The Difference Between a Donkey and a Horse

1. Introduction.

John 12:10–12 “But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,”

John 12:13–15 “took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!” Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.””

Revelation 19:11–12 “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.”

Revelation 19:13–14 “He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.”

Revelation 19:15–16 “Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS”

Many people call Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem His triumphal entry.

Traditionally, we celebrate the event of Jesus arriving in Jerusalem Palm Sunday, but was it really triumphant?

The people who were laying down palm branches shouting, “Hosanna” would be the same ones shouting, “Crucify him” just a few days later. If anything was triumphant, it was the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after His crucifixion eventually ascending into heaven. Now, that is triumphant.

I am going to point out a few things this morning about Jesus riding a donkey, and then contrast the difference between Jesus riding a donkey and Jesus riding a horse.

2. Jesus riding a donkey.

Sometimes, we read the Bible, and we do not get too much beneath the surface level. but as I read this passage this time, I was touched by something amazing.

A. The donkey upon which Christ rode represents Christ’s humility and His submission to the Father’s will.

John 14:28 “You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.”

The donkey is not a special animal. It is a beast of burden. The donkey is the ultimate representation of humility and submission. A little donkey in that day would just stand in place letting its owner pile on more and more of a burden. On occasion, the burden would get so great that the little donkey’s legs would splinter.

Compare that to the burden Jesus Christ carried to Calvary. His burden was so great that His Father turned His back on Him as He was bearing the burdens of mankind.

Not only was Jesus submissive to the Father, but think of the humility in which Jesus came into the world. The God who created everything stepped out of heaven to be born in the most humble of places, a lowly manger in a stable. He who created the heavens and the earth did not even have a place to lay His head.

While on earth and even today, He was and is verbally assaulted daily by those who should accept Him. He was crucified by those who should have revered Him. He did it all in humility and submission of a little donkey.

B. The donkey upon which Christ rode represents His service to mankind.

John 10:15 “As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

Jesus Christ came to this earth as a man so He could die as a man for man. He had to come to earth to serve the greatest need of mankind. As God, He could never die for man’s sins. To be the ultimate servant of man, God had to become man. Yes, Jesus served man by healing many of the various ailments and diseases He encountered. He served man by making the crippled walk again. He served man by casting out demons, but most importantly, He served man by being willing to die for man’s sins. It was the ultimate act of servitude.

Jesus Christ’s ultimate service to mankind was His death on Calvary, and Jesus Christ is continuing to meet the needs of mankind.

Hebrews 7:24–26 “But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;”

Jesus, like the little donkey He rode into Jerusalem, served the needs of mankind.

C. The donkey upon which Christ rode represents the peace He brought to mankind.

In the Bible, peace is not defined by the absence of warfare. Peace is the removal of the enmity man has before God. That is why Jesus Christ came into this world. He came to make peace between God and man.

Two of the greatest and most significant passages in the Bible in my opinion tells us why Jesus had to come in order to bring peace.

Job 9:32–33 ““For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both.”

Mankind needed someone who could mediate between God and man. No human being born of a human Father could be the mediator man needed. The only remedy for the situation was for God to step out of heaven to be born a man, and because Jesus Christ is man and God He can take man by one hand and reach out to God with the other hand.

Colossians 2:13–15 “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.

And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

These two passages show us the enmity between man and God. Man needed someone to make peace between mankind and God, and only the One who is both God and Man could do that, and that One is Jesus Christ. He came to make peace between man and God.

D. The people rejected the Christ who rode the little donkey.

Now, if you are not careful, you will miss this. Pay careful attention.

John 12:13 “took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!””

In the Bible, Hosanna is a plea for salvation.

Those shouting Hosanna did need salvation. It was a truthful plea, and only Jesus Christ can provide salvation.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

On the surface, those shouting Hosanna seem to be sincere, but they were not because they were actually denying who Jesus was.

Notice what the crowd was pleading.

“Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.”

Jesus Christ did not come in the name of the Lord. He came as the Lord. What the crowd shouted that day was no different from what the rich young ruler said as Jesus gave him his opportunity.

Matthew 19:16–17 “Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.””

Jesus Christ was giving this young man the opportunity to acknowledge Him as God, but the young man only acknowledged Him as a good teacher. Those shouting Hosanna, blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord, had the same opportunity to acknowledge Jesus as the Lord, but they would not, and like the young man, they missed the salvation only Jesus offered.

Luke 19:42–44 “saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.””

TO be saved, you must declare who Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ is not just a good teacher. Jesus Christ is not just a miracle worker. Jesus Christ is the sinless Son of God. Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem one time on a donkey in humility, submission, and service to bring peace between man and God. He is not coming again in humility or as a servant.

3. Jesus will ride into Jerusalem on a white horse as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Revelation 19:11 “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.”

In the Bible, the horse represents warfare, and white represents victory.

When Jesus Christ comes again, the farthest thing on His mind will be humility and submission. When Jesus comes on a white horse, all those who have rejected Him are living on earth will be destroyed. All the kingdoms of this world will be destroyed.

Revelation 19:17–21 “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.”

And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.

These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

Dear friend, there is a big difference between the Jesus who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the Jesus who will ride out of heaven on a white horse.

Jesus came on a donkey to bring peace. He will come on a white horse to bring justice and to establish His earthly Kingdom.

Dear friend, Jesus came to this earth to settle your account with God. Has your account been settled?

Jesus Christ has done all He can for you. If you reject Jesus Christ, you literally stomp your feet in the blood of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:29 “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”

If you reject Christ, you insult the grace God has offered, and if you reject that grace, I would not want to be in your shoes for one single second.

Romans 12:19 “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”

Oh, dear friend, there is a big difference between a horse and a donkey.