Watch Focus

Friday, March 26th, 2021 — 

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

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
 
We come to the holiest of weeks as we approach Palm Sunday, our remembrance of the day prior to Passover on which Jesus came to Jerusalem on a donkey before His arrest, suffering, and crucifixion. The people in the streets wove palms and shouted out in worship, “Hosanna! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.” 
 
This occurred close to Passover, as it does for us this year, the season celebrating the great miracle deliverance of the Hebrews from hundreds of years of brutal slavery in Egypt. In Exodus 12, the Israelites were commanded to take a lamb for each household. The blood of that lamb would provide a supernatural covering for the Hebrews when the Lord swept through Egypt and allowed “the destroyer” to smite the first born of every house. That blood, that sacrifice, caused the Angel of Death to pass over the Hebrews. They were COVERED. Seeing the power of the one true God, the Egyptians released the Hebrews. Every yoke of slavery and oppression was broken and the children of Israel were freed. The Exodus from Egypt is a type and shadow of the deliverance and salvation we have in Jesus Christ.
 
Jesus entered Jerusalem soon to offer Himself as OUR Atoning Lamb of God. He is the fulfillment of Passover. His precious blood redeems us out of the hand of the devil. 
 
We come afresh to honor the Lamb of God. Look in awe at Calvary’s glorious work. Bow and worship the Lord our God. Thank the Lord for redeeming all the families of the earth. Praise God for the Passover Lamb!
 
In this era we see, as the dark becomes darker and the light becomes lighter (Isaiah 60:2-3), how much all of humanity suffers from this scourge of sin and death-the ultimate pandemic. We remember in the Old Testament that the Day of Atonement provided only a temporary covering for sin, for all that divides us from our Father, the Lord of Glory. Jesus Christ paid the price willingly and bridged that great divide. He took our sins away permanently! The remedy God provided for us all: the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross, when Jesus offered Himself through the Eternal Spirit to God the Father providing one complete all sufficient sacrifice for every family in every nation (Hebrews 9:13-14).
 
Therefore, we cry out, “Worthy is the Lamb!”
 
Luke 19:28-40,
“When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, “Why are you loosing it?” thus you shall say to him, “Because the Lord has need of it.”’ So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, ‘Why are you loosing the colt?’ And they said, ‘The Lord has need of him.’ Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:  ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.’ But He answered and said to them, ‘I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.’” 
 
Galatians 3:13,
“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”)”
 
Isaiah 53:4-10,
“Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.”
 
2 Cor. 5:21,
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

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