Christ’s Lowly First Coming was Humble and Intimate, full of Love, for our Redemption

The book of Zechariah reveals that the crucial point and major content of God’s move in man’s history are the two comings of Christ for the testimony of Jesus, the building of God; Zech. 9-11 speaks of Christ’s lowly first coming, which was both humble and intimate.

As we are studying the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther in a crystallized way, we cannot but be amazed at God’s move in man’s history to prepare the way for Him to carry out His economy, His move not only among men but also in man.

Our God is a moving God, and He is moving not merely outside of time and space but even more in time and space, even behind the scenes in man’s history.

We all study history at school and we see it being unfolded before us, but the real history is not man’s history but God’s history within man’s history.

The Bible is a record not only of man’s history but even more, of the history of God with man and among man in the Old Testament and the history of God in man in the New Testament.

By His move in man’s history, He eventually came to become a man, to be intimately related to man, and even to make Himself the same as we are.

It is truly amazing to realize that God not only created man in His image and according to His likeness but that He Himself became a man, lowering Himself to become like one of His creatures.

He became a man, He went through human living, crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension, and He became a life-giving Spirit.

Our God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, became a man and then, through death and resurrection, became a life-giving Spirit so that He can enter into us and make us the same as He is.

He came to draw us with cords of a man and with bands of love, and as we are drawn by Him, we believe into Him, we open to Him, and we enter into a process of transformation and conformation to His image so that we may become the same as God in life and nature but not in the Godhead. Wow!

Day by day we need to ask the Lord to draw us and captivate us so that we may open to Him, enjoy Him, pursue Him, and let Him work Himself into all the parts of our being.

His drawing power is our pursuing power; the more He draws us, the more we open to Him, and the more we allow Him to dispense all that He is into us.

As He is working all that He is into us, we are being transformed into His image and conformed to the firstborn Son of God to be glorified and look like Him. Hallelujah!

This process is both personal and intimate, for we are daily growing in life unto maturity and we’re being transformed to be the same as Christ, and also corporate, for together we are being built up to be the Body of Christ, His corporate expression.

All this is in a wonderful yet mysterious way as God moves in man, as God’s history is interwoven with man’s history.

Zechariah 9-11 Speaks of Christ’s Lowly First Coming, which was Humble and Intimate

The book of Zechariah in particular reveals that the crucial point and the major content of God’s move in man’s history are the two comings of Christ for God to have a testimony, the building of God.

In Ezra 5:1-2 we see Zerubbabel, who was the governor at that time, and Joshua, the high priest. Zerubabel represented the kingship and Joshua represented the priesthood.

The adversaries were stirred up, poisoned the king’s mind, and the building of the wall of Jerusalem stopped for quite some time.

But then Hagai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Ido prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, and the Lord strengthened the people to continue building.

Zerubabel and Joshua, with all the people, rose up and began to build the house of God, which is in Jerusalem, and the prophets were with them, helping them.

Zechariah and Haggai prophesied during the time of Ezra, and the book that Zechariah wrote shows us the two comings of Christ in many details and pictures.

This book is truly amazing, for it not only prophesies concerning many aspects of the Lord’s two comings but it also shows us God’s move in man’s history in the two comings of Christ so that God would gain the testimony of Jesus, the building of God.

In this article, we want to see some of the details of Christ’s lowly first coming as seen in Zechariah 9-13.

Christ came as a Lowly King and was Betrayed by one of His Disciples

Zechariah chapters 9 through 11 speaks of Christ’s lowly first coming, which was humble and intimate.

According to Zech. 9:9, Christ came in a righteous way with salvation for God’s people as a King; however, He came as a lowly King, a humiliated King.

He came riding not on a majestic horse but upon a donkey, even upon a colt of a donkey.

This was fulfilled with Jesus Christ coming into Jerusalem the last time, riding on a donkey (Matt. 21:5-10).

The crowd was there, spreading their garments on the road, cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road, and shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

Regrettably, a good number of those people who were shouting Hosanna, later were crying out, Crucify Him!

Humanity is very fickle because man is fallen.

But the Lord entered Jerusalem, and the whole city was stirred and asked, Who is this?

The answer to this question, Who is Christ? determines your eternal destiny.

Who is this Christ? He is God coming out of eternity in time with His divinity into humanity, and He passed through a process from the manger to the cross.

Christ’s lowly first coming is both intimate and humble, for our redemption.

And in Matt. 11:28-30 He invites us to come to Him with all our toils and burdens, and He will give us rest. He will give us perfect peace and full satisfaction.

If we lack perfect peace and full satisfaction, we need to simply come to Him. What a wonderful One!

Zech. 11:8, 12-13 further prophesied concerning Christ being detested, attacked, rejected, and betrayed by one of His disciples for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave (Exo. 21:32).

What was prophesied here was fulfilled in the Gospels when Judah, one of His disciples, betrayed him (Matt. 26:14-15; 27:3-10).

The Lord Jesus came as God becoming man, and He entered into human history to be under the Roman Empire.

Under the Roman Empire, the Lord Jesus was born, He was persecuted, He was judged, and He was also killed.

He came as Messiah, the proper Shepherd of Israel (Zech. 11:12-13), but He was detested, attacked, rejected, and sold. Yet He loved us.

He humbled Himself to the uttermost, He came to be related to us, and He loved us to the uttermost.

He did all this not only to fulfil the Father’s plan and eternal purpose but because He loved us. How we appreciate Christ’s lowly first coming in love and care for us!

Christ, the Fellow of Jehovah, came to be the Shepherd who was Struck and the Sheep were Scattered

Zech. 13:6-7 shows us that Christ, the Fellow of Jehovah, came as the God-sent Shepherd to the children of Israel.

