."

And hear what Gabriel says to Mary when he comes to announce to her
that she has been chosen of Almighty God to give birth to the
Messiah of Israel.

The angel says:

"Thou shalt call his name Jesus . . . He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David:

And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his
kingdom there shall be no end."

He is to be the Prince of Peace when He sits upon the throne of
united Israel in their own land and not before.

He was born in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah.

He was a Son given. The Son of God who was God the Son.

He was a Son given and became a child born.

He grew up to the station of manhood.

He entered upon His pre-arranged ministry.

At the appointed hour and to the very second foretold by Gabriel to
Daniel and in the exact manner announced by the prophet Zechariah He
rode into Jerusalem, went into the temple, claiming it as His
Father's house of prayer and by so much declaring Himself to be the
Son of the Highest and the heir of David's throne.

The shout of the multitude had announced Him officially.

They had said:

"Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of
the Lord."

In crying this aloud they were fulfilling the prediction of
Zechariah.

He had, under the vision of God, looked forward to this hour and
with the Spirit of God upon him had exhorted the people who should
be alive when Jesus should come to acclaim him.

He said:

"Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh unto thee;
he is just, and having salvation (political as well as spiritual
salvation); lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal
of an ass."

The multitude were shouting as Zechariah said they should shout.
They were confessing that He who came that day up the slopes of Zion
was the Prince of Judah and King of Israel.

He came to His own, but His own received Him not.

Instead of the diadem of David He got a crown of thorns. Instead of
the sceptre of Israel He got the vine stick of a Roman centurion
thrust through His rope-tied hands. Instead of a throne He got a
malefactor's cross. Instead of a robe of royal purple He got the
winding sheet of the dead. Instead of a palace He got a borrowed
grave.

The Jews have paid the price of that blindness and betrayal. The
man-slayer who unwittingly slew his neighbour or was even ign