They had arrived outside the city of Jerusalem. Jesus and His band of brothers made the journey for the annual Passover celebration. They were tired from the long journey, but Jesus was well aware of what would soon come to pass. He would send some of his followers ahead to arrange “special” transportation for their Rabbi. As the Messiah surveyed the landscape, He had to be thinking of the coming days. Tomorrow, the very people He had come to save, would open the gates and praise Him as their King. Within less than a week, He would be arrested by the same people, rebuked, tortured, spat upon and pinned to a Roman cross to die.

He knew that this was the plan His Father had made for the salvation of all mankind. It was His reason for being here all the past 33 years. Tears began to well up in His eyes as He looked off in the distance at the holy city and spoke these words:

“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” Luke 19:41-44

Are we ready to welcome Jesus as our King of Kings? The time is ripe for His second coming, but will we recognize Him as the true Son of God and true Man? Will we praise Him today and toss Him aside in a few days – or will our relationship with Him thrive and flourish? The next few days will be filled with mixed emotions. We’ll hear about the price Jesus paid for our transgressions. We’ll be humbled by the fact that God Himself took on our burden of sin. His love is unconditional, yet as He said in His sermon on the mount – we should not only hear and believe His Word but put it into action and live our lives accordingly.

The price for our salvation has already been paid. Because of our devotion to Jesus, let us live as He would have us do.