Sing aloud to God, our strength! Shout for joy to the God of Jacob! Raise a song; sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. For it is a statute for Israel, a rule of the God of Jacob. He made it a decree in Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt. I hear a language I had not known: "I relieved your shoulder of the burden. Your hands were freed from the basket." (Verses 1-6)
It had gotten so bad in Egypt that Pharaoh killed Jewish babies to keep them from multiplying so quickly. Moses was spared, nursed by his own mother, raised by Pharaoh's daughter and self-exiled after he killed an Egyptian in a quarrel. Forty years later Moses returned as God's man for the job of freeing the Jews from their virtual slavery. The Jews were originally in Egypt because that is where Joseph ended up after he was sold by his brothers. Ultimately Joseph, the Pharaoh's right hand man in Egypt, gave sanctuary to his own family during famine in their own land. When the death angel, the final plague that forced the Pharaoh to release the Jews, moved over the land of their captivity, Joseph's people were finally let out of bondage in Egypt.
In honor of this exodus from their captivity, the Jews were to celebrate solemn feasts in the seventh month of the year. The first day, the new moon, was the feast of trumpets. Originally these trumpets were made of hammered silver and they were blown at the entrance to the meeting tent where the Ark of the Covenant and God's presence dwelt. The reminder? "I am the Lord your God." (Numbers 10) The second feast in the seventh month was the Day of Atonement on which they are to pray, fast and abstain from work in humble acknowledgement of their sins. On the fifteenth day of the month began seven days of feasting and rejoicing. The people would live in tents (booths) during those days to remind them of their ancestors who were led out of bondage by the Lord. It was also a time of thanksgiving for the produce of the land which was gathered in. God told them to bring the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palms and leafy tress and willows of the brook and wave them in rejoicing before the Lord their God. The reason for the Feast of Booths? That your generations may know: I am the Lord your God.
God wanted them to remember that it was He Who relieved their shoulders of the burden and freed their hands from the baskets. No more slavery. No more foreign idols. God Himself led His people out. What a cause for celebration! God, their God, moved heaven and earth to extricate them from their captors. Miracles still so awesome we make movies to portray them provided their escape. Afterward, God showed up day and night, by cloud and fire, to make sure they finally arrived in Israel. A lot worse for the wear, though, because it was easier to get them out of Egypt than it was to get Egypt out of them. When things got hard, they whined like babies, grumbled against Moses and God, even creating a golden cow to worship because being in relationship with the Almighty was harder than pretending an object could save them. Or drugs. Or alcohol. Or sex. Or power. Or money. Doesn't have to be a cow, you know.
Palm branches waved in the air on the day of the Passover Feast as Jesus moved through the adoring crowds on the back of a donkey's colt. The synagogue goers knew then. This worker of miracles, forgiver of sins, healer of the blind and raiser of the dead was Messiah. Behold, your King is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9 It was the Romans this time. Jesus would deliver them, as King, from the Romans. They didn't understand that His kingdom wasn't of this world. That He is King over everything, not just the Jews. That the Lord their God didn't come this time in cloud and fire, but in flesh. To look them in the eye and see into their souls. Hosanna! Blow the trumpet! Bang the tambourine! Our God will save us!
But the burdens we have are not basket weaving or making mud bricks for a physical enemy. Our captor is much less obvious, therefore more sinister. Heavy is the burden of idolatry. Cumbersome is it to carry our own shame. Slogging through life heaving an agenda too great for us to bear because the enemy of our souls would destroy us if he could. This King, King of all Kings, showed up on His planet once again to free us. Not through the Red Sea, but through His very own blood. To the other side. The promised land. That where He is we may be also. Passover lambs don't usually rise from their altars. Ours not only rose, but He took us with Him. Triumphant over the last enemy, death. Hosanna!
The strange language of the enemy doesn't have to be our language any more! We speak the Word over his lies and agreements. The burden of our own sins no longer have to weigh us down. Our King, the reason for our new moons and feasts, is also our atoning Lamb. Once again the Lord our God does, Himself, take us out of slavery. We don't need to work through it by ourselves. That's religion. And it's just another burden. No, Jesus is our Savior every moment of every day. When He ascended into heaven, Jesus didn't forget about us. Instead, He came to live in us. I can't even fathom the depths of that miracle. I'm waving a palm branch in my little heart right now. Hosanna! With every breath I take, my God lives in me so that I am never alone, never without Him. I don't go through grief, abandonment, betrayal or loneliness by myself. Ever! Wherever I go, He goes. Good or bad. Our God decided before He made us that He would never, ever abandon His children. That is why Jesus said: "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Jesus Matthew 11
Hosanna!
