Behold your King! (Painting inspired by Zechariah 9:9-10)

Throughout the Tenach (Jewish Scriptures), we see two types or foreshadows of the Messiah – a Suffering Servant (Messiah ben (son of) Joseph) and a Reigning King (Messiah ben David). Zechariah 9:9-10 is an unusual Scripture because it portrays both the Suffering Servant and Reigning King in one passage.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter o 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.

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.”

Approximately 500 years after Zechariah penned these words, Jesus (Yeshua) fulfilled this prophecy when He rode into Jerusalem, five days before Passover, on a donkey and its colt. (Matthew 21:1-10; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-38 and John 12:12-16).

Nowhere in the Jewish Scriptures do we find a king riding on a humble donkey – both King David and his son Solomon had hundreds of horses. Jesus’ choice of a donkey to carry him amidst the waving palm branches and shouts of “Baruch haba b’Shem Adonai” (Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord), was a very deliberate one. Jesus was fulfilling the role of a Messiah whose sole mission was to lay down his life for the sins of mankind.

At His First Coming, Jesus laid aside His glory, power and rights to be born as a helpless baby in a dirty cave. At His death He was beaten, spat upon, mocked, whipped and finally crucified with a crown of thorns upon His head. Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36).

So, how will Messiah’s return to earth from heaven (Second Coming) differ from His First Coming? Jesus will not return as a Suffering Servant but as a warrior King to save Israel from complete destruction (Zechariah chapter 12). In Zechariah 14 we read:

“On that day His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley…And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord…”

According to the Scriptures, the whole world, its governments and its kingdoms, are going to change dramatically. Even the animal kingdom is going to live in peace and harmony. In Isaiah 11:6 it says:

“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a child will lead them.”

Jesus will be both Judge and King; one who will arbitrate between the nations. For the first time in history, there will be world peace. In Isaiah 2: 4 we read how people will “...beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

It will be the type of world that we would all long to live in. Entrance to this kingdom is for those who surrender to the One who died on a tree for their sins. If you long for a world without injustice and brutality; if you long to be inwardly clean and to turn away from the claims of this world; if you long to know God in a close and personal way, then:

“Behold your King !"