Coming: A Palm-Strewn Path (Zechariah 9:9)

Transcript

JR 49
3/29/2026
Coming: A Palm-Strewn Path
Zechariah 9:9
Jesse Randolph

Well, as Aaron mentioned during announcements, today is Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, the Sunday before Resurrection Sunday. It is the day in which a lot of different types of churches do different things. You know, in the Lutheran and the Methodist tradition, ushers will be handing out palm fronds and warning congregants to be careful with the sharp edges before they sit in their seats. And then, you get into the Roman Catholic Church, they consider this to be the final Sunday of Lent. The beginning of what they call “Holy Week.” Meaning, no more Friday night fish frys. And, whatever you gave up on Ash Wednesday – caffeine or chocolate or fast food or Facebook – or whatever the case may be, you can resume using it again or enjoying again.
But Palm Sunday is a day which, notwithstanding Aaron’s announcement earlier, where he used it by name, curiously is not acknowledged, stayed away from, veered away from, in non-liturgical churches like ours. Churches which center their services on the verse-by-verse preaching of the Bible. In churches like ours, there’s this tendency not to acknowledge Palm Sunday at all. And likely out of fear that if we did we’d sound too much like one of those mainline denominational churches. You know, those ones that celebrate Maundy Thursday or Good Fri. . . never mind.

We do celebrate that, don’t we? Whether we call it “Palm Sunday” or not. Whether we’re going to call this a “Palm Sunday” sermon or not it really makes no difference to me. I am going to preach a sermon this morning, a one-off sermon about Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem before His betrayal, before His crucifixion and before, ultimately, His resurrection.
And I’m going to do so this morning, because I think it would be good, as we as a church, look forward to this coming week, where we will be focusing on the death and the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To think about the fact that before He hung on a tree, on our behalf, for the sins of the world, He did enter Jerusalem – the Holy City, triumphantly. And what we’re going to do this morning is really focus in on the fact that Jesus’ triumphful entry was a previously predicted event. It was a long-ago prophesied event which was written of hundreds of years before that event through the pen of a prophet named Zechariah.

In fact, go ahead and turn with me, if you can find it in your bibles, to the book of Zechariah. I’ll give you a clue, it’s pretty easy to find. Last week, we were in the Gospel of Luke, of course. I had you turn over to Malachi, which was the very last book of the Old Testament. One book to the left of Malachi is the book of Zechariah. And we will be spending time and really focusing in this morning on Zechariah 9. I’ll be all over the place in Zechariah, as you’ll see in a moment, but we will launch from Zechariah 9:9. God’s Word reads:
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Make a loud shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, lowly and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a pack animal.”

Now, if you were sitting in one of the denominational churches around town this morning the pastor or the priest or the vicar would read this text. And then he, or sadly, today, she, would give a brief little devotional or homily which loosely connects this text, Zechariah 9:9, to Jesus and the hope He brought to the world. And then, at some point in that service, a few lines from the church’s adopted creed would be recited, and then a few hymns from the church’s approved hymnbook would be sung. And then, the people would take their palm fronds home, with little boys using them as swords in the parking lot, little girls folding them neatly into crosses that they put on Mom or Dad’s visor in the car.

Well, as I already mentioned, we’re going to go on a bit of a different direction here this morning. We’re going to spend most of our time in the Old Testament book of Zechariah, on Palm Sunday. Which constitutes this prophetic foretelling of the events that we know as the triumphal entry. So, we’re going to look at the Prophetic Foretelling in Zechariah 9:9. That’s where we’ll spend most of our time in Zechariah this morning. And then, we’ll look later, toward the end of this sermon, at Prophetic Fulfillment. So, if you’re a note taker, those are our two points: Prophetic Foretelling and Prophetic Fulfillment.

Now, before we go any further, I do want to mention that when preachers preach Zechariah 9:9, they tend to also preach the verse that follows, verse 10, along with it. We can go ahead and read it, it says:
“I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; and the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; and His reign will be from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
Now, as Zechariah wrote this, as the Spirit of God moved him to write what he wrote, he was still referring in verse 10 to the same “king” that he alluded to in verse 9. That “king” who was, verse 9, going to come “lowly and mounted on a donkey” was also going to, verse 10, “reign from sea to sea.”
Both statements are true. The Messiah would enter Jerusalem “lowly and mounted on a donkey.” And, that Messiah would “reign from sea to sea.”

But again, as we looked at last week, like many of the Old Testament prophets, like Malichi, Zechariah prophesied about two different comings of the Messiah. His first coming, and His second coming. And He did so here, in back-to-back verses, verse 9 and verse 10. Meaning, sandwiched between verse 9 and verse 10, of Zechariah 9, is everything between Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, that’s verse 9, that happened during his first coming. And His second coming, when He comes again on the clouds. When He comes and arrives, riding on a white horse, before He dismounts and places His feet on the Mount of Olives, as is testified in Zechariah 14:4. In other words, between Zechariah 9:9 and Zechariah 9:10 sits thousands of years of history. Between Zechariah 9:9 and Zechariah 9:10, is the era in which we live today.

