Erlo Stegen emphasizes the significance of Zechariah 9:9, proclaiming that Jesus, our King, comes to us in peace, riding on a donkey rather than a horse. This act symbolizes His mission of salvation and reconciliation, as He approaches even the wild and rebellious with gentleness and love. Stegen illustrates how, like the donkey that was calmed by Jesus, individuals can find peace and transformation when they allow Christ into their lives. He encourages believers to rejoice in the presence of their King, who comes not to demand but to offer salvation and joy. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a response to Jesus' invitation, urging listeners to open their hearts to His peace and healing.

Zechariah 9, verse 9. 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 cult, the foal of a donkey. The central emphasis of this verse being, behold, your King is coming to you. This verse was literally fulfilled when the Lord Jesus, riding upon a donkey, came into Jerusalem. The eastern nations and the kings of old there, if a king came on a donkey, it described peace. Always, if a king from the east would arrive somewhere on a donkey, it was a depiction of peace. If he came on his horse, it was a depiction of war. Jesus didn't come into Jerusalem on a horse declaring war. He wasn't there to fight, but he came on a donkey to declare peace. Remember the Lord, before he rode it, had sent his disciples to go and fetch this donkey, one that had never been ridden. And remember that a foal of a donkey, if it's never been ridden, it is wild and it kicks. It jumps around, it is noisy and it is aggressive. But when Jesus approached it to ride it, it was quiet, it was submissive, for the King had come. When Jesus approached it to ride it, it was quiet, it was submissive, for the King had come. Even if you have been wild and rebellious and aggressive, and as a young person, just wild at home, or a daughter that cannot be controlled by the mother, or backchats and is sassy to mother and father, we cannot respect that either. But once Jesus gets hold of you, once he rides that donkey, once he is in your life, that's the end of that aggression and rebellion. And our verse says, Behold, your King comes to you. Behold, your King comes to you. Just think of this King, as he comes on this foal of a donkey, he brings absolute peace. And that same donkey that was rebellious and wild and would bite, is now quiet and calm as he walks, carrying the Lord Jesus in between the crowds. It doesn't fear. We all here need to be people ridden by Jesus. Not that you are irritable and touchy and get upset, aren't you ridden by the Lord Jesus? Behold your King, and He is indeed King. He is coming to you. And then this King isn't waiting for you to come to Him. It's not that you have to approach Him like with the normal King. The subjects have to come to the King and bow before Him. But here, this King comes to you. The Lord says through John, not that you chose Me, but I have chosen you. In other words, He has come to you. No wonder the Prophet declares that we are to rejoice forever. This is greatly, O daughter of Zion, we are to shout with joy because our King comes to us. There is no other joy like this. People who are one with the Lord Jesus rejoice. They are glad. And together with Paul, they can rejoice always. Even when Paul was in chains, he could still say that he rejoices at all times. The one who is united with the Lord is one who rejoices. He who has the Lord rejoices, and it's evident, for he has the glory of the Lord upon him, in him, and evident on his face, in his eyes, in his forehead. It's written all over him. For he has the one who has all power. The people of the world don't have this joy. Last night we had a service and some young men were visiting us. And the service was taken by Yolanda. Where is she? Yolanda, not here. I can't see you. There she is. Just stay for a moment. I want them to see you. I want them to see you. She was, her father is a lawyer and she was studying herself to be a lawyer too. But then the Lord came to her and spoke to her and called her into his work. And she went to her parents and said, the Lord is calling me to go and preach the gospel, where they are? At Guase Zabantu. So last night she preached in this service for young men. And she spoke so well, I was glad. And you will see how so many are very young, 18, 20, 22, 30 years of age only, and they die. When the Lord came to her and called her into his gospel, she laid aside plans of stature and wealth, wanting to propagate the gospel. She didn't regret it. She's not sad, but she's glad about what she has in the Lord. And when I asked if there's anybody who can take a young people's service, she was the first one to say, I would like to. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Joy in the world is nonexistent. Even when there's a bit of joy, it is just temporary. And when the Lord came to her and said, where is she? And she went to her parents and said, where is she? And the Lord came to her and said, where is she? And she went to her parents and said, where is she? A well-known German figure, Goethe, famous though he was, he said at the end of his life, he lived 80 years, he said, even if I had to collect all the moments of joy through my whole life, it wouldn't make 24 hours. He was famous, had money, women, everything the world had to offer. But at 80 years of age, he said, if I had to collect together all my brief moments of happiness, it wouldn't reach 24 hours. But the one to whom Jesus comes, the daughter of Zion, can greatly rejoice. The one who is ridden by Jesus can rejoice greatly. I don't know if you know Um Lungpit from Brits, who had once been very ill. There were five