Save Us (Hosanna)

Psalm 118 – Save Us (Hosanna)

Introduction

What are we to do when the life that we try to live doesn’t match up with the life that we want, the life that we long for? The life we know we were truly meant to live? How do we deal with this? What type of attitude should we have?

Today I would like us to see that Jesus came and brought his salvation for us in glorious triumph at great cost to himself. He did this so we could live lives that continually cry out “Hosanna!”, “Save us, we pray!” And we can know that Jesus has brought us salvation both in the present and in the future.

Background

Have you ever said, or heard someone say the phrase, “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”? What was the context? Was it simply that it was a good day, and we should be thankful for it? Are we to do this in hard times like the ones we live in? 

While we should be grateful and thankful for each day, it, however, completely misses the point of Psalm 118 and misses Jesus. Psalm 118 is about something much bigger than simply being thankful for the things that we have. It is about being thankful for our salvation!

By way of background, in Mark 11:9-10, Jesus enters Jerusalem in the last week of his life, during what we call his triumphal entry. It reads, “And those who went before 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!’”

And then, in Mark 12:10-11, after Jesus cleansed the temple and was confronted by the religious leaders on his authority to do such a thing, he told a parable to show them they were rebelling against God’s Son, and then summed it up like this, “Have you not read this Scripture: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

This psalm was applied to Jesus during his Passion Week, so it is about the glorious triumph of Jesus’ salvation. Ultimately, it is about our need for his salvation.

Let’s look at our first point in verses 1-6, where we see that we should give thanks for God’s (Yahweh’s) covenant love.

This is a psalm of thanksgiving for the goodness and never-ending covenant love (hesed) of God. We know this because the psalm begins and ends with the same refrain, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.” (v. 1, v. 29)

We give thanks to God because he is good in who he is as he is, and a clear manifestation of his goodness is in his faithful or forever love for us. This is covenant-faithful, sure love. It is a love that made an oath that cannot be broken. An oath to redeem us and make us his people.

When we are in trouble, we can remember and give thanks, like the psalmist, like Israel, like the house of Aaron, and what he has done for us before, God’s covenant love. He hasn’t just been loving to his people throughout the ages, he has been loving to us too!

But more than this, we can give thanks that he consistently delivers his people in times of trouble. We can pray to Yahweh, the Lord, and he answers us and sets us free, or sets us in an open space. When we are trapped and are about to be crushed, we cry to the Lord and he conquers all his and our enemies and takes us to a place where we can be free. So, we can give thanks…

Because Jesus was in distress during this Passion week, in the garden, crying out to let the cup of judgment pass, but was told no by his Father for our sake, and then entered his betrayal, trial, crucifixion, and death, we can pray to our Father through him and be sure that we are heard. We were in bondage, hemmed in by sin and Satan, and Jesus set us free from our enemy and put us on the offensive to bring this good news to everybody.

We have no reason to fear because the Lord is for us, he is fighting for us. What can people do when God is defending and attacking for us? It is true, God is truly for us. He will help us when we are in need and in trouble. We can look at those who hate us and really know what is going on, what is going to happen next. We have the victory in God. We don’t need to gather an army together or get reinforcements, we simply need to remember and trust in God who is for us.

Next, we can see our second point, that we should give thanks for God’s (Yahweh’s) help against enemies, in verses 7-13. Jesus is on our side, Yahweh helps us with our enemies. Jesus fought the battle for us. He resisted Satan’s many temptations, lived in perfect communion and obedience to God, loved God and others the way the law required, fulfilled his discipleship ministry, and then came triumphantly into Jerusalem to face the religious and world leaders who would put him to death for no cause other than jealousy and hatred. He looked at those who hated him in triumph, knowing that soon he would crush Satan under his feet as he bore the wrath of God in our place. Jesus was victorious as can be seen in his resurrection. Jesus is for us...so much so that he bore the eternal wrath of God for us. All our victory is in and through Jesus Christ.

This is because Yahweh helps us when men can’t. Though our enemies try to kill us, God saved us. We don’t have the power or strength to be victorious, but God does. Armies of strong men and world leaders can’t protect us and win our battles for us. It is God who wins the battle. It is God’s strong right arm that wins and does glorious things.

Yahweh saves us, he is our salvation. Our enemies cannot kill us because we are on God’s side. He is for us. Jesus was killed so that we don’t have to be. He was not rescued so that we could be. Jesus is our strength and song. Through him we have victory, for he is our victory. Jesus is the demonstration of God’s triumph. Jesus is the demonstration of God’s mighty right arm. Jesus is the hero who gave his life to rescue us, to save us, and because of this, we have the victory.

Our third point is that we should give thanks for God’s (Yahweh’s) day of salvation from verses 19-29.

This psalm was originally sung when the people made their way to celebrate Passover. As they travelled, then entered the gates of Jerusalem, they went in with thanksgiving. They praised the Lord for his people that came in. The fact that they could be together for Passover was an answer to prayer, a victory that God had done.

But the psalmist saw something deeper. He saw the entry of God’s mighty Savior coming in. And because of this, they could enter into God’s temple, his presence because this Savior was the gate.

