Today’s Reading: Zechariah 9-11

Rejoice, O people of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you.
He is righteous and victorious,
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.…
Because of the covenant I made with you,
sealed with blood,
I will free your prisoners
from death in a waterless dungeon.
Come back to the place of safety,
all you prisoners who still have hope!
I promise this very day
that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles. – Zechariah 9:9,11-12

THE LORD WILL APPEAR.

The Lord is coming. He is coming on a donkey. The Lord will come and free the captives, giving us hope. He calls His people to RETURN to Him so that He can SAVE them. The Shepherd GATHERS His sheep and RESTORES their beauty.

The Lord will appear above his people;
his arrows will fly like lightning!
The Sovereign Lord will sound the ram’s horn
and attack like a whirlwind from the southern desert.
The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will protect his people,
and they will defeat their enemies by hurling great stones.
They will shout in battle as though drunk with wine.
They will be filled with blood like a bowl,
drenched with blood like the corners of the altar.
On that day the Lord their God will rescue his people,
just as a shepherd rescues his sheep.
They will sparkle in his land
like jewels in a crown.
How wonderful and beautiful they will be!
The young men will thrive on abundant grain,
and the young women will flourish on new wine. – Zechariah 9:14-17

THE LORD WILL CARE.

The Lord will appear, will sound the ram’s horn, will attack like a whirlwind, will protect his people, will defeat their enemies, will rescue. He will care for His flock, strengthening them and restoring them because He has compassion on them. He will come to redeem them, because He loves them. God’s people will shout in battle, will be filled, will sparkle like jewels, will thrive, and will flourish. How wonderful and beautiful they will be!

So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter—the flock that was oppressed. Then I took two shepherd’s staffs and named one Favor and the other Union. – Zechariah 11:7

But the sheep rejected the shepherd who had redeemed them. So the Lord took the staff called Favor and broke it. Then He took the staff called Union and He broke it. The Lord had made a covenant with them but it was now broken and they had lost his favor. Judah & Israel had been family and now their union was no more.

“Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died.” – Zechariah 12:10

THE LORD WILL CLEANSE FROM SIN.

“Strike down the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered,
and I will turn against the lambs.
Two-thirds of the people in the land
will be cut off and die,” says the Lord.
“But one-third will be left in the land.
I will bring that group through the fire
and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver
and purify them like gold.
They will call on my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” – Zechariah 13:7b-9

Father God, we thank you for the grace you extend to us when we seek forgiveness. We are blessed by the ways in which you shepherd us and we thank you for your protection. Lord, thank you this morning for this reminder that you are a shepherd who loves us and who redeems us — a shepherd who was willing to rescue the flock marked for slaughter. We pray that you restore our nation back to a place of union and cleanse us from our sins, so that we can receive your unmerited favor. Amen.

“Listen to me, O Jeshua the high priest, and all you other priests. You are symbols of things to come. Soon I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. Now look at the jewel I have set before Jeshua, a single stone with seven facets. I will engrave an inscription on it, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and I will remove the sins of this land in a single day.” – Zechariah 3:8-9