doctors gathered around his bed, around his foot, saying that he would never walk again. He had awful pain. They phoned me, asking me to come and pray for him. I said to them, I can't come because tomorrow I've got to go overseas. I can't come to Pitoli. But I thought, no, let's try. We had recently acquired a small plane and I decided, let's try and do that. Go to Pretoria and then fly back again. There he was. We found him lying in bed. He was asleep. His feet, he couldn't move at all anymore. And he was in great pain. I said, Lord, what should I do? I felt the Lord telling me to read Matthew 8, which I then read to him from Matthew 1 till about verse 16. It's chapter 8, verse 1. And I said to him, Um, would you like us to pray? Yes, he said. We prayed, said goodbye. I left the hospital accompanied by his wife. Tears were rolling down her face. And she said, I'm so grateful that you came and approached it in this way. You just read the word and prayed. So many other preachers and pastors have been here to pray for him and have been telling him that there must be sin in his life. The reason why he's not getting healed is because there must be some unconfessed sin in his life. Now, Um Langpit has got a very powerful voice. We came back here. It was at sunset. The nursing sister from the hospital phoned us. And she said, you know, that man that you'd prayed for, he's healed. He's walking up and down the corridors. Not only that, but he's singing and very loudly. He was on the third floor. The people right through the hospital down to the first floor could hear him as he was praising God for what he had done. He's healed and he's alive till today. His son Chet. When they had got converted, the son went back to the farm and then said, Father, I believe that we should get rid of this tobacco. They used to just plant tobacco at that time. The father has said, how can we stop planting tobacco? How will we exist and survive? He said, Dad, I believe we can plant vegetables. It was. All right. A difficult pill to swallow, but he agreed. And they pulled out the tobacco and planted vegetables. The neighbors thought he had gone mad. Two or three years later, there was a virulent tobacco disease which destroyed the tobacco crops of all the neighbors. Beetroot. If you would like to, you can go and check it out after the service. But he has sent us tons of beetroot and tons of beans for the youth conference coming up. Onions. Wonderful vegetables. He sends lorry loads of vegetables every day to the market and he is able to make a lot of profit. That is why he has become prosperous through meeting with Jesus. I am a lola mangane. Not just vans. Tzasan goes in. Squama, Philippines. But a market. I wake up. I wake up. I want to tell you a story about a young man called Flau. He was a young man. One day, he went to the Philippines. And there, he was beaten. His father then said to his son, I want you... He was beaten. He was beaten. His father then said to his son, I want you... I want you to put this verse, Philippians 4 verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always. And a cross to be on every bag, on every container of the vegetables. And they sell it at the market like that. And the beetroot, the cauliflower, the cabbage, all of it is the best. Even the Muslims run to these vegetables of Philippians 4 verse 4 with a cross. And there, he was beaten by a young man. He was beaten by a young man. And he was beaten by the young man. His father then said to his son, I want you... I want you to put this verse, Philippians 4 verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always. And a cross to be on every bag, on every container of the vegetables. We need never be ashamed of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his gospel. It is those in the world who have been destroyed by sin, those who are spoilt, they are the ones who cry and weep and sorrow, like girls who have lost their purity and maybe picked up diseases at the same time. They are the ones who mourn. Here was the couple getting engaged today. Do they look sad? No, they rejoice because of what the Lord has done for them. She rejoices, he rejoices, they can go anywhere and proudly proclaim what the Lord has done for them. Here is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, coming to us, coming to you, coming to his church and that's why it is said, O daughter of Zion, rejoice greatly, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. I cannot scold my wife for having left when she departed from this world, for she was fetched by the King. She has left me and our children, but her face shone as she was met by the King of kings, as she said, the King has come to fetch me. Behold, your King comes to you. He reveals himself to you, what a privilege you have. Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just. He comes to the unjust. He is upright, just, righteous. He, the just, coming to the unjust to justify the unrighteous. He, the just, when he comes into you, he justifies you and he makes you righteous. He comes with salvation. In Hebrew, it shows that it's not that he comes having or carrying salvation with him, but he himself is that salvation. The salvation is in him. And if he enters into you, he saves you. You cannot but be saved when he enters into you. For he has been confronted with the problem of every nation and tribe in this world. What is it? The problem of sin. Every person in this world has a problem, not of money, not of those things, but of sin. That is the problem. Jesus doesn't come like a politician to make war. He doesn't come to fight, but he comes with salvation. He being the salvation to save. The angel came to Joseph saying, you will name his name Jesus, for