Your King Comes!

“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.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
    and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
    and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
    and from the River to the ends of the earth.” Zechariah 9:9-10

“The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’ And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

“’Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
    sitting on a donkey’s colt!’

“His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.” John 12:12-16

Announced by prophets, the True King would come. To an exiled people facing rebuilding, in turmoil, opposed, He was coming. In present upheaval and darkness they could anchor their souls in the light of His promised, righteous reign. He might not meet their expectation of ruler at present, but they could find assurance that behind and around and above it all, He was in control.

The call to rejoice can be jarring in our self-centered world. The promise of victory and peace seems a vapor of unreason in our warring culture. What troubles we endure, what complaints we leave to stew! Caught up in everything that tangles our nerves, offends our rights, and rattles our emotions, we don’t want to heed a call to focus elsewhere. Life about us and our issues leaves no room for hoping for a promise or exalting the newborn King.

But Christmas calls us to live differently. ‘Rejoice greatly’ is a command that takes turning to look for Jesus. Is it salvation we need? Is it humility, freedom from self-righteousness? What turmoil needs the tools to conquer? What unsettledness, what anxiety begs for peace that lasts? The King is born! The Prince of Peace is nigh! Jesus lives and reigns!

“Hark! The herald angels sing,
‘Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!’
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With the angelic host proclaim,
‘Christ is born in Bethlehem!’

Christ, by highest heav’n adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity!
Pleased as Man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel!

Hail, the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

Hark! The herald angels sing,
‘Glory to the newborn King!'” ~Charles Wesley (1739)

Lord, by faith, may I rejoice in You, present and coming King.