Zechariah: Who Are We Waiting For?

God Is For Us

WELCOME

Romans 8:31—What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Before we say anything else, let me tell you some great news this morning. If your faith is in Christ, no one can be against you. Not really, not finally.

If your faith isn’t in Christ, I can’t think of a better place for you to meet Him than here.

In just a moment we’ll hear a reading from the text for today’s sermon in Zechariah 9. Turn there now.

While you’re turning, 2 quick announcements:

1) No TableTalk tonight

Enjoy the holiday with your families

Next week we’ll talk about a Christian response to marijuana in light of new laws in Virginia

2) A word about PBC. We are worshipers

We call this a worship gathering because we gather to worship.

Misconception: worship is the music. No! It’s the whole thing!

EVERYTHING we do is designed to focus and fuel our worship

Preaching is worship because...

God speaks to you!

You respond!

Take a moment of silence to pray and ask God to prepare your heart to hear His Word through the preaching [CLIFF PLAY SILENTLY].

Scripture Reading (Zechariah 9:9-12)

Prayer of Praise (God is Judge)

Hallelujah for the Cross

Great Are You Lord

Prayer of Confession (Cliff Hall)

How Deep the Father’s Love

NEW CITY CATECHISM #27

Our catechism questions the past several weeks have been about the doctrine of redemption, how Jesus through His death and resurrection rescues and redeems His people.

This leads to a natural question. . .

Who is redeemed? Our catechism today repeats the teaching of Scripture that the elect are those whom God elects, those He chooses.

Before we begin, don’t wring your hands about whether or not you are elect. Instead, show yourself to be elect through your faith!

Are all people, just as they were lost through Adam, saved through Christ?

No, only those who are elected by God and united to Christ by faith. Nevertheless God in his mercy demonstrates common grace even to those who are not elect, by restraining the effects of sin and enabling works of culture for human well-being.

PASTORAL PRAYER

Thanksgiving—perseverance

Thank you that we WILL persevere because of Your promise!

Isaiah wrote: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” (Is. 43:2)

Paul wrote: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil 1:6)

SURE!!! WILL!!!

When we fear our faith will fail, Christ will hold us fast; When the tempter would prevail, You will hold us fast.

We could never keep our hold through life's fearful path; for our love is often cold; You WILL hold us fast.

Prayer for PBC—healthy patriotism

Today many in our nation are celebrating the anniversary of our declaration of independence 245 years ago.

As Christians, there is much to celebrate about our nation, alongside our neighbors and friends.

We thank you for the freedoms most Americans have enjoyed for many years.

Freedoms like ...

the right to freely exercise our religious beliefs;

freedom of speech;

and the freedom to peaceably assemble;

We are benefiting from these freedoms as a church even today,

and its because of these freedoms America continues to be the most free society in human history.

No, we have not always applied these freedoms fairly...

from the scourge of slavery in our nation’s beginnings...

to the abomination of abortion today.

We have miserably fallen short of our own ideals,

let alone your perfect law.

For these, and our other national evils, we repent.

But despite these sins, we have much to be thankful for and many reasons to cultivate a healthy patriotism as followers of Jesus.

Protect us from ungratefully dismissing the goodness and beauty of America. Help us not to believe the lies that would tell us there is no reason to be patriotic.

Protect us from ignorantly dismissing our past and present evils, or from acting as if Americans are your chosen people. Help us not to believe the lies that would turn patriotism into idolatry.

Help us to love America best by loving her less than we love You and Your people.

Prayer for sister church—LifePoint Christian Fellowship in Chesapeake (Jay Albritton)

Help Jay to faithfully preach your Word

Help the members to give Jay time in his schedule to fiathfully prepare

Help them to make disciples

Prayer for US—military

On Independence Day we often remember our military

That’s a right impulse because our freedoms are purchased through their sacrifice

Protection

Families

Salvation

Thank you for military members at PBC past/present

Prayer for the world—Bahrain

Tiny nation of 1.7 million in the Persian Gulf

Prime Minister Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa

Justice for the vulnerable, sanctity for the unborn, flourishing for all

Thank you for the greater freedoms enjoyed in Bahrain than in many other nearby Arab nations

Thank you that churches are legal, even though evangelism isn’t

Help Christians to obey God rather than man, and take the Gospel to the lost around them

Raise up healthy local churches to send expats to the surrounding nations

Laborers

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

Have you ever seen a photomosaic?

