Rejoice in Our King

Each president of the United States when they have taken office each has been inaugurated into the office. The inauguration has taken on a very ceremonial element with the president taking an oath of office and then followed or preceded by parades balls and concerts. The inauguration is a celebration full of pomp and great ceremony that includes a grand guest list of congressmen and senators as well as celebrities. The president is paraded before everyone with high distinction in stretched limousines and dressed very well. Even to the point that the nation is also looking at the first lady’s attire for the day and evening,

The inauguration is a grand gala and it is our modern equivalent to the coronation of king. King’s during their coronation ceremonies would have the same pomp and celebration. It was filled with extravagance and splendor. There is one King however who had a very different coronation. There is One King whose character was different than all others whose work was different from all others and whose entrance lacked splendor, yet it was a coronation that is to bring great joy. The Joy is in the character and work of the King. This King is Jesus Christ and this morning we will be looking at Him as King. We will see this morning we are to rejoice in the coming righteous, victorious and humble King.

Rejoice in the Coming Righteous, Victorious and Humble King

We are taking a break from our study in the book of Acts and we are going to begin this morning a three part series that will take us trough the Passion Week. Passion as it is used here actually means suffering so this is the week that Jesus suffered and went to the cross. We will emphasis three parts of the passion week the first being Jesus as the King the second is Jesus on the cross and the third will be focused on the resurrection. These are the three major facets of the passion week and the reason why we commemorate these days.

All three of these events are recorded for us in all four of the gospel which we have today, we have Jesus entering Jerusalem Jesus dying on the cross and Jesus’ being raised from the dead. That is the Triumphal Entry, which is Palm Sunday, the crucifixion which is Good Friday, and resurrection which is Resurrection Sunday or Easter which ever you prefer.

Even though each of these books offer the Passion Week we are not going to look directly at these four witnesses we may refer to each of the gospels but our focus for the triumphal entry the crucifixion and the resurrection will not be in the gospels. Instead we will be looking at three other people who have something to say about these three miraculous events.

Our examination for these three events will be from three different men two of which will be looking forward to each one of these events and one will be looking back. We will start with the prophet Zechariah who is going to be looking forward to the coronation of the King, the triumphal entry. On Friday we will look at the prophet Jeremiah who will be looking forward to the cross and next Sunday as we look back on the resurrection we will look at Paul as He looks back to the resurrection.

We are going to begin this morning with a look at the King and not just that the King came into Jerusalem but we will look more specifically at His character and work. Jesus as we read this morning in the book of Matthew comes into the city of Jerusalem and this is His grand coronation He comes in as King. The people are filled with joy and rejoice at His coming in and they lay out Palm fronds as they welcome Him in. As we read this is the fulfillment of Scripture and that is the Scripture we will look at this morning.

We are going to look at the origin of the Old Testament quote in Matthew 21:5. The origin of this text is from the prophet Zechariah. He is one of the 12 minor prophets in the Old Testament. If you have your Bibles open to Matthew all you have to do is turn back two books and you are in Zechariah. Go back through Matthew and through Malachi and boom you’re in Zechariah we will be looking at Zechariah 9:9.

As you turn to the book of Zechariah let me just explain the purpose of the book and introduce you a little to the author. Now Zechariah was a prophet and there are 16 Old Testament books written by prophets. There are the Major Prophets, which are Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah then there are the twelve minor prophets and the interesting thing about the twelve minor prophets is that they have a theme that runs through everyone of their books. It’s a commonality within each of the writings which is the coming day of the Lord. The day of the Lord refers to the judgment that God will bring about on His enemies. The nation of Israel will receive restoration after the day of the Lord.

Now within each of the books there are other themes and purposes and the purpose for Zechariah is Israel’s comfort and glory or the preparation for the Messiah. The dating of the events in this book begin around 520 b.c.. The nation of Israel had been in captivity in Babylon for 70 years because of their disobedience to God and at this point the Israelite exiles are returning back to Israel and are rebuilding the temple so they can worship God in their city once again.

This is the time period of Zechariah writing this letter and his intent is to encourage the Israelites of the coming Messiah. That is the chosen One of God who will come and rule over the nation. Now the nation of Israel for centuries has been in a state of political upheaval and under enemy oppression. So the nation is looking for a king that will come in and lead them and bring peace to their nation and destroy all their enemies. This is about 500 years prior to the events in the gospels and yes the nation of Israel has been waiting for a long time for their Messiah.

