The King is Coming
Repent and Return

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Good morning, church! It’s good to see all of you and greet you that are watching online and those that are watching next door in our Gathering Place. We greet all of you in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Today, we are in the book of Zechariah. We’re in week seven of a ten-part series, going verse by verse through the book of Zechariah. Today, we’ll be in chapter nine of Zechariah. I would say to you, that this chapter might be one of the most amazing chapters of prophecy in all of scripture. Its detail and fulfillment are astounding to consider.

We’ve entitled this message today, “The King Is Coming.” In these weeks leading up to Easter, we’re reminded that the Lord Jesus has already come as King. He came into the city of Jerusalem on what we today call, “Palm Sunday.” He entered, riding on the back of a colt. He says that, as He came and paid for our sins and He was raised from the grave, He’s coming again. Just as He came, He is coming again. He promises this. I think it’s important for believers to get ready and be prepared. I believe that this chapter, chapter nine of Zechariah, is about getting prepared.

I wonder, are you the kind of person that likes to get prepared? Do you like to get ready for things? Do you keep a list? Do you make sure you have what’s needed before you take a trip? Now, those of us who live here in Eastern North Carolina, have learned that we have to get prepared for hurricanes. There’s certain things that you have to get ready for. I remember when we first moved here, we’d never been in a place that had hurricanes and so people were encouraging us to get adequate water, to fill up our bathtub with water because the water could go off and to make sure we had flashlights, batteries and candles. For some reason, there was a run on bread and milk , too; I didn’t know what that was about, but you have to get ready. I remember one of the first hurricanes that we experienced after we moved here knocked out the power. There was no power and it was in late summer. It was crazy hot; people were losing the perishables in their refrigerators. In my neighborhood, my side of the street got power before the other side of the street got power. We got our power back rather quickly; I remember our neighbors asking if we had power and we told them that we did. So, we linked together extension cords and ran them across the street to keep their refrigerator running.

You have to get prepared. It’s too late if the storm has already hit; it’s too late to get prepared. In the same way, it’s important to get prepared for King Jesus. I don’t know if you’re the kind of person that likes to get prepared , but I’m encouraging you today, from the scripture, to be prepared.

In Zechariah chapter nine, that’s what the prophet Zechariah was doing for the people of Israel. He had an oracle, a prophecy from the Lord, describing what the time would look like, what it would look like when the Messiah returned. When the King returned. I believe that this king is King Jesus and I believe we can be prepared for His coming. As we look at the text today, I think we’ll see three instructions for being prepared for the coming of King Jesus. Let’s look at the text today; we have seventeen verses to read. We will read a few verses, make comments, and then, we’ll read a few more and so on. Let’s start with the first nine verses.

Zechariah 9:1-9 (ESV) 1 The oracle of the word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach and Damascus is its resting place. For the LORD has an eye on mankind and on all the tribes of Israel, 2 and on Hamath also , which borders on it, Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise. 3 Tyre has built herself a rampart and heaped up silver like dust, and fine gold like the mud of the streets. 4 But behold, the LORD will strip her of her possessions and strike down her power on the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire. 5 Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid; Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded. The king shall perish from Gaza; Ashkelon shall be uninhabited; 6 a mixed people shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of Philistia. 7 I will take away its blood from its mouth, and its abominations from between its teeth; it too shall be a remnant for our God; it shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites. 8 Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again march over them, for now I see with my own eyes. 9 Rejoice greatly , O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I would direct your attention to verse nine; verse nine is the “hinge” on which this chapter turns, it’s the centerpiece and the key to understanding chapter nine. There are three instructions here. The first is to rejoice greatly, the second is to shout aloud and the third is to behold.

How to be prepared for the coming of King Jesus: 1. Rejoice in God’s purpose in sending this King of Righteousness.

