Zechariah 9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your kingdom is coming to you. Righteous and having salvation is He, humbled and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I'll cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off, and He shall speak peace to the nations. His rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I will set prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoner of hope. Today, I declare that I will restore you double for I've bent Judah as My bow.
I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword. Then the Lord will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord God will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the South. The Lord of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour and tread down the sling stones.
And they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine and be full like a bowl, drenched in the corners of the altar. On that day, the Lord their God will save them as the flock of His people, for like the jewels of a crown, they shine on His land. For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty. Grain shall make the young men flourish and new wine like the young women. So far our reading.
When Jesus entered the town of Jerusalem and did so for the last time, He did it in a way that He very consciously and deliberately set out to fulfil prophecy. That is the particular prophecy that Zechariah mentions here in the reading this morning, Zechariah 9:9. Matthew tells us very plainly, these things took place to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet. And then he goes on to quote part of verse nine in Zechariah 9. Say to the daughter of Zion, see, your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
What could be so important about a donkey? So much so that five hundred years before Jesus walked into Jerusalem that day, a prophet, the old testament prophet Zechariah, saw fit to mention it, to foretell it, to talk about it. And why would Jesus bother therefore to get up on a donkey, one that had never been ridden before? And why the palm branches waving high in the air, the coats and the garments on the ground on the road to Jerusalem? These things, while they may seem trivial to us or almost as an aside or a mere incidental, are so important that another gospel writer, not just Matthew, also records this same event.
In John's gospel, we can read about the donkey too. And there's an editorial comment in John's gospel, almost as an aside. John tells us the disciples didn't have a clue about what was going on. He says, at first His disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realise these things had been written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
In other words, it was only after the events of Easter Sunday, after His resurrection and His ascension into heaven that the penny started to drop. Finally, slowly, some of the things that Jesus had done and spoken of began to dawn on them, began to become real to them. It was like having an experience. Ah, now I finally get it. I realised what was going on.
It was only then that they understood what Jesus really meant by the things that He'd been doing and saying. It's a bit like reading a good novel. In the early chapters, you wonder why this character is being introduced and what these comments might mean or what this person did and why they did that or the other thing. But as the chapters unfold in the book or like in a good movie, everything starts to fall into place. Now you know why.
Well, that's the way it was for these apostles after the resurrection. The lights seem to be going on everywhere, and they started joining the dots, and a picture emerges. Several pictures really, living pictures. Pictures like destroy this temple and in three days, I'll build it again. Or if a seed falls into the ground and dies, it bears much fruit.
Or the stone which the builders rejected has become the capstone. Or in a little while you'll see me no more. And again a little while and you will see me. So the words and actions of Jesus begin to give light, and the disciples start to get it. They bring meaning and purpose to what was once darkness and death, now light and life.
In fact, I dare to say you can't really read the Old Testament properly unless you can appreciate Easter, the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. But we're not there yet. Today's not Good Friday. This is a week out. This is Palm Sunday.
It's the week before the crucifixion, and John reminds us that this donkey thing went right over their heads. So today on Palm Sunday, it's a good question to be asking ourselves, where are we in our own understanding of everything that has been said and done by Jesus? Have you had an experience whereby you've come to appreciate everything He set out to achieve? More particularly, what are you actually going to believe about the significance of a donkey on Palm Sunday? And what about the things the old testament prophet Zechariah was predicting about the first Palm Sunday?
Jesus being the quite literal fulfilment of that when he rode into town. We're gonna delve into what Zechariah is actually saying in these few verses from chapter 9. There he was, five hundred years before Jesus even came, God inspired Zechariah to see a great king, a king entering Jerusalem. He also saw further. He saw thousands of years beyond that to another day when the impact of this king would be felt around the world, and there would be peace, everlasting peace.
So Zechariah 9:9, the verse begins with a command. Rejoice greatly, O daughters of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughters of Jerusalem. Zion is another name for Jerusalem. Zechariah says the same thing repeating himself as a matter of emphasis.
