Hosanna Palm Sunday
April – The Month of the Holy Spirit
Hosanna Sunday – 02nd April 2023
Overview
1. Introduction
2. Holy Spirit has an atmosphere to give you.
3. Elim- A Place with Water that never runs dry.
4. The Atmosphere of the Holy Spirit has rest and refreshment.
5. Twelve and Seventy
6. Realm of Worship
7. Conclusion
Introduction
And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And 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 21:8-9 (NKJV)
The Word Hosanna means, save us now. In other words, it can also be said like ‘I need you more’. We read the same Hebrew word for Hosanna used in Psalms 118:25-26, where we read “Save now, I pray, O Lord, I pray, send now your prosperity. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of our Lord.” We need God so that we will be blessed in all the areas of our life.
Holy Spirit and Hosanna
“Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped by the waters.”
Exodus 15:27 (NKJV)
In the Bible, the first time that we see the usage of palm trees is in this verse. Here, the Israelites are on a journey from Egypt. They were called by God out of their bondage for only one reason which was to Worship. When they were very thirsty because there was no water available for them to drink. When they reached Marah, there was water but they could not drink it, because it was very bitter. The people started complaining and God showed Moses a tree, and when he put its branch into the water, the water was made fit to drink. After that, the Israelites journeyed further and reached Elim, where they camped by the waters.
Elim- A Place with water that never runs dry
The Israelites camped by the waters in a place called Elim. Elim is a place, where there are waters situated deep within which nourish the roots of the palm trees very powerfully and they grow strong. There is a very strong significance with the believers because the Bible says the righteous will grow like palm trees. They will be strong. The waters, mentioned here are the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was talking to His disciples in the Gospel of John chapter 7 verse number 38, Jesus said, out of your hearts shall flow reverse of living water.
Now in Elim, instead of giving much importance to the palm trees and the palm leaves, the Bible said they stayed there because they were water. The plural word waters is used which was not just about drinking water because drinking water for these 30-lakh people has a limited capacity. It denotes the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit.
The Atmosphere of the Holy Spirit
There is a difference between the presence and the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit. During a worship service or a special gathering, what we feel Is the presence of the Holy Spirit. But the atmosphere is different. The atmosphere for a born-again person is wherever he walks in, wherever he goes, wherever he travels, whichever place he sleeps, he is in an atmosphere of the Holy Spirit.
Elim means a place of trees well-watered by the waters. At this place, the Israelites found ‘rest and refreshment.’ In the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit, two things happen in our life, we find rest and we get refreshed. We read in Exodus 31: 17 that even God rested and was refreshed.
“And it is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days, Lord the God made the heavens and earth, and on the seventh day, He rested and was refreshed.”
Exodus 31: 17 (NKJV)
God the Father in heaven himself rested and He was refreshed. All the six days of the beginning, He created and on the seventh day, He declared it as Sabbath, the day when God enjoyed the atmosphere of what He created and rested and got refreshed.
And so it was, when about the Spirit of God came upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would be refreshed and well and the distressing spirit would depart from him.
1 Samuel 16:23 (NKJV)
Here we read about Saul getting refreshed. There was a distressing Spirit that was tormenting Saul, and when the Spirit of God, the atmosphere was open above Saul, David would start worshipping and when that atmosphere is open, the Bible says Saul gets rest and gets refreshed. And then the distressing spirit leaves him.
Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
Acts 3:19 (TPT)
The Word of God says to repent and be converted. Conversion is not changing our religion. Conversion is changing ourselves. From a worldly character to a Son of God. We repent and get converted so that our sins may be blotted. And that times of refreshing may come from the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit. When we are in the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit, two things happen. First, the Holy Spirit will always tell us not to sin. Second, if we deliberately try to sin, the Holy Spirit will warn us. The Holy Spirit will convict us of all our sins. That is where believers have to repent if the Holy Spirit is convicting them of sin in their lives.
“For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
Jeremiah 31:25 (NKJV)
The atmosphere of the Holy Spirit primarily does many things but we are looking at this perception. Number one, it will heal a broken soul. Number two, it will replenish. Whatever is lost or broken because of hurt, the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit has the power to heal it and bring it back into its beautiful relationship.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 (NKJV)
When Jesus came into this world, he saw that people are all in unrest, not knowing what to do. When Jesus saw them, He was moved with compassion and He healed their situations and restored their lives.
Twelve and Seventy
Significance of the number Twelve
“Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped by the waters.”
Exodus 15:27 (NKJV)
Here we read that the Israelites reached the place called Elim and there were twelve wells of water. In the Bible, we know that the number twelve represents two major things, one is the twelve tribes of Israel and the next is the twelve Apostles in the New Testament. The atmosphere of the Holy Spirit, of rest and refreshment, is experienced in a born-again church. It depends on an apostolic foundation that the atmosphere is built in the New Covenant. In the upper room, in Acts 2, when the Apostles were gathered together, there opened an atmosphere of the Holy Spirit. When Peter and some of his companions went to the house of Cornelius, there was no atmosphere of the Holy Spirit prior to that. But when Peter started preaching the Word of God, the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit opened. That is an Apostle according to the Word of God.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalms 1:3 (NKJV)
The Bible says an Apostle will be blessed like a tree that is planted by rivers of water that bring forth its fruit in every season and will not experience backsliding. The church today needs to understand that we as a member cannot grow without the Apostolic Foundation. The Apostles are the channel of the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ. They dig deep like wells are being dug and to be overflowing with the Holy Spirit. In the divine appointment of ministers in the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:28, we see the Apostles first. They are digging the wells of revival. They are digging the wells of the presence of God. They are digging the wells of the revelation of the Word of God. So, a church gets refreshment in the atmosphere which is built by the prophetic and the Apostolic movement of the body of Christ. The Apostolic teachings, the Apostolic foundation, the Apostolic doctrines, the Apostles, and the Prophets. And then the churches are built on that foundation. That is where the glory realm is there.
Significance of the number Seventy
After these things, the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.
Luke 10:1 (NKJV)
Seventy is the number in the New Covenant where Jesus sends his disciples two-by-two out to preach the gospel. In the church, the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit is maintained because of two reasons. First is a strong Apostolic leadership and the second is that the church is a gospel-preaching church. This is the heartbeat of Jesus, so that all the World should hear about the saving gospel and no one should perish but all should have eternal life.
Realm of Worship
The atmosphere of the Holy Spirit is built on the Apostolic and Evangelistic foundation and this strong, disciplined leadership takes us to the realm of worship. A worship that is similar to heavenly worship. The one thing that God desires from our life is worship. Worship is offering our bodies as a living sacrifice. Jesus has said a beautiful definition of worship, it is to “Love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might”
Concluding Prayer
Lord Jesus, we pray, take us to the atmosphere of the Holy Spirit where there is rest and refreshment. Lord, we do not want anything else in this world, but just to trust in You and Your Spirit, and be submissive to You and to the Apostolic leadership that You have kept above us.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.