Here’s a famous one by an artist named Robert Silvers, created in 2002.

SHOW MONA LISA #1

You can actually purchase this particular piece of art for $20,000 from a famous art gallery in Toronto.

When you zoom into a photomosaic, it’s hard to tell what you’re seeing. It’s a collection of various images that seem random and chaotic. It might even seem like the artist has no design in what he’s doing.

But if you zoom out. . .

SHOW MONA LISA #2

You can see the whole picture.

In this particular case, it’s a reimagining of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The big picture was created by positioning hundreds of snapshots in just the right place.

But photomosaics are more than an interesting type of modern art.

They’re also a great analogy to make sense of the Minor Prophet we’re studying today, the book of Zechariah.

SHOW MINOR PROPHETS TIMELINE

It’s 520 B.C., and the Jews are returning from their Babylonian exile and rebuilding the temple.

Zechariah wants God’s people to know that their hopes and dreams will NOT be fulfilled when the temple is complete. They’re going to have to wait.

But what are they waiting for? Or rather, WHO are they waiting for? That’s the question we want to answer from the book of Zechariah.

Zechariah is unique for a couple of reasons.

1) Longest of the Minor Prophets

2) One of the most confusing of the Minor Prophets

Like zooming in on a photomosaic

Chapters 1-6 list 8 different visions, many which are confusing and bizarre

Chapters 7-8 record two of Zechariah’s sermons

Chapters 9-14 list two oracles

Despite all that is confusing, scholars agree one thing:

3) Zechariah talks more about the coming Messiah than any other of the Minor Prophets

Quoted more often in the NT than any other OT book except Isaiah

The NT references Zechariah as many as 71 times

Martin Luther called Zechariah “the quintessence of the prophets”[1]

Another Bible teacher said Zechariah “the most Messianic of the Old Testament books.”[2]

Some say there’s as many as 40 images of Jesus the Messiah in this little book. If we review them line by line it might seem random and chaotic. But if we zoom out we can see a breathtaking image of the One God’s people were waiting for.

Today we’re going to divide these snapshots of the Messiah in 3 Categories:

The Messiah’s Identity (who is He?)

The Messiah’s Reception (how will He be received?)

The Messiah’s Mission (what will He do?)

My prayer is that as you see this Messiah, you will worship Him!

1) The Messiah’s IDENTITY

A) He is Son of GOD and Son of MAN

He is Truly God. . .

2:10-11—Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.

The One they’re waiting for is God Himself

The One they’re waiting for is sent by God

Answer: The Son of God!

He is Truly Man. . .

2:8— “Behold, I will bring my servant the Branch.”

Perhaps that’s a name for Jesus you haven’t heard before, but Zechariah’s hearers would have known exactly what he meant

He’s a branch on the family tree of David

Over 200 years earlier (742 BC), the prophet Isaiah said...

Isaiah 11:1—There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

100 years after Isaiah (626 BC), the prophet Jeremiah said...

Jeremiah 23:5—“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Who is this Son of God and Son of Man?

Matthew 22:41-46—Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? 45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Jesus is Truly God!!

Ligonier’s 2020, State of Theology survey revealed that 30% of those who call themselves evangelicals believe Jesus is just a good teacher and not God

Don’t overestimate the number of Christians around us!

Jesus is Truly man!!

Not like Clark Kent pretending to be Superman. He’s more human than any of us because He is human as God created us to be!

Dane Ortlund—“For all his resplendent glory and dazzling holiness, his supreme uniqueness and otherness, no one in human history has ever been more approachable than Jesus Christ.”[3]

B) He is a PRIEST and a KING

The framers of our Constitution weren’t the first ones with the wisdom to create a separation of powers in their government. Long before Thomas Jefferson was born, God led the nation of Israel to do something similar.

