Palm Sunday

People around the globe today are commemorating Palm Sunday – the Sunday before Jesus was crucified when he rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey as the long promised Coming King. It is recorded in all of the Gospels as a watershed event which set in motion the crisis of that Passover Week.

But the gospel writers do not focus on this timing when they record the events of that Sunday. Instead they direct our attention to the book of Zechariah (520 BC) and explicitly tell us that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey he was fulfilling the prophecy given in Zechariah that:

• MATTHEW 21: 1-11

• Mark 11:1-11

• Luke 19:28-42

• John 12:12-14

Zechariah 9:9-12

“Look, your king is coming to you.

He is righteous and victorious,

yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—

riding on a donkey’s colt. (Zechariah 9:9)

THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY (Yesuvin Vatri Pirvecam)

Psalm 24:7–10

Scene:

Exodus 12

Israel had been in slavery in Egypt for years. In answer to the prayers of the Israelite people, God sent Moses to Pharaoh with this command: “Let my people go!”

But of course Pharaoh wouldn’t listen and so God brought 10 terrible plagues upon Egypt and Pharaoh to convince them that it was in their best interests to honor His request.

This passage of Scripture from Exodus 12 we’ll be looking at this morning describes the beginning of the 1st and most important festival in the history of the Jewish people called the Passover.

From the day of Moses, until today - every year Jewish God-fearing families have partaken pf the Passover meal as closely as possible. Their Passover meal celebrates the love of their God who freed their ancestors from slavery and who passed over their homes because they obeyed Him in putting the blood of a sacrificed lamb upon the doorframes of their homes.

What Is the Meaning of Hosanna in the Bible?

• Hosanna is often translated “Please Save Us.”

• It is a Greek word “?sa???” that most scholars believe is the transliteration of two Hebrew words- ??

????- “yasha” which means “to save or deliver” and

?????? – “anna” which means “please, I beseech.”

Which means to cause or to bring about salvation. In this tense, hosanna becomes a command to bring about or cause salvation.

But Passover was only the first feast day in a week long festival called “The Feast of Unleavened Bread” And that’s what we’re going to be looking at today.

During Passover time, Jerusalem was crowded with visitors. Every Jewish adult from a twenty mile radius was obligated to attend the celebrations, and this number was added to by many, many more who would crowd in from further afield for the occasion.

William Barclay tells us that the city was teeming with people, as many as two and a half million might have been in Jerusalem

I. His Entry WAS THE FULLFILLMENT OF PROMISE (MTH:21:1-5.).

II. HIS ENTERY JERUSALEM WITH THE ACCLAIMED BY THE PEOPLE, (MTH: 21:6-9).

This passages emphasizes that Jesus is the King of Glory: the King comes in peace (21:1-5); the King is acclaimed by the people; and the King is crowned with praise. This event is the inauguration of the Prince of Peace as King of kings.

III. HIS ENTERY WAS WITH THE CROWNED OF PRAISE, (MTH:21: 9-11).

Verses 6 & 7 note the obedience on the part of all the disciples involved. “The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, [7] and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. [8] “Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road.

Notice that the disciples did just as Jesus instructed them. That is what all disciples of Jesus are to do. The disciples got the animals, then threw their garments on them to make saddles. When Jesus mounted up the disciples and the Galilean crowd then recognized the prophetic allusion,

IN CLOSING,

Jesus finally approached the ultimate destination of His trip from Galilee, the city where He had predicted again and again that He would be crucified (16:21; 19:1; 20:18–19; Mark 11:1–11; Luke 19:29–44; John 12:12–19).

John 1:11

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

John 1:12

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name