 The scene was Bristol Bay, Alaska sometime in the late 1980s. My brother Dave and I were commercial fishing for sockeye salmon. I did it for 10 summers when I was in my graduate studies. We had been fishing for four or five days just about straight. We would fish sometimes for 40 to 45 hours without sleeping. And then we'd get a few more hours of nap and then we'd go back and do it again. It was a gray, drizzly day. And there was a break in the fishing. And I leaned against the side of the boat and I said to Dave, Hey, what time is it? When you fish that hard, and when you're in Alaska in the Summer, you can get pretty disoriented. Especially when you realize the Alaska summer is so short, Or the summer nights are so short. So my brother rolled down his plastic sleeve and he looked At his watch and said eight o'clock. That wasn't enough information for me. So I said am or p.m. I had no idea. And he looked again and he said it's am. Well, seeing how disoriented I was, he then asked me a question. He said, what day is it? I didn't even know if it was morning or night. How was I supposed to know which day? Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. I got it on the fourth try. I had absolutely no idea what day it was. We Christians sprinkle our language, our speech sometimes, With scriptural verses and phrases. And I think it's a good thing. It allows us to speak not just with our own voice, But also the voice of scripture, the voice of the Lord. So we might say to someone who is struggling, having a hard time, Count it all joy, brother. Thankfully, all things work together for good for those who Are called according to his purpose. I think that's an encouragement. Sometimes, however, we use phrases, use verses, Without necessarily knowing what they fully mean. One of them is this. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Well, I've heard that said many times in my life. I've said it many times. But if you're like me as I grew up, I assume that That simply meant this is just another day that God is Sustaining the world, that the sun came up this morning Because God is the sovereign over the world. And it will go down tonight, and it's another day, And I should be grateful for it. Well, that's really good theology. But as we'll discover, it actually falls short of the Full meaning of what this particular verse is affirming. So in order to find out what it is, we're going to Have to go back into the Old Testament and find out where It comes from, understand it in its context. And then we'll follow the lead of the text where it goes. Eventually, I'll get to Palm Sunday. The question I want you to ask today is, what day is it, Actually? The verse actually comes from Psalm 118. So those of you who like to follow along in your text, Psalm 118, we don't know who wrote the Psalm. We pretty well know that it was a king. We don't know the historical situation either, but it appears That he was recently on the battlefield, and that he was Surrounded by enemy armies, and it looked really bad. It looked as though he was going to be overrun. But out of the jaws of defeat, God intervened and gave him In his army a victory, and they respond. I'm going to read verses, not the entire Psalm today, But I'm going to read verses to give you the context. So I'm going to start with verse 5. Out of my distress, I called to the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free. Verse 10, all nations surrounded me. In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. Verse 12 and following, they surrounded me like bees. They went out like a fire among thorns. In the name of the Lord, I cut them off. I was pushed hard so that I was falling. But the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. And so the king and his army now are responding to this great Victory in their praising God in the camp. Verse 15, glad songs of salvation are in the tense of the Righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. And then the king heads back to Jerusalem and goes to the Temple. Verse 19, open to me the gates of righteousness that I may Enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become My salvation. Now the people of the city get involved as they are Welcoming their king back to the city. They then join their voices to this whole parade. And they ascribe a proverb to the king. You've heard this before. It shows up in the New Testament. But this is where it comes from. Verse 22, the stone that the builders rejected has become The cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. Within this context, it must be that the stone is the King. He was recently on the battlefield. He was about to be overrun. That suggests that the builders are the nations. The enemy armies that have come against him. So like a mason that might pick up a stone and look at it And realize it doesn't fit what he needs and he throws it away. So the nations that had come against this king were About to overrun this king and cast him aside. But because God intervened and gave the king the great Victory, what looked to be like a rejected and discarded king Has now been made into the head of the corner. The most important stone for the whole foundation. And so the people then affirm the great significance of that Day. Verse 24, this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Finally, the priests who are waiting at the temple join in. They are receiving the king and his entourage. This is what they say. Verse 25, save us, we pray. That is the word hosanna. Oh Lord, we pray, give us success. And then they acknowledge that it's through this king that Deliverance has come. