#DailyDevotion The Messiah, The King of Israel Has Come!
Palm Sunday
Zech. 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Well you can’t get anymore Palm Sunday than this reading, at least from the Old Testament. Jesus fulfills this prophecy as he comes to into Jerusalem for his last Passover. Jesus had come to Jerusalem before but now he comes to fulfill what Zechariah saw and wrote.
Jesus is Israel’s King. He is the Lord God, YHWH in the flesh, who delivered the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians. Jesus is their God who led them through the wilderness. He is their Lord who led them across the Jordan river with Joshua (whom Jesus is named after most likely and fulfills that name). Jesus is the King of Israel whom the Israelites rejected in Saul’s time because they wanted a human king like their neighbors. Jesus is the Lord who gave David a dynasty and now from David’s seed enters as Israel’s King as both God and Man.
Jesus enters Jerusalem humble and mounted on a donkey, a borrowed donkey at that. He does not come as a victorious king seeking servants to serve him. No he comes as a king who will serve his people. Humbly he comes into Zion righteous and having salvation. His salvation does not consist of removing the Herods from their thrones or Pilate and the Romans from their occupation. Jesus comes to redeem, save and give his righteousness to Israel and to all the world.
Jesus comes to be killed as a sacrifice by those who should be displaced by his claim as king and to save them. Jesus enters Jerusalem to enter his glory, not the glory of an earthly throne, but the glory of the cross. It will be there on the cross outside the gates that welcome him now that Jesus gains righteousness for us and salvation for us.
But now is the time for rejoicing. Israel’s king has come home. He has come to be anointed as king. Israel’s Lord, God and King have come into their midst to instruct them in the ways of the Lord and he will show them he great love the Father has for them as the week comes to a conclusion. Jesus is reigning now at the right hand of the Father and he is returning to establish his visible rule in the world. Come Lord Jesus.
Heavenly Father, you sent your Son Jesus Christ into the flesh to fulfill your promise to your servant David and to fulfill all your promises in your Word. Grant us such faith in Jesus that we recognize him as King and Lord of all to life everlasting. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.