Luke xix. 37, 38. And when he tvas 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.
DURING the greater part of our Lord's ministry upon earth, he abstained, for the most part, from an avowal of his Messiah ship, especially when conversing with the Scribes and Pharisees : he rather left it to be inferred from his words and actions, than asserted it in plain terms. Two reasons he had for this reserve : one was, to prevent his zealous followers from pro- claiming him a king ; and the other was, to keep the wrath of his enemies from breaking forth to the utter- most, before he should have finished the work which
God had given him to do. Now, however, the time being come for him to return to his Father, he openly acknowledged himself to be that King, of whom the Prophet Zechariah had spoken, saying, " 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, and upon a colt, the foal of an assa." In general, the fulfilment of prophecy was left to the course of events : but here our Lord himself directed the events which were to accomplish the prediction13. The acclamations of the multitude, at the time of his fulfilling this prophecy, will afford us a profitable subject for our present meditation. Let us consider,
I. The acclamations themselves —
Doubtless the people at that time had abundant reason to rejoice —
[They had long seen the wonderful works which the Lord Jesus had done ; and more especially a most stupendous miracle just wrought — the restoring of Lazarus to life, after he had been dead four days. This carried to the minds of multitudes a more than ordinary conviction of Christ's Messiahship ; be- cause Lazarus went in and out before them, a living witness of his power : and so universal was this impression, that " the chief priests consulted to put Lazarus to death0," in order to remove from before their eyes an evidence which they could not withstand.
Persuaded that he was indeed the Messiah, they welcomed him with suitable expressions of admiration and love. They felt that it was an inestimable privilege to behold Him of whom Moses and the prophets had for so many ages spoken, and whom many prophets and kings had in vain desired to see.]
The particular expressions of their joy must be
distinctly noticed —
[They were the very terms which David, a thousand years before, had suggested as suited to the occasion*1. How far the people used them in their highest sense, we cannot exactly declare. We fear their views of him were too carnal to admit of their entering into the full import of the Psalmist's words. Yet, even in their view of them, the sending of the
a Zech. ix. 9. b Matt. xxi. 4, 5.
c John xii. 9, 10. d Ps. cxviii. 25, 26.