"12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey's colt!”
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”"
John 12:12-19
Both Matthew and John tell us in their gospels that what took place in our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem was a fulfilment of an ancient messianic prophecy, 'Behold, thy king cometh', Zechariah 9:9), and this is the best key to an understanding of the significance of what took place. The 'king' motif in the Scriptures is a cardinal one, for the King who is the subject-matter throughout them is One Who is spoken of in connection with an uprising and revolt that has challenged His rule, and the story of the gospel is the story of the 'reign of sin' begun at the Fall being overcome by the 'reign of God' and by His rightful King, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament messianic hope, then, sets the scene for the New Testament revelation. It was a king who was to come, and it was a king who did come, the King. When He was born in Bethlehem, the wise men from the east came and said, 'Where is He that is born King of the Jews?' At the outset of His public ministry Jesus was baptized. But this baptism was not an ordinary symbol; it was His anointing for service, for when He came up out of the water, a voice from heaven said, 'This is My beloved Son...'. The importance of these words lies in this, that they quote from the Old Testament Scriptures, and one of their sources is Psalm 2:7, the coronation formula for the kings of Israel. What took place in that solemn incident was the anointing of the King for the service He had come, and was appointed, to fulfil. It is significant that, immediately following this anointing Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, i.e. He was brought face to face with the usurper, the rebel against the rule of God, as if to confront him with the reality of God's counter-attack. When He began to preach, He proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand; and everything that followed served to confirm the truth of His word, for it is as a King that He is presented to us in His public ministry. More of this in tomorrow's Note.