9
Jesus’ Humble Coronation
(Luke 19:28–44)
After He had said these things, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; there, as you enter, you will find a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord has need of it.” They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (19:28–44)
On June 28, 1838, the coronation of Queen Victoria took place at Westminster Abbey, with nearly four hundred thousand visitors flocking to London to witness this huge event. A newspaper account from the time described the spectacular scene:
At this part of the line the crowd was excessive, the dark and heaving masses there, with outstretched necks and full of eager expectation, waited the approach of the procession. At about half-past ten it reached the corner of this street in the precise order in which it left the Palace. The appearance of the resident and foreign ambassadors, in their splendid carriages and gorgeous uniforms, many of which were picturesque and elegant, excited much admiration, and a running comment on the policies of their respective governments was freely indulged in by many who had scarcely indulged in anything else. The good humour of the crowd, however, found a congenial subject in the approach of the Duchess of Kent and attendants, and her Royal Highness was greeted with very unequivocal demonstrations of attachment and respect, and which was cordially transferred to several other members of the Royal Family—particularly the Duke of Sussex, who paid the penalty of his popularity by the warm and affectionate recognition of his people. Her majesty’s carriages and attendants, in twelve carriages, each drawn by six beautiful bays, were the subject of much admiration. The Queen’s bargemaster, followed by her Majesty’s forty-eight watermen, excited much attention; their dresses were novel and pleasing. Except the general admiration bestowed indiscriminately on all that formed the procession, many composing it passed without particular notice or comment, until her Majesty’s state carriage approached, this was the signal for the kindliest and most affectionate demonstrations, and a shout echoed and re-echoed along St. James’s street and Pall-Mall—deep, fervent—and enthusiastic, was sent up from immense assemblage. Many an eye gazed upon her with mute and affectionate regard—many a tongue bid God bless as she gracefully bent forward in her splendid state carriage and acknowledged these and many touching demonstrations of loyalty and considerate affection. The windows and balconies were alive with a splendid assemblage of beauty and loveliness, even the roofs had their occupants, and scarfs, handkerchiefs, and hats were waved as her Majesty passed, without intermission—every balcony was a parterre—every window was a bouquet of loveliness and beauty. Her Majesty was visibly affected with these marks of devotion and attachment on the part of the people so warmly and affectionately expressed, and more than once turned to the Duchess of Sutherland to conceal or express her emotions. The police were tolerant and good-humoured, and treated the “pressure from without” with much forbearance. On the top of St. James’s Palace, every disposable inch of which was occupied, parties were placed and cheered her Majesty with great cordiality and warmth. On her Majesty’s arrival at the Ordnance Office, which looked not unlike a fortress, the band of the Royal Artillery, which had been occasionally enlivening the scene with appropriate airs in the balcony struck up the national anthem, and vivid demonstrations of loyalty and attachment were studiously displayed from the balconies, and windows, from which nods and becks and wreathed smiles were interchanged with some friends in the line of procession. Notwithstanding the vast masses that pressed on all sides, deepening and accumulating as the procession advanced, the utmost order and regularity was observed every where and every individual in that vast assemblage, owing to the firmness and excellent demeanour of the police, was enabled to see everything and everybody with the utmost ease. (A copy of this article may be viewed at http://www.royal.gov.uk/The%20Royal%20Collection%20and%20other%20collections/TheRoyalArchives/QueenVictoriaeducationproject/QueenVictoriasCoronation1838.aspx)
In contrast to the ornate carriage in which the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland rode to her coronation, the King of kings and Lord of lords rode to His coronation “humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zech. 9:9). Jesus’ humble coronation was much like His humble birth. Both were attended by lowly people and ignored by the nobility.
But in spite of His simple coronation, Jesus was nonetheless God’s true King (Ps. 2:6). Of all the coronations of earthly rulers that have ever been held, no monarch has come close to deserving the honor that Jesus did. No earthly sovereign is more than a candle compared to the infinite light of His majestic glory. Even this most humble of coronations cannot hide that glory; rather, it displays it.
