Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zech 9:9).
Zechariah 9:9 is a famous prophecy about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We call this Palm Sunday because multitudes of people laid palm fronds––as well as clothing––on the ground, for the Lord to ride upon.
Would it surprise you if I said that the triumphal entry looks way beyond Resurrection Sunday?
One of the things we learn in seminary is to pay attention to the context. Well, Zech 9:9 is followed by Zech 9:10. Brilliant observation? Hardly. But notice what the prophet went on to say:
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the horse from Jerusalem;
The battle bow shall be cut off.
He shall speak peace to the nations;
His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.
The gap between Zech 9:9 and 9:10 is 1,992 years, as of today. The triumphal entry occurred in AD 33. It is now AD 2025. The Millennium cannot begin before AD 2032 since the Rapture and seven-year Tribulation must occur before the Millennium begins. Zechariah 9:10 is not talking about the Lord’s resurrection. It is talking about His reign and Israel’s salvation from Gentile rule and oppression.
The gap between Zech 9:9 and 9:10 is called a prophetic gap. There are other famous prophetic gaps in Scripture. In Daniel 9, there is a huge gap between Daniel’s sixty-ninth week of years and his seventieth week of years (Dan 9:24-26 –– gap –– Dan 9:27). There is also a great gap between Luke 19:26 and 19:27. Verse 26 describes the Judgment Seat of Christ before the Millennium. Verse 27 describes the Great White Throne Judgment after the Millennium.
Some Bible scholars have illustrated these prophetic gaps as being like a person’s standing on one mountain peak and seeing, across a great valley, another mountain peak. Zechariah 9:9 is one mountain peak and verse 10 is another mountain peak.
I like to go to the World Senior Games. It’s for Geezers. You must be fifty or older to participate. About a decade ago, two other racewalkers invited me to go with them to Zion National Park for what they called an easy hike. It turned out that it was not easy. We hiked up the side of a mountain. We covered 4.5 miles and 3,000 vertical feet. Round trip, it was 9 miles.
When we got to the top, a place called Observation Point, we looked across and saw another mountain in the distance. One of my friends said that the peak I was looking at is called Great White Throne. I explained to him that that is a Biblical expression that refers to the coming judgment of unbelievers after the Millennium.
Any time we see a gap between mountain peaks, it should remind us of the soon return of Christ. Of course, it is easier to think that way when the peak you are looking at is actually called Great White Throne!
Palm Sunday anticipates, not Resurrection Sunday, but the coming kingdom.
However, there would be no coming kingdom unless resurrection occurred first. Resurrection Sunday anticipates the coming kingdom, when there will be peace and righteousness on earth.
