Chicago UBF > Prophecy > Zechariah 9:1-11:17

(Previous) Post-Exile Prophets Series-6: "The Coming Shepherd King - Zechariah"

Question

 
Messenger: David Won (Chicago UBF Associate Pastor)
 
THE COMING SHEPHERD KING
 
Key verse: 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.” 
 
1. What would the Lord do against the nations and cities mentioned in 9:1-7 and why (Gen. 12:3)? How would the Lord show mercy amid the coming judgement (7b)?  What would he do for Israel and why (8, 11a)? How is God’s mercy possible (3:8-9)?
 
2. What character has the coming King (9)? What will the LORD do through Him (10, 11b)? Why does the Lord do all these things (11a)? How would this prophecy be fulfilled historically and ultimately (12-13; Mt 21:1-8)?
 
3. How else are the coming King and his people described (12a, 14-16)? What does the salvation the coming King brings look like (17b)? With the hope of the coming Messiah, how shall we respond (9,17a)?
 
4. Why have the people become like wandering sheep (10:1-2)? What will the LORD of hosts do for them (3)? Who he promises will come from the tribe of Judah (4)? What do such images say about the coming Messiah (Psalm 118:22; Eph 2:20)? Why are the tribes of Judah and Joseph (Ephraim) mentioned particularly? What will they look like (5,7)? How will the LORD of hosts do it for them (6, 8-12)? What does it mean that he will redeem them (Zech3:3-5)?
 
5. Who do “cedar,” “pine,” “shepherd,” and “young lion” refer to, and what will happen to them(11:1-3)? What does the LORD say (4-6)? How does the LORD shepherd the flock (7)? What does the LORD do next and why (8-11)? What does the LORD tell the prophet to do with the thirty pieces of silver (12-13)? What does the broken staff mean (14)?  Who does a foolish shepherd refer to and what will the LORD do to him (15-17)? Who is the true Shepherd we can rely on (Jn 10:11)?
 
 
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Message

THE COMING SHEPHERD KING
 
Zechariah 9–11
Key Verse 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.”
 
As a starter for this message, I want to talk about regret and worry. Many people live looking backward or looking forward. We regret our past mistakes, failures, hurts, and disappointments. At the same time, we worry about the future—about what might happen, what we might lose, or what we may never become. A few years ago, I went through a midlife crisis. Looking back, I felt I had little to show for my life as a missionary, husband, and father. Looking ahead, I wondered whether my best years were already behind me. I was trapped between regret and worry. Have you ever felt that way? Do you regret your past? Do you worry about your future? Do you feel stuck in the present, unsure of how to move forward?
 
Today’s passage teaches us how to live in the present without being trapped by the past or controlled by fear of the future. The answer is not found in ourselves, but in our Shepherd King. We are to remember what God has already done through the First Coming of Jesus Christ and hold onto what God will do through his Second Coming. When we remember Christ’s finished work, our regrets begin to lose their power. When we hold onto Christ’s future promises, our worries begin to lose their grip. Then we can live today with joy, confidence, and hope. May the Holy Spirit teach us to remember what the Coming Shepherd King has done, trust what he will do, and follow him faithfully today.
 
Part I. Remember God's finished work and put your hope in God's promises (9:1-10)
 
Chapters 9–14 form a new section of Zechariah containing prophetic oracles about the future. The temple had been rebuilt and worship had resumed. Yet the people still faced uncertainty. They had no king of their own. They remained under the Persian Empire and were surrounded by powerful enemies. What was next?
 
Look at 9:1a. “The oracle of the word of the Lord...” Chapter 12 begins the same way. Thus, chapters 9–11 form one oracle. The word “oracle” carries the idea of a burden. Zechariah received a weighty message from God concerning judgment and salvation.
 
First, God promised to judge the nations. Look at verses 1–7. Several cities and nations are mentioned: Hadrach, Damascus, Hamath, Tyre and Sidon, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod, and Philistia. They were long-time enemies of Israel. What would happen to them? The Lord, whose eyes are on mankind and all the tribes of Israel, would judge them.
 
Second, God promised to protect his people. Look at verse 8. “Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and from; no oppressor shall again march over them, for now I see with my own eyes.” Out of his passionate commitment to his people, the Lord promised to defend them. We know from history that these words were fulfilled. About 150 years later, Alexander the Great swept through these nations exactly as God had foretold, yet Jerusalem was spared. But Zechariah's audience did not know any of this. They simply heard God's promise and were called to trust him. But God's greatest promise was still to come.
 
Third, God promised to send a King. Look at verse 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.”
 
At that time, they had no king. Yet God told them to rejoice because their King was coming.
 