Earlier, Jesus had just passed through Jericho, where He healed two blind men (18:35–43) and brought salvation to the chief tax collector, Zaccheus (19:1–10). Those startling events caused the already large crowd accompanying Him to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration to swell. Leaving Jericho, Jesus began the arduous ascent of thirty-five hundred feet to Jerusalem (a six to eight hour walk to cover the straight-line distance of fifteen miles) in the midst of this mass of expectant Jews. They were surely buzzing with the hope that He would display messianic power, judge Israel’s enemies, and establish the glorious kingdom promised by the Old Testament.
The truth, however, is that Jesus was walking to His death. He was headed to the cross to offer His life as a ransoming, redeeming, reconciling sacrifice. Christ the sinless one had come to bear the punishment for the sins of His elect and thus to satisfy divine law, divine righteousness, and divine wrath. He came to die and then to rise from the dead, not only conquering sin, but also conquering the grave for all who believe in Him (John 11:25). Jesus had come the first time to die to purchase those for whom He would come the second time to reign with.
Up to this point, the Lord had never allowed an open, public declaration that He was the Messiah. In fact, when people sought to do that, He stopped them (cf. Matt. 16:20; John 6:14–15). From the outset of His ministry the religious leaders were intimidated by Jesus and quickly came to hate Him. He knew that any kind of open popular acclaim would escalate the leaders’ animosity toward Him and bring about His death prematurely. At this Passover, however, the divinely determined time had come for Him to die, so He accepted such a massive display of popular acclaim (by some estimates, there were one to two million people in Jerusalem and the vicinity for the Passover celebration, and some surmise as many as one hundred thousand may have been involved in the triumphal entry) that the leaders of Israel could not wait any longer to eliminate Him—especially with the possibility that Jesus would lead the crowd in a rebellion against the Roman forces and they would all lose their power and position (John 11:47–50).
Their plan was to seize Jesus and execute Him after the Passover, when the massive crowds had dispersed. They were afraid doing so during the festival might trigger a riot (Matt. 26:3–5). But despite His enemies’ plan, Jesus would die only at the precise time predetermined by God (cf. John 10:17–18; 19:10–11; Acts 2:23; 4:27–28; Gal. 4:4–5). Appropriately, God’s Lamb would be sacrificed on the same day that the people’s Passover lambs were being sacrificed, because He is “Christ our Passover” sacrifice (1 Cor. 5:7). The animal slaughter pictured the death of the one true and only sacrifice for sin (Heb. 7:27; 9:26; 10:12).
Christ’s perfect timing also fulfilled one of the most precise Old Testament prophecies, Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks (Dan. 9:24–26):
The exact day that the Lord chose to enter Jerusalem fulfilled one of the most remarkable prophecies of the Old Testament, Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks (Dan. 9:24–26). Through Daniel, the Lord predicted that the time from Artaxerxes’s decree ordering the rebuilding of the Temple (in 445 B.C.) until the coming of the Messiah would be “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks” (Dan. 9:25; cf. Neh. 2:6), that is, 69 weeks total. The literal translation is “seven sevens and sixty-two sevens,” seven being a common designation for a week. In the context of the passage, the idea is 69 weeks of years, or 69 times 7 years, which comes to a total of 483 Jewish years (which consisted of 360 days each as was common in the ancient world). Several different systems of reckoning have endeavored to determine the chronology of the 483 years after Artaxerxes’s decree, putting the date at either A.D. 30, 32, or 33, depending on the actual decree date and the complex calculations through those years. Of these explanations, the most detailed are Sir Robert Anderson’s [book] The Coming Prince and Harold Hoehner’s [book] Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ. Based on all of the historical data, it is best to understand the triumphal entry as taking place on 9 Nisan, A.D. 30. But even the other dates offered by these authors (A.D. 32 or 33), leave one thing remaining undeniably clear: whatever may be the precise chronology, Jesus Christ is the only possible fulfillment of Daniel’s prophetic timetable. (John MacArthur, John 12–21, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2008], 14–15)
Though Jesus knew exactly what He was doing and precisely where it fit into God’s timetable, this was still an experience of indescribable horror, as He contemplated facing not only death, but also the Father’s judgment for sin. Anticipation of that judgment caused Him to pray in Gethsemane, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). That prayer did not reflect any unwillingness on Jesus’ part to do God’s will, but rather reveals that as a perfectly righteous person, He was repulsed by the reality of sin-bearing.
