Palm Sunday: The Coming of Zion's King

We're taking a pause over these weeks and our studies in the

book of Exodus so that we can look at Palm Sunday and of course,

next week, look at Resurrection Sunday and see what

we can learn from the New Testament in that.

But even in what we've looked at so far, and perhaps what we know

about the wider picture of Exodus, once again this morning,

as we've been seeing in our evening services of worship, with

the studies in Revelation, Exodus speaks so much into how we

understand the life of God's people.

It was almost as if it was a robe being thrown down for us by

which we can see how God will continue to work through his people

so that they can know his true salvation of them.

Because, of course, as we'll pick up the Exodus series, we're

going to see that salvation does come for God's people as they

go through the waters of the Red Sea and eventually into the promised

Land, that land of promise that God had given to them.

And so, as I said earlier, rather than looking at the accounts

of that triumphal entry that we're all very familiar with of Jesus

going into Jerusalem from the Gospels, we're turning to the Old

Testament prophet of Zechariah, who foretold of Jesus

entering Jerusalem on a donkey.

And it is truly amazing how God has worked his word with such

truth that we can be left without shadow of doubt that the

one that we read off at the beginning of our service in our call

to worship is indeed the one foretold to be the savior of God's

people.

Because the purpose of the Old Testament prophets was to speak God's

truth to the people.

Now, that comes in two ways.

And if you think that prophets only foretold the future, then you

don't fully understand what their task was.

Their overall task was to speak the truth of God.

You see, prophets spoke that truth to tell the people of the situation

they were in.

And it was a situation where they often rebelled against God.

And so what these prophets would do with Isaiah and Jeremiah

in particular, they would give comment on the current social and

religious times that the people lived in.

They would tell them the state of their spiritual health, and it

wasn't good.

And even Zechariah, prior to this, has warned the people about

what it means to know their need of a savior and not to fall

away from a savior.

But the warning would also be, secondly, that they had to change

their ways, that they couldn't stay in the way that they had.

They had to change or they would face the wrath of God and So

that's often then why we see see prophets as foretelling the future.

Well, they do foretell a future, but it's the ultimate future

that every human being will face, that if they do not trust in

God's way of salvation, then they will face his wrath.

And of course, each of the prophets foretold this.

Those prophets that spoke before the exile foretold of nations

who would be used as God's punishment for their unfaithfulness.

And even today, now we see that God will punish those who actually

were used to punish Israel because they were never right or

good, it was never God's way.

His people were to remain faithful.

But God will use different ways and different means to ensure

that his people do and that they wake up to the reality of their

need of his salvation.

And so, yes, read Isaiah and Jeremiah, those major prophets, because

of the length of their writings, and you will see this clearly

of what they say about the people in the time in which they

live.

And if they don't change their ways, what their ultimate outcome

and punishment will be for their rejection of God.

And we see it time and again in the Old Testament because it turns

out the children of Israel didn't have good memories.

Trace it, we'll not even get too far out of Egypt, that moment

of salvation when they will reject the things of God because

of their impatience and they will worship false gods crafted by

their own hands.

How slow of memory they are, quick to forget.

And so the prophets came to warn, and that's what Zechariah is

doing for us.

But there is goodness to the Old Testament prophets, so we mustn't

think that they simply came with doom and gloom, although Jeremiah

doesn't have much happiness in his writings.

But the Old Testament's prophets also spoke good news, because

that good news was that invitation that God would give his

people to turn from their ways.

And a phrase that's often used is, but if you would yet turn, turn

this sense of moving in a different direction, God would say

this frequently to his people, so that indeed they would turn around

and they would come to him and know his salvation.

And salvation in Old Testament times wasn't simply by being born.

You had to worship God.

You had to go by the ways that he required, that sacrificial system

that held the worship of God's people towards him.

But of course, with the coming of Christ, that was all done away

with.

And the only way by which we now can be saved is in Jesus Christ.