Our first instruction comes from verse 9, rejoicein in God’s purpose in sending this King of Righteousness. Look at verse nine again. The first instruction, that’s in the Hebrew imperative, is “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion.” As you read down into the verse, you’ll see three character traits of this coming Messiah. The first is He is righteous. Your King is coming to you and He’s righteous. He is a King of righteousness. Looking at this verse and then going back and looking at the first eight verses, let’s apply that instruction. Rejoice in this King of Righteousness and in the purpose that God reveals here in these first eight verses. I would take note that, first of all, in verse eight, this is described as an oracle. This is new material. For eight chapters, we have not encountered an oracle. This is new. The first eight chapters contain some amazing things. There are eight night visions. We’ve already covered those. There are many words from the Lord, but this is a new kind of material now and it’s new in that it’s a different type of literature. It’s an oracle. It’s also new in that it’s “forward looking,” whereas, the first eight chapters had a lot to do with their present situation and their encouragement to rebuild the temple that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed. The exiles had returned after 70 years of captivity and they’re rebuilding .

This chapter is very “forward looking;” it’s very much about one particular detail. You have a Messiah coming; you have a King that is coming. The clock is ticking’ the day is coming near for His arrival and it’s going to look like this. God’s purposes are being unfurled, they are being revealed and that’s what this oracle is primarily about.

We look at these seven verses and it starts naming all of these places. What do you do when you read this? When you’re reading through the bible, do your eyes glaze over and you say, ‘Okay, there’s a bunch of hard-to-pronounce place names.’ That’s probably how most of us feel,but it’s important to consider them and to think, What’s the Lord trying to tell us here? This is an oracle, which could be translated in the Hebrew, as a burden. This is a “burden” from the Lord or a judgment. It says it’s against the land of Hadrach, Damascus and so forth. This is a word against these places.

All of these places have one thing in common; they’ve all persecuted and oppressed Israel at some point in the past. God hasn’t forgotten it. First of all, we see these three places had rocked Damascus and Hamas in verse two; those are all cities from modern day Syria. It would have been Assyria at that time. They had overthrown the Northern Kingdom. They had constantly been a thorn in Israel’s sight.

Then, we have Tyre and Sidon in verse two. Those were cities from Phoenicia; they were seaport cities. They had always been a problem for Israel in the sense of causing Israel to fall into idolatry. Do you remember the queen that was married to king Ahab of Israel? She was from Phoenicia; she brought her idolatry with her. In fact, it’s in her name, her name was “Jezebel.” Her name comes from the god “Baal,” who was a false god. Tyre and Sidon had introduced idolatry to Israel. They’ve built a rampart so it is impossible to destroy. In fact, the Assyrians had tried and laid siege to it for five years and had never been able to overthrow it. It was unconquerable. Even Nebuchadnezzar, who overthrew everybody from Egypt all the way around the whole Middle East, had tried to overthrow the city of Tyre, which is like an island outside the continent there. Tyre is rightly described as well-fortified and wealthy. Its ramparts were so great that they withstood a 5-year siege from the Assyrians and a 13-year siege from Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the city but never overthrew it. It was unconquerable.

Israel is hearing this word from God that He is going to overthrow this wealthy city. 3 “Tyre has built herself a rampart and heaped up silver like dust, and fine gold like the mud of the streets. 4 But behold, the LORD will strip her of her possessions and strike down her power on the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire.” This hasn’t happened yet when this scripture was written. That’s predictive of something that’s never happened before. In fact, it seems impossible.

In verse 5, “Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid; Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded. The king shall perish from Gaza; Ashkelon shall be uninhabited; 6 a mixed people shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.” Those are four of the five cities of Philistia; the only one missing is the city of Gath, perhaps because it had already fallen or lost importance. There are still Philistines living in the land and we know that they’ve been a thorn in the side of Israel forever. God is going to judge them before He introduces the coming King. He’s going to take care of that now. That’s what’s so amazing here.

I want to show you this, because, if we’re going to talk about places, what do I have to do at this point? I have to show you a map. I love maps. You know that I love maps and charts. Here’s a map. This is a map that I want you to consider. Within 200 years of this being written, in the third century BC, there was a man named Alexander the Great. He was really God’s sword. He didn’t know he was, but God used him to accomplish the first eight verses of chapter nine. I’ll show you how: In verses one and two, he takes out Damascus, Hadrach and Hamath. In verses three and four, he Tyre and Sidon. In verses five to seven, he takes all of the cities of Philistia – Ashdod, Ekron, Ashkelon and Gaza. Then in verse eight, he swings around to hit Jerusalem.

