Coming King

Zechariah 9:9-11

Advent season gives us much cause for rejoicing—rejoicing in the celebration of our Savior’s birth, foremost, but also rejoicing in the promise of a coming King.

A preview of Zechariah 9:9 is given to us in Zechariah 2:10: "Sing and shout for joy, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming and will live among you." The people of Israel had cause to rejoice because God came to them not as a conquering warrior-King, but as a King of peace, riding on a humble donkey. We rejoice because of the promise that He will come again in power and glory to rule over the entire earth.

At the time of Zechariah's writing, the people of Israel had endured 70 years of exile and had been living in the "dry well" of suffering and despair. God promised them freedom because of His unbreakable covenant. And this is where God meets us in our own lives and promises us His deliverance.

Just as God announced His coming to the people of Israel in Zechariah, Jesus, who was crucified and raised from the dead comes into our lives as our Savior our King, our Master.

QUESTIONS:

1. How can you use the example of the humility of Jesus to show His love to those God has placed in your life?

2. What is standing in the way of you fully surrendering every part of your life to God?

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, show me areas of my life that need to be more fully surrendered to You. Teach me to rejoice in you every day.

Ann Brubaker

Why, God? Why?

 

READ: Ezekiel 20:8-13, 30-36

As a young man, I had great difficulty reconciling the God who sacrificed his only son for the sins of the world with the God who judged his chosen people through exile, slavery, rape, and execution. I much preferred the former and oft asked of the latter, “Why, God? Why?”

Why did you hand the people you created over to such cruelty and suffering? Would you do the same to me or to the people I love?

I thought he would, and perhaps justifiably so. 1 Peter 3:12 says, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 

I have done evil by breaking God’s commandments, as have my loved ones, as had God’s chosen people. In fact, Romans 3:12 says, “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Do we then deserve to be spared from the evil of others if we ourselves do not do good?

Perhaps, then, we should question not the God who judges, but the God who shows mercy.

Did God not drown the world in the time of Noah? Burn to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Has he not reserved the present heavens and earth for destruction by fire? (2 Peter 2:4-6, 3:10-11)

Why, then, should Jesus come into the world that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life? (John 3:16)

Because we’re sorry? Because we repented? Because we’re going to try harder and do better?

No. The Lord says, “But for the sake of my name …” (Ezekiel 20:9)

The name (or reputation) of God. That’s why the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt, that’s why they were returned from exile in Babylon, and that’s why Christ died for the sins of the world. Because God’s name is synonymous with love, mercy, and grace.

In Ephesians 2:4-5, Paul puts it like this: “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Unification Brings Joy!

When I was in kindergarten and primary school, sometimes the punishment for misbehaving in class was to sit in the corner. In an earlier era, when a student did not pay attention in class, he might have to sit in a corner wearing a dunce cap. Today, when a child misbehaves, she might have to take a “Time Out”.



The Exiled Jews were like a Misbehaving Child

In all the above cases, the child is separated from their friends, and more importantly, from the one in authority. After spending some time alone, the child is reinstated with their fellow students.

Imagine the shame the student felt when separated. Imagine the joy the student felt when reunited with their friends.

Today’s reading is Nehemiah 9:9-21. The exiled Jews had returned to Jerusalem. They were exiled because they had sinned, tremendously, against God. Figuratively speaking, God gave them a “Time Out”, sat them in a corner and maybe even made them wear a dunce cap.

The chosen people had been exiled and their city destroyed. Imagine their lives in exile, in a foreign culture and without their God to turn to.

Now they were reunited! Imagine the joy they felt.

The Jews were now confessing their sins and repenting. They were rebuilding their spiritual life and re-establishing a relationship with God.

They were not just confessing individual sins, but the sins of their entire race. Like all of mankind, the Jews had turned away from God. It is man’s nature to think he does not need God, to think he is in charge of his own life.


Adam and Eve turned from God, and so did the Sethites.  Mankind turned from God when it built the Tower of Babel. Nonetheless, God chose Abraham to be the father of his chosen people.


As today’s story shows, even the chosen people turn from God.


Today we are no better. We are all sinners. We deserve more than a “Time Out.” We deserve death.


Yet God loves us so much that he re-instated us into a relationship with him, through the death of Jesus Christ.


Unification brings great Joy!