1 Nov. 2010 - Zechariah 9:9-13

Zechariah 9:9-13

"the coming of Zion's king"

This passage is an incredible picture of God's kingdom. We see Jerusalem rejoicing as the king rides in on... a donkey? donkeys, while still a noble mount, represented peace, as opposed to the war horse. The king then takes away the weapons of the israelites and, instead, peace will reign across the whole earth. 

The Lord then says to those in exile in "the waterless pit" that he will rescue them because of the blood of the covenant that He has with israel. He calls the remainder of israel back to Jerusalem and says that he will use judah and ephraim (the two remaining tribes - the ten tribes of the north were scattered when destroyed by the assyrians) as a weapon against the greeks, in specific the selucids, until the time comes fro the king to arrive.

Now... please note that this prophecy has been fulfilled. The king riding into a rejoicing Jerusalem on a donkey is the triumphal entry (for those of you who aren't sunday school bred, that was when Jesus entered Jerusalem (Matt 21:5, John 12:15)). as for peace reigning across the earth, it is a work in progress... there is a peace, however, that has developed and that is the peace of the assurance of salvation (big words for: we know we're going to heaven when we die) and that peace has spread across the world.

The waterless pit that God's people are being rescued from is, guess, what, sin! and the blood of the covenant, while it meant the blood shed by sacrifices to God, amongst other things, at the time, now it means the blood shed by Christ as payment for our sins. Also, there is not, to my finite knowledge, a reference to the OT covenant between God and Israel as a covenant of blood.

And the last part was God using the israelites, under the maccabees, to resist the selucids - descendants of one of alex the great's generals.

Now, at the same time, portions of this prophecy are still to be fulfilled. Christ the king is still to walk down Jerusalem as king and rule in the city and over the city (yes, i know he rules over all now, but i mean as in the new Jerusalem). Also, peace that covers the world will only happen once satan has been overthrown at the end of time. also, God, as far as i understand, will rescue those jews who died before christ and were faithful from the waterless pit (that is hell)... but this interpretation is open to objection - it might or might not be biblically sound.

so, 1 prophecy, 3 results, each better than the last... pretty cool, huh?