Well Zechariah is going to prepare the people for this. Zechariah has been working with the people teaching them about how they are to live and about repentance and guiding them on how to live for God as opposed to living against God. Then Zechariah comes to chapter 9 and in chapter 9 Zechariah will present to the nation a Messiah, a King chosen by God and this King that God chooses will be different from other Kings. He will be different in Character, in His work and in His manner of entry. Let’s look at Zechariah 9:9.

Zechariah 9:9 NASB95

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

It reads, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Our attention is first drawn to Zecahraiah’s call to the nation to rejoice. There is to be shouts of Joy and shouts of triumph. Taking this in its present context it couldn’t have been easy for the nation of Israel to return from exile. There were mixed feelings and emotions, they didn’t have the grandeur of Solomon’s temple any longer they had to rebuild it and the size was smaller and the ark of the covenant was no longer there. They didn’t have the splendor of the Glory of the Lord filling the temple as Solomon did when he built the temple. They had no human ruler, and even though they were allowed to return and build their temple Israel was still not a sovereign nation. So Zechariah is telling them to rejoice shout for triumph, which the word here in the Hebrew is usually associated with a battle cry which makes sense since because Zechariah is saying the King is coming and the King will be victorious. The battle is not over but don’t be down, because the King is coming.

The King Zechariah points to here is the rightful King and Zechariah describes Him as being is just, victorious, and Humble. These are all great characteristics that can only belong to One Man. That Man is Jesus Christ. Let us look at this verse, Zechariah tells the nation of Israel he is emphatic in this he tells them to rejoice to shout he tells them in be happy be overjoyed because the King is coming. These are words that this nation needs to hear. They are returning to the promise land and they are without a ruler without a king. Well a flesh and blood king.

See the nation of Israel has always had a ruler, they have always had a king. God had set up the nation of Israel so that they would have a ruler but it was not to be a monarchy like all the other nations around them. A monarchy meaning that only one man rules over them, a king. They were to be in a theocracy which means that God was to be their ruler, He was to be their King. That is how God set up the nation of Israel but they weren’t happy with that they wanted a male ruler a human sovereign as opposed to a true, eternal, perfect sovereign.

The nation had rejected God as their ruler and in turn God placed a ruler on the throne over the nation of Israel. The ruler that God chose was David and God made a covenant with David that there would always be a ruler from his blood line on the throne.

We see this covenant in 2 Samuel 7:12-16

2 Samuel 7:12–16 NASB95

12 “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, 15 but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”

The King that was to come through David’s blood line is the Messiah, the chosen One of God. The One God was talking about in 2 Samuel and that Zechariah mentions here is Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God. So you see man wanted a monarchy an earthly king and they are still looking for a monarchy but what God had in mind the entire time was a theocracy with His Son as King. The Kingdom He rules over is greater than the Israelites realized, they have always and still have a very finite perspective on God’s Kingdom and God’s King.

Jesus Himself pointed this out when He was being tried by Pilate in the gospel of John, John 18:36

John 18:36 NASB95

36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

Jesus knew what His kingship entailed it was not a monarchy, His rule was greater and much more vast because He not only rules over mankind but He rules over all creation and created beings including the angels. His rule is greater than any man’s rule can ever be or ever will be.

This is the King that Zechariah tells the nation of Israel is coming and the One that they should rejoice in and be exceedingly happy about because He is a the Great King with a kingdom beyond anything we can imagine and He is a King a character and work that goes beyond what any other King has or can do.

First of all He is Righteous

He is Righteous

Zechariah says “He is just.” Another way to translate this word is righteous or righteousness. This deals with the standard of which a person lives. [3]The King that Zechariah is addressing here has the character of righteousness He will be a just King He will be right in His ruling holding to the standard that Has been placed on us by God.

The King that Zechariah is talking about here is the Son of the Living God, Jesus Christ. Jesus holds the same attributes as God, God is holy and righteous and Jesus also is holy and righteous. What they do and how they rule is right. Jesus is a King that sits on the throne and he is in complete holiness.

Paul writes to the Colossian church about Jesus and Paul writes this;

Colossians 2:9–10 NASB95

9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

This means that all of God’s character all that makes up God the Father, His Holiness, His Sinlessness, His Righteousness, every bit of Him is found in Jesus Christ. Jesus rules with perfection and His rulings are just and wise. Jesus’ rulings are perfect and the way He treats people are perfect.

Paul in chapter 1 tells the Colossians what Jesus has done for those who believe.

Colossians 1:15–20 NASB95

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Man has been given a set standard to live by which was instilled by God. We read this in Genesis 18:19,

Genesis 18:19 NASB95

19 “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”

God has set this standard on all mankind and He selected one man to offer this standard to which was Abraham this is why He selected Abraham. Righteousness is not something we can produce it can only be imputed to us and Jesus is the only one who was able to live by the standard that God provided and through Jesus being righteous He makes us righteous.

