Hosanna!

Yesterday, Palm Sunday, marks the week before Jesus resurrected from the dead. This “Passion Week” as it’s been called, reminds us of the depths of great love that God was willing to go to redeem us unto Himself. The prophet Isaiah wrote about His coming Kingdom about 700 years before Christ… “His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of His ancestor, David, for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s armies will make this happen” (Isaiah 9:7 NLT). And passionate commitment is exactly what He demonstrated!

The prophet Zechariah had lived about 500 years before Jesus, and his writings capture the accuracy of God’s Word… “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, a foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9).

Just as was prophesied from Isaiah and Zechariah, Jesus rode passionately into Jerusalem, resolute in His desire to do His Father’s will, on a foal of a donkey, untamed, and unbroken, but fully tame under the Master’s touch. “Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road before Him, and others spread palm branches. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and all the people around Him were shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David! Hosanna in the highest Heaven!’” (Mark 11:9,10)

The term “Hosanna” is more than just a term of praise, but a Hebrew word that means - “Save us now!” How appropriate that they would cry out to be saved, just as He was doing so. But many cried out to be saved from Rome, not sin, and to be delivered into a new earthly kingdom where justice ruled. But God’s vision was greater than the limitations of this short life and shifting governments, He saw our desperate need reaching into eternity. His power to save us would deliver our eternal souls from eternal hell. His power over death would be imparted to us as His followers, and eternal rivers of Living Water would flow from our souls. That’s true freedom!

Friends, we hear the cries of humanity everyday, crying to be saved from ruthless governments, from oppression, from tyrants, but nothing else matters as much as being eternally saved. This life is but an eye-drop of water in an ocean of eternity. Our vision is so very limited! But God’s Salvation saw our long-term need, and He passionately and purposefully met our direst need, the need for Him.

“And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in.

That on the cross, my burdens gladly bearing, He bled and died, to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,

How Great Thou art! How great Thou art!”

(Devotional by Cheryl Hall-Laos)