Basic HTML Version
340
From Heaven With Love
told them of His sacrifice, yet in the glad triumph they had forgotten
His sorrowful words.
With few exceptions, all who joined the procession caught the
inspiration of the hour. The shouts went up continually, “Hosanna
to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
Lord; Hosanna in the highest!”
No Train of Mourning in This Triumph
Never had the world seen such a triumphal procession. About
the Saviour were the glorious trophies of His labors of love for sinful
man. These were the captives rescued from Satan’s power. The
blind He had restored to sight led the way. The dumb whose tongues
He had loosed, shouted the loudest hosannas. Cripples whom He
had healed bounded with joy. Lepers He had cleansed spread their
untainted garments in His path. Awakened from the sleep of death,
Lazarus led the beast on which the Saviour rode.
Many Pharisees, burning with envy, tried to silence the people,
but their appeals and threats only increased the enthusiasm. As a
last resort they accosted the Saviour with reproving and threatening
words: “Master, rebuke Thy disciples.” They declared that such
noisy demonstrations were unlawful. But they were silenced by the
reply of Jesus, “I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the
stones would immediately cry out.” That scene of triumph had been
[383]
foretold by the prophet. Had men failed to carry out the plan, God
would have given voice to inanimate stones, and they would have
hailed His Son with praise. As the silenced Pharisees drew back, the
words of Zechariah were taken up by hundreds of voices: “Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold,
thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly,
and riding upon an ass, upon a colt the foal of an ass.”
When the procession reached the brow of the hill, Jesus and all
the multitude halted. Before them lay Jerusalem in its glory, bathed
in the light of the declining sun. In stately grandeur the temple
towered above all else, long the pride and glory of the Jewish nation.
The Romans also prided themselves in its magnificence. Its strength
and richness had made it one of the wonders of the world.