The Return of the King

In The Lord of the Rings, the kingdom of Gondor has long been without its king. Rather, it has been overseen by a bit of a puppet ruler — a steward named Denathor who does nothing to safeguard the kingdom against the evil that is rising in the nearby land of Mordor. A wicked sorcerer by the name of Sauron has assembled a mighty army, bent on devouring all of what is known as middle earth.

A white tree stands in the court of the king of Gondor—withered and lifeless. It is a symbol of glory lost, rule abandoned, and hope deferred.

The people live in fear. They can feel that the evil of Mordor has awoken. They can tell that something terrible is coming. But Denathor refuses to do anything about it. He has lost all hope that Gondor can withstand the forces of Mordor. He slips into fatalistic and hopeless thinking.

Denethor’s fatalism poisons Gondor from the top down—draining morale, sabotaging alliances, weakening defense, endangering key people, and handing the evil Lord Sauron a psychological edge. His refusal to hope becomes almost as dangerous as Sauron’s armies.

But the day comes when the rightful king, Aragorn, returns. He does not seize power; he heals, restores, and brings life back to the land. He brings hope to a hopeless situation. And when he is enthroned, the tree blooms once more. The king’s return brings resurrection—not only of rule, but of righteousness.

That image captures the message of the prophet Zechariah. Written around 520 B.C., Zechariah’s message is given to a people who have returned from exile but are still living under the shadow of spiritual dormancy. The temple is unfinished. The priesthood is defiled. And there is no king on the throne. There is no hope.

The people had returned to the land, but the glory had not returned. What they needed was not just a political ruler—but a righteous king, who would cleanse, rebuild, and restore the presence of God among them.

And so Zechariah gives a message of resurrection—not of bodies rising from tombs, but of righteousness rising in a people. He proclaims: The King is coming. The tree will bloom again.

This is the fourth and final week of our sermon series “A Whole New World” where we are looking at how we can live out the resurrection in a time when our world seems uncertain — even volatile. What we have found is that placing our ultimate hope in Jesus can and will help us enter into a new time of human flourishing.

The prophet Zechariah spoke at the same time as the prophet Haggai who we discussed last week. Just to catch you up in case you missed or forgot, we are talking about the lower kingdom of Judah in the Persian era of Israel’s history. The Babylonians had conquered and deported God’s people, but they were returned to Jerusalem after Babylon fell to the Persian empire. But here’s the important thing to remember: Israel is not sovereign, they are subjects of Persia.

They are disoriented in faith and identity because both their religious and their governing structures are crushed. The people are stagnant and in need of revival — as a community and as individuals.

The people lack righteousness — which is a state of living in which we reflect the heart of God. It means that we are in right relationship with God, with ourselves, and with one another.

And this is really important because the farther away that the people — that we are — from a right relationship with God, the source of hope, the farther away we are from being able to live in the world as it is without toiling away into hopelessness.

The farther away we are from reflecting the heart of God, the farther away we are from being a beacon of hope to the world around us.

And the Israelites are really struggling with this, not only because they are facing an incredible obstacle when it comes to rebuilding their home, but also because they have been suffering under Babylonian rule for more than a generation. They have been formed and deformed by the culture of Babylon.

And now they’ve come home, and the people who were charged with their development — namely the high priest Joshua — aren’t doing their job well. And the nation is suffering because of it.

So hear the words of the prophet Zechariah

Zechariah 3:1–3 NRSV

Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.

Zechariah’s vision begins not with triumph but with tragedy. Joshua the high priest stands before the angel of the Lord, clothed in filthy garments, with Satan standing to accuse him. This is not just about one man—it’s a vision of the spiritual state of the entire people.

The priesthood, which was meant to be holy, is defiled. The temple, meant to be a dwelling place for God, lies in ruins. This is a people spiritually unclean, carrying the residue of sin, compromise, and exile. They are hopeless.

Just like the Tree of Gondor, the people of Israel are alive—but barely. They have form without fruit, presence without power. The heart of their problem is not political—it is righteousness and a hope lost.

