{"id":39533,"date":"2017-11-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/afghans-give-ex-king-royal-homecoming\/"},"modified":"2017-11-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T00:00:00","slug":"afghans-give-ex-king-royal-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/afghans-give-ex-king-royal-homecoming\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghans Give Ex-King a Royal Homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March 2002, the former ruler of Afghanistan, the 87-year-old Mohammed Zahir Shah, returned to his homeland after 30 years of exile. Here's how an article in the Chicago Tribune<\/em> described his grand and glorious welcome:<\/p>\n\n

\n

On Thursday, thousands of invited guests lined up for hours at the airport and people gathered on the streets leading to a refurbished seven-bedroom villa to see the former ruler. Delegations arrived from across Afghanistan's 32 provinces. Governors and their advisers, members of women's groups carrying posters of the king, most of the interim administration, royalists, warlords, men in turbans and others in suits all converged on the pockmarked runway where shells of bombed airplanes lay. Two red carpets were laid out. The newly trained honor guard was on hand, and young women and children in traditional embroidered dress greeted Zahir Shah with flowers and poems.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

I hope you're thinking of the contrast when Israel's Messiah was born, when he came to his own people.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3387,3417,3460,3876,4232,4322,4325,4327,4389,4463,4585,4776,5018,5057],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-39533","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-advent","tax_ctp_tags-anointed-one","tax_ctp_tags-authority-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-epiphany","tax_ctp_tags-incarnation-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-king","tax_ctp_tags-kingdom-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-kingdom-of-heaven","tax_ctp_tags-lordship-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-messiah","tax_ctp_tags-palm-sunday","tax_ctp_tags-recognition","tax_ctp_tags-son-of-man","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-perception"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nAfghans Give Ex-King a Royal Homecoming - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/afghans-give-ex-king-royal-homecoming\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Afghans Give Ex-King a Royal Homecoming - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In March 2002, the former ruler of Afghanistan, the 87-year-old Mohammed Zahir Shah, returned to his homeland after 30 years of exile. 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