Christ’s First Coming was Humble but His Second will be Victorious (Zechariah 9-14)

In the last six chapters of Zechariah, we see many prophecies concerning the Lord’s two comings, with specific details that have been and will be fulfilled as historical events.

But we need to see that the focal point and the major content of the divine history within the human history are the two comings of Christ for the testimony of Jesus, the building of God! Christ has two comings, and the gospel includes not only His first coming but also His second coming.

In His first coming, Christ accomplished redemption, but He didn’t deal with many other problems in the world like the social issues, the political problems, or the human government. The church today needs to stand for these two comings of Christ.

In His first coming Christ came secretly, even “in a sneaky way”, solving only some problems, and bringing redemption and salvation to man. In His second coming Christ will fix ALL the problems.

Today the human society is a sinking ship – we shouldn’t try to fix it! Don’t try to fix the problems in today’s world, rather save some of the people from this sinking ship! God wants to save the people, and He is building “a better boat”! We must tell others that Christ came the first time and He will come the second time – His first coming is the gospel, and His second coming is equally the gospel!

Both His first and His second comings were prophesied in the Scriptures, and His first coming is history in man’s eyes while His second coming is history in God’s eyes.

We need to take God’s word in the last six chapters of Zechariah and chew on it, eat the word of the prophecy, prayerfully muse on it, until it becomes part of us and shines on us in this dark age.

Christ’s First Coming was Lowly, Humble, and Intimate

In Zechariah 9-11 we see many prophecies, and there are some really crucial verses that speak of the Lord’s first coming in a lowly way. His coming was so humble and so intimate, and there are some specific details to it that only Zechariah spoke about.

In His first coming, Christ came as the King of Israel, lowly and riding upon a donkey, even upon a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zech. 9:9-10; Matt. 21:5-10). As Zechariah was speaking of the siege of Jerusalem under Alexander the Great, he suddenly speaks of the lowly King who is coming riding on a donkey. He was temporarily welcomed by the Jews as the King into Jerusalem, and He came in a lowly form. He was righteous, and He bore salvation – He brought salvation to all mankind!

Christ came as a Shepherd, shepherding in Favor (grace) and Bonds (binding) (Zech. 11:7-11). He was the real Shepherd of Israel, and yet He was rejected and detested. He really had compassion on the children of Israel, and He saw them as sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36; Mark 6:34). He Himself said that He is the good shepherd (John 10:11-12), and He lays down His life for His sheep. He came that we as His sheep would have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).

Christ was detested, attacked, rejected, and betrayed by one of His disciples for thirty pieces of silver (Zech. 11:8, 12-13; Matt. 26:14-16; 27:3-10). “30 pieces of silver – that magnificent price!” This prophecy was fulfilled word by word. Christ was priced by the Jewish leaders with 30 pieces of silver, and Judah sold Him to them to be crucified. These 30 pieces of silver were used to buy the potter’s field, as the prophecy said.

Christ was smitten as the Shepherd, and His disciples were scattered as the sheep (Zech. 13:7; Matt. 26:31). Though He was the Shepherd, He was smitten and struck, and “His own sheep” put Him to death. All the disciples were scattered when He was struck, and they were “sifted by Satan” – but the Lord prayed for their faith (Luke 22:31).

Christ’s two hands were wounded on the cross in the house of Israel, the house of those who love Him (Zech. 13:6; John 19:18a). Someone said, What are these wounds between Your arms? And He said, Those with which I was wounded in the house of those who love Me! The Lord was wounded on the cross, and His hands and side were pierced, and yet He said, They love Me, but they don’t know what they are doing (Luke 23:34). The Jews loved God, loved His word, but they didn’t know what they were doing – they were blind and wounded the Lord. He suffered so much from them, but He said, They love Me!

Christ’s side was pierced, and He became an opened fountain for sin and for impurity (Zech. 12:10; 13:1; John 19:18a, 34; Matt. 26:28). Christ was pierced in His hands and in His side, and He is now an open fountain for sin, that we may be saved. Christ’s precious blood cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:9). He was pierced for our transgressions, and for our sins He was nailed on the cross; and the result is that He became a fountain of blood to cleanse us, wash us, and redeem us.

Christ’s Second Coming is Victorious, with Power and Authority

In Zechariah 12-14 we see many particular aspects of Christ’s second coming, with details concerning the timing, the location, and the manner of His coming.

Today we still live in the age of mystery, where God relates to us in a mysterious and spiritual way, and His work is in man – not much outwardly to change things in the world.

But after the seventh trumpet is sounded, the age of mystery will be over and things will happen physically as the Bible says. Below are some details concerning the Lord’s second coming we see in Zechariah chapters 12 through 14.

