A Very Passionate Week

The grandkids are here today and my brain is going at one hundred miles per hour. It is not their fault per say, but with three boys between 9 and 12 years of age supposedly studying in the house for five hours and it is a little hectic.

The weather here in Northern New England is getting warmer with some highs in the low 30s which allows for snowmelt and grandkids going outside. But alas, the weatherman has different thoughts. We have a winter storm warning for the area this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow with over a foot on new snow.

It has been said if you don't like the weather here today, don't worry - something strange and new is just around the corner. It's snowing now and I have the window open on the third floor of our home. Guess it is time to close it, huh? That is a good.thing.

My mind goes back to the Lord and what is about to happen shortly. From His entrance into Jerusalem in the latter chapters of Mark on a foal the cat is out of bag. He has announced in no uncertain terms “I AM.” The people lining the streets of coming into Jerusalem are quoting the Messianic Psalms 118.25, 26, “…Blessed is the One who comes in the Name of the Lord!”

"Blessed is He that comes" is an exact quote from the LXX and one of the Hillel Psalms sung in connection with the Passover festival, and thus it is particularly appropriate at this time.

NOTE: The phrase “Hallelu Yah” — praise the Lord — shows up frequently in these Psalms. That is why they are nicknamed “the Hallel.” These are the Psalms that Jews in New Testament times commonly sang during the Passover seder and we see in the Scriptures that Yeshua and the Apostles sang “The Egyptian Hallel” with Him for the last time before His death.

The garments on the colt the Lord selected were outer cloaks or robes, the bright colors of which give the colt the appearance of bearing the accouterments of royalty.

It was Palm Sunday:

• The 10^th of Nissan, exactly 4 days before Passover
• Palm branches had become a nationalistic symbol when Simon Maccabaeus delivered Jerusalem 150 years earlier. They were spreading the palm branches and from Mark 11.8, “Many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields.”
• Those lining the street used the words in a Messianic sense is made clear by this:

“Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David; Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11.9, 10)

• His eyes are now taking in the seller’s booths, the doves, and other goods – all objects of His displeasure. We know from Mark 11.11 after taking all that in He and His disciples left for Bethany.

There is a Psalm which has vivid hints about the silent years of Christ's childhood and young manhood, of which the Gospel's are rather silent.

• Dr. Luke tells us of an incident in the life of the Lord when He was 12 years old, but we learn nothing else until the Lord is about 30 years of age.

Let's dive in and see what we can learn. Psalm 69.8

• "I am a foreigner to my own family,
  a stranger to my own mother’s children;"
• Mary had other children, which confirms the record in the Gospel. (Matthew 13.55; Mark 6.3)
• He became an alien unto His Mary's children - but not His Father's being half-brothers and half-sisters.
• It may have been a very unhappy home.
• The verse also teaches the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 13.35- "This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

Psalm 69.9 says:"Passion for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."

John 2.14-16-17. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!" His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Note: We will continue this in our next session! This is fun!

If you read this would you please take the time to email me at gehill@yahoo.com or at the link provided above the article. That would help me.

I hope you learn from the essay or article whatever you want to call it. I am going to write more frequently and hope you visit the sponsor links provided as well