"For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:39).

When the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the first day of the final week before His crucifixion, riding on a little donkey, as predicted over 400 years before by the prophet Zechariah (9:9), He was thereby finally claiming to be Israel's promised King Messiah. Large numbers of people cheered Him on, strewing palm leaves in His path as a carpet (hence the name Palm Sunday) and "cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest" (Matthew 21:9).

This also had been prophesied many centuries previously, when the psalmist had exulted over His apparent triumph; "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. . . . This is the day which the Lord hath made; . . . Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Psalm 118:22,24,26).

But even as they were still crying out, "Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Luke 19:38), Jesus knew the shallowness of their profession and wept over the city, saying, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes" (v.42).

Instead, the beloved city was soon to be destroyed by the Romans, along with their temple, and the people would be scattered all over the world, "because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation" (v.44).

One day, however, He will come again, and then their hearts will have been prepared and they will finally recognize Him and receive Him. Then finally they will be able to say with understanding and sincerity, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:39). HMM