Romans 3:21–26 NASB95

21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Whenever a person is deemed righteous in Scripture it is always in reference to how they live in accordance with God’s standard which is His Word. Abraham was this man and those that came from His bloodline where to follow suite. This included the Kingly bloodline that sprung up from Abraham. The Kings were to rule in a manner that was righteous and just they were to be men of righteousness. This was to be their character. In doing so they were not ruling by man’s authority or by man’s will they were to rule by the will and authority of God. The standard that the king of Israel was to rule and judge by was that of God’s not man.

In this they failed. All of the kings of Israel failed to lead by God’s standard. Because they didn’t live by the standard of God they suffered the consequence for it and were exiled into Babylon and Assyria. This was God’s punishment on them because they didn’t obey His command they didn’t live in righteousness before a Holy and Just God. The kings of the nation followed after the pagan religions surrounding them and fell into heinous idolatry to the point that God in His righteousness had to punish them for their sins.

From that point on there had been no king in the nation of Israel. And now Zechariah is telling them that a king is coming and that the character of the King is going to be just He will be righteous and He will follow God’s will, and He will rule by God’s standard and He will be just in His judgment. That is the character of Jesus Christ He is just He is righteous He knows God’s standard and whether on the earth or now in heaven He lives in righteousness never having fallen into sin and always in full and complete submission to God the Father and His will.

So we see that Jesus is the King and that His character is described as Just or Righteous. Zechariah also provides us with the work of the King in this one verse.

He is Victorious

Zechariah tells us that He is endowed with salvation. Another way to translate this is by saying He is victorious. This is passive meaning that this is happening to Him. He is the One being saved or delivered which means that He is being made victorious over sin. In taking it this way Jesus is not only Just but He is victorious and in His victory over sin He can deliver mankind from sin as well.

His character works together with His work. He is righteous the only true righteous one and He stands firm in the standard of God so He is also by all accounts the only one who can bring victory over sin. Jesus comes as the righteous King of the nation of Israel and He brings victory. What does that mean for the nation of Israel and for all of mankind?

Well the nation of Israel kept falling into rebellion they didn’t live to the standard of God. Not even their Kings lived to the standard of God. This was inevitable it was bound to happen because of the sin nature within of all mankind that came in to the world through Adam and Eve. Adam in the garden was to live to the standard of God live by God’s commandments and God’s standard the one thing that He told Adam was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil. Adam disobeyed he rebelled against God’s standard. Now because Adam did this sin entered the world and with sin came death and disease and decay.

Adam although when he was created by God was righteous but because he chose to rebel against God he brought sin in. Jesus who is as we have learned in the past two weeks the second Adam brings salvation. He is the only one who can be victorious over sin. This was not something that He acquired as He lived His life He came into the world with this ability. He was born the savior not that He became the savior. Jesus didn’t grow up and when He turned 30 decided “aw you know I feel like being the One who saves the World from sin.” He was born as the victor who came as salvation. This is His work as King. Kings as leaders and rulers are to protect there people and subjects Jesus as King comes in as the One who not only protects His subjects and people but He is the only One who can be victorious over His people and for His people.

God is the only One who can bring Salvation and Jesus being the Just King is the only One who can also bring Salvation. Isaiah says this repeatedly,

Isaiah 19:20 NASB95

20 It will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them.

Isaiah 43:3 NASB95

3 “For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.

Isaiah 43:11 NASB95

11 “I, even I, am the Lord, And there is no savior besides Me.

And then there is this one;

Isaiah 45:20–25 NASB95

20 “Gather yourselves and come; Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations; They have no knowledge, Who carry about their wooden idol And pray to a god who cannot save. 21 “Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. 22 “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. 23 “I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. 24 “They will say of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’ Men will come to Him, And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame. 25 “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel Will be justified and will glory.”

Jesus being victorious also gives us the idea that He is the conquering King. He is the one who defeats sin the only One who can. It is because of His character that He is able to have this work and the only One who can demonstrate that kind of victory because He comes as the victor and with the victory already in Him. Then Zechariah also provides for us the means by which He comes in as the King.

He is Humble

In the Old Testament prior to the inauguration of a monarchy, a kingship, a donkey was used more as the animal that prophets or judges or men of distinction would ride on. They were not just looked at as a beast of burden. We see this in Genesis 22:3,

Genesis 22:3 NASB95

3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Also in Judges 5:10,

Judges 5:10 NASB95

10 “You who ride on white donkeys, You who sit on rich carpets, And you who travel on the road—sing!