he will save. Who will he save? He will save you. From what problem? From your sin problem. The angel came to Joseph saying, you will name his name Jesus, for he will save. Who will he save? He will save you. The angel came to Joseph saying, you will name his name Jesus, for he will save. Who will he save? He will save you. I am thankful as I look back at my life for what the Lord has done. In my family they were religious, but they compromised. They had their former religion, but mixed it with different things. There was a dance floor at our place. There was the bar. The Lord, by his grace, protected me from that. The Lord's hand was upon me to set me apart for the gospel. Even before I got saved, the Lord protected me. When the Lord's hand was upon me and he saved me, he came into the life of my brothers, my parents. That was the end of the dancing floor and the bar. The Lord Jesus, when he comes in, he saves from sin. That's what he does. And he does it in any person from any nation. Whether you are coloured or Indian or Afrikaans or English or German, when he comes into you, he saves. The Jews were expecting their king to come as a political saviour to redeem them from the oppression of the Romans, but he came on a colt, the foal of a donkey, coming with peace. Not with a political kingdom, but with salvation. There are those people who try and compromise and have a bit of both. They will be in the politics of this world and in their Christian faith. You won't have peace if you are involved in two kingdoms. He comes in lowly. We know a donkey is something that is looked down upon. If a person arrives on a shining horse, it makes them appear great. Some people don't understand Jesus because they look to great sensational things instead of looking at him who comes lowly riding on a donkey. Didn't Jesus say to the people, learn of me for I am meek and lowly. He is meek. No angry outbursts for he is meek. He says, I am lowly. Look at the life of Jesus. Was he born in the temple? No, in the stable of cattle. Look at the life of Jesus. Was he born in the temple? No, in the stable of cattle. Look at his whole life. It was a depiction of lowliness. He was never found in the things of the world of bringing pride and fame. A person who lives in pride, peacock like pride, is not able to humble themselves. They cannot mourn and sorrow for their sin. And the Holy Spirit, where does he seek to rest and to fill himself? He doesn't go up the mountains. He seeks rather the lowest places. He fills the lowliest. You seek greatness and seek the pinnacle of the mountain. Watch how your fall will be. But he who is down need fear no fall. He who is haughty, proud of spirit and boastful, puffed up, all those things are the same thing. We who are not from the East and don't know this historical background that coming on a donkey as a king means a message of peace. Now we can understand that he, God, Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, came down, took upon himself our flesh. You know that the Lord Jesus can come to you and you don't realize it's Him. The Lord says that on the day of judgment, He will call different people and call the one that is the lowliest, the smallest in your eyes and say, that was me. So Jesus comes to you in a lowly way. In a lowly way, on a colt, the fall of a donkey and one day the Lord will have to remind you and say, that was me coming to you. Look at a donkey. You'll find that on most of them, they have a type of a line that is marked going along the shoulders up the head that makes the sign of a cross. And Jesus comes to you on the cross. He has come carrying your sins, taking your sins away. And Jesus comes to you on the cross. He has come carrying your sins, taking your sins away. And one day He comes with His crown as the King of glory, but firstly He comes to you with His cross that you would be cleansed of your sin. Then there is the crown. Behold, rejoice greatly and shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, for your King comes to you. Has He come to you? Has He dealt with sin in your life or hasn't He yet? If He hasn't yet, then behold, your King comes to you. You should respond and shout out, Lord, do not pass me by. I need you. Come, Lord, with your healing. Come with that salvation. Deal with sin in my life. I have a problem of sin. Lord, save me from my sins. The sad thing is that when He did ride into Jerusalem and there was the shouting of praises and the hosannas, which means, save us, Lord. The children shouting the loudest, but some there just a few days later shouted, let Him be crucified. And there were some in the crowd when the children were shouting hosannas, some who said, tell the children to shut up. He said, if the children are quietened, even the rocks will shout out. That's what happened when Jesus died. The rocks shouted out. Don't wait for the rocks to have to cry out. You cry out to Him, say, Lord, do not pass me by. Save me, Lord. Saying, Lord, I know that your wrath is upon me because of my sins. The Bible says that the soul that sinneth shall die. But say, Lord, you've come to me in peace. You've come to me to reconcile me to God. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you come to us sidetracked by sin and blinded by the devil and the world. But you have come to us to bring a word of peace and reconciliation with God. You brought salvation. You are lowly. For you had to take us out of the pit. We thank you for that, Lord. Now, Lord, look in our midst, those who have not yet received your righteousness and justification. Lord, grant that they would see you coming to them, hear you knocking, and that they would open for you to come in. Lord Jesus, let your grace abound to us all. Amen.