This all really happened. This all took place. There’s hardly a prophecy anywhere in the Bible that is so accurate as this one; it was 200 years before it happened. Most conservative theologians agree this has to be the fulfillment that we see and Alexander the Great when he comes around. You see, Zechariah is not the first one to talk about Alexander the Great or the coming of Alexander the Great.

In Daniel, chapter eight, there’s a discussion about him. There’s this one that’s called a goat that’s coming, with one horn. He comes and he overthrows Persia. He conquers everybody and then he’s overcome by one with four horns, which describes the four Greek countries that come out of that, one of them is over Israel.

Here’s something else I want to tell you about verse eight; it points to something that’s very curious. It says, 8 Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again march over them, for now I see with my own eyes.” I will encamp at my house, which is the temple. It seems that God is saying that this judgment that comes will stop at the gate of Jerusalem.

Okay, so there’s a story told by Josephus, a first century historian, who writes about about Alexander and how he came and destroyed everything in his path and how in five months he overthrew Tyre. Do you know what he did? He took the ruins of the old city of Tyre and he built a bridge, a land bridge out to the island and overthrew it. The man was brilliant and he was used in the hand of God. So, he overthrew Sidon and Tyre, overthrew Assyria and all of Philistia. He’s swinging around; He’s about to hit Jerusalem. The high priest of Israel had a dream before Alexander got there. He dreamed of throwing open the city gates and not trying to defend yourselves. In fact, dress in white and all the priests should dress in their priestly clothes and all the people should dress in white and should bring wreaths of flowers out and greet him and welcome Alexander to their city. The high priest had a dream that God would protect them if they would do that. They were unlike all the other places who tried to fight him. Even the Philistines tried to fight him. They were afraid, it says in verse five. They tried to fight him, but they were all overthrown.

As Alexander approached, according to Josephus, he saw these people coming down from the beautiful city of Mount Zion. He saw the beautiful white stones of Jerusalem and he saw these people dressed in white and it says that he went towards him and told his army to stop. He marched by himself toward them and said to the high priest, “I had a dream about you. I had a dream before I ever left Greece that I would meet you clothed in these clothes. In that dream, it was revealed to me I would conquer all of these lands. Now, you are proof of it. You’re the sign of it.” And so, it says according to Josephus, that he fell on his knees, brought offerings and worshiped the Lord there. It’s the only city, of all of the lands he marched against, that he marched around it and did not destroy it.

This is what happened in history. Now, if you read secular history, it might leave out the parts about the vision, but it cannot help but tell you that of all the cities, that’s the only city that Alexander didn’t destroy. It was written right here in the book, two centuries before it ever happened. ‘I’m going to encamp there. I’m going to protect it.” The cities of Philadelphia are mentioned; He says that from Ekron that he’s going to get himself a remnant, that he’s going to save some of the Philistines. He says, ‘they’re going to be like a clan in Judah.’ You can see that in verse seven, in fact, they’ll be like the Jebusites.

Remember that the Jebusites had inhabited the ancient city of Jerusalem? David overthrew them when he captured Jerusalem and he didn’t kill them. They were “enfolded” into Israel; they became “grafted” in.

It’s saying here that God is going to remove their blood sacrifices. their abominations and their idolatry. He’s going to clean them up and make them a part of his people. You see, this is a picture of God’s righteousness. He’s both a judge and is full of grace and love.

This prophecy is given to Israel, when Israel is just returning from exile. God is getting ready to judge everybody who’s ever touched you. He’s going to provide a place where the King can come. There’s going to be a point in history where His purposes, which began at the beginning of time, before anything began, will be revealed.

