DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- FULFILLED PROPHECY

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – FULFILLED PROPHECY

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of 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…..He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from seas to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth" (Zechariah 9:9; 10b).

One of the great evidences of the truth of Christianity is the plethora of prophecies in the Old Testament which are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. These three chapters in Zechariah 9-12 have several of these clear prophecies.

One of them is this prophecy said that the Messiah King would come humbly riding on the foal of a donkey. He fulfilled this on the day when He rode into Jerusalem in His triumphant entry on Palm Sunday, just before His passion. He entered Jerusalem on a donkey, and the people waved Palm branches, cheering with shouts of joy, "Hosannah to the Son of David. Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosannah in the highest!" (Matthew 21;1-9; Mark 11:7-11; Mark 19:28-40; John 12:12-15). This is such a significant event that all four gospels include it in their record. Their promised King from the lineage of King David had come. He did not come as a conquering King riding on a white stallion, but he came as a lowly servant riding on a donkey. Still, He was the king.

Another prophecy that was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus is the allusion in Zechariah to 30 pieces of silver. "Then I said to them, 'If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain. So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, 'Throw it to the potter' – that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter" (Zechariah 11:12-13). Matthew quoted from this passage in Zechariah and also from the prophet Jeremiah (Matthew 27:9-10) in his account of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas when he was paid 30 pieces of silver by the priests(Matthew 26:14-15). In his remorse, Judas returned the money to the priests who ended up donating it to the potter's field in which to bury strangers (Matthew 27:6-7).

Still another prophecy in Zechariah 12:10 refers to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, when he says of the Israelites, "they will look on Me whom they pierced." On the cross, Jesus was pierced by nails in his hands and feet, and also by a sword. After Jesus' resurrection, Thomas adamantly proclaimed, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe' " (John 20:25). When Jesus appeared to him, He believed and said, "My Lord and My God." In the end times, Israel will look on the Jesus whom they crucified and they will believe and receive Him as their Messiah.

There are many more fulfilled prophecies that validate the fact that Jesus was Who He said He was – the promised Messiah. Praise God for these testimonies to His person and His work. Our faith is not based on some fanciful myth but on a proven record of fulfilled prophecy. Jesus is King.

Love, Dad