Day 360
OYB - December 26
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Devotional Old Testament New Testament Psalm Proverb
Rejoice greatly, 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-even on a donkey's colt.
With amazing accuracy, Zechariah looked down the corridor of time and described Jesus Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Without the Holy Spirit, how could Zechariah have possibly known that one day Christ would indeed be riding on a little donkey, with thousands of adoring worshipers shouting and laying palm branches in the road? Matthew was an eyewitness of this exact scene and quoted Zechariah, the prophet who had predicted it (Matthew 21:5).

There are sixty-one direct prophecies such as this one, which had to be fulfilled in perfect sequence for Jesus to fulfill all the Old Testament predictions of the Messiah. According to renowned mathematician and scientist Peter Stoner, if the prophets had concocted in their own wisdom only eight prophecies, the odds of having all eight come true in any one person would be the same as the odds of someone who is blindfolded finding-on his first try-a marked silver dollar in the state of Texas, with the entire state buried two feet deep in silver dollars!

Let's bow today, not before the babe in the manger, but before the mighty King who "will bring peace to the nations" (Zechariah 9:10)!
Zechariah 9:1-17

Prophecies against Neighboring Nations

1The burden of the word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach, with Damascus as its resting place (for the eyes of men, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward the Lord),

2And Hamath also, which borders on it;

Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.

3For Tyre built herself a fortress

And piled up silver like dust,

And gold like the mire of the streets.

4Behold, the Lord will dispossess her

And cast her wealth into the sea;

And she will be consumed with fire.

5Ashkelon will see it and be afraid.

Gaza too will writhe in great pain;

Also Ekron, for her expectation has been confounded.

Moreover, the king will perish from Gaza,

And Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

6And a mongrel race will dwell in Ashdod,

And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

7And I will remove their blood from their mouth

And their detestable things from between their teeth.

Then they also will be a remnant for our God,

And be like a clan in Judah,

And Ekron like a Jebusite.

8But I will camp around My house because of an army,

Because of him who passes by and returns;

And no oppressor will pass over them anymore,

For now I have seen with My eyes.

9Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

He is just and endowed with salvation,

Humble, and mounted on a donkey,

Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

10I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

And the horse from Jerusalem;

And the bow of war will be cut off.

And He will speak peace to the nations;

And His dominion will be from sea to sea,

And from the River to the ends of the earth.

Deliverance of Judah and Ephraim

11As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you,

I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

12Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope;

This very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you.

13For I will bend Judah as My bow,

I will fill the bow with Ephraim.

And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece;

And I will make you like a warrior’s sword.

14Then the Lord will appear over them,

And His arrow will go forth like lightning;

And the Lord God will blow the trumpet,

And will march in the storm winds of the south.

15The Lord of hosts will defend them.

And they will devour and trample on the sling stones;

And they will drink and be boisterous as with wine;

And they will be filled like a sacrificial basin,

Drenched like the corners of the altar.

16And the Lord their God will save them in that day

As the flock of His people;

For they are as the stones of a crown,

Sparkling in His land.

17For what comeliness and beauty will be theirs!

Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.

Revelation 17:1-18

The Doom of Babylon

1Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.” 3And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. 4The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, 5and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” 6And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. 7And the angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

8“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. 9Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, 10and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. 11The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. 12The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.

Victory for the Lamb

14These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”

15And he *said to me, “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. 16And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. 17For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. 18The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

Psalms 145:1-21

PSALM 145

The Lord Extolled for His Goodness.

A Psalm of Praise, of David.

1I will extol You, my God, O King,

And I will bless Your name forever and ever.

2Every day I will bless You,

And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

3Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised,

And His greatness is unsearchable.

4One generation shall praise Your works to another,

And shall declare Your mighty acts.

5On the glorious splendor of Your majesty

And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.

6Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts,

And I will tell of Your greatness.

7They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness

And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

8The Lord is gracious and merciful;

Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.

9The Lord is good to all,

And His mercies are over all His works.

10All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord,

And Your godly ones shall bless You.

11They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom

And talk of Your power;

12To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts

And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.

13Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

14The Lord sustains all who fall

And raises up all who are bowed down.

15The eyes of all look to You,

And You give them their food in due time.

16You open Your hand

And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17The Lord is righteous in all His ways

And kind in all His deeds.

18The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,

To all who call upon Him in truth.

19He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;

He will also hear their cry and will save them.

20The Lord keeps all who love Him,

But all the wicked He will destroy.

21My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,

And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

Proverbs 30:32

32If you have been foolish in exalting yourself

Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.