Your King is ComingZechariah 9:1-17

Main Idea: King Jesus desires to reveal Himself to us.

1. King Jesus Expresses God’s Righteousness (9:1-8).
2. King Jesus Extends God’s Deliverance (9:9-13).
3. King Jesus Exhibits God’s Glory (9:14-17).

Years ago, a Cheyenne hunter found an eagle egg. He was interested to see if the egg would hatch because it was all by itself. He placed that egg in the nest of a prairie chicken and waited. The eagle egg did, indeed, hatch. The mother prairie chicken noticed that this young bird in her nest looked different from all the other birds. He acted different. He sounded different. But, as far as she knew, the chick that hatched from this egg was hers.

Consequently, she raised it as a prairie chicken. The eagle learned to act like a prairie chicken. Like all of his adopted brothers and sisters, this eagle pecked around on the ground for his food. He thought prairie chicken thoughts. He did prairie chicken things. His mother told him, “You’re a prairie chicken.” So did his father. Everything about his environment validated his identity as a prairie chicken.

Then one day this eagle, who thought he was a prairie chicken, heard the call of a mighty eagle flying overhead. He looked up, mesmerized, as he watched this bird flying higher and higher, until it finally disappeared above the clouds.

He cried out, “What was that?”

One of his adopted brothers said, “Oh, that’s an eagle.”

The prairie chicken, who really was an eagle, then said to himself, “Man, I wish I could fly like that.” And then, with a sigh, he shook his head and went back to pecking at the ground and scratching for his food.

Too many people mistakenly believe that they are really something significantly less than what they are. So many people sell themselves short and fail to soar the way God intends them to soar.

For instance, a 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center asked 18 to 25 year olds their generation’s most important goals in life.

• 81 percent said their goal was to be rich.
• 51 percent aspired to be famous.
• 30 percent wanted to help people who need help.
• 22 percent wanted to be leaders in their community.
• 10 percent desired to become more spiritual. (Pew Research, “How Young People,” 12)

But a life of money and fame, and even a life of service or a so-called “spiritual” life, is settling for something less than God’s best if our lives are not fixed on Jesus Christ.

Zechariah 9 begins a new section. Chapters 9–14 differ from the first eight chapters in that no reference is made to the rebuilding of the temple, no visions are given to the prophet, and individuals such as Zerubbabel and Joshua, who were so prominent in the earlier chapters, are not mentioned at all. Instead, the last portion of Zechariah’s prophecy focuses on the coming of the Messiah.

Zechariah’s prophecies about King Jesus and both His first and second comings reveal wonderful aspects of who Jesus is and what He can accomplish through His people. Whether we are young or old, the Lord Jesus desires to work in us to reveal Himself. Perhaps you have asked the question, what does Jesus want to do through me? You will find answers in our text, which reveals three aspects of the character of Christ.

King Jesus Expresses God’s Righteousness (Zechariah 9:1-8)

Zechariah 9:1 begins by identifying the forthcoming message as “An Oracle.” The Hebrew term massa?, repeated in Zechariah 12:1, comes from a word with two meanings: “to bear” and “to lift up” (Lindsey, “Zechariah, 1562). Accordingly, some translations take massa? to mean a burden or weighty judgment borne by the prophet. Others—following the meaning “to lift up”—use the term oracle to indicate a message that was lifted up by the prophet. Zechariah concludes with two oracles, the first found in chapters 9–11 and the second in chapters 12–14.

In the beginning of his first oracle Zechariah prophesies against Israel’s enemies who have acted unrighteously in God’s sight. Many conservative interpreters view Zechariah 9:1-8 as predictive prophecy of Alexander the Great’s conquests in the areas to the north and east of Judah. After defeating the Persians at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, Alexander was used as a tool in God’s hand to bring defeat to the enemies of Judah. Though he did so unintentionally, Alexander was an instrument of God’s righteous judgment in preparation for the coming of Zion’s messianic King.

