eschatology, The King is Coming (Zech.9-10)

 God saw that His people were lost and without a shepherd, and promised them the Cornerstone - Jesus - who is the King of kings.  And He would be "FROM THEM"!  Through them Jesus would be born (to be 100% man, as well as being 100% God)...

 (Zechariah 10:2-4)  For the teraphim speak iniquity, and the diviners see lying visions and tell false dreams;  they comfort in vain.  Therefore the people wander like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.
3 “My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats;  for the Lord of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like His majestic horse in battle.
4 “From them will come the cornerstone, from them the tent peg, from them the bow of battle, from them every ruler, all of them together.

When Jesus came to earth the first time, He presented Himself as Israel's King at His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday...

(Zechariah 9:9)  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your king is coming to you;  He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

BUT, because Israel was going to reject Jesus as their King and Messiah the first time He came to earth, they have to wait for Him to return - at the end of the Tribulation.  At the battle of Armageddon, Jesus will fight alongside the Israelites...

(Zechariah 9:14-16)  Then the Lord will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning;  and the Lord God will blow the trumpet, and will march in the storm winds of the south.
15 The Lord of hosts will defend them.  And they will devour and trample on the sling stones;  and they will drink and be boisterous as with wine;  and they will be filled like a sacrificial basin, drenched like the corners of the altar.
16 And the Lord their God will save them in that day as the flock of His people;  for they are as the stones of a crown, sparkling in His land.

 (Zechariah 10:5-6, 11)  “They will be as mighty men, treading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle;  and they will fight, for the Lord will be with them;  and the riders on horses will be put to shame.
6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back, because I have had compassion on them;  and they will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them. 
11 “And they will pass through the sea of distress and He will strike the waves in the sea, so that all the depths of the Nile will dry up; and the pride of Assyria will be brought down and the scepter of Egypt will depart.

Jesus will have the victory at the battle of Armageddon and all evil will be cut off from the earth as Jesus enters the Millennium with all people who became believers during the Tribulation...

 (Zechariah 9:9:10)  I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem;  and the bow of war will be cut off.  And He will speak peace to the nations;  and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

The Millennium will be a thousand years of blessings...

(Zechariah 9:17)  For what comeliness and beauty will be theirs!  Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.

(Zechariah 10:1)  Ask rain from the Lord at the time of the spring rain—

The Lord who makes the storm clouds; and He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man.

 (Zechariah 10:7-10, 12)  “Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their heart will be glad as if from wine;  indeed, their children will see it and be glad, their heart will rejoice in the Lord.
8 “I will whistle for them to gather them together, for I have redeemed them;  and they will be as numerous as they were before.
9 “When I scatter them among the peoples, they will remember Me in far countries, and they with their children will live and come back.
10 “I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria;  and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon until no room can be found for them...
12 “And I will strengthen them in the Lord, and in His name they will walk,” declares the Lord.

Today's takeaway:  the next time Jesus comes to earth, it will be to carry out justice (riding in on a warhorse).  The first time Jesus came, He came (humbly, on a donkey) with the purpose of salvation - for all people of all times - to accomplish that little bit in the Abrahamic covenant which promised that through them all nations would be blessed.  Jesus had to finish the work on the cross to make that possible.  So during this Christmas season, it can be very sweet to see and remember Jesus as some cute little baby, and celebrate His birth - but it is His death and resurrection that allows us to be born again - the gift of eternal life.  Christmas should be more of a celebration of praise and thankfulness for the gift that He gives to us...

(Romans 5:6-21)  For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

18 So then as through one transgression [m]there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness [n]there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. 20 [o]The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.