And daughter of Zion or daughter of Jerusalem means the people of Zion, the people who live in Jerusalem. They are the offspring of this holy city, the spiritual descendants, we could say, of this city. Zechariah heightens the expectation of joy, great joy. Rejoice greatly, he says, or exceedingly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud or triumphantly.
It's the same word used to refer to trumpet blasts for battle or victory sounds at the end of a battle. I won't press that any further this morning because there's no doubt joy will be the theme of Easter Sunday's resurrection message. But let me say, rejoicing is God's great goal for all of us. It remains our glorious destiny. Beyond all the sin and misery of this world, God wants a people who know how to rejoice.
This morning, we need to look at how does this joy come to us. How is it delivered? What's the basis of it? And what will God actually do to make these daughters or people of Jerusalem rejoice? Well, we'll keep reading because that's exactly what the text is designed to do, to tell us.
The next line of verse nine says, here's your reason for rejoicing. See, your king comes to you. It's obvious that when the king comes, he'll give people of Jerusalem much to be joyful for. Or to put it another way, he's going to be a kind king, a gracious king who will make his people shout for joy. Children will be there singing, Hosanna to the son of David.
Praise God, this son of David saves is the nearest translation I can think of. In the words of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, old men will dream dreams, and girls and boys will prophesy. Blind will see. The lame will walk. The deaf will hear.
The lepers are healed, and the poor have good news preached to them. This is good news. This is what the king will do. This is the best news ever. Rejoice.
He's going to be a kind king, a good king, a king who makes his people genuinely happy. He does so in the spirit of their great king David. And where David had failed, this king would not. He would prove himself to be righteous, trustworthy, and good. Why isn't this coming of this king like the coming of so many other kings?
Why isn't He frightening or fearful? Why isn't His coming something that should really make us feel terrified? Because like so many other kings and rulers in Zechariah's day, and let's face it, even in our own day, consider world leaders on the world stage that have come and gone in recent times, men who have abused their positions of power, of trust. Why is this coming of this particular king so different? Again, text gives us the answer.
Focus on these two words for a moment. Behold, your king is coming to you righteous and having salvation is He. The ESV has righteous and having salvation. ESV by the way stands for English Standard Version which is the version that we use primarily in this church. The NASB, the New American Standard Bible says, He is just and endowed with salvation.
And the NIV, the New International Version, has pretty much the same as the ESV, righteous and having salvation. Sometimes it's good to compare translations to get the strength of the original Hebrew word. All the translations agree. This king is righteous. He has integrity, and there is no reason to fear Him in the sense that we should be scared of Him or terrified by His presence.
And when he comes, He will come with the blessings of salvation. Now as Zechariah is prophesying, speaking to his own countrymen, Israel has just come out of exile, and their time in Babylon was over. And they've returned to Zion, to their beloved Jerusalem. And now they really do have a future, and they were ready to welcome a king as their own, someone to lead them in their own land, in their own country, looking to rebuild their beloved Jerusalem. Fast forward five hundred years, the disciples and the crowds with Jesus on the road that day, well, as far as they were concerned, they were welcoming this king.
Finally, God had answered their prayers and heard their cries. This is a king who would change their fortunes and save them from the oppressor, Rome. This king would make Israel great again. Wherever heard that before? Like in the days of their great king David.
And for you and for me, how are you gonna welcome him on this day? How will you receive him as your king? And throughout this Easter period, can you experience the salvation and the great joy that he brings? NASB endowed with salvation? NIV ESV having salvation.
The original Hebrew is literally saved and the action of the verb is reflexive. It has something to say about the subject. What it's actually doing in the Hebrew original is saying that the coming king needs saving Himself. That sounds rather odd in our own ears, doesn't it? Most English translations just can't accept that, that the king would need saving Himself.
How's that going to inspire joy and praise if he was described as someone who needed saving himself? Doesn't sound very kingly, doesn't sound very strong, doesn't sound very mighty. And quite frankly, this is where the crowds on Palm Sunday got it wrong. And this is where you and I can quickly get it wrong as well. We say we want a king.