And that's what Zechariah is pointing us to.

He's pointing us to the coming of Zion's king.

Now, if you know anything about scripture, you will know that

at times there's terms used to a literal understanding.

And we know Zion to be the.

The hill of Jerusalem that Jerusalem is built on.

But it also points us to Zion, the city of God, the holy habitation

of the Most High, where he dwells in eternity.

And so here we have Zechariah looking forward in the first of two

oracles, where he is pointing to the holy city, not Jerusalem,

but to the city of God and to that eternal dwelling place of God

and his people.

And the first eight verses of chapter nine are about God judging

the enemies of Israel and punishing them for coming up against

his people, even though God used them as his agents.

So the people are now back in Jerusalem.

But the rest of the chapter speaks of that coming king, that

king who will offer salvation for those who will put their trust

in him, that salvation that only comes from God.

And so the book of Zechariah itself anticipates the coming kingdom

of God with the coming king.

And it opens in about 520 BC, 20 years after the first Jews had

returned from exile in Babylon to the region of Judah.

And the prophet Zechariah is known to us outside of his book because

he played a key role, along with the prophet Haggai, in rebuilding

the temple.

And we're told that in the book of Ezra, and so this later part

of his book, his prophecy is written in a time after the completion

of the temple and tells of the Lord returning to his people.

But it's not as they might expect.

Like humanity today, they will look to their past as an expectation

of what will happen.

But God says, no, this is now something new.

I'm going to dwell with you, but it's not as I did before, because

the covenant is being renewed and the new covenant is coming through

my son Jesus.

And so in the verses that we will read today, we will see of the

hope that Zacharias speaks of to people of not a king to rule Israel

in 520 BC, because any king that came to rule Israel was only

a puppet king for the overlords of empire.

Rather speaking of a future king from David's line, the root

of Jesse, the Messiah.

Now, if you're familiar with the writings of J.R.R.

Tolkien, then you will know that his final book in the Lord of

the Rings trilogy is entitled the Return of the King.

And the whole premise of this book is the expectant return of the

king of Gondor to restore peace and justice to the land following

a period, a long period of rul by the evil Sauron and his army.

And the closing scenes of this book are one of brightness.

And whenever Peter Jackson made those epic movies, it was bright,

it was dazzling because it wanted to display the glory of the

kingdom with the right king in his place, a king who ruled with

peace and justice, that this kingdom would be established, firm.

And this is the scene for what's going on in the hearts of

God's people.

This is what they want.

Remember when they left, they had a king, they had a city, they

had a country and a nation, and they want that back again.

And so this is their expectation that a king would sit

on David's throne there and then and would rule and rule and

rule, and this kingdom would never end.

But as human kingdoms rise and fall, this was never going to be

the way of God's people.

And so they have returned from exile, an exile, by the way, that

was their punishment for their rebellion against God.

And so now the walls in the temple of Jerusalem have been rebuilt.

And it feels like the people are expecting a bright and glorious

future.

But they're still a people who are governed by foreign powers.

Who's their king at this moment?

Well, it's Darius, the king of the Persians.

He is their overlord.

So how can the people know true freedom?

Well, Zechariah tells them that their only freedom can rest

in the coming of Zion's true king, the Messiah.

And so the first eight verses in chapter nine have seen the Lord

promise to punish the oppressors of Israel.

And those oppressors, the nations around Israel, have been

harassing them for generations.

But a day is coming when there will be true peace for God's people.

This is what's said in verse eight that we didn't read.

But I will defend my house, says God, against marauding forces.

Never again will an oppressor overrun my people.

For now, I am keeping watch.

And this is a wonderful message of comfort for God's people,

because after judging the nations on the borders of the land,

God will return to encamp at his house to the temple, and he will

protect his people from invaders and oppressors for the people.

This brings King David into mind, very focused and clear as the

greatest king that Israel ever had.

