#1186 Zechariah 9 Part 2 In Foal Humility

 

The Coming King of Zion

9 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.

10 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.

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

I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;

today I declare that I will restore to you double.

13 For I have bent Judah as my bow;

I have made Ephraim its arrow.

I will stir up your sons, O Zion,

against your sons, O Greece,

and wield you like a warrior's sword.

The Lord Will Save His People

14 Then the Lord will appear over them,

and his arrow will go forth like lightning;

the Lord God will sound the trumpet

and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.

15 The Lord of hosts will protect them,

and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones,

and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine,

and be full like a bowl,

drenched like the corners of the altar.

16 On that day the Lord their God will save them,

as the flock of his people;

for like the jewels of a crown

they shall shine on his land.

17 For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!

Grain shall make the young men flourish,

and new wine the young women. Zechariah 9 ESV

Zechariah 9: 9-17

Behold thy king cometh unto thee - Now we just discussed the shadow king, Alexander the Great, who came once and only as a conqueror to the nations in the last post. Jerusalem was spared during his fateful march, but now we come to the fulness of what he pictured, it moves to the King of Zion, the Messiah. In Isaiah 9 you can see a similar order like this:

…5For every trampling boot of battle and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.… Isaiah 9: 5-7

Righteous and having salvation is He - Now this is different than any ruler they have ever known, all of them belong to the shadows, there is none righteous, not one. 

…4I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any go missing, declares the LORD. 5Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land. 6In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.… Jeremiah 23: 4-6

…29so that no one may boast in His presence. 30It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”… 1 Corinthians 1: 29-31

Humble and mounted on a donkey - How did other kings present themselves? You want to make a good first impression, right, and the world respects power, so they would have an entourage, men carrying gold or bronze shields, marching in front. There would be people on horseback, sometimes the emperor or the king would be on a large steed, a war horse, a sign of his virility, possibly in a beautifully decked out chariot. Men respect wealth, so the king would come bearing gifts, especially if he was visiting another monarch. People respect appearances, so he would have on the nicest clothes, the finest jewels, and he would anoint himself with oil so he would have a sort of shiny, faux aura. Not your King, Israel, not the first time He comes, He comes as the spotless lamb, a baby born in a manger, to a young girl, who is married to a politically insignificant guy. He comes as the most humble of us, a baby, a child  laid in a manger, under the shadow of a cross. When He presents Himself to the people 

…13Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well? 14Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel. 15By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey.… Isaiah 7: 13-15

…45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. 47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”… John 1: 45-47

On a colt, the foal of a donkey - A young donkey, here He comes to bring peace, the sacrifice that makes peace, between God and all who believe in His sacrifice.

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

5 “Say to Daughter Zion,

‘See, your king comes to you,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Matthew 21: 1-11

I will cut off the chariot - Now we jump from His first coming to His second. His first coming earned the right of  salvation, for God is just and so those He would save would have to be saved by grace, by the righteousness of Christ, and the atoning work of the only One Who was without sin. But we also know that when He overcame sin, death and the grave, God turned all judgment over to the Son. He is the rightful heir, both of God and of David. 

…21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes. 22Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, 23so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.… John 5: 21-23

He shall speak peace to the nations - He will destroy the waring nations, at the last battle, and from then on there shall be a time of peace. 

From the river to the ends of the earth - The whole world will come under His rule, many have tried to do that, having vast empires, but His will be the globe, and He will reign for a thousand years, during which time all His promises to Israel will be fulfilled. This includes returning them to their land with it's promised borders.

Because of the blood of My covenant with you - Not for any foreseen good in you, but because of the blood of His promise to Himself, to God, the covenant He made with His Son, by His Spirit. Look, J Mac says this well and gets it right, even back then.

And then he takes it a step further. Verse 11, “As for thee also,” – that is Israel – “by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit in which is no water.” You know, there’s a phenomenal thing here in the Hebrew and that is this, that this is spoken of as if it already happened. It’s a perfect tense. In other words, it’s just as good as done in that day. Because of the blood of the covenant, I have already sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit in which was no water.

