The Advent of the King

III A Series of Revelatory Oracles

B Reception, Text: 9:9-10:12

Title: The Advent of the King

Introduction

I cannot remember an Easter week when I did not preach on the first two verses of our text on Palm Sunday, 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. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. This passage is quoted as applying to Jesus triumphal Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem In both Matthew and John’s gospels. We read in John 12:12-15, The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!’ “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” The Jews did not miss the event, but they missed the significance of it. I heard a humorous Palm Sunday story that ironically sums up the event. A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, dad?” “You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, so we got Palm Branches today.” The little boy replied, “Aw Shucks The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up” As far as the Jews were concerned they missed the Savior because in 5 short days they followed the Romans and their religious leaders in shouting “Crucify Him.” Pilate said, ‘Shall I crucify your king?” They answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” May I suggest that the meaning of Zechariah’s prophecy was lost on them for here he has announced the arrival and reception of the true King hundreds of years before it occurred, and in the verses that follow he sums up all that will come to pass as a result. Israel had developed such isolationist policies and hatred of the Gentiles that they could not fathom the worldwide dominion of Messiah. From 9:9 on the book of Zechariah is focused on the triumph of Messiah. These chapters are intended for all people of all times. They are the most quoted section of the prophets in the passion narratives of the Gospels. In Our passages for today we see the triumph of the crucified in the reign, the reunion and the revision.

I The Reign

The reign begins with the reception of verses 9 and 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. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. When Jesus rides into Jerusalem in fulfillment of this prophecy He is heading for Good Friday, the cross and the tomb followed by the resurrection and ascension. It is a deliberate choice of a path laid out for Him from all eternity. He is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world and He knows it. As the Palm Sunday hymn by Henry Milman puts it, “Ride on, ride on, in majesty! Hark! all the tribes Hosanna cry; O Savior meek, pursue Thy road With palms and scattered garments strowed. Ride on, ride on, in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die! O Christ! Thy triumph now begin Over captive death and conquered sin. Ride on, ride on, in majesty! The wingèd squadrons of the sky Look down with sad and wondering eyes To see the approaching sacrifice. Ride on, ride on, in majesty! Thy last and fiercest strife is nigh; The Father, on His sapphire throne, Expects His own anointed Son. Ride on, ride on, in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die; Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain, Then take, O God, Thy power, and reign.” Here rides the rightful heir to the throne of David into David’s city and as David delivered Israel from its earthly enemies this last and final king shall deliver Israel from all its spiritual enemies. His victory will not come like David’s through chariots and war-horses and battle bows. It will come through His atonement and the Spirit of God. It will be true peace, and it will cover the earth with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Even now this is in the process of fulfillment, but it will not be complete until he returns again.

II The Reunion

In verses 11-17 we have a metaphorical description of the kingdom of Messiah. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior’s sword. Then the Lord will appear over them; his arrow will flash like lightning. The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms of the south, and the Lord Almighty will shield them. They will destroy and overcome with slingstones. They will drink and roar as with wine; they will be full like a bowl used for sprinkling the corners of the altar. The Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. How attractive and beautiful they will be! Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women. James Smith writes, “Since the context here is messianic, the bondage here spoken of must be spiritual rather than physical. It is the bondage of sin and the snare of the Evil One which is being metaphorically described by Zechariah.” There are clear links to historical occurrences, but they are framed in such a way that the result promised exceed the actual experiences of history. They had escaped from Alexander, but new threats arose from his successors, and reached a zenith in Antiochus Epiphanes. The Greeks again attempted to destroy the Jewish faith. In II Maccabees, an apocryphal book with important historical information, we read in 5:11-14, “When these happenings were reported to the king (Antiochus), he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm. He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses. There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants. In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery.” Antiochus forbid Jewish worship and desecrated the temple but his efforts were met by the small army of Judas Maccabeus which triumphed. The words, They will destroy and overcome with slingstones, remind us of David and Goliath and how the small army of the Maccabees succeeded because one man can be an army when supported by the Lord. To this day the victory is celebrated by Jewish people in the festival of Hanukkah. However as you read Zechariah’s description, you can see that it far exceeds the events of that time. It does this because it is also describing the triumph of Messiah’s kingdom. The radiant description of believers at the end of our text, They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. How attractive and beautiful they will be! also reminds us that this is describing a future far beyond their immediate comprehension, and the Lord does this because of his covenant love sealed by the blood.

