ÒWell Martha, what church are we going to go to this
Easter? I really know how much you were turned off by that preacher when we
went to Christmas Eve services. How dare he suggest that we are not good American
Christians when we only go to church twice a year. After all, we try to live by
the golden rule, and support all kinds of charities. All churches are just like
those television preachers, they just want our money. They talk about getting
saved so that they can get us to give 10% to their particular religious
programs. I wish they were not so
exclusive in their thoughts, I know all paths lead to God, some religions just
take different paths to heaven. But all good people will get to heaven, for God
is love, and Jesus is just one of His prophets.
So in a little over two weeks, church attendance in the
United States and around the world will soar, for one particular Sunday. After
the early morning Easter egg hunt, mom and dad and all the kids will get all dressed
up in their finest spring apparel and make their yearly pilgrimage to a local
church to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The actual event
hidden in myths of church history. Triumphantly they all make their entry into
the auditorium, after warning the kids to be on their best behavior, for it is
important to tell all the neighbors just what a good service it was this
Easter.
Jesus, a little less than 2000 years ago, rode a donkey
into Jerusalem to a similar religious festival, the Jewish Passover. The
triumphal entry of Jesus recorded in Matthew 21, (also in Mark 11 and John 12)
shows great festivity, beginning in verse 8 we find:
And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the
road, others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then
the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
ÒHosanna to the Son of David!
ÔBlessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!Õ
Hosanna in the highestÓ
And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was
moved, saying, ÒWho is this?Ó
So the multitudes said, ÒThis is Jesus, the prophet
from Nazareth of Galilee.Ó
Let us look briefly at how this would really translate in
the original context. Jesus is really the Greek name for Joshua, or more
precisely YÕshsa in the original (in various spellings), meaning God is
salvation. Now the literal name
for God in the old testament is YHMH which is substituted in our Old Testaments
with LORD. We can therefore see why some messianic Jewish organizations spell
it YÕshsa, eliminating any of the vowels in the God part of His name.
Now Hosanna means, save now, in the Hebrew.
So going back and substituting in Matthew's account we
have:
ÒSave now Son of David!
ÒBlessed is He who comes in the name of YHMH!Ó
Save now in the highest!
And when YÕshsa (God is salvation) had come into
Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, ÒWho is this?Ó
So the multitudes said, ÒThis is YÕshsa (God is
salvation) the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.
Now instead of singing the song: ÒJesus, Jesus, there is
something about that nameÓ or
ÒShine, Jesus shine,Ó we have in the original really something that Martha and
the family could, or should sit up and take notice. For the name of the YHMH
provides salvation to those who come in the name of YHMH, through a human man
riding on a donkey into the city of Jerusalem, the city that YHMH chose as His
city. That son of God, YÕshsa, a son of king David, provides through His name,
salvation to all those who believe in YÕshsa, as GodÕs atoning sacrifice and
their justification.
We enter a name God time of the year, when we celebrate
the death and resurrection of the YÕshsa, the Christ, the Son of YHMH, by which
the sins of man are cleansed and the hope of a blessed eternal life is
revealed. May God bless you with a joyous Resurrection season.
I did not go over to make an offer on the place last
week, I did not feel that the timing was right. As I write this, perhaps next
week could be the proper time, but we shall see as time unfolds. Things
continue to improve financially, and I have been blessed with much work, part
of the reason for this brief weekly message, but then again it says what I
wanted it to say. Thank you for your prayers, I continue to see almost on a
daily basis, blessings that are so beyond my ability to conceive of, that I marvel
at the complexity of the whole program, and how it seems to all work together.
I suppose many of us also just miss the really great stuff, because we are so
preoccupied with ourselves. Now it looks as if the last few months of financial
hardship, was really a way by which I could not now use my own ability and
resources to bring about this move. Now the only way is to let God provide and
play the part that He gives me to play, even though at the time it makes no
sense to me. Please continue to intercede for the provisions for the move,
financial, personal, and ministerial.