— Day of Hosannas (10th of Abib), 179 JE —
Happy Day of Hosannas!
I pray this message will bless you today.
If you are following our biblical calendar you will notice that today is the Day of Hosannas, and it is the first day into the Sabbath. Thus, the position of the weeks in this delayed month of Abib is the same as it was in the time of the MESSIAH, making this Pesach very special.
Hosanna means “Please Save!”
The ignorant followers of the MESSIAH were shouting this, thinking they were about to be saved from the Romans ruling over them; but instead, the LORD JEHOSHUA wrought salvation for all of mankind from the sin of our original father, Adam, that we may have probationary life.
Not only this, but JEHOSHUA provided salvation from the second death by dying it for us, saving us from the penalty of the Law. But this salvation takes much effort to receive, and many are unwilling to make the effort.
We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling as GOD works within us (Phil. 2:12). None of us can produce salvation; it is GOD, through His SON, that saves, but we must labor to receive it. This is what the MESSIAH’S immature followers failed to do. They thought that He would overthrow the Romans for them. Yet it is the same today with modern “Christian” theology. It is taught that eternal life is simple as saying a prayer—at the beginning of the Christian life, and/or to confess our sins, and as long as we confess we our sinners and have sinned, GOD will do all the rest. I’ve heard it described as the MESSIAH being in the driver’s seat and we are in the passenger’s seat, just in for the ride. How far from the truth!
Salvation is expensive, both for the MESSIAH and for us! He has continually suffered ever since Pesach to provide salvation for us, and we must forsake all for the Kingdom. He has yet to receive His own Kingdom from the FATHER. He is still laboring for it, and we must labor with Him. Salvation is the most expensive thing there is, which also makes it the most valuable.
When we cry “Hosanna” (“Please Save!”), it means pleading with our SAVIIOUR to do a work in our hearts that we cannot do, but it does not mean we do not labor with Him. The typology of this is the children of Israel overcoming the Canaanites. Little by little, they were to militarily conquer them. But they failed, and Israel, as a carnal nation, was lost—a sad type of how it will be for all who do not labor with GOD to conquer all sin in their lives.
GOD provides the salvation, so, what is our work? Do you know?
It is very simple. It is in Romans 10—a direct quote from Joel 2:32:
v. 13
“Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the LORD shall be saved.”
Is that hard work? Yes, it is… when you read the context. Here is what comes next:
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?”
v. 14
Our words are an expression of what is in the heart. We must have faith before we can call on His Name, otherwise it is idle words. But how do we get that faith? Verse 17 tells us:
“So then, faith is of hearing, and hearing by the Word of GOD.”
This means that we simply need to hear (without resisting what we hear), that brings faith, and then we express the Name that saves us by our lips. That is the simplicity of it. The previous verses explain this. It involves the Law. Oh, yes, we are to keep the Law before us every day! So we can try to do it? No! That would be salvation by works. What is the purpose of the Law, then? Listen to what Paul says here:
“For the purpose of the Law is the MESSIAH, unto righteousness to everyone that believeth, for Moses writeth of the righteousness which is of the Law, that, “The man having done these things shall live in them” [Lev. 18:5], and the righteousness of faith saith thus: “Say not in thy heart, ‘Who shall ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring the MESSIAH down: ) or, ‘Who shall descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring the MESSIAH up from the dead.) But what saith it? “The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart” [Deut. 30:12-14]: that is, the Word of faith, which we proclaim; because if thou shalt acknowledge with thy mouth the LORD JEHOSHUA, and shalt believe in thy heart that GOD raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart one believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth acknowledgement is made unto salvation.”
Romans 10:4-10
Who do we acknowledge with our lips? “The LORD JEHOSHUA”! This is what the immature followers of the MESSIAH missed, and what many who call themselves Christians today miss. Hosanna—”Please Save!”—includes neither word. The Name itself is salvation. Just by saying it? No. As we read, it is only salvation when we use the Name in faith. It is an intelligent faith—faith that takes every word of GOD, just as it is, believing that in the words is the very life—the resurrected, victorious life—of the MESSIAH! That is how we live (eternally) by the Word. And we also use the title “LORD,” indicating that He is LORD of our lives, ruling us by His Word.
Practically, this means eating (chewing on, and digesting) the words of GOD on a daily basis, particularly in the various commandments given by GOD in His Torah and by His divine-human SON in the Gospels, which really just explains more fully the Torah Law. Where the Law shows that we fall short, that is where we need to plead for salvation! “Hosanna!” But then what do we add to that? The title and Name: “LORD JEHOSHUA!” Now, it is complete!
