LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil
Sunday 13th April 2025
HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST
Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Hosanna in the highest!” – Matthew 21:9
The word ‘hosanna’ means ‘save now’. It was a call for salvation and deliverance from wrong or evil. It was also a proclamation of faith in the ability of God to save His people from trouble. It is a call for deliverance from clear and present danger. It is the call for deliverance from evil plots set to entrap us.
As Jesus approached Jerusalem, the group following Him turned into a multitude. Within the multitude were three different groups, each with a different view of Jesus. There were the Galilean followers of Jesus who had been with Him for most of His days of ministry. Then, there were the native Judeans who were suspicious of Jesus. This is the group that felt threatened by Jesus. Finally, there was a crowd of visitors who had come to the Passover feast from outside Judea. This last group did not know much about Jesus.
The Galileans who followed Jesus had seen His miracles and were His ardent followers. They were probably the group that hailed Christ the most. The statement that “the crowd that cried ‘Hosanna!’ on Palm Sunday ended up crying ‘Crucify Him!’ on Good Friday” is not valid. It was primarily the Jerusalem Jews, influenced by the priests, who asked for His blood.
Some of those who followed the Lord had expectations of a personal miracle that would solve some problems in their lives; others were expecting to hear some of those life-changing words He spoke. Still, others anticipated that he would use His enormous powers to deliver them from the Romans’ oppressive rule. All of them cried, ‘Hosanna!’
Jesus did not come to fulfil every expectation of man. He came to meet those expectations that are godly and promised by God. True ‘Hosanna’ comes from the Highest – the Most High God.
The inner motivations for our call for God’s help must be from the ‘highest’ and not the ‘lowest’. Our motives must be right, and our desires pure. Then we can call on the Lord, and He will hear us and give us a great victory.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, my help comes from you. I look to you, Lord Most High, for total deliverance. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
