In this episode, we delve deep into the challenging prophecies of Zechariah, revealing how profound imagery and a blend of historical and future events set the stage for the coming of the Messiah. We explore how these ancient texts anticipated both immediate and long-term fulfillments, particularly focusing on the surprising nature of a humble savior riding on a donkey, as opposed to riding on a chariot of war.
The prophecies of Zechariah are among the most difficult in the Bible. It’s not only that Zechariah is so rich in imagery and symbols, it’s a strange mixture of the past and the future. An odd mixture of events in history, of people, personages, places, things that happened, and of things that never happened then, but are going to happen today. Before man’s age is finished. There’s absolutely no doubt that some of Zechariah has been fulfilled in history. It is just as certain that much of it is prophetic. And I was debating with myself as to whether more of it is future or whether more of it is past. And I think I’ve come down on the side of more of it is future. Some of it is prophetic to the coming of the Messiah. Some of it looks all the way to the millennium. And right in the middle of this difficult prophecy is a prophecy of a great king to come. But oddly, it is not what we would expect to hear about a great king. He says rejoice. Rejoice. This is not what one would expect. A king, you would think, would ride into town on a chariot. A king would ride in on a chariot with someone holding a laurel over his head and with crowds of people praising him. Or maybe he would come in on a horse. But of course, in the Bible, horses and chariots are the cavalry. They are instruments of war. They are the tanks and the Bradley fighting vehicles of that age. They are war-making instruments. Your king comes to you. lowly, riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foe of an ass. And the Hebrew word for lowly means basically poor, needy, and in depressed circumstances. Not exactly the sort of thing you would ever think would a king or would in any way represent a king. Now, when Jesus was ready for his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, here is the Messiah. Here is the Savior. Here is the one who is coming to save his people. He comes to a point where they got near to Jerusalem. They’d come to Bethphage under the Mount of Olives. This is Matthew 21 beginning in verse 1. He said to his disciples, I want you to go over to the village opposite and you’re going to find an ass tied and a colt with her. Just untie them and bring them here to me. If anybody says anything to you, you just say the Lord has need of them and he’ll let them go and you can come right on over here with those animals. All this was done, says Matthew, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell you the daughter of Zion, behold, your king comes to you, meek, sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass. Right in the middle of Zechariah, this prophecy is found. And Jesus fulfills this prophecy in his, if you want to call it, triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where the people who are praising him are children. And the things that they’re laying out in front of him on the road as he goes through are palm fronds. And so what does all this mean? Why is it that the king when he comes, why is it the Messiah when he comes is coming lowly? And I can’t imagine, frankly, how the first readers took Zechariah. For indeed, the expectations of a Messiah were there, but the expectations generally were of a restoration of the kingdom of Israel. The restoration was, we’re going to throw the Romans out. We’ll do what the Maccabees failed to do. We will actually succeed in establishing once again the kingdom of Israel. What did they think when they read Zechariah? Your king is going to come be just, and he’ll have salvation, and he’ll ride into town lowly, riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. All this must have seemed very, very strange to people long ago. I think it even seemed strange to Jesus’ own disciples when he did it. But this was prophesied long before this by Isaiah. And Isaiah is another prophet whose work is convoluted and kind of confusing in a way and a little hard to follow. It’s a strange admixture of history and prophecy of the past and of the future. Isaiah wrote, chapter 9, Now, I imagine the casual reader going through here doesn’t have a clue what in the world he’s talking about here, because if you have no idea of the prophecy of the times, you won’t get this. But the fact is Zebulun and Naphtali were in the far north of Israel. They were very far removed from Jerusalem. And they were in the area that Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, created as the new house of Israel, separated from the house of Judah. And this is the man who stopped the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles and established a new feast a month later, on the 15th day of the 8th month. He established a new center of worship in Bethel before you got to Jerusalem. He said, ìItís too much for you. Itís too much for you people to go all the way to Jerusalem.î And also the feast is too early. So we’re going to put it a month later. We’re going to do it down the 15th day of the 8th month. And you don’t have to go to Jerusalem. You can stop at Bethel. Or if you live in the north, you can go on up to Dan. And he made priests of the lowest of the people and established a whole new worship for the northern tribes of Israel, plunging them into darkness. They were indeed neglected and cut off and finally went into captivity. Then in verse 2, it’s probably a familiar scripture to you. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. Zebulun, Naphtali, the northern tribes in the far north were left completely in the dark because they were cut off from the temple. They were cut off from the worship of God. They were cut off from the ritual, the ceremony, the normal calendar. Everything was taken away from these people. They were left in the dark. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest. As men rejoice when dividing the plunder. It’s a celebration. It’s a happy time. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, every warrior’s boot used in battle, every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning and fuel for the fire. This is over. We’re not doing things this way anymore. We’re not coming into town on a horse or in a chariot. I’m coming to you meek and lowly, riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. For unto us… A child is born. Unto us, a son is given. And the government will be on his shoulders. He’ll be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne over his kingdom, establishing it and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on forever. This is a prophecy well off into the future for us. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. Now this, folks, is a staggering prophecy. The implications are enormous to this passage. Because this passage is telling us that the Messiah will be born of a woman. Unto us a son is given. Unto us a child is born. And that that Messiah will be called the Mighty God. Now, this is a matter of controversy sometimes among Christian peoples as to whether or not Jesus would be truly God, whether or not Jesus preexisted before his human birth. And here is a prophecy that says when he comes, when he does bring light to Zebulun and Naphtali, when he does finally come on the scene, he will be called the mighty God. What do you do with this? Well, my suggestion is you just take it as it is. Matthew 1, verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. As his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, who was a just man and not willing to make a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought about it, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She shall bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. That wonderful counselor, that child who was to be born, was to be a savior. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Jesus. Emmanuel, which is God with us. Now you would expect great things at the birth of a king, wouldn’t you? You would expect a massive national celebration. You would expect huge things. I guess when a child is born to the Queen of England, it must be an enormous experience, a time of great celebration throughout the whole land. You’d be disappointed in this case. The story is told again in Luke 2, verse 1. It came to pass in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world shall be taxed. An old, familiar, comfortable scripture. And Joseph, verse 4, went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. This is not what one would expect for a great king. Now, here’s my question. Was it possible for God to find them a room? It’s silly, isn’t it? Was it possible for God to have a house prepared for Jesus to be born? Well, of course it was. Couldn’t he have worked things out so that Jesus could have been in not only a house, but perhaps even born in a palace? Well, of course he could. But he didn’t. Have you ever asked why? Have you ever asked why it was that God allowed his son to be born in a stable place wrapped up in swaddling clothes, and laid on hay in a manger as his place of birth, why did he do it that way when everybody knows he could have easily done it any way he wanted to do it? I have to conclude. There was a purpose behind it. Just as there is a purpose behind the scripture in Zechariah said, behold, your king will come to you lowly and riding upon an ass and a colt, a full of an ass. Just as all these things were said of Jesus, this also, I think, had a point and a purpose. And you would expect announcements to be made to all the high level people, but they weren’t. Not one single person in Jerusalem was even told, much less the high priest, the king, any of the Levites, nobody in Jerusalem, the scribes and the Pharisees, were all left completely in the dark about the birth of the Messiah. No one was told. The people who were told were a bunch of sheep herders not far from Bethlehem who were sleeping in a field at night keeping watch over their flock. They were out there with their flock taking care of things. And the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid. And the angel said, Relax. Don’t be afraid. I’m bringing you great tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. I’m sure this meant a whole bunch to these shepherds. These were religious men obviously. Otherwise I don’t think they would have gone to them. And I don’t think it would have meant anything if they hadn’t been. If they had not been religious. If they had not been expecting. There is born to you a Savior, Christ the Lord. This shall be a sign to you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. One of my favorite choruses of the Messiah is this one. Glory to God in the highest. The song of the angels on this night. And I really would have liked to heard the real thing. It must have been amazing to behold. But what on earth did the angel mean when he said, this shall be a sign to you? Did he mean this is how you’re going to recognize him? I mean, what he says, this shall be a sign to you. A sign is a very important thing in the Bible. Whenever a type or a sign is given to somebody, it’s very meaningful. What in the world did this mean? It’s almost as though the angel said, listen up. This is important. You will find this child wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Why? Why do we want to tell them that? I think it was a meaningful thing that the Savior, the newborn Savior, was of humble birth. But there’s more. As I said, his birth wasn’t revealed to the kings and priests in Jerusalem, but it was revealed to somebody else. We find in Matthew chapter 2, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? We have seen his star in the east, and we have come to worship him. Who are these people? And why were they told? You kind of halfway understand the shepherds. But why drag these people halfway across the world for this newborn Savior? And why did God bother with them? Legends have abounded about the wise men. They even have names created for them. Let’s see, it’s Gaspar, Melchior. I forget the third guy’s name. Of course, it isn’t his name anyway. They were made up names for them. Nobody knows what their names was or even who they were. Nothing can be said with certainty about these men, except that they came from the east. That seems to be important. I’d like to add a little footnote in your Bible. If you make a note, you might want to make a reference to this. Isaac and Ishmael were not Abraham’s only sons. Did you know that? After Sarah died and after Ishmael was gone, Abraham married a woman named Keturah. And he had six more sons by this woman. They’re all named in the Bible. And you might make a note of this scripture by the one I just read you about the Magi. Genesis 25 verse 5 says, It says, Abraham gave everything he had to Isaac, but to the sons of his concubines, which Abraham had, which suggests there may be more than Keturah, Abraham gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac, his son, while he yet lived eastward into the east country. He sent them away in the east. Now this is absolutely the only rationale I can find for why on earth God would have said anything to a bunch of Magi in the far east over there about the birth of a son except for the fact that this was a son of Abraham. He was the promised seed of Abraham that God may have announced the birth of the promised son of Abraham. to Abraham’s other sons. Maybe, maybe not. But at the same time, it’s the only rationale I can find that makes any sense to me at all as to why he would bother telling those people about the birth of the promised seed in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. For I don’t doubt at all that the children of Abraham knew that promise and hoped for it and waited for it like the rest of the world did. I think at this season of the year, because for those of you who may be new to us, we tend to believe that Jesus was born not far from this night, somewhere at this season of the year. I think it’s good to remember that Jesus came as one of us. And by that, I don’t really mean that he was born of the flesh. We have really gone over that pretty thoroughly in years gone by, that it was necessary that Jesus come in the flesh. He denies that Jesus has come in the flesh as the Antichrist. We know all that stuff. I think it’s important, though, that we understand that Jesus not only came in the flesh, but he came of lowly birth. He came like one of us, a working-class family. And that he, as a young man, worked with his hands to earn a living for himself, for his mother, for his dad, for his family. When he was born, he was as helpless as any of us. And he was laid in a manger. He didn’t even have a proper crib. He was not in a house. He was in a stable. And I think all that is there so that we can know our Savior is one of us. And we know that when he finally came into Jerusalem, he came not as a conqueror, but he came as a savior riding on the colt of a donkey. The next time he comes, it will be different.