And also in Judges 10:4

Judges 10:4 NASB95

4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities in the land of Gilead that are called Havvoth-jair to this day.

It was not until the time of Solomon that horses where used for war and to ride in on occasions of importance as we see in Jeremiah 17:24-25

Jeremiah 17:24–25 NASB95

24 “But it will come about, if you listen attentively to Me,” declares the Lord, “to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to keep the sabbath day holy by doing no work on it, 25 then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.

So to come in on a horse has become a symbol of honor where the donkey has now just become a beast of burden. The role for the donkey has been diminished and the donkey has become as Zechariah has pointed out to us a sign of humility. That is why Zechariah tells us that the King Jesus rides in on a donkey Jesus comes in to Jerusalem humble and riding on a donkey. This is the opposite of how the worldly kings are coronetted they come in on a great stead and with pride. Jesus is the opposite humble, lowly, meek, He is gentile and His mode of entry as He comes into His city the City of David is in a gentile and meek way.

Paul provides the greatest example of Jesus’ humility Philippians 2:3-11

Philippians 2:3–11 NASB95

3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Here is the thing though He is the rightful King, the only righteous Holy King there is and He came to be victorious over sin this is His work this is the reason for Him coming and He is the only King who deserves the most royal of treatments and the only One who has any right to have any kind of pride but He doesn’t come in in this manner at all. He demonstrates for us a manner a quality that the rightful King must have over pride, humility. Pride is the downfall of man but in Jesus’ humility He was able to come into the world and be submissive to God and die for all mankind.

If Jesus had the awful attitude of pride then He would not and could not go to the cross for all of mankind. He wouldn’t be the righteous King that Zechariah foretells here. Pride would have kept Him off the cross and pride would have made Him do it His own way but no Jesus is Humble He comes in a Humble fashion without the pomp and the ceremony due a King and riding on an animal that is looked at as just a beast of burden. His humility doesn’t stop here at His entry but it continues in His submission to the Father. He is humble before man but He is also humble before God the Father.

It is this humility that nails Jesus to the cross it is this humility that drives Jesus to die on the cross. He died for a people who rejected Him. He came into the city knowing that the people who welcomed Him were going to be the same people who in a weeks time were going to reject Him and cry out Crucify Him. These are the same people who shouted for Joy singing Hosanna now will mock their true and rightful King who came in a humble fashion, being their salvation, and being the only true righteous King. They rejected Him and Jesus knew they would and He still humbled Himself for these rotten sin-filled people.

He had all the power in the world to smite those people destroy them where they stood but He never exercised it because that was not God’s plan that was not what God wanted God wanted Jesus to go to the cross to give the people the only ability that they could have to have a true relationship with Himself. Jesus died to be their King and that is what He desires is for people to chose Him as King as opposed to reject Him. To choose to have a relationship with God the Father as opposed to being rebels against Him. Many people have rejected Him but because of His Humility many people have chosen Him as their King.

Zechariah is pointing to a King who will come to the nation of Israel. Zechariah provides us with the King’s character which is just, he tells us His work which is Salvation, and He provides for us the manner in which the King will enter His kingdom, in a humble manner in the most humble fashion. The nation of Israel would have known this they would have understood Jesus entering Jerusalem as their King yet they still rejected Him. They saw Him before their very eyes and at first welcomed Him with shouts of joy, but their shouts of joy quickly turned to shouts of rejection. They rejected Him as their King.

Jesus came into the world as the King of the World He died as the King of the World and He was resurrected as the King of the World. It was and is inevitable that is who He is the King the Rightful Righteous King who is victorious over sin. Mankind has two choices one is to go the way of the nation of Israel and reject Him as your King or two embrace the fact that Jesus is who the Word of God says He is and accept Him as your King.

Embracing Him as your King means that you place yourself under His complete control. Accepting Him as King means that you are His subject and He is your master. Accepting Him as King means that you live only for Him and follow only what He asks. Accepting Him as King means that you see Him as the One who is victorious over your sins and you want to follow Him and not follow sins. Accepting Him as King places you in a right relationship with God no longer a rebel to His will but fully submitting to it.

Rejecting Him as your King can only lead to punishment. Rejection of the King is rejecting a relationship with God the Father. Rejecting Him as King is rejecting His Sovereign rule and control over all creation and all mankind. Rejecting Him as King is rejecting Him as the victor over sin. This rejection is met with a punishment and eternal punishment in separation from Him as King and from God the Father.