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The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
The Old Testament prophets were primarily forth tellers rather than foretellers.
They communicated the message of God to the needs of the day.
“Listen to the Major messages of the Minor Prophets’ is the title of the series we will be working through for the next few weeks.
Today we are talking about Zechariah, Rejoice Greatly. Your King Comes to You.
Text
Zechariah 9:9-10 NKJV
The Coming King
9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the horse from Jerusalem;
The battle bow shall be cut off.
He shall speak peace to the nations;
His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.’
Scripture Reading
Zechariah 9:1-10 NKJV
Israel Defended Against Enemies
9 The burden of the word of the Lord
Against the land of Hadrach,
And Damascus its resting place
(For the eyes of men And all the tribes of Israel
Are on the Lord);
2 Also against Hamath, which borders on it,
And against Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
3 For Tyre built herself a tower,
Heaped up silver like the dust,
And gold like the mire of the streets.
4 Behold, the Lord will cast her out;
He will destroy her power in the sea,
And she will be devoured by fire.
5 Ashkelon shall see it and fear;
Gaza also shall be very sorrowful;
And Ekron, for He dried up her expectation.
The king shall perish from Gaza,
And Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
6 “A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod,
And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
7 I will take away the blood from his mouth,
And the abominations from between his teeth.
But he who remains, even he shall be for our God,
And shall be like a leader in Judah,
And Ekron like a Jebusite.
8 I will camp around My house
Because of the army,
Because of him who passes by and him who returns.
No more shall an oppressor pass through them,
For now I have seen with My eyes.
The Coming King
9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the horse from Jerusalem;
The battle bow shall be cut off.
He shall speak peace to the nations;
His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.’
Matthew 21:1-11 NKJV
The Triumphal Entry
1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.
3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”
4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
5 “Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”
6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.
8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Hosanna in the highest!”
10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”
11 So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Prayer
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Introduction
The fourteen chapters of Zechariah’s prophecy form to parts.
Chapters 1-8, constructed chiefly around the prophet’s eight visions, were intended to encourage the people and their leaders in the rebuilding of the temple.
With his older contemporary, Haggai, Zechariah was successful in this.
Chapters 9-14, which record the later ministry of the prophet, contain some of the most remarkably precise messianic predictions of the Old Testament.
The entry of Zion’s lowly King is described in 9:9, the mourning over the pierced One in 12:10-14, the smiting of the Shepherd and the scattering of the flock in 13:7.
And there are others.
Our primary concern is with the first of these, the coming of the messianic King riding on a colt into Jerusalem.
The fate of the tyrant was sealed, and His reign must inevitably come to an end.
But the Messiah’s power was to be for all time.
Zephaniah 9:10 says, “His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.”
The Lord of Hosts would be the redeemer of His people who, cleansed and sanctified, should boast in their unfailing helper.
This was the reference in its own historical context.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem on the Sunday before He was crucified, He was careful to fulfil this prophecy in every detail.
This was His “Royal entry.”
He entered Jerusalem as King to make a final appeal to His people, but He was rejected and crucified.
The third fulfilment of this prophecy is yet to come.
Someone has said that deep down in their hearts all people desire a king to rule over them.
Whether this be true or not, there is something about the relationship of a good king and his subjects to which no other form of government can compare.
In the wisdom of God, this is one figure He has chosen to show the relationship between Himself and His children.
Zechariah’s haunting words came down to us over the centuries, “Rejoice greatly, Your King comes to you.”
Let’s look at three applications of this.
- The Old Testament says, “The King will come.”
Looking back we can see in the garden of Eden the first prophecy of Jesus’ coming.
Genesis 3:15, And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
The patriarchs added their testimony.
The psalmist said in Psalm 10:16, The Lord is King forever and ever;
The nations have perished out of His land.
The prophets spoke of a “king who would reign in righteousness.”
He would be of David’s line, He would be born in Bethlehem, He would be a man but more than a man, He would save His people.
Of all the prophets, perhaps Isaiah made the most messianic statements.
He referred to the coming King, God’s anointed.
In one verse Isaiah used five names, each suggesting a facet of His character, Isaiah 9:6, For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Then Isaiah said something the centuries since have not dimmed but have only served to light up.
