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An Amazing Prophecy About the Messiah | Zechariah 9:9 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Palm Sunday) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  We have much reason to be celebrating because of the God
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  that we serve. But I wonder if you've ever
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  asked the question why most Christians, most churches, set
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  apart the Sunday before Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday
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  to celebrate what is commonly known as Palm Sunday.
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  What's this day really about? This is just tradition is it's
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  just us going through the motions.
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  I want to propose to you today that one of the primary reasons
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  we should be rejoicing and turning our attention and what
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  is recognized as the triumphal entry is because on this day,
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  Jesus Christ of Nazareth fulfilled ancient prophecy.
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  Moreover, it is at this event that Christ strategically and
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  intentionally entered into Jerusalem to declare the truth
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  of His Messiahship in the most open and public way than He ever
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  had in His three-year ministry. We have to remember that Christ
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  did, during His ministry, reveal Himself as Messiah, but it was
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  frequently to individuals and it was mainly private.
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  But on this day, Jesus Christ decided to present Himself as
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  such for all to see and all to hear.
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  And the reason is because He is who the prophets pointed to, and
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  the way that He chose to do it at this point was to fulfill
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  what one prophet said the Messiah would do 500 years
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  before Christ even entered into our world.
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  Many of you are familiar with the common scripture that is
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  quoted at this time of the year, but it's worth revisiting.
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  So turn with me in your Bibles to Zechariah Chapter 9, and
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  let's look at verse 9 together. Zechariah 9, verse 9.
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  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout aloud, O daughter of
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  Jerusalem, behold, your King is coming to you righteous and
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  having salvation. Is he humble and mounted on a
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  donkey? On a colt, the full of a donkey?
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  Lord, this is our portion today in your word.
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  We pray that it would be delivered and received in power.
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  We pray that it would do something in our hearts.
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  We pray that it would help us fall deeper in love with Jesus
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  Christ. Lord, we thank you for your
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  word. Thank You that we have access to
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  all of it. Thank You that it is the reason
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  why we are saved. It is the reason why we can
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  grow. It is the reason why we can have
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  hope and joy and peace. And it is the reason why we can
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  know you. And we pray that we would know
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  you deeper through this service. In Jesus name we pray.
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  Amen. While all the Gospel accounts
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  record how Jesus entered into Jerusalem on the donkey, it was
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  only Matthew and John who explicitly quotes Zechariah when
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  he did so. This is a common connection to
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  most believers. They understand how Christ
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  fulfilled this prophecy. But what I want to show today is
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  that what Zechariah is saying here is much more profound in
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  Christ fulfilling it than we might have realized.
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  There is so much more going on here than Jesus Christ
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  displaying Himself in humility, although that is paramount, that
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  is wonderful. We do serve a humble king.
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  There is much more to understand about how Christ fulfilling this
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  says much more about him. And the first thing that I
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  believe we have to do is consider what Zechariah's words
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  in this verse meant to his original audience.
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  Have you ever thought about that?
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  What did his original listeners here when Zechariah preached
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  this to them? And I think it's worth examining
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  who Zechariah is number 1 and who are his listeners #2 So did
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  you turn to Zechariah 9? Go to Zechariah 1 and look at
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  verse one with me. If you've been with us here on
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  Fridays, then this shouldn't be too new for you because we've
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  looked at Zechariah briefly through the book of Ezra.
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  But let's look at it here in a new lens.
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  Zechariah one verse one it reads in the eighth month, in the
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  second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet
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  Zechariah, the son of Berekiah, son of Iddo saying so, Zechariah
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  is a prophet, right? It's clear, it's obvious.
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  But the timing of his prophetic ministry is what's so vital to
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  grasp. He began preaching in this way
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  in the second year of Darius. What does that inform us about?
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  It informs us that Zechariah was raised up by God after the
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  people of Judah were taken from their land in the Babylonian
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  exile. And more than that, he began
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  preaching after some of the Jews returned to Jerusalem after
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  enduring some time in captivity in Babylonia.
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  So Zechariah is someone here who is preaching after the people
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  were removed and after some of them came back.
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  Which makes Chapter 9, verse 9 all the more enthralling because
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  what the Bible teaches is that the Last King that Judah has
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  ever known was Zedekiah. That's what we see at the end of
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  the Book of Second Kings. And since Zedekiah's time, there
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  was no king. Even after the people returned
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  to Jerusalem, even though they were restored to their homeland,
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  the monarchy was never revived. God did use very important
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  leaders to bring the people back to the Holy Land.
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  Men like Ezra, men like Zerubbabel, men like Nehemiah.
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  But none of them were kings. Ezra was a priest.
