Hosanna in the Highest!

There are instances in life, where we wanted Jesus Christ to work the way we want.  We wanted Him to act fast or slower.  We misunderstood His ways.  Yet, He did things in His own time.  We have to wait for ‘His time’.

Into the final stages of His time on earth, a week before dying on the cross, Jesus and His disciples drew close to Jerusalem.  In short, He sent His disciples to go to the village and find a colt and a donkey.  They came back as has been commanded.  They laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.

So, as Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem, multitudes gathered.  They spread their garments on the road; others cut down branches and trees spreading them on the road.  Now the crowds who went before Him and those who followed cried out, “Hosanna”. (Matthew 21, Mark 11)

Hosanna

Hosanna, in Hebrew, means ‘Lord, deliver us’ or ‘I beg you to save’.

They shouted Hosanna to acknowledge Him as the Messiah.  Long-burdened with sin and oppressed by foreign rulers, they wanted the Messiah to act now.  They wanted to make Him king, and deliver them from their present situations or hardships.  In the same way, that is all we want when we kneel down to pray. (Psalms 118:25)

More importantly, they presented their case while shouting in adoration.  They saw deliverance is on the way.  Deliverance is much nearer than before.

On that day, the sad doxology of ‘Lord, save us or deliver us’ became a glad doxology.  Because, in Him, they have hope.  Their hopes and spirits were renewed.  This took place just before His final presentation of Himself hanging on the cross.

Now, do you think the Lord did not see what they wanted at that moment and time?  He’d seen it all.  He’d knew it all.  But He waited.  He waited for His Father and His plans.

Deliverance Assured:

Was He powerless?  No, but He humbled.  He can and He ruled over nature and all that existed on earth.  The people cried out for salvation but there was a larger picture to be seen at this point.  That’s the part we cannot see in our everyday life, without Him.

Yes, the waiting, sometimes the long wait is worth it.  But the hardest part is the waiting period.  In the contemporary world where almost everything follows the stroke of one finger tip, it is far more difficult.

When Jesus Christ declared on the cross, “It is finished”, He delivered all mankind from the bondage of sin, and the chains that bind us no longer exist.  Deliverance is assured!

So we shouted,

Hosanna in the Highest!

Hosanna to the King of Kings!

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!