Holy Week Devotions
Monday
This year for our Holy Week devotions we will be look at the Hymns of Easter and Holy Week. The songs that we sing in church not only connect us to God, they also help teach us about God and the Christian faith. The hymns that we will walk through this week will cause us to reflect on the important events of the last week of the life of Jesus as well as His death and resurrection.
Today, we will look back at Palm Sunday with the “Praise Him, Praise Him” which says-
Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim!
Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest archangels in glory;
Strength and honor give to His holy Name!
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children,
In His arms He carries them all day long.
Chorus:
Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness;
Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song!
Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
For our sins He suffered, and bled, and died.
He our Rock, our hope of eternal salvation,
Hail Him! Hail Him! Jesus the Crucified.
Sound His praises! Jesus who bore our sorrows,
Love unbounded, wonderful, deep and strong.
Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!
Heav’nly portals loud with hosannas ring!
Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever;
Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!
Christ is coming! over the world victorious,
Pow’r and glory unto the Lord belong.
This hymn by Fanny Crosby opens with two verses and a chorus that praise our Savior and Redeemer for his death on the cross. They declare Him our Shepherd, Rock, Our Hope of Eternal Salvation, The Crucified, the One Who Bore our Sorrows, and Love Unbounded! In these first two verses we are reminded of who Jesus is for us today if we have placed our trust in Him and His finished work on the cross.
Verse three is the one that connects this hymn to Palm Sunday. On that day the streets of Jerusalem rang loud with shouts of “Hosanna” as Jesus rode into town. This hymn points toward a day when shouts of “Hosanna” will ring out through the portals of Heaven. However, unlike the shouts on Palm Sunday that quickly turned to cries of “crucify”, these “Hosannas” will ring out to the crucified and risen Son of David for eternity!
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 21:9 (NKJV)