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. [Zechariah 9.9]
Rewind to about 100 B.C.
There is no Bible. The is certainly no New Testament. There is no symbolic cross. There is no Jesus.
Among the Jewish people however, there is hope of a Messiah. Let's rewind to that time.
Let's try to imagine life before Christ and the Bible as we know it. Let's try to comprehend being actual genetic descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ...and yet let's try to do so while erasing anything we know that has been learned from the New Testament...
As I read in Zechariah today, I found myself intrigued with life "B.C."
It is so easy, in religious arrogance, to scoff and chide the people who rejected Jesus Christ. But, I dare say, with great conviction, that even fewer people today, in their current state of pathetic religious existence (if it might even be called that), would accept Christ - let alone anticipate Him!
Furthermore, very few Christians I know (including myself), based on their knowledge of the Law and the Prophets (basically, the Old Testament), would even come close to concluding that Messiah was coming. And, I certainly do not think they would ascertain the details of the Advent from the content of the Law and the Prophets.
No, I am not being harsh. I am simply stating facts based on what may be seen in Christendom today (particularly in the USA). Most of us only recognize Advent scriptures in the Law and the Prophets (Old Testament) because the New Testament either directly quotes or strongly alludes to them. And frankly, many of the direct Advent scriptures (like the one above) are not known from personal perusal of the Scriptures, but from Christmas cards! I think most people, like me, run upon Advent scriptures with no anticipation or understanding of their continuity with the whole of the prophecy.
I can appreciate the religious leaders who rejected Jesus. I could only wish I were as dedicated as them in Jesus' time! But when I consider the Apostles... Were they just super ignorant and gullible enough to believe anything? Or, did they have some understanding of the Law and the Prophets (anticipating Messiah) and were willing enough to accept things they could not explain? I think the latter is the case.
Father, help me today to be a real student of You. Help me to be like the first true believers in Jesus and therefore of You.
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