ZECHARIAH 9
IS PROPHETIC AND TELLS OF A Humble King Conquers
IT OPENS WITH THE BURDEN GOD HAS AGAINST Hadrach.
Verses 1-4 tells us of Judgment against the cities of Lebanon.
"The burden of the word of the LORD against the land of Hadrach, and Damascus its resting place (for the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel are on the LORD); also against Hamath, which borders on it, and against Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise. For Tyre built herself a tower, heaped up silver like the dust, and gold like the mire of the streets. Behold, the LORD will cast her out; He will destroy her power in the sea, and she will be devoured by fire."
The burden of the word of the LORD...The LAST TWO PROPHESIES GIVEN ZECHARIAH BY THE LORD make up the remainder of Zechariah, WHICH IS CHAPTERS 9-14.
INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, THESE TWO PROPHESIES ARE UNDATED BY ZECHARIAH, BUT BIBLE SCHOLARS BELIEVE THE LORD GAVE THEM TO ZECHARIAH IN HIS LAST DAYS.
SOME HISTORIANS & BIBLE SCHOLARS SEE THESE LAST BURDENS OF THE LORD...against the land of Hadrach as fulfilled by the armies of Alexander the Great when he conquered this region.
MORE INTERESTING TO US & CONFOUNDING TO THE NON-BELIEVING WORLD & CRITICS ALIKE, the cities mentioned in Zechariah 9:1-7 PINPOINT ACCURATELY trace ALEXANDER THE GREAT's march through the Promised Land in 332-331 B.C.
BUT WE KNOW OUR LORD GOD OFTEN HAS AND SPEAKS TO A NEAR AND FAR ULTIMATE FULFILLMENT OF HIS SPOKEN PROMISES AS WELL HIS JUDGMENTS, AMEN?
The eyes of men … are on the Lord in the sense that they are on God's instrument of judgment, which was in the NEAR FULFILLMENT, ALEXANDER THE GREAT!
AGAINST Tyre and Sidon.
SO WHO WERE/ARE TYRE AND SIDON?
These were the TWO MAJOR CITIES north of Israel, in the land of Lebanon.
Tyre was an important commercial city that was thought of as IMPOSSIBLE to conquer.
AND HISTORY AND THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT The Assyrians laid siege against Tyre for FIVE years, but never conquered the city.
Nebuchadnezzar tried for 13 YEARS to conquer Tyre, but Alexander did it in SEVEN MONTHS.
AND HOW DID ALEXANDER ACCOMPLISH WHAT THE ASSYRIANS & NEBUCHADNEZZAR COULD NOT DO?
Alexander the Great conquered Tyre by laying siege for seven months, then using the rubble from the old city to make a causeway out to the island city OF TYRE. It was a spectacular achievement of both military and engineering strategy.
HE BUILT A BRIDGE. MANY MILITARY HISTORIANS WHO HAVE STUDIED ALEXANDER THE GREAT, HAVE DONE THE SAME TO CONQUER THE ISOLATED AND SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE OVER TIME!
Verses 5-8 tells us of GOD'S Judgment against the cities of the Philistines.
"Ashkelon shall see it and fear; Gaza also shall be very sorrowful; and Ekron, for He dried up her expectation. The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. "A mixed race shall settle in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take away the blood from his mouth, and the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God, and shall be like a leader in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite. I will camp around My house because of the army, because of him who passes by and him who returns. No more shall an oppressor pass through them, for now I have seen with My eyes."
Ashkelon shall see it and fear; Gaza also shall be very sorrowful
SO WHAT AND WHERE WERE THESE CITIES?
FIRSTLY, THE WERE Philistine STRONGHOLDS & THEIR PRIDE.
The cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod are south of Tyre and Sidon, and were also conquered by Alexander the Great in 332-331 B.C.
BOICE SAYS OF THIS VERSE, "This passage "accurately foretells the conquest of the eastern Mediterranean coastlands by Greek armies under the command of Alexander the Great."
He who remains … and Ekron like a Jebusite...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
The Jebusites inhabited Jerusalem when King David conquered the city, told to us in Joshua 15:8, 2 Samuel 5:6-9, 2 Samuel 24:16-18.
David did NOT wipe out the Jebusites, but merely incorporated them into Israel. The same would happen to the people of Ekron.
I will camp around My house because of the army, because of him who passes by...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
When Alexander the Great marched through Lebanon and the Promised Land towards Egypt he DID NOT conquer or attack Jerusalem. God promised to protect and spare His house during this time, and He did through a remarkable chain of events connected to Alexander the Great and the High Priest.