III The Revision

The revision of which I spoke is not a revision in God’s plan, for that will inexorably be fulfilled. There is a revision here, however, in the hopes and expectations of Israel. Their hope was firmly fixed in the belief that their Messiah would be a conquering general who would bring to literal fulfillment all the Old Testament predictions of their success and blessing. This led to their complicity in the cruel death of their own Messiah, Jesus. Thus, predictions such as we find in 10:11 were assumed to find fulfillment in literal dominance, They will pass through the sea of trouble; the surging sea will be subdued and all the depths of the Nile will dry up. Assyria’s pride will be brought down and Egypt’s scepter will pass away. The ancient empires of their enemies such as Egypt and Assyria did indeed pass into oblivion, but not because they were conquered by Israel. The subjugation of the nations would occur not by might or power, but by my Spirit says the Lord of Hosts. Their Messiah would be a captain of spiritual salvation. Even some modern interpreters continue to make this mistake claiming they are literal interpreters of the Bible, but if God never intended it to have a carnal, material and physical meaning, then it is not “literal” to interpret it that way. Let us go through these verses one by one. Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone. This means dependence on the Lord for blessings will be restored. The idols speak deceit, diviners see visions that lie; they tell dreams that are false, they give comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd. This means idolatry will be eliminated. “My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the Lord Almighty will care for his flock, the house of Judah, and make them like a proud horse in battle. This means they will be delivered from foreign oppression, that is from all their enemies. From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler. This means a new house of Israel will be built by Messiah, the descendant of Judah and David. Together they will be like mighty men trampling the muddy streets in battle. Because the Lord is with them, they will fight and overthrow the horsemen. This means that their enemies will be trodden under foot, and that can only happen when the Redeemer crushes the serpent’s head. I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them. This means the compassion of Christ will wipe away the past and their sins will be removed as far as he east is from the west. The Ephraimites will become like mighty men, and their hearts will be glad as with wine. Their children will see it and be joyful; their hearts will rejoice in the Lord. This continues the idea of triumph over enemies and is fully accomplished only in Messiah, Jesus. The theme of verses 8-12 is that the scattered people shall be gathered from all parts of the world, and dwell in their own land, under the protection of Jehovah. “I will signal for them and gather them in. Surely I will redeem them; they will be as numerous as before. Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember me. They and their children will survive, and they will return. I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon, and there will not be room enough for them. They will pass through the sea of trouble; the surging sea will be subdued and all the depths of the Nile will dry up. Assyria’s pride will be brought down and Egypt’s scepter will pass away. I will strengthen them in the Lord and in his name they will walk,” declares the Lord. This regathering of the people is a redemptive event. It is purposely couched in language reminiscent of the Exodus from Egypt. The people are not just gathered; they are bought back or redeemed. As the children of Israel multiplied in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, so they have multiplied in the places where they were scattered in accordance with God’s promise to Abraham but since we are the seed of Abraham, the numbers enormously increase and there will not be room enough for them. They are brought to the land of promise as those who escaped from Egyptian bondage but are made heirs of the world for, blessed are the meek and they shall inherit the earth. In bringing his people back the Lord is ready to repeat the miracles of the Exodus. The Red Sea, through which Jehovah led his people, was a figure of the sufferings which they had endured in Egypt, and brought destruction upon their enemies and likewise, the sea of trouble, the surging sea is subdued for their regathering. I think no one would foolishly assert that any of this physically occurred. It occurred spiritually in Messiah’s gathering of a redeemed people. And they are us.