Hosanna In The Highest

A little boy missed out on church one Palm Sunday. His mother stayed home to watch over him. When dad came home, there he was, sick on the couch. When he noticed dad come in with a huge palm branch in his hand, he was curious and asked, "Dad, what’s up with that palm branch?"

His dad said, “It’s Palm Sunday, son! You see, when Jesus came into town, everybody waved these Palm Branches to honor him, so we all got Palm Branches today.”

The boy was upset because he missed the celebration and he said, “Just my luck, dad! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!”

? Do you ever feel like you missed church the Sunday when Jesus showed up?

You know, fortunately for us, Jesus shows up at church every Sunday… Especially here at Valley Community Church! This has to be one of His favorite hangouts! He has a lot of good friends coming here… And all we have to do is make it here to meet Him!

That brings me to an important question… Why are we here?

To experience a life changing encounter with Jesus Christ.

A lot of people don’t really understand what Palm Sunday is all about… I think you’ll learn today, it’s about a lot of things. In a way, it’s like a birthday you celebrate when you’re getting older than you want to be… You’re happy, but you know you’re that much closer to d-day.J

In the same way, Jesus, when He traveled down the road to Jerusalem that Sunday 2,000 years ago, knew this as a day of celebration, but He also had the impending knowledge on His heart, that in just a few days, He would lay down His life, and so Palm Sunday was bitter sweet in that way…

Today is Palm Sunday! Jesus is here to be experienced, to be worshipped, to be honored and to be celebrated and we’re going give all that to Him today, AMEN?

Palm Sunday is a day of exuberant celebration: a day of high praise!

Palm Sunday is a day when words like REJOICE and HOSANNA are used frequently!

Glory to God, Salvation in the Highest! Hosanna to the King of Kings!

The Bible tells us, Matt 21:7-11, On Palm Sunday over 2000 years ago, the disciples… “…brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road [that’s what you do in the 1st century when a king rides into town.], while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"

Hosanna in the highest… What does it mean? Hosanna means SALVATION: SALVATION in the HIGHEST… When Jesus entered the holy city of Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, the crowds proclaimed, “GLORY TO GOD! SALVATION IN THE HIGHEST…”

For a brief moment in time, for a small glimpse in history, Christ’s people the Jews finally celebrated His Lordship and majesty, and they were close to realizing His salvation.

You see, the Jews didn’t understand what Christ had to offer. They had been delivered before. They had been saved time and time again by the Lord. They were delivered from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land under the leadership of Moses by the power of God.

They were delivered from exile and slavery in Babylon back to their holy city to rebuild the temple of their God, through righteous men and women such as Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah…

They had experienced radical rescues and incredible salvations before, but this was different. Jesus the Christ would bring to the Jews and to the Gentiles a salvation like never before. Never had they experienced salvation like that salvation, which would come through Jesus… Never had they known salvation like that of this King: their Messiah: Jesus Christ our Lord… His was SALVATION IN THE HIGHEST ORDER!

Not just salvation from their hard labor and oppression at the hand of their enemies, from the dryness of the desert, but salvation from sin: freedom from the enemy of our souls. Christ’s was the highest order of salvation that ever came and His salvation is the only salvation that will ever save your soul.

He’s called the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega: the One who is, who was and who is to come. Rev 21:6, He’s the “Beginning and the End. [And He says,] To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.” Are you thirsty for the Lord? Are you hungry for righteousness? This is the salvation of Jesus Christ: salvation in the highest!