Zechariah 9:9–12

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. ¹⁰I 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. ¹¹As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. ¹²Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.

The Lord’s prophet Zechariah is inspired to declare that there will be a day when a king, not just any king, but your King will come.  Amid all the complexity of selfishness, tragedy, heartbreak, pain, evil, and injustice came a King bringing His own conditions of peace. So “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  . . . Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey” (9).  Just a few months ago, on Palm Sunday, we welcomed the King’s triumphant arrival in Jerusalem.  And we have seen Him arrive so many times before that we know how His journey ends, with beatings and merciless torture.  This King, your King, comes into His glory on a wooden, cross-shaped, bloodied throne.  

Today we again embrace our heavenly King.  His technology has not changed.  No matter the age we live in, humbly is the only way our Lord and Savior enters this world.   Your King rides into the world to graciously serve you with His word of forgiveness and peace, and we receive Him with reverence, rejoicing because as the psalmist writes He “is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 145:8). Jesus, our King, speaks peace, “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off” (10a).  The peace Christ delivers is eternal peace with God.  He is not just giving some sort of peaceful, easy, feeling or simply the absence of warfare. The peace of Christ is a rich peace, the peace of harmony, wholeness, and blessedness with our heavenly Father.  Today Jesus speaks peace to you with His forgiveness and restoration as His dearly beloved brothers and sisters.  

Today, Jesus comes humbly into your midst speaking peace to all who confess their sin with His word of absolution that cleanses you from all your sins.  Make no mistake, Jesus is a powerful King, a King who can condemn and “destroy both soul and body in hell” for eternity (cf. Matthew 10:28).  Yet with His might, He cuts off the chariots, warhorses, and battle bows in our defense against the attacks of Satan, the world, and our own sinful flesh. 

Through His saving death and resurrection, Christ Jesus also guarantees that the day of resurrection is coming for all.  Martin Luther puts it in the Small Catechism, “On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.”  On that great day the dead in Christ shall rise, and we shall be changed; and sin will be no more; and death will no more be a burden on us.  Then pain, heartbreak, and trial will be over, and we will sin, disappoint, and fail no more.  Thanks be to God, Jesus our King has come, and continues to come humbly to bring you under His reign of peace, freedom, and hope, and He will come again to set us free forever and ever: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: Amen.         

825 North 1^st West

Cheyenne Wells, CO, 80810-0728

Sunday Service begins at 9:00AM