“And when He was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest” (Luke 19:37,38).

As the Lord Jesus entered into Jerusalem on the first day of the last week before He died, the multitude gladly acclaimed Him as their long-awaited Messiah, citing the prophecy in Psalm 118:26, they “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” (John 12:13).

As they strewed the palm leaves in His path (hence the name Palm Sunday), they were probably hoping He would banish their Roman rulers and set up His own kingdom in Israel. He did, in fact, verify that He really was the Messiah, deliberately fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; . . . behold, thy King cometh unto thee: . . . having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”

But the salvation He came to provide was not from the rule of Rome, but from that of Satan. This they neither understood nor desired. A few days later, when Pilate asked this same multitude what to do with Jesus, “they cried out . . . saying, Let Him be crucified” (Matthew 27:23).

The Lord foreknew this would happen, of course, and in that same day when He entered Jerusalem, “He beheld the city, and wept over it, . . . because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation” (Luke 19:41,44). Later in the week He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, . . . Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:37,39). O Lord, hasten that day! HMM