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. Now this last sentence in verse 27 can be translated in two Ways. One is what i just read which comes out of the esv. You could also read it and translate it a different way Which you will find in such translations as the niv. There it says, with bows in hand, join in the Festal procession up to the horns of the altar. We will come back to that issue in a short bit. My question for you today is what day is it in the psalm? Is it just another day? Absolutely not. It is a day of victory. It is a day of deliverance through their king. So what does this have to do with Palm Sunday? Well, turn with me then to Matthew 21. The setting here is that Jesus has come to the end of his Three and a half year ministry and is approaching Jerusalem With a whole group of people who followed him from Galilee And they have seen him do remarkable things like heal the sick. He's opened the eyes of the blind. He's opened the ears of the deaf. He's given strength to lame limbs. He's helped mute people speak. He has raised the dead. He has set people free from the power of the evil one. He's reached out to the poor. He's removed injustice. He has had this remarkable ministry and all the way through He identifies his ministry as the coming of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God which we should understand to be the Kingdom of God as he is breaking into this age and transforming it Progressively as Jesus does his ministry. Well added to all of that excitement, Jesus is coming to Jerusalem. And Jerusalem is as you know the city of David, the city of the king. And so the excitement is building. And then Jesus sends two disciples on an errand. And the excitement goes up even more. Read with me in Matthew 21. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethfage to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, Go into the village in front of you and immediately you will Find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord Needs them and he will send them at once. So the disciples go. They find it as Jesus had declared. They return. They bring the colt back to Jesus. Jesus gets on it. But notice what the people do. And notice what they say. The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their Cloaks. And Jesus sat on them. Most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the road and Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were Shouting, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was stirred up Saying who is this? And the crowd said this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. Did you notice the echoes from the psalm? Look at verse nine again. And the crowds were shouting Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. First of all son of David. This is a kingly title. Clearly they are affirming that Jesus is the great son of David. He is the Messiah. He is the one who has finally come after so many Years of waiting. But then they also ascribed to him this great Acclamation of praise Hosanna. Oh Lord save. Very likely by this time took also this context of Praise God. And they are ascribing it to him. That comes directly from Psalm 118. And then they quote from the psalm. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. But they also do more than that. They do more than that. Notice what it says in verse eight. Most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the Road and others cut branches from the trees and Spread them on the road. Do you see how this connects to the psalm? Do you remember the other translation of that verse Verse 27 with bows in hand joined in the Festival procession. This refers to the practice of the Jews from time to Time what they would do is they would cut palm Branches and myrtle and willow branches and they Would wave them as they welcomed back into town a Great king or a great military victory. We know that they did this at least two times in The second century bc during what is known as the Maccabean revolt when the Jews were fighting Against their oppressors and after two significant Times of victory they did the branch thing. And they welcomed these leaders, these military Leaders back into town. What they're doing then with Jesus is they're Doing the same thing. They are reenacting the psalm. They are not just quoting from it. They're actually acting it out. What the people in the Old Testament psalm did For their king they are now doing for Jesus. And where do they go? They go straight to the temple. Just like the king in the psalm. So how do these two texts relate to each other? Psalm 118 is not a direct prophecy of Jesus. It's talking about this king that lived back then Through whom God gave them great deliverance. But the way the Jews understood history it was Very much interpreted through God's kingship. Since God is the sovereign over all of history When you see an event where God intervenes in a Significant way. And then you see another event that has points of Contact to that event. Important contact. Not in every respect but important points of Contact. They conclude that's not accidental. Because God is the sovereign over history he Intended that event to do more than describe that Event but to foreshadow something that is yet to Come. It's correspondence in history. So as the people who have been following Jesus Understanding him to be Messiah and he's been Describing his ministry as kingdom of God and he Arrives in Jerusalem. He's riding on a donkey. They see the points of contact. They see the coming of their king. And they assume it's coming to fulfillment now In Jesus. The Passover only adds more fuel to this fire. As you know the original Passover celebration took Place on the eve of their deliverance out of bondage Out of Egypt. The Passover lamb was slain on that evening. Redeeming the eldest son in each home. And because of that the death angel passed over those Homes that had the blood on the door posts on the Lintel. And that was the thing that eventually led them out Of Egypt. The Passover lamb was all about deliverance. And so succeeding generations of the Jews when they Celebrate a Passover they look back of course to That event. But they also look forward. Because God who delivered them in the past will Once again deliver them in similar ways in the Future. So all of this is lending weight to what they're Expecting. And then finally Matthew's own interpretation. We don't know if the people understood this. My hunch is that they did. But Matthew informs us with regard to the significance Of the donkey. I passed over verses four and five intentionally. But let me read them now. This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Prophet saying, say to the daughter of Zion Behold your king is coming to you. Humble and mounted on a donkey on a colt. The foal of a beast of burden. If you were to go back to Zachariah nine and look at The context you would discover that these two verses come Right after Zachariah has described the defeat of Israel's enemies. So he comes into town on a donkey. Now it's kind of weird for us in the modern west to Think of it this way. But in the ancient Near East the donkey the mule