Written by Paul
THE COMING KING
Zechariah 9v9-10
Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion; shout O daughter of Jerusalem:
behold your King comes unto you; He is just, having salvation; lowly
and riding upon an ass and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim,and the horse from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow shall be cut off:and He shall speak peace unto the
heathen: and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river
even to the ends of the earth.
With perfect timing Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of an ass a few days before the feast of passover to fulfil the type which the feast represented and to be presented as the sacrificial Lamb without Blemish and without spot (1Pt 1v19). The multitudes recognised Him as the Messiah that the prophets had spoken of. He had made the lame walk the blind see and even raised the dead, miracles that validated His messiah ship. They worshipped Him in their thousands with the words “Hosannah to the Son of David Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.” Matthew recorded in ch21 v 4-5 that this was the fulfilment of Zezh 9v9. What excitement they must have had, the one the prophets had foretold of was here at last. Now surely they thought, He will deliver them from the hand of their enemies and throw off Roman rule and set up His Kingdom. But alas, they hadn't understood that the prophets had told of two comings of the messiah and Jesus hadn't come to rule from Zion yet, but to be the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. A few days later He was hung on a cross and died a humiliating death when Gods righteous anger was poured out upon Him. Isaiah tells us that it was for our griefs & sorrows that He was slain Isa 53.For the disciples for a few days their world had crumbled and they had lost all hope.
In some ways are we like the multitude & even the disciples who wanted to rule with Jesus in his Kingdom now, but we don't want all that suffering? But Paul said if we suffer with Him we will reign with Him.
However, after Jesus had arose from the dead & spent forty days teaching and preparing His disciples for the task ahead, they asked Him again “Lord when will you restore the Kingdom to Israel”. He didn't correct them and say that there would be no physical Kingdom, but told them they didn't need to know, as it was in the Fathers hands. Indeed in Mat 23v37-39 before His death Jesus laments for Israel who had missed the time of their visitation but thank God for the word 'until' in v39 where Jesus said “you (Israel) shall see me no more until you (Israel) shall say Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” that verse is similar to another 'until' in Rom 11v25 where Paul said “blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved.” Hosea also prophesies of the same event in ch 5v15 where he wrote “I (Jesus) will return unto my place (Heaven) till they (Israel) acknowledge their offence”. We can rejoice in this because as Gods promises are unbreakable with Israel so are His promises to the church.
Rev19v11-16 gives us a graphic account of the future coming of Christ when He will not come as a gentle lamb but as KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Only then will the Kingdom of Zach 9v10 be brought in. Other scriptures give more detail of the coming kingdom when Christ shall reign from Zion. Isa 2v2-4 tells us the nations will have a complete disarmament program and no longer use military might & all the world will come to hear the word of the Lord to learn His ways. Isa 65v25shows us that even nature will be affected for the better, the wolf and the lamb will feed together.
In Lk 4v 18-19 Jesus reads from Isa 61v1&2a about the acceptable year of the Lord. He then closed the book without reading 'and the day of vengeance of our God.'
It is still the day of grace, but for how much longer?