Well, turn with me to the passage
that Peter read for us just before, the second half of Zechariah
chapter 6. And here we have given to us
in this study of the book of Zechariah, in one night he was
given nine visions. And this ninth picture given
to Zechariah, it seems as if it was in the morning after the
night. This is the ninth picture given
to him. Pictures to motivate the people of that day to get
on with and complete the rebuilding of the ruined temple and ruined
Jerusalem after the 70 years of captivity in Babylon. It was left a complete ruin. The glorious temple of Solomon,
the glorious treasures of that temple, all taken and it was
flattened. And they had been sent back at
the behest of God who put it in the heart of Cyrus, the emperor,
to send them back, after 70 years of captivity, to restore this
temple. But they'd flagged. They'd become
comfortable in their own houses, as Haggai tells us in the previous
prophecy. They'd lost their way, so God
gave them messages from heaven to tell them why they were doing
it. And fundamentally, simply, they were doing it because what
they were doing was a picture, a picture on earth, 500 years
before Christ came, a picture on earth of the kingdom of God
triumphant. The kingdom of God triumphant
over this world, this world of Satan. the kingdom of God, accomplishing
the eternal purposes of God, to populate it with his people,
with the people, the multitude that he loved with an everlasting
love from before the beginning of time. And they'd lost sight
of it. And we as believers in all ages
lose sight of this thing. We have such a tendency in the
flesh. But these messages from God come to encourage us. This
world is fleeting. This world, as Paul says to the
Corinthians, this world, the things that look so solid are
actually temporal. They're passing with time. The
things that you can't see are the spiritual things of the kingdom
of God, of eternity. And they are the things that
are everlasting. Everlasting. They will never
fade. Moth and rust will not corrupt.
So in this ninth picture that's given to him, you know, he's
already seen in last week's message, the two mountains of brass, the
eternal purposes of God, of his grace and of his mercy, and that
his purposes all flowing out into this world of that. And
then we come to this one that starts at verse 