First, Zechariah’s oracle addresses “the land of Hadrach,” a land not mentioned anywhere else in the OT. The location of Hadrach, known only by its mention in an Assyrian text, appears to have been situated to the north of all of the other places Zechariah names (Klein, Zechariah, 260). In the rest of the verse Zechariah explains why the word of the Lord is against Hadrach, along with Damascus, the capital city of Syria: “For the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel are on the Lord.” By judging these places, God would show His glory and righteousness to His people. He also mentions “Hamath,” bordering Syria in the northern part of the promised land, along with “Tyre” and “Sidon” on the Phoenician coasts of the Mediterranean, as recipients of the Lord’s judgment.

In Zechariah 9:3-4 the prophet turns his attention to Tyre specifically. Personifying the city as a woman, he speaks of her military defenses. Tyre’s fortifications included a breakwater that was 2,460 feet long and 27 feet thick (Kaiser, Micah, 381). With its elaborate fortifications, the city of Tyre seemed indomitable. He also uses similes to describe Tyre’s wealth. From a human standpoint, Tyre had good reason to boast about her invulnerability. Failed attacks from Tyre’s enemies in the past had proven the city’s strength. Tyre had withstood a five-year siege by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser V in 722 BC and a 13-year siege by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in 527 BC.

In spite of Tyre’s strength and prosperity, God promised to “impoverish her and cast her wealth into the sea.” Moreover, the city itself would be burned. History shows that Alexander captured Tyre and conquered it in 332 BC. He won his victory by taking the ruins from the old city on the mainland and piling them up in the Mediterranean to build a causeway out to the island city. Alexander then blockaded Tyre for seven months until he was victorious. Diodorus Siculus records that he massacred between 6,000 and 8,000 of Tyre’s men, as well as crucifying 2,000 and selling between 13,000 and 30,000 people into slavery. The city’s weapons were thrown into the sea, and the remainder of the city was set on fire (Hindson and Kroll, KJV Bible Commentary, 1823–24).

Zechariah 9:5-8 describes the repercussions that the fall of Tyre brought to the neighboring Philistine cities farther south along the Mediterranean coast. Four of five major Philistine cities are mentioned here: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod. Only Gath is left unnamed, presumably because the city had already deteriorated by this time. As they were attacked and conquered, God promised that the Philistine cities would lose hope and become uninhabited. In the end, the Lord would “destroy the pride of the Philistines,” as Alexander moved southward.

Even this devastating prophecy of judgment, however, contains promises of grace for God’s enemies and protection for God’s people. The “blood” in verse 7 is a reference to the Philistine practice of eating meat that had not been drained of its blood, while the “detestable things” suggest not only polluted and ceremonially unclean foods they would have eaten, but also other idolatrous practices. The Lord prohibited both drinking blood and eating unclean animals (see Gen 9:4; Lev 11:2-47; Deut 14:3-21). With this promise, then, God was graciously pledging to change the lifestyles of pagan people to reflect His righteousness. Even more astonishing than changing the lifestyle of the Philistines, the Lord actually promises to transform their identity, so that He would treat these traditional enemies in the promised land as he would the people of Judah, and the inhabitants of Ekron like the Jebusites (v. 7), the original people of Jerusalem itself (2 Sam 5:6-10).

Verse 8 contains good news for Jerusalem. God would encamp around His “house,” a use of metonymy indicating not only the temple itself, but the entire region surrounding Jerusalem. According to the ancient Jewish historian Josephus, after Alexander’s siege of Gaza he started for Jerusalem. Frightened, the high priest ordered the Jews to offer sacrifices to God and ask for deliverance. That night, God spoke to the high priest in his sleep and told him to decorate the city with wreaths and to have the people of Jerusalem wear white garments, while the priests dressed in their holy robes to welcome Alexander. When Alexander approached the city, he was so impressed by the sight that he prostrated himself and offered sacrifices to the Lord, sparing the city (Josephus, Antiquities, XI, viii.3–5).

