Connie Gundry Tappy, Senior Writer and Resource Strategist

Scripture

Zechariah 9:9-12

9   Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
          Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
     Lo, your king comes to you;
          triumphant and victorious is he,
     humble and riding on a donkey,
          on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10  He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
          and the war horse from Jerusalem;
     and the battle bow shall be cut off,
          and he shall command peace to the nations;
     his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
          and from the River to the ends of the earth.

11  As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
          I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
12  Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
          today I declare that I will restore to you double.

Devotional

Anticipating the future fulfilment of these promises, the prophet Zechariah also declared, “And I [the LORD] will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. . . . On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (Zech 12:10; 13:1).

Recognizing the present fulfilling of these promises through Christ, the apostle Matthew wrote: “Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”; but you are making it a den of robbers.’ The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. . . . the children [were] crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ [And Jesus] left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there” (Matt 21:12-17). The most difficult work of fulfilling God’s promises lay just ahead.

Prayer

Lord God, please help us to honor Jesus’ unfathomably difficult yet unwaveringly faithful fulfilling of your gracious and merciful promises to your people by heeding your exhortation that we “Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which [we] were called and for which [we’ve] made the good confession.” By your Spirit, help us to “keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which [you] will bring about at the right time—[you] who [are] the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,” who “alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light . . .—to [you] be honor and eternal dominion” (from 1 Tim 6:12-16). Amen.

Connie Gundry Tappy, Senior Writer and Resource Strategist

Scripture

Zechariah 9:9-12

9   Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
          Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
     Lo, your king comes to you;
          triumphant and victorious is he,
     humble and riding on a donkey,
          on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10  He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
          and the war horse from Jerusalem;
     and the battle bow shall be cut off,
          and he shall command peace to the nations;
     his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
          and from the River to the ends of the earth.

11  As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
          I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
12  Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
          today I declare that I will restore to you double.

Devotional

Anticipating the future fulfilment of these promises, the prophet Zechariah also declared, “And I [the LORD] will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. . . . On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (Zech 12:10; 13:1).

Recognizing the present fulfilling of these promises through Christ, the apostle Matthew wrote: “Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”; but you are making it a den of robbers.’ The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. . . . the children [were] crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ [And Jesus] left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there” (Matt 21:12-17). The most difficult work of fulfilling God’s promises lay just ahead.

Prayer

Lord God, please help us to honor Jesus’ unfathomably difficult yet unwaveringly faithful fulfilling of your gracious and merciful promises to your people by heeding your exhortation that we “Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which [we] were called and for which [we’ve] made the good confession.” By your Spirit, help us to “keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which [you] will bring about at the right time—[you] who [are] the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,” who “alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light . . .—to [you] be honor and eternal dominion” (from 1 Tim 6:12-16). Amen.