Luke 19:33-40 states, “And as they (two of Jesus’s disciples) were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?  And they said, The Lord hath need of him.  And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.  And as He went, they spread their clothes in the way.  And when He was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.  And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.  And He answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”

This passage is a fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9, which states, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”  It was very appropriate for the multitude of disciples to praise God for all of the mighty works that they had seen the Lord Jesus do.

Luke 19:38 reminds us of Psalm 118:26, which states “Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.”  Jesus’s disciples were hoping to crown Him King at this time, but He needed to die on the cross first.  He will reign for “a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6) after the Tribulation.  In the last part of Luke 19:38 the disciples said, “peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.”  The disciples may not have understood the significance of what they were saying, but there could be no peace on earth at this time since in a matter of days the Prince of Peace would be rejected and crucified.  However, there would be peace in heaven and glory in the highest since Christ would glorify the Father through His obedient and perfect self-sacrifice on the cross.

The Pharisees asked Jesus to rebuke His disciples for lavishing praise on Him.  Jesus responded that if His disciples would remain quiet, the stones would immediately cry out in praise to the Lord.  This statement by the Lord Jesus is a clear rebuke that even a lifeless stone would not be as hard-hearted as the Pharisees.  Applying this to ourselves, let us willingly offer praise and worship to our amazing Redeemer so that the rocks do not need to fill the gap of our complacency.  “Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord” (Psalm 150:6).  (197.2)  (DJ)