This was also the time when God truly camped amongst them, first

of all in the tabernacle, and then after that as Solomon built

the temple, his presence filling the temple.

And God tells his people that he is watching over them so that

they can know his goodness and his blessing.

But that blessing will not come through a nation state of Israel,

for they will never be a people who are free.

Yes, they will be ruled by other empires, the Persians, the

Greeks and the Romans for another thousand years.

And they will be a people who will continue in sin and will be

unable to save themselves.

So God tells them that he will provide a way for them.

And his first words to them as their minds turn to this great promise

of salvation.

And is to rejoice, as verse nine tells us, these familiar words,

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.

This is the promise.

And this is of course, what we see fulfilled in Jesus coming into

Jerusalem.

But for the people of the time of Zechariah, their minds are immediately

brought to a Davidic king who ruled with great power and established

peace on the land.

But unlike many previous kings, the king that is promised

to them here will be righteous.

And this king is said to have salvation.

Now, no other king was said to have that.

So this king is completely different from anything and everything

that these people have known before.

Now, the Hebrew language here can also be translated with the sense

that this king has been saved.

So not only will he bring salvation, but he knows that salvation,

and in this case, the future king has been saved by God in the

context of God's defeat of the nations, as seen in the first eight

verses.

And he now comes to the royal city of Jerusalem.

But this king is also humble, unlike all the kings of the nations

around them, who were arrogant.

In fact, even their own kings were arrogant against God and against

his people.

And so the meaning to Zechariah's picture here seems to

be the suffering servant.

We can see David as king suffering in 2nd Samuel and in the

Psalms that he writes.

But as Isaiah prophesies, a suffering servant, a messiah, who

would come not to sit on a golden throne, but to serve the people

and suffer for that service.

And so here's Zechariah's portrait of what has happened to

David and what is about to happen with a future king, are woven

together to make this link, that this has always been God's plan

of salvation, to bring about his son as the only savior we can

know.

And so this then explains the fourth description of the king we

see here in Zechariah 9:9 as one mounted on a donkey.

Zechariah 9:9

And again, when the people hear this, they immediately think

of David's exile from Jerusalem when he was nearly defeated

by his enemies.

What did he do?

He rode on a donkey.

God saved David in battle and delivered him back to Jerusalem as

king.

And again, combining these images, Zechariah speaks of a future

righteous king from David's line of prophetic expectation, who,

having been saved by God from the affliction of exile, will return

to Jerusalem on a donkey and will speak peace to the nations,

as verse 10 goes on to tell us.

Now, verse 10 also speaks of the chariot and war horse, and they

were key weapons of warfare for Israel and for Judah in the 9th

and 8th centuries.

And God says he will cut off or he will destroy these weapons

along with the battle bow.

And there's a specific mention here of Ephraim, the northern kingdom

of Israel, and of Jerusalem itself, giving us hints at a reunified

kingdom.

When was the last time the kingdom was unified?

Well, it was under David, when the kingdom of Israel had its greatest

reach and its greatest territory.

And so the coming king, we're told, shall proclaim peace to the

nations.

And this is not just the absence of war, but the peace of

salvation, as Zachariah will go on to speak of in the closing

verses of this chapter.

And so the coming king's rule will extend from sea to sea and from

the river to the ends of the earth.

And so this is an expression that captures his universal reign

over all nations.

Now, even King David didn't have that.

And so Zechariah is not telling us to focus on a human king

that will come, but on someone who will come from God, who is unlike

any that has been seen before.

In verse 11, the Lord reminds his people, as he often does through

his prophets, of his covenant with them.

And the covenant with Israel at Sinai was ratified with blood.

And what that meant was, well, it was indicating God's commitment

to his people.

And so this covenant commitment means that the prisoners

will be set free from the waterless pit.

Now, who do we know was imprisoned in a waterless pit?

We know Joseph, and also the prophet Jeremiah.

