things in the world today; it doesn’t mean a thing. It is honesty that counts. The first son was honest, he said he would not go and then he went.

Verse 31 — “Whether [which] of them twain [which of the two] did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom before you.” In other words, it was the religious leaders who answered. The chief priests were smart now, they could follow this story! Can you imagine the shock?! This is the holier-than-thou crowd. “The last phrase, “before you,” does not eliminate the religious people from being saved but it indicates that it is terribly difficult to be religious and self-righteous and to accept Christ. They prefer their own righteousness to God’s righteousness.

Verse 32 — “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness [John preached the truth], and ye believed him not [they rejected the message of John]: but the publicans [tax collectors] and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented [metamellomai] not afterward [they have no regrets about rejecting Christ].” The people heard the glorious gospel of the grace of God and they not only turned it down but they didn’t even have a qualm or regret about it at all. They were so stuck on themselves and in love with their own righteousness, and fascinated by human good that they absolutely turned down flat the grace of God, it had no appeal to them at all — “that ye might believe him” — having no regrets they never considered the matter again.

Verse 33 — the second rejection parable. “Hear another parable: There was a certain householder [ruler of the house, estate], which planted a vineyard [Israel], and hedged it round about [protection], and digged a winepress in it [expected production], and built a tower [protection from foreign powers], and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.”

Verse 34 — “And when the time of the fruit [time of harvest] drew near, he sent his servants to husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits [production] of it.” God expected production from Israel.

Verse 35 — “And the husbandmen took the servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.” This is the treatment they gave to the prophets and priests, and so on.

Verse 36 — “Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.”

Verse 37 — “But last of all he sent his son [Jesus Christ], saying, They will reverence my son” — this is the Messiah, they will have respect for Him.

Verse 38 — “But when the husbandmen [the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, the elders of the people, the religious crowd] saw the son, they said among themselves, This is his heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.” This depicts again the religious crowd.

Verse 39 — “And they caught him, and they cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him” — the cross.

Verse 40 — “When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do to those husbandmen?” This is not the second advent, this is the use of the 5th cycle of discipline. The coming of the Lord here is discipline, 70 AD, the Romans conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the city.

Verse 41 — “They [the religious crowd stick their necks out again] say unto him, He will miserably destroy.” That isn’t what they said at all. They said literally, They will put the wretched wretches to a wretched death.” They are all steamed up about this terrible thing that the husbandmen have done. But He is talking about them, He sneaks up on them every time with a parable and they are just so dumb that they don’t see it until He makes the point.

“and he will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen [the Church], which shall render him production in their seasons.” So he will find another group.

Verse 42 — “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures [Psalm 118:22,23, the two verses which they omitted in their singing on Palm Sunday], The stone [Christ, the Rock] which the builders [these religious people who have just answered] rejected, the same is become the head of the corner [Jesus Christ is going to rule in spite of them]: this is the Lord’s doing [it is from the source of the Lord. It is a part of God’s plan, in other words], and it is marvellous in our eyes?”

Verse 43 — “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you,” and Jesus looks right at the religious crowd. They are the rulers at this point; “and given to a nation [the Church] bringing forth the production thereof.”

Verse 44 — “And whosoever shall fall on this stone.” This means to reject Christ as saviour, it means to stumble over the stone. Stumbling over the stone is a picture of rejection of Christ; “shall be broken” — every religious person there will be broken, the religious system will be broken. That is the first advent.

“but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” This is the second advent. The stone cut out without hands will fall on them. The Rock will come a second time to the earth and it will crush them. This is the judgement of the baptism of fire which is given in the third parable.

Verse 45 — “And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived [the Greek word means to know from experience] that he spake of them” — literally, He kept on speaking concerning them.

Verse 46 — their reaction. “But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude.” Religion is sensitive to public opinion. After all, public opinion keeps religion alive; public opinion makes it possible for religion to operate; “because they took him for a prophet.” This doesn’t mean that He has had a successful ministry yet in the temple. They think He is a prophet, they do not accept Him yet as God and as saviour.