His arrival at Jerusalem marked the end of the Lord’s journey, not just this final journey to Jerusalem that began in Luke 9:51, but of His life’s journey from Bethlehem to this moment. Here He faced His greatest challenge and completed the salvation work for which He had come. The people, with no thought of Messiah as a sacrifice for sin (in spite of Isaiah 53), were still focused on the earthly kingdom they fervently hoped He would establish. But there could not be exalted glory until there was shame; there could not be a kingdom until there was a cross; there would be no royal crown without a thorny crown. That would happen at the end of the Passion Week.
The Messiah’s dramatic triumphal entry into Jerusalem early in the week unfolds in three scenes: the preparation, the adoration, and the condemnation.
THE PREPARATION
After He had said these things, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; there, as you enter, you will find a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord has need of it.” They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. (19:28–35)
The phrase these things refers to the parable the Lord had told in vv. 11–27. After that instruction, Jesus continued on ahead up the road leading from Jericho up to Jerusalem. About two miles (John 11:18) east of Jerusalem were the small villages of Bethphage and Bethany, near the mount that is called Olivet (the Mount of Olives). When He visited Jerusalem, Jesus had often stayed in Bethany, the hometown of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (John 11:1). The Lord arrived at Bethany on the preceding Saturday with Passover coming six days later on Thursday evening through Friday sunset (John 12:1). On the next day, Sunday, Jesus attended a dinner in His honor at the home of Simon the leper (Matt. 26:6–13). Also on that day a “large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead” (John 12:9).
His entry into Jerusalem took place the following day (John 12:12), Monday of Passion Week, not on “Palm” Sunday as Christians have traditionally believed. This chronology eliminates the problem of the Gospels having no record of Jesus’ activities on Wednesday, which would be the case if the triumphal entry were on Sunday. Since the events of every other day are so carefully accounted for, it would be difficult to explain why there was a day omitted in the account of the most momentous week of Christ’s life.
Further evidence that the triumphal entry was on Monday comes from the Law’s requirement that the Passover lambs be selected on the tenth day of the first month (Nisan) and sacrificed on the fourteenth day (Ex. 12:2–6). In the year our Lord was crucified, the tenth of Nisan fell on Monday of Passover week. When He entered Jerusalem on that day, Jesus was fulfilling the role as the Father’s chosen Lamb (John 1:29, 36) in much the same way the Jewish people chose their Passover lambs. Completing the parallel, Christ was killed on Friday, the fourteenth day of Nisan, with all the thousands of other lambs; but as the one true sacrifice for sin.
The momentous entry of the Messiah was set in motion when Jesus sent two of the disciples (possibly Peter and John; cf. Luke 22:8) saying, “Go into the village ahead of you” (probably Bethphage). The details of what the two would find there provide an undeniable illustration of the Lord’s omniscience (cf. John 1:47–48; 2:25). First, He told them that they would find a donkey (John 12:14; cf. Zech. 9:9) colt (and its mother; Matt. 21:2) tied. Jesus had not been to Bethphage, nor had He sent anyone to arrange for the colt to be available. The detail that the colt was one which no one had ever ridden gives further evidence of His omniscience, as does His knowledge that the disciples would be asked, “Why are you untying it?”