But today, a week from Easter, on this Palm Sunday, we’re going to zero in again on verse 9, Zechariah 9:9. In five days, on Good Friday, you’ll hear a sermon titled: “Crushed: A Bloody Cross” out of Isaiah 53. A week from today, on Easter Sunday, you’ll hear a sermon titled: “Conquered: An Empty Tomb”, out of Mark 16. But today, as we look ahead to those special services later this week, the title of the sermon is “Coming: A Palm-Strewn Path.” Again, as we consider our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and through the lens specifically of that event’s fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

Now, realizing I just dropped us into a text, which many of us are only loosely familiar with, or for some, with which there might be zero familiarity. I think it’d be good if we spent some time now walking through the book of Zechariah as a whole. Zechariah is not a book that gets a whole lot of attention or airtime. And that is too bad, because Zechariah is truly a fascinating book. It’s a book that is rich with messianic prophecy. It’s a book that is full of eschatology. Meaning, it gives a lot of attention to future things. Things that will happen in the end. Things that we ought to care about. We ought to care about those things because God cares about them. Thirty percent of the bible is prophetic prophecy.

Again, our text for today is Zechariah 9:9, but we’re going to go all the way back to Zechariah 1. Turn with me, if you would, over to the first chapter of Zechariah, where we’re going to set the stage. And as you’re turning there, let me fill in some of the details about what’s happening in this book.
We know Zechariah 1:1, that Zechariah was the “son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo,” it says.
So his father was named Berechiah. His Grandfather was named Iddo. I won’t take you there right now, but in the book of Nehemiah 12, Iddo is identified as a Levitical priest. He’s called one of the priests in the Levites “who came up with Zerubbabel.” I’ll say more about that later, what it means that he “came up with Zerubbabel”, but what Nehemiah 12 is saying is that Iddo was in the Levitical line of priests, which would have meant that his son, Berechiah, was also in the Levitical line of priests. Which meant that Zechariah was also in the Levitical line of priests. Meaning, Zechariah was not only a prophet, a spokesman of God, an Oracle, but he was a priest. He was a prophet-priest who was most likely raised by his Grandfather, Iddo. He was mostly raised by his Grandfather, Iddo, when his own father, Berechiah died young. And we can surmise that from the fact that in Ezra 6:14, Zechariah is identified as “Zechariah the son of Iddo.” So, he was a prophet, he was a priest, from the Levitical line, likely raised by his Grandfather, Iddo.

Now, when did Zechariah live? When did he write the words that are contained in this prophecy, this prophetic book which bears his name? We know from a number of different writings in this era that Zechariah was a contemporary of the prophet Haggai, who also has a book which bears his name. And we know that Zechariah and Haggai were prophets from the same generation, because Ezra 5:1 says this:
“And the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.”
So, Zechariah ministered around the same time as Haggai the prophet. We also know that Zechariah lived during the days of Zerubbabel, who was the civil governor over Judah during this time. And he ministered during the days of Joshua. Not Joshua from the book of Joshua but rather Joshua the high priest who ministered in Israel during this time. And knowing those data points, that he lived during the time of Haggai and Zerubbabel and Joshua, that places Zechariah’s prophecy in the 520 to 470 B.C. time frame.

Now, what was going on in that time frame, 520 to 470 B.C.? I’m so glad you asked. This is going to take us just a little bit of time to unravel, if you can’t tell already. But I promise, it’s going to pay some dividends in the end. I think it’s going to help us understand what’s going on in the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 specifically and also shed some light on the Palm Sunday event, which we’ll get to in just a moment.

So, if you’re ready, here we go, some more history. In 586 B.C., King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats the southern kingdom of Judah. And then he forces into captivity the subjects that he has defeated. Those who survived Nebuchadnezzar’s defeat of Babylon are taken off into captivity for 70 years. Now, the northern tribes of Israel, they had been taken captive about 150 years prior in 722 B.C. by the Assyrians. But now, it’s Judah’s turn. The southern tribes, they go off into captivity in 586 B.C.

Now, those events, Judah’s capture, Judah’s defeat, Judah’s captivity, were in fulfillment of certain older Old Testament prophecies like those given by Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 25:11 says: “This whole land [he’s speaking of Judah] will be a waste place and an object of horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
And then there’s another prophecy in Jeremiah 29:10:
“For thus says Yahweh, ‘When seventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and establish My good word to you, to return you to this place.’”
And then comes that passage that we see scrawled on countless graduation cards every May.
Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘plans for peace and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope’.”
Now that passage, of course, has nothing to do with moving your tassel from the left to the right. That passage has nothing to do with getting into the school of your choice. That passage has nothing to do with spreading your wings to pursue a post-graduate career in the trades. That passage has to do with Judah being unceremoniously hauled off into captivity by Babylon. Meaning, if you’re going to send that verse to a friend this May that’s fine. But just make sure that friend is not graduating from high school or college but rather is one of these wicked and rebellious people who are being hauled off by a godless nation like Babylon. Then it fits.