And so the image here specifically refers to those still

living in foreign lands.

Or it may be a more general reference to the end of exile, that

indeed true freedom will come for God's people, no matter where

they are.

To set the prisoners free also echoes the Exodus.

The end of exile is a new exodus for God's people as they go

back home and away from a place of slavery.

And so once they're set free, then the prisoners are to return

to their.

To their stronghold, meaning Jerusalem.

They are what we could call prisoners of hope because of a promise

of restoration after exile built into the national covenant

that God made with these people.

And in verse 13, we see that the coming king will unite God's

people to defeat their enemies.

But what's more important in this prophecy is the actuality of

the coming of the Lord, because this is what we're told in

verses 14 and 15.

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 sea, and 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.

We don't always understand what's going on here with this language

because we're so far removed from that sacrificial system.

But everything that has been mentioned here in these verses is

hints back to what the people should have known about what it meant

to worship God properly, to go through each of the things that God

had told them.

And so, like God's salvation in the Exodus, the Lord will appear

as a warrior to save his people.

He will come as an army on the march, shooting his arrow and sounding

the trumpet as part of the battle.

The storms of the south mentioned here may also echo Exodus

themes.

Where did.

Where was the place of Exodus from the south, from Egypt, along

with the lightning and trumpet associated with God's appearance

at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19.

And in the battle, the Lord will protect or he'll shield his

people, who destroy and tread down the sling stones.

Now, this is a poetic way of picturing the enemies of God's people

being obliterated in battle.

The sound of the battle will be like the roar of those drunk with

wine and.

And the sight of it, like blood at a sacrifice.

And just as the foreign nations consumed blood as part of

their adulterous worship, which is mentioned in verse 7 of

this chapter, so their blood will be consumed by the Israelites.

Now, that's metaphorically, not literally, in battle.

Other prophets also compare God's victory over his enemies to

a sacrifice.

And the outcome is told to us in verse 16.

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.

Here God is saying that he will not only fight for and protect

his people, but he'll also save and greatly bless them.

And the phrase on that Day refers to the future day of salvation.

The Lord here is called their God, language associated with the

covenant relationship.

And the people are called the flock, portraying God's relationship

with Israel as their only truly good shepherd.

And this, of course, is how Jesus refers to himself.

So it's not just simply verse nine of this chapter that points

us to Palm Sunday, but it actually points us to what Jesus

says of himself, that he is the good shepherd.

And this is what the people needed to hear in that time, often

settlement.

But it's also something we need to hear as well, that as these

images are given to us of the Savior coming lowly and mounted on

a donkey, we also know that he comes to take for himself a flock.

A flock who has a shepherd, A good shepherd.

As Jesus says, I am the good Shepherd.

In verse 11, the Good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

And then verses 14 and 15, I am the good shepherd, he says again,

I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.

And just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I

lay down my life for the sheep.

How does Christ win this flock that Zachariah talks about?

He lays down his life for them.

He goes to Calvary's cross, starting on that journey of Palm

Sunday, going through to those crowds shouting hosanna, and ending,

as we thought, with the girls and boys on what we can truly call

a Good Friday, because of what Christ achieved on that cross.

You see, this truly is a great image of God's love towards his people

here in Zechariah 9 that we must know is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

He is the true Davidic king described as the root of Jesse.

Go to Matthew's genealogy and you will see that Christ comes from

the line of David.

So once again, the people's hope is not misfounded, it's just

misplaced.

They're looking for a king, a physical king from David's line,

whereas what they're given is an eternal king who in human time

comes from the line of David, yet is a king that dies so that he

might reign.

He is the true king of David who will save God's people through

that death and through that resurrection.

This is the hope that we have of the coming king who will defeat

the enemy of God's people.

He will defeat the Satan.

He will be, as we've been talking with the boys and girls,

the true snake crusher.

And he will rule and reign forever.

