The Lord be pleased to bless
his word tonight as we meditate in it. Let's turn to the prophecy
of Zechariah, chapter 9, and we'll read verse 9. The prophecy
of Zechariah, chapter 9, and reading verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold thy King cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an
ass. Zachariah lived at the same time
that Haggai did. And they were both great prophets
when the Israelites or Judah returns back to Jerusalem, having
been captives in Babylon for those 70 years. And that was
about 500 years before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
we can realise that this prophecy of Zachariah was written 500
years before Christ's birth. And therefore, as we read this
prophecy, and there are a number of glorious illustrations with
regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. And in particular, in this ninth
verse, which we've read together tonight, it speaks about that
day when the Lord Jesus would ride upon the Colt of Philemon
Ass into Jerusalem and how it came to pass. And we're thankful
today, therefore, that we have that record in the Gospel of
Matthew and another gospel which tells us about that. And also,
it should be very encouraging for us to read such in one sense,
a detailed statement in the prophecy of Zechariah written all those
500 years ago. And it's interesting to realize
that it was spelt out even like this, he was, he would be lowly
and he would come riding upon an ass and upon a colt the fold
of an ass. It's really, really very considerable
detail. And what a wonderful thing it
is for us today to be able to look back and to thank God that
there was such a wonderful prophecy which came to pass. But also,
we should perhaps think, well, if we were living in the days
of Zachariah, 500 years before the birth of Christ, and we read
this prophecy or had this prophecy read to us, would we have understood
what was being written? And I expect really very few
people really understood the prophecy that was written. Although they may have seen things
dimly, and they may have truly set their hearts upon such a
situation coming to pass. And of course, in God's time,
it came to pass. And that's so wonderful and I
hope today for us in our day strengthening to our faith to
realise that the Bible is not just a book of chants but a book
that Almighty God ordained to be written in great detail and
great accuracy so that we have such accounts like this to strengthen
our faith, to realise the Lord always has been in charge and
always will be in charge. And so we have this wonderful
statement to start with in this ninth verse, where Zacharias
says, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem. Well, there was something to
rejoice about. It doesn't just say rejoice,
but it says to rejoice greatly and to shout and to rejoice greatly
and to shout because of that which was prophesied. Now, we,
of course, know that which is prophesied came to pass and because
we know it's come to pass. I wonder, therefore, today, if
we can also, now today, rejoice greatly because of that which
has come to pass. And you see, we're then told,
O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. How often, you
know, especially in a day and age in which we live, people
seem very reticent to speak about the things of God. And indeed,
very reticent to shout about the great things of God. And
yet, in reality, they're very wonderful. And they're very glorious. And we should today be so, so
thankful that that which is prophesied did come to pass. And also the
necessity of that which is prophesied came to pass because if the Lord
Jesus had not come into this world and if he had not fulfilled
that work which his Father gave him to do, if he had not died
in the place of all his church, if the sins of his people had
not been forgiven, there would be no hope for us today of being
saved from our sins. We would be lost we would be
eternally lost. So surely, can we not understand
in the great and wonderful favour that is ours today, to be able
to read and to be able to understand the great truths of Scripture. Well, may we know the effect
of the Holy Spirit in our heart, instructing us and directing
us to truly rejoice greatly for what the Lord has done. And therefore
we come to these words, behold. We recently preached, haven't
we, on this word again, behold. So many times it is recorded
in the Bible, behold. And of course that means you
and I are to look at it, to read it, to hear it, And to recognize
it is something that we are to take notice of. We're not just
to pass over it as though it's irrelevant. We're told here, behold. And what are we to behold? Very
important truths. No doubt that's why we're told
to behold. Not something which is irrelevant. It's very relevant. to the people
of God ever since these words were written, and they're important
to us today. Behold then, thy king cometh
unto thee. He is just and having salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of
an ass. Well, the words are very simple,
aren't they? A lot of Zechariah is not easy.
