The Triumphal Entry

“The Triumphal Entry,” New Testament Teacher Resource Manual (2002), 287


Scripture References

Significance

“A colt tied, whereon yet never man sat” (Luke 19:30; see vv. 30–35; see also Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:2–7; Mark 11:2–7; John 12:14–15).

“He came riding on an ass, in token of peace, acclaimed by the Hosanna shouts of multitudes; not on a caparisoned steed with the panoply of combat and the accompaniment of bugle blasts and fanfare of trumpets. … The ass has been designated in literature as ‘the ancient symbol of Jewish royalty,’ and one riding upon an ass as the type of peaceful progress” (James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. [1916], 516–17).

“They spread their clothes in the way” (Luke 19:36; see also Matthew 21:8; Mark 1:8).

“Only kings and conquerors received such an extraordinary token of respect as this. (2 Kings 9:13.) In every part of this triumphal entry to Jerusalem, Jesus seems not only to permit but to court the adulation and homage normally reserved for kings and great rulers” (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1966–73], 1:578).

“Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him” (John 12:13; see also Matthew 21:8; Mark 11:8).

“Amid shouts of praise and pleas for salvation and deliverance, we see the disciples strewing our Lord’s course with palm branches in token of victory and triumph. This whole dramatic scene prefigures that yet future assembly when ‘a great multitude,’ which no man can number, ‘of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,’ shall stand ‘before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands,’ crying with a loud voice, ‘Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.’ (Rev. 7:9–10.)” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 1:578).

“Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 21:9; see also Mark 11:9–10; Luke 19:38; John 12:13).

“No other man ever lived to whom such inspired acclamations of adulation, reverence, and worship have been or could properly be made. Here we see great multitudes bearing testimony of our Lord’s divine Sonship. In plain language they are hailing Jesus as the Son of David, the Deliverer of Israel, their Savior and Redeemer, the promised Messiah, the Son of God. And they are doing it wittingly, deliberately using the sacred expression, Hosanna, and quoting from the Messianic prophecy which ascribes salvation and triumph to the promised Son of David.

Hosanna means literally,save now, or save we pray, or save we beseech thee, and is taken from the Messianic prophecy which foretold that such would be the entreaty of Israel to their Messiah in the day of his coming [see Psalm 118:22–26]” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 1:578–79).

“If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Luke 19:40; see also John 12:19).

“The purpose of Christ in thus yielding Himself for the day to the desires of the people and accepting their homage with kingly grace may not be fully comprehended by us of finite mind. That the occasion was no accidental or fortuitous happening, of which He took advantage without preconceived intention, is evident. He knew beforehand what would be, and what He would do. It was no meaningless pageantry; but the actual advent of the King into His royal city, and His entry into the temple, the house of the King of kings” (Jesus the Christ, 517).

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