Welcoming our Conquering King

When the crowds shout as Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem, acclaiming their King, they cry out “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!” And the children continue to cry out in the temple, “Hosanna!” And we frequently sing these same words every Lord’s Day. There are different versions of what we call the Sanctus (“Holy, Holy, Holy”), but this phrase from Psalm 118 is the acclamation of the return of a conquering King. The psalmist sings “They surrounded me like bess; they were quenched like a fire of thorns; for in the name of Yahweh I will destroy them… Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them… this is the gate of Yahweh, through which the righteous shall enter. This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it… Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Ps. 118:12, 20, 24, 26) This means that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is preeminently the declaration of victory. He enters Jerusalem as the victorious and conquering King. We are the crowds who welcome our King week after week in triumph. And really this is a question about what Jesus is doing right now. What is Jesus up to? The New Testament says that Jesus must reign until all of his enemies have been put under his feet, he will reign until every enemy has been made his footstool, and the last enemy will be death. What is Jesus doing? What was Jesus doing yesterday? Jesus is destroying sin and wickedness in the world, he is at war with all evil and he is taking his enemies down one by one until he gets to the last enemy, death. And this is why we welcome Jesus as our conquering King week after week. Regardless of how we think things look on the battle field, Jesus has promised to rule until this world is put back together, until peace breaks out in all the earth. And this is the feast of victory. And Jesus says do this as often you as get together. Celebrate the feast of victory because I will not fail. And so we hail our conquering King here. We rejoice in the body and the blood of Christ that is for the salvation of the world. So come, eat, drink, and rejoice; death is swallowed up in victory.