Praises.
The Lord certainly deserves all of our praises!
In fact, today is the day that we traditionally celebrate when Jesus entered into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Feast known as Palm Sunday. It was a time of incredible praise!
Matthew 21:7-11; Mark 11:7-10; John 12:12-15
The news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors went down the road to meet Him and took palm branches and spread their garments on the road ahead of Him. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around Him were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.
The crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
This fulfilled the prophecy from Zechariah 9 that said:
“Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem.
Look, your King is coming,
riding on a donkey’s colt.”
Hosanna is an interesting word that is both a declaration and a request. It’s a praise and a prayer. It means, “Save us!” and simultaneously declares to the one it is being said to that they are able to bring salvation. In this context, it was a request for Jesus to save them and also a declaration that He is the Messiah, the long awaited savior; the King of the Jews!
The crowds were quoting and prophetically acting out:
Psalm 118:25-28
25 Lord, save us!
Lord, grant us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.
27 The Lord is God,
and he has made his light shine on us.
With palm branches in hand, join in the festival procession
up to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
Hosanna! Lord, save us!
In preparing for this, I wanted to learn more about the palm branch and why we use it. Was there something else that we could use to represent this? We can’t because the palm branch represents preparing the way for the king and it was also a prophetic act that Jesus was coming in peace and from a victory.
By throwing down palm branches, the people were preparing the way for their king and acknowledging Jesus as their king and savior. They were also honoring Him and declaring that He was able to save them. Prophetically, it had to be the palm branch.
Today, we also want to understand and remember why we have palm branches and what they are prophetically proclaiming.
Jesus was coming to save, but not as these crowds were expecting. Jesus was king and was savior and He was literally going to bring about salvation for all people, but not in a way that they were understanding.
Even though Jesus warned His disciples exactly what was about to happen and how He was going to die and that He would rise again to life three days later, they didn’t remember or understand all of this until after it all happened. We still can misunderstand God’s salvation as well.
When we purchase a package of band aids, we don’t go out to our car, open them all up, and put them all over our bodies where we might cut ourselves, right?
We purchase a package of band aids, we store them away. Then when, and if, we cut ourselves, we apply them to the cut to protect it while it heals.
Likewise, Jesus’ salvation was paid for once and for all. It is finished, paid in full!
However, His salvation is also an ongoing action. The fullness of His salvation is being applied as we walk it out; as we need His saving each and every day.
The penalty for our sin has been fully paid for so that through our faith in Jesus, His righteousness is applied to us. Therefore, we can go boldly and confidently into God’s Kingdom and Presence and receive what we need in our time of need. We are saved for our sins, but we still will sin and need to confess our sin and ask forgiveness for our sin.
Paul wrote:
Philippians 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
We are receiving our salvation. We are both saved and being saved.
1 Peter 1:8-9
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
It is both a completed work as well as an ongoing, active action. We are receiving our salvation – help from a Helper!
Every year, Jews would sing this song as they travelled from wherever they lived back to Jerusalem for the Passover:
Psalm 121:1-2 (NLT)
1 I look up to the mountains –
does my help come from there?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!
My help, my salvation; it comes from the Lord! He is my helper and my salvation. We need and have always needed a helper. In fact, we have needed a helper from the very beginning even before sin corrupted us all!
Genesis 2:18-24 (NLT)
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
23 “At last!” the man exclaimed.
“This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
because she was taken from ‘man.’”
24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
I want to look a little closer at the word helper. Right in the beginning at verse 18, we find the word helper. As we look deeper at this word in the original Hebrew.
Helper is the Hebrew word ʿēzer from the root ʿāzar meaning to surround, protect, aid
A powerful, supportive, and protective figure; not a subordinate assistant
Many different translations use the word helpmeet. At first, I thought it was a typo, but it was not.
This Hebrew word for helper is ʿēzer and is found 21 times in the Old Testament.
Twice, it is used to describe who Eve is in relationship to Adam. Nineteen times, it is used to describe who God is in relationship to us. This is incredibly significant because it tells us that there is often a misconception about what help is and what it should look like and how much we value it. A helper completes a person and enables them to go further than they could go in life without it.
As a wife/mother we are called to be a support in times of weakness we are called – a crutch comes to mind. A crutch is a way to hold others up and to support them and take them where they need to go. It has to be strong and trusted and all of these are true of a helper, an ʿēzer , in our life.
I believe as a church and as Christians we are called to be this to those around us. I also believe that we all are “called” to specific people in the world. Absolutely, we are called to help our biological families, but also God picked people who we have a responsibility to impact for the Lord!
It’s a way that we are Jesus’ hands and feet and to accomplish that in the world around us; to be helpers, to be ʿēzer. It is not negative, it is very strong and encouraging and it builds up others.
Take a moment and consider those people in your life.
How intentional are you being an encourager ( support/ crutch/ carrier) to them – pointing to the Lord as well! Being an example of one who leans on the Lord but also sees value in leaning on each other when needed?
When reflecting on Gen. 2:18 once more – I believe this is very clear that we all need to recognize that we were created to need help!
Genesis 2:18 (NLT)
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
Genesis 2:18 (AMP)
I will make him a helper [one who balances him – a counterpart who is] suitable and complementary for him.
This doesn’t have to only be in regards to being a spouse, we were not created to be alone, we need others, we need each other!
Now this thought has brought to the idea of being the body of Christ as a church. As His body, we can fulfill the call to be helpers. It doesn’t make us Him, but we’re representing Jesus. That’s literally what the word Christian means. It is being a little Christ. We have a part to play and need to be ready and willing.
Romans 12:3-8
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
These gifts of the Holy Spirit that God gives each and every Christian is a way to be a helper. They are all helping gifts used to serve the needs of each other and we need them all. Just like our body is made up of different parts that all depend on one another, so the church, the body of Christ, has different parts and different functions that are all necessary. When the parts come together, they make up the whole and can accomplish their purpose.
We also need to remember and understand that the only way that we receive these gifts are from the gift giver, the Holy Spirit. The only way that we receive the Holy Spirit is because Jesus sent Him as our – HELPER!
Jesus said:
John 14:26 (AMPC)
But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.
Just as we are saved and yet are being saved, so we have simultaneously received a helper, are receiving help, and are being a helper. We are conduits of God’s grace being poured out into the lives of others as we step into the role of their helpers.