Praise Him

Praise

John 12:12-13

The

Psalm 118

Palms

Why Palms? What's the significance? Now in the intro to todays sermon I briefly stated that the palms were a symbol of jewish nationalism, but where did the practice come from and what did it signify? Lets journey back in redemptive history to Leviticus. In Yahweh was giving Moses instruction of how to celebrate the Holy festivals, and in verse 40 He instructed a practice of gathering palms and rejoicing before Yahweh. So this was a method not only of rejoicing but in worshipping Yahweh specifically.

HCSB

On the first day you are to take the product of majestic trees—palm fronds, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook —and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

Their praise of Jesus like this also mimics what prophecy says all of creation will do when He returns. Let's look at a couple examples:

HCSB

Say among the nations: “The LORD reigns. The world is firmly established; it cannot be shaken. He judges the peoples fairly.” Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound. Let the fields and everything in them exult. Then all the trees of the forest will shout for joy before the LORD, for He is coming— for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with His faithfulness.

Or tells us when the King comes back for good, “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

So here's what happened Jesus has just recently raised Lazarus from the dead, and the word is out for better and worse. The people are talking about it, and the pharisees want Jesus dead at this point. They've planned it and everyone knows, we know this because the text tells us back in 11:53 they had plotted to kill him and in verses 55-57 the people who have gone to prepare for the passover are asking if He will come because there is a warrant out for His arrest. What's Jesus do? Has a blow out party with His disciples putting Lazarus on display giving further proof Lazarus has been raised from the dead, then as we talked about last week Mary anointed Him at this party. Now here we are the next day and Jesus rides into town! What do the people do when they hear He's coming they prepare to worship Him! They grab these palms and go rejoice before Jesus! They praised Him as messiah, and worship Him as they do Yahweh. So the next question is what about this word Hosanna?

Hôšaʿnnā

Hosanna

Here we are reading through this text and we have this exclamation “Hosanna! He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One —the King of Israel!” No we understand the bulk of that sentence right? They are saying He who comes (Jesus) in the name of the Lord, is the blessed One (the Messiah)- the King of Israel, not just any messiah, not just another savior like the many that God had brought through redemptive history but the One, the promised One, the king who would reign over Davids promised eternal kingdom forever. That is an amazing statement they are proclaiming towards Jesus! But what does Hosanna mean? Why is it important that it is used here?

Now in english we have the word hosanna, and if you go to the greek you will find that the greek word is.... can you guess? Hosanna, the translators didn't translate the word from greek to english they just used english letters to make the sounds the greek letters made. But if we dig deeper we see that the greek word is also just a similar translation of a Hebrew phrase hôšaʿ save us nnā now/please. Now the word hosa or hosiah is used 29 times throughout the old testement but this word used this way is only used once and it is is psalm 118:25. And here the save us is sandwiched between an introduction of now/please for added emphasis. In the hebrew it says ʿannā YHWH hôšı̂ʿā (h)nnā in english now/please Yahweh save us now/please! The text they are quoting uses God's specific name Yahweh, they leave out the personal name because by practice they didn't use God's name for fear of using it in vain, but they are quoting the text that is directed to Yahweh crying out for salvation and they are doing so towards Jesus as He enters the city! This goes right along with how it is used in the psalm, you see verse 25 says Save us Yahweh save us please grant us success, then verse 26 answers the plead with He who comes in the name of the Lord is blessed. From the house of Yahweh we bless you. Now in John instead of saying He who comes in the name of the Lord is blessed, they say specifically He is the blessed One, which one the King of Israel!

So with Hossana in the beginning of the phrase we see that they are crying out to Jesus as their Lord, Yahweh, asking Him to save them, and blessing Him as the One - the promised King, the fulfillment of the covenants, God's promises to His people.

Evidence

; 11:38-44

They had seen and heard and been affected by the miraculous work of God and as a result they had to proclaim the truth in the form of praise.

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Adversity

John 11:17-

John 11:17-29

Jesus chose to let Lazarus die so that He could resurrect him.

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A picture of salvation, die to be born again. Ephesians 2:1-10

Salvation?

John 11:25–26 HCSB

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever. Do you believe this?”

John 3:16–17 HCSB

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

John 3:16

John 11:25-26

John 20:30–31 HCSB

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.

Romans 10:9–10 HCSB

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.

Romans 10

Collosians 2:9-15 God did something in us and for us.

Circumcision- (; ; ; ) not the physical act but the spiritual internal act God has done. He makes belief possible. . Belief is from God, then obedience is commanded and part of the response.

Obedience

John 11:16 HCSB

Then Thomas (called “Twin”) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go so that we may die with Him.”

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Luke 9:23–27 HCSB

Then He said to them all, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it. What is a man benefited if he gains the whole world, yet loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and that of the Father and the holy angels. I tell you the truth: There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”