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  Zerubbabel and Nehemiah were appointed governors.
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  Nothing more, nothing more. In fact, you'll notice something
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  interesting about most biblical books that were written after
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  the exile. They're known as the post exilic
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  books like what we have here in Zechariah.
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  Look at verse one again and the 8th month in the second year of
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  Darius. Something happens with these
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  authors after the exile. They write their books
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  differently than those who wrote before the exile, so you don't
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  have to turn to these references.
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  Just listen to them very carefully.
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  That's Zechariah one, one in the second year of Darius.
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  Listen to Haggai 11 Haggai one one who was another prophet
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  during the same time. It says here in Haggai one one
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  in the second year of Darius the king in the sixth month, on the
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  first day of the month, the word of the word of the Lord came by
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  the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubel the son of Sheautiya,
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  governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehovah, that the
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  high priest again in the second year of Darius.
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  Listen to how Ezra opens his book in Ezra, one one in the
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  first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the
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  Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled.
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  And it goes on. I'm not sure if you've noticed
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  this. It's subtle, I'll admit that,
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  but if you look closely, these biblical authors are doing
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  something very different than those who wrote before this
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  massive moment known as the exile.
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  They date their writings according to foreign kings.
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  On your own time, I encourage you to look at Isaiah, for
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  example, Jeremiah, other prophets, and look at how they
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  place their time stamps regarding their prophecies.
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  They refer to the kings of Judah.
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  They refer to the kings of Israel in some cases.
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  But then after the exile, the prophets don't.
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  Do you know why there are no more kings?
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  And so now they are looking to empires and rulers who are not
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  directly connected to the people of God, obviously to put their
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  messages into context. And so you can imagine how
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  shocking it must have been for Zechariah's audience, among the
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  first to return to Jerusalem, when he said to them, Rejoice
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  greatly. O daughter of Zion, shout aloud.
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  O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you.
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  A king is coming to us. Who?
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  From where? It's been decades upon decades
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  since we had a king, and even our own prophets refer to other
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  kings. And now all of a sudden you're
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  telling us that a king is coming to us?
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  When And here's what makes Zechariah 99 even more glorious
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  when you consider what other prophets are saying about this,
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  namely what would come about the people after their exile and
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  makes this shocking. Here's what I mean.
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  There are other prophecies made that show that even after the
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  suspension of the monarchy, there would be another king, but
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  it wouldn't be any ordinary king.
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  That the next king that would come after the Kingdom of Israel
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  and Judah lay dormant would be the king, the Messiah, the son
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  of David, the one who would accomplish what no other king
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  before could ever do. And one of the strongest cases
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  for this, that the next king that Judah and Israel as a
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  nation should expect will be the final one, is in the book of
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  Ezekiel. Go to Ezekiel chapter 21.
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  This is not a very known prophecy, and it's a shame
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  because it is so powerful. Ezekiel was a prophet in
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  Babylonia. He was not a prophet in Judah.
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  He was not a prophet in Israel. He was among the Exiles and he
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  prophesied from Babylon to encourage the people in the land
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  with him and those who remained in Judah.
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  You have to remember that the exile of the people of Judah was
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  not in one moment. It happened in three
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  deportations, and Ezekiel was among the second group that were
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  removed from their homes. And God used them, though a way
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  to give encouragement and primarily warning about the
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  final judgment that is looming. The people still thought we, we
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  still have our king. We still have our people.
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  Surely God is not going to remove us from our land.
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  And Ezekiel is one of the main mouthpieces that's saying, hey,
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  it's coming. It's coming.
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  Yeah, we're the second deportation, but there's a final
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  one coming. And it's going to settle
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  everything once and for all. And God's judgment will come to
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  fruition. And here's one of the ways that
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  he says it. Are you there in Ezekiel 21?
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  Scroll down with me here to verse 25, Ezekiel 21, verse 25,
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  And you, O profane wicked 1, Prince of Israel, whose day has
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  come, the time of your final punishment.
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  Pause. Who is he speaking about here?
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  Who's the wicked one? The Last King of Israel,
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  Zedekiah, the Kingdom was divided.
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  You had Judah and Israel was the northern tribes.
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  But here he just mentions them as one.
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  And he calls the Last King Zedekiah wicked and profane, and
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  more than that with prophetic punch.
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  He didn't even call him a king. What does he say?
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  O profane, wicked 1, Prince of Israel, whose day has come, the
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  time of your final punishment. Look at verse 26.
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  Thus says the Lord God, remove the turban and take off the
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  crown. Things shall not remain as they
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  are. Exalt that which is low, and
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  bring low that which is exalted. So you see, the warning goes
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  beyond Zedekiah here. Ezekiel also predicts the end of
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  the royal office itself. What does he say?