Isaiah 9:7, Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Read the pages of the Old Testament, and the glow from these messianic passages becomes brighter and brighter as the years go by.
This revelation is both increasing and progressive.
This is the burden of the Old Testament, “The King will come.”
2. The New Testament says, “The King has come.”
Jesus was born a King when an infants cry broke the stillness of the nought in that cattle shed in Bethlehem.
Humble shepherds saw a light and heard angels sing.
Jess was proclaimed a King when in exact fulfilment of Zechariah’s prophecy He entered Jerusalem to the cheers of the multitudes.
They cried, “Blessed is the King that comes in the name of the Lord”.
When the Pharisees urged Him to rebuke His disciples, He replied, “I tell you that, if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.”
The time had come, as Zechariah had prophesied, for Him to be proclaimed King, and nothing could prevent it.
Jesus was crowned King when He came forth as the risen Son of God from the tomb.
Death could not conquer the King of life and death and time and eternity.
Jesus is reigning now.
In one of his great praises to God, Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:17, Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Jesus reigns in the spiritual realm.
The kingdom of God is not a state or condition of this world nor an ideal order of nations and life.
It centres on a person, the King.
1 Corinthians 15:25, For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
3. Receive your King.
But above all, the Christian gospel says, the Bible says, the Holy Spirit says, to every person everywhere and for all time, “Receive your King!”
Jesus’ coming forces us to face two alternatives, firstly we may sing hosannas and cast our palm branches before Him with adoring emotions, and then, as the challenge to Him grows sharp, let Him be led out of another gate to a hill called Calvary.
Or secondly we may receive Him as the King of our lives and dedicate ourselves to His cause.
What was Jesus doing son the day He entered Jerusalem on that donkey?
Up until now, Jesus had avoided being called “the Son of David’ because of the reference to the promised King- Messiah.
He did not wish to raise the issue with the rulers prematurely.
But now the time had come, and He presented Himself as King.
What was the reaction?
The Pharisees were indignant and tried to crush the demonstration, but this didn’t work.
The enthusiasm of the multitudes knew no end.
As long as a year before they had wanted to take Jesus to Jerusalem to make Him King, but He would not consent.
Now they visualised Him throwing the Romans out of Jerusalem and taking the throne.
When He did no such thing, their enthusiasm died quickly.
What was the immediate result?
The King was crucified.
When the Roman governor surrendered to the pressure to crucify an innocent man, he put a title over the cross in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
John 19:19, Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was:
JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
The King was “declared to be the Son of God with power” in Romans 1:4 by His resurrection from the dead.
Fifty days later, at Pentecost, the King was preached as “both Lord and Christ” in Acts 2:36 and three thousand were converted.
What will be the ultimate result?
Ultimately Jesus will come to rule over all people and all things.
This was the prophet’s vision.
The prophets dared to dream of a time when nations would beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, when nation would not lift up sword against nation nor learn to war anymore.
This was the psalmist’s dream.
Psalm 93:1, The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord is clothed,
He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.
This was the great apostle’s faith.
To Paul, crowning Christ as King was the ultimate significance of the resurrection.
This is the dynamic of Christian missions, the faith that “Jesus shall reign wherever the sun does.
This is the substance of John’s vision on Patmos.
He told us, in Revelation 11:15, Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”
And on an even higher note, he said in Revelation 17:14, These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”
But the peak of John’s vision and of the whole Bible is this, Revelation 19:6, And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!
This is the ground of Christian hope.
There is no hope except in Jesus, the King.
Every other kind of life is bound by the limits of this shrinking world, but Christianity has all the windows open toward the limitless expanse of eternity.
“Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!”
Conclusion.
This is the Christ who stands at the door of our hearts.
What shall be our response to Him?
God grant that we may say, “Blessed and mighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords, merciful Christ of God, come!
Come now.
My life is Yours.
Enter my heart and reign, both now and forevermore.”
These are arguments for you to consider, to help you see faith is not blind but that there are reasons for believing.
At the moment of truth, after you have considered the arguments, you must receive the gift of faith and choose to believe.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
Giving
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2022 IS A YEAR OF REPENTANCE AND BLESSINGS
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