Title: Palm Sunday, March 24, 2002 "God Who Blesses"
Contents Palm Sunday
God who blesses
Matthew 21:12-17
Today is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. As we prepare for the resurrection of the Lord at this time today, we want to realize the deep meaning of the suffering of Christ and the cross of Christ in our hearts.
After the Lord's Supper, Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane. Here you will be arrested and crucified. If Jesus has freedom, he is free as far as he is heading toward the Garden of Gethsemane right now. After that, aren't you arrested, dragged around, and then crucified? However, the Bible testifies as Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. “Go out with praise.” Let's think for a moment. Can praise come out on the way to the cross? The Bible testifies that Matthew 26:30 clearly states, “He went out to the Mount of Olives with praise.” According to Isaiah 43:21, “This people I have formed for myself, that they may sing my praises.” The purpose of creation is praise, and the purpose of redeeming and saving His people is praise. I want to make you sing a hymn. The truth is that this is God's will, God's purpose, and the direction of history.
Our true praise is not when we do well and succeed, but when our hearts go deep and go down, when we are humble and so pure, we can sing true praise. Today's text says, "He perfects praise." God perfects what is lacking. When Jesus entered on a donkey, he sang “Hosanna”. The disciples sang hymns with excitement that Jesus would not be on the throne, but the children must have sang Hosanna with a pure heart. Gratitude and praise come from the realization of deep suffering.
Suffering is the way to find yourself and the way to find God. Through suffering, we have the opportunity to taste God's deep intervention and experience the hand of mercy. And through the cross of Jesus, we contemplate our souls. It is at that moment that the song is sung. The past is in God's hands, today's present is in God's grace, and God's blessings and promises for the future are brightly anticipated. That's when the song comes out. What we realize here is that happiness without hope is not happiness. When any suffering can produce hope there, there is praise and happiness. The subject of praise is always to praise the Lord God.
Today, the Lord sang praises as he ascended the Garden of Gethsemane toward the cross. I hope that Christians overcome the world with praise, overcome sin, overcome tribulation, and triumph rather than sing praises and triumph as a Christian. I hope that we will be able to think of the Lord who perfects this hymn from the depths of our souls. Because there is true hope, true victory, and true courage.
Now, despite the suffering of the cross, I hope that you will become more like the Lord who went up to the garden and praised Him. So, even if your life is a place of unbearable suffering, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be able to overcome and praise abundantly through the hand of God who is present in it.