was Actually the kingly animal. So David had his own mule. One of the most significant things that he did at the end Of his life is he gave his mule to Solomon. Identifying Solomon as the next king. But he's not coming on the war horse because the enemies Have been put down. So what you have then in each one of these things the Psalm Passover and now Zachariah nine all of which Have to do with the coming of God's deliverance and The defeat of their enemies. You can understand why it's most likely that these People walking into town with Jesus expected him to go to His throne to set up his kingdom and Rome's days were Numbered. So what day is Palm Sunday. Even though the people don't actually quote this is the Day that the Lord has made they reenact the Psalm and They quote from it in verses right next to it. What this suggests to me is that Palm Sunday is the Fulfillment of this is the day that the Lord has made. And what does that mean? It means that it's a day of victory. It's a day of deliverance. A day of the defeat of the enemies of the people of God. So what happens how does Jesus fulfill the Psalm. Well you know the story. Jesus follows the pattern of the Psalm he goes directly To the temple and in contrast to the Psalms king's Experience where when he came to the temple the priest Responded to him with blessing and with praise and they Entered in and welcoming him as their delivering king. When Jesus gets to the temple he finds the religious Leaders defiling the temple and they rebuke him and Challenge him for the authority of doing what he Did and then when children begin to praise him they tell Jesus to shut them up rather than acceptance and Praise this people very clearly is not prepared to Receive their king and so rather than the kingly Roll from that point forward in the week. Jesus goes the path of the cross where he is Crucified and ironically becoming the Passover lamb Of the Psalm itself which brings to an end all of the Sacrifices in the temple. It is through this that our deliverance has come. And you know this fate was actually implied by the Psalm itself again back to that verse that's hard to Translate you could translate it as with bows in hand Join in the festival procession it's obvious that The people had taken it that way because they had their King and they were now celebrating his arrival expecting Him to do the kingly thing but the other way you can Translate it which is probably more likely you should Read it this way is bind the festival sacrifice with Chords. I don't think there's anyone in that crowd that had Any idea that this guy coming in victoriously on this Kingly donkey was in a week going to be beaten and Bound and nailed to a Roman cross But that's what happened and he did so to make the very Sacrifices of the temple obsolete From our perspective we can see from that perspective They probably would never have dreamed is Jesus the King of course he is is he the one who brings Deliverance who brings peace to the earth. Yes, he is but he did not go against Rome. He went against Satan and he did not bring a military Victory he brought deliverance that we could only hope for Atonement for sin and victory over death. This is the victory that our God has brought through Our King. Palm Sunday is truly the day that the Lord has made Because it inaugurates the week that culminates with Good Friday and then with Easter morning. But our palm Sunday and good Friday and Easter morning The extent of the day that the Lord has made I would suggest to you not because thank the Lord Jesus Did not remain in the grave. He not only rose from the dead but he ascended to the Right hand of the father where he sits enthroned today So that from that moment on until this day and on Into the future it will be the day that the Lord has made Not because the sun came up today but because deliverance Is available through this King through this reigning King Who has redeemed us. That means that next Monday three weeks from now Five years from now a thousand years from now The Lord tarries. It will still be the day that the Lord has made So what difference does it make? So what? We could go on for hours talking about this. I'll give you three. What it does for us is that it brings a day of grace. When my son trevor was three years old about 15 years ago He was at the beginning of january. He noticed that people were saying happy new year to Everyone. Well he didn't know what it meant but he wanted to get In on the action so he started saying happy new year. But we began to realize that he was using it in all the Places where he normally would say i love you. So he would say to me with all the meaning that he could Give happy new year dad. Happy new year mommy. Trevor had no idea that he was adding way too much Significance to the first day of january. Our problem is just the opposite. When we say this is the day that the Lord has made We're not giving it nearly enough meaning. It's not just another day. It's a day that Jesus is on the throne. And if that's the case it's a day of grace. As you remember the king in the psalm went to the Temple to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving. Jesus went to the temple, cleared the temple courts Of all potential sacrifices leaving himself alone. To be the one sacrifice to bring up atonement. But this itself raises another question. Have we all joined in this procession? Have we all followed Jesus even to his cross? Might there be even one here today or maybe watching on The internet who has never said this is the day Of the Lord. The day that the Lord has made for me. The best news that I could ever tell you is that there's Grace for you. Jesus is more than enough. No matter who you are, no matter what you've done There's room for you at the cross. And so I would invite you to listen to this king. And to listen to what the people of this king are saying. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. It's also a day of grace for those of us who have been His disciples for some time. I had a conversation this past week with a student And she said, I feel that Jesus is just putting up with me. And she was so burdened by her frailty. Her lack of performance. I had the privilege of setting her free with the gospel. But it's not about her, it's about Jesus. And all she needed to do is let Jesus speak the words of grace to her. To feel his embrace around her. Because she is exactly the kind of person Jesus wanted to hang out with. When you look at the gospels, it's just astounding. We're so used to it, we don't even see it anymore. But he pursued the people who were on the fringe of society. The people that were on the down-announce. The people that were considered way too far out there. The people who were oppressed, the people who were poor, People who were defiled. He went after those people. So just because that's how we might feel about ourselves, It does not mean that Jesus is just putting up with us. We need to hear him say these words to us. Some of us are experiencing difficult situations now. Situations that are far bigger than our ability to meet In our own strength. An old friend of mine recently sent me an email. He lives in a different part of the country. And he informed me that his wife just confessed to him That she had been unfaithful in two affairs. His heart was crushed. He wept many bitter tears. But in one of the most moving emails I've ever received, He described the grace of Jesus toward him. And he said, because of the grace of God toward him, He was compelled to mediate that same grace to his wife. And so rather than doing what I think most people would do, He and his wife are now working together to save their marriage. He's forgiven her. And they're trying to save their family. That kind of grace, that kind of forgiveness, Can only be explained, I believe, by the enabling grace Of the one coming in on the donkey. Because Jesus has completed his work and now sits enthroned, He is able to grant grace for every situation. Enabling us to do what we normally would not. This is the day that the Lord has made. It's also a day of meaning. Our days are not meaningless successions of 24-hour periods Where we just get up, we do our job, we eat our food, We go back to bed and do it over again and again until we die. When I was in college in my junior year, I fell into a deep, dark hole of despair. I was drinking deeply of the atheistic philosophy of my professors And the moral and philosophical relativism of our day. And what nearly crushed me was the meaninglessness of my life. And the pointlessness of our universe. I was empty. Today, every day of our lives is meaningful because Jesus sits on the throne. Paul would write, our labor is not in vain. That means that every single day you and I have decisions to make. And those decisions are weighty. Today we have the decision of whether to carry ourselves with arrogance and pride. Or with humility. With hardness of heart or with sensitivity. With speech that is all over the place. Or speech that has been hemmed in by the love of Christ. Whether we're going to use our sexuality in ways that are according to his design or not. Whether or not we're going to invest our money in materialism Or in the priorities of the kingdom. Whether or not we're going to tell the truth or not. Whether or not all of those decisions have meaning. Why? Because we have a king who sits on the throne. We have entered into his reign. And where the king reigns, his attributes are seen. That is our stewardship. If we've received this grace from this king, that means that you and I have a calling to live our lives in such a way that reflect the character of the king who reigns. Why? Because if the people around us are to see Jesus Then the people who bear his name must begin to look more and more like him. How are they going to see Jesus if we look just like everybody else? So the call of the kingdom is to respond to this grace With purposeful living of our lives in ways that let other people see him. So that we become the fragrance of Christ. So that they see in our lives windows into what's coming And who sits on the throne. And who one day will bring deliverance and peace and purity. This is the day of the Lord. This is the day that the Lord has made. Finally it's a day of hope. This last Wednesday I received a call from my sister in Minnesota Informing me that my father had been rushed to the emergency room Apparently with a massive stroke and it didn't look good. We've been through several health crises with both of my parents In the last couple of years so we're getting to that point Where we know one of these days is going to be the last one. I got the call right before I had to go into a three-hour class. So for over three hours I was processing the great Likelihood that i was going to say goodbye to my dad or that I wasn't going to be there but that he was passing on. Turned out that he was given more time. But during those three hours i was trying to focus on the class. I was also processing the emotion of losing my dad. And though i experienced great sorrow as memories came and As i regretted that i didn't call him on Sunday along with all of that A tremendous amount of peace and hope came into my heart. Because i know that his greatest desire is to step into the presence of his saviour. And i know that one day i will see him again when i finally lose him in this life. Because Jesus is on the throne. A few years ago one of my friends contracted brain cancer. And he had a series of remissions and then it came back and came back And finally it came back again and his wife asked him is this it? And he said i hope not. But if it is i'll be waiting for you with a cup of tea. Unbelievable loss as he died a few weeks later. But in the midst of the tears of that loss, a young father with young kids, a young wife. There's hope. There's hope because of Jesus' resurrection. And it isn't the hope that you hear people just say well i know he's looking down on us from some place. No it's grounded in the resurrection of Jesus. For which we have so much historical evidence. When we say this is the day that the Lord has made. We are declaring that there's solace and there's hope. Because Jesus has entered into our pain even to the most darkest corner of a grave. And he's redeemed it. We do not suffer alone and we do not languish in despair. And then one day a new day will dawn. To which all of these days are pointing forward. When you and i will step into the presence of the glory of our reigning king. When there will be no more starvation. No more abuse, no more racism, no more injustice, no more oppression, no more death. And then we will proclaim in the fullest way possible in ways that we can only anticipate today. Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.