On Palm Sunday, we remember Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem the week before His crucifixion. However, the Bible has record of other royal entries that have some interesting parallels.

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David’s Entry into Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant

2 Samuel 6 tells of King David bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. This was a very big deal: The Ark was the most prominent symbol of God’s presence with His people. Over twenty years earlier, it had been briefly captured by the Philistines. They quickly returned it as God’s displeasure was made known by first toppling their idol-god, Dagon, and then sending mass illness to any Philistine town that harbored the Ark. On its return, the Ark was “temporarily” housed in the town of Kiriath-jearim, under the care of a man named Abinadab and his son Eleazar ¹.

Once David’s kingdom was secure enough, he gathered a royal escort to retrieve the Ark and bring it to its permanent home.

David went and brought up the ark of God … into the city of David with gladness.
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And David was dancing before the LORD with all his might … David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sound of the trumpet.

2 Samuel 6:12-15

There was someone, though, who was not happy with this joyful procession. David’s wife Michal rebuked him for the impropriety of dancing around like a commoner. She thought the king should be above such things. David answered that worshipping God mattered more than his own dignity.

Watch for Parallels

• God’s presence was coming into Jerusalem.
• There was cheering, dancing, and celebration.
• There was also discord and disapproval.

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Solomon’s Entry as David’s Successor

1 Kings 1 describes another triumphal entry. This one was a deliberate show in order to forestall some political machinations. From among David’s many sons, he had promised that Solomon would be the next king. But another son, Adonijah, was getting ready to claim the kingship for himself. He prepared a nice chariot escort, and convinced Joab (David’s general) and Abiathar (David’s priest) to join him. He would have looked very legitimate when he entered the city.

But David found out about the plot.

David immediately called in another priest, Zadok, plus Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, his head bodyguard. He commanded them to present Solomon as king right away, and very publicly.

So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. Zadok the priest then took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” All the people went up after him, and the people were playing on flutes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth shook at their noise.

1 Kings 1:38-40

Again, someone was displeased with the celebration: Adonijah. He wasn’t going to be king, and might be killed for even thinking about it. He immediately went to Solomon to beg for mercy.

Watch for Parallels

• The true king was coming into Jerusalem, displacing a false king.
• There was cheering and celebration.
• There was also disappointment and fear.

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Palm Sunday

Matthew 21:1-9, Mark 11:1-10, Luke 19:28-38 and John 12:12-15 are the four Gospel accounts of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry. They all tell of Jesus riding in on a young colt in fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah. They then tell of the crowds welcoming Jesus, laying their cloaks on the road before Him as a kind of “red carpet”, waving palm branches and cheering for “he who comes in the name of the Lord!“

On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.” Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”

John 12:12-15

And again, there were those who were not celebrating. Both the Jewish and the Roman hierarchy were — to put it mildly — quite unenthusiastic about the entry of a popular figure being hailed as a king! By entering in this way, Jesus was deliberately provoking their response. He had come from Heaven for the purpose of dying as a sacrifice for sin. He manipulated events so that purpose was fulfilled precisely at Passover, the 1500-year-old annual celebration that predicted His mission.

Watch for Parallels

• God’s Son came into Jerusalem.
• The true King came, displacing the false kings of self-righteous ritual and of Rome.
• There was cheering and celebration.
• There was also discord and disapproval.

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Jesus’ Return

Revelation 19 foretells one more triumphal entry. Satan, his human puppet (known as the “Antichrist” or the “Beast”) and their false prophet/PR-person will gather together all the kings of the world “for the war of the great day of God“. Jesus will come in power to put a stop to such nonsense.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
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And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Revelation 19:11-16

That “second coming” is the aspect of Messiah that the Jews on the first Palm Sunday expected Him to be. They didn’t realize that we needed Him to be the sacrifice first, before we could be made suitable to meet Him as King.

One last time, there will be someone unhappy with the entry. The Beast and his false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire. Satan who empowers them will be locked away for a thousand years.

Note: The postlude to Satan’s part of the story is that he will be released — temporarily — after that thousand years. He will use that release to gather one more army to try to destroy Israel. I guess we can give him credit for persistence! But it does him no good: His army will be destroyed, and he will join the Beast and the prophet in the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:7-10)

Watch for Parallels

• God will come to Earth, and to Jerusalem.
• The true King will come, displacing a false king.
• There will be cheering, dancing, and celebration.
• There will also be battle and judgment.

All the previous Triumphal Entries will have their true fulfillment in that final one. From then on, the King will forever live among His people. Bill Gaither’s song describes it beautifully: “The King is Coming!“

1. That story is told in 1 Samuel 4 through 6.