Christ will come a second time accompanied by His saints, the overcomers (Zech. 14:5; Joel 3:11; Jude 14). Christ will not return alone – He will come with His armies, which are the saints, the overcoming ones! We as believers in Christ need to give the Lord our best cooperation today that we may grow in life unto maturity to be His overcomers, the saints who come with Him to destroy Antichrist and his armies!

Christ’s feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east (Zech. 14:4; Acts 1:9-12). Just as the angels spoke to the disciples, right after the Lord ascended from the Mount of Olives, Christ will come the second time on the Mount of Olives, and the mountain will split in two so that the Jews who are surrounded by the armies of the nations would hide there. The seismologists have recently discovered that there’s a long rift that goes right under the Mount of Olives, and it is ready to “split it in two”. This is the location and the command centre where all this will happen: at the Mount of Olives, where the Lord ascended from and where He will return.

Christ will fight for the children of Israel, His chosen people, against the nations that besiege them and will save them from destruction (Zech. 14:2-3, 12-15; 12:1-9). The captain of the army, the commander-in-chief, the general leading the armies into battle will not be any human being – it will be Christ Himself, the Messiah! Jehovah Himself will appear and will fight for His people Israel, and He will lead the armies in battle! Israel right now thinks they know how to fight, and they think they can do it; but when Antichrist leads the armies to come and destroy them, it is Christ Himself as Messiah who will fight for them!

At that time the whole house of Israel will look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him; thus, all Israel will be saved (Zech. 12:10-14; Rom. 11:26). The Jews denied Christ, and crucified Him, and they don’t want to recognize that He is the Messiah. They simply refuse this.

But when Christ comes again on the clouds of heaven, they will look upon Him, they will recognize Him, they will see the pierced One, and they will repent and mourn. They will not mourn for their sins, but because they rejected Him so much in their past. All the Hebrews will repent and receive the Lord as their Savior. The Lord will pour out the spirit of grace and supplications upon them, and they will all repent! Hallelujah! This will happen physically and for real!

Afterwards, Christ will be the King to reign and rule over the nations; all the people will go up to Jerusalem year after year to worship Him, and all will be sanctified unto Him (Zech. 9:10; 14:16-21). After Christ with His saints, the overcomers, defeats and wipes out Antichrist and his armies, the Jews will teach each one to worship God, and all the nations will go to Jerusalem to worship God. This is God’s earthly kingdom, where the saved Jews will be the priests of God.

Wow, what a view of Christ’s first and second coming! He came in a lowly way, so humble and yet so intimate, and He brought in redemption and salvation. Whoever believes into Him has eternal life, and will not perish but will be eternally saved. Whoever continues to enjoy the Lord and grow in the divine life daily, he will be matured and ripened to become an overcomer for the Lord.

In His second coming Christ will come outwardly (after His secret coming to “steal His precious ones, the overcomers”) to deal with all the problems. He will fight for Israel, destroy Antichrist and his armies, save the Jews, and He will reign forever and ever.

Oh, that our eyes would be opened to see that the focal point of the divine history within human history is the two comings of Christ for the testimony of Jesus, the building of God!

Lord, we love You! Thank You for coming to us in a lowly and humble way. You gave up Your life for us, and You shed Your blood for us. Thank You, dear Lord Jesus. We believe in You. We accept Your sacrifice for our sins. Lord, grow in us every day unto maturity to make us Your overcomers, the saints that You return with to destroy Antichrist! We look forward to that day! Grant us the honor and the privilege to be Your overcoming ones. Lord, save Israel! Even before You come again, save many more! Establish a lampstand in Jerusalem! Break through in them, Lord, and turn them to You! Come, Lord Jesus!

References and Further Reading

• This sharing is inspired from brother Andrew Yu’s sharing in this message and portions in, The Recovery of God’s House and God’s City (ch. 6), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Crystallization-Study of Daniel and Zechariah, week 10 (entitled, A Word concerning the Human Spirit and Aspects of Christ Unveiled in Zechariah for His Move on Earth).
• Similar sharing by fellow blogging saints:
  # Seven Unsolvable Problems (via lifeandbuilding.com).
  # Eating the Word of God – especially the prophecies (via achristianoncampus.wordpress.com).
  # Quotes from Watchman Nee on the Blood of Christ (via holdingtotruth.com).
  # Christ is the people-purchasing Lamb of God (via newjerusalem12.wordpress.com).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # There is a fountain filled with blood / Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; / And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, / Lose all their guilty stains.
  # What made You, Lord, to die for me? / Why would You die for me, Your enemy? / You took my place to hang on a tree, / To be a curse, a curse for me.
  # My King will soon come back again, / The sky be filled with Him; / The universe to be redeemed / Will see His light therein.
• Pictures credit: the first an instagr.am by me, the others here and here.