Devotion John 12:12-16 They Cried Save Us. He Did. They Killed Him.
John 12:12-16 – 12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” 14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: 15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” 16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
Psalm 118:25-26 – 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.
Zechariah 9:9 – Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Daniel 9:25 – 25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
Pause for a moment and consider the scene that is about to unfold before us. Picture Old Testament Jerusalem. Before trains, planes, automobiles, radio, television, computer, smart phones, etc. Here is a time when Israel again is under the control of a foreign power. This time it was Rome. Rome allowed them to live in their land, but understand, they were not free. Yet they were not hopeless, they were hoping for a Messiah, for a promised Savior.
Five hundred thirty-eight years before Jesus was born, the prophet Daniel wrote about the coming of the Messiah. He said that it would be four hundred eighty-three years from the time the command was given to rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah came to Jerusalem. That command, over fifty years later, was given by the powerful King of Persia, King Artaxerxes on March 14, 445 B.C. Four hundred eighty three days later, on April 6, A.D. 32, just as Daniel had prophesied, the Messiah to the Jews, and all the world, entered Jerusalem. Jesus was the Messiah who came the exact day that God had foretold, over five hundred fifty years before. Not only did He come on the exact day that Jesus had foretold, but He came riding a donkey, just as the prophet Zechariah prophesied over 500 years before it came true. Does God have timing or does God have timing (Romans 5:6)! Side note: People who claim that the Bible is just the words of men, speak ignorantly and have never studied the Word of God. These are only two prophecies of the many that Jesus exactly fulfilled.
During this time before the crucifixion of Jesus, the Jews were waiting for the Messiah. When Jesus came riding the donkey they waved palm branches and shouted “Hosanna” which was a plea to save them. And Jesus would provide full salvation for them. But, like mankind today, they did not fully understand what Jesus was to accomplish by His first coming. You see, God is concerned about our lives here on earth, but He is firstly concerned with our eternal lives. Jesus said to not worry about the people who can harm us while we are here, He said to be concerned about our eternal position with God (Matthew 10:28). When Jesus came to earth, He came to restore to us the most important thing that was lost in the Garden of Eden. He came to restore our rightness with God. But the Jews did not realize their greater need. They could only look around and see the harsh hand of the Roman Empire upon them. They wanted to be free of that. In fact, the waving of the palm branches was actually a tradition that was started two hundred years previously. When the Maccabees revolted against the evil Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes, they miraculously succeeded in driving the Persians out of Jerusalem. It was at this time that the people of Jerusalem had celebrated being saved from the cruel tyrant by waving palm branches. So, when they were waving palm branches as Jesus arrived, they were calling out to Him to save them, but not for their greatest need of spiritual salvation. They were crying out for their temporal need, of being free from the rule of the Romans. Here their Messiah was before them, and they were calling to Him, but they refused to know their true need of spiritual salvation. They thought because they were Jews that their salvation was secure because of their earthly lineage. So here, they called out to Jesus. Here they wanted Him to rescue them from Rome. They shouted for Him to save them. When He did not literally save them from Rome, they would later be shouting out for the Romans to crucify Him. Jesus, knowing their hearts and their spiritually lost state, must have been saddened. No wonder, in Matthew 23:37 He lamented over Jerusalem how He longed to gather them up to Himself, to save and protect them, but they were not willing. How sad, how very sad. Yet we need not despair, God has a plan. He is not done with Israel.
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem the people shouted out to Him ““Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!””. As they did, the people who would later turn in anger on Him, were fulfilling a prophecy from Psalm 118. It was a Psalm that was likely written about one thousand years before. This is yet another prophecy that was perfectly fulfilled by Jesus.
The disciples of Jesus did not fully understand all that was happening. The Word says that it was not until Jesus was glorified that they understood. And that is the key. If one truly wants to understand the Words of God, Jesus must be glorified in their hearts, their souls, their minds and will all that they are (Mark 12:30, 1 Corinthians 2:12-14). How do we glorify Jesus? By submitting to Him as Savior and Lord. Then we spend all of our lives seeking what He would say to us through His Word and through the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 29:13). We must, as Jesus did, seek not our own desires (As the Jews did), our own will, but the will of our Father God (Luke 22:42).
Today, the cry of the believer, having received salvation, is “Maranatha!” We call out to Jesus “Come Lord Jesus, come!” Not only come, but come soon! Such should be the cry of all who first and most importantly in their lives, love and wait for the Lord. It is the same cry of believers throughout the ages. It is pleasing to God to teach our children these things. To teach all children, these things.
Thank You Jesus for saving me. I look for You Lord. I look for You!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.