Yet He was attacked unto death by them and He was put to death by His own relatives, those whom He loved (Matt. 9:36; John 10:11; Matt. 26:31; Acts 2:23).

In Christ’s lowly first coming, He was put to death by His own relatives.

Christ was both a relative to the children of Israel and a Fellow of Jehovah.

What does it mean for the Lord Jesus to be the Fellow of Jehovah?

It means that He as a man, Christ in His humanity, was an associate of Jehovah, a partner of Jehovah, sharing the same interest and occupation and enterprise as Jehovah.

On one hand, He came as our relative, to be the same as we are.

On the other hand, He is the Fellow of Jehovah to carry out what God commissioned Him to do.

As the Shepherd, He was smitten; this was fulfilled in the Gospels, and the Lord even prophesied concerning this.

He knew that this will happen so that the Scriptures may be fulfilled.

When we read about all these aspects concerning Christ and all the specific prophecies that He fulfilled, we cannot but love the Lord.

He is the Fellow of Jehovah who came to be our Shepherd, and He is our relative, yet we persecuted Him, and betrayed Him…and He still loves us.

He came to His people as their relative, but His own relatives were against Him.

Even more, on the cross, both His relatives were against Him and even His Father, God, to whom He was a Fellow, was also against Him.

The Shepherd was struck and the sheep were scattered (Matt. 26:31).

After the Lord established the table, He told His disciples that He would be attacked and that they, the sheep, will be scattered.

Zech. 13:6 further says concerning the Lord’s death that, if someone would ask Him, What are these wounds between Your arms? He will say, Those with which I have been wounded in the house of those who love Me.

The children of Israel wounded and killed the Lord, but He said that these wounds were out of love.

He counted their actions as wounds from those who love Him (Zech 13:5-7; 12:10; Rev. 1:7; Psa. 21:16). What a sweet word!

Though the children of Israel killed Christ, He counts their actions as wounds from those who love Him. How much He loved us!

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to us to be the same as us. You are our Relative, for You are God becoming man to be the same as we are. Hallelujah for Christ’s lowly first coming. We love You as the God-sent Shepherd who came to take care of us in love. Thank You for coming to us in love so that we may enjoy Your shepherding and be under Your all-inclusive, tender care. Oh Lord, You are a Fellow of Jehovah who shares in the same enterprise and economy as God. Thank You for loving us and coming to us. Thank You for loving us to the uttermost by dying for us. Oh Lord, we just love You! Thank You for being struck on the cross both by man and by God, and thank You for doing this out of love. Your dying love is so compelling. We just love You, dear Lord Jesus!

Christ’s Side was Pierced, and He became an Opened Fountain for Sin and Impurity

Zech. 12:10 and 13:1 show us that on the day of His death, there will be an opened fountain for sin and for impurity.

Christ’s side was pierced, and He became an opened fountain for sin and for impurity (John 19:34, 37; Matt. 26:28).

Christ came and died for us, and out of His pierced side flowed both blood for our redemption and water for our salvation.

Today there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins, and we as sinners plunge beneath that flood and lose all our guilty stains! What a Christ we have!

As revealed in Zechariah, in His first coming He came in a lowly, humble, and loving way, full of love and care for us.

These chapters in Zechariah show Christ’s lowly first coming.

And through His death, He became an opened fountain for sin and for impurity.

On one hand, He is a fountain of living waters; on the other hand, He is an opened fountain for sin and impurity.

We can come to Him as we are, and we can apply His blood to any sin and impurity.

His blood cleanses us from every sin, if we just come to Him and confess our sins (1 John 1:7, 9).

When we see His dying love, when we see this One who came as the Shepherd, the Fellow of God, our relative, and our Savior, we cannot but just open to Him.

He shines on us, He exposes our sins and impurities, and we just apply His precious blood.

Oh, there is a fountain filled with blood, and we can come to Him to be cleansed!

When we are cleansed by His precious blood, we can drink Him as the fountain of living waters, and our whole tripartite being can be saturated with Him!

We apply the blood, our sins are cleansed, and we can drink the living water.

The more we drink of Him as the living water under the cleansing of the blood, the more our being is filled with Him and there are rivers of water of life flowing out of our innermost being!

We are filled with thanks and praise to the Lord for what He is, what He has done, and what He is doing so that we may enjoy Him and partake of Him!

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for dying for us on the cross. Thank You for being pierced for us and becoming an opened fountain for sin and impurity! Hallelujah, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins! Now we as sinners plunge beneath that flood and lose all our guilty stains! Amen, Lord, wash us and cleanse us with Your precious blood. We come to be cleansed, washed, and purified. Amen, we come forward to enjoy God as our life! Flow in us as living water! Fill our inner being with the water of life!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message, and portions from, Life-study of Zechariah, msgs. 1, 3, 5, 11-12 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (2022 winter training), week 1, entitled, God’s Move in Man’s History for the Carrying Out of His Eternal Economy.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Hail, Thou once despised Jesus! / Hail, Thou still rejected King! / Thou didst suffer to release us, / Thou didst free salvation bring; / Through Thy death and resurrection, / Bearer of our sin and shame! / We enjoy divine protection, / Life and glory through Thy name. (Hymns #114 stanza 1)
  – Though Thou art God, most glorious, high, / Thou in the flesh to us came nigh, / A lowly man become thereby; / Lord, I remember Thee!…Gentle and lowly is Thy heart, / Willing to suffer all Thou art, / To God and man complaining not; / Lord, I remember Thee! (Hymns #86 stanzas 1 and 4)
  – There is a fountain filled with blood / Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; / And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, / Lose all their guilty stains: / Lose all their guilty stains, / Lose all their guilty stains; / And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, / Lose all their guilty stains. (Hymns #1006 stanza 1)