And this is why the Gospel writers give us this story and Jesus quotes this psalm. Jesus in his Passion week on the triumphal entry speaks of himself as the Savior. This psalm points us to the mighty hero, Jesus entering Jerusalem. He is the gate of Yahweh, the entry point into God’s dwelling place. Jesus is the answer to our cry for help. Jesus is our salvation, even his name means Yahweh is my salvation.

But he is the stone that they should have used to build all their foundation upon, the cornerstone. But many in Israel rejected him. And in fact, we are accepted because Jesus was rejected.

Jesus quotes this psalm in Mark 12 to show that he is being rejected just like one of the stones gathered for Solomon’s temple that was rejected, yet it then became the cornerstone that holds all together. Christ is saying that he is the cornerstone in the eternal, spiritual Temple of God. Though he was rejected, he is ultimately exalted to the highest position.

No one can come to the Father without him, and the temple, his body, cannot stand without him. Ultimately, those who reject Christ will be smashed by the divine stone that was cut without hands and is coming with almighty wrath.

So, what day do we rejoice in? What is this day? It is the day of Christ’s triumphal entry into his city. Jesus, the victor has entered in to be crowned king of his people, so we should rejoice in this day. Why? It is a day of salvation.

This psalm was a traditional greeting to those coming from pilgrimage. They were coming in the name of the Lord for Passover, so they were given a blessing as they arrived. They were blessed, happy, for they were God’s people celebrating God’s redemption. But the crowd seems to see that Jesus is God’s redemption, so they turn the blessings to him, he is the one who is bringing in the reign of David. Jesus is the promised king, the son of David, David’s greater son. How wonderful! The salvation of God has taken on flesh and is walking among us. Victory is here!

The king has come, so, they shout praises to him and cry out to him, “Hosanna!” The word Hosanna is from two Hebrew words which can best be translated, save or help us. And we pray, or we ask or beseech you.

The people sing back and forth in alternation or antiphony, what we have in this psalm, the last of the pilgrim psalms, “Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.”

The front of the crowd cries out, “Save us!” The back cries out, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” To which the front replies, “Save us, you who are, in the highest heaven!” Wow! Liberation. Freedom. The king has returned. But things are not as they seem.

At the time of Jesus, the people were living in expectation. But the problem was that they weren’t watching the signs of the times, and they couldn’t see Jesus. They needed to look at the warning signs that John the Baptist and Jesus were giving them...repent, the kingdom of God is at hand. They needed Jesus, not their rules and regulations. They needed to repent of their pride, become like children and follow Jesus.

The crowd attributed to Jesus what only the Messiah should be given. The Pharisees rejected him and demanded that Jesus rebuke his disciples for this procession. Jesus’ response is a flat-out no. If they didn’t cry out, the stones would cry out in praise. Perhaps this is a veiled illusion to Habakkuk 2:11, which is a woe upon those who build a city on violence. Jesus is the rejected cornerstone. 

Jesus is the blessed One who comes in the name of the Lord. He is the Lord. He is the light of the world that cannot be overcome by the darkness. He is God’s light shining upon us. He is the light that rescues us from our darkness.

Jesus is the sacrifice, the true sacrifice that was slain for us. He was bound by the guards and taken before the Sanhedrin and falsely accused. He was taken before Pilate and declared innocent, yet still sentenced to death by crucifixion.

He is the lamb of God who bore our curse and became our sacrifice so we could be God’s people and he could be our God. Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the festal sacrifice who was killed for our sake.

What can be done but rejoice and praise God for his day of salvation, the day of Jesus Christ? We praise Jesus. We exalt Jesus. We give him thanks. God truly is good, in Christ we see his hesed, his covenant faithful love poured out for us as Jesus was poured out for our sake upon the cross.

Application

So, this psalm should really be the cry of all our hearts. Hosanna! Save us, we pray! Come and help us! We need you! We can’t do this life without you.

Our success doesn’t depend upon our work. It doesn’t depend upon our job. It doesn’t depend upon the economy. Even when we are in distress, we can call upon Yahweh and he will set us free. God is on our side. We don’t have to fear.

Though men can take our jobs, cars, houses, families, and all our comforts, they can never take away our soul. When we have someone strong with us, we do not need to be afraid. How much more so when God, the Creator and Maker of all is on our side. When he is our helper, we can cry out to him, Help us, save us, we pray, and we have all the help we could ever need.

In trying times like these, we shouldn’t try to take refuge in our job, our family, or anything else other than Yahweh. In times like these, we shouldn’t try to take refuge in government officials or leaders, but only in Yahweh. When we are surrounded on every side, we need to do only one thing.

Cry out to Yahweh. Save me, I pray. Help me. Rescue me. When we look at Jesus Christ and all he did to save us, we can say with confidence, “Jesus is my strength and my song. Jesus has become my salvation. Jesus has done valiantly. Jesus is the mighty hero who has conquered sin, Satan, and death. What do we have to fear if we are united to him? We can rest in confidence in Christ and cry out, save me!