As we know, Jesus fulfilled this prophecy when he entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey on Palm Sunday. He is the righteous and humble King who came bringing salvation. Thank God who sent Jesus, the fulfilment of his promise to his people!  But God was not finished.
 
Fourth, God promised to establish his kingdom. Look at verse 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.” Verse 9 points us to Christ's First Coming. Verse 10 points us to the complete reign of peace that will be established through Christ's kingdom. The King has come, but the fullness of his kingdom is still coming.
 
How were these prophecies meant to encourage God's people? They were to remember what God had already done. God had chosen them and made a covenant with them. He disciplined them through exile and brought them back to the Promised Land. He enabled them to rebuild the temple and renewed his covenant relationship with them. Again and again, God proved himself faithful. Based on God's past faithfulness, they could entrust their future to him. Even when nothing seemed to be happening, they could trust that God would fulfill every promise. They could live by faith, believing that the God who began a good work in them would carry it on to completion (Php. 1:6).
 
The same is true for us. Many of us remember the wrong things. We remember our failures, wounds, disappointments, and regrets far more easily than we remember God's faithfulness. Someone once said that we are excellent recorders but poor interpreters. If we want to live a healthy Christian life, we must learn to remember first and foremost what God has done for us.
 
Let us read verse 9 again. “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.” From our perspective, this prophecy is no longer a promise, it is history. Our King has come. Jesus came as the righteous and humble King bringing salvation. He was nailed on the cross and died for our sins. He rose from the dead. And now he walks with us through the Holy Spirit. We live between Christ's First Coming and Second Coming. Because of what God has done in the past, we trust what he will do in the future. Therefore, we rejoice greatly, we shout aloud, and we live today with confidence, hope, and purpose.
 
Part II. Our present life in view of God's finished work and promises (9:11-10:12)
 
It is good to rejoice greatly and shout aloud. But how shall we live today? Because Christ has come and Christ is coming again, we live differently in the present. So how shall we life?
 
First, return to God (9:11-12). Let’s read verses 11-12. “As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.” The Lord reminded his people of the blood of his covenant. The first covenant sealed with blood was God's covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15). God alone passed between the sacrificed animals, showing that he himself would guarantee his promises. Ultimately, this covenant points to the new covenant established through the blood of Jesus Christ. In verse 11, God promised to set his prisoners free from the waterless pit. Many Jews were still scattered throughout Babylon and other nations. God would gather them, redeem them, and bring them home (10:8-9). Yet some of the returned Jews were also prisoners. They had returned to Jerusalem and worshiped in the temple, but they still felt trapped. They were prisoners of regret and worry, shame and guilt.
 
Do you ever feel like that? You are in church, yet your heart still feels stuck in a pit—dark, dry, and lifeless. Listen to God's invitation: “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope.” What a beautiful description of God's people—prisoners of hope. The stronghold is God himself. He promises to deliver us, restore us, and give us freedom. In view of God's finished work through Jesus Christ and his future promises, we can return to God today. We can return from the world to our covenant God and from the bondage of sin to the freedom of his grace.
 
Second, trust God for victory (9:13-17). As we return to our King, we can experience his victory in our daily lives. Look at verse 13. God promised that he would make the sons of Zion like a warrior's sword against Greece. We know from history that this prophecy was fulfilled during the Maccabean revolt. After Alexander the Great died, his empire was divided among his generals. Eventually, the Seleucid Empire ruled over Israel. When the Seleucid rulers desecrated the temple and attempted to suppress Jewish worship, God raised up the Maccabees. Against overwhelming odds, the Jews won remarkable victories, liberated Jerusalem, and regained their independence for about one hundred years.
 
The point is not merely that this happened in history. The point is that God fulfilled his word. God gave his people real victories before the final victory. The same is true for us. God gives us victories over sin, victories in ministry, victories in our families, and victories in times of trial. We still lose battles from time to time, just as Israel eventually lost its independence. Yet every victory God gives points forward to the ultimate victory that will come through Jesus Christ. Our victories today remind us that the final victory belongs to the Lord.
 
Third, know the Lord personally (9:12-10:12). As we return to the Lord through Jesus Christ, we can know him personally. Throughout these verses, God reveals himself as our Restorer (9:12), Savior (9:16), Provider (10:1), Counselor (10:2), Shepherd (9:14-15; 10:3; Psalm 23; Ezek. 34:11-16), and Strength-Giver (10:5-7,12).
 
At the center of all these blessings stands the Messiah himself. Look at verse 4. “From him shall come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler—all of them together.” This is another prophecy of the coming Messiah. He will come from the house of Judah (10:3). He is the Cornerstone upon whom God builds his people. Through Jesus Christ, God is building his church into a dwelling place for his Spirit.
 
