Promised Treasures: Palms of Victory John 7:28–39

Grace, mercy and peace be with you, from God, our Father, and our Lord Jesus, who gives us victory and life.

Our message tonight is Promised Treasures: Palms of Victory, from John 7, especially verses 37-39.

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Our text takes place in Jerusalem, during the Festival of Tabernacles, or Booths, as it’s called in our Old Testament, or the Festival of Tents.

It was one of the three major Jewish festivals. The other two were: the Festival of Weeks, also called Pentecost, which was in late spring, and was an early harvest festival… and in earlier in spring was the Festival of Unleavened Bread, or Passover. 

Tabernacles was a fall harvest festival, commemorating the Children of Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness, as they roamed from place to place, foraging for food for their livestock, and looking for water, and with God taking care of them all along the way.

During the festival, the people would live and rest in tents, in or near Jerusalem, with palm branches to provide shade and cover, and to celebrate with.

In our Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy, we heard God commanding and establishing this festival. We hear more about it in Leviticus, chapter 23. 

 39 “‘So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest.

 40 On the first day you are to take branches from trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 

 41 Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year... celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters 43 so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” 

The palm branches signified joy and victory. They served as a reminder that the Lord had broken hard-hearted Pharoah, so that He released the People of Israel from slavery, and they left Egypt rejoicing.

Then God victoriously led them through the parted waters of the Red Sea, and destroyed the army that had been sent after them to kill or recapture them.

Then the people danced and celebrated the Lord’s victory with a song, which we have in Exodus, chapter 15. This sometimes serves as the Old Testament Reading for Easter Sunrise service.

“I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea. “The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. 

By His death and resurrection, our Lord has defeated the true enemy: sin, death and the devil. 

Your right hand, Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, Lord, shattered the enemy.

The Festival of Tabernacles was a reminder of the Lord’s victories, past, present and future.

Our Epistle from Revelation 7, hearkens back to that yearly Festival, as if being celebrated in Heaven, but with people from every nation, all the saved, waving palms, and along with angels, singing and shouting: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11And worshiping God, and saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

This scene from Heaven also re-lives and remembers Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, as the people praised Him and greeted Him with palms, which we’ll celebrate this coming Sunday. 

On the last day of the festival was the great celebration, closing with the water ceremony. This was a commemoration of when God quenched the thirst of His people by giving them water from a rock.

In the desert, when the Israelites and their animals were in danger of dying from dehydration, God miraculously made a stream of water gush out of a great rock, and they were all saved.

On that last day of the festival, water was poured over the altar, partly to remember that miracle in the desert, but also to signify that God pours out His blessings and salvation upon His people.

It was at this time, during the water ceremony, that Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the living water from heaven, the source of spiritual and eternal life for all.

John writes, On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

And that would happen 50 days after the Passover Festival, after Jesus died and rose, and ascended, and then, from Heaven, with the Father, sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples during late spring harvest festival, called Pentecost.

In a few days, we’ll begin our journey with Jesus from Bethany, where He’ll be anointed with oil by Mary, the sister of Lazarus, as a sort of prophecy and preparation of His burial…

Then the next day, we’ll see and hear the crowd cry “Hosanna”, and wave palms, as Jesus enters Jerusalem, riding on a donkey on His way to die.

In the Upper Room, we’ll see Jesus and His disciples celebrate the Passover, as He gives us the Sacrament of His body and blood for our forgiveness.

We’ll see Him pray in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and we’ll see Him arrested as all His disciples run away, leaving Him to face His haters alone.

We’ll see Him falsely accused by the Jewish council, mocked by Herod, beaten by the guards, ridiculed by the people, and wrongly sentenced to death by Pilate.

Then, hardly able to watch, we’ll see our Lord severely flogged… then see Him dragging His own cross to the place of His execution… then see Him nailed down and raised up to die… then taken down and buried… and then His 3 day Sabbath, His 3 day rest in the tomb… and on the third day, we’ll see His risen glory.

The waving of the palms that week before, as Jesus entered Jerusalem, although the people didn’t realize it, was a pre-Easter celebration. 

Jesus would suffer and die, but after it all, He would rise… and through it all, win an eternal victory for us.

And so as we travel through this holy, penitential week, remembering that it’s because of our sin that our Savior had to suffer so horribly, still we keep our palms and hosannas close at hand, because we know the victory has been won… and soon we’ll sing our praises to the Victor, Easter hymns of glory to our King -- we’ll shout of His resurrection, and share His Easter joy.

May God be with us with us during this holy week, as we follow our Lord, walking with Him this week, next week, the week after, and always. 

And as we wave our palms of victory and sing our songs of praise, the peace of God, that passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our victorious Lord and King. Amen.