Jesus on a Donkey Pointing to So Much More
[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,
on 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.
[11] As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
[12] Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.
[13] For I have bent Judah as my bow;
I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,
against your sons, O Greece,
and wield you like a warrior’s sword.
[14] Then the LORD will appear over them,
and his arrow will go forth like lightning;
the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet
and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
[15] The LORD of hosts will protect them,
and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones,
and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine,
and be full like a bowl,
drenched like the corners of the altar.
[16] On that day the LORD their God will save them,
as the flock of his people;
for like the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land. (ESV)
Just like you picture the best scenes of the movie when I say “Gosh!” like Napoleon Dynamite, when the Jewish leaders saw Jesus riding on a donkey like a king, they remembered all of the best of this prophecy from Zechariah. The people are shouting and the daughter of Zion is rejoicing. It’s all happening just as Zechariah said it would.
Or is it?
The rest of what Zechariah said was that the chariot, war horse, and battle bow would all be destroyed. When Jesus came into Jerusalem just days before Passover, was He about to destroy Rome and all of the weapons she used to oppress Israel and the world? Was Jesus about to set prisoners free with arrows like lightning and end their slavery once and for all?
He was, but not in the way they expected. He defeated the power of sin by being our living sacrifice. He defeated the power of death by rising from the dead. The altar being drenched by blood was a picture of a perfect lamb being perfectly sacrificed – covering everything.
Jesus saved the flock of His people and fulfilled all of these things from Zechariah more deeply than anyone (even yet!) understands.
As you read your Bible, look at the little numbers that are smaller than the chapter/verse markers. Those cross references can take you back to related topics like this reference that took me from John 12 to Zechariah 9. The Lord wants to show off in His word, and He will!
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