Riding Into Jerusalem
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spreading palm boughs, Nature’s emblem of victory, and waved them
aloft, while their loud acclamations and hosannas rent the air.
As they proceeded, the multitude was continually increased by
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those who had heard of the coming of Jesus and hastened to join the
procession. Spectators were constantly mingling with the throng and
asking, Who is this? What does all this commotion signify? They
had all heard of Jesus and were expecting him to go to Jerusalem, but
they knew that he had heretofore refused to receive kingly honors, and
they were greatly astonished to learn that this was he. They wondered
what could have wrought this change in him who had declared that his
kingdom was not of this world.
While they are wondering and questioning, the eager crowd silence
their queries with a shout of triumph that is repeated again and again,
and is echoed from the surrounding hills and valleys. And now the
joyful procession is joined by crowds from Jerusalem, that have heard
of the grand demonstration, and hasten to meet the Saviour and conduct
him to Jerusalem. From the great gathering of the Hebrews to attend
the passover, thousands go forth to welcome Jesus to the city. They
greet him with the waving of palm branches and a burst of sacred song.
The priests at the temple sound the trumpet for evening service, but
there are few to respond, and the rulers say to each other in alarm,
“The world has gone after him.”
The Saviour during his earthly life had hitherto refused to receive
kingly honor, and had resolutely discouraged all attempts to elevate
him to an earthly throne; but this occasion was intended by Jesus to
call public attention to him as the world’s Redeemer. He was nearing
the period when his life was to be offered a ransom for guilty man.
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Although he was soon to be betrayed and to be hanged upon the
cross like a malefactor, yet he would enter Jerusalem, the scene of
his approaching sacrifice, attended by demonstrations of joy and the
honor belonging to royalty, to faintly prefigure the glory of his future
coming to the world as Zion’s King.
It was the purpose of Jesus to draw attention to the crowning
sacrifice that was to end his mission to a fallen world. They were
assembling at Jerusalem to celebrate the passover, while he, the anti-
typical Lamb, by a voluntary act set himself apart as an oblation. Jesus
understood that it was needful in all future ages that the church should
make his death for the sins of the world a subject of deep thought and