On the back of a swaying donkey,
the little virgin mother rode the
rock-strewn paths over mountain
and desert to the city of David where
her child would be born . . . outcast.
Outside the inn.
Outside the city.
Without the normal comforts of any common birth,
and . . . with no recognition
of His identity
except what God by His invasion,
announced to shepherds. 

The Babe was carried to His birth on a donkey,
shared the donkey's shelter and the manger of its hay.
History of the Holy Being,
from the lowly beginning to the shameful end,
tying his life to humiliating identification with
a donkeyed people, hardened and recalcitrant,
as lowest of the low.

But King He was, announced to Mary
by Gabriel's shining presence.

". . . (B)ehold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a
son, and you shall name HIM JESUS.
He will be great and will be called
the Son of the Most High;
and the Lord God will give Him
the throne of His father David;
and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and His kingdom will have no end."
Luke 1:31-33 NAS

A King she bore in holy awe.
A secret King born to rule no earthly turf
but all the Kingdoms of all the World
and all the kings of all those kingdoms.
He was King and the only Monarch
ever born.

King from birth by
sovereign right of His Father's Throne.

But kings are not born in stables and
carried on the backs of donkeys.
Kings are served and feared,
powerful and wealthy!

This King of All Other Kings -
born in obscurity, living in poverty.
A King like no other.
Gentle, mild, vulnerable. 

Kings of the East journeyed far to
visit Him - taught by Daniel long years before
that this King would be King of All
and worthy to be worshiped.

Daniel saw the King - "one like the Son of Man" -
reigning in His Awesome Majesty
on The Throne "ablaze with fire"
and he was filled with dread before the sight.

Daniel kept alive the vigil for that King's birth and left
it as his legacy to the foreign land of the East.
In the place of his torment,
and of cruel heathen despots,
Daniel saw the distant future and the
Dominion of the Real King.

Down some 400 years to the Star's appearance,
the story passed and magi waited.

And when they saw the star,
they rejoiced exceedingly with
great joy.
Matthew 2:10

Great exuberance!
Their joy - the sign of their esteem
for the Baby King.
A regard shared by no one else.
All others went their normal way, not
sensing the universe's shift.

The Magi knew a King had been born and
paid dearly to see Him.
Earthly kings, willing to honor another King
- higher than themselves -
invested in His future with their treasures,
and fell down in worship of the Child.
(Matthew 2:11)

Unmoved by humble places, they
bowed in homage before this Babe
and were first to name Him King of the Jews,
while the Herod-king seethed with murder.
A stark contrast of kings . . . .

The shepherds had a visitation of angels,
the glory of the good news.
"There has been born for you a Savior, who is
Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:11

But no mention of a King.
The Gentiles know the King of the Jews
before the Jews know their own King.

Only Mary and the Magi had heard
that grand announcement . . . not merely Savior but
a coming King!
One to reign . . . not as selfish dictator,
not as cruel despot . . . but as Prince of Peace.

A king unlike any other.
Perfect in Holiness, Just in Knowledge.
Sole and Only Son of the Creator but who
took His place among us,
sealing His right to rule us
by His lowly walk . . . with us.

In the grim isolation of the wilderness,
He was tempted to be king of earth.
Tempted with the easy way of independence,
soulish power and evil compliance.
King of earth,
turning stones into selfish bread,
initiating what God didn't begin (the parapet),
and dominating nations of mankind.
Normal king - like all others.

No, He would not be Preposterous King of
human control, by hidden powers of evil.
He had lived before the Real Potentate
of Bursting Fire and Rainbowed Aura.

No! He was Son of the Emerald Throne
and by that Home, He would live.
Only by the Great Father's Rule, He would rule.
 
So as a King,
murdered by His own subjects,
as Potter broken by
His own clay vessels,
He became the Lamb of Sacrifice
for the will of His Father,
whose joy was to crush Him,
for us!

A tender Lamb-King.
Meek by choice, vulnerable by surrender,
riding the donkey of our independence
to His cross of massacre.

"He will not quarrel nor cry out;
nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
A battered reed He will not break off,
And a smoldering wick He will not put out."
Matthew 12:19, 20 NAS 

As Son of Man, to claim His rightful throne,
He rode a donkey in His triumph.
A Lamb upon a Donkey.
King and Lamb in one.
Divine contradiction.

A donkey carried Him to His Birth.
A donkey-shelter was His birthplace,
and a donkey carried Him to His Death.

The Gentle Lamb-King. 

Lamb King

"Behold the Lamb of God," we fail.
No horn to tear, no fang to bite.
Year old Lamb so small and frail,
Lovely in your perfect white.

As Lowly Lamb you call your sheep
and understand their wandering ways
because you join them as they sleep.
The Lamb of God, who guards their days.

Lamb so tame, made thus for sheep.
By virtue of your gentle sight,
See hearts by Grace, by Mercy keep.
Meek Lamb who reigns in terrored might.

The Lamb of God will win the fight
And Rule with iron
Against the Lion-prowl of night.

"And the sky rolled up like a scroll and vanished,
and every mountain and island was dislodged from its place.
Then the kings of the earth and their noblemen and
their magnates and their military chiefs and
the wealthy and the strong and (everyone, whether)
slave or free hid themselves in the caves and
among the rocks of the mountains,
And they called to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on (before) us
and hide us from the face of Him Who sits on the throne
and from the deep-seated indignation and
wrath of the Lamb."

Rev. 6:14-16 Amplified Bible

Copyright © 2000 Martha Kilpatrick