The previous verses we read together are not very easy. But here we
have a very simple statement. What does that mean? It means
the Lord God Almighty, who is the King of kings and Lord of
lords, and if indeed He is, Our king, that means the one that
we bow down to. A natural king, people bow down
to, don't they? You know, the subjects of a king
or a queen bow down to majesties. And here we have this statement
here. Thy king cometh unto thee. a personal statement and how
wonderful it is to think that the King of Kings and the Lord
of Lords comes unto you and comes unto me. It's amazing, isn't
it? To think that the Lord Jesus,
the Almighty God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords comes
to us. you may say well that is amazing
and it is amazing and you may think why does he come to you?
and why does he come to me? well the reality is and it can
only really be because he's loved us because he's loved us indeed
with an everlasting love and what a great mercy and what a
great blessing that is In the second epistle of Paul to the
Corinthians and the eighth chapter, the apostle tells us about this
great and glorious king, the king of kings. And this is what
we read in the ninth verse of the eighth chapter of the second
epistle to the Corinthians. For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. It's a wonderful verse that,
and it's worth thinking about and pondering about and remembering,
because it changes things right round, doesn't it? And he tells
us, for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, and remember what he was, he was indeed the Lord
of all and all. He ever was. He was with the
Father, God himself. Absolutely rich, wasn't he? In
control of everything. And then when you think of this,
yet, for your sakes, our sakes, he became poor. And that's why
we have this statement here. He is just and having salvation
lowly. He did become very lowly. He
became very poor. Why? That us, that ye, through
his poverty might be rich. And that doesn't mean rich in
natural things. That means rich in the things
of God, rich in the grace of God, rich to be blessed with
the evidence of divine life, the life of God in our souls. If the Lord had not come into
this world, and had not become poor, then you and I would not
be rich in the things of God. We would remain destitute. We would possess nothing. And
we would be eternally lost. So, it's a wonderful verse. This ninth verse in the eighth
chapter of the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. Don't
forget it. For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, that's, of course,
a free and merited favour. You and I never, never merit
any favour of God. We deserve to be forever cast
off. For you know, and you and I know
this grace, if the Lord has looked upon us Remember, I often think
of the case of Jacob, and we're told the Lord found him in a
desert land, in a wasteland in wilderness. He led him about,
he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. That's
wonderful, wasn't it, for Jacob? But you know, it's wonderful
also for the whole Church of God, because The Lord came and found
us. Isn't that wonderful? If God
has found you and found me wandering about in this world. No real, no real concern for
the things of God. The Lord came and he found us.
And he turned our heart to seek unto him. He produced a change
in our hearts. And therefore there was that
great and glorious beginning of the life of God in our souls.
And it's all because of this. The words here, aren't they?
Rejoice greatly. We should rejoice greatly. for
this wonderful blessing from Almighty God that ye through
his poverty might be rich. You see, the grace of God is
something that you and I cannot put a value on because it has an eternal element
to it. And you and I can only put values
on time things. we can't put values on eternal
things because we might say, well it increases as we're farther
into eternity it's a wonderful blessing, isn't it? to think
that God in his great love toward us and he says here for ye know
because the Lord does reveal his grace to us his mercy toward
us his love toward us it's not something which is intangible
it's something that the Lord God comes and reveals to us and
that's why as the Apostle says for ye know he was writing to
the Corinthians but of course he was also writing to the whole
Church of God it is something that we do know And we should
want to know and we should rejoice in knowing, for you know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, yet for your
sakes, your sake and my sake, he became poor. We know the Lord
Jesus had to become poor. And you might ask, well, why
did he have to become poor? Because he had to come right
down to the very lowest person that lived on this earth. No
one could say, well, of course, the Lord Jesus was far greater
than bigger and everything else. I mean, but he was in one sense.
But he was lowly also. He came right down to our level. And that's why he stood in our
place. That's why he bore The punishment due to us instead
of us. That's the glory of the gospel. For your sakes, he became poor,
ye through his poverty might be rich. What a wonderful truth
that is. And so here we have, behold,
thy king cometh unto thee." It's a very personal statement. And
as I often say, religion is a very personal experience. It's a personal experience between
your soul and my soul and God. It's not something that anybody
else can actually enter into in precisely the same way. because we all have an individual
life and the Lord knows exactly what that life is and he knows
exactly what we need and he knows exactly when he will come to
us and reveal himself to us as he does to the whole Church of
God sometimes it's unexpected, totally unexpected The Lord finds us. He knows where we are, of course.