In addition to protecting Jerusalem, Verse 8 concludes with God’s promise to guard the city completely from attack. With this verse the prophet seems to take a great leap forward in time. While the immediate meaning of this verse can be seen as a promise that Judah would not be carried away into captivity as before, this prophecy finds its ultimate fulfillment in the future, when, during the millennial reign of Christ, by His own presence in the city He will safeguard Jerusalem from any kind of threat.

While the return of Christ will bring about God’s perfect righteousness on the earth, right now we live in an unrighteous, unjust world. As we get closer to the time that Jesus Christ returns, the world is not going to become better and better. Instead, our world will become increasingly more sinful. God has called His people to stand for His righteousness. Romans 12:21 tells us, “Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.” Expressing God’s righteousness requires looking at ourselves and asking, Am I right with God? Am I who He has called me to be? What can I do where I am to work for His justice and righteousness?

Walking home from class, a college student saw a little girl standing on a street corner, begging. The little girl’s clothes were paper thin and dirty. Her hair was matted and unclean, her cheeks red from the cold. The student dropped a few coins into the little girl’s cup and smiled slightly at her. As this college student walked on, she began to feel guilty, thinking, “How can I go back to my warm room, where I’ve got plenty of money, plenty of food, and plenty of clothes to keep me warm, while this little girl is out on the street, begging, cold, and shivering?” The young woman began to feel angry at God. She prayed a sort of protest prayer, asking, “Lord, how can You let things like this happen? Why don’t You do something, God, to help this little girl?” And then, deep in her heart, she heard God answer: “I did do something. I created you, and I sent you to that girl.”

Expressing God’s righteousness requires a deep commitment to see that God’s justice is done. It means being willing to risk and to work in order to make things right. We all know that there are big, world-scale problems when it comes to righteousness and justice. We could list things like world hunger, the mistreatment of the poor, and worldwide human trafficking. God is calling out a generation of people, in Jesus’ name, to say, “We will stand for righteousness and justice world-wide.” But smaller scale opportunities to stand for righteousness are no less significant, whether that involves ministering God’s grace during a friend’s addiction, praying faithfully for a marriage going through crisis, or sharing the gospel with someone who needs Christ. Jesus calls us to step into those situations and express His justice and righteousness.

King Jesus Extends God’s Deliverance (Zechariah 9:9-13)

Verses 1-8 of this chapter prepare for the arrival of Israel’s coming King. In verses 9-13 the King enters the city of Jerusalem and delivers His people. Verse 9 begins with God addressing the people of the city, personified as “Daughter Zion” and “Daughter Jerusalem.” God gives the people of Jerusalem three commands: “Rejoice greatly,” “Shout in triumph,” and “Look.” At the coming of King Jesus, God is telling His people, “I want you to rejoice, I want you to shout out loud, and I want you to pay careful attention to the One who is coming.”

The first thing God calls our attention to about Jesus is His righteousness (v. 9). The Hebrew word tsaddiq speaks of the Lord’s personal righteousness, indicating that He holds within Himself moral uprightness, spiritual perfection, and legal righteousness. He alone fulfills the righteous standard of God’s law, something no one else on earth ever has done. The word righteous also refers to the justice of Christ. He upholds what is right.

Next, God calls attention to the Messiah’s deliverance. Verse 9 continues by saying that King Jesus is “victorious.” Walter Kaiser notes that the word here is the Hebrew term for “to save” in the passive form, literally meaning that the Messiah is “endowed with salvation” (Micah, 386). By saying that the Messiah is entrusted with salvation, the meaning can either be that the Messiah has experienced victory or that He brings deliverance to others.

The Messiah is further described as “humble,” an idea that is emphasized by His entrance into the city “riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” In the ancient Near East a king coming in peace would ride a donkey rather than a warhorse. In contrast to the pride and destruction of Alexander the Great, Israel’s King comes in humility and gentleness, bringing salvation and peace. Zechariah 9:9 is one of the most significant messianic passages in Scripture. The gospel writers quote this verse, applying it to Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the Sunday before His crucifixion and resurrection (Matt 21:5; John 12:15).

