(4/7) We’re beginning a new mini-series reflecting on a question posed by the people in Jerusalem when they saw Jesus coming riding on a donkey. They looked at one another and asked, "Who is this man?" It’s a question that has been asked countless times and in various ways, from the disciples who asked one another in terror, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" (Mark 4:41). To the entire city of Jerusalem that was stirred and asked, "Who is this?" (Matthew 21:10).

Often, we find ourselves asking similar questions like what is wrong with the world? Why is there all of this injustice? Why is there all of this disease, fighting, and bloodshed? And yet, ultimately the answer to that and all of our questions comes back to this question "Who is this man?" Which was why Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say I am?" because the answer to that question makes all the difference in the world (Mark 8:27).

Over the next couple weeks, we are going to answer that question, "Who is this man?" because the answer to that question will answer every other question. And so, I want to begin by laying the foundation for this message so that we understand the perspective of the people, the context and the culture of those to whom the Spirit of God was speaking to. You see, Jesus Christ came as the promised Messiah of Israel to establish his kingdom, which is why the Spirit of God said through the prophet, "The government will be on his shoulders" (Isaiah 9:6).

And so, Jesus came to invite us into his kingdom, and he offered his kingdom to the children of Israel. He came as a Ruler, a King to take back what the enemy had stolen, because the one known as the devil or Satan had hijacked God’s creation. Satan is the father of lies, he is a deceiver, he is illegitimate, and so the Messiah Jesus Christ came into the world and promised to make things right, but what happened was his own rejected him. Jesus described it this way, he said, "his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be our king" (Luke 19:14).

And so, the one known as the King of the Jews by his contemporaries, the only one who could actually do something about our situation, our fallenness, and our sin was driven away. The Messiah, our Savior, who promised a kingdom ruled with justice and righteousness forever went back to his throne room in heaven for a short time leaving us in the chaos and turmoil that exists because of our own prideful self-centered desire to rule and reign as we see fit. The good news is that he gives us a second chance, he promised to come back, and when he does all of the fighting, the injustice, the sickness and suffering will all be over (Isaiah 33:24). In other words, there is still hope for the world, because our Savior who came once in humility, will return in power and great glory to usher in his everlasting kingdom.

Let’s turn to the Scriptures and see how this played out in the lives of the children of Israel as the Holy Spirit describes to us the overthrow of world powers in the establishment of Jesus Christ as the King. We’re going to look at the prophecy of Zechariah, one that is very predictable in this season of the year, and one that I believe that you will find great hope. Because even though the grass withers and the flowers fall, the word of our God stands forever (Isaiah 40:8). And so, as we come to the Scripture in Zechariah, at this time, the children of Israel had just returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity. In other words, they had been away for 70 years, the land was in ruins, and they had just begun to rebuild.

This would have been about 520 BC, when God raised up Haggai the prophet to encourage the Jews to rebuild. And according to historians, two months later Zechariah began his prophetic ministry of encouraging the people by revealing to them God’s plan for Israel’s future. Throughout the first eight chapters of this book, the Lord encouraged people to spiritual renewal, motivating them to rebuild, when suddenly in the ninth chapter he takes a gigantic leap. He begins to speak of another age, a future time beginning at verse one. The prophet Zechariah said,

"The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach and will rest upon Damascus — for the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel are on the Lord" (Zechariah 9:1).

"And upon Hamath too, which borders on it, and upon Tyre and Sidon, though they are very skillful. Tyre has built herself a stronghold; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets. But the Lord will take away her possessions and destroy her power on the sea, and she will be consumed by fire" (Zechariah 9:2-4).

"Ashkelon will see it and fear; Gaza will writhe in agony, and Ekron too, for her hope will wither. Gaza will lose her king and Ashkelon will be deserted" (Zechariah 9:5).

"Foreigners will occupy Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take the blood from their mouths, the forbidden food from between their teeth. Those who are left will belong to our God and become leaders in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites. But I will defend my house against marauding forces. Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch" (Zechariah 9:6-8).

I wanted you to see this because as we step into this text if we don’t understand this, if we don’t feel the context, we won’t feel what the people are feeling, because we are so far removed from the culture that they are living in. You see, this prophecy in verse one through eight is history now, and so we can look back and see how it was fulfilled to the very letter. This is important for our understanding so that we have confidence knowing that as he has fulfilled the first part, and fulfilled the second part, he is also going to fulfill the third part and every other part.

And so, you could say that what we have here is a sign to the Jews, much like the fleece was for Gideon, pointing them to the coming of the Messiah, the Son of David. Therefore, the whole idea behind this prophecy is that God wanted them to know when they saw these things happening, when these things occurred, as these things were becoming history, they would know that they were on track to seeing the coming of the Messiah and the fulfillment of the kingdom of God.