But he comes to us. What a blessing it is then when
the Lord comes to us. Well, again, it's a good question
to ponder as to whether God has come to us. You can say yes,
I can rejoice greatly because God has come to me. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of
Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. And it really is the daughter
of Jerusalem is representative of the church of God, the children
of God. We are all, in one sense, the
daughters of Jerusalem. And if we are called by the grace
of God, and we are called by God, we have reason, do we not,
to greatly rejoice, and we have reason to shout, to tell forth
what is done for our souls. Because such tellings brings
honour and glory to our God. And again, let us never forget,
our lives, if we are the children of God, are for the glory of
God. They're not for our glory. We're
not to pat ourselves on the back and say, well, I've done very
well. No, we shall have to say, God
has done very well. He's done wondrous things in
my life. So here we have, behold, thy
king cometh unto thee. And then he goes on and tells
us he is just. God is just. It's wonderful,
isn't it? We don't have an unjust God. We have a just God. And it's
that God who gives us his righteousness so that we are just. We're not
just in and of ourselves. We are unjust. But what a wonderful
thing it is to know that we have such a great and glorious God
who is just. Yes, the Lord does everything
right. Yes, everything is perfect in that which our God does. And
he is a just God. We can never, never speak about
God being unjust to us in our lives. We must always realise
God is very just in his dealings with us. The blessing is he doesn't deal
with us as our sins deserve. He's very gracious. He's very
kind. He's very merciful. And so we have this statement. He is just. This is the king. This is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the king of kings. Behold, thy king cometh unto
thee. He is just and having salvation. He brings the great and glorious
gift of salvation to his people. He dispenses salvation. What a mercy then for us to realize
we have such a great God who comes with salvation and gives
that salvation to us What is salvation? What salvation really
is, of course, the saving of our souls. The delivering of
our souls from the wrath to come. What a great blessing it is then
to have such a saviour. Having salvation He's procured
salvation for us through his death upon the cross at Calvary. And again, we should never pass
over that. We should always realise the
enormous cost of our salvation. What was that cost? The life
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the life of God himself, the second person
in the Trinity. He came into this world and took
upon himself our human form. Yes, in the likeness of man,
so that he might be that great and glorious substitute to die
that death upon the cross at Calvary to bring us salvation. And the only way that salvation
could be brought was through the perfect life of another dying
in our place. And nobody was capable of that. because everyone is born in sin
and shapen in iniquity. But the great and glorious Saviour,
and just think of it, His love, what love the Lord Jesus had
to an utterly unworthy people, a sinful people, a people who've
turned their back upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The people that
have spoken against Him. The people that have sinned again
and again. And yet that great and glorious
Saviour came into this world with the one object to save His
people from their sins and to bring glory unto His great and
wonderful Father in Heaven. And as you and I trace the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ, from the moment he was born, in those
lowly circumstances, it couldn't have been more lowly, could it? Nowhere to place him. He had to be born and placed
in the manger, the trough where the animal was fed from. The
only place where he could be placed. no room for him in the
inn what a low place it was but wonderful compassion wonderful
compassion the Lord Jesus Christ was willing to humble himself
to that great extent and to be born in those humble circumstances
and then you know to live that perfect life. And all the opposition
that he faced, he went about, didn't he, doing good, healing
many, blessing many with sight, many with hearing, forgiving
sins. He never pleased himself, how
tired he was, And at nights, no comfortable bed, no comfortable
pillow. No, he spent his nights praying
unto his father on the hills and mountains around Jerusalem. That was the Savior. Didn't have a great suite of
clothes that he'd wear. Didn't have a wonderful house
to live in. No, the Lord of life and glory. We need to have a right understanding
of the wonder of our salvation. To realize that Almighty God
came and submitted himself to the demands of his Holy Father
