Rejoice!

Daily Reading: Zechariah 9

Scripture Focus: Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9)

Devotional Thought: I wonder what Zechariah’s audience must have thought as he spoke of their future king. A king? Righteous and victorious? Riding on a lowly donkey? This was not the king the Jews were expecting. A victorious king, by their standards, would have defeated their political oppressors and given them national victory. Jesus instead accomplished spiritual victory through his complete and absolute humility - riding on a donkey.

But as we see in the surrounding passages and elsewhere in Scripture, Jesus did not just come to give us spiritual victory, but also physical victory! Yes! For we no longer fear the finality of death. Christ is the victor over the grave! The enemies of Zion (and our own enemies as adopted sons and daughters) will be defeated. The Lion of Judah will return to Earth for the final judgment, and with his coming will also come a new Heaven and a new Earth, wherein righteousness will dwell.

These are things that we anticipate as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. In a world where selfishness, greed, sin, and injustice run rampant, the return of a righteous King is comforting. Although chaos and pain seem to be ruling the Earth now, we are promised that the Lord will return to restore beauty to his creation, so that he may once more dwell with his people. “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God,” (Revelation 21:3). Amen!

Jenny

Prayer: "The King is coming! The King is coming! Praise God! He's coming for me!" Amen! (Bill and Gloria Gaither)

Psalm of the Day: 1 In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. 2 Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. 3 What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? 4 A warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree! 5 Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! 6 Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. 7 I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war! (Psalms 120:1-7)