Ok, I digress.
The point is that Jeremiah, here in the seventh century B.C., is predicting that Judah would eventually be hauled off and taken into captivity by Babylon. While Zechariah, writing in the sixth century B.C., a full hundred years later, is speaking to Judah after they’ve returned exile in Babylon.

Now in between those writings, the writings of Jeremiah and Zechariah were other significant developments taking place, including writings of different prophets like Daniel. Daniel writes during that window between Jeremiah and Zechariah. And Daniel received revelation that a future time was coming, where certain Gentile kingdoms would be dominant over Israel and Judah. For instance, in Daniel 7, he had those four visions. There was the vision of the beast, like a lion which had wings like an eagle. That was representative of Babylon. Then Daniel 7, he had a vision of a beast resembling a bear, which represented the Medo-Persian Empire. He had a vision of a beast like a leopard, with wings of a bird on its back, and four heads representative of the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great. And then he had a fourth vision of a dreadful, terrifying, extremely strong beast with ten horns and large iron teeth representative of Rome. Now, each of those visions of Daniel did eventually come to pass. Israel and Judah were conquered by Babylon by the first of those “beasts” in Daniel’s vision, in 586 B.C.

But then something really interesting happened in 539 B.C., some 50 years after Babylon had captured Judah. Babylon itself fell to the Persian Empire. So, Babylon captures Judah, but then Babylon itself is sacked by the Persians. And as a result of the Persians defeating the Babylonians, the people of Israel were now under new ownership, new rule. They’re now not under Babylonian kings, but under Persian rulers. It’s in that time frame, by the way, that the book of Esther is written.

So, under Persian rule, there’s this Persian king named Cyrus. And this Persian king named Cyrus, or Cyrus the Great, he decrees in 539 B.C. or after the fall to Persia in 539 B.C. that the Jews who were living now under his rulership. The Jews who were living under his kingdom, they could go back to their homeland. They could return to Jerusalem, where they would be free to rebuild their temple, their holy place, so they could freely worship God. That whole episode, by the way, of Cyrus saying that the Jews could go back to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple, is recorded in Ezra 1:1. You’re free to turn there if you’d like. If not, I’m just going to read a little section here. Ezra 1:1, it says:
“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia – in order to complete the word of Yahweh from the mouth of Jeremiah – Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he had a proclamation pass throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: ‘Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, “Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel.”’”
So these exiled Jews, having spent 70 years in Babylon and now Persia, were given the green light by their new overlord, their new king Cyrus, to go home to rebuild their temple, to reinstitute temple worship.

And about 50,000 of those Jews, took Cyrus up on his offer. That included, by the way, Zechariah and Haggai. 50,000 of them. We know that there were about 50,000 who took him up on this offer from Ezra 2:64, which says: “The whole assembly together [meaning, those who returned out of exile to the homeland] was 42,360, besides their male and female slaves of whom there were 7,337; and they had 200 male and female singers.”
Ruffly all combined, 50,000 Jews going home. And that was a fraction, by the way, of the overall Jewish population in Persia at this time. Which tells us either because they had intermarried with the Persians, or they had adopted all the paganism that was there in Persia, or both, most Jews chose to stay in Persia, rather than at that point, being resettled in their land.

Now for those who did go home, for those who did go to the homeland, for those 50,000 they reinstituted once they got back to Judah, their practice of burnt offerings on a rebuilt altar. We see that at the beginning of Ezra 3. And then, soon after that, in the second half of Ezra 3, we’re told that they began laying the foundation for their rebuilt temple there in Jerusalem. But then, we’re told in Ezra 4, of a number of different variables, some external opponents and adversaries, some internal, a sense of apathy and stagnancy. That actually led to a delay of approximately 16 years in building the temple. So, they laid the foundation, got distracted and didn’t build any further for about 16 years.

Now some of you, I’m sure, are wondering what in the world does this have to do with Zechariah? What does this have to do with Palm Sunday? Jesus’ triumphful entry? And how are you going to get from here to Easter Sunday? We’re getting there. This is important groundwork we’re laying.

So, the Jews have returned from exile around 539 B.C. They’ve started rebuilding their temple. That was the temple, by the way, that was destroyed in 586 B.C. when they were first taken into captivity. But now, there’s been this 16-year lag, or delay in the rebuilding process.