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  Remove the turban and take off the crown.
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  Things shall not remain as they are now.
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  If you read the King James Version, verse 26 should read
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  remove the diadem and the crown. But the Hebrew word for diadem
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  is more accurately turban, the headpiece that a priest would
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  wear. So this is where this is an
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  instance where the ESV and other modern modern translations are
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  more accurate. Remove the turban, remove the
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  crown. Things will not be the same.
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  What's Ezekiel saying here? The priestly and especially the
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  royal office symbolized by the turban and the crown, would
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  never be the same once the people come into exile.
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  In other words, the glory of these functions would be
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  diminished and ultimately their offices would not function.
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  They would cease to be an operation.
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  And that's exactly what happened.
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  There was no king after the exile, and though there was a
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  brief resurgence of the priesthood, it was never what it
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  was before. This is a staggering prophecy,
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  and thank God it didn't end here.
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  Notice what he says in verse 27, Ezekiel 21, verse 27.
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  A ruin, ruin, ruin. I will make it.
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  This also shall not be until he comes, the one to whom judgement
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  belongs, and I will give it to him.
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  What a prophecy. You see what he's saying here?
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  This should take your breath away.
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  The crown is going to be removed, the throne will be
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  unoccupied, there will be no monarchy in Israel until he
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  comes. And when he comes, I'm going to
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  give it all to him. Who?
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  That's a question we should be asking.
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  And this is where knowing our Old Testament is absolutely
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  crucial because the Bible doesn't spoon feed us with
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  quotations and references all the time.
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  Much more than that, the Bible assumes that you and I have been
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  reading our Bibles. And so when you pick up on
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  certain phrases or languages, you should be able to say, I've
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  seen this before. This is an echo of something
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  that I've read in the past. And that's what Ezekiel is doing
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  here until he comes. That should sound familiar to us
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  because it's an allusion to one of the first prophecies about a
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  royal Messiah. Back in the book of Genesis,
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  when Jacob looked at each of his sons who had become the tribes
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  of Israel, and when he came to Judah, he made an amazing
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  promise. Would you like to know it?
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  Genesis 49. Look at this with me.
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  Scripture interprets Scripture. Genesis 4910.
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  The ESV renders this verse a little differently, and I'll
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  explain why in a moment, but most other word for word
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  translations are the same. In Genesis 4910 it reads, the
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  scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler staff from
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  between his feet, until tribute comes to him.
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  That's where it's different, and to him shall be the obedience of
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  the peoples. Let me read it to you from the
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  New American Standard in Genesis 4910.
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  It says the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler
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  staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes.
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  Is that what you have in your translation?
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  Maybe for some until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the
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  obedience of the peoples. Why do other translations have
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  the word or the name Shiloh while the ESV says until tribute
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  comes? Because the etymology, the
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  original word, is a little bit complex.
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  It can mean Shiloh, and it can mean one to whom something
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  belongs, one who deserves something.
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  That's why the ESV renders it in the following.
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  But with whatever translation you go with, one thing is
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  absolutely clear. The prophecy anticipates that
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  Judah will be preeminent among his brothers.
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  He will have a ruling class. He will have a ruling role even
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  of and above his own siblings. You can imagine the shock on the
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  the brothers faces, the scepters coming from his line.
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  Yes, and there's a reason for that.
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  Maybe we'll talk about in the future, but the prophecy is much
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  more precise than this. Yes, there will be a Kingdom
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  that will come and it'll be the line of Judah that will have a
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  succession of kings to operate and to regulate that function.
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  But there's a person in view here.
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  Notice the last part of verse 10.
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  And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
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  There's a person, there's a king among the kings from the line of
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  Judah, who will do what no other king could do.
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  And what's that? This king is not just going to
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  subdue and rule over Israel, but over the world, the obedience of
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  the peoples, the nations, until Shiloh comes, until tribute
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  comes, until he comes. And then Ezekiel, after
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  pronouncing that the royal government would be paralyzed
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  for a time, says until he comes. So we have to step back now and
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  put this all together. We started in Zechariah 9.
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  Why did we go to Ezekiel? Because what Ezekiel is telling
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  us, yes, there is no king now. There will be no Kingdom until
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  the one that Genesis speaks about arrives on the scene.
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  And Zechariah, who's coming to a people who have not known a
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  king, who can't even imagine a king emerging with all the
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  complexities of the world and geopolitics adds to Ezekiel's
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  promises, says you will know when this king comes, when he
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  arrives on a donkey, righteous, humble and armed with your
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  salvation. And then hundreds of years pass
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  and you have guys like John and Matthew who say Jesus of
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  Nazareth is that king. And they quote Zechariah and
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  they apply it to him and Jesus himself.