It says in 1 Peter 1:20 (NIV) “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.” It was always meant for Jesus to come. Even before the world was created, from the book of Genesis, see the prediction. You don’t have to go but a few chapters in before you see the first mention. Genesis 3:15 (ESV) “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” From there on, there’s been Messianic prophecy, prophecy after prophecy, after prophecy that Jesus was coming. Look at verse nine, “ Behold, your king is coming to you;”

These things must happen first. I want you to think about what happened there. What happened there was God created the perfect environment for the Son of God to come and for the gospel to go forth. He created an environment where, for nearly 600 years, Israel was at peace. In fact, there were no enemies around them, causing them any problems during this period. First, they were under Persian rule, then, they were under Greek rule and then they were under Roman rule. But all during this time they had their temple, they had their peace. They could practice their religion. Jesus is born into this time. What Alexander created was a common language of Greek that was throughout the known world, a common culture and understanding so that everyone was able to speak Greek and understand each other. Then, the Romans came behind them and built the roads so that there was transportation to travel all over the known world. It was into that very particular set time that Jesus came and so the gospel could go forth.

Galatians 4:4 (NIV) “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son…” The imagery there is like a woman who’s been pregnant for nine months and the set time is coming. The doctor might tell you the due date for your baby. No one knew the due date for the Lord. They know it’s close to that time. They could tell when it’s close to that time because it’ll look a certain way; they had peace. There was a perfect time and He came.

May I say to you, there will be a perfect time for Him to come again. There’ll be a perfect time. God has already said it. Only the Father knows when, but just as sure as He has come, He is coming again.

Do you see God’s righteous work here in history? Do you see that He’s already done these things and brought these things together and that He’s doing it even now? Would you agree that we live in interesting times today? You might say that there is a kind of common language worldwide; there’s the ability to travel all over the world. There’s a common culture that pervades the world.

If you consider Israel in 70 AD, the Romans destroyed everything, And so for nearly 2000 years there was no Israel. But according to the things that you read, there needs to be an Israel before Jesus comes back again because there’s details that need to be in place. Unlike any other people group that’s ever existed in human history, the Jews are the only ones that, as a nation, had their nation restored after losing it for 2000 years. But since 1947, there has been an Israel. The clock is ticking. No man knoweth the hour but the Father, but Jesus is coming again.

Let’s keep reading. We’ll read verse nine again and down to verse thirteen: Zechariah 9:9-13 (ESV) 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I 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 seato to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. 11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. 13 For 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.

So now we’re brought to that second instruction that we found in verse nine: 2. Shout aloud for God’s provision has come in this King of Salvation.

This is the second character trait that we see. Verse 9 says this, 9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he…” We are to shout aloud because He is coming. That’s what they’re saying. However, we shout aloud because He has already come. See, for them , it was in the future. This is 518 BC; this is 518 years before the birth of Jesus, that this is written, that the King is coming and when He comes, He’s going to bring salvation. Now when the Jews saw this, they probably thought it meant deliverance from whoever was over them. Certainly, most of them thought He was going to deliver them from Rome. They were mistaken, because His deliverance had to do with salvation from sin.

As you read this, you’ll see two comings of Jesus. In verses nine through thirteen, you see His first coming and then, in verses fourteen through seventeen, which we’ve yet to read, you’ll see His second coming. We see what leads up, in verses one through eight, to His first coming. Then, we see His first coming and then His second coming. For the Jew, it’s understandable; they are reading this and they don’t have the historical perspective that we can look back on. They’re looking forward and they see one Messiah. They don’t recognize that it’s two comings and they don’t recognize He came first in humility. He came first to bring salvation. He comes again as a conquering king.

Here we are; He’s coming to us with salvation. He’s humble; He’s mounted on a donkey. Zechariah 9:9, “…humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Matthew quotes it at the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday because he goes into great detail to remind us that Jesus is fulfilling this very prophecy. Zechariah wrote this very thing, that not only would the Messiah come into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey, but He would be on a young one, on a colt of a donkey. This is very particular and very specific. This is showing His humility . When He’s coming in, He’s coming in, not as one to conquer. He’s not coming in to get an army together.

Let’s look at what it says in verse ten, “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem…” In other words, this peace that He’s bringing won’t be by war; He’s not coming in like a conquering king. It won’t be by war. He says he will speak peace to the nations that his peace will go out in word form. What’s that sound like? It sounds like the gospel to me. This king, when He comes, bringing salvation, He’s not gonna conquer, He’s not going to overcome by warfare.

