Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1656

September 29, 2024

Zechariah 9.9-17       Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“On That Day...”

 

^9.9Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ¹⁰I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. ¹¹As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. ¹²Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. ¹³For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword. ¹⁴Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning; the Lord God will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. ¹⁵The Lord of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar. ¹⁶On that day the Lord their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. ¹⁷For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.

 

• Hope Realized

 

As we have been taking this tour through the minor prophets, we have seen a lot of similar themes, not with every single one, but we have seen a lot of indictments against Israel and Judah, a few calls for repentance, good reason for hope with the prophets, and many occasions to see the foreshadowing of Jesus Christ and the themes of the New Testament. Zechariah also includes hope and promise and certainly the vision of the Messiah.

The book of Zechariah is filled with dreams and visions and what some call a roller coaster ride that culminates in the hope of God's coming kingdom. Zechariah prophesied alongside Haggai and they both emphasize the importance of rebuilding the temple that had been destroyed in the exile about seventy years before Zechariah and Haggai’s prophecies. These two prophets are mentioned in Ezra 5.1-2 which offers us a connection between all three of these books. As with other prophets, Zechariah calls the people to repent and set their hope in the coming kingdom.

Normally this series of sermons would begin with the bad news of sin and indictments against God’s people, but this morning I want to start with hope and not just hope for the future, but hope that has become fulfilled in Jesus. Zechariah 9.9 is quoted in Matthew 21.5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” This is one of the most direct references in the minor prophets to Jesus Christ and the prophetic fulfillment and promise of the coming Messiah and the coming kingdom of God. Zechariah includes some fascinating terms describing the coming King, “righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey…” Jesus was the righteous One who atoned for the unrighteousness of Adam. Jesus was the righteous One who lived a sinless life and yet took all our sins on Himself on the cross. Jesus is our salvation. And Jesus was humble, not just in entering Jerusalem on a donkey, but humble in character and disposition. It was a characteristic that Jesus raised up in calling us to discipleship, Matthew 11.29 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

This is hope realized, realized in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who was prophesied in Zechariah for that triumphal entry into Jerusalem before He would give His life for us. This is the hope realized for Israel even if many Jews have yet to see it, the hope is fulfilled in Christ.

 

 

• Hope Beyond What is Seen

 

As in the prophets, so also today as we hope for what is to come. Yes, we have a realized hope in Christ who is our Lord and Savior, but there is still more that is promised and therefore more reason to hope. Walter Brueggemann writes about three particular ways of hope. Hopefully you read my reflection email last Tuesday and this will be old news for you! The first is the promise of the coming Messiah. This is the hope set forth throughout the Old Testament that we know as the hope in Jesus Christ. It is the realized hope that no longer hopes because it has been fulfilled. A second hope is that which hopes beyond what we see before us. For Israel that may have been the hope beyond their own kings or judges or conquering nations. For us it is a hope beyond the problems of our political system or other structures and systems that do not always reflect biblical truths. It is a hope beyond this world that still has evil and pain and darkness. It is a hope that recognizes that we are not just citizens on this earth, but citizens of heaven (Philippians 3.20) awaiting the second coming of the Messiah. The third hope is in the Messianic kingdom, the hope that when the kingdom has come in its fullness, all will be set right...no more tears, no more death, no more pain (Revelation 21.4). We hope beyond what lies before us on this earth. We hope beyond our struggles and our trials and our own fallibility. Hope sees more to come, the better to come, and that all we see today is nothing compared to what is to come in Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. This is our hope and it is a secure hope. Paul speaks of hope in Romans 8.24-25, For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Also in Romans 15.4, For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Whatever is written in former days – that is what is written in the minor prophets (and all the Old Testament)! These Old Testament books are to give us instruction so that we might endure this current world and be encouraged to hope. It’s another reason we cannot dismiss the Old Testament and pay it no attention. That is a foolish notion because the Old Testament feeds our understanding of the New Testament and all our hopes.

 

• Hope in God’s Kingdom

 

Zechariah chapters 1-8 are primarily about the people repenting and preparing themselves to receive the kingdom of God. There is the question of whether or not they will repent. The remaining chapters of Zechariah speak to the coming kingdom and the culmination of the holy city of Jerusalem and flowing out of the city will be the living waters and the Lord will be King over all the earth. In essence, the entire book of Zechariah is the hope in God’s kingdom.

In one sense Jesus summarized Zechariah with His opening sermon in Matthew 4.17, From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The prophets called on the people to repent for the sake of the coming kingdom. Jesus tells the people to repent for the kingdom is near, at hand. It is at hand in the person of Jesus Christ, in the preaching of Christ, in the actions of Christ. He spoke about the kingdom often in Matthew. In Matthew 13 just a couple of the teachings on the kingdom that display its immense value,

 

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

 

⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, ⁴⁶who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

 

Because of that great value, Jesus taught us to seek first the kingdom, Matthew 6.31-33, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

 

We have a hope for the kingdom to come in the future, to come at the end of days. But we also seek the kingdom that is here already, in the good news of Christ, in the person of Christ, and in the teaching of the Scriptures.

 

• On That Day…

 

Zechariah, beginning in verse 16, states, “On that day...the day of salvation. They shall shine like jewels, because of God’s goodness and beauty. Men will flourish with grain, women with new wine.” We have seen the hope of God’s people realized in Jesus Christ. We know that true hope looks beyond what we see. We know too that our hope rests in the kingdom of God. Our ultimate hope is for that day...when the kingdom comes in its fullness, when Christ returns, when Revelation 21.4 is realized, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Our ultimate hope is that all will be set right, perhaps something like a return to the garden of Genesis 1-2.

“On that day” is a phrase of hope. I think of Zechariah as one of the more poetic prophets, just in these verses we read this morning we see the poetry of verse 13, ¹³For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow.” Or speaking of His people, “God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.” The Lord will save out of His goodness and His beauty. That is a wonderful way to think about God’s grace...His goodness and beauty. That is how He has saved us in Christ. The cross becomes transformed from one of the cruelest ways to die to one of the expressions of God’s goodness and becomes Good Friday. The cross is changed from a blood stained instrument of death to the beauty of God’s forgiveness.

On that day, the day Jesus went to the cross, He revealed the great goodness of our God and the greatness of His beauty. Behold that day, the glory of God. On Sunday, another great day, He rose from the dead and He lives! We rejoice in that day.

There will come another day, a day when everything is finished, judged, set right, redeemed, fulfilled. On that day we will rejoice even more and therefore we still hope. Hope for the day set forth in the minor prophets, when the kingdom comes. Until then we pray, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, and we hope. Amen.

 

Benediction: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope (Romans 15.13).