Josephus, gives a secular journaled ACCOUNT OF ALEXANDER'S meeting with the High Priest OF JERUSALEM is fascinating.
"Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, made haste to go up to Jerusalem; and Jaddua the high-priest, when he heard that, was in agony, and under terror, as not knowing how he should meet the Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his foregoing disobedience. He therefore ordained that the people should make supplications, and should join with him in offering sacrifices to God, whom he besought to protect that nation, and to deliver them from the perils that were coming upon them; whereupon God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, adorn the city, and open the gates; that the rest appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in habits proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God would prevent. Upon which, when he rose from his sleep, he greatly rejoiced; and declared to all the warning he had received from God. According to the dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the coming of the king.
And when he understood that he was not far from the city, he went out in procession, with the priests and the multitude of the citizens. The procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that of other nations. It reached to a place called Sapha; which name, translated in Greek, signifies a prospect, for you have thence a prospect both of Jerusalem and of the temple; and when the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans that followed him, thought they should have liberty to plunder the city, and torment the high-priest to death, which the king's displeasure fairly promised them, the very reverse of it happened; for Alexander, when he saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, and the high-priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his mitre on his head having the golden plate on which the name of God was engraved, he approached by himself, and adored that name, and first saluted the high-priest. The Jews also did all together, with one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about: whereupon the kings of Syria and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him to be disordered in his mind.
However, Parmenio [Alexander's second-in-command] alone went up to him, and asked him how it came to pass, that when all others adored him, he should adore the high-priest of the Jews? To whom he replied, "I did not adore him, but that God who has honored him with that high-priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios, in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give me dominion over the Persians; whence it is, that having seen no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering my vision and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind." And when he had said this to Parmenio, and had given the high-priest his right hand, the priests ran along by him, and he came into the city; and when he went up into the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high-priest's direction, and magnificently treated both the high-priest and the priests. And when the book of Daniel was showed him, wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended; and as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present, but the next day he called them to him, and bade them ask what favors they pleased of him: whereupon the high-priest desired that they might enjoy the laws of their forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the seventh year. He granted all they desired: and when they entreated him that he would permit the Jews in Babylon and Media to enjoy their own laws also, he willingly promised to do hereafter what they desired: and when he said to the multitude, that if any of them would enlist themselves in his army on this condition, that they should continue under the laws of their forefathers, and live according to them, he was willing to take them with him, many were ready to accompany him in his wars."
WHEN I READ THIS...IF IT IS INDEED TRUE...ALEXANDER ASKED AFTER, HONORED, AND PRAYED IN THE TEMPLE TO ALMIGHTY GOD....OBEYED HIS OWN DREAM/ VISION...WE MIGHT WELL SEE ALEXANDER THE GREAT IN HEAVEN.
HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE?
Verse 9 prophesies A lowly king comes into Jerusalem.
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."
AND WE WHO KNOW THE NEW TESTAMENT, KNOW THAT IS EXACTLY HOW OUR JESUS ENTERED THE CITY, ON A FEMALE DONKEY, WITH HER FOAL BESIDE HER.
Behold your King is coming to you … lowly and riding on a donkey: This Messiah-King is lowly, but this isn't indicated by the animal he rides.
DID YOU KNOW?
JESUS doesn't ride the triumphant stallion of a conquering general, but the CUSTOMARY MOUNT FOR ROYALTY, which signified ROYALTY COMING IN PEACE.
CHARLES SPURGEON says of this SCRIPTURE, "Brethren, let us be lowly. Did I hear one say, 'Well, I will try to be lowly'? You cannot do it in that way. We must not try to act the lowly part; we must be lowly, and then we shall naturally act in a humble manner. It is astonishing how much of pride there is in the most modest.
"How we condemn pride! We feel that it would be well if all were as humble as we are. We boast that we detest boasting. We flatter ourselves that we hate flattery. When we are told that we are singularly free from pride, we feel as proud as Lucifer himself at the consciousness that the compliment is right well deserved. We are so experienced, so solid, so discerning, so free from self-confidence, that we are the first to be caught in the net of self-satisfaction. Brethren, we must pray God to make us humble."
WHAT A PRECIOUS HEART OUR CHARLES SPURGEON HAS, AMEN?
A donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey....
DID YOU KNOW, this Hebrew expression of speech emphasizing that the animal is PUREBRED - a truly magnificent, royal mount.
Rejoice greatly … Shout … Behold, your King is coming...This clearly prophesies what is known as the triumphal entry of Jesus told to us in Matthew 21:5, when JESUS DID present Himself as the Messiah to Jerusalem and the people of Israel.
