During this holy week, we will observe how the prophet Zechariah described the coming king who would save and deliver God's people. God, through Zechariah, said,
"[9] 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.
[10] 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."
RIGHTEOUS IS HE
Today, we zoom in on the statement, "Righteous and having salvation is he."
This coming king will live rightly before God; he will be just. Wickedness will be far from him, and his conduct and character will be correct in the sight of God. He will perfectly walk in obedience to the Father.
This is good news for you and me because Psalm 143:2 says that "no one living is righteous before God." So, if we were honest with ourselves for a moment, we must admit that we all stand guilty before God. We are all unrighteous.
So, if no one living is righteous before God, and God is a righteous judge, then how can we be declared innocent before God? What hope do we have as sinners? How can lawbreakers become law-keepers? How can the unrighteous become righteous? How can those who are stained with sin become cleansed of sin?
Well, the beauty of the gospel is that God offers us the righteousness of Christ. Through Jesus, we can be justified by faith, meaning we can be declared innocent and viewed as righteous before God. Put simply, we can be treated as one who has never sinned.
Jesus came and lived the life we could not live. He walked in perfect obedience to the Father, never once breaking the law. He is the definition of righteousness. And, in perfect obedience to the Father, he willingly marched to the cross to become a curse for you and me, taking upon himself the condemnation that we deserve. Through Jesus' death on the cross, our lawless sins are forgiven, covered, and cleansed. As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
So, if your faith resides in Jesus today, remember that you are now clothed in the righteousness of God. You are not seen as a guilty sinner but as one who has never sinned.
PRAY
“God, you tell me that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So, please deliver me from the many accusations Satan will throw at me today! I have fled to you for refuge. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! For your name’s sake, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!”