As I work my way through the prophet Zechariah's writings, I'm encouraged by the promises of salvation for God's people and for those of us known as the wild branch, us heathens who are grafted in. But it's often difficult for many to see the promises in context and at the same time in the grander scheme of things. This mostly occurs because the Messiah's coming kingdom age is somewhat delayed in part, or so it seems. We're told by the prophet that Israel's ideal Ruler will be righteous and provide dramatic contrast to Israel’s many wicked kings. And we're told that he would bring salvation to his people.
Zechariah 9:9
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."
This prophetic promise suggests victory is already accomplished, even if it is yet unrealized. But what sort of victory? Therein lies the challenge for many.
Let's cross reference this for a moment. Let's take a look at the gospel written by Matthew in which he quotes Zechariah's Messianic promise...
Matthew 21:5
"Tell the people of Israel, ‘Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey––even on a donkey’s colt.’"
Did you notice what Matthew didn't include in that quote?
Of course he doesn't mention the king's righteous nature, but that's not what jumps out at me. More important to me is the promise that's not presented at the present time in which Matthew chronicles the event. He leaves off the promise of salvation. Matthew does illustrate his humility, and his mode of transportation, but where is the hope of heaven?
Matthew recognizes his triumphant entry into the city, but does not cite his achievements, which indicates to me that at the specific moment he's hinting at the prophecy, which was not yet fulfilled in Zechariah's time, nor in this moment in time. Matthew is confirming that the Messianic prophecy is not thought to have been fulfilled in Zechariahs age. Matthew gets down to the minute-by-minute witness of an unfolding prophecy in the days that follow, and we can witness that is still unfolding even now in our own age.
I just wanted to point this out for those who struggle with reconciling the prophecies of the Old Testament with the New Testament and further on into our own age and beyond. Many prophecies are still unfolding. They are often just glimpses into the grander plan of God's kingdom. I've listened to Rabbinic studies about these verses and frankly they cannot grasp the idea that God's work is transcendental. Not everything prophetic is literal or chronological in nature. Discernment is definitely needed when assessing these visions. Matthew is drawing upon the Holy Spirit for discernment when he draws the comparison between Zechariah's vision and what's happening right before his own eyes in real-time.
So, what is the promise of salvation that is missing in Matthew?
In the long history of mankind and the people of God, there has been war and violence. Violent conflict everywhere. War is the way of humanity. For Judah much of their past was filled with poverty, violence, and divine condemnation, and in part this is because God's people were situated by God in the midst of war. And for millennia they have been an object of cursing by many nations. Conquering nations could not make their way of war without going through the nation of Israel. And now God is promising that the unhappy warring past will become a hopeful present.
Zechariah 8:7-8
"Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.”
Zechariah 8:13
"And as you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong.”
God has promised that Israel will one day be a light among all the nations of the earth. A light of salvation, of peace, and hope.
Take a look around...has that come to pass?
In part, much of this has indeed come to pass, Israel did begin rebuilding the temple in Zechariah's age, and more than 500 years later it was destroyed again following Jesus' prophecy about that. Not to mention, peace was definitely not reigning in Israel, and still isn't. And now today Israel is again rebuilding, and prosperity is indeed coming, but war still persists. Peace and being a light to the gentiles has yet to come.
Why the delay, or why the partiality?
Jesus came in humility, not as a warrior conquering king. And yet that was the prophecy wasn't it...in part at least. Which to the Christian makes sense because we already know of his return. We know the promise of salvation and the finished work of the cross that accomplished that work. We know that brute force isn't going to defeat the wars of mankind. No iron dome is going to protect righteousness. No genocidal purging of the land of all its dissidents and their innocent and not so innocent descendants is going to end the warlike ways of Israel or its enemies. We know that ONLY the Word of The God of Angel Armies is going to once and for all cleanse the land. And we now know by virtue of the many generations that have passed, that God's ultimate aim is to cleanse humanity over time, to restore righteousness, but to accomplish this purpose in many presents. The past and present of Zechariah's age, and Matthew's age, and our age. God is working out salvation throughout the ages, bringing to himself a multitude of faithful humanity as he goes.
How will we know when we're there?
So, the thing to realize in prophecy is from one verse to another the times can change dramatically. Zechariah and Matthew both can mention the coming Messiah riding in on a donkey, and different things can happen in the next verses, but not really different at all. Zechariah goes on to describe a mighty warrior king conquering war once and for all. Matthew goes on to detail the Messiah's journey into trial, persecution, death as a criminal and resurrection as a king. Both were describing the same thing. Both were seeing the same ends. The end of death. Neither have experienced the fullness of that story as of yet. It's still happening. We shouldn't be as concerned about what salvation looks like immediately as we should be about WHY we need this ultimate end at all. Why is this necessary? We lose sight of this issue when we get into the minutia of prophetic details.
We're never going to know specifically what the final picture will be until it happens, but we do know what God is aiming for as far as we're concerned. Maybe that should be our focus.
His prophet told us...
Zechariah 8:16-17
"These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”
This is what God is aiming for from us. We're obviously not there yet. We can look at the things God hates, and we can see that those things are very human things. We're not there yet. We're still killing each other. Still devising evil in our hearts and minds. Still speaking lies and bearing false witness. Gods still got work to do with us.
Salvation has come, Matthew points that out later at the cross and John's prophecy promises a new world and new Jerusalem yet to come. But for now, God still hates what we do.
WOW...what a terrible way to end a devotional message.
Food for thought.
Have a blessed day.