Good Morning Friends,
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout,
Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having
salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I
will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and
the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule
will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
(Zechariah 9:9-10)
The people of Judah were coming back to their
land after their captivity in Babylon. They were rebuilding the city of
Jerusalem, rebuilding the temple, and reestablishing their nation. God was giving
their nation and their land back to them after a period of discipline. But in
the midst of the joy of their restoration, God looks beyond it to another day
in the future when even greater blessings would come to those who were faithful
to Him.
This passage in Zechariah may have had
fulfillment in Zechariah’s day, but it was also a prophetic word that would be
fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah. Matthew reached back into the words of
Zechariah to quote this passage and say it was fulfilled with the coming of Jesus
into Jerusalem on the Sunday before His death. (Matthew 21:4) We commemorate
that event with Palm Sunday.
The coming of Jesus is something to rejoice
about -- to shout about! It is good news. He Himself is righteous, perfect
before God and He brings salvation for us, too. He offers the gift of peace to
those who will hear Him -- peace with God and peace with the people around
them.
The people of Judah in Zechariah's day were
entering into a time of peace. But it would be a short-lived time of peace and
conflict would again come upon them. But Zechariah looked into the future and
spoke of a peace that was coming. It would be a peace that would never be taken
away, not for eternity.
That’s the peace that Jesus brought into the
world. That’s the peace that we know through Jesus!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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