-
Presentation of the King Brings Release to PrisonersParadise Restored to Mankind—By Theocracy!
-
-
“Be very joyful, O daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph,a O daughter of Jerusalem. Look! Your king himself comes to you. He is righteous, yes, saved; humble, and riding upon an ass, even upon a full-grown animal the son of a she-ass.
-
-
Presentation of the King Brings Release to PrisonersParadise Restored to Mankind—By Theocracy!
-
-
25. Why has the “daughter of Jerusalem” every reason to shout in triumph and be very joyful at the approach of the king?
25 At the fulfillment of that glorious promise, why would not Jerusalem have all good reason in the world to be very joyful and to “shout in triumph”? For at the time that this divine promise was given through the prophet Zechariah, Jerusalem was without a king of her own. She merely had a provincial governor whom the emperor of Persia, Darius I, had appointed, namely, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel of the royal family line of David. The kingdom of David had been overturned by the Babylonians about ninety years earlier, in 607 B.C.E., at the total destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of her king Zedekiah to Babylon. Although Jerusalem’s seventy years of lying utterly desolate had now passed, yet the Gentile Times of 2,520 years for the non-Jewish nations to trample upon Jerusalem’s right to a Davidic kingship had to continue on until the year 1914 C.E. So in Zechariah’s day the “daughter of Jerusalem” was longingly looking forward to the coming of the true Messiah King in the line of David, a Messiah prefigured by Governor Zerubbabel.—Haggai 2:23.
26. Why do we not have to guess uncertainly as to the initial fulfillment of this prophecy of Zechariah?
26 We today, who are interested in the true Messiah, not in a false Christ, do not have to guess uncertainly as to the initial fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy. It is recorded and described for us by at least three eyewitnesses thereof, namely, Matthew Levi a tax collector, John Mark an inhabitant of Jerusalem, and John the son of Zebedee, besides a first-century historian who investigated the facts of the case, the physician Luke of Asia Minor. It occurred on Sunday, Nisan 9, 33 C.E. Matthew Levi tells us:
Well, when they got close to Jerusalem and arrived at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent forth two disciples, saying to them: “Be on your way into the village that is within sight of you, and you will at once find an ass tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. And if someone says anything to you, you must say, ‘The Lord needs them.’ At that he will immediately send them forth.”
This actually took place that there might be fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet, saying: “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Look! Your King is coming to you, mild-tempered, and mounted upon an ass, yes, upon a colt, the offspring of a beast of burden.’”
-
-
Presentation of the King Brings Release to PrisonersParadise Restored to Mankind—By Theocracy!
-
-
28. How, on his triumphal ride into Jerusalem, was Jesus peaceful, “humble,” “righteous,” and “saved”?
28 Thus, instead of on a war-horse, Jesus Christ peacefully rode an ass into Jerusalem, unlike Herod the Great, who, after three months of besieging Jerusalem in the year 37 B.C.E., took Jerusalem by storm and dethroned Hasmonaean (Maccabean) king, Antigonus of the tribe of Levi. Jesus was indeed “humble,” as Zechariah 9:9 had foretold. He was no false Christ or false Messiah, but was “righteous,” the Messiah vindicated by his heavenly Father Jehovah. He was in fact “righteous” by being perfect in the flesh, sinless, unblemished, and therefore able to offer himself as a perfect human sacrifice for taking away the sin of the whole unrighteous world of mankind. (Acts 7:52; Hebrews 7:26; 1 John 2:1) He was indeed “saved,” just as his ancient ancestor King David was saved by being given the victory over his enemies. (2 Samuel 22:1-4; 8:6, 14)
-