Palm Sunday is celebrated by Christians all over the world as the day that Jesus fulfilled prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 “Behold your King is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” But it is much more than that, especially the “day” of Palm Sunday. It is related back some 1500 years before Palm Sunday when on Jewish Calander the day Nisan 10 that all the Jewish families were order by the Word of God to choose from their flocks a one-year-old lamb without blemish for sacrifice. This lamb would then be kept until Friday and at twilight just before dark they would sacrifice the lamb for the sins of the families and nation of Israel.
The historical significance is that on the very day that Jesus rode in on that donkey was the very day God the Father choose Jesus to be the sacrificial lamb of God to take away the sins of His people. The crowd that day in Jerusalem was electrifying as they laid palm branches and even their coats before Jesus as He rode in and they were declaring “Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” Matt. 21:10 Yet we read that Jesus was weeping over the city as Jesus was being chosen to be the final sacrifice for the people. What seemed to be a day that was full of celebration just 5 days later, Jesus would, at twilight, from the cross say these words “it is Finished!” John 19:30.
So dear church, as you celebrate Palm Sunday do not lose the understanding that this was the day Jesus was chosen by God to be your sacrifice for your sins. It is a good day to cherish as a day that Jesus was willing to be chosen and went all the way to the cross for us! Praise the Lord Jesus for Palm Sunday! Pastor Mark