Joh 12:12-15 | KingComments | STEP | The next day the message came to the crowd that the Lord Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. He is already in Bethany. That means that He will soon be in the city. The message of His coming causes a spontaneous reaction in the crowd. They have been so impressed by everything they have heard and what many have also seen of Him, that they are going to meet Him. The homage that the Lord is prepared here is worked by the Spirit of God. God wants to give His Son a public token of honor before He withdraws from the public with His disciples. For this, God uses the general feeling of the crowd that sees Him as the promised Messiah. By now we do know that the crowd has not come to repentance en masse, but that as far as they are concerned it is merely an outward impression of Him. They have seen how He has provided bread and healing. Their religious leaders have never done anything like this for them, but have only enriched themselves at their expense. That the spontaneous “hosanna” call is nothing more than an outward call is evident when, a few days later, we hear the same mass crying out for His crucifixion. Such is the variability of popular favor. All this does not take away from the fact that God, through His Spirit, works in the crowd to give an open and massive testimony to His Son. They take branches from the palm trees which are a symbol of victory. Then they go to meet Him, speaking words from Psalm 118 ( ). The word ‘hosanna’ is a Hebrew word and means ‘save please’. Although this word originally meant a cry for help, it seems that it has become more and more an expression of praise, according to Vine in his explanatory dictionary of Greek New Testament words. This is how it is used here by the crowd. With the words of the psalm they confess that the Lord Jesus comes in the Name of Yahweh . With this song of praise they do not worship the glory of Christ at the height in which this Gospel presents us to Him. For in this Gospel he is seen as the Son sent by the Father and Who comes in the Name of the Father. Nevertheless, in this quote that the crowd speaks, we find a wonderful reference to this. To their praise they add that He is the King of Israel. All together they express a full recognition of His dignity as the Messiah. It is also good to remember that the confession of the crowd, unfortunately, without coming from an inwardly convinced conscience, is a picture of the repentant remnant. What the crowd says emotionally is what the faithful remnant will say in true faith when the Lord comes back to actually reign as Messiah in the Name of Yahweh ( ). We do not hear a single word of appreciation or disapproval from the Lord. What we do see is that He sits down on a young donkey and does what is written about Him. Thus, we know that He accepts this testimony from the mouth of the crowd as the testimony that God has worked. It says that He “found” the young donkey. In other Gospels we read that He sends His disciples to fetch the donkey and indicates exactly where to find it ( ; ; ). The fact that here it says that He finds it, fits again with this Gospel. As God the Son He does everything Himself. With this act of the Lord the prophecy of Zechariah 9 is fulfilled ( ). He is always busy fulfilling the will of His Father. He knows what is written about Him and knows what must be fulfilled at a certain time. He focuses on this (cf. ). Although His disciples, who truly believe in Him, see these things, they have not fully understood the meaning of what is happening. They may have applauded, as did the crowd, because they believed that He was going to establish the kingdom after all (cf. ). How wrong they were too. They will understand the meaning of the event after the glorification of the Lord. Then the Holy Spirit will come ( ) and He will guide them into all the truth ( ).

‏ John 12:12-15

The Entry Into Jerusalem

The next day the message came to the crowd that the Lord Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. He is already in Bethany. That means that He will soon be in the city. The message of His coming causes a spontaneous reaction in the crowd. They have been so impressed by everything they have heard and what many have also seen of Him, that they are going to meet Him.

The homage that the Lord is prepared here is worked by the Spirit of God. God wants to give His Son a public token of honor before He withdraws from the public with His disciples. For this, God uses the general feeling of the crowd that sees Him as the promised Messiah.

By now we do know that the crowd has not come to repentance en masse, but that as far as they are concerned it is merely an outward impression of Him. They have seen how He has provided bread and healing. Their religious leaders have never done anything like this for them, but have only enriched themselves at their expense. That the spontaneous “hosanna” call is nothing more than an outward call is evident when, a few days later, we hear the same mass crying out for His crucifixion. Such is the variability of popular favor.

All this does not take away from the fact that God, through His Spirit, works in the crowd to give an open and massive testimony to His Son. They take branches from the palm trees which are a symbol of victory. Then they go to meet Him, speaking words from Psalm 118 (Psa 118:25-26). The word ‘hosanna’ is a Hebrew word and means ‘save please’. Although this word originally meant a cry for help, it seems that it has become more and more an expression of praise, according to Vine in his explanatory dictionary of Greek New Testament words. This is how it is used here by the crowd.

With the words of the psalm they confess that the Lord Jesus comes in the Name of Yahweh. With this song of praise they do not worship the glory of Christ at the height in which this Gospel presents us to Him. For in this Gospel he is seen as the Son sent by the Father and Who comes in the Name of the Father. Nevertheless, in this quote that the crowd speaks, we find a wonderful reference to this. To their praise they add that He is the King of Israel.

All together they express a full recognition of His dignity as the Messiah. It is also good to remember that the confession of the crowd, unfortunately, without coming from an inwardly convinced conscience, is a picture of the repentant remnant. What the crowd says emotionally is what the faithful remnant will say in true faith when the Lord comes back to actually reign as Messiah in the Name of Yahweh (Mt 23:39).

We do not hear a single word of appreciation or disapproval from the Lord. What we do see is that He sits down on a young donkey and does what is written about Him. Thus, we know that He accepts this testimony from the mouth of the crowd as the testimony that God has worked.

It says that He “found” the young donkey. In other Gospels we read that He sends His disciples to fetch the donkey and indicates exactly where to find it (Mt 21:1-11; Mk 11:1-11; Lk 19:28-38). The fact that here it says that He finds it, fits again with this Gospel. As God the Son He does everything Himself.

With this act of the Lord the prophecy of Zechariah 9 is fulfilled (Zec 9:9). He is always busy fulfilling the will of His Father. He knows what is written about Him and knows what must be fulfilled at a certain time. He focuses on this (cf. Jn 19:28).

Although His disciples, who truly believe in Him, see these things, they have not fully understood the meaning of what is happening. They may have applauded, as did the crowd, because they believed that He was going to establish the kingdom after all (cf. Lk 19:11). How wrong they were too. They will understand the meaning of the event after the glorification of the Lord. Then the Holy Spirit will come (Jn 7:39) and He will guide them into all the truth (Jn 16:13).