To a world torn by war could there be anything more
comforting than one who brings peace? We
are so fortunate that we live in a place where war is a distant thing,
something that happens somewhere else and only tangentially touches most of
us. I have exactly one friend my age who
has died in war. Part of that is timing
but part is that my friends tend not to have been in the military. For the Middle East, then and now, war and death
by violence in combat of one sort or another has always been a way of
life. Zechariah saw a day when the
Messiah would come and bring peace, riding in on a donkey rather than a horse,
humbly coming to claim the kingdom. If we
think we are weary of war and rumors of war, imagine how those in Syria, Iraq,
Jordan, and Jerusalem must feel. We need
Him to come back and establish everlasting peace but the Bible tells me that it
will get much worse before it gets better.
Jesus enters the city in fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy
and then goes to the temple, judgment begins at the house of God. His work is to make clear the way to the Lord
by clearing from her courts the profiteers, those who will make money on the
desire of pilgrims to make sacrifice at the temple in obedience to the commandment. They will need animals that will be
acceptable to the priests, and they can provide pre-approved sacrificial animals. They will also need to pay the temple tax
with the currency you can only use there and these are ready to provide the exchange,
at a price of course. Matthew puts it
all in perspective, “But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the
children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were
indignant…” What others thought
wonderful caused the leaders to be indignant, they wanted none of it. Are we for peace and are we willing to have Him
challenge us in this way?
Paul admonishes Timothy to fight the good fight of faith, the
faith that is contained in the “good confession”, the confession of Jesus as
lord, the confession of His death as the atoning sacrifice for sin, His
resurrection as the seal of its acceptability to the Father, and the ascension
to the right hand of the Father where He lives to make intercession for
us. The commandment of which Paul speaks
likely refers to Timothy’s way of life, to never bring dishonor on the faith by
his conduct. In that attitude, we wait for the day of His appearing in power
and glory as the King of kings and Lord of lords. That peace Zechariah saw Him bringing is
meant to be established now in us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. We have peace because we have
confidence.
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