Now comes the prophet Haggai. I’m sure some of you wondered, why did God put the book of Haggai in my bible here? Why is it always stuck together? Why do I never . . . you know, I read it one day in the middle of the year and then I never think about it again. Why is Haggai there? Well, in the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia, which we can beg as being 520 B.C., God raised Haggai up as a prophet, for a specific purpose, which was to encourage the Jews to keep on the work of rebuilding their temple in Jerusalem. In fact, let’s do something that I don’t think I’ve done since coming to this church, lets turn to the book of Haggai. Ok? One book to the left of Zechariah. So, it’s not too far to get there. Haggai 1. I’m sure as you were driving into church this morning you thought, “You know what? I bet he’s going to take us to Haggai.” Right?
Haggai 1:1, it says:
“In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of Yahweh came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “This people says, ‘The time has not come, even the time for the house of Yahweh to be rebuilt.”’ Then the word of Yahweh came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying, ‘Is it time for your yourselves to live in your paneled houses while this house lies waste?’ So now, thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Set your heart to consider your ways! You have sown much, but bring in little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.’ Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Set your heart to consider your ways! [Now look at verse 8] Go up to the mountains and bring wood and rebuild the house of God, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,’ says Yahweh.’”
So you see it there in verse 8, through the prophet Haggai the people of Judah, having been back in their land for nearly two decades by this point, are commanded to “rebuild the house of God.” To rebuild the temple.

Well, two months after that command came, God raised up Zechariah. And how do we know that it was two months after Haggai, that God raised up Zechariah? Well, go back to Zechariah.
Zechariah 1:1, we’ve already read it. It says:
“In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying . . .”
Note that. The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah in the “eighth month of the second year of Darius.”
But if you look back at Haggai, it says, the word came to him in the first day of the sixth month of Darius’ reign. So there’s that two-month gap between, or interval between, the Lord speaking through Haggai, and the Lord speaking through Zechariah.

So, back to our book, Zechariah. Why was this book written? Why was this prophecy given? Why did God tap Zechariah on the shoulder when He did, and say this to the people?
Well, He tapped Zechariah on the shoulder to give a prophetic word to the people of Judah. A people who had already begun to respond to Haggai’s charge, back in Haggai 1:1. A people who had already, over that two-month gap I just mentioned, begun the work of rebuilding their temple. He brought Zechariah to them, at this point, to give them encouragement to keep with the work, to spur them on in rebuilding the temple. To complete the project.

And it worked. Ezra 5:1 says this:
“And the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God which is in Jerusalem.”
And then, note this language from Ezra 5:2, the very last part of Ezra 5:2:
“and the prophets of God [meaning Haggai and Zechariah] were with them supporting them.”

That’s what Zechariah did, as did Haggai, during these days. He supported and encouraged the people of Judah as they were working toward rebuilding their temple. His ministry was to spur them on and encourage them toward completing this important project. And one of the ways that Zechariah did this, to spur them on to encourage them, was to remind them of the abundant future blessings that awaited the faithful who were among them.

You know, Zechariah’s name means “Yahweh remembers,” and that’s an appropriate name for a man like this prophet who had this ministry of encouragement which was dedicated in large part to pointing the people of Judah to their future hope, their messianic hope, their eternal hope, which ultimately was rooted in the faithfulness of Yahweh, who never forgets, who always remembers, who is always faithful to fulfill His promises.

Now, in terms of the structure of the entire book of Zechariah, as we meander our way ultimately back to Zechariah 9:9, the book initially opens with an exhortation and a call to repentance in the first six verses. And then there’s this cycle of prophetic dreams, visions that goes on from Zechariah 2:7 all the way to the middle of chapter 6 of the book. And then there is a cycle of messages from Zechariah in chapters 7 and 8 of the prophecy. And then in chapters 9-14 there are these two prophet oracles concerning Israel’s future Messianic hope.

So, the structure again, as there’s this opening exhortation or repentance. Then eight dream visions. Then, four messages. And then two prophetic oracles. I will not cover this painstakingly this morning. Hopefully, it won’t be too painful. I’m just going to give you the outline, as we kind of skip over the highlights here, skip through the highlights.

I do want us to turn some pages. And I do want us to get our eyes on what is a really treasured text. So back to Zechariah 1:1. Here’s that opening exhortation, that call to repentance. I’ve already read verse 1, I’ll read it again, as I set the stage here. It says:
“In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying, ‘Yahweh was very wrathful against your fathers. Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Return to Me,” declares Yahweh of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says Yahweh of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.”’ But they did not listen or give heed to Me,” declares Yahweh. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My slaves the prophets, overtake your fathers? Then they returned and said, ‘As Yahweh of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has done with us.’”
So, as he begins prophesying to Judah here, Zechariah begins with this short little history lesson. He’s reminding the people of Judah in these six verses that they’re forefathers had paid this high price for their sin. They had disobeyed the Law. They had rejected the reproof of the prophets. They had suffered exile as a result of all of that. So if Zechariah’s generation now wanted to experience the blessing of the Lord, if they wanted to avoid the fate of their forefathers, they needed to repent. That’s what’s being said here in verses 1-6.