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  This, it wasn't accidental what he did.
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  He planned it in order to convey the message.
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  I am that king. And I'm not just a descendant
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  from the line of David. I am the final king.
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  None will come after me. I will do what the prophet said
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  I would. Do you see how deep this is now?
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  As glorious as it is, as as harmonious as it sounds.
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  Like all the prophecies in the Old Testament pointing to
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  Christ, this one has its objections, and we won't be able
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  to cover all of them today. But I want to touch on the most
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  common one from our Jewish friends especially.
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  So you have some Jews who would outright deny that Zechariah 99
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  is in fact a Messianic prophecy. They would say that Christians
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  are forcing Jesus into that passage, and even the New
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  Testament authors are manipulating it in order for it
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  to seem as though Christ fulfilled it.
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  And besides the biblical evidence that we just sampled,
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  the way you answer this objection is to remind such
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  people that their own rabbinic literature says that this is a
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  Messianic prophecy. So I'll give you one example.
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  In the Babylonian Talmud, in the part where you have the
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  Sanhedrin 98 verse A or part A, you have a rabbi who's dealing
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  with an apparent contradiction. Here's the contradiction that
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  he's trying to solve. You can read this.
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  He understands that Messiah from Daniel 7 will come on a cloud.
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  And then he says, but Messiah will also come on a donkey from
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  Zechariah 99. And they try to solve this and
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  they try to reconcile this. So you know what this rabbi
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  concludes? This is it.
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  If we, the people of Israel are worthy, our Messiah will come on
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  a cloud. If we are unworthy, he will come
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  on a donkey. This is how they interpret it.
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  And there are other things in the Talmud that show and reveal
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  that this passage is indeed messianic.
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  To say then, that this is not messianic, it's to deny your own
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  authorities. But there are some Jews who
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  don't go that far. They acknowledge that Zechariah
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  99 is in fact a prophecy about the Messiah.
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  But they will challenge us in another way.
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  They will say the following. It's very convenient for you
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  Christians to quote Zechariah 99 and attribute it to Christ.
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  But you forgot about Zechariah 910.
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  And if you look at Zechariah 910, then you'll understand that
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  Jesus in no way could have fulfilled Zechariah's
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  prediction, therefore nullifying him as a candidate to be the
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  Messiah. What does Zechariah 910 say?
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  Well, some of you already got ahead of me.
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  Let's read it from verse 9 to look at it in its totality.
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  Zechariah 9 Verse 9. Again, rejoice greatly.
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  O daughter of Zion, shout aloud. O daughter of Jerusalem, behold,
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  your king is coming to you righteous and having salvation.
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  Is he humble and mounted on a donkey on a cold, the foal of a
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  donkey. Verse 10 I will cut off the
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  chariot from Ephraim and the War Horse from Jerusalem, and the
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  battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the
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  nation's. His rule shall be from sea to
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  sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.
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  Do you see the supposed dilemma? Zechariah's prophecy says that
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  the Messiah will not only come riding on a donkey, but that He
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  will usher in universal peace, that He will eliminate Israel's
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  enemies, and that He will in fact establish a global reign.
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  Did your Jesus do that? How do Christians answer this?
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  You know how some Christians answer this?
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  They say, well, well, well, Zechariah 99 is to be taken
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  literally. The Messiah will in fact be on a
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  donkey, and he will present himself in such a way.
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  But Zechariah 910 should be taken metaphorically, that this
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  is a illustration, this is poetic language to depict the
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  power of the Gospel and the transformation that the
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  Christian message will bring to the world.
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  And I want to say this kindly. The context doesn't allow that.
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  And you and I have to be careful of determining what's literal
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  and what's allegorical whenever it suits us.
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  There is a better answer, there is a better explanation, and
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  what we have going on here is one of the instances that we
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  find so frequently in the Old Testament of gaps between
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  prophetic declarations. This is a customary component of
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  biblical foretelling. If you were here last week, you
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  saw this when we spoke about Isaiah 61, verse 2, where the
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  Messiah will proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day
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  of vengeance of our God. And Christ comes in Luke chapter
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  4, and he says that He is a fulfillment of this prophecy,
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  but he ends it after the year of the Lord's favor.
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  He didn't go on to the day Avengers of our God.
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  Why? Because there's a gap.
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  There's a gap of time between that prophecy.
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  Another example, famously is Isaiah Chapter 9, verse six and
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  seven. To us, a child is born, to us a
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  son is given. And in the same breath, we read
• 24:53
  about how his government will have no end.
• 24:59
  What's going on there? The same thing.
