Rejected Shepherd: Examining Fulfilled Prophecies of Messiah from the Book Zechariah
THE REJECTED SHEPHERD:
EXAMINING FULFILLED PROPHECIES OF MESSIAH
FROM THE BOOK ZECHARIAH
A paper presented to
Dr. John Saunders
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Course Completion for
Haggai-Malachi
by
Keith J. Holland
April 2007
Holland 1
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
The nation of Israel has been waiting for their Messiah for millennia. Prophesied since the days of Adam, promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, anticipated by Moses, and lauded by
David, the Jewish nation expected Messiah to come in power and glory and to usher in a nearutopian kingdom in which Israel would be an autonomous state. Such a one-sided interpretation of prophecy has caused Israel to miss the suffering Savior of Isaiah 53 and to wander in a spiritual haze for thousands of years. The failure of the Jews to recognize and accept their
Messiah was not, however, surprising to God.
The last six chapters of the prophecy of Zechariah center on the advent of the Jewish
Messiah. Within those chapters, God chronicled many of the events leading up to both the first and second comings of Christ including His rejection by the nation of Israel as a whole. This paper will focus on the details concerning the first coming of Christ and the historical fulfillment of events as foretold by Zechariah.
One thing the Israelites did expect to occur with the coming of Messiah was judgment to fall on those nations that persecuted the Jews. The militant Zealots of the first century AD were always watching and ready to fall in behind a king, sword in hand. Many of the other Jews, while maybe not as openly aggressive toward foreign control, eagerly awaited the freedom that would come with the kingdom of Messiah.
Chapter nine of the prophecy of Zechariah begins with a declaration that would have sparked the emotion of any Jew that was still recovering from his or her time in Babylonian captivity. Judgment was coming on the nations.
Holland 2
CHAPTER TWO
The First
EXAMINING FULFILLED PROPHECIES OF MESSIAH
FROM THE BOOK ZECHARIAH
A paper presented to
Dr. John Saunders
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Course Completion for
Haggai-Malachi
by
Keith J. Holland
April 2007
Holland 1
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
The nation of Israel has been waiting for their Messiah for millennia. Prophesied since the days of Adam, promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, anticipated by Moses, and lauded by
David, the Jewish nation expected Messiah to come in power and glory and to usher in a nearutopian kingdom in which Israel would be an autonomous state. Such a one-sided interpretation of prophecy has caused Israel to miss the suffering Savior of Isaiah 53 and to wander in a spiritual haze for thousands of years. The failure of the Jews to recognize and accept their
Messiah was not, however, surprising to God.
The last six chapters of the prophecy of Zechariah center on the advent of the Jewish
Messiah. Within those chapters, God chronicled many of the events leading up to both the first and second comings of Christ including His rejection by the nation of Israel as a whole. This paper will focus on the details concerning the first coming of Christ and the historical fulfillment of events as foretold by Zechariah.
One thing the Israelites did expect to occur with the coming of Messiah was judgment to fall on those nations that persecuted the Jews. The militant Zealots of the first century AD were always watching and ready to fall in behind a king, sword in hand. Many of the other Jews, while maybe not as openly aggressive toward foreign control, eagerly awaited the freedom that would come with the kingdom of Messiah.
Chapter nine of the prophecy of Zechariah begins with a declaration that would have sparked the emotion of any Jew that was still recovering from his or her time in Babylonian captivity. Judgment was coming on the nations.
Holland 2
CHAPTER TWO
The First
Cited: MacArthur, John Jr. The MacArthur Study Bible. Electronic Ed. Nashville: Word Pub., 1997. "Siege of Tyre." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia . 10 Apr 2007, 23:21 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 Apr 2007 . The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Crossway, 2001. “Zechariah.” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: New Testament . CD-ROM. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.