Our Humble King
On the next day many people who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet Him and cried, “Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord!” And Jesus, when He had found a young ass, sat thereon, as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.” (John 12:12-15, KJ21)
The ride into Jerusalem was an upside-down event with a king riding on a donkey. This Messiah King was not going to lead this nation in rebellion but die as the Son of the Living God to save the people that had turned their backs on Him. This ride on the donkey wasn’t for show or to give attention to a King but to come to Jerusalem to be the Lamb of God who would die for the thousands upon thousands of lambs that had been inadequate and incomplete at taking away the sins of a chosen people.
Here is a humble king and he rode on a humble animal. You can approach a man on a donkey but a man on a horse is high above you. This is the Savior … that would forever meet all who would come to Him, for he said, “Come to me … He is the Messiah to the world. He will love any that come to Him. He will save any that call upon Him to save them. He will forgive any sin that has been committed and any sin that might be committed in the future.
This is the Good News … is there anything like this anywhere else in the world. All religions have great books, and holy men, and holy ways of living but what religion, what faith has a Messiah King, who in love … lays down His life for sinners like us and in grace secures our salvation now and forever more. There is no faith, that comes as a humble king reading on a donkey and no faith where the King dies for the poorest of poor and the lowest of all the subjects in all of the kingdom. There is no King, that not only dies for every one of His subjects but gives each one a set of keys to His heavenly palace.
