“Rejoice Over Your King”
Zechariah 9:9
Today marks the opening of a very serious and enjoyable time of year for Christians, the week we call Holy Week.
We have been planning events, making arrangements and preparing ourselves for this special season of worship within the church.
We call it “Holy Week” because this is when we celebrate the events which began and led up to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This is the most significant point in human history - a point which all history prior had looked forward to with expectancy, and all history since has looked back upon with wonder.
Certainly the ministry of Jesus Christ was more than a week.
But this one week of His life was so filled with significance, with every moment driving toward the culmination of His coming which was His propitiatory work on the cross.
Holy Week begins with a very memorable scene from Scripture which is most of us are likely quite familiar.
In fact, it is one of the few stories of Christ which is found in all four of the Gospels.
Jesus Christ, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.
The donkey was, in the ancient world, a symbol of peace.
As opposed to the horse, which was a symbol of war.
Jesus was the “Prince of Peace” as He was called by the prophet Isaiah, the one who would usher in peace - not from man to man, but with man to God.
Romans 5:1 “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
As He enters Jerusalem, He is surrounded by people holding palm branches and shouting “Hosanna”!
Hosanna means, “Save Us, We Pray!”
Their palm branches were symbolic of victory, because many of them believed Christ to have come to usher in a time of victory over the occupying Romans.
REMEMBER: These people were very aware that just a short time before Jesus had raised a man, Lazarus, from his grave.
This was the culmination of His many powerful miracles, which had begun three years earlier with the changing of water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee.
They believed Him to have mighty powers, and that He could lead them to a powerful political victory.
In fact, the people are now ready to declare Him King of Israel, much to the chagrin of the Jewish leaders.
In fact, Luke’s gospel tells us that the Pharisees are standing by watching this all go on, and they demand that Jesus silence His disciples (Luke 19:39).
Jesus responds with a famous remark saying, ““I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (v.40).
NOTE: Jesus is making this remark to remind His hearers that all creation was made to worship God.
Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”
This was the moment in which God had decreed that Christ’s Kingship would be declared to the world.
If the people didn’t declare this truth, the very created elements would declare it!
But this special moment in history was not just planned that day; it had been a part of the plan of God from the beginning of creation... a truth that is prophesied over 400 years prior to this event.
This morning, we are going to examine the messianic prophesy which foretells this event, and see what it tells us about the King who is to come...
READ: Zechariah 9:9
The prophet Zechariah lived at a time in Israel’s history which is filled with significance.
The Jews had been in exile since they had been captured and taken into captivity by the Babylonians in 586 BC.
Under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, they had been allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild and restore their nation.
However, they had seen many obstacles in their attempts to rebuild, and there was great dismay among the people.
They had faced several major obstacles, and their morale was shaken.
Zechariah comes to the people of Israel to provide them words of exhortation and encouragement.
He is like a coach, coming in to his team which has gone into half-time with a deficit on the scoreboard.
Their confidence is waning, so he provides them a needed word to encourage their confidence and get them to move forward.
Within these words of encouragement from Zechariah are found some of the most profound Messianic prophecies in Scripture.
In fact, there are eight (8) very specific messianic prophecies in the brief 14 chapters of his book.
He is giving the people insight into the truth that all of this history that they are living out is leading up to something of major revelational and historical significance.
There is a king coming; a righteous, saving king, who will bring the blessings of God to His people.
But what does Zechariah tell us about this coming King? ........
Zechariah 9:9 “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.”
It is noteworthy that this text begins with the word, “Rejoice!”
It says that there is to be great excitement and joy, accompanied by rejoicing and shouting at the coming of this King.
But why?
Israel had certainly seen many kings come and many kings go.
After Saul, David and Solomon, the kingdom had split into the northern and southern kingdoms.
The northern kingdom being Israel, which had only evil kings after Solomon.
The southern kingdom having had a few good kings, but also having had experienced many evil ones as well.
Why rejoice over ANOTHER king?
Because this King would be DIFFERENT than all those who preceded Him!
Zecharaiah tells us of these differences, and in doing so provides us with Three Reasons to Rejoice Over our King:
The Righteousness of our King
The Salvation of our King
The Humility of our King
I. The Righteousness of our King
Zechariah says to us, “Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous ... is he...”
The word righteous here is a Hebrew word which means “just” and “lawful”.
It is the obvious antithesis of the word “wicked”.
When we consider the word righteous, we must understand that there are different contexts in which this word is used.
Noah is called a righteous man.
Genesis 6:9 “These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”
The context of his righteousness is in obvious comparison of the wickedness of those in his world at the time (“his generation”).
At the same time, the Word tells us there is “none righteous, no not one”.
This is not contradicting what was said about Noah, because the context of Paul is different.
The righteousness which Paul is speaking of is PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS which belongs to God alone.
Jesus even said, “There is only One who is good” when correcting the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:17); the goodness He was referring to is perfect goodness, God’s goodness.
When Zechariah said that the King was “righteous” it was in this second sense that he was speaking.
He was not just speaking of a “comparative” righteousness.
Many kings had been comparatively righteous, especially when compared to the very wicked kings of Israel.
