The King of Glory

When I was a child I was confused about Palm Sunday. For weeks we had been reminded of the sufferings and ultimate death of Our Lord. This death would come at the hands of some cruel people, and most of Jesus' followers abandoned Him, yet the Sunday before we enter into the Passion and Death, here is Jesus triumphantly riding a donkey into Jerusalem. How can that be if He is about to suffer horribly? There are for me two significant points about Palm Sunday that are meaningful to me; first that Jesus is a King. When Pilate asks Him so, He replies that He is and that His kingdom is not of this world. We can harken back to wise men who came bearing gifts for a King. Jesus triumphant return is mindful that we are not merely witnessing a prophet, or a holy and wise man go through humiliation, suffering and a horrible death, but this is a King, the King of Glory, who will die for you and me. This is to remind us to attempt to comprehend ( for we cannot fully understand) just how far God will go to show his love for us. The second point is that Jesus re-enters Jerusalem. The holiest of holiest places, the place of the Temple where God resides with his people. Jesus is entering the Old Jerusalem yet He is about to lead us on a journey through His suffering to a New Jerusalem, a Heavenly Kingdom for all the world.
Once again go the Psalms to hear:

Psalm 24

The earth is the LORD'S and all it holds, the world and those who live there.

For God founded it on the seas, established it over the rivers.

Who may go up the mountain of the LORD? Who can stand in his holy place?

"The clean of hand and pure of heart, who are not devoted to idols, who have not sworn falsely.

They will receive blessings from the LORD, and justice from their saving God.

Such are the people that love the LORD, that seek the face of the God of Jacob." Selah

Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter.

Who is this king of glory? The LORD, a mighty warrior, the LORD, mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter.

Who is this king of glory? The LORD of hosts is the king of glory