Verse ten continues, “and he shall speak peace to the nations…” He’s going to bring peace that he speaks to the nations; he’s going to cut off the chariot. The chariot is an implement of the war horse. Ephraim is one of the tribes from the northern part of Israel, part of the northern Kingdom and it’s a placeholder, I think, to represent all of Israel. Jerusalem is from Judah, representing what was called Judah and there had been enmity for centuries between the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, the northern tribe and the southern tribe.

Here, He’s bringing peace between them. There will be one Israel again and, not only that, he’s going to speak peace to the nations. That has to be the gospel; that’s how He’s going to do it and it’s going to go out from sea to sea. His new kingdom that is coming will go out from sea to sea, from the River, which in their day and time would have referred to the Euphrates river. The Euphrates river was the biggest river they knew. His new kingdom will go to the ends of the earth.

Now, if you think about it historically, that’s how the gospel went. It left Jerusalem and the disciples began to carry the gospel out. It goes north towards Asia Minor and then, Paul, who was the lead church planter, wants to go towards Asia.

Remember that story in the book of Acts? Paul wants to go toward India and China; he’s getting ready to turn towards the east and then the Spirit stops him. He gets a vision of a man from Macedonia, beckoning him, and he turns the other way. That turn is very important in human history because that’s the turn of the gospel. The gospel went west; the European peoples and the Roman Empire became the christians of the future. It went west and went to America. Whenever the people came here and started this country, they brought the Gospel with them.

There were people like Hudson Taylor, that great missionary who founded the China Inland Mission who then travels To China and starts churches there. That was all the way. That was hundreds of years later before China got the gospel. Did you know there’s a movement today in China that started in the 1900s called, “ The Back to Jerusalem Movement?” Have you heard of “The Back To Jerusalem Movement?” It started in a group of house churches in China who took and made the observation that historically, the gospel got to them much later, like the people of the West. They got it in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was the 1700’s, 1800’s and 1900’s before they got the gospel. They began to pray about it and they felt that the Holy Spirit was telling them that if they were going to fulfill this prophecy that goes all the way back to the great river Euphrates, back to Jerusalem, they needed to be the ones who finished making the encirclement of the globe. They’ve been called, really, for the last 75 years. You can read about this. The Chinese missionaries felt called to the Hindu, the Buddhist, the Muslim and carrying it back to Jerusalem. They started opening up Chinese restaurants and talking to people about Jesus.It’s called ”The Back to Jerusalem Movement.”

Ephesians 2:14 (NLT) “For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.” In verse 10, “his rule shall be,” we have the beginning of His kingdom but not its fulfillment yet. When you study prophecy, it’s important to recognize the tension in prophecy. This was written in 518 BC. There’s this “already, not yet” tension in prophecy. There’s that fulfillment that happens early on. There’s the ongoing little pieces of fulfillment and then there’s the ultimate fulfillment of Jesus as king over all, from sea to sea. Where is Jesus king? Where’s the kingdom of God? It’s wherever Christ is king. Is the kingdom of God at your house yet?

It’s already happening but not yet. There’s parts of this that have yet to be fully fulfilled. He says, 11 “As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” I think this points, not only to the covenant that they had, which was a sacrificial covenant that they’ve had since Moses but it also points to Jesus, who in Matthew 26 says, Matthew 26:27-28 (ESV) “And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” He taught them about the Lord’s supper. I think it’s both and that would have made sense to the Jew. It makes sense to us as we look back at it, that He has fulfilled this. He says, “I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.”

What’s a waterless pit? It is a pit with no water in it. Why say it like that? He’s talking about a cistern, a place where they held rainwater. In dry climates like Israel, they would capture rainwater in these pits that they would dig and they would put stone around it. It would hold water; it’s called a cistern.