In our Wesleyan Methodist theology, this is what sin does: it not only separates us from God, it disfigures our calling. It leaves us like Joshua—wearing filthy robes when we were meant to shine in holy garments. But God is not willing to leave the people this way. The text goes on…

Zechariah 3:4–5 NRSV

The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And to him he said, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with the apparel; and the angel of the Lord was standing by.

But then comes the turning point. God Himself speaks: “Remove the filthy garments from him… Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” A clean turban—a sign of restoration—is placed on Joshua’s head. The priest is not condemned—he is cleansed.

This is the image of resurrection Zechariah wants us to see. God doesn’t abandon His people in defilement. He removes their iniquity, clothes them in righteousness, and prepares them for service once again.

Zechariah 6:11–13 NRSV

Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak; say to him: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Here is a man whose name is Branch: for he shall branch out in his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he that shall build the temple of the Lord; he shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. There shall be a priest by his throne, with peaceful understanding between the two of them.

Then the prophecy shifts. Zechariah sees a figure called “The Branch”—a messianic title. He will build the temple of the Lord, bear royal honor, and sit and rule as both priest and king.

This is a vision of Jesus Christ—the true Priest-King who not only intercedes for us but rules over us. In Him, righteousness is not only imputed—it is enthroned.

In Wesleyan thought, this is more than justification — which is a way of saying that God has made it just as if we’d never sinned. It is entire sanctification—God doesn’t just forgive sin; God purifies the heart and restores us to holy love. What this means is that life is not just about being saved from hell, but about being made fit for heaven through the indwelling reign of Christ.

Zechariah 9:9–11 NRSV

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

This famous prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus’ triumphal entry—but in Zechariah’s context, it is a future hope. The people are living without a king. The line of David seems broken. But Zechariah says: He is coming—and He will bring not just salvation, but righteousness.

And here’s the miracle: His rule will not come by force, but by humility. He will enter gently. He will speak peace to the nations. His dominion will stretch from sea to sea.

The King who is coming will not only reign over the land—He will resurrect the land, breathing life into dead places. Under His rule, righteousness will flourish again—like the Tree of Gondor blooming once more under Aragorn’s reign.

And this isn’t just eschatological — or speaking about the end of all things in the future. The King is returning to reign in us here and now. Every time a heart turns from sin, every time a life is surrendered to the Spirit, the King takes His throne anew.

This is the practical holiness that we are called to: Christ does not only save us—He rules in us. His resurrection life becomes our righteousness, and the ultimate source of our eternal hope. Check out this vision from the very end of our Bibles.

Revelation 22:1–2 NRSV

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Scripture ends with another tree—not the withered one of Gondor, but the Tree of Life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, with leaves for the healing of the nations. This is the fulfillment of all that Zechariah foresaw—a city with the Lord reigning as King, and His people walking in righteousness.

Zechariah’s visions weren’t just for ancient Israel. They are for the Church today. We too can find ourselves returned from exile—present in body, but not yet alive in Spirit. We can have churches, songs, and sermons—and yet feel like something is missing. We can still feel hopeless.

But the promise remains: The King is returning. And when He does, everything dead will live again.

The Return of the King in The Lord of the Rings is not just a military victory—it’s a moral and spiritual renewal. When Aragorn takes the throne, he heals the wounded, restores the kingdom, and brings the Tree of Gondor back to life, and with it the hope that evil will not get the final word.

This is what Jesus, our Righteous King, does through His resurrection. He restores what was lost. He makes the dead live. He reigns—not just on a throne in heaven—but in the hearts of those who surrender to Him.

Revival is righteousness restored. It is the return of Christ to His rightful place in us, as both Savior and Sanctifier, Priest and King.

Where are you still experiencing the hopelessness that this world seems to be so good at offering to us? Where do you need God’s resurrection power to come and restore you?

The reality is that God will get the final word. The resurrection power of Jesus is alive in our world now, and will complete its work through us as we forge a whole new world together as God’s beloved people.