Though the triumphal entry was a joyful celebration, a Roman spectator would wonder what was so "triumphal" about this entry.
DID YOU KNOW....It didn't compare at all to the kind of parade Julius Caesar had when he came back to Rome from Gaul. Then there was a parade that lasted three days as he displayed all the captives and booty he brought back.
In contrast to this, the procession of Jesus must have seemed pretty humble, and this showed that Jesus was a different kind of King.
JESUS CHRIST WAS/IS A SALVATION KING....A PEACE OFFERING AND BRINGING KING...A SELFLESS HUMBLE OTHERS CENTERED KING...A SERVANT TO ALL KING.
AND REMEMBER TOO....JESUS KNEW WHO HE WAS IN THE FATHER AND WITH THE FATHER. HE DID NOT NEED THE POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE AND RITUAL TO MAKE HIMSELF FEELLLLLLLLLL ROYAL....UNIQUE....ENTITLED. HE KNEWWWWWWWWW WHO HE WAS, AMEN?
Verse 10 tells us the strength and the authority of the Messiah's reign.
"I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.' "
AND REMEMBER THIS TOO, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT BE CONFUSED AS SO MANY ARE ABOUT JESUS CHRIST.
THE BIBLE, OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT PROPHESIES THREE COMINGS OF JESUS CHRIST.
1. AS A BABY IN A MANGER, WHO WILL RIDE A DONKEY AND DECLARE TO THE PEOPLE THAT HE IS THEIR MESSIAH, BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN, THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT, AND THE PEOPLE DEMAND HIS DEATH.
2. THE NEXT COMING OF JESUS, WILL BE AS THE OLD TESTAMENT AND NEW TESTAMENT REFER TO THE SNATCHING AWAY, IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE, THE BRIDE OF JESUS, THE CHURCH. JESUS DOES NOT TOUCH EARTH, BUT ONLY APPEARS IN THE CLOUDS AND THE BODIES OF THOSE IN THE GRAVES, IN THE SEA, IN THE AIR ARE CAUGHT UP FIRST TO MEET JESUS, & THEN WE WHO ARE ALIVE ARE THEN CAUGHT UP TO MEET HIM IN THE CLOUDS IN THE EASTERN SKIES.
3. THE NEXT COMING OF JESUS, THEY CALL IT THE SECOND COMING, BECAUSE ONCE AGAIN HE WILL WALK THE EARTH, AND HE WILL THIS TIME, RETURN ROYALTY, AS THE LION OF JUDAH, RIDING A WHITE STALLION, WITH ALL OF HIS ANGEL ARMIES, ALL CHRISTIANS WITH HIM, AS HE BREAKS THROUGH THE SKIES OVER ISRAEL AND STEPS DOWN ON THE MOUNT, AND DESTROYS WITH A WORD, ALL OF THE ANTI-CHRIST, THE FALSE PROPHET, HIS DEMON HORDES AND THOSE WHO WEAR HIS MARK, & HE WILL THEN TOSS THEM ALL IN THE LAKE OF FIRE & CHAIN & IMPRISON SATAN HIMSELF, IN THE DEEPEST PARTS OF THE WAITING PRISON CALLED HELL FOR 1000 YEARS.
SO BE NOT DECEIVED...THE BIBLE GIVES US THREE COMINGS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
AND RIGHT HERE, IS ANOTHER NEAR/FAR FUTURE FULFILLMENT.
Zechariah 9:9 belongs to the FIRST coming of Jesus TO THE LOST WORLD.
But Zechariah 9:10 belongs to the Second Coming of Jesus TO THE LOST WORLD, when He comes in power and glory to reign over this earth for 1,000 years, AMEN?
AND WE NEED TO REMEMBER SOMETHING ELSE, THE DAY THE DISCIPLES WATCHED JESUS RETURN TO HEAVEN, SO BEGAN THE COUNT DOWN CLOCK FOR THE LOST WORLD & THE MISSION FROM JESUS FOR EVERYONE WHO LOVES HIM....GET BUSY...TELL THE WORLD...GIVE THEM ME...BECAUSE THE COUNT DOWN RETURN FOR MY BRIDE BEGINS NOW....AND THE LATTER DAYS COUNT DOWN FOR MY RETURN TO THIS LOST WORLD BEGINS AS WELL.
INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, BALDWIN A BIBLE HISTORIAN, SAYS OF THIS SCRIPTURE..."Even though the Evangelists saw fulfillment of verse 9, they did not go on to quote verse 10, which may indicated that they were conscious of having only a partial fulfillment."