If you remember reading about Jeremiah, that would be a place they often would put prisoners; they didn’t really have jails and prisons in those days. If it had been a dry spell and the cistern had dried up, they would drop prisoners into one of these pits, one of these waterless pits. If you read about it, it says that Jeremiah was dropped in there because he was prophesying in ways that the king didn’t like. They put him in a cistern and he sunk down into the mud. There’s some hymns that talk about this, about your feet sinking down into the marry clay until God lifts you up. Perhaps those hymns came from passages like this, “I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.”

There’s an enslavement that sin causes. There’s something about being in a pit, where your feet sink down into the clay and you can’t get out on your own. Somebody has to rescue you; this King that is coming. He will set people free. Not by warfare, but by speaking a word of peace that lifts people out of the pit.

Are you in a pit today? Sometimes it’s self-inflicted. We step into it of our own will, but often it’s because we got pushed in or because of whatever reason. We just can’t get out. He says, I will set you free. Who needs to hear that today? I need to be set free.

He says to the people in exile who had been distributed, they’ve been dispersed all over the nations, 12 “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.” He is going to restore to you what you’ve lost and then some; He is going to restore to you double.

Then, he talks about something here in verse 13, “For 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.” There’s a day coming, it’s strange because it’s actually Greece, it’s actually Alexander the Great who causes the things to happen to get the time period right for Jesus. There’s one coming that will be from Greece, it says, against your sons. He’s going to cause Ephraim and Jerusalem to be against him.

Dr. Unger says that this points to the Maccabean revolt, when Antiochus Ephiphanes put his own image in the Holy of Holies and spread pig blood there. The Maccabeans revolted and overthrew that Greek leader. He was one of the four Greek leaders that took over Alexander’s kingdom. Dr. Unger thinks that points to that period.

Others, like Dr. Korman, and I tend to lean to this one, suggest it may be a “both and” situation like I said, “already, not yet.” Dr. Korman notes that Greece is a placeholder for the European nations from which the Antichrist will rise, pointing to the Tribulation when a similar event will be repeated by the Antichrist. Perhaps both eras are in view.

Can you believe what we see here? Confessing and shouting aloud, if we do that from our perspective today, saying that the Lord Jesus is king. Romans 10:9 (ESV) “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is LORD and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” I think that’s one way you can shout it aloud, you can say, ‘I believe Jesus is Lord of my life. He’s the king. He has come and He is coming again. He has provided salvation.’

We have a few more verses to read and then we’ll comment on those. Zechariah 9:14-17 (ESV) 14 “Then 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. 15 The 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. 16 On 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. 17 For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.”

I want you to notice the word, “appear,” in verse 14. We’re talking about His return. Looking at our third instruction from verse nine, we’ve said, (1) Rejoice greatly. We’ve said (2) Shout aloud. Now we consider the word, “behold.”

3. Behold God’s promise of the return of this King of Glory.

He is not a humble king this time. He is not coming on a donkey. He is coming like a storm. You see it in these opening verses here He’s going to appear and shoot across the heavens like an arrow, like lightning. He’s going to streak across the heavens like a lightning bolt. He will arrive with the sound of a trumpet. This is familiar language, that there’ll be a great light and that there’ll be the sound of a trumpet when He will appear. This word, “appear,” is a keyword in this latter section. “Then the Lord will appear.” This is future tense. He will appear over them and His arrow will go forth like lightning. This is a picture of a storm.

Verse 14, “and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.” The worst storms in Israel always came from the south. He’s going to be like a hurricane.

He’s going to come unexpectedly and He will bring warfare this time. He doesn’t come with a word of peace; He comes with war. You see this terrible description of His enemies being devoured. He’s going to protect Israel, but His enemies will be devoured. They’ll walk on their sling stones; that which came out of a slingshot. Their implements of war will just be on the ground and the people of Israel will be walking on their enemie’s implements of war.

There’ll be a celebration There will be much blood. It’s a terrible imagery here, terrible in its judgment in verse 15. Then he says in verse 16, “On that day,” which I think speaks of that Day, capital D Day. Throughout the Old Testament prophets, we have this repetitive phrase in Hebrew, “Day of the LORD.” We see it here, “On that day , the LORD , which in all caps, means “Yahweh.” This is the covenantal name of God. 16 “On that day the LORD their God will save them.”