• 25:01
  There's a gap in the prophecy. Zechariah's prophecy is no
• 25:05
  different. He's not speaking about Messiah
• 25:09
  in a single arrival, but in two separate advents.
• 25:14
  And that is not reading too much into this prophecy That makes
• 25:18
  the most sense when you consider all of prophecy concerning the
• 25:22
  Messiah. Here's what I always ask those
• 25:25
  who object to this. Many Jews are making the same
• 25:29
  mistake that the Jews in Jesus they made.
• 25:32
  You focus on all the prophecies of the Son of David, the
• 25:35
  conquering king, the ruling 1 and you neglect the ones where
• 25:38
  the Messiah suffers. So answer this then, where does
• 25:44
  the death of Messiah, suffering of Messiah, burial of Messiah,
• 25:47
  resurrection of Messiah fit in your understanding of God's plan
• 25:51
  and your understanding of God's program for Messiah?
• 25:56
  And we just got a sample of it from the Babylonian Talmud.
• 25:59
  OK, He's coming on the cloud. He's coming on a donkey.
• 26:02
  So it's depended on us, how we live and how we obey that will
• 26:06
  determine how he arrives. And you have other Jews to say
• 26:10
  no, no, no. In order to make sense of this,
• 26:14
  there must be two messiahs. There's Messiah son of David and
• 26:18
  Messiah son of Joseph. Messiah son of David is a
• 26:20
  ruling, conquering. 1 Messiah, son of Joseph, is a suffering
• 26:23
  one who will die in battle. The answer is simple.
• 26:29
  For us as Christians, it's the same Messiah to advance, and the
• 26:35
  Bible's honest enough to show us that with many prophecies,
• 26:39
  especially those concerning the Christ, the timing and the full
• 26:42
  scope of the mission are not always spelled that as plainly
• 26:45
  as people might think, And the Bible even tells us that.
• 26:48
  Did you know that first? Peter?
• 26:52
  Look at chapter 1 in verse 10, first Peter chapter one, verse
• 26:59
  10 concerning the salvation.
• 27:14
  The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be
• 27:17
  yours searched and inquired carefully.
• 27:21
  We have this almost cartoonish understanding of how the
• 27:24
  prophets prophesied that when the Holy Spirit moved upon these
• 27:27
  men, they were almost like in a trance like state and God took
• 27:32
  control of their hands and wrote out these prophecies and then
• 27:35
  they came to he said what just happened.
• 27:37
  That is not how prophecy happens.
• 27:40
  These men who were used by God were in total control of their
• 27:43
  faculties, of the personalities and God used them in their
• 27:48
  uniqueness to pen down Revelation and Peter's
• 27:52
  confirming this, that when they prophesied about the grace that
• 27:55
  was to be yours, they searched and inquired carefully.
• 27:59
  So they understood this is God speaking through me.
• 28:01
  And then when they came to this revelation, they go, OK, what is
• 28:04
  this about? And they began to research and
• 28:07
  don't even doubt that they looked at other prophecies of
• 28:10
  other prophets and said, does this make sense with this?
• 28:12
  Does this reconcile with this? Look how specific Peter gets in
• 28:15
  verse 11 inquiring what person or time highlight that, what
• 28:21
  person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating
• 28:26
  when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent
• 28:29
  glories. So they received revelation
• 28:33
  about the Messiah, but they didn't fully understand it.
• 28:36
  And part of the things that they would research with whatever
• 28:39
  resources they had was, OK, who is this Messiah going to be and
• 28:43
  when is he going to do what the Spirit of God just revealed to
• 28:46
  me? So in one sentence, he speaks
• 28:52
  about his humility and his first coming.
• 28:54
  And in the next part he's speaking about his global
• 28:57
  messianic reign. And you can just imagine how men
• 29:00
  like Zechariah are trying to understand how this all fits.
• 29:03
  And Peter tells us that they didn't understand it fully.
• 29:09
  I'd like to provide an added layer to our explanation of why
• 29:12
  Zechariah 910 is not an obstacle for Jesus being the fulfillment
• 29:17
  of this prophecy. Let's go to John chapter 12.
• 29:26
  Zechariah 910 clearly describes what Christ will accomplish at
• 29:30
  His return. But the point that I want to
• 29:32
  make is that when He fulfilled Zechariah 9/9, He also gave a
• 29:39
  sample of His power, of His Majesty, and of His sovereignty
• 29:46
  that verse 10 alludes to at the time of His triumphal entry.
• 29:48
  I hope that makes sense, but let's read from verse 12 of John
• 29:53
  12. The next day the large crowd
• 29:57
  that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to
• 29:59
  Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm
• 30:02
  trees and went out to meet him, crying out, Hosanna, blessed is
• 30:06
  you comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel.