While Verse 9 concerns the first advent of the Messiah, the verses that follow concern His second coming. When Jesus Christ comes again, He will abolish warfare during His reign on earth, removing weapons of war (v. 10). Zechariah’s prophecy of peace also mentions both Jerusalem and Ephraim, both in verses 10 and 13, signifying a restoration and reunion of the southern and northern kingdoms of Israel during Messiah’s reign. But even beyond the borders of Israel, Christ will “proclaim peace to the nations” through His work of deliverance .

In verses 11-13 God promises that the Messiah, King Jesus, will save and deliver the people of Jerusalem from those that would harm them. Verse 11 contains one of the most powerful word pictures of His deliverance. The blood covenant not only pointed back to the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, both confirmed with sacrifices (Gen 15:8-21; Exod 24:8), but also pointed forward to the new covenant mediated by the blood of Jesus (Heb 12:24). Because of the price paid by His blood, Jesus releases prisoners from the “waterless cistern,” an empty pit used as a dungeon.

Years ago I heard something called the “Parable of the Pit.” The parable talks about a man who suddenly falls into a deep pit. It’s too deep for him to jump out of. The walls of the pit are impossible to climb, and so he’s stuck there. The question is, How will he get out of the pit?

People begin to pass by.

A self-righteous person passes by, looks down at the man, and says, “Only bad people fall in pits. You must be a really bad person to fall into a pit like that.” And the man’s still in his pit.

A philosopher passes by and says, “You’re not really in that pit; you just think you are.” The man’s still in the pit.

A politician passes by and says, “I’ve got a new program that I’m proposing in Congress, and it’s going to eliminate pitfalls just like yours.” And the man’s still in the pit.

A county inspector passes by and says, “Do you have a permit for that pit?” And the man’s still in the pit.

A pessimist passes by and says, “You’re never going to get out of that pit. And it looks like it’s going to start raining.” And the man’s still in the pit.

An optimist passes by and says, “So you fell in a pit. Make the most out of it. Maybe you could decorate it.” And the man’s still in the pit.

An engineer passes by and says, “The pit you are in is 20 feet deep, 15 feet wide, and 25 feet long.” And the man’s still in the pit.

A preacher passes by and says, “I want you to notice three things about that pit. It’s a deep pit. It’s a dark pit. It’s a dirty pit.” And the man’s still in the pit.

A psychologist passes by and says, “Maybe your mother pushed you into that pit. And how does being in that pit make you feel?” And the man’s still in the pit.

A self-pitying person passes by and says, “You think you’re in a pit? You ought to see my pit!” And the man’s still in the pit.

But then Jesus sees the man in the pit, and He takes him by the hand and lifts him out. He extends God’s deliverance.

Jesus gives the gifts of peace and salvation. When we need rescuing, salvation, and deliverance, we look up from the pit of our sin and we wonder: “Does someone love me? Does someone see me? Is someone strong enough to get me out of here?” The gospel of Jesus Christ answers each of those questions with a loud and audacious, Yes! Jesus loves you. Jesus sees you. Jesus is strong enough. We don’t have the ability, on our own, to rescue ourselves or anybody else from a spiritual pit. But through His blood shed on the cross, Jesus has already done everything that needs to be done to lift us out of that pit. Simply sharing the gospel of Jesus with those around us extends His deliverance to others.