Just as the Lord had omnisciently foreseen, as the disciples were untying the colt, its surprised owners asked the obvious question: “Why are you untying the colt?” As Jesus had instructed them, they replied. “The Lord has need of it.” As He also foresaw, when “they spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, [the owners] gave them permission” (Mark 11:6) to take the colt. No further explanation was necessary, since it was widely known that He who had raised Lazarus from the dead and given sight to two blind men in Jericho was staying in Bethany. Having brought it to Jesus … they threw their coats on the colt to provide a makeshift saddle and put Jesus on it.
Though David occasionally rode a mule (cf. 1 Kings 1:38, 44), as Solomon did to his coronation (1 Kings 1:32–40), Jesus was not merely identifying with Davidic tradition. He was specifically fulfilling Old Testament messianic prophecy. According to Matthew 21:4–5, “This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold your king is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”’”
Five hundred years before the crowd hailed Him as king, Zechariah (9:9; cf. Isa. 62:11) predicted that Jesus would ride a donkey’s colt. He would not come the first time as the conquering hero riding on a white horse; that will happen when He comes again in glory to judge and to reign as King of kings (Rev. 19, 20). The first time He came in humility to give His life a ransom for sinners (Mark 10:45). He did not come in grandeur, but in meekness; not to slay but to save. His coming in incarnation is the time of His humiliation; His second coming in exaltation is the time of His glorification.
THE ADORATION
As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (19:36–38)
When He was still approaching the city, adoration of Jesus began as the people were spreading their coats on the road ahead of Him. By doing so they were expressing their eager submission to Him (cf. 2 Kings 9:13), symbolically placing themselves under His feet as their king. His acceptance of the delirious crowd’s adoration and worship was appropriate, for as the Son of God, He was worthy of all praise.
The disciples did not fully grasp the significance of what was happening. As John would later write, “These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him” (John 12:16).
The little donkey bearing Jesus picked its way through the piles of coats on the road toward the crest, from where Jerusalem would come in view. When the crowd saw that Jesus was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the disciples, their fervor inflamed by the sight of the great city, began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen. Those miracles included the raising of Lazarus and the healing of the two blind men at Jericho, as well as the rest of the miracles Jesus had performed throughout His ministry.
Other people came out from Jerusalem to meet Jesus and those who accompanied Him from Bethany (John 12:12–13). The two great tides of people joined to make one huge throng, some behind Jesus, others in front of Him (Matt. 21:9). While some threw their coats in front of the Lord, others cut palm branches and threw them on the road. Palm branches symbolized victory, joy, and celebration. The apocryphal book of First Maccabees records that when the Jews during the intertestamental period recaptured Jerusalem from the Syrians they “entered it with praise and palm branches” (1 Macc. 13:51; cf. 2 Macc. 10:7). The crowd’s messianic hopes reached an apogee and the people began shouting, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” (cf. Ps. 118:26), thus acknowledging that Jesus was the promised Messiah King who came with the full authority of God. Matthew notes that the crowd also shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David. … Hosanna in the highest!” (21:9). “Hosanna” means “save now,” while “Son of David” is a title for the Messiah (Matt. 12:23; Mark 12:35). The crowd was not pleading for salvation from sin, but from the oppression of Rome and for the establishment of the promises related to Messiah’s reign. That hope led them to cry, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David” (Mark 11:10), which they fully expected to appear. They also shouted, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” because they could not believe that God’s heart could be at peace as long as Jerusalem was not. Not until Messiah came and brought peace and glory to Jerusalem, they believed, could there ever be peace in heaven and glory in the highest. It should be noted again that they have no idea of Messiah as the suffering sacrifice for sin as that yet future generation of Jews will who look on the One they pierced, mourn for Him (Zech. 12:10) and confess the very words of Isaiah 53:
Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied. (1–11a)
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (19:39–44)
Not everyone shared in the joyous excitement, however. Outraged at the crowd’s enthusiastic adulation and adoration of Jesus and His acceptance of it, some of the Pharisees in the crowd, who considered it all blasphemy, said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” Even collectively they knew they were powerless to stop the outpouring of enthusiasm from the huge crowd, so they appealed to Jesus to stop it. It is fitting that in this final mention in Luke of the Pharisees, they manifested the same hostility toward the Lord that had marked them throughout His ministry. His reply to the exasperated Pharisees’ request for Jesus to quiet and disperse the crowd marks the dramatic turning point of the event.
