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‘On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees.… And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written.’
Joh_12:12-14
(a) A king-like act. The ass used in times of peace, the horse in battle. (Cf. Jdg_5:10.)
(b) The colt provided by His own omniscience. (Cf. Luk_19:29-30; Luk_19:32.)
(c) Unbroken, never before ridden (Mar_11:2); because it was to be used for a sacred purpose. (Cf. 1Sa_6:7.) Jesus had complete power over it, that it should not be frightened. (Cf. Psa_8:6-7.)
(d) Thus He fulfilled a prophecy uttered six hundred years before (Zec_9:9) in order that He might be known and recognised to be what He really was.
II. Tokens of honour.
(a) Spreading of clothes, a ceremony for kings. (Cf. 2Ki_9:13.)
(b) Waving of branches. (Cf. Lev_23:40.)
(c) Acclamations from Psa_118:25-26. For the time they thought He was Messiah; but in the end the Chief Priests and Pharisees got their way.
III. Reasons why Jesus accepted all this.
(a) To give the Jews a last proof as to who He was.
(b) That His Sacrifice might be as public as possible. (Cf. Act_26:26; Luk_24:18.)
—
Archdeacon William Sinclair.
Illustration‘Our Lord was not merely a very humble person, as some spiritualising interpreters would have explained Zechariah’s words to mean, but He literally rode into Jerusalem on an ass. Such a fulfilment teaches us what we may expect in looking forward to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. They show us that we must look for a literal accomplishment of the prophecies concerning that Second Coming, and not for a figurative and a spiritual one. For ever let us hold fast this great principle. To know that predictions about the Second Advent of Christ will be fulfilled literally, just as predictions about the first Advent of Christ were fulfilled literally, is the first step towards a right understanding of unfulfilled prophecy.’