From the moment the office of priesthood began through Moses’ brother Aaron, it was clear that only certain people could be priests.

Years later, when Israel demanded a king, they knew the offices of priest and king were separate.

If they needed a reminder, God gave them one years later when King Uzziah attempted to do the job of a priest. He went into the temple to burn incense on the altar of incense, a job reserved for the priests—when God struck him down with leprosy.

Zechariah knew that. But in chapter 6 he prophesied about a coming royal priest...

6:12-13—...‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. 13 It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’

If we step outside of Zechariah for a moment we can add one more piece to this puzzle...

Deuteronomy 18:15—The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.

Not just a priest and a king, but also a prophet!

Why do we need a prophet, priest, and king?

Our one problem—sin—has three horrifying symptoms.

We are ignorant—we don’t realize how bad we are. We’re blinded by our sin.

We are guilty—we have offended a holy God!

We are bound—we cannot get free from our sin, no matter how hard we try.

Who is this prophet, priest, and king?

As Prophet, Jesus is the cure for our ignorance. He teaches us the truth about how to get right with God and how to live in light of what God has done.

As Priest, Jesus is the cure for our guilt. He offers a sacrifice (and is the sacrifice!) to make us right with God.

As King, Jesus is the cure for our bondage. He frees us from our sin and rules and reigns over the universe.

What will the Messiah be like? He will be Son of God and Son of Man. He will be a Prophet, a Priest and a King.

But how will He be received?

2) The Messiah’s RECEPTION

A) He Will Be CELEBRATED

9:9—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.

Kings rode on donkeys when they came bringing peace

It makes sense that a king riding a donkey would be celebrated!

Who is this donkey-riding king, riding into Jerusalem?

All four gospels say Jesus was celebrated as He entered Jerusalem riding a donkey

B) He Will Be BETRAYED

11:12-13—Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter.

The Messiah will be valued at thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave.

The money will be “thrown into the house of the Lord” and “to the potter”

Who is Zechariah talking about?

Matthew 27:3-10—Then when Judas, His betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”

Wait a minute! Zechariah said that, not Jeremiah!

Matthew is quoting portions of both Jeremiah 18-19 and Zechariah 11. He mentions Jeremiah as the more well-known prophet (sorry Zechariah!)

The bigger point is that Zechariah’s prophecy is fulfilled...

Valued at thirty pieces of silver

Money thrown into the house of the Lord

That money then given it to a potter

C) He Will Be ABANDONED

In chapters 9-13, the Messiah is pictured as a shepherd, come to gather God’s people

13:7—“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered”

Who is this stricken shepherd?

Just before He was betrayed, Jesus said this to His disciples...

Matthew 26:31—Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

After Judas betrayed Jesus, all the disciples ran away

D) He Will Be PIERCED

12:10—“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

To be pierced, usually meant to be stabbed to death by a spear or sword

But this Pierced One is publicly displayed so everyone can look upon Him

Who is this Pierced one?

John 19:33-37—But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of His bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on Him whom they have pierced.”

What should we learn from the way Jesus Messiah was recieved?

Trust the Bible! All these (and many more) prophesies fulfilled!

Lament! It was our sin that put Him on that cross!

Behold the man upon a cross, My sin upon His shoulders; Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there

But this bad news is not the end of the story!

If Zechariah prophesied these things 550 years before they happened, then this must have always been part of the plan! Why?!?

3) The Messiah’s MISSION

The recently departed Prince Phillip once said that Jesus was “an underprivileged, working-class victim of political and religious persecution.”

No! Jesus died on purpose.

A) He Will DIE to Give Us Righteousness

In chapter 3, Zechariah has a vision about Joshua the High Priest that gives us a hint about what this Messiah is coming to do...

3:3-4—Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”

If even the high priest is clothed in filthy garments, what hope was there for anybody else?

What did God’s people need? They needed righteousness as a gift!

Notice how swiftly this will happen...

3:9—I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day

But how? How can God accomplish all this in a single day?

