“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.”
– Zechariah 9:9
You may recognize this verse from the Old Testament based on the way it is quoted in the New Testament, in Matthew 21, John 12. When Matthew and John are recording Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. When he’s about to go to the cross. And both Matthew and John looked back and quote from this verse, “Behold, your King is coming to you.” This is a prophecy. This is one of many all throughout the Old Testament, which in and of itself is astounding. Just awesome to think about that over and over and over again, over centuries in Bible books at different times among God’s people, God gives a picture of a coming King and gives details about his coming and his life and what he will do.
The Coming of Christ the King
During the Advent season, we long for the second coming of Christ as the Jews longed for the first coming of Christ.
“Here, your King is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey.” Not on a horse as a picture of war, but on a donkey as a picture of peace. And he will be righteous, having salvation. What a great phrase, righteous, and having salvation is he. And he’s humble. This is the picture of Jesus that Zechariah 9:9 paints. And I just want to let it lead us to praise Jesus for who he is.
Zechariah 9:9 Thanks Jesus for His Perfection
Lord Jesus, we bow our hearts before you as the King who has come to us. The sovereign King of the universe, who took on a robe of human flesh and lived among us. Died for us on the cross for the sins of all who trust in you. Rose from the grave and ascended on high, where you are right now. We exalt you at the right hand of the father. We love you. Jesus, we exalt you. We praise you. You are the King who was prophesied, promised centuries before you ever came. You’re the center of all history. All history before you looked forward to you, all history, since you came, looks back to you, even as we long for your return. When history will be up ended all again, all over again, once and for all, when you return. We praise you as our righteous King.
You’re perfect in all your ways. You are right in all you do, nothing in you is wrong. There is nothing around us in this world that is perfect besides your word and who you are. You are righteous and having salvation. We praise you for the salvation we have in you. Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins. Thank you for saving us from our sins. Thank you for drawing us to yourself. Jesus, thank you for making a way for us to have eternal life with you. You’re righteous in having salvation and you are humble. Jesus, we praise you for your humility.
Zechariah 9:9 Praises Jesus as Lord Over All
And as we pray that, we think about Philippians 2. How you humbled yourself, became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, a father has exalted you and given you the name that is above every name, that at your name, Oh Jesus, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that you, Jesus Christ are Lord, to the glory of God, the father. So we say it together right now. You are Lord. You are Lord. Jesus, You are Lord. We believe you are Lord. We love the fact that you are Lord. Oh, we submit to you as Lord. Lead us as Lord for your glory as our Lord. Humble, having salvation, righteous, our King. We love you, Jesus and we praise you today. And we say all these things in your name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