It had gotten so bad in Egypt that Pharaoh killed Jewish babies to keep them from multiplying so quickly. Moses was spared, nursed by his own mother, raised by Pharaoh's daughter and self-exiled after he killed an Egyptian in a quarrel. Forty years later Moses returned as God's man for the job of freeing the Jews from their virtual slavery. The Jews were originally in Egypt because that is where Joseph ended up after he was sold by his brothers. Ultimately Joseph, the Pharaoh's right hand man in Egypt, gave sanctuary to his own family during famine in their own land. When the death angel, the final plague that forced the Pharaoh to release the Jews, moved over the land of their captivity, Joseph's people were finally let out of bondage in Egypt.
In honor of this exodus from their captivity, the Jews were to celebrate solemn feasts in the seventh month of the year. The first day, the new moon, was the feast of trumpets. Originally these trumpets were made of hammered silver and they were blown at the entrance to the meeting tent where the Ark of the Covenant and God's presence dwelt. The reminder? "I am the Lord your God." (Numbers 10) The second feast in the seventh month was the Day of Atonement on which they are to pray, fast and abstain from work in humble acknowledgement of their sins. On the fifteenth day of the month began seven days of feasting and rejoicing. The people would live in tents (booths) during those days to remind them of their ancestors who were led out of bondage by the Lord. It was also a time of thanksgiving for the produce of the land which was gathered in. God told them to bring the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palms and leafy tress and willows of the brook and wave them in rejoicing before the Lord their God. The reason for the Feast of Booths? That your generations may know: I am the Lord your God.
God wanted them to remember that it was He Who relieved their shoulders of the burden and freed their hands from the baskets. No more slavery. No more foreign idols. God Himself led His people out. What a cause for celebration! God, their God, moved heaven and earth to extricate them from their captors. Miracles still so awesome we make movies to portray them provided their escape. Afterward, God showed up day and night, by cloud and fire, to make sure they finally arrived in Israel. A lot worse for the wear, though, because it was easier to get them out of Egypt than it was to get Egypt out of them. When things got hard, they whined like babies, grumbled against Moses and God, even creating a golden cow to worship because being in relationship with the Almighty was harder than pretending an object could save them. Or drugs. Or alcohol. Or sex. Or power. Or money. Doesn't have to be a cow, you know.
Palm branches waved in the air on the day of the Passover Feast as Jesus moved through the adoring crowds on the back of a donkey's colt. The synagogue goers knew then. This worker of miracles, forgiver of sins, healer of the blind and raiser of the dead was Messiah. Behold, your King is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9 It was the Romans this time. Jesus would deliver them, as King, from the Romans. They didn't understand that His kingdom wasn't of this world. That He is King over everything, not just the Jews. That the Lord their God didn't come this time in cloud and fire, but in flesh. To look them in the eye and see into their souls. Hosanna! Blow the trumpet! Bang the tambourine! Our God will save us!
But the burdens we have are not basket weaving or making mud bricks for a physical enemy. Our captor is much less obvious, therefore more sinister. Heavy is the burden of idolatry. Cumbersome is it to carry our own shame. Slogging through life heaving an agenda too great for us to bear because the enemy of our souls would destroy us if he could. This King, King of all Kings, showed up on His planet once again to free us. Not through the Red Sea, but through His very own blood. To the other side. The promised land. That where He is we may be also. Passover lambs don't usually rise from their altars. Ours not only rose, but He took us with Him. Triumphant over the last enemy, death. Hosanna!
The strange language of the enemy doesn't have to be our language any more! We speak the Word over his lies and agreements. The burden of our own sins no longer have to weigh us down. Our King, the reason for our new moons and feasts, is also our atoning Lamb. Once again the Lord our God does, Himself, take us out of slavery. We don't need to work through it by ourselves. That's religion. And it's just another burden. No, Jesus is our Savior every moment of every day. When He ascended into heaven, Jesus didn't forget about us. Instead, He came to live in us. I can't even fathom the depths of that miracle. I'm waving a palm branch in my little heart right now. Hosanna! With every breath I take, my God lives in me so that I am never alone, never without Him. I don't go through grief, abandonment, betrayal or loneliness by myself. Ever! Wherever I go, He goes. Good or bad. Our God decided before He made us that He would never, ever abandon His children. That is why Jesus said: "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Jesus Matthew 11
Hosanna!
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