Dec 24: Job 33 | Zec 9 | Rev 7-9

Reading 1 - Job 33

"I am just like you before God; I too have been taken from clay" (Job 33:6).

Elihu takes the place of God -- he is now the inspired bearer of His words (Job 32:8). He is the "daysman" (AV) or "someone to arbitrate", whom Job had sought (Job 9:33).

In v 23 he speaks of "an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him."

Elihu understands the role of a mediator, and he uses words which are highly suggestive of Christ. Here is the intervention of a divine interpreter (Elihu... or, in later times, Christ) -- or messenger (Mal 3:1) to explain to the sufferer what his duty was, and how God might pardon him. This may be compared with Paul's letter to the Romans: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." and are now in need of a mediator -- which God alone can provide: Rom 3:23-26.

Reading 2 - Zec 9:9,10

"Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations" (Zec 9:9,10).

This is one of the most significant passages of all the Bible, as regards Messianic prophecy -- in both the Jewish and Christian traditions. Judaism sees in it a basis for a royal messianic expectation, whereas the New Testament and Christianity see a prophecy of the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem on the Sunday before his crucifixion (Mat 21:4,5; Mark 11:1-10; John 12:15). Thus, though the fulfillment may be in dispute, there