King Jesus Exhibits God’s Glory (Zechariah 9:14-17)

The final section of this chapter describes the Messiah’s triumph on behalf of His people, as well as His shepherdly care for them. In these verses Zechariah uses four images to describe the glory of God revealed in the Messiah. The first image is that of a thunderstorm (vv. 14-15). The Lord appears above His people, fighting on their behalf from heaven. Lightning is portrayed as the Lord’s arrows. The blasting thunder is His trumpet. He marches in a furious storm to defend Israel. The Hebrew word for “defend” in verse 15 is related to the word for a shield. As a result of the victory the Lord will win for them, the armies of God’s people will “consume and conquer” their enemies and become drunk on their blood—a gruesome image, but one that nonetheless graphically describes total victory for the people of Israel. The second image is of a flock of sheep (v. 16). God will “save them” or deliver them. The underlying idea is bringing them to a place of safety, with wide pasturelands to protect the flock. The third image is of a crown (v. 16). His people will be like jewels in the crown, shining on His land. The final image is agricultural, with the young men nourished by grain and the young women by new wine (v. 17). This is a picture of the physical health and wellbeing of the Lord’s people that the Messiah will bring.

In each image an aspect of God’s glory is revealed in the coming Christ. He is glorified in His conquering power, in His care for His flock, in the delight and treasure He finds in His people, and in the strength and beauty He bestows to those who follow Him. To make a difference for Christ, God calls His people to reflect His glory. He tells us, “You were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:20).

Antonio Stradivari set up his workshop in a small Italian town, in Cremona, in the 1600s. You’ve probably heard of the Stradivarius violin, and you know they’re very expensive, very rare instruments. But if you’re like me, you don’t know why they’re so expensive, why they’re so rare. Here’s why: During the time that Stradivari began making his violins, the best violins made in the world were made by the Amati family. The Amati violins were made for performances in small places, performances in drawing rooms and in courts. But music was changing. It was moving from the small room to the concert hall. The violin had to be loud enough and clear enough to be heard clearly to the back reaches of the room.

Stradivari adjusted to those changes, and that’s why he became so great. He chose bigger and better pieces of maple. He experimented with stronger varnishes. He arched the belly of the violin differently to give it a distinctive and loud and brilliant sound, unlike any before their time.

When Stradivari died in 1737, they found a particular violin in his studio. This violin had never been played. And they gave the violin the name the Messiah. It has an incredible tiger-striped pattern on its back, and it’s said to be the perfect violin. In form and finish and everything about it, it’s flawless. It’s on display in a museum in Oxford, England, and it’s the only instrument in that museum to have its own showcase.

But the Messiah Violin has never, ever, in nearly 300 years, been played. Wait a minute. The perfect violin? Never played? Is that a perfect violin? Not according to Ivry Gitlis. He plays his Stradivarius every day.

Your life, your salvation, is a gift from the Messiah, Jesus Christ. And He wants you to take the life He has given you and play it for His glory. He wants you to say, “Lord, I’m not going to put my life on the shelf. I’m not going to hide myself away. I’m going to put myself in the middle of whatever You have for me, so that You can use me for Your glory.”

Reflect and Discuss

1. How does understanding Christ’s character shape and transform our character as Christ-followers?
2. Many observers note that the world seems to becoming more and more wicked. Do you agree or disagree? What biblical passages confirm your answer? If wickedness is increasing, how is it expressing itself in our culture? Why?
3. How does being right with God through Christ prepare you to stand for His righteousness?
4. As a follower of Christ, what can you do where you are to make a difference for His justice?
5. What are some “big picture” opportunities to express God’s righteousness? What are some “small scale” opportunities? How are both kinds of opportunities important?
6. Our passage pictures sinners as prisoners, trapped in a pit. What kinds of pits do people who need the Lord’s deliverance fall into?
7. What alternatives do “pit-dwellers” choose instead of receiving God’s deliverance?
8. Who in your life needs to hear the gospel message? What have you done recently to extend God’s promise of deliverance to them?
9. Consider the four images in Zechariah 9:14-17 that describe God’s glory revealed in Christ. Why has Jesus chosen to reveal His conquering power in your life? How has He provided a shepherd’s care for you? In what ways does His word reveal that you are His treasure and delight? When has He given you spiritual strength and nourishment?
10. Because Jesus Christ is a glorious king, how can you reflect His glory in your relationships, your habits, your attitudes, your service, and your values?