You see, the sad reality for the people in Zechariah's day is

that they only looked around them they only looked for a literal

king, just like they did before Saul.

They wanted to be like all the other nations, but that was not God's

intention.

Jesus being welcomed into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with shouts

of Hosanna is the true fulfillment of verse 9, the king

coming into Zion on that donkey, lowly riding on it.

And isn't this the true description of Jesus, who tells us

in Matthew 11 that his heart, his very being, is gentle and lowly

to those who need to find their rest and their hope in him?

This is the true King of Zion.

This is the true King of God, who comes to give rescue and salvation

to his people.

See, the people of 500 BC needed to know that there was a Savior

to rescue them.

And that's still true of us today.

We need a savior.

No matter who you are this morning, there are a number of truths

that you need to know.

Firstly, Jesus is truly the good shepherd again.

What does Zechariah say?

The Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of

his people.

I wonder, do you even want a good shepherd?

We know what a shepherd's like.

We know that they work hard, they work tireless, often unseen,

and yet they will do whatever they can to protect the flock, as

well as to perhaps roughly ensure that the flock goes where

the flock needs to go.

That's why the image of a crook is what we're given.

One to pull around the neck of a lamb or a sheep, to pull them out

of a ditch or a shuck or the other end of it, to move them in

the direction by hitting them in the way that they need to go,

and which of us like anything around our necks or being hit and

punched and pulled physically, never mind spiritually.

You see, the shepherd is good because he does what is best for

us.

And we are on a path.

We are walking this road of life that is going to end, as the

reality of these last number of weeks has demonstrated to us,

that ends with the breath leaving our bodies and then eternity.

And the question is, do you trust in the good shepherd to lead

you through, or are you going to defy him and not call him good

and reject him and ignore him?

Because that is only going to be a path that will lead against

everything that Christ went to Calvary for.

He paid the price of sin so that we wouldn't have to.

And to reject him and to defy him means we have to pay that ourselves.

And if you think you're going to take your chances, well, the reality

is that is a very sad place in which to be.

Because the description given to us of those who reject Christ

as the true Good shepherd is one of complete torment, with no

happiness and complete sadness.

See, Jesus truly is the Good shepherd who invites us to follow

Him.

He is the Good shepherd who has laid down his life for his sheep.

He is the good shepherd, and his sheep know him just as the Father

knows Him.

And he has laid down his life for the sheep.

This is what he's done for you, and he invites you to come and

follow him and to know him as your Good shepherd, just as he promised

of old.

The second thing is that salvation in Jesus is not just for

Sunday.

This was the problem with the people of Zechariah's time.

This is why they needed to be told about a Savior.

Because they couldn't save themselves.

They thought they could.

They thought all they had to do was show up, show up with your

turtle dove, show up with whatever other animal you had to

bring for whatever sacrifice it was, go through the ritual, and

that was you.

Their hearts then went cold for the rest of the year until it

was time to come and offer sacrifices again.

And all too often, we can find ourselves in a similar way.

We will do everything that it takes to put on a good face for Sunday.

And yet throughout the week, we have no thought of Christ at all.

And the challenge here is to know that a Savior didn't come for

just one day a week.

A Savior came to give his life as he tells us, the Good shepherd

to lay down his life so that we can live for him every day, not

in our own strength, but in His.

And this is what we call discipleship.

It's what we call, knowing Jesus, that we will live by his way

each and every day given to us.

We will look neither to the left nor to the right, but we will

fix our eyes on him as a verse that we're going to look at will

tell us in a few moments so that we will be people who live for

him day and daily, and not simply one day a week.

And so Jesus is truly the Good shepherd who wants us to follow him

because his ways are good and true, and he is the great shepherd

of his people.

But we also must know that as he leads us, it's not just for one

day a week.

It is for every moment of our lives.

And thirdly, knowing Christ as Savior and Lord means we are beautiful

before him and our salvation is abundant.

I wonder, did you pick that up?

