Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into the capital city of Jerusalem is the triumph of hope. Mark 11:9-10 records the shouts of the people: “Hosanna; Blessed is He [Who] cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, [Who] cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.” Twice the excited crowd used the word “Hosanna,” which we translate as “Save now.” This expression was not a demand but an expectation based upon Scripture (Psalm 118:25-26). Thus, it becomes a statement of Biblical hope. Human hope is a maybe, a perhaps. God’s hope is a certainty, a covenental promise. Jesus was actually exceeding the high expectations of the gathered folks. They anticipated a merely human deliverer. Someone who came “in the name of the Lord.” Jesus came not only “in the name of the Lord” but also as the Lord Himself, fully God. He would save people from something worse than Roman oppression; He would save from sin, Satan, death, and hell. He would accomplish this eternal deliverance in a humanly hopeless way, the way of the Cross. Yes, it was humanly hopeless, but through the Cross Jesus offers heavenly hope. May each one of us be sure of the Biblical certainty of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, and may we continue to press on as people of this hope.