The Prophecy in the Song as Jesus Rode into Jerusalem

Thanks Morguefile.com

Did you know it was no coincidence that the people sang "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday?

The people singing these words to Jesus actually fulfilled of the prophecy within those words…on more than one level.

These words come from Psalm 118:24-26, which is a part of what is known as the "Hallel."

We get our word "hallelujah" from two Hebrew words:

• yah represents the name of God
• hallel means "praise"

Combined, the word "hallelujah" means "praise the LORD."

The Hallel is what we know as Psalm 113-118.

The Feast of Passover is the first of the seven great Feasts of the LORD.

The second of these is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which lasts for seven days.

Combined, these two Feasts last eight days, and by the time Jesus lived it had become customary for the Jewish celebrants to sing parts of the Hallel at various times throughout this eight-day celebration.

We don’t know who wrote the word of the Hallel nor when it was written, but Bible scholars believe it was most likely written after the Jewish exile to Babylon. The Israelites returned from exile beginning in 538 B.C.

So these words were written more than five centuries before the birth of Jesus. But as Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem on the first day of the last week of his life, the people sang those very words to him and they fit him perfectly.

The gospel writers record that the people sang, "Hosanna," which means "Save!" The people were singing "Save us!" to the very One God has sent to do just that: Jesus, the Savior of the world!

They also sang "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!," which is an exact quote from Psalm 118:26.

According to Bible teacher Mark Biltz, the people sang these words when the Passover lambs, which were going to be sacrificed for Passover, were being herded onto the Temple grounds through the Sheep Gate on the north side of the Temple.

The year Jesus was crucified, he rode into town from the east.

While the people were "supposed" to be singing over the Passover sheep on the north side of the Temple, at least some of the people were on the Mount of Olives to the east singing these very words to Jesus! No wonder the Jewish leaders were upset.

Do you think the people understood they were singing these prophetic words to the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world? (Tweet that!)

At the first Passover in Moses' day, the death of the Passover lamb, when its blood was painted on the doorposts of a house, saved all those inside the house from death. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the prophetic picture in the Passover lamb: anyone who is willing to symbolically paint the blood of Jesus on the "doorposts" of her or his heart or fleshly house will be saved.

Do you understand Jesus is the ultimate Passover Lamb? (Tweet that!)

Have you accepted his blood, shed in place of yours, to save you?

Who do you know who needs to understand this information? Who can you share this with today?