#DailyDevotion Jesus Is The Eternal King Of Israel In The Flesh
Zechariah 99Be very happy, people of Zion! Shout aloud, people of Jerusalem. You see, your King will come to you, He is righteous and victorious, poor, and riding on a donkey, on a young burro, the colt of a donkey.
It is Advent already? Palm Sunday? Nope not yet. Kind of interesting the organizers of the three year lectionary put this here in July. Were they wanting to do Christmas in July or Easter in July? It doesn’t particularly go with the Gospel lesson very well either.
It is interesting that only Matthew and John directly quote this passage for Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Mark and Luke rather go to Psalm 118. Perhaps Matthew and John’s original audiences were mostly Jews who would get the reference or it would have had a greater impact on them.
Now Zechariah was preaching during the time of the return of the Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem. The LORD would be using him to encourage the returning Jews to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple. It did seem from him and other prophets and writers from the time the Jews were in no big hurry to do so. Even though they were returned to their homeland, some were like their forefathers of old who looked back to their previous place of bondage with envy, i.e. Egypt.
The Persians were ruling over them now. They had no king of their own. The house of David is reduced to being a mere governor under the Persians. Yet in the midst of this we have this prophecy to encourage and embolden the returning exiles, 9“Be very happy, people of Zion! Shout aloud, people of Jerusalem. You see, your King will come to you, He is righteous and victorious, poor, and riding on a donkey, on a young burro, the colt of a donkey.” It would still be another 500 plus years for this to come to pass and then it wasn’t quite how they expected it.
Yes, the people of Jerusalem in 30 AD were very excited about Jesus who was a descendent of David according to the flesh entered Jerusalem during Holy Week. They spread their cloaks before him and waved their palm branches. They were looking for Jesus to be their King, to deliver them from the hands of their enemies (whom they thought were the Romans). They cried out Psalm 118 which tells of the coming Messiah. They were acknowledging Jesus came in the name of the LORD. They were acknowledging salvation coming from him. They were expecting verses ten and following to come to pass with Jesus (we’ll look at that tomorrow).
Well Jesus is Israel’s King, the King of the Jews, who is the LORD the King of Israel from time immemorial in the flesh. The LORD, YHWH, had joined himself to David’s house by making him one with David’s seed in the womb of Mary. Jesus did come to claim his throne of both David and the Father. He came to rescue them to save them from their enemies. The enemies he came to save them and us from were not the Romans or any human enemies. No, he had a bigger target than that. Jesus came to save them and us from sin, death and the power of the devil. He does not kill them by the sword but rather by letting them nail him to the tree and piercing him through with a spear. He overcomes them by rising from the dead and being seated at the right hand of the Ancient of Days, the Father and ruling not over a strip of land on the eastern shore of the sea but ruling over all creation. Such is the reign of our God and King, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Heavenly Father, join our rejoicing with all who accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah, your very Son, the Son of Man, with those who came before us on Palm Sunday that we too may rejoice in our salvation from death to eternal life in Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.