Psalm 78:2 says, “I will open my mouth in a parable; / I will utter riddles from of old.” The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 13:35, “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.” This word continues the fulfillment of the prophecy in Psalm 78. In His earthly ministry Christ revealed the things of the kingdom in parables in order to make them mysteries to the opposing and rejecting Jews so that they would not understand them. The Lord said, “I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand...For the heart of this people has become fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed” (Matt. 13:13-15). However, His disciples were blessed because they saw and heard the mysteries of the kingdom revealed by the Lord through the parables that He spoke.
Concerning Christ’s entering into Jerusalem at the end of His ministry, the Old Testament has three main prophecies in Isaiah 62:11, Zechariah 9:9, and Psalm 118:26. These Scriptures speak concerning Christ as the meek King mounted on a donkey’s colt in a lowly way and entering Jerusalem triumphantly, to whom the crowds cried, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” These prophecies fully came to pass through the events portrayed in Matthew 21:4-9 and 16.
Isaiah 62:11 prophesies concerning Christ’s entering into Jerusalem, and Zechariah 9:9 further prophesies concerning the way Christ entered into Jerusalem, saying, “Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion; / Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! / Now your King comes to you. / He is righteous and bears salvation, / Lowly and riding upon a donkey, / Even upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.” According to the record in the four Gospels, this verse was fulfilled when Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem the last time. The term daughter of Zion denotes the inhabitants of Jerusalem (cf. Psa. 137:8; 45:12). The Lord Jesus’ going into Jerusalem was not to fight or to compete but to be a meek King. He had no intention to come as a great King fighting or competing with others; He came to be a lowly King, a humble King, riding not on a majestic horse but meekly on a colt.
When the heavenly King entered into Jerusalem, He received the warm welcome of the crowds. They cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt. 21:9). Hosanna in Hebrew (hoshiah-na) means “save now.” The cry of the crowd was a quotation from Psalm 118:25-26: “O Jehovah, do save, we pray! / O Jehovah, do send prosperity, we pray! / Blessed is He who comes in the name of Jehovah.” The warm welcome the Lord received when entering Jerusalem, as recorded in Matthew 21:9, fulfilled the prophecy in Psalm 118. As a meek King, He was qualified to receive such praise, because He did not come in His own name but in the name of God.
After entering Jerusalem, the Lord went into the temple, and many children cried out, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Matt. 21:15). The priests and scribes were indignant because of this. However, the Lord Jesus asked them, “Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings You have perfected praise’?” (v. 16). In asking this, the Lord quoted the prophecy in Psalm 8:2: “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings / You have established strength / Because of Your adversaries, / To stop the enemy and the avenger.” Thus, the Lord indicated that He was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Psalm 8. Babes and sucklings are the youngest, smallest, and weakest ones, which typify the children of the kingdom of the heavens. The Septuagint version translates the Hebrew word strength into “praise,” which the Lord also agreed with and used, quoting it in Matthew 21:16. This indicates that to praise is for strength to issue out of the mouth. God is working in man so that the weakest ones and the smallest ones can offer, out of their mouths, praises full of strength. In this way He perfects praise and stops the enemy and His avenger.
Christ is the equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah, which means “the anointed.” The earthly ministry of Christ began with His being anointed. Isaiah 61:1 prophesied concerning the anointing of Christ, the Anointed of Jehovah. This verse says, “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me, / Because Jehovah has anointed Me.” When Christ was baptized, the Spirit of God descended upon Him. For His whole life, the Spirit of God was also upon Christ in His living and work. Toward man, He did not strive nor cry out, and His voice was not heard on the streets. In caring for His headship and for the members of His Body, He hid Himself. As the anointed One, Christ would not break a bruised reed nor quench a smoking flax. He was always merciful and full of sympathy. Toward God He had full trust. He lived on every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth, cast out demons by the Spirit of God, and trusted and looked to the Father as the source of every blessing. He also committed all His insults and injuries to the righteous God who judges righteously in His government. His heart for the Father was absolute and pure; hence, the zeal of God’s house devoured Him. When He ministered on the earth, He was despised, forsaken, acquainted with grief, hated, and reproached by man. All the sufferings that He experienced qualified Him to be the Savior of the world.
In the first aspect of His ministry, He was the Servant of Jehovah. As such, He brought good news and proclaimed the jubilee of God so that those who were oppressed under Satan in sin or sickness could enjoy the release of God’s salvation. He also healed the blind; He not only healed the physically blind, but He also opened the spiritual eyes of the people. He cast out demons, thereby releasing those who were exiles and prisoners under Satan’s bondage. In His earthly ministry He did not faint, nor was He discouraged, until He established justice in the earth. In revealing the mysteries of the kingdom, He used parables so that His disciples might see and hear the mysteries of the kingdom.
In His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, He rode on a colt in lowliness and received the crowd’s warm welcome. He was qualified to be praised in such a way because He came in the name of God. The children in the temple cried out to Him, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” This fulfilled the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning God’s perfecting praise out of the mouth of infants and sucklings and stopping the enemy and the avenger.