All Downhill from Here

I had a thought today while I was in service and I decided to share it here.  You've certainly heard the euphemism, "It was all downhill from there", meaning that everything else that happened past a certain point was unstoppable.  We can illustrate this using many scenarios.  A student going into kindergarten shows up on the first day of school.  They may have had some apprehension prior to coming to school, but then it happens; they meet that one friend that they will probably stay connected to for the rest of their lives.  As the saying goes, it's all downhill from there- school becomes a little easier, days become more fun, lunch becomes more palatable, etc.

The thought today centered on the life of Jesus and there was a point in His life where everything was literally downhill.  There was a cascade of unstoppable events that eventually led to Calvary.  Let's look at the scripture in Luke 19:37:

"As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen..."

In context, this section of Luke 19 deals with the "Triumphal Entry" of Jesus into Jerusalem.  It is quite a scene.  Jesus had been doing great things throughout his ministry and this was a sort of culmination of his ministry on earth.  This was a prophetic moment in that the same donkey that Zechariah prophesied in Zechariah 9:9 ("...behold your King seated on a donkey's colt...") was waiting for Jesus in the village near Bethpage and Bethany.  People were praising Him, putting their coats and clothes on the ground as the donkey moved forward.  They were praising God so loudly because of what they had seen and all of the miracles that Jesus performed!  This moment in earthly history was the validation of the Messiahship of Jesus and there were some that did not like it.  The Pharisees were trying to quiet the crowd but Jesus informed them that if the people didn't shout, the rocks would shout in their place.  Undoubtedly, this gave the Pharisees an even greater desire to kill Jesus because, in their words in John's gospel: "the whole world has gone after him...".

Ironically, this occurred on the way down the Mount of Olives.  When I read this, I jotted a little note in my bible that said "all downhill from here..."  The life of Jesus was literally all downhill from here.  This was a pivotal moment in history.  Although some refused to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah, this moment was one of several in the unstoppable plan of God the Father that verified every Messianic claim that Jesus made.  The donkey's significance cannot be overlooked as these men, the religious leaders, had to know the scrolls that spoke of the King being seated on a donkey's colt.  That same prophecy also mentions that the king is "lowly and humble" (see above, Zech 9:9).  this little trip downhill en route to Jerusalem was the beginning of the end for Jesus as it related to His earthly life.  Gethsemane was at the foot of the Mount of Olives.  But is was, for believers, one stop on the way to Calvary where all of our sins were forgiven.  In an odd twist, Calvary or Golgotha was also on a hill  but it was an upward climb that Jesus had to make to be hung from the cross.  Uphill or downhill, I thank God that Jesus was the atoning sacrifice for my sins.  I am glad that once the ball got rolling, He dare not stop it but was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Grace and peace.