And so, what we discover in these first eight verses is that the Holy Spirit reveals the entire plan or strategy of Alexander the Great to the children of Israel centuries before Alexander was born. In other words, Zechariah tells us every detail of Alexander’s crusade without naming him because he doesn’t yet exist. But he says, judgment is coming, and it’s going to come sweeping down through Syria, Phoenicia, Philistia, before moving south to Israel. And that is exactly what Alexander the Great did, authenticating the accuracy of the Bible, but he appreciated the culture and religion of the Jews, and so instead of destroying them like he had the other nations, he made them his subjects, demanded their allegiance, and imposed taxes on them.

Suddenly, the Holy Spirit takes Zechariah on a giant leap from Alexander the Great to the coming of the Messiah Jesus Christ. He prophesied in verse nine,

"Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Zechariah 9:9).

In other words, he went from the conquests of Alexander the Great to the coming of the King of Kings and Lord of lords with only a pause to insert a period. And so, the Spirit of God revealed to him these two great events but he didn’t see the expanse of time in between them. In fact, just as suddenly as Zechariah had transition from verse eight to verse nine, he makes another giant leap in time in verse ten, as he moves from the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ.

And so, we are ecstatic with rejoicing, celebrating with the children of Israel, because this is familiar, we recognize these words when Zechariah said, "Your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey." But again, just as suddenly, Zechariah moves with one swift step, with a great leap, from the humiliation of the Messiah in his first coming, to conquering the nations and proclaiming peace in his second coming. The Spirit of God says,

"I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth" (Zechariah 9:10).

In other words, when he comes there won’t be a need for chariots or warhorses or battle bows, because he will rule the world with peace. But then the Holy Spirit takes it even a step further, declaring just as if it has already happened,

"As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit" (Zechariah 9:11).

In other words, he says, it’s as good as done because of the blood of the covenant. And he takes us back to Genesis chapter fifteen with Abram when he prepared a sacrifice and God passed between the pieces. It was a bloody mess this covenant of blood, as God vowed to himself, not to Abram, but to himself, that he would bless the children of Israel and give them this land.

Even more so, I believe this is a prophetic declaration of the covenant that is fulfilled in the blood of Jesus Christ when he himself said,

"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28).

And so, he says, because of the blood of the covenant, when the king comes, Israel will be freed from the pit of suffering and oppression. I can’t help but think that the Holy Spirit may have been thinking about Joseph in Genesis chapter thirty-seven when his brothers threw him into an empty well before selling him into slavery. Now the captives have been set free, the children of Israel can know the freedom of Christ, through the blood of the covenant. And because of that covenant, he says in verse twelve,

"Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope…" (Zechariah 9:12).

In other words, there is hope because he has sworn to them, promising them, it is all going to come to pass. And so, he says, you are going to be freed from the pit because "we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19).

And so, the Lord is saying, you can trust me, you can lean on me, because everything that has ever been withheld from you, everything that has been taken from you will be restored, you will be blessed, and "even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you" (Zechariah 9:12b). In other words, it will be a double blessing, a double measure, because of all the pain and suffering they have experienced.

In fact, God promised, I am going to save them, taking them out of the pit, and "instead of their shame, my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs" (Isaiah 61:7).

And then, the Holy Spirit makes another jump in time, like rumble strips on the road, and gives us one more historical mile marker so that we don’t lose our place in history. In other words, you could say the Holy Spirit has tossed down some more crumbs along the path. He says in verse thirteen,

"I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior's sword" (Zechariah 9:13).

Now, this is interesting because there is only one time in history when this has happened. And so, there is little doubt that this is a reference to the battle of the Maccabees and the sons of Greece. This happened about one hundred and sixty years before the coming of Christ as the Maccabees rose up in rebellion and overcame the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes who had attempted to suppress Judaism. Zechariah tells us centuries before it happened in verse fourteen,

"Then the Lord will appear over them; his arrow will flash like lightning.

The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms of the south" (Zechariah 9:14).

And the Lord did, he rose up like a mighty whirlwind, because Antiochus had made a mockery of the worship of God, desecrating the Temple, sacrificing a pig on the altar and even forcing pork into the mouths of the priests. This so infuriated the Lord that he raised up this little army to fight against Greece like a devastating whirlwind or lightning flashing across the sky. God used the Maccabees to win their independence from Greece, which once again is just the sign, a fleece, a token on the path to the final victory that awaits us in the future when Jesus comes.

Once more in verse fifteen, the Holy Spirit leaps from one age to another giving us a picture of the final victory when the armies of the world gather themselves against Israel. I believe this is what is known as the great battle of Armageddon in Revelation chapter fourteen. Verse fifteen says,

"The Lord Almighty will shield them. They will destroy and overcome with slingstones. They will drink and roar as with wine; they will be full like a bowl used for sprinkling the corners of the altar" (Zechariah 9:15).