Well, next, in verse 7, and again all the way through chapter 6, we now have these eight night visions of Zechariah. And he experienced all of these, by the way, in a single night. And each of these eight visions was highly symbolic, and we know that because for each Zechariah needed the assistance of an angel to help him with an interpretation.

The first vision is found in verses 7-17. I’ll just read the first couple of verses here, it says:
“On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying, I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel, and white horses behind him.”
Now, in this first vision of this man “riding on a red horse” God ultimately was providing Israel with hope. And how do we know that? Am I just sort of riffing up here and guessing at what’s going on? No. There’s an interpretation here that’s given by the angel in verse 14. This is chapter 1:14:
“So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, ‘Call out, saying, “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. But I am very wrathful with the nations who are at ease; for I was only a little wrathful, but they helped increase the calamity.’ Therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it,’ declares Yahweh of hosts, ‘and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.’ Again, call out, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “My cities will again overflow with good, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”’”

So, the people of Israel had been scattered and subjected. They had been dispersed and they’d been dejected. But a day was coming, is what’s being communicated here, when that would be no more, when they would be reunited. And they would be re-settled in their land. So that’s the first vision. A vision of hope.

Second vision is found in verses 18-21 of chapter 1, where Zechariah had this vision of four horns and four craftsmen. And in verse 21, you see he asks this angel for an interpretation: “And I said, what are these coming to do?” And he said, ‘These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to cause them to tremble, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.’”
In other words, God was communicating to Zechariah through this vision that He was going to one day bring judgment upon the nations which had afflicted His people.

Third night vision is found in chapter 2, where Zechariah encountered this man who was doing some surveying. Look at verses 1-2:
“Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, there was a man with a measuring cord in his hand. So I said, ‘Where are you going?’ And he said to me, ‘To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.’”
That act of measuring, if you’ve been here for our Revelation series, you know that that act of measuring signifies ownership. And it signifies approval. And that’s what we see throughout this third vision in chapter 2:8, that has that familiar statement at the end of it: “he who touches you, [Israel] touches the apple of His eye.”
Or down in verse 10, it says: “Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,’ declares Yahweh.”
The point of this third vision is that God had plans to bless a restored Israel in her future.

The fourth night vision is found in chapter 3, where we see this, starting in verse 1:
“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Yahweh, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And Yahweh said to Satan, ‘Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand delivered from the fire?’ Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. And he answered and spoke to those who were standing before him, saying, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him.’ Again he said to him, ‘See, I have made your iniquity pass away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.’”
What’s going on here? Well, again the angel offers the interpretation in the latter half of the chapter, which is that this vision speaks to Israel’s future cleansing from sin and her reinstatement one day as a priestly nation.

The fifth vision, chapter 4, he saw this in verses 2-3:
“And he said to me, “What do you see?’ And I said ‘I see, and behold a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it, also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.”
That lampstand imagery points to Israel being restored to her status as a light to the nations, as she was always designed to be.

The sixth night vision is found in chapter 5:1-4, where Zechariah saw this flying scroll, which testified to the judgment which was still going to fall on certain unrepentant Israelites. Namely, those who were thieves and those who bore false witness.

The seventh night vision is found in verses 5-11 of chapter 5, where Zechariah had this experience, or this vision of a woman being stuffed into a barrel, that’s the meaning of the word “ephah” there. But not before a cover of lead was placed over this woman, after which she was carried off by other women who had wings like a stork before she was carried off to Shinar, another name for Babylon, where she would now dwell. The meaning of that vison is that a day is coming where remnants of Israel’s past sin and past wickedness will be purged and carried away.

And then, the first eight verses of chapter 6 is the eighth night vision, where these four chariots come out. And they are being pulled by these mighty horses who are going out, you can see in verse 7, to patrol the earth. What that eighth vision signifies is God’s coming future judgment on the Gentile nations of the world.

So Zechariah received these eight visions, for which this angel had to provide an interpretation in each case. And the visions involved some combination of God’s anger and judgment against the nations. God’s purging Israel of her sin. And God’s blessing of Israel as He restored her and began dealing with her directly again in the future.

