March 7th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

I hope that you had a chance to read the article I linked to in the Passover post. It got me thinking even more about our observance of the “passion week.” Consider this quote about Palm Sunday:

“Much of the symbolism of Jesus’ last Passover week is lost to us because we are unaware of the customs of the time. For example, Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem five days before the lamb was killed in the temple as the Passover sacrifice for the sins of the people of Israel. Five days before the lamb was to be sacrificed, it was chosen. Therefore, Jesus entered Jerusalem on lamb selection day as the lamb of God. The people did not understand the significance of this, since they greeted Him with palm branches and hailed Him as King, shouting “Hosanna,” which means “save us.” However, they were not looking for a spiritual Savior, but a political savior. Palm branches were a symbol of freedom and defiance, since Simon Maccabeus had entered Jerusalem with that symbolism. Jesus’ reaction was to weep, since He realized that they did not understand the Messiah’s purpose in coming.”
Read the full article here

This little tidbit was fascinating to me. I’ve never heard anything about Jesus’ entry on “lamb selection day.” Jesus as the lamb of God is something else I don’t think we fully understand without a good grasp on the Old Testament. I talked more about the Old Testament sacrificial system in “Fellowship with the Holy One” when we were covering Leviticus.

God is holy that He cannot “overlook” our sin or just ignore it. This is what people get hung up on when they only think of God being love but forget that He is holy. I’d also suggest you take a look at the post “Woe to me, for I am unclean,” in which we talked more about our uncleanness before a holy God.

Once again the meaning of Jesus as the Lamb of God, presented on “lamb selection day” as the only one who could truly “Hosanna” – “save now,” brings us back again to the centrality of the death and resurrection of Jesus to everything! The Scripture was leading up to that event from Genesis onward – from Exodus and Leviticus to the prophets, it was all about Jesus. The Lamb.

How often are people today in the same mind as those who lined the road in Jerusalem that day? People crowd around Jesus, clamoring for Him to save, save now! But, our idea of the salvation He offers might be different than the Truth. Jesus came to offer true salvation – to stand in our place as THE Holy Lamb of God. To accept what He offers, however, requires that we recognize our real problem. Our real problem is not what others have done to us or what we do not have; our real problem is our own sin and that we cannot possibly make ourselves holy. We need the Lamb to pay the penalty for us.

Palm Sunday is more than the crowd shouting “Hosanna” and laying down their coats before the man they thought would fix all of their problems and give them back their independence. They were crying out for the wrong kind of salvation, when Jesus came to offer Himself as THE Passover Lamb. The only sacrifice sufficient to cover our sin, once for all time.

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”

Revelation 5:11-13