Once we submissively hear the word, it is written in our hearts; however, every time we hear it again, calling on the saving Name, it reinforces it in us. I recommend searching where our weaknesses are and claiming Scriptures each day that directly pertain to our weaknesses.
But that is still not all the work we must do to receive our salvation, which we must receive on a daily basis (we are being saved from our sins into the Kingdom of Righteousness). Romans 10 covers the Word, particularly the Law, which we are to eat/hear, which involves prayer, but other Scriptures talk about prayer on a more intimate level. Here is one of them:
“And this is the life eternal: that they may know Thee, the one true GOD, and whom Thou hast sent, JEHOSHUA the MESSIAH.”
John 17:3
This means holding continual communion with them, especially the SON, who we can relate to the most as He shares our humanity, which is why I’ve been posting quotes on this lately. This knowledge means conhnection, like how Adam knew Eve. So, after having a full time of devotion in the morning (over an hour), making our connection with GOD and receiving His Words, we then need to maintain that connection through prayer throughout the day.
Remember that you need to be braced by constant watchfulness and prayer. So long as you look to Christ, you are safe; but the moment you trust in yourself, you are in great peril. He who is in harmony with God will continually depend upon him for help.
E.G. White, Review and Herald, 7/11, 1907
We need a close connection with God. We are not safe a moment unless guided and controlled by the Holy Spirit. The soul should be often uplifted to God in prayer, even while we are engaged in our business vocations. These silent prayers rise like precious incense before the throne of grace. Satan is baffled. He cannot overcome the Christian whose heart is thus stayed upon God. No hellish arts can destroy his peace. All the promises of God’s word, all the power of divine grace, all the resources of Jehovah, are pledged to secure his deliverance.
E.G. White, Review and Herald, 6/15/1886
This is our daily, moment-by-moment work of salvation. GOD provides the Holy Spirit of His SON—with all of its mighty power, especially as it is in the Word—which works our salvation within us, but we need to work it out in our lives by feeding on the Word and watching unto prayer. Salvation is a collaborative work. But it does not involve us trying to do what the Law says to do, doing the deeds of good works, before GOD will accept us. That would be trying to merit our salvation, and that is not what the Law is for. The Law is for the purpose of the MESSIAH to save us where His Spirit shows us we are falling short. Our work is to believe, with our mouth acknowledging our belief in calling on the mighty Name of the LORD JEHOSHUA!
Are we doing this? Is He our resurrected LORD and SAVIOUR that we keep calling on?
If not, we will continue to repeat the same sins over and over again, and that is how it is for most professed Christian lives. It means we are depending on ourselves and not our SAVIOUR, and we cannot be saved that way. That is how it was for me, and it has taken me a long time to learn these things. I had been sermonized and programmed to believe differently. Even Jones and Waggoner were not perfectly balanced; they explained the theories of salvation very well, but not the practice; Ellen White’s sermons and writings added balanced it out. But they did teach us some very valuable things, such as not being able to merit our salvation, and believing in the Word itself to do what it says, and dwelling much on JEHOSHUA, making Him the center of our faith and putting Him back into the Law.
The Bible teaches a practical religion, and that we must work for our salvation instead of just pleading for salvation, thinking that the KING will do all the conquering for us without our cooperation with Him in establishing His Kingdom, which is righteousness, within us.
Those who believe in just confessing their sins and being saved, without confessing the LORD JEHOSHUA and all that is involved in it, believing that they will be saved in the Second Advent, are believing in an external kingdom. But JEHOSHUA assures us, “Behold, the Kingdom of GOD is within you.” “The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart.” Our work is to receive it there, in believing and acknowledging, and GOD’S work is to freely give it to us and work it within us until the precious produce of good works come out and matures. Therefore, everything good we do is produced by Him, just as it is in the natural garden. He creates the water of the Word, its minerals of doctrines, and the sunshine of the Spirit. But unlike a natural plant, we are given a free will whether or not to receive; therefore, we must apply what GOD has freely given us. That is the work of salvation.
Let us learn to shout hosannas (even if it be only within) whenever we feel near to temptation and never enter into temptation without His life of protection, for He has already lived our life perfectly. He has even provided prayers for us to pray and gives us the very Scriptures we need for each day to encounter any temptation that He allows us to have. Though we work with Him, it is really all His work and we get no credit for it as He is the CREATOR of it all; but to make such a statement without any context, misleads the masses.
We work out His work of salvation.
Hosanna!
Blessed is the KING OF ISRAEL
that cometh in the Name of JEHOVAH!
Hosanna in the highest!
10th of Abib (Day of Hosannas), 179 JE