So those are Zechariah’s eight night visions. What comes next, at the end of chapter 6, is the crowning of Joshua the high priest. And then, in chapters 7 and 8 come those four messages. Remember, it’s eight night visions, and then we have four messages. These four messages of Zechariah go from chapter 7, 8 and in the beginning of chapter 9.
The first message, verses 1-3 of chapter 7, had to do with whether fasting needed to occur while the temple was being rebuilt.
The second message from verses 4-14 of Zechariah 7 was really aimed at the heart-level motivations of the people to whom Zechariah was ministering as they rebuilt the temple. Look at verses 8-10, it gives you kind of a flavor of the heart-level surgery that was happening here.
“Thus has Yahweh of hosts said, [this is Zechariah 7:9] ‘Judge with true justice and show lovingkndness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the sojourner or the afflicted; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’”
Well, the third message comes in Zechariah 8. And this was one that was largely a message of encouragement. And it really combined aspects of God’s favor toward Israel, with this charge to keep being diligent in rebuilding the temple. In fact, let’s get a flavor for this message, starting in verse 9. This is Zechariah 8:9, it says:
“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of Yahweh of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built. For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no peace because of the adversary, and I set all men one against another. But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares Yahweh of hosts. For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. And it will be that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing. Do not fear; let your hands be strong.’”
Hands be strong for what? The rebuilding of the temple.

Going back to what I mentioned at the beginning, the entire setting of the book of Zechariah is all about the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem by those who had returned from exile in Babylon. And these words from chapter 8 really shine a spotlight on that immediate context of this book. Everything that Zechariah is saying in this prophecy as God moved him to say it, whether it was about the judgment that was coming to the Gentile nations, or this sin that still needed to be purged from Israel, or God’s ongoing favor toward Israel, or His future blessing of Israel. It was all in the context in Zechariah’s day, of giving the people of God, the people of Judah, Israel, fuel and motivation to finish rebuilding their temple. The God who had been so good to them. The God who had been so patient toward them deserved to have that house of worship built and dedicated to Him as it was in the past.

Well, the fourth message which is in the first eight verses of Zechariah 9, was one which communicated the fact that notwithstanding, its coming blessings and its future blessings, those blessings wouldn’t be without challenges. Israel, Judah would face challenges. What we have in verse 1-8, is a prophecy of the coming conquest of Alexander the Great who would make his way through different regions and territories after this prophecy was given, long after these prophetic words were written. But as verse 8 predicted would happen, I’m looking at Zechariah 9:8, Jerusalem would ultimately be spared. It says:
“But I will camp around My house because of an army, because of him who passes by and returns; and no taskmaster will pass over them anymore, for now I have seen with My eyes.”
That was another word of encouragement and support for Israel as they went about rebuilding their temple. That word of encouragement was that though God would not spare them of trials and difficulties entirely, He would ultimately protect them. And historical record affirms that He did indeed to so.

Another source of motivation for Israel to get the job done, to finish the work of rebuilding their temple, was God’s promised future blessing of Israel when He sent her the Messiah that was promised to the nation.

And that’s where the two prophetic oracles in the book of Zechariah come in. So, eight night visions. Four messages. Two prophetic oracles. Those two prophetic oracles have to do with:
Number one, with the Messiah’s first coming. And then, number two, with His second coming.
You know, for time’s sake, we won’t be able to get into the second of those two oracles, regarding the Messiah’s second coming. That’s the one that culminates in Zechariah 14. The one that Zechariah spoke of when he spoke of the Messiah coming down, returning to the Mount of Olives, and placing His feet there, just outside of Jerusalem, before He would defeat His enemies.

Rather, our focus today on Palm Sunday will be on the first oracle, where Zechariah shared some key prophetic details about the circumstances that would surround the first coming of Israel’s Messiah. That takes us back to where we started, Zechariah 9:9.

And as we turn there, and as I read it again, I’d like us, hopefully all, to consider some, if not all of what I’ve just spouted off to you, over the last 40 minutes or so, and consider the audience here. Consider the audience of Zechariah’s day. There are these recent exiles who are now back in their land. And they know their history. And they know that they’ve failed God throughout the various generations, going back hundreds and hundreds of years. And they know that even since returning from exile, they’ve gone through these cycles of stagnancy and opposition as they sought to rebuild their temple. They knew that they’d been given permission by the Persian King Darius to rebuild the temple. They knew that they’d received these words of encouragement by the prophet Haggai to rebuild the temple. And now here they have Zechariah, this other prophet, doing the same thing, encouraging them to keep going. To keep working. To keep rebuilding that temple. And he does so through these visions that we just worked through. The messages that we just worked through. And then those two oracles concerning Israel’s bright future with her Messiah coming.

It’s against that whole backdrop that Zechariah says what he says in Zechariah 9:9:
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Make a loud shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, lowly and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a pack animal.”
So, we’ve spent just about all of our time, working through Prophetic Foretelling, in Zechariah.