We want a strong, mighty, victorious king. A warrior king to defend us, to defeat the enemy. Someone to make us great again. Famous even, to bless our lives with good fortune and certain happiness. Something like the health, wealth, and prosperity doctrine that is so popular and still is popular today.
But according to Zechariah, we're quickly getting a picture that is quite different. The king who enters Jerusalem will be a king who needs saving Himself. Saving Himself. When this king rides into Jerusalem, He's not gonna come as a warrior king, but rather He's gonna come as a peacemaker. He's not one to talk up His victories.
He's not boasting of what will happen in Jerusalem in the days to come. And that's the point of the next two lines. He's gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. What does that mean, riding on a donkey? Why concern ourselves with His mode of transportation?
You know, our young people, especially if you're in year 12 and you're going to your graduation, they're really concerned about transport, aren't they? About how they get from their home to the venue. And if you've ever been involved in planning for a wedding, you know the discussion that takes place about how the bride and the bridal party are going to make their way to the church. It's a big deal. In such situations, there are many choices to be made about how to arrive, and your mode of transport often makes a statement about who you are, about what you want to achieve.
And Jesus did something similar. You see, Jesus had reasons to come on the most humble, gentle means of transportation possible. He isn't interested in a big show that was going to exploit the crowd and satisfy His own ego. In Old Testament times, serious thought was always given by kings and the sons of kings about their mode of transport. They would never ride on a donkey if they were going into battle, into war.
Instead, they chose to ride on a war horse, a horse that was strong and specially trained for battle. The donkey, on the other hand, was the preferred animal for peacetime, for work time, not for war. What the donkey represents then is that this coming king is not only a humble man, but a peacemaker. From Luke's record of the same incident, right after the entry into Jerusalem on donkey, Luke says, even if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. That shows, I think, that Jesus' choice of a donkey was like coming in under a white flag, not of surrender, but of a desire to make peace.
And if this wasn't enough, just a few verses earlier in Luke 19, the parallel passage on Palm Sunday, Luke is telling us that the people were shouting, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Luke makes it plain that Jesus was coming on the donkey as a peacemaker and not just peace on earth between men or the kingdom or the town of Jerusalem or for Israel, but Jesus raises it a level when He talks about peace in heaven between God and man. Peace in heaven is what the crowds were saying. Let God in heaven be at peace with His people. So what Jesus was intending to set out to achieve riding on a donkey that day was this.
I am meek and lowly in heart. That means to say I am approachable and you can find rest for your souls. I'm not against you. I'm for you. I did not come to condemn you, but to save you.
I come on behalf of God, My father in heaven, to reconcile you to Him, to make peace between heaven and earth. Now how did Jesus make peace between sinful people and a holy God? Colossians 1 says that He made peace by the blood of His cross. Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, the very city where He would be tried, condemned, and sentenced to death, and then die on a cross. This means that He came to make peace, not war.
That's why He gave Himself up to death. But what about that little tricky word in the English translation we looked at a minute ago for saved? I said then that it was reflexive. It's there in the line that says, see your king comes to you righteous and having salvation. The translator rejected the idea that it was reflective because they determined that the context demanded something more powerful, something more regal.
So they say having salvation or endowed with salvation. But is it true that the context demands something powerful, something regal? And I want to suggest to you this morning that the context points to another possibility. The humble king brings peace on a donkey and He did so in such a way that suggested that He Himself needed to be saved. Not from His own sin but from your sin and my sin too.
From the sin of all those who will believe. King Jesus will need to be saved. Think about the crowd there on the road to Jerusalem. The same crowd that were there on Good Friday. You know what they cried out.
In the words of Isaiah, but He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities and the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed. But how do you get saved yourself even if you've been murdered, killed, dead and buried? To all intents a victim of your circumstance. Well Peter gives the answer in a sermon.
Fifty days after the death and resurrection of Jesus Peter said to the crowd, you killed the author of life, but God raised Him from the dead. God raised Him from the dead. In other words, God saved Jesus. He brought Him back to life from the grave. And again from Isaiah, therefore, I'll give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong because He poured out His life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors.
