Jesus wasn’t using His natural eyes to see those gathered on the road near Jerusalem’s gate, those crying out Hosanna! —it wasn’t that kind of “seeing” going on that day. The seeing He used was born from His knowledge of us, of them—from His Omniscience…

This type of “seeing” belongs to God alone.  Webster defines this ability to see as: Having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding; perceiving all things.

Stated Scripturally: “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely” (Ps. 139:1-4).

Have you ever completely misjudged a person’s intentions? I know I have. You’re certain, convinced that you know who they are and what they’re were made of. You feel as though you know the exact role, the purpose, they were brought into your life to fulfill. Everything about them just seemed to fit your ideal—this “picture-perfect” image you had of them.

And then wham!

That person you just knew would go left suddenly went right—and not just right, but a hard right! You’re left standing slack-jawed and powerless, your hopes and expectations have crashed and burned. You’re left with mere rubble. You’re standing stunned, mangled, from this devastating brush with an unwanted reality that has now landed squarely at your bruised, and bitter feet…

The thing is, it’s only after—the ragged shards of “betrayal” have been removed—when that blindsided feeling of total let down has ebbed, that you’re left to really see the part you played in your own pain.

You were responsible. The other person involved was simply being who they were—who’d they’d always been. It was your misguided expectations of them—how they’d fit into your story—that created the real problem. And so it was—in varying degrees, with the those milling about the city gates—His disciples, those followers, shouting Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest!

They too had a sure level of responsibility for their actions…

A Lamb atop a colt is how He arrived that day (Zech. 9:9). But that’s not how they saw Jesus. For most of those gathered He had come solely to deliver them—and for most, their envisioned deliverance would come not through His sacrifice—but only via a bloodied sword. Not through One who’d willingly lay down His life for all—but through a messianic deliverer, a would-be king, one that would readily shed the blood of those that oppressed his people. And not one who would willingly lay down and shed His own blood…

Passover was about a week away and preparations for this time of sacred celebration was underway. Jerusalem was teaming with those who had come to purchase their lambs and herbs—there grains and figs. The air crackled with a festive joy! And look, there, it’s Jesus! How perfect was this! Their King—the One they knew had been sent to them by Yahweh. After all, no one had ever done miracles like this man.

They had seen Prophets and Holy men before—but this Jesus was different…

They’d witnessed blind men regained their sight, a tax collector who had given away most everything he’d owed to follow Jesus, and the most miraculous of all, the dead that had been brought back to life—not once but twice! So surely now He would free them from this oppressive Roman tyranny—after all, isn’t that why He’d come—to set the captive free (Luke 4:18) …?

A wholehearted sacrifice must cost you something… (2 Sam. 24:23-25).

“The disciples told him, “Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death, and you are going back there again” (John 11:8)? Yet despite the warnings Jesus received concerning His safety, He went back willingly, into Jerusalem, through those city gates—more, He did it boldly—lovingly, as the Lamb of God. No more silence, no more hiding. He was hand-chosen, Gods Passover Sacrifice.

And He entered knowing full-well that He would be slaughtered soon for the sins of the whole world…

A knowledge seemingly lost on so many of those gathered at the city gates…

Jesus saw their hearts. He’d heard, recognized, each voice He’d created as it sang His praises. He’d watched, knowingly, as they’d thrown down their palm branches and cloaks in homage (2 Kings 9:13) …

Yet what he truly saw was the condition of those hearts…

The motivation behind why most were praising Him—their blind and selfish desires for welcoming His coming. “… because He was near Jerusalem, and they assumed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately [as soon as He reached the city]” (Luke 19:11 AMPC).

Even His closest friends had missed the point of both His time with them, and His return to Jerusalem, listen: “But the disciples understood none of these things [about the approaching death and resurrection of Jesus]. This statement was hidden from them, and they did not grasp the [meaning of the] things that were said [by Jesus]” (Luke 18:34).

It wasn’t their time yet; their hearts were still being shaped to fit His…

However, unlike those present at His Triumphal Entry—only Jesus saw clearly the Truth behind why He was there. Why He’d come at all. And, despite their sins, their ignorance, and the outright betrayal that surrounded Him, despite the blindness of most of those looking at Him for gain, to satisfy some agenda, despite the flat-out hatred that pelted him like stinging stones coming from the religious leaders, He saw one thing only before Him—You, and me…

More, He too saw the fulfillment of His Father’s will. It was always before Him. The reason He’d stepped down across time and eternity was about to unfold. The purpose of His leaving behind the glory of Heaven with The Father and darning a suit of flesh, and blood, and, feelings…

He had set His face towards eternity. And nothing was about to deter Him…

Why would He do this? Why the sacrifice?

Because He is the Alpha and The Omega—seeing your beginning from your end (Rev. 1:8). He saw you in the crowd that day, carrying the weight of your sin and your misguided want of Him—and His heart went out to you. He knew you needed so much more than what you’d be able to get on your own…

You needed a Savior.

He saw you—and so He came for you, with one purpose in mind… And here it is:

“Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude]. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears and listens to and heeds My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will eat with him, and he [will eat] with Me. He who overcomes (is victorious), I will grant him to sit beside Me on My throne, as I Myself overcame (was victorious) and sat down beside My Father on His throne. He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the [Holy] Spirit says to the assemblies (churches)” (Rev.3:19-23 AMPC).