• 30:09
  See what they're saying? They're calling Jesus king.
• 30:13
  Verse 14. And Jesus found a young donkey
• 30:16
  and sat on it, just as it is written.
• 30:18
  Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming,
• 30:22
  sitting on a donkey's colt. Now these next few verses are
• 30:25
  very important. Please pay attention.
• 30:28
  Verse 16. His disciples did not understand
• 30:31
  these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they
• 30:34
  remember that these things had been written about Him and had
• 30:37
  been done to Him. The crowd that had been with him
• 30:41
  when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the
• 30:45
  dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to
• 30:50
  meet Him was that they heard He had done the sign.
• 30:55
  Have you ever wondered why the crowds greeted Jesus the way
• 30:59
  they did? Again, we almost have a
• 31:01
  cartoonish understanding of some of these events that because of
• 31:04
  the Passover, the city was crammed with people from all
• 31:07
  over the world and Jesus decided to come in a certain way and
• 31:11
  there was just a group of people who kind of gathered others and
• 31:13
  audience. And then there's just was a
• 31:15
  spontaneous parade and people just got caught up in the
• 31:19
  emotion and just decided to hail him as king.
• 31:21
  That is not what happened. Something took place shortly
• 31:27
  before Jesus entered into this scene.
• 31:29
  What was it? He raised Lazarus from the dead
• 31:33
  and that created a buzz. In fact, it was the miracle that
• 31:38
  brought these people, though unfortunately not an accurate
• 31:41
  understanding, but brought them nonetheless to the point where
• 31:43
  they say, OK, this has to be the Messiah.
• 31:45
  This has to be the king. This has to be the one he who
• 31:49
  else is going to deliver us? And so even them realize how
• 31:54
  dangerous this is. They're under Roman oppression
• 31:57
  and they are out loud saying even the king of Israel and what
• 32:06
  brought them to that point? What made them do this?
• 32:10
  They had a revelation of the extent of the power of Jesus
• 32:13
  Christ. They had eyewitness accounts
• 32:18
  telling them this. Jesus raised a man from the dead
• 32:23
  after being dead for several days.
• 32:26
  You can imagine what they're thinking then.
• 32:28
  Hold on this. Jesus raised somebody from the
• 32:31
  grave. If death obeys him, what nation,
• 32:37
  what army, what foreign power can stand against them?
• 32:41
  If death obeys him, then we have a chance.
• 32:48
  Then let, let's, let's elect him, and he will surely deliver
• 32:52
  us from Rome. And more than that, oh, he can
• 32:55
  bring to reality what the prophets have said, that we will
• 32:59
  conquer from sea to sea. We will have dominion over all
• 33:03
  things. Christ demonstrated his power.
• 33:10
  And I argue in a way that alludes to the potential of what
• 33:16
  verse 10 of Zechariah mentions. You know, it's so funny.
• 33:21
  The language of the Pharisees in the very next verse is
• 33:23
  unintentionally insightful that they began to perceive that
• 33:28
  there was this understanding developing among the crowds.
• 33:30
  They were far less optimistic about it though.
• 33:32
  Look at verse 19 of John chapter 12.
• 33:34
  So the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you are
• 33:36
  gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after
• 33:38
  him. You know, these Pharisees have
• 33:41
  the habit of saying things unintentionally prophetic, and
• 33:48
  this is hyperbolic, sure, but I believe that they are
• 33:52
  understanding what's taking place here.
• 33:55
  He's going to win the world if we don't stop him.
• 34:00
  Why do I mention all this? To show that when people say
• 34:03
  that Jesus could not have fulfilled Zechariah 99 because
• 34:06
  He did not accomplish Zechariah 910, we can explain that
• 34:09
  although Zechariah 910 is going to be fulfilled at His return,
• 34:13
  when He did do this, He gave a preview of it because He raised
• 34:19
  a man from the dead. Who can stop such a man?
• 34:25
  No other king has done this. And this crowd though they
• 34:29
  didn't understand the suffering passages they were so fixed on,
• 34:33
  the conquering ones caught that. So if anyone points out that
• 34:40
  Christ that fulfilled the entire prophecy Zechariah made, and
• 34:44
  that Christians only focus on the donkey riding part, remind
• 34:48
  them why the crowd greeted him the way they did.
• 34:51
  He raised somebody from the dead, and in doing so he shows
• 34:57
  that he is unlike any other ruler and power and authority.
• 35:02
  But he didn't unleash all of it the way Zechariah 910 hoped for.
• 35:08
  Why? Because there was another
• 35:10
  mission that needed to be accomplished.
