Approaching Jerusalem, Jesus tells His disciples to go on ahead and find a donkey and colt, untie them, and bring them to Him (Matthew 21:2; Mark 11:2; Luke 19:30). Reading this, I'm reminded of Peter finding the coin in the fish's mouth (Matthew 17:27), and I realize something. It's not at all that Jesus "knew these things would be there" (especially in the case of the coin). Yes, He was prophetic (John 4:18-19), but He was so much more than that. The coin and donkey scenarios unfolded just as He said simply because He said so. He spoke them there. See the difference? It was another opportunity, for those who could or would grasp it, to see that He was in fact God. He didn't know these things would be true. He made them true.
How safe we are, as believers in Christ, in the hands of a good God who makes truth.
Some could possibly argue that Jesus just called for the donkey because Zechariah the prophet had predicted the Christ's entry in this way (Zechariah 9:9), and of course Jesus knew the Scriptures. But if they're hoping for evidence against Jesus as Messiah, they overlook that only the Messiah could have obtained the donkey the way He did. First, the donkey and colt were where He said they'd be. Second, when told "The Lord needs them," the bystanders made no objection. An unspoken witness.
Jesus was always, always, telling us by words and actions Who He was. Just as there were messages in every parable for those who would hear, there were clues in virtually every step He took and thing He did, for those who had spiritual eyes to see.
When He rode the donkey down the road, amid the coats and palm branches, the crowd cried, "Hosanna!" This word is variously rendered as "save," "save now," or "save us, please." I believe people are often highly prophetic without even knowing it. What the crowd wanted, of course, was salvation from Rome. (What they failed to grasp, perhaps, was that when their Old Testament showed Israel in rebellion against God, He always allowed them to be conquered by another nation. Being ruled by another country should have been a big clue to return to God in heart, not just by rote.)
We humans think so small. We want political relief--not a bad thing, certainly, but so very temporal. We concern ourselves with earthly conditions in every area of life. Jesus was here to give the people spiritual liberty now and for all eternity. And by the end of the week they would kill Him. His death and resurrection, of course, being the very means of victory--payment for sin for those who will receive Him, and defeat not only of His contemporary earthly enemies, but of death itself. Period.
You can't make this stuff up. God is only, and exactly, the One Who can.
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