Jesus’ response reveals the striking difference between the people’s expectation of Him and His condemnation of them. The contrast between what the people anticipated and what they would receive is extreme; the contrast between the attitude of the people, one of joy, and the attitude of Jesus, one of sorrow, could not be more opposite. The scene moves from joy to horror. The crowd speaks of peace, He speaks of destruction; they pronounce on Him glory, He pronounces on them doom. The Lord’s condemnation manifests His deity both in His authority to pronounce judgment (John 5:22), and in His omniscient knowledge of the precise details of that future judgment. The full judgment on the world of sinners will come at His return in glory, but unbelieving Israel will have a preview very soon.
The statement I tell you emphasizes the serious nature of what Jesus was about to say to the Pharisees. The phrase if these become silent should be understood not as something that may possibly happen, but as something that will inevitably happen. After the events of Monday, Jesus would receive no more accolades from the crowd. Startlingly, the next time the crowd would be heard from is on Friday, when they would scream for Jesus to be crucified (Luke 23:18–23). Though many Jews have come to salvation in Him and become part of His redeemed church, the nation of Israel offers no praise to Jesus. Their silence is unbroken for two thousand years.
Jesus was saying in effect “if these become silent—and they will—at that point the stones will cry out!” Cry out translates the future tense form of the verb krazō, which could be also be translated “scream.” The stones will not cry out in joyful praise to God, but in affirmation of God’s judgment on Israel’s wickedness (cf. Hab. 2:11–12). That inevitable prospect filled the Lord with a deep sense of sorrow, so when He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it. The word translated wept is the strongest word in the Greek language for weeping. It denotes Jesus’ agonized sobbing over their superficiality, hypocrisy, shallowness, and rejection of Him—and the inevitable divine wrath that would follow. The peace of which the Lord spoke was not political peace with enemies, or social peace in Israel, but peace with God. The things that make for that peace are repentance, faith in Christ, and believing the message of salvation that He had preached throughout His ministry. This day refers not to that Monday, but to the entire time of His presence among them.
Unbelief had blinded them all through His ministry. Most of the people chose to be hard-hearted, self-righteous rejecters of Christ and rebuffed all of His invitations, thereby forfeiting peace with God. Despite the crowd’s superficial and short-lived celebration, Jesus, as He had done earlier (Luke 13:34–35), pronounced judgment on them. The truth (Luke 8:10) would be hidden from their eyes. Willful human blindness would become judicial divine blindness. Again, Israel as a nation will not believe until they “look on [the one] whom they have pierced; and they … mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they … weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn” (Zech. 12:10). Then comes the grace of national salvation (Zech. 13:1).
The phrase the days will come upon you is an Old Testament expression of coming judgment (cf. Isa. 39:6; Hos. 9:7; Amos 4:2). The judgment of which Jesus spoke would fall four decades later in A.D. 70 when the Roman military crushed the Jewish revolt and destroyed Jerusalem. Revealing His omniscience, the Lord gave five specific features of that judgment: Israel’s enemies (the Romans) would throw up a barricade against Jerusalem, they would surround the city, they would hem it in on every side, they would level it to the ground, along with its inhabitants, and they would not leave in it one stone upon another. This would include the temple (Luke 21:6) and with it their religious system (see the discussion of 21:5–7 in chapter 17 of this volume). Those stones lying in the rubble would be the ones that cried out in judgment on the unbelieving nation. All that horrific judgment would come about because Israel refused to recognize the time of her visitation, when the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, offered them salvation and redemption. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, [but] the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:10–11).