As this passage ended, what are we told?

The people of the land, they will Sparkle in His land like jewels

in a crown.

How attractive and beautiful they will be.

It's a land of abundance because grain will make the young

men thrive and new wine the young women.

Images of the abundance of God's blessing and glory too his

people.

Now, if you're someone like me who has a great face for radio, think

about that for a moment.

Then you will find these words the greatest of blessing.

You are beautiful in the sight of the Lord because He has saved

you.

He has bought you at a price, and you are His.

If I can describe these, the month of March, I think is the best

way to say it has been heavy and tiresome days.

I don't think I would be underestimating not just how I feel,

but how we and a community around us feel.

And yet today we need to know a truth as God's people.

If we're placing our trust in Jesus, that we're not simply people

who live for him on a Sunday and reject him the rest of the week,

but are are with him as our Good shepherd, then we need to know

today that we are beautiful in his sight.

We are this very description.

That as he saves us as his flock, then we sparkle for Him.

We are like jewels in a crown.

We are attractive and we are beautiful not because of our own

works and our own efforts, but because of what Christ has done in

us.

And that's what this prophecy that starts off with a Savior coming

into Zion on a donkey.

It ends with the salvation of God's people who are beautiful in

his sight.

Even though shunned by the world, our beauty does not diminish,

for we are kept, and our salvation is kept by him for that

day when he will bring us home.

How do we know all this?

How do we know that Jesus is the Good Shepherd?

How do we know that we must live for him every day?

How do we know that we are beautiful in his sight because of

the sin salvation he gives us?

And it's because of the cross.

That's why we look at this passage on a day like this, because

ahead of us is Good Friday.

And it's because of everything that Jesus accomplished on Calvary's

cross.

That's why Hebrews 12 tells us, Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.

No one else, because there's no one else can save us.

So why even bother?

Look to Jesus, who is the author and perfecter of our faith,

who for the joy set before him, endured the cross just as he

said.

As the Good shepherd lays down his life for the flock, scorning

its shame, but in glorious resurrection, sat down at the right

hand of the throne of God.

In one verse in Hebrews.

We have it all before us of why this day is important and why

we must know we have a good shepherd, why we must live for him

every day, and why we are truly beautiful as we fix our eyes

on Jesus.

Because it is his beauty, his crown and his glory that is within

us.

On this Palm Sunday.

We have sung the words hosanna.

But do you mean them in your heart?

Are you eagerly anticipating Good Friday and the Cross so that

we can stand beneath the cross of Jesus, knowing that we do stand

and not fall, but stand in him and in the salvation he offers?

I truly hope and believe that the days ahead of us are a little

bit lighter as we look to the Savior, as we fix our eyes on him,

as we celebrate what Christ has accomplished for us.

And so we know the blessing and the beauty of Jesus in the salvation

that he gives us each.

The question today is, will you receive it and will you live

it?

This is what he demands from us so that we can be sure that we

are His.

Let's pray.

Our Father God, on this Palm Sunday.

We've looked at that prophecy that foretells of this day, and yet

how much it opens to us of who Jesus is.

He truly is the good Shepherd.

He is the one to whom we are to follow each and every day we live

and not simply reserve him for the times when we think it's convenient.

But yet when we know Christ, we are beautiful in your sight because

of his good within us.

And so may we take heart today.

May we know that whatever the heaviness and the weightiness of

this world is, as we fix our eyes on Jesus, we are truly beautiful,

even though the world may shun us, because that beauty is truly

Him.

So may we fix our eyes as we stand beneath the cross of Jesus,

looking to him as the One who will lead us on, you giving us him.

So that we will know what it means to have a true Savior.

Lord, don't let any of our hearts go out here cold.

But may we be warm to the Savior and know that this is the

reality in which we live.

A reality we must face and a reality in which we must truly place

our hope.

As we look ever to Jesus and it's in his name we pray.

Amen.