• 35:13
  Because this king set aside his glory.
• 35:15
  He set aside his authority so that he can lay down his own
• 35:19
  life and raise it up three days later.
• 35:24
  At the same time, he still keeps in motion this prophecy because
• 35:29
  he will rule and reign forever when he comes back.
• 35:36
  My desire in coming into the service was to equip us because
• 35:42
  sometimes we quote scriptures and we sing about scriptures,
• 35:46
  and then when somebody confronts us about our beliefs, we don't
• 35:48
  know how to answer them. Like, why are we here now?
• 35:53
  You know why we're here now. You know how this book is God's
• 35:58
  book and how Jesus is the Messiah.
• 36:01
  But let me offer you just a couple of truths that can stir
• 36:06
  you on a personal level. How do these things apply to me
• 36:08
  now? I'm ready for objections.
• 36:10
  Thank you, brother. I'm more confident in the
• 36:13
  Scriptures. Praise the Lord.
• 36:16
  Let me mention a couple of observations that hopefully stir
• 36:19
  you even more. You're still there in John 12.
• 36:21
  Scroll back to verse 16. I want you to see the commentary
• 36:25
  made about the disciples. His disciples did not understand
• 36:30
  these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they
• 36:34
  remember that these things had been written about Him and had
• 36:37
  been done to Him. It's amazing how the Spirit of
• 36:40
  God LED John to admit this. It was an exciting time.
• 36:44
  They were moved, but they didn't understand it.
• 36:47
  What's going on here? And it wasn't until Christ had
• 36:52
  died and resurrected and was ascended into heaven that they
• 36:56
  fully understood the implications and the
• 36:59
  significance of events like this.
• 37:02
  Here's what's so startling. Think about it.
• 37:04
  We read how the prophets of old, though they predicted these
• 37:07
  things about Christ, didn't have a comprehension about the
• 37:11
  details. Though they were those who gave
• 37:15
  revelation, they themselves were left in the dark to some degree.
• 37:18
  And then you come up to the apostles themselves, who lived
• 37:20
  in the moment. They're witnessing it, and yet
• 37:26
  they didn't fully appreciate or properly interpret what was
• 37:29
  unfolding in front of them. But the church, ever since
• 37:36
  Christ died and raised, has been given full revelation.
• 37:42
  And you and I can actually look back through Christ's teachings
• 37:47
  by way of his apostles laying the foundation of the doctrine
• 37:50
  of the church. And we have the most clarity
• 37:54
  that at any point in redemptive history.
• 37:55
  Do you understand this? The prophets didn't fully grasp
• 38:01
  it. The disciples were trying to
• 38:03
  make sense of it. And here you and I are with a
• 38:06
  copy of God's word on our hands and all that God has to say to
• 38:09
  man. And we can have sermons like
• 38:11
  this and we can study for ourselves and say, Yep, that
• 38:16
  makes sense. Yep, I see this pattern.
• 38:18
  Yep, that will be in the future. Yep, that was fulfilled.
• 38:22
  This is one of the elements that make us more blessed in the new
• 38:25
  covenant. If people say, I wish I lived in
• 38:29
  the Old Testament times, do you really?
• 38:32
  I wish I can see this and see that, yeah, they saw different
• 38:35
  things, but they didn't have the clear that you and I have in our
• 38:37
  Bibles. We're told in the Bibles that in
• 38:41
  the Bible that we are more blessed on this side of the
• 38:44
  cross. And we just got in a sample of
• 38:48
  it together, putting Scripture with Scripture, comparing it,
• 38:51
  seeing the consistency of God's Word, and leaving here more
• 38:55
  assured I'm in the truth. So rejoice that your faith has
• 39:04
  deep roots and that your faith in this Messiah, it's true.
• 39:11
  But let me, let me end here. Let's let's go back where we
• 39:14
  started in Zechariah 9. And this will be the last
• 39:16
  scripture because in Zechariah 99, we looked at the Behold your
• 39:21
  King is coming to you part. I want to look at how it begins.
• 39:25
  Zechariah 99. Rejoice greatly.
• 39:33
  Oh daughter of Zion, shout aloud.
• 39:35
  O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you.
• 39:38
  Do you realize that the news of the arrival of this king and the
• 39:42
  fruit of his kingship is that he would make a joyful people?
• 39:49
  You know, the news of a new king is not always exciting.
• 39:52
  It can sometimes be terrifying. Who is this king?
• 39:56
  Is he a tyrant? Is he a maniac?
• 40:00
  Is he selfish? Is he power hungry?
• 40:05
  Where is he going to lead our nation?
