Zechariah 9:9-10

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,
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 sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.

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Zechariah was a prophet of the Lord during the years of rebuilding the Temple, about 400 years before the birth of Christ.  His family history includes a lineage of God’s prophets.  We can see through them just how much God loves His people and how He works all things through the ages to accomplish His divine purposes.  Zechariah’s name is translated, “Yahweh remembers.”

An important aspect of the book of Zechariah is the Messianic prophecies, one of which is the passage above.  This one is the prophecy of the Messiah riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, on the day we now call Palm Sunday.

What’s important in reading God’s Word is what we can glean from it beyond the surface level.  We want to reach the deeper level of all God has to say to us. 

What was God telling His people, through Zechariah, about the future?  “Hope is coming! Don’t give up! Trust Me, I’m with you all the way!”  He specifically commissioned Zechariah to encourage His people to complete the rebuilding the Temple, so that blessings He had in mind for their future would begin through their obedience to God in the present.  And their hope for both their future and ours would be that they would get to be a part of preparing the Temple for the coming Messiah, Jesus. 

How would they recognize Him, our gentle Savior, at the time?  He would come to Jerusalem just like they would in the day, “riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”  God further told them in verse 10, “He shall speak peace to the nations.  He shall rule…to the ends of the earth.”

Just like the people of Biblical times, when we’re aware of the presence of God, we get energized to do the work He has planned for us.  We can trust Him because He sees all the way to the end, even though we don’t.  He’s willing to guide our steps and show us the way we need to go, through His Son, Jesus.  We may stumble and fall, but He will be there to pick us up and to start again.  Trust the Son He sent for our benefit, the tiny Babe born in a manger, who would grow up to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.  They never got to see that promised event, but it did happen, just as God said.  “Trust Him!  Don’t quit!  I’ll be with you.”

Jesus is the blessing for our posterity.  Let’s make sure they come to know Him, the tiny Babe, born in a manger, heralded by the angels as the Savior of the world.  That’s what God said.

– Ms. Marian Brewer