Outline Jesus Brings Peace to the Nations based on Zechariah 9:9-10

I. Jesus unexpected entrance and John 12:12–13 “The large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’”

II. Read Zechariah 9:9. Zechariah 9:9 tells us, “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.”

III. Your King.

IV. Righteous.

V. Having Salvation.

VI. Riding on a donkey.

VII. What kind of peace is this? In fact, Zechariah says in 11:12 that the King will be sold for 30 pieces of silver. Zechariah says in 12:10 that the King will be pierced through with a spear and die. Zechariah says in 13:7 that the King will be struck and the sheep will scatter. This is not the kind of peace people wanted!

No wonder people—by and large—didn’t receive Jesus! By Friday Jesus was hanging under a sign pointing to the reason the Romans executed him. Mark 15:26, “And the inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’”

VIII. God turned the darkness into the light and Zechariah 9:10 “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.”

IX. “Behold, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, riding on a donkey and delivering peace!” and Word and Sacrament.

X. Life does not turn out the way we expect all the time. Judas betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Peter used a sword in Gethsemane to cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. All the disciples left Jesus when He was arrested.

(Words for new confirmands: Christopher, Jack, and Carter. You will be tempted to stay home from worship services now that you are confirmed. You will be tempted to join in the mean things some people do to others. You will be tempted to think you know everything about the Christian faith and have no need to regularly study the Bible. You will be tempted to give up on praying when your prayers do not seem to be answered. When you give in to some of those temptations, then repent in sadness and ask for forgiveness. Pray that God would help you grow in faith in Jesus as your Savior day after day. Trust that God is for you in Jesus Christ.)

XI. Being a follow of Jesus is a challenge.

XII. Conclusion. There is so much we don’t have quite yet. But there is so much more that we do have right now! “Behold, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, riding on a donkey and delivering peace!” Amen.