Prophesies of the Coming King - Zechariah 9

In this message, we're going to examine an important prophecy made by Zachariah 527 years before it occurred. He prophesied that the Messiah, Israel’s king, would enter Jerusalem riding a foal of a colt. Of course, this was fulfilled by Jesus during His passion week. That was a far off predict. It took 527 years to unfold, but it did take place just as Zechariah predicted. However, it not the only prediction made by Zechariah in this passage. He predicted a much nearer event. Eight-one years after he prophesied it was fulfilled in great detail.
Why is this important? 1) First, we learn the accuracy and reliability of Scripture. 2) Second, if Zechariah is accurate in these verifiable historic events, then we should anticipate the rest of his predictions made in Zechariah 12-14 will also come to pass. 3) We will learn how unfolding prophecy is often hard to discern until it happens. In other words, prophecy may tell us what to look for, but we will learn that even when there seems to be evidence that a biblical event is about to unfold, we cannot be sure until it is fully exposed.
Perhaps this should be a lesson for us as we watch the current developments in the Middle East. It may seem like the beginning of something predicted by Ezekiel is about to unfold, but no one can be completely sure until all the necessity elements actually occur.