Jesus enters Jerusalem as the King cleanses the temple and curses the Figtree.

These three actions are prophetic because they fulfilled prophecies about the Messiah and symbolic

because they convey important messages.

Text Matthew 21:1-22

JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM AS KING, THE MESSIAH (Matthew 21:1-11)

On this occasion, prophecies were fulfilled, e.g. Zachariah 9:9. In God’s kingdom, nothing happens by chance. The occasion also introduced Jesus to the people as their long-awaited king of God’s kingdom. He is the king who died for our sins. Those who accepted Him were happy, singing Hosanna. Those who did not receive him became grumblers and jealous. Luke tells us that those who rejected Christ missed the opportunity to be saved from an impending destruction hanging on their head (Luke 19:39-44).

Nobody is trouble-free in life: Those who preached the gospel live among wolves but are protected ( Mat 10:16); those who reject Christ, like the prodigal son, are surrounded by vultures (Matthew 24:28).

The cleansing of the Temple (Matthew 21:12-17)

This happened because the people were insensitive to the Holiness of the temple. Those who care about the holiness of God are special to Him. After the cleansing, there was a powerful ministration in the temple, but the authorities picked up a fight with him. In the same way, if you are born again, your body is God’s temple ( 1 Cor 6:19), if you make it holy, God will use you for great things. However, to make your body or life holy is the real task. It comes at a cost, but the benefits are many.

Jesus curses a fig tree (Matthew 21:18-22)

In the OT, the fig tree was one of the statuses of Israel before God (e.g., Jer 8:13;29:17; Hos 9:10). There was an attractive fig tree with the appearance of fruitfulness, but there was no fruit. According to tradition, the leaves appear in March-April (Passover time), but the fruit does not ripe until June. There was no fruit, for it to even ripe in June... That was Israel’s status before God, deserving of Judgment. The Bible says we should not curse (Rom 12:14), but why did Jesus curse? The fig tree had cursed itself already for not bearing fruit. People who don’t bear fruit in terms of character, soul-winning, and usefulness...are already cursed....see also Luke 13:1-9; Hebrews 6:7-8).

May the Lord help us to bear more fruit and continue to be useful even in our old age.