TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
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
Read: Zechariah 9:9-10
Listen: Zechariah 9
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Excitement and expectation fill the air as Passover begins in Jerusalem. Thousands arrive for the celebration and Jesus gives his disciples instructions to bring him a donkey and a colt. While perhaps a strange request, it makes perfect sense to first-century Jews familiar with the writings of the prophet Zechariah. With this request, Jesus fulfills a 500-year-old prophecy about Israel’s king coming to Jerusalem. It’s Jesus’s way of announcing, “Your king is here!” The crowd agrees and spreads their cloaks on the ground. However, as we will see, they are only interested in Jesus as king on their terms. He is the king they needed, but he is not the king they wanted. The salvation he offers is for a rebellious heart. What they want is a rescue from Rome.
We can come to the same conclusion about Jesus. We might say, “You can be my king if…” If what he asks makes sense to me, if he helps me get what I want or if it doesn’t require me to change much. But when we come to Jesus, we don’t follow him to get where we are going. We follow him to get where he is going.
TODAY: What is King Jesus asking you to go and do? Do you have a friend who needs to hear what Jesus has done for them? Do you need to apologize to someone? Or, is there a family member or friend you can serve? Ask God to help you know what to do, and go take that step today.
JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Read Malachi 3-4. Highlight anything that points to Jesus. Note the promised messenger and arrival in the temple.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
