"LaRondelle [2] notes how Christ, rather than “spiritualizing” the kingdom, extends the boundaries of the Davidic kingdom globally in his Sermon on the Mount as he applies Psalm 37:11,29 to his followers: “Christ is definitely not spiritualizing away Israel’s territorial promise when He includes His universal Church. On the contrary, He widened the scope of the territory until it extended to the whole world.” Not only is Zion equated with the church in the New Testament, but so also are the “sons of Zion.”
In the New Testament the church as the body of Christ assumes the status of Israel of old and is even addressed as the “twelve tribes” (James 1: 1 ; cf. Matt. 19: 28; Luke 22: 30). The church is established from the remnant seed of Israel represented first of all in the twelve apostles and then in the community of exiles who returned to the Feast of Pentecost in Acts 2 to receive the full blessing of God. The history of the church is the progressive extension of the rule of God through the community of this Davidic ruler to the ends of the earth, which will reach its fulfillment at the return of Christ.
Thus, Zechariah 9 is relevant to the church fundamentally as a prophecy that has been fulfilled in and through Christ and his community."
To God be the glory!
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1. Boda, Mark J. (2009-05-26). Haggai, Zechariah (The NIV Application Commentary) (Kindle Locations 8343-8373). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
2. Referring to H. K. LaRondelle, The Israel of God in Prophecy: Principles of Prophetic Interpretation ( AUMSR 13; Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrews Univ. Press, 1983)
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