Look again at chapter 12...

12:10—“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn

In verses 11-14, Zechariah says that each individual must respond to the pierced Messiah by themselves. A wife cannot cling to her husband’s coattails, neither can children just inherit the faith of their parents. Everyone must look in faith on the pierced Messiah, mourning over the sin that pierced Him

Then notice what will happen...

13:1—On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

The cleansing promised in chapter 3 is accomplished through the death of the Pierced One.

When His blood is shed, a fountain is opened to wash the sinner clean

There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in His day; And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

Zechariah is pointing to Jesus...

1 Corinthians 5:21—For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Alleyway where we finalized our adoption—all Zeke’s problems now become mine. Everything good I have now becomes his! INSTANTLY!!!

Unbeliever: you don’t need to clean yourself up before you come to Jesus!

Christian: no matter how dirty you become, it’s only one step back to a God who promises to “forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

B) He Will RISE to Give Us Life

I want you to notice something that’s easy to miss...

12:11—when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced

The pierced one is speaking, He’s speaking in the present tense about His death in the past tense. How? Because He rose from the dead!!!

Zechariah is pointing to Jesus...

Romans 10:9—If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

If you could meet any person of the past and ask just one question, whom would you met and what question would you ask? When asked this, the famous British philosopher and agnostic C.E.M. Joad answered, “I would meet Jesus Christ and ask him the most important question in all the world—‘Did you or did you not rise from the dead?’”[4]

If He really rose, it changes everything!

C) He Will RETURN to Make All Things New

Zechariah prophesies about the final punishment of God’s enemies (chapter 14) and the forever prosperity of God’s people (chapter 8)

If Jesus is the Messiah, why hasn’t that happened yet?

One thing that’s confusing about the OT prophets is that they’ll go back and forth between prophecies of Jesus’ first and second return

Like seeing a mountain range from far away, you can’t see the gaps between the peaks

But Jesus is coming again!!!

14:4-5, 9—“On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. 5 And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. . . . 9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.

One of the saddest things I saw when I visited Israel a few years ago was the thousands and thousands of graves on the Mount of Olives.

Show Mount of Olives Cemetery

Why? Because they’re still waiting for the Messiah, and they rightly believe Zechariah, that one day the Messiah will come and stand on the Mount of Olives. And they want their resurrected bodies to have a front row seat.

But here’s the problem. The Messiah has already stood on the Mount Olives once. And the way to have a front row seat is not to die and get buried in the right place. The way to have a front row seat is to trust that Jesus died in your place! If you wait until He returns, it’ll be too late.

BOW HEADS

In just a moment we’re going to celebrate Jesus’ death by taking communion together.

But first, I want us to take a moment to examine ourselves and pray

Not a Christian? Don’t wait!!! Repent and believe today! [WHITE FLAG]

Christian: is Jesus the One, even now that you’re waiting for? Are your hopes in Him? Are you praising Him? Are you living in obedience to Him?

HOWEVER FAR YOU’VE WANDERED, JUST ONE STEP BACK

PAUSE THEN PRAY

LORD’S SUPPER

1 Cor. 11:26—For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Didn’t receive a communion cup when you came in and you want to take communion with us, hold your hand up

But before we prepare to take, let’s remind ourselves what the Lord’s Supper is and who it’s for.

Bread—represents the body of Jesus

Cup—represents the blood of Jesus

Because the Lord’s Supper is pointing to Jesus and the Gospel, it’s for those who have trusted Him!

Not a Christian? Don’t take (even if we gave you cup). Receive Christ! If you’ve done that, talk with us about baptism and then take communion the next time we take together.

Christian? Take with joy! Yes, confess sin but don’t forget the point of the meal is that you’re not good enough. But you’re trusting in the One who is.

Peel back the layer of plastic covering the bread. Thank Jesus for giving His body for you.

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Peel back the layer of plastic covering the cup. Thank Jesus for shedding His blood for you.

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Let’s sing together

Jesus Messiah

BENEDICTION

I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

(Ephesians 3:17b-19)