The Enemy of Joy

 

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. 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. (Zechariah 9:9-10 ESV).

 

Jesus not only preached the kingdom, he practiced it. Every time he cast out a demon, healed a disease, or raised the dead, Jesus was exercising his kingly ministry by overthrowing Satan’s kingdom. The more Jesus established God’s kingdom, the more people started to treat him like a king. When he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, the people gave him a royal welcome, spreading their garments on his path. Before they could proceed to the coronation, however, Satan tried to persuade people to reject God’s kingdom by coaxing them to wish for the wrong kind of king.

 

In the first place, people misunderstood God’s plan for his kingdom, although the fact that Jesus rode in on a donkey should have given them a clue. The people thought the kingdom would come the way kingdoms usually do: through military force, rather than modest grandeur.

 

Second, they misunderstood the kingdom’s purpose. They hoped God would achieve political supremacy, driving out the Romans and establishing Israel’s independence once again. They prayed that God would bring the end of Roman oppression and the end of suffering and pain.

 

Third, people misunderstood the progress of the kingdom. They thought the full reign of God would come right away. Humanly speaking, it was people wishing for the wrong kind of kingdom that got Christ crucified.

 

But Jesus had a different strategy, one that not even Satan could anticipate. Jesus wanted to conquer the real enemies of humanity—sin, death, and the devil—and to establish his rule in the hearts of his people. The kingdom of God would not come by power and might, but through Christ’s suffering and death, his gentle submission to the cross. The enemy of joy has forever been defeated!