Now, we’re going to look at Prophetic Fulfillment. If you’re taking notes, that’s our second point:
Prophetic Fulfillment.
Now from our text, Zechariah 9:9, written some 500 years before the birth of Christ, we do learn that when Israel’s Messiah came He would be marked by at least these four traits:
First, He would be righteous – “. . . behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous.”
You know, Judah had recently gone into exile, because of their unrighteousness.
Isaiah 1:21 describes it this way:
“How the faithful city has become a harlot, she who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your drink diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels and companions of thieves; everyone loves a bribe and pursues rewards.”
So, it was marked by unrighteousness, Judah was. And that unrighteousness in Judah worked its way all the way to the upper most levels of leadership. We read the Chronicles, and we see unrighteous king after unrighteous king, after unrighteous king. Even the righteous ones, Josiah and David, had their black marks on their records, did they not? But unrighteousness ultimately didn’t just rest with the kings in Judah, it was everywhere.
Psalm 14:2 says:
“Yahweh looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there is anyone who has insight, anyone who seeks after God. They have all turned aside, [this is very Pauline, Romans 3, right] altogether they have become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
So, there was unrighteousness all throughout Israel and Judah.

But the One who is coming as the Messiah would be different. He would be the one who does righteousness. He would be the one who is the standard of righteousness. He would be the one who is righteous in His being, in His essence, which points to His divine origins.
Those truths of the righteousness of the Messiah that would come, are picked up in Jeremiah 23, another messianic prophecy. Jeremiah 23:5 says:
“Behold, the days are coming,’ declares Yahweh, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and prosper and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, “Yahweh our righteousness.”’”
Or, as we’re told here in Zechariah 9:9: “Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous.”

Not only that, the One who was coming would also, we see it here in verse 9, be “endowed with salvation.” So, this Messiah would come not only as king. And He would come not only as this perfectly-righteous One. He would come as a Rescuer. As a Deliverer. As a Savior.
We know over and over in our study of the Gospel of Luke on Sunday mornings we’ve turned to Isaiah 61:1-2, that Old Testament prophesy that Jesus quoted in Luke 4 in His sermon at Nazareth. But Isaiah 61:1-2, note the language of salvation here:
“The Spirit of Lord Yahweh is upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of Yahweh . . .”
Back in our passage, verse 9, the One who was to come, the Messiah, was “endowed with salvation.”

The third description given here of this coming Messiah is that He would be “lowly.” Meaning, He would come with a posture of humility. The word for “lowly” here in Hebrew could also mean “poor” or “afflicted.” Meaning, the Messiah wouldn’t come while clinging to the privileges of royalty. He wouldn’t come to earth to trade rags for riches, it would be the other way around. He’d be trading His riches for rags. He would be this Messiah who would come poor for the sake of those He came to rescue. He would stoop for sinners.
Isaiah would prophesy of Him in Isaiah 53:2:
“He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, no appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
He would be Zechariah 9:9, “lowly.”

And then last, Zechariah prophesied that this Messiah would arrive in a very specific manner. End of verse 9: He would come “lowly and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a pack animal.”

I won’t try to work through this city-slicker Californian guy, what a donkey and a colt and a foal, how to distinguish all three of those. Those who have been accustomed to country life, you can tell me what those are later. But what I do know is what God’s word says. You can turn with me over to the book of John, the Gospel of John, where we’re going to see fulfillment on the pages of scripture.
Fulfillment. As you’re turning there it’s important to note that this scene that we’re going to get into now. John 12, I should have said, if I didn’t say it already. John 12. Of the triumpful entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, is recorded in all four Gospel accounts. It’s in Matthew 21, it’s in Mark 11, it’s in Luke 19, and it’s here in John 12. And look at verses 12-15. We’ll read that:
“On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, ‘Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.’ And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”
Now the setting here, as we look up the page at John 12, a little further up the page. The setting here is in these days leading up to the Feast of the Passover. And on Saturday, the Sabbath, the events mentioned at the beginning of chapter 12 took place, where Jesus enjoyed this supper in Bethany, with Mary and Martha and the recently-raised Lazarus, he was there as well. And there’s that scene in John 12, earlier in this passage, where Mary anoints the feet of Jesus with that very expensive perfume. And Judas, who is later to be revealed as this traitor and this fraud, he’s already stealing money from the money box. He’s objecting to her anointing Jesus’ feet. Earlier in John 12, there’s this crowd that’s gathering outside the place where Jesus is dining and eating with these folks. And that crowd is there, not because they necessarily want to see Jesus at this point, but rather they want to see this guy that he raised from the dead. They’re there to see Lazarus.

Well, it’s on the next day, back to John 12:12, that’s how it begins, right? On the next day, the day after that Sabbath meal, meaning on Sunday, this large crowd that had been lurking around Jesus’ meal with Mary and Martha and the rest. They learned that Jesus would soon be leaving Bethany and making His way to Jerusalem.
Look at verse 12 again:
“On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.”
And look what they did, verse 13:
They “took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, ‘Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.’”