You say, “Well, what does that mean?” Well, He says, first of all, because of the blood of the covenant. “Well, what blood is that?” Well, you remember back in Genesis 15? God made a promise to Abram. He said, “Abram,” – before he was Abraham, He said – “I’m going to make a great nation out of you and I’m going to promise to bless that nation. Now I want to seal that promise, so you get a goat and a ram and a heifer and a pigeon and a turtledove and you split the animals in half and then just kill the pigeon and the turtledove. And lay half of the animals on this side and half of the animals on this side, the dead pigeon on this side, and the dead turtledove on this side.” That’s a messy bloody deal.

You say, “What’s God up to?” He got all doing – done doing that and God just gave him a divine anesthetic, phish, put him to sleep. He’s zonked. And the Bible says that God, speaking of God as a smoking burning lamp and furnace, God passed between those pieces, Genesis 15. You say, “What in the world is that?” In the east, when people made a covenant, they made it in blood. And the way they did it was to cut an animal in half and walk between the bloody parts of the animal. That was the custom to seal a promise.

And God – watch this – God was not making a promise with Abram, so He just put Abram asleep and said, “You’re not involved in this, kid.” God was making a promise with God. Nobody went through those pieces but Him. He vowed with Himself to bless his people. That’s unconditional because God could never break a promise He made with Himself. Both parties are incapable of violating it because both parties are one in the same God. And so, He says it is because of My own covenant, the blood of that covenant, it may even also include the bloodshed in the Mosaic covenant.

And certainly, ultimately it is the covenant that is fulfilled most singularly in whose blood? The blood of Jesus Christ. Because of the blood that I that I passed between then, because of the blood of the Mosaic covenant, because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the once for all offering, because of those things, some pass, some yet to come, I’ll never violate My promise. It’s sealed in blood.

You say, “Well,” – people – people always say – amillennialists always say this, the people who don’t believe Israel has a place – they say, “Well, you see, Israel blew it. You see, Israel isn’t worthy to be redeemed. Israel isn’t worthy to be brought back. Israel forfeited their right.” Listen. It doesn’t say, “But I’m going to bring you back because you’re so wonderful.” Or, “I’m going to bring you back because you’ve just now and then been pretty good.” Or, “I’m going to bring you back because I feel sort of sorry for you.” It says, “I’m going to bring you back because I made a promise with Myself and I sealed that promise in blood. And when I do that, I keep My promise.” - J Mac

Against your sons, O Greece - Now after Alexander, Greece never had a ruler of that magnitude. It actually split into four parts, which were run by his generals. In the area north of Israel, there was a Greek ruler, a king named Antiochus Epiphanes, a wicked tyrant of a man, who tried to Hellenize the Jews, but was eventually chased off by a Judas Maccabaeus, who started a revolution against the yoke of Greece.

More on these times predicted by Daniel

Still more on Antiochus

One more for the Road

Then the Lord will appear over them - If you read the above links, you will see that Antiochus was a foreshadowing of the Antichrist, and Messiah will come and wreck Him. Israel will be rescued.

And roar as if drunk with wine - Drunk people are loud and unapologetic about it; these are drunk on victory. 

On that day the Lord God will save them - There will be no mistaking where the victory comes from.

There is coming a King. I hope you’ll be a part of His Kingdom. Who is that King? I’ll tell you who it is. Who was it that rode on the colt, the foal of an ass? The Lord Jesus Christ. Who will it be that comes back? The Lord Jesus Christ. He came once in humility, He returns in honor. He came in meekness, He returns in might. He came in poverty, He returns in power. He came in shame, and He returns in sovereignty. And Zechariah says, “Be comforted, Israel, someday your trouble will be over and salvation will come and you’ll reign with the King.”

And in case you doubt this, in 1977 in Panorama City. In case you doubt this, you better look back at Alexander the Great. That was sign number one. And you better look back at the – at the Maccabean revolution in 175 B.C. That was sign number two. And believe me, God kept the first two and I’m confident He’ll keep the last part, aren’t you? And it behooves us not only to examine our own hearts as Peter said knowing – “Seeing that you know these things shall come to pass, what manner of persons ought you to be?” We ought to examine our own hearts. - J Mac