At the beginning of chapter 2 in Nehemiah, great care was taken to record the specific date that certain events took place. Often, I skip over these small facts and move quickly on to the next verse, but this time I took a closer look. “𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒏, 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒙𝒆𝒓𝒙𝒆𝒔…”

The month of Nisan, or ‘the month of flowers’, or the first month of the Jewish year in which Passover occurred. Today the Assyrians call it ‘the month of happiness.’ It was the day when all creation began, the day when the Great I Am spoke heaven and earth into existence. It was the month when the Israelites crossed the river Jordan and when God split the sea so that His chosen ones could escape. It was also the month in which Jerusalem would be rebuilt.

100 years before King Artaxerxes gave the command to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, a prophet named Daniel gave this decree; “𝑲𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝑱𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝑴𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒙𝒕𝒚-𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒔; 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔.”  (Daniel 1:25) Daniel proclaimed that in 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝟭𝟳𝟯,𝟴𝟴𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 from that very date, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, Jesus the Christ, would be presented to all of Israel! Quite a bold prophesy to give, right down to the very day!

Fast forward 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝟭𝟳𝟯,𝟴𝟴𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 to another Passover, another beautiful spring day in the month of Nisan. We see Jesus, riding a colt into Jerusalem. It was a day unlike any other, a day when multitudes laid branches on the road before the Messiah and shouted, “𝘏𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥.”  𝟭𝟳𝟯,𝟴𝟴𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆! The triumphal entry of Christ!

What a mystery – this tiny little verse that contained so much meaning, how intricate the plan of God! Sometimes I stand amazed at those little details, everything thought out so beautifully, that marvelous plan for our complete redemption. Certainly a – “𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕤𝕠 𝕒𝕞𝕒𝕫𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕤𝕠 𝕕𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕖, 𝕕𝕖𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕞𝕪 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕝, 𝕞𝕪 𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖, 𝕞𝕪 𝕒𝕝𝕝.”