so that he might come and pay the price, the price placed on
our heads to redeem us from all our sins. And my friends, the
ultimate price was his death. And it wasn't just a question
of laying down and dying. was the question of dying. The
most painful death anybody could die. That death of crucifixion. The hymn writer says, how willing
was Jesus to die that we, fellow sinners, might live. The death, the life, He was so
willing to give. The life they could not take
away how willing was Jesus to give. It's a wonderful, wonderful
consideration. And as I sometimes say, never
weary of going to Calvary. Never weary. of by faith viewing
the suffering Saviour and realising the great cost of your and my
salvation, as he bore the wrath of God, the wrath of God against
sin, the wrath of God on our behalf. Well, says this word,
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Thy King cometh unto thee. He
is just and having salvation. Well, tonight, can we look into
our hearts and be able to find there God's goodness and mercy
toward us? and truly be thankful and truly
praise Almighty God and rejoice greatly because of it. It is
real reason to rejoice greatly, isn't it? Real reason to rejoice
greatly. There are many things, I suppose,
we can rejoice in, but there's no greater blessing than to rejoice
in our salvation. Because if we are saved through
the precious blood, the sin-atoning blood, the blood that was shed
on Calvary's cross to redeem our souls, there's nothing greater
than to rejoice in and to praise God for, to have the evidence
in our hearts that it was done for us. Religion, as I say, is
personal. Praise God, then, if we have
the evidence of it. Lowly and riding upon an ass,
and upon a colt to follow an ass. See, he didn't ride in on
some great glorious horse that was admired by everybody. No, he was just willing and happy
to ride on that horse, on that ass rather. We read about it,
didn't we, in that 21st chapter. It's a very short, a very goodling
account how the Lord Jesus knew, of course, what he would do.
And we're told that as he came near to Jerusalem, of course,
it was very near to the time when he was to be arrested, very
near to the time when he was going to have to go into that
judgment hall and be tried for sins that he'd never done, and
to be condemned for sins that he'd never done, so that he might
die. on that accursed tree, Calvary,
to take away our sins. But here then, just a very short
time before that came to pass, we read in these first few verses. And if any man say unto you,
ye shall say, the Lord hath need of them, and straightway he will
send them. And this was done. Again, this
is referring to what we read tonight in that ninth verse.
It might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet saying,
Tell ye, the daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh unto
thee. And then we're told meek. This
verse is lowly, but you understand, I'm sure, both words, meek and
lowly. That was the great and glorious
saviour. And sitting upon an ass, an occult, the foal of an
ass. The disciples went and did as
Jesus commanded them and brought the ass and the colt and put
on him, on them, their clothes and they sat him there on. Just
a humble ass. Do you know a colt or an ass
that was normally being very unruly? Yet you see, on this
occasion it was completely tame. The Lord sat on that colt. And the great multitude spread
their garments in the way. Others cut down branches from
the trees and strew them in the way. And the multitudes that
went before and that followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the
Son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. It was only a
few hours later that they were crying out, crucify him, crucify
him. But what a wonderful demonstration
it was. Well, these verses, this verse
being fulfilled in this prophecy of Zechariah, and riding upon
an ass, and upon a colt the fold of an ass. And so this great
and wonderful prophecy came to pass. How wonderful it is, and
how good it is tonight. And I hope we can rejoice truly
in that which was done, was completed, The Saviour did not fail in the
commission His Father gave Him to do. He endured, as the hymn
writer says, all incarnate God could bear, with strength enough
and none to spare. He wasn't strong enough to carry
His cross. No, he was hung up on that cross. Yes, in that state of ignominy
and shame so that he might fulfil the law of God, pay the price
of our sin on our behalf. Well, we ought to be able to
come tonight and truly say, from the bottom
of our heart, what a Saviour. What a great and glorious Saviour
we have. And come in then, with these
words, rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem, behold thy King cometh unto thee. He is just, and having
salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt,
the father of an ass. And may we see there, personally,
our salvation.