Jesus Himself was saved. There are references to that in the Psalms, in Acts, in Isaiah, and in other places of Scripture. For sure, it could annoy you this morning because it doesn't sound as powerful and as regal and as royal as a superficial reading of Zechariah might indicate. But then it's not supposed to sound that way. It's supposed to sound humble, peaceable.
The humility of Jesus riding on a donkey into town that day meant that Jesus was willing, voluntarily chose to be afflicted, chose to be abused, chose to be so defeated on the cross that He submitted Himself to death. He needed saving badly. Why? Because on the cross, He bore the wrath of God against all sin, against your sin and my sin too. He hung there as our substitute.
That is for all those who will believe in Him. And because God raised Him from death and saved Him and causes Him now to live even at His right hand, to live forever, we proclaim in this place a glorious, a wonderful, a victorious, an almighty king. And today, He's strong enough to save anyone. He is endowed with salvation. He has salvation and He comes to you and me this morning, our peacemaking king, gentle and riding on a donkey.
And if you believe in Him and if you've accepted Him, He is your king and mine too. He laid down His life for us so He might make the genuine offer of salvation, a rescue from sin and misery. God doesn't want there to be any barrier between Himself and you and I. He doesn't want there to be any hostility or any indifference or any anything that might hinder us from perfect fellowship with Him. Jesus has moved closer to you in His humility than you and I could ever move towards Him.
He comes riding on a donkey. He comes riding on a donkey into your heart and to your mind today. And there's still time to answer a question. A question that Jesus leaves with His disciples from Luke. If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace?
You see, today it is not hidden from our eyes as it was the crowds lining the streets on Palm Sunday. Today, we have more light, more information. We have the guidance of His Holy Spirit. And yet you could be in church in the pews this morning asked the question, am I included? Is this the kind of relationship that I have with God?
Bear with me for a moment. This is not some strange, weird prophecy coming to us from the Old Testament, two and a half thousand years old, that really has no relevance to our lives today. Jesus has come. He's the king of peace, and He loves to bring others nearer to Himself. He comes riding on a donkey, and He hates it when there's distance between Him and us.
Unbelief, reluctance, separating you and I from Him. It's the reason He took the initiative. It's the reason He voluntarily rode into Jerusalem that particular Palm Sunday. Zechariah 9 goes on to make this boast in verse 10, the next verse. His rule will extend from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.
Psalm 72 echoes that. This humble, righteous, killed, and saved peacemaking king will one day and perhaps very soon come back to this earth and rule over all nations. Only then He won't come as a peacemaker. He'll come back as the righteous judge and His reign will extend from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. And He in the meantime, King Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth.
Hear His invitation today. Come to Me all you. Come to Me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.
Do you know why Jesus rode into town on a donkey that day? Do you know why the significance of the donkey is so important? He came to give you and I peace. And today, it's absolutely important you settle things with God. What we all really need is experience.
Now I get it. Now the penny drops. Now I see what Jesus intended. The king was saved Himself because of the gracious father in heaven. He needed saving because of you and me.
He is a good king. Let's rejoice now and always. Amen. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we have an image, a picture in our mind of the palm branches, of the coats on the ground, and of You riding on a donkey, on the foal of a donkey.
Lord, we want that image to be alive in our hearts today as we hear and see and experience something of the wonder of Your love, You coming into our lives, You offering peace. Come into our lives, Come into our marriages. Come into our families. Come into our relationships with one another. Come Lord Jesus, ride on.
Be in our city, our nation, and the nations of the world today. Bring about the peace that You achieved when You died for sin on the cross. Help us to live in the strength and the hope of that peace all the more. We thank You for the peace that we can experience with You. Help us as individuals, as Your church, to share that message even as Zechariah recorded it so long ago.
Lord Jesus, You have all authority in heaven and on earth. Help us to step out in love and minister that message of peace until a great day when You come back and visit us all. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.