In verses 4-12, the Lord is also revealed as the Divine Warrior and Sovereign Ruler of the universe. As we return to him through Jesus Christ, we know him personally and collectively as his church.
 
Why is it so important to know the Lord? Jesus answered that question in John 17:3: “…this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Do you want eternal life today and forever? Amen. The greatest gift God gives us between Christ's First and Second Coming is not merely protection, provision, or even victory. It is the privilege of knowing the Shepherd King himself.
 
Part III. How much do you value Jesus Christ? (11:1-17)
 
In Part II, we learned that the greatest gift God gives us between Christ's First and Second Coming is the privilege of knowing the Shepherd King himself. Chapter 11 asks a personal question: How much do you value him?
 
First, false shepherds valued themselves more than God's people. In verses 1-3, a burdensome prophecy is proclaimed against the shepherds. Look at verse 3a. “The sound of the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is ruined!” God's judgment against these leaders had already been declared in 10:3. Look at verse 4. The Lord asked the prophet Zechariah to become  a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. Zechariah was to act out God's message.
 
Why were these shepherds being judged? Look at verse 5. They said, “Blessed be the Lord, I have become rich.” They became rich by buying, selling, and slaughtering the flock. Instead of caring for God's people, they used God's people for their own benefit. This was their fundamental sin. They forgot who God is and what God had done. They no longer lived in light of God's promises and future judgment. Instead, they chose what benefited them in the present.
 
This is exactly what we have seen throughout this passage. When we forget God's faithfulness in the past and lose sight of God's promises for the future, we become consumed with what seems profitable and practical today.
 
In response, God proclaimed judgment upon both the shepherds and the flock (6). The judgment was acted out through Zechariah. He became the shepherd and took two staffs, naming one Favor and the other Union. In one month he removed three shepherds. Yet the flock also rejected God's shepherd. Zechariah became impatient with them, and they detested him in return (8). Eventually, Zechariah broke the first staff, Favor. Look at verse 11b. “…and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord.” They knew that God was withdrawing his favor and protection because of their rejection. Once they recognized that it was the word of the Lord, they should have repented. Instead, they rejected God's shepherd even more.
 
Second, the true Shepherd was rejected. Let us read verses 12-13 together. “Then I said to them, ‘If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.’ And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.” Surely this reminds us of Judas Iscariot. The thirty pieces of silver are described as “the lordly price.” This is biblical irony. It was actually an insultingly low value—the compensation paid for a wounded slave (Ex. 21:32). The people placed a contemptuous value upon God's shepherd. Why did they do this? Because God's shepherd did not support the life they wanted to live. God's word confronted them and called them to repentance. Therefore they treated God's shepherd as though he were worth almost nothing.
 
The same thing happened to Jesus. Judas valued him at thirty pieces of silver. The religious leaders valued him at thirty pieces of silver. The Son of God, the Good Shepherd, and the King who came riding on a donkey, was rejected and sold for the price of a slave.
 
Third, what is Jesus worth to you? How much do you value your Shepherd King? Are our comfortable positions more valuable than Christ? Are our plans, ambitions, careers, possessions, and security more valuable than Christ? This is the same temptation we face today. When we do not remember who Jesus is and what he has done for us, and when we do not hold onto what he will do in the future, we become focused only on what benefits us right now. We become spiritually near-sighted. We give our full attention, time, money, and energy to what seems urgent and practical today.
 
The following verses contain a serious warning. Those who reject the true Shepherd will eventually be handed over to worthless shepherds. God will ultimately judge such shepherds and all who follow them.
 
Yet not everyone valued Christ at thirty pieces of silver. The apostle Paul placed the highest value on Christ. Listen to Philippians 3:7-9a. “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  and be found in him…” Paul understood something that Judas never understood. The difference between them was not information. Both knew who Jesus was. The difference was value. Judas valued Jesus at thirty pieces of silver. Paul valued Jesus above everything else. For Paul, knowing Christ was worth more than his reputation, accomplishments, education, position, comfort, and future. Compared with Christ, everything else was loss.
 
The question of Zechariah 11 is not merely whether we know about Jesus. The question is: What is Jesus worth to us?
 
When we remember Christ's finished work, our regrets begin to lose their power. When we hold onto Christ's future promises, our worries begin to lose their grip. Then we can live today with joy, confidence, and hope. May God bless our fathers and future fathers with a Jesus-centered memory and a Jesus-centered hope. May God enable each of us to give the highest price to our Lord Jesus Christ—not thirty pieces of silver, but our hearts, our love, and our lives. May God bless us to be deeply rooted in Christ in the past, anchored in Christ for the future, and faithfully walk with Christ in the present. Amen!

 

 

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