Meeting Him With Praise

Today we celebrate Palm Sunday! The Triumphal Entry.

Our text says 12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

15  “Fear not, daughter of Zion;

behold, your king is coming,

sitting on a donkey’s colt!” (Jn 12:12–15).

This event is recorded in all four Gospels. Each writer offering their own perspective and details. I like that John said they went out to meet him. I want to meet the Lord with praise! He deserves my praise! He deserves our Hallelujahs!

We will have our moment for Rev 7:9-10 says John the Revelation writer said 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb (Re 7:9–10).

Hosanna Save us

Blessed Baruk Praise to the Lord

This day is marked by the people going to meet Jesus to praise him. Matthew said 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mt 21:9–10). The large crowd pays homage to Jesus the king.

Spreading garments on the ground so that one does not have to walk on the bare earth is a gesture of homage and respect to a king or someone of rank. The crowd saw Jesus as their saving king. And he was but they did not understand fully. They were quoting Psalm 118:25 Save us , we pray O Lord! O lord we pray give us success!

This act of laying branches and coats was customary with the visit of kings or of other high persons. Such entries are also accompanied by cheers, songs, and acclamations. The crowds call out their “hosanna” to the Son of David.

Yes the crowd who went out to meet Jesus was ignorant to the fact the Jesus who was literally fulfilling the scripture as he rode in on a donkey.

Zechariah 9:9 9  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

righteous and having salvation is he,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zec 9:9).

Point One:

We must Meet Him With Praise

praise is what we should do

15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name(Heb 13:15).

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

(Col 3:15–17).

Point Two :

We Must know why we praise him

He is Lord. He is our savior! He is our King !

Praise the LORD, all nations!

Extol him, all peoples!

2  For great is his steadfast love toward us,

and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.

Praise the LORD! (Ps 117:1–2).

The one Lord who is God over all is alone worthy of praise. Frequently the OT stresses that the praise due him is not to be offered to other gods or to idols of any kind (e.g., Is 42:8).

There is a place for the commendation of men and women for their qualities of life and their right actions (Prv 31:28–31; 1 Pt 2:14). Ultimately, however, they should seek the praise and commendation of God (Rom 2:29), not the praise of their fellows (Mt 6:1–6; Jn 12:43), that others may be led to glorify God for whatever good is found in them (Mt 5:16). Frequently the Bible speaks of praising “the name” of God (e.g., Ps 149:3), meaning that he is to be praised for all that he is and has revealed himself to be. The often repeated word “Hallelujah” is simply the Hebrew equivalent of “Praise the Lord.”

Yet even His Disciples were lacking understanding. 16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. (Jn 12:16–18).

We praise him for he is our Lord and savior and he keeps doing great things for us. John said the crowd came to meet him because what he did for Lazarus. It was a couple of weeks ago I talked about Mary’s praise. What do you have to praise him for?