The King is coming

Nikolle Bauder • Mar 02, 2022

Notes from Pastor Lance Shumake's message on Zechariah 9:


The book of Zechariah has long been divided into two parts: the first half of the book (chapters 1-8) that focuses on visions and a specific answer to a question; in the second half of the book (chapters 9-14), Zechariah answers another question that hasn't been directly stated... now that the temple is being rebuilt, what is God going to do?


To note: when reading prophecy in the Bible, the timeline of events presented is unimportant. Instead, one must look for overarching themes in order to not get lost in the when and how.


In chapter 9, a major theme is God’s sovereignty over all the earth.


God being sovereign means that He is always in control. Everything that has happened, is happening, or will happen is all according to God’s plan and purpose.


Part of Zechariah’s prophecy in chapter 9 foretells a path of destruction on Israel’s enemies. What’s remarkable is that nearly two centuries later, the conqueror Alexander the Great fulfilled this prophecy exactly. Alexander and his army went down the same path written and wiped out the cities mentioned.


A couple points in chapter 9 that reiterate the theme of God’s sovereignty…


(1) God will judge and punish the wicked.


(2) God will defend his people.


Another remarkable thing about Alexander the Great was that he never attacked Jerusalem. He went past it once, turned around, and went past it again.


Why didn’t he attack? God was guarding His people.


Another theme is chapter 9 is that God will send His King to His people.


There’s a transition in the text between verses 1-8 and the rest of the chapter where God goes from saying, “I will do this…” to “He will do this”. He goes from saying what He’s going to do (send a King); to what the King is going to do. 


The King mentioned here is clearly a person (riding on a donkey, coming into the city) who is closely associated with God. He’s fortelling a God-man coming as King; the long-awaited Messiah coming to rescue His people.


(Spoiler alert: the coming King is Jesus)


This passage tells us several things about the coming King in verse 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.”


The coming King is righteous


The King IS righteousness; the very personification of it.


Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life in complete obedience to God the Father. He was (and is) fully righteous; set apart from every person on earth.


In exchange for our sin, Jesus (*fully righteous*) took the punishment we should have taken and GIVES US his righteousness. When we put our faith and trust in Jesus, it’s like we’ve never sinned. When we are clothed in Jesus’ righteousness, God sees us as if we’ve always obeyed.


The coming King brings salvation


Jesus came because we needed saving. He came to accomplish our salvation by living a perfect life, dying on a cross, being buried in a grave, and—on the third day—coming out of that grave, conquering sin and death forever.


We have no salvation apart from Jesus.


The coming King is humble


Most people thought that the Messiah would come on a war horse as a conqueror. But Jesus came on a humble donkey.


Jesus came to us “not to be served but to serve.” In greatest humility, the Creator of our world accomplished the work of our salvation (death on a cross) with joy.


Author Arthur Pink says of Jesus, “Notice it in the men selected by Him to be His ambassadors: He chose not the wise, the learned, the great, the noble, but poor fishermen for the most part. Witness it in the company He kept: He sought not the rich and renowned, but was “the Friend of publicans and sinners.” See it in the miracles He performed: again and again He enjoined the healed to go and tell no man what had been done for them. Behold it in the unobtrusiveness of His service: unlike the hypocrites who sounded a trumpet before them, He sought not the limelight, shunned advertising, and disdained popularity. . . . When He, in fulfillment of prophecy, presented Himself to Israel as their King, He entered Jerusalem “lowly, and riding upon a donkey.”


Because Jesus is a servant King, kingdom work for us looks like serving.


The coming King proclaims peace


Jesus came in on a donkey because He didn’t come to conquer, He came to bring peace. His peace is one extended to all the nations— all welcome and invited in.


The peace Jesus brings is a peace between us and God. Before Jesus, we were God’s enemies. We fired the first shot and turned our backs on Him. Because He is a just God, He punishes His enemies. But the King comes to intervene and establish peace. He doesn’t seek revenge, He seeks relationship.



The coming King reigns forever


...and we get to reign with Him, if we put our faith and trust in Him!



So what do we do with this?


- Don't reject Him.


- Build His Kingdom and serve others!


- REJOICE! Rejoice with shouting, with worship, with all of our lives -- Rejoice!



500 years after Zechariah said all this, Jesus rode into town on a donkey.


Luke 19:27-28 tells us, "As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, [38] saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 


Rejoice in who He is and what He has done! Let that be the refrain of our lives.

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