In other words, when all the nations gather against Israel, they will be full like a bowl used for sprinkling the corners of the altar. This is a reference to the bowl used to catch sacrificial blood splashed against the altar and they would catch it in these bowls and then sprinkle the blood on the four corners of the altar. This is a reference to the blood of godless nations that have come against Israel as the apostle John tells us in the book of Revelation,

"They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles" (Revelation 14:20).

That is a bloody mess because we’re talking about nations of God hating, God rejecting people coming against Israel. And so, this is the literal physical appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David, when he appears victoriously in his second coming. This is the coming of our Shepherd King, protecting his flock and saving them as he said,

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11).

And so, when a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock he went after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. David declared to Saul,

"When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it… this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God" (1 Samuel 17:35-36).

And so, there is the judgment of the godless on one hand, and the salvation of the righteous on the other, because our Savior, our Shepherd King is going to come, and when he does there is going to be a purging of wickedness. All things will be brand-new in verse sixteen says,

"The Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown" (Zechariah 9:16).

In other words, like a crown on the head of the Messiah, this is a glorious reality of the coming kingdom, those who come in faith trusting the blood of the covenant will sparkle like jewels in his crown. He says in verse seventeen,

"How attractive and beautiful they will be" (Zechariah 9:17).

And then, he expresses the happiness and joy of this time as they look into the kingdom and see the bountiful blessings and gracious provision of the Lord. He says,

"Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women" (Zechariah 9:17).

And so, all of this is a foreshadowing of the coming Kingdom of God. Our conquering King who came riding into Jerusalem on that donkey will return in power to rule the nations. When he does it will be with a demonstration of power infinitely beyond anything Alexander the Great ever dreamed of as he restores peace and establishes his kingdom on earth.

The Holy Spirit is telling us here in this text, if you doubt this, if you question this, just look back at your history, look back at Alexander the Great, or look back at the Maccabean rebellion, because if that happened these other things will come to pass as well. And that was the mindset of the crowds that day when the gospel tells us the people saw their King coming, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).

It’s no wonder they started shouting, and praising the Lord. Singing, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21:9). But the disciples were not feeling what the crowd was feeling because they had inside information. They know that Jesus has come to Jerusalem to die, because if you remember, Thomas has said to the rest of the disciples earlier, before the resurrection of Lazarus, "Let us go to Jerusalem, that we may die with him" (John 11:16).

And so, there was an undeniable feeling, this ominous feeling that was so real among the disciples, because they didn’t know how this was going to turn out. But Jesus kept pushing towards Jerusalem, and so the disciples kept following loyally, because it would’ve been unthinkable to walk away from him now. The gospel of Matthew tells us that they brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road (Matthew 21:7-8).

And then in verse 9, even others went ahead of him, and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21:9). And so, here’s our challenge today, it’s not to be the branch cutters or the lip service people, but to be like the disciples giving their cloaks to their Savior who was about to die for them. That is what true worship is all about, trusting Jesus when you don’t have all the answers, even if he doesn’t do what you expect him to do, and especially when following him was to sign a death sentence.

For me, that means giving him my cloak even if everything remains the same and I have to keep living with the same struggles in the same challenges day after day as long as I’ve got. In other words, that means praising him in the famine, in the storm, and in the struggles, in spite of what you see and hear. And right now, this is so important, because we are all dealing with all kinds of stuff, worried and anxious because we don’t know how it is going to turn out, but genuine faith isn’t based on what you know because as the proverb says, "Lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

And so, to walk with God, you’ve got to be okay to walk in uncertainty, but God doesn’t want lip service, he’s not impressed by shouting, because anybody can make noise. He wants your sacrifice and he wants your heart. In fact, he said, "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Isaiah 29:13). And so, the people saw Jesus riding the donkey and thought the kingdom was coming. And the reason they would turn so quickly and shout "Crucify him" is because they were disappointed. In other words, they were expecting something that wasn’t according to God’s will.

Some of you today, I wonder what you have expected that is not in God’s plan and you feel like he has let you down. I want you to know that God wants you to trust him. Period. You see, he’s not your genie in a bottle, nor does he work for you, he is the ruler of the universe, and he said, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9).

Some of you may feel overwhelmed, like you’re groping in the darkness, but it’s not because you are buried, you have been planted. You might not be able to see, you might not understand, you might be in a dark season, but he gives you a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. In other words, even if you can’t see it yet, even if you don’t understand yet, "He will fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy" (Job 8:21). He said, "you will dance again when you see what I am about to do." "You will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy" (John 16:22).

You see, your faith is like a treasure hidden in the darkness, and you need to know that when you go through a dark season, "The Lord is there" (Ezekiel 48:35). In other words, he is our ever-present help in times of trouble. He is right there, right now, working out the details, developing your next season, and you’ve got to trust him when you don’t understand. You don’t want to mess with where you are planted, because like a seed you don’t want to expose it too soon, but wait patiently because it shall come to pass.

"Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door" (James 5:7-9).

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