As I mentioned, this account of our Lord’s triumphal entry is in all four Gospel accounts. And while here in John’s account there is no mention of those palm trees being laid on the road on the way to Jerusalem as we’re accustomed to hearing of it, that is said in both Mathew’s Gospel, Matthew 21, and in Mark’s Gospel, Mark 11. So, we do have certifiable credible gospel witness that Jesus did enter Jerusalem on a Palm-Strewn Path.” And those branches, by the way, the palm branches signified victory, rejoicing, hope. In fact, when we go over Revelation 7:9-10, John the apostle has this vision of the future, and he speaks of this:
“. . . a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation [this is Revelation 7:9-10] and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” Salvation.

Well, speaking of salvation, note what this large crowd here in John 12:13 was saying as they laid these palm branches before Jesus, as He prepared to enter Jerusalem. They say “Hosanna!” Which means, “Deliver us!” “Save us!”
And then they said this:
“BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.”
And that’s alluding back to the passage from our scripture reading this morning, Psalm 118:25-26 which says:
“O Yahweh, save! O Yahweh, succeed! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh.”

And then here comes the pinnacle moment of this event, verses 14-15, it says:
“And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, ‘FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.”
Which was a fulfillment of what? Our passage, Zechariah 9:9:
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Make a loud shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, lowly and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a pack animal.”

When that prophetic promise was first given to Israel it offered such hope and encouragement and promise. “Rejoice.” “Make a loud shout.” “Behold, your king is coming to you.”
And Jesus of Nazareth, when He came not only to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, but even in His incarnation three years prior, He fulfilled every prophecy and every prediction that was made of Him in Zechariah 9:9.

He demonstrated over and over, did Jesus, that He was and He is righteous. He came to do the Father’s will – John 6:38. He couldn’t be convicted of sin – John 8:46. He is Jesus Christ the righteous – 1 John 2:1.

Further, Jesus is the One who came “endowed with salvation.” And the salvation and the deliverance He brought was not by means of slaughtering all of Israel’s adversaries at the time, but instead by Himself being slaughtered, as we’re going to look at this coming Friday. He was, Isaiah 53:7, “Like a lamb that is led to slaughter.”

Jesus also is the “lowly” one. Though the very creator of the universe – Col. 1, John 1, Hebrews 1. He left glory to enter into His creation, into the universe He made. He left His heavenly throne above to rub shoulders with sinners who would reject Him and betray Him and ultimately kill Him. He descended from the highest of highs to enter the lowest of lows. And He did so to offer those who would believe in Him, a right relationship with God the Father.
2 Corinthians 8:9 says:
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though being rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”

And last, Zechariah 9:9. He came “mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a pack animal.”
Not a chariot. Not mounted on some majestic steed. Not arriving with pomp and circumstance. But in humility, lowliness, on a donkey’s colt.

Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on that Sunday, “Palm Sunday” as we call it now, in triumph. Riding on that colt, on that Palm-Strewn Path. But we know that by Friday of that week what we now call “Good Friday.” He would be hearing those shouts and those cries of “Crucify Him!” And soon after that He’d be hanging on a Roman cross, suffering and bleeding and dying for you and me. Suffering and bleeding and dying for our sins. Sins we had committed against the God who had sent Him on that mission.

My prayer for us here this morning, going into this week we’re about to enter, is that this would be a week spent full of awareness and thankfulness and gratitude and prayerfulness. As we reflect on the fact that this One, Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah, the eternal Son of God, not only came, but He was crushed. Crushed, not only for the Jews of His day, but crushed for the sins of the world. But ultimately that He conquered. He conquered the grave. He conquered powers of sin and darkness in this world for you and me. May that be resonating in our minds and our hearts all week long as we consider the love and the mercy of the Savior.

God, we thank You for this time this morning, in what has been sort of a jet-tour through the book of Zechariah, but ultimately, I pray has helped us really reflect on the significance of that event where Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, entered Jerusalem on that Palm-Strewn Path, ultimately on a mission to go to the cross, to die for the sins of the world. God, we thank You for Your perfect Word, it’s prophetic fulfillment in Jesus. We thank You that we can turn to these pages, which are now a couple of thousand years old. But they’ve been preserved and they testify to that event, the cross and the tomb, through which we have our ultimate hope. God, I praise You, and we praise You this morning for who You are in Your character. We praise You that You are a God who is eternally holy and just and righteous and wrathful. But at the same time, You are a God of love and mercy and grace. Those attributes of Yours ultimately come together perfectly at the cross. God, as we go into this week over the next few days, I do pray that this would be a time of great reflection and meditation on Your Word, as we consider what You did for us. The great cost that sending Your Son into the world to die for our sin and what that would do is fuel in us great gratitude, motivation to live holy lives in keeping with our profession. And zeal to reach the lost, those who have yet to put their faith in Your Son. God, we give You all praise, all thanks, all glory for what You will do in the coming week. May You be pleased. In Jesus’ name. Amen