AND THAT IS TRUE...MANY EVANGELISTS, TEACHERS, PREACHERS, COLLEGE PROFESSORS PIECEMEAL SCRIPTURE....CHERRY PICK....THEY PLUCK FROM THE BIBLE WHAT AGREES WITH THEIR IDEOLOGIES AND OMITS, DELETES, DISMISSES, OR SKIPS OVER WHAT CONVICTS THEM OF THE ERROR IN THEIR TEACHINGS AND IDEOLOGIES.
SO TEST THE SPIRITS...TEST THE TEACHERS, PREACHERS, EVANGELISTS....SEEK THE TRUTH FROM THE KJV HOLY BIBLE, IF IT LINES UP RAZOR SHARP ACCURATE WITH WHAT JESUS SAYS, ALMIGHTY GOD SAYS...THEN THEY KNOW AND SPEAK THE TRUTH...BUT DO NOT ACCEPT PIECEMEAL, OR OVERVIEW....READ THE ENTIRE CHAPTER AROUND THE VERSE THEY QUOTE...KNOW THE TRUTH. MANKIND IS HUMAN, FLAWED, FALLIBLE, BUT OUR JESUS CHRIST, AND HIS HOLY WORD ARE NOT AND THEY DO NOT CHANGE.....EVERRRRRRRR!!! AMEN?
His dominion SHALL BE "from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth"...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
ALMIGHTY GOD KNEW BEFORE GENESIS 1..IN THE BEGINNING, THAT SATAN AND MANKIND WOULD SEEK TO TWIST, LIMIT, AND DISTORT HIS WORD.
THERE ARE THOSE WHO TEACH THAT IF AND WHEN JESUS DOES COME...HE WILL ONLY RULE IN ISRAEL. HIS EARTHLY REIGN AND KINGDOM WILL BE FOR ISRAEL ALONE.
RIGHT HERE...THE LORD GIVES ZECHARIAH ANOTHER ABSOLUTE...When Jesus rules over this earth, His reign will be universal. The entire earth will be under His authority, AMEN?
This speaks of the time many refer to as the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Jesus on this earth prophesied to us in Psalm 72, Isaiah 2:2-4, Isaiah 11:4-9, Jeremiah 23:5-6, Luke 1:32-33 and 19:12-27, Matthew 5:18 & Revelation.
Verses 11-17 tells us Judah's liberation and blessing.
"As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you. For I have bent Judah, My bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim, and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you like the sword of a mighty man." Then the LORD will be seen over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and go with whirlwinds from the south. The LORD of hosts will defend them; they shall devour and subdue with slingstones. They shall drink and roar as if with wine; they shall be filled with blood like basins, like the corners of the altar. The LORD their God will save them in that day, as the flock of His people. For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, lifted like a banner over His land; for how great is its goodness and how great its beauty! Grain shall make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women."
Because of the blood of your covenant...
THE LORD IS REMINDING & ACTING UPON & TOWARDS Israel in light of the blood of the Covenant of Moses told to us in Exodus 24:1-8. As Israel turns to God, He WILL TURN TO THEM and rescue them as if they were trapped in a dry cistern (I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit).
Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope...Because of His faithful promise, even the prisoners are prisoners of hope. They should receive encouragement from His promise and return to the stronghold - both in the sense of a military fortress and a spiritual fortress in the LORD Himself.
For I have bent Judah, My bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim, and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
WE KNOW THIS WAS PARTIALLY fulfilled in the days of the Maccabees, when God raised up Jews to fight against the successors of Alexander's Empire. Nevertheless, it seems that the ultimate fulfillment of this promise is yet to come, AMEN?
The Lord GOD will blow the trumpet...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
THIS TELLS US that the LORD Himself LEADS the battle.
Both the Bible and the Koran have the idea of the holy war - which Islam calls Jihad - but there is a HUGE difference between the idea of the holy war in the Bible and in Islam.
Jesus ALONE carries out the Biblical holy war - NEVER His people.
In Islam, the Jihad is the responsibility of every good Muslim.
AND FOR THOSE OF VARIOUS IDEOLOGIES THAT INSIST IT WILL BE EVERYONE FIGHTING..
Here, God makes it clear who does the fighting: The LORD their God will save them in that day. This is God's battle, not the battle of men.
Grain shall make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
As in other passages that speak of the millennium (Hosea 2:21-22, Joel 2:19) here grain and new wine are pictures of prosperity and blessing during the REIGN OF JESUS ON THE EARTH.
ZECHARIAH 9 GIVES US ALL OF ALMIGHTY GOD'S PROMISES FOR THEN AND NOW... AND OUR JESUS CHRIST FULFILLED THEM AND CONFIRMED HIS FATHER'S PROMISES & PROPHECIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.