Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.
Today’s readings are from Exodus 25-26 and Matthew 21:1-22.
One of the things we’ve been noticing in Matthew’s gospel is the idea of promise and fulfilment. Matthew wants to show his readers the connections between God’s promises in the Old Testament and how they find their fulfilment in Jesus Christ.
I’m going to read part of our Matthew 21 passage, and as I read I want you to keep an ear out for the Old Testament quotes. If you’ve got time, look up those quotes in the Old Testament and consider the significance of them.
If your bible has cross-references in the margins, you can use those to work out where the quotes are from. If you don’t, just go to esv.org or the ESV App and you can click on all the references in each verse.
Matthew 21:1–17
[1] Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, [2] saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. [3] If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” [4] This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
[5] “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”[6] The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. [7] They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. [8] Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. [9] And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” [10] And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” [11] And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
[12] And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. [13] He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
[14] And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. [15] But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, [16] and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”[17] And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. (ESV)
Until tomorrow, keep trusting Jesus.