• 40:07
  Where is he going to lead us? What's going to happen to our
• 40:09
  children? And Zechariah assures us you can
• 40:13
  rejoice and not just rejoice, rejoice greatly at the news of
• 40:17
  this king. He's not like the kings in first
• 40:20
  and second kings. He's not like the kings in
• 40:22
  history. No, he's righteous and he's
• 40:26
  humble and he comes to save. He comes to save.
• 40:31
  Here's my question for you today.
• 40:35
  Does the revelation of Jesus being king over your life
• 40:38
  produce real joy And if you if if you can't say with
• 40:44
  confidence, yes, I have joy and listen, joy is not just this
• 40:48
  like fluctuating emotion. I'm talking about the first
• 40:51
  Peter 18 joy, that though you can't see him with your eyes,
• 40:55
  though you haven't experienced him in the flesh, you rejoice
• 40:58
  with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.
• 41:02
  That's New Testament and it's about us as Christians and our
• 41:05
  common experience. If you can't say I, I have
• 41:12
  experienced this reality that something was unlocked in my
• 41:15
  soul when I crowned Jesus Christ as the King of my life.
• 41:21
  Nothing in this world can even compare to the happiness that I
• 41:25
  have. It could be for two reasons.
• 41:28
  Number one, you've never made Jesus Christ King.
• 41:34
  To some, whether they want to admit it or not, he's more like
• 41:36
  a Butler and he's there in the margins and whenever you're
• 41:40
  ready to call him Jesus, I need you and he comes and does your
• 41:44
  bidding. He's not a Butler, he's a king.
• 41:51
  Is Christ king? Did you make an intentional,
• 41:55
  conscious decision at one point in your life saying I am not the
• 41:58
  master of my faith, I am no longer the captain of my soul.
• 42:01
  You are, and you are worthy of it because you made my soul and
• 42:05
  you died for my soul. So take my soul.
• 42:10
  Only then can you rejoice greatly.
• 42:14
  What a wonderful reward for making someone king.
• 42:17
  So maybe, maybe the reason why you can look back at your
• 42:20
  Christian life and you're hanging by a thread.
• 42:23
  Because if you're honest, you've been bored all these years.
• 42:26
  You've missed something. But #2 it could be that even
• 42:33
  though you can say with confidence that I unashamedly
• 42:36
  made Jesus King, you lost vision of him and something else, some
• 42:42
  other sparkling crown grabbed your attention.
• 42:48
  Some other throne that promised protection and pleasure
• 42:55
  convinced you for a season. And if that is you, then I pray
• 43:01
  that what you heard today would refocus your gaze and you'd
• 43:06
  realize that there's no other king with this kind of beauty.
• 43:10
  There's no other king who wants to be my friend.
• 43:13
  There's no other king who constantly extends his scepter,
• 43:17
  so I can freely come before the throne of grace and talk to him
• 43:21
  whenever I need to. I don't need to set an
• 43:23
  appointment with this king. I can wake up at 3:00 in the
• 43:26
  morning, get on my knees on the side of my bed, and have his
• 43:28
  full attention. This king, though he rules the
• 43:32
  universe, cares about my life day by day.
• 43:35
  Yes, he has a scepter, but he also has a rod, and he shepherds
• 43:38
  me whether I feel it or not. Rejoice greatly, Maranatha Bible
• 43:47
  Church, because our King has come.
• 43:50
  Is he your king? I pray today would be the day
• 43:53
  where you make that decision. Let's pray.
• 44:13
  Thank you, Father, for feeding us today.
• 44:20
  Thank you for filling our hearts with joy.
• 44:28
  May we never be. May we never be ashamed of the
• 44:31
  gospel. May we be ready to defend and
• 44:37
  give explanation to the hope that is in US.
• 44:41
  Thank you that we are in the truth.
• 44:44
  Thank You that we have all that we need to know you and to make
• 44:47
  you known. Lord, we come to worship you
• 44:50
  with joy. Yes, because we have perhaps
• 44:53
  sharpened our way of being able to explain why we believe what
• 44:57
  we believe. But more than that, we've
• 44:58
  experienced this King. We've experienced your
• 45:03
  salvation. We know you.
• 45:08
  We love you so, Lord, We rejoice greatly in your presence.
• 45:13
  And we say, Maranatha, come, Lord Jesus, come and finish what
• 45:17
  you started. Come and receive your rightful
• 45:21
  due. Receive the crown, receive the
• 45:24
  throne, receive dominion, take over this world.
• 45:32
  We thank you that we're part of your Kingdom by grace, that this
• 45:35
  King died on a cross so that we would be yours forever in Jesus
• 45:40
  name, Amen. Let's stand and worship this
• 45:43
  King together.