"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Make a loud shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is righteous and endowed with salvation,
Lowly and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a pack animal."
—Zechariah 9:9
What is it about Palm Sunday that makes it so important? Why do we celebrate it? What is the significance of this day? It is significant because it was predicted hundreds of years in advance. That is what separates the Bible from every other “good book.” This Book contains dozens of fulfilled prophecies. This is not blind faith that God is asking of us. He is not saying “Close your mind to all reason and thinking and just believe.”
Obviously, faith is a key part of salvation and our Christian life, but our faith is based not on fiction or hope. It is built on fact.
Psalm 118:26 predicts some words that would be used on Palm Sunday - “Blessed be he that comes in the name of the Lord.”
In today’s Scripture passage, we see a prediction of the coming of Jesus on Palm Sunday. As the people gathered, they were saying, “Hosanna, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.” Can you imagine the scene, the streets full of people? They were cutting down palm branches and laying down their garments. They were preparing a triumphal entry for the King, as had been predicted hundreds of years before. Jesus came and fulfilled the prophecy exactly as predicted.
Accuracy is an important part of prophecy. If a prophet gave a prophecy that was wrong even by ten percent, or he got it mostly right, but it was off by just a little bit, that meant he was a false prophet and would need to be put to death. These prophecies were fulfilled. Jesus did not come in on a white horse; if He had, that would not have been a fulfilled prophecy. He came in exactly as predicted by the Old Testament.
Hosanna! Jesus is our King!
