Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Zechariah 9:9-13 and Romans 3:21-26
When the king comes to Jerusalem on a donkey, he will be righteous. Other translations use the word “just” instead of “righteous”. The Hebrew word is ṣaddîq which indicates both a right standing before God and a right conduct towards people. The Messiah was often described in prophecy as being righteous:
“After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities ” (Isa 53:11).
“See, a king will reign in righteousness
and rulers will rule with justice” (Isa 32:1).
“‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord,
‘when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The Lord Our Righteous Savior’” (Jer 23:5-6).
“They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him” (Acts 7:52).
He is worthy of being called The Lord our Righteous Savior not only because he is righteous and just but because he brings righteousness and justice to us:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations” (Isa 42:1).
““Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place” (Dan 9:24).
In order for him to bring us righteousness (justice), he must make us right (just) with God. Justice requires justification. We are born into sin making all of us naturally unrighteous:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one” (Rom 3:11-12).
“There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:22-23).
But Jesus came to earth as righteousness and brought us his righteousness as well. When he died on the cross, he made a way for us to be right with God:
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:25-26).
Jesus is just and the one who justifies. He sacrificed himself to pay the punishment that we deserved for us. Only Jesus could do this for us because only Jesus is righteous. There is no one else besides him who could pay our punishment for us.
So now if we accept his sacrifice on our behalf by believing in him and receiving this free gift, we become just before God. Our sentence has been paid.
“All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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