David was a comparatively righteous king when compared to King Saul.
No, Zechariah is not talking about “comparative” righteousness... He is referring to a TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS which this coming King would possess... a righteousness worth rejoicing over.
Beloved, this is a quality which applies solely and uniquely to Christ alone.
Christ kept the Law of God perfectly
Not only did He avoid evil but He also did good.
He maintained the Law of God in thought, word and deed.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
1 Peter 2:22 “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
Christ is the God-Man, thus He is perfection incarnate.
As such, He is the ONLY RIGHTEOUS KING who has ever existed, and the only one who could fulfill this prophecy.
The true blessing is that our King gives us that righteousness as a gift.
You see, we are among the unrighteous; we were dead in our trespasses and sins.
But Christ credits to us the righteousness that He alone has, showing His benevolence as our righteous king.
1 Corinthians 1:30 “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
Philippians 3:9 “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
Romans 3:21-26 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—[22] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
As the hymn-writer penned, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;... When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found; Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.”
We rejoice in our righteous king because it is His righteousness which causes us to stand before God as righteous --- because we stand dressed in His righteousness and not our own.
II. The Salvation of our King
It is interesting that the righteousness and salvation of our King are linked in this passage because these two things are also linked in regard to the way our King saves us.
Christ saves us by not only taking the penalty for our sins, but by crediting us with His righteousness.
His perfect righteousness is what makes Him uniquely qualified to be able to be our Savior.
One of the most commonly used phrases among Christians is the term “saved”.
“Are you saved” or “When I got saved” or “Is he saved?” are very common terms within the modern Christian vernacular.
There was even a film which came out many years ago mocking modern “pop-culture christianity” and it was entitled “Saved”.
But what does it mean to be “saved”?
This may seem like an inane question; I mean, if so many people are using this language, we must know what it means, right?
Not really.
It is very common for a phrase to become so commonly used and entrenched with tradition that people begin to misuse and misunderstand its meaning.
When someone asks the question, “Are you saved?” the logical question is “saved from what?”
Dr. R.C. Sproul wrote a book with this title, and he demonstrated that the answer to this question is very profound.
When we talk about being saved, we are talking about being saved from Hell, which means we are being saved from judgment, which means we are being saved from God!
We are the just objects of the wrath of God.
We are “children of wrath” says the apostle Paul.
We are spiritually dead, and rebellious against the very Creator and deserving of His righteous judgment.
But, instead of leaving us in this dead condition to rot in our earthly bodies until we are cast into the lake of fire, Jesus saved us.
He took our punishment, saving us from being the just recipients of the wrath of God.
We need to be saved... and we need to understand what that means...
Our biggest need is not to be saved physically.
Our biggest need it not to be saved financially.
Our biggest need it not to be saved politically.
The biggest need we have is to be saved from the wrath of God... to be saved spiritually.
Those who trust in Christ are saved from the wrath of God.
This, again, is why we rejoice in Him.
We rejoice in...
The righteousness of our King...
The salvation of our King...
III. The Humility of our King
The text says, “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.”
We have already noted that the animal Jesus was riding upon represented peace, as opposed to a war horse.
This is an earthly expression of His amazing humility.
But what we must not forget is that the humility of Christ is far deeper than any earthly expression of humility.
Christ is God incarnate...
The very fact that He came to earth is an act of utter humiliation.
The fact that He entered into His own creation to fellowship with His creators is an act of complete condescension.
Understanding the true act of Christ’s humility is best expressed in the Carmen Christi, considered to be one of the earliest “creeds” of the church...
Philippians 2:5-11 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
You see, Christ humbled Himself not just by being born in a manger, but by being born at all...
... He humbled Himself not just by riding on a donkey, but by entering into His creation at all...
... He humbled Himself not just by going to the a shameful death, but by submitting Himself to a human existence so that He could taste death on behalf of His people...
The incarnation is the greatest act of humility in all of history.
Our King came down from His heavenly throne for us.
In that, we should all never cease to rejoice!
Conclusion: So, the King has come... now what?
The prophet says “Rejoice!” and “Shout!” for your King is coming to you!
He is a righteous King!
He is a saving King!
He is a humble King!
How do we receive this King?
The people of Israel received Him with branches of palms, ..... and yet they rejected Him not more than five days later.
NOTE: This is similar to how many receive Christ with excitement on Sunday and then return to their worldliness by the end of a work week.
The problem with the world is that many people think they can have Jesus as their Savior, but not as their Lord and King.
But to receive Jesus means to receive Him in the role of King of our lives.
We give up our worldly autonomy and submit fully to Him.
Beloved, I want to share a final word of exhortation with you.
There is coming a day when another “Palm Sunday” will be celebrated.
It is described for us in Revelation...
Revelation 7:9-10 “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes (Christ’s righteousness), with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Beloved, my prayer is that everyone under the sound of my voice will be among those who are described here.
That every one of you would submit to your King.
I am calling for you today, to look at the King of the universe and REJOICE over Him, for He is worthy of that rejoicing.
And I pray also that rejoicing be accompanied by REPENTANCE and FAITH.
That one day we may all together one day hold those heavenly palm branches around the throne of our King!