You see, there’s a time, called the tribulation, that’s coming. These seven years of tribulation are not for the church. They are for Israel to turn finally to the Messiah and believe. When they do, when the end of this tribulation takes place, the Lord Jesus will return. He will come again and He will come and establish His kingdom.

I want you to notice these four images. We have the image of the mighty thunderstorm, verses 14 and 15, we have the image of the shepherd saving his flock in verse 16. He says that you’re like a flock to Me; I’m going to save you. We have a third image, an image of a crown and His people are like jewels shining in the land. And then the final image is an image of prosperity, like a festival feast and its young men eating bread and young women drinking new wine. It’s an image of prosperity and peace which lends itself to point towards the millennial kingdom. This day has not yet come, but it is coming and how great it will be.

It seems as if Zechariah adds his own words here in verse 17, “For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.” It might be the Lord speaking of himself, but it seems to be in the mouth of Zechariah here. How great is His goodness! He has a purpose! He has provided for us our salvation and He is coming again. There’s a promise that He is coming again and He will come this time in glory. It will be great. It will be good and it will be revealing His beauty.

When I think of beauty, I think of it somewhat synonymous with glory . The word, “glory,” is hard to define, if you think about it. What does glory look like? What does it mean to say that God is great in His glory? When you read the scripture, one of the scriptures says that woman is the glory of man, speaking that she is, I think in that passage at least, the beauty of man. She’s the pretty one of humanity. She has beauty. You could find other passages of scripture where it seems that glory and beauty are somewhat synonymous. I think it’s helpful to consider the glory of God as being somewhat reflected in beauty. The beauty of a sunset. The beauty of a vista looking out from a mountaintop. The beauty of a newborn baby or of a bride marrying a young man.

These are just mere glimpses of the beauty and glory of God. He’s coming again and when He comes again, He will not come on a colt. He will come on a stallion. He will come in glory. He will come in full revelation with nothing hidden. Upon His leg is written, “King of kings and Lord of Lords” and when He speaks, a two edged sword comes out of his mouth and it won’t be for peace. It will be for judgment. Then He will establish his reign forever. Why? Because He’s the creator of all. He has that right. He has already made a way.

Are you prepared? 2 Timothy 4:8 (NLT) “And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.” This is towards the end of the apostle Paul’s life. He’s preparing to meet Jesus. To behold means to eagerly look and to keep on looking.

No matter what you see in history today about the economy, about the prices of oil and gas, about the storms that are raging over Europe , Ukraine, U.S.S.R. and difficulties with China and on and on and on. The clock is ticking. History is under the control of a sovereign God and He knows the set time when Jesus will return.

David asked in Psalm 24:8-10 (ESV) “Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.” Oh, I pray that He has come into your life. I pray that you have lifted up the gates of your heart so that you are prepared when Jesus comes again.

Let’s pray. Lord, we thank You for this word. We thank You for the gift of instruction to prepare us. Oh, how You love us and oh, how You want us to know You through the person of Jesus. I pray, first of all, for that person that came in on a thin thread today, coming in far from God. You don’t have to leave that way. The Lord came for you. All you have to do is just say that you want Him in your life. You can express that through prayer. Would you pray with me right now, just expressing your faith? ‘Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I need a savior. I believe You died for me on the cross and that You were raised again from the grave and that You live today. I believe that. Would You come into my life, forgive me of my sin and make me the person You want me to be. I want to be a child of God. I want You as my Lord and Savior.’ If you’re praying that prayer, believing, oh my goodness, that’s why He came. He came to save you. Others are here today and you know the Lord Jesus. He lives in your life, you’ve been forgiven but some of us are still in a pit today. Some of us have sunk down into the miry clay. We know the Lord , but we’re stuck. Would you pray right now and say, ‘Lord get me out of this. Lord lift me up by Your word today. Replace my sadness with joy, my grief with gladness and my mourning with dancing. Lord, lift me up. Set me free. Lord help me to shout, to behold and to look for Your return. Not to be beaten down by the things around me today. I pray it all now in Jesus’ name. Amen.