The NIV 365 Day Devotional

Jesus, the Son of David
The Wounded Warrior-King

In the time when Caesar Augustus was ruling a still growing Roman Empire, and Herod the Great was king in Israel, a baby boy came into the world in a small village not far from the city of Jerusalem. His birth was surround ed by a number of unusual circumstances, including a reference to an ancient prophecy of a coming king.

Afraid that the child represented a threat to his family’s throne, the brutal Herod killed all the male children aged two and under in the area of that village, called Bethlehem. The infant descendant of King David, how ever, escaped when his parents took him to Egypt to hide.

From the earliest threat to his life, to his final moments, Jesus always seemed to be engaged in a struggle. His life’s work was to announce the coming of God’s kingdom, bringing God’s just and gracious rule to earth. This involved conflict.

As Israel’s Messiah—the new king—he would end up fighting Israel’s greatest battle. Israel had been chosen as God’s key agent in his struggle for the heart of the world. So Jesus ended up fighting the world’s greatest battle as well. It was not a typical military confrontation. He came to engage the deeper spiritual struggle. It cost him his life.

The vital issue of that life and that work was whether deep healing is indeed possible. For Jesus the goal was the peace that would be won through his wounds and his suffering. Peace for you, and for the world. Healing for the world, and for you.

Jesus went out and looked for all the world like he lost his battle. The Romans put him to death as a wanna-be king, an imposter. He set out to take the hill, but when he turned around, all of his companions had deserted him. He ended up crucified on that hill. Alone.

But Jesus didn’t in fact lose this conflict. He knew exactly what he was doing. Jesus laid down his life for his friends. He suffered and he died, sacrificially, on behalf of others.

Jesus was fighting against evil in a radical new way. He willingly gave himself up to the power of evil, in order to take all its fury and pain and guilt upon himself. This evil has been wreaking havoc, ruining lives and people, lands and families, all through history. Including your history. After doing so much damage, this deep evil had at last been confronted.

And defeated.

When God raised Jesus from the dead, he declared that Jesus had won his battle. Jesus entered the dark tunnel. And then he came out on the far side of death with victory in his hand. He stood alive on the earth again. This meant that Jesus was not a wanna-be king after all. He really was a king—in fact, he was the king, the world’s true ruler.

Taken from the NIV Holy Bible, Compact, Military Edition.