The Coming King of Zion
Notes
Transcript
Text
Text
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.
Prayer
Prayer
Sermon
Sermon
Introduction
Introduction
On this Palm Sunday, we will be looking at the beginning of the end.
This text was written to the people of God in a time of restlessness and anxiety.
They had just returned from being captives in Babylon.
The temple was slowly being rebuilt, and hadn’t been finished yet.
Haggai (1:2-4) tells us about the people’s lack of zeal, and Ezra explains there was fear of failure.
Speaking on God’s behalf, the prophet Zechariah told of a coming king, and called the people to “shout aloud,” and “rejoice greatly.”
What reason were these fearful and apathetic people given to do this—to shout aloud and rejoice greatly?
Zechariah 9:9 “… Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he…”
Like cast aways drifting in the ocean and without hope, they were told, “Your king is coming, and he has salvation.”
Lord willing, we will see how the Lord Jesus Christ:
has fulfilled this promise (9);
is fulfilling this promise (10-11);
will fulfill this promise (12-13).
Christ Has Fulfilled This Promise
Christ Has Fulfilled This Promise
This is likely the most obvious connection for us to make. You have probably heard a good amount of Palm Sunday (or Triumphal Entry) sermons before.
In Matthew 21 (please turn there for a moment), we read the literal fulfillment of this prophecy.
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
On this day, the perfectly righteous Jesus came to the “daughter of Jerusalem” bringing salvation. This was the promise of Zech 9:9, and Matthew makes this connection for us, hand-over-hand—”this took place to fulfill what was spoken.”
Jesus had been healing the sick, casting out demons, teaching and preaching the word of God, and raising the dead. On Palm Sunday, all eyes in heavenly places now turned to this final episode. Where Jesus was to complete his great work of peace.
This is why he rode in on a donkey.
In his first coming, Jesus came not to crush the sinner beneath the hooves of a warhorse, but to redeem them.
We should meditate on this: the Lord Jesus, riding to his death, on a donkey. Few things capture the gentleness of Christ quite like this.
For us, as believers, this is an important reminder of the character of the Jesus—gentle and lowly.
For those who have not yet believed, it is also an important lesson. For now, Christ comes to the world on a donkey, but a day is coming when he will return for a second and final time, not on a donkey, but a warhorse.
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
Our greatest need is to respond to this Gospel. Jesus died to make sinners right with God. When we trust in him, we are no longer at war with God, but at peace.
This is how Christ has already fulfilled the promise of our text.
Christ Is Fulfilling This Promise
Christ Is Fulfilling This Promise
But now let’s consider how the Lord is fulfilling the promise of his word.
There are a number of ways to understand verses 10 and 11. For our purposes today, I want to focus on the sentence: “and he shall speak peace to the nations.”
Whenever we read of “the nations” in the Bible, we are almost always reading about the pagan nations of the world.
We should also remember that there was intense separation and animosity between the Jew and Gentile at this time. It’s been said that the first practical issue of the church was whether a Gentile could become a Christian or not.
The reality is that God did a truly astounding and amazing thing—he spoke peace to the pagan nations of the world. The people—out there and far off—who for thousands of years had warred with and corrupted Israel, had now been brought near.
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
As you read through the New Testament, particularly Acts and Galatians, the reality of the Gospel being given to the Jew first and then Gentile cannot be missed. Humanity’s salvation began in Jerusalem, but then, just as Christ said it would, spread to “all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Christ has been fulfilling this promise for 2,000 years. We have had 2,000 years of Christ’s power and reign.
Verse 13 refers to the sons of Zion and the sons of Greece. Here’s the simple question:
“Where are the temples of the Greek gods today?”
Now ask, “Where is the temple of the living God today?”
For 2,000 years, Jesus Christ has been building his church and sending his Gospel across the planet and the very gates of hell have failed to keep him out. “He shatters the doors of bronze and snaps the chains of iron” (Ps 107:16).
This text refers to the tribes of Ephraim and Judah, and it important to ask why that is.
For the tribes of Ephraim and Judah, who represent both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel, to be paired together paints a picture of restoration and unity.
And this united people will not be trampled by chariots or war horses, picked off by battle bows, and die in a failed war. God promises the opposite.
18 … I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
This is how Christ is fulfilling this promise today. But there’s more.
11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
The covenant mentioned here is the one that was sealed with blood under Moses between God and OT Israel.
The new and better covenant, which includes Gentiles (!), that you and I are members of, was sealed in the blood of Christ.
The cleansing power of this blood is as great as the one who shed it.
So, how much power does Jesus Christ have?
As someone who has been rescued from the waterless pit, what are you now doing?
Having been saved in such a way, what is impossible for you?
Christ has come, bringing you his righteousness. Morning by morning, there are new mercies for you to see.
For 2,000 years, he has continued keeping his promise. He speaks peace to the nations, and sets the prisoner free. This is the story of this present world. This is what it actually is.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
This is how Christ is fulfilling this promise.
Christ Will Fulfill This Promise
Christ Will Fulfill This Promise
Finally, let’s think about the future: how Christ will fulfill this promise.
God calls us “prisoners of hope” in Verse 12. This is such good news to us.
We are prisoners in the sense that we live with sinful bodies in a broken world that will come to an end.
But we have the hope of Jesus. We have his Spirit dwelling in us. We can come to his table now, and when we do so remember our ultimate hope: that we will feast with him eternally.
God commands these prisoners of hope to return to their stronghold.
In a sense, we are to return to our stronghold every day.
But when our life is over, we will at last enter into the keep of God for the last time.
Notice what God declares, “Today I declare that I will restore to you double.”
Think of Job—Job 42:10 “10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”
Job 42:17 “17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days.”
Think of Simeon—Luke 2:29–32 “29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.””
Think of Christ—
Isaiah 53:11 “11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”
Hebrews 12:2 “2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…”
His promise to us: Matthew 19:29 “29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”
Let’s end with the end. Christ’s first coming was the beginning of end. There are similarities between the first and the second, but there are key differences.
Christ rode on a donkey, he will ride on white horse.
Christ came to die, he will come again to kill.
Christ rode into town with his disciples, he will descend on the world with armies of angels and saints.
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.
Christ will fulfill this promise in the end of the world when he comes.
12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
Prayer
Prayer
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
