Thursday, April 19, 2012

THE VIA DOLOROSA, MESSAGE FOUR

“THE PRONOUNCEMENT OF THE CROSS”

(Zechariah 9:9-10)
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King is coming unto you (not as a ruthless conqueror, but a humble king): He is just (justice is Messiah’s basic prerequisite to ever having world peace), and having salvation (of what use a political peace to a soul out of tune and touch with God); lowly (in contrast to Alexander or Caesar), and riding upon an ass (the animal of a peaceful king), and upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off (skipping over thousands of years, Messiah will destroy all instruments of carnal strife): and He shall speak peace unto the heathen (He will accomplish what peace treaties have never ever been able to do): and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth (His Kingdom will be universal).

(All the words expressing limits to his authority (sea, river, ends) have no definite articles, showing no specific limits)

Beginning in Chapter 9, Zechariah gives us some remarkably precise messianic prophecies of “end times”; such as The King slowly and lowly riding into the Holy City.

Rulers come and go, rise and fall; the strongest of the world’s empires have ascended to seemingly endless heights of earthly power and worldly glory, only to begin that long slide to the end of the rope. The trash heaps of world history are filled with ruins of the empire capital cities and throne rooms whose monarchs once soverignly ruled and reigned with iron fisted authority.

Read the historical accounts and watch the Hollywood portrayal by professional actors and actresses, and see the magnificence of these world dominators; and then travel there and see nothing but ruins and relics of the remains of a once-dominant culture.

The tyrants who sat on these thrones are nothing but faded memories now; kept alive only in ancient historical accounts and television programs on Discovery and History Channels.

The fate of these dictators and potentates was sealed from the start; their time was firmly on the track that must come to an end; but the awesome power of “Yeshua Ha Meshiach” was – is – and always will be for all time!

Zechariah 9:10
“… His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth”.

The Lord of Hosts would be – was to be – is – and always will be the Redeemer of His people who are cleansed and sanctified by His shed blood.

When King Jesus entered Jerusalem in what has been called His “Triumphal Entry” (but, in all reality was really His “Royal Entry”); He was entering as Messiah, King; to make a final appeal to His people. But He was rejected and crucified. His actual “Triumphant Entry” was yet to come – and is still yet to come.

“Rejoice greatly; your King is coming unto you”.

I. THE OLD TESTAMENT PRONOUNCES THAT THE KING WILL COME.

His coming was pronounced in the Garden of Eden:

(Genesis 3:15) - And I will put enmity between you (‘o satan) and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; it (the enmity) shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.

The Psalmist added:

(Psalm 10:16) - The LORD is King forever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.

The prophets issued and uttered statement after statement in pronouncement of His coming:

(Isaiah 9:6-7) - For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Turn through the pages of Old Testament Scripture and you will see the light of these Messianic Pronouncements getting more and more intense as the years go by. The burden of the Old Testament is that “The Lord WILL come”.


II. THE NEW TESTAMENT PRONOUNCES THAT THE KING HAS COME!

Shepherds saw a great light and the great choir of angels proclaiming and pronouncing that “The King has come”.

Zechariah had proclaimed it; and His Coming fulfilled that when He rose into Jerusalem. They cried out:

(Luke 19:38) - Blessed be the King that comes in the Name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.

The Pharisees told Him to rebuke His disciples for saying such a thing; and He pronounced:

(Luke 19:40) - And He answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

The time had come for Him to be proclaimed King.

The stone rolled away and the Son of God came forth pronouncing that death could not conquer the King of Life and Death and time and eternity!


III. THE PRONOUNCEMENT HAS BEEN AND IS NOW BEING MADE.

His coming into Jerusalem forces us into one of two possible scenarios:

1. We can sing His praises, cast our palm branches at His feet in adoration and praise and pronouncement of “Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord”; then watch Him be led out the back gate to a hill called Calvary, and hear Pilate’s pronouncement: “I find no fault in Him but you take Him and let Him be crucified”.

2. We can receive Him as King of our lives and dedicate ourselves to Him and to His cause.

Up to this point, He had refrained from being addressed as “The Son of David” – or the promised Messiah-King. But the time was right and He was pronounced as King.

The Pharisees and leaders were indignant but the excitement swelled over and over. They had tried to make Him their King to no avail; and now they could see Him marching in and throwing out the hated Romans and taking the throne – but when that did not happen, their excitement cooled very quickly.

Judas pronounced where He was; the Temple police and Roman guards pronounced that He was being arrested; the High Priest pronounced that He was guilty of blasphemy; the people got caught up in the melee; and Governor Pilate pronounced Him innocent, then guilty and issued his pronouncement that Barabbas should go free and Jesus should be crucified!

Weak-kneed, milquetoast Governor Pilate tried to appease the masses with his pronouncement from the ecce homo arch; “Behold the Man”; and then surrendered to the will of the people, he placed a plaque over His head on the center cross: “This is the King”, written in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek (John 19:19).

The pronouncement was officially made; they were crucifying their King. Their pronouncement was “crucify Him, let His blood be upon us and our children”.

Seventy-two hours later (as we will cover next week), the King was pronounced the Son of God with Power:

(Romans 1:4) - … declared (pronounced) to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

Fifty days later, the King was pronounced:

(Acts 2:36) - Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

… and 3000 souls were saved.

John the Revelator pronounced:

(Revelation 11:15) - … There were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.

And on a higher note:

(Revelation 17:14) - … He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

And on a still higher note:


(Revelation 19:6) - … The voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

This is the hope and change for the Child of God and believer in Jesus Christ. There is no hope except in Him, the King! Every other kind of life is bounced by the limits of this shrinking world; but Christianity – and only Christianity has all its windows open toward the limitless expanse of eternity!

“Hallelujah; the Lord God Omnipotent reigns”.


This is the Christ Who stands at the door to our hearts. What is our response going to be towards Him. Let it be: “Blessed and only King of Kings and Lord of Lords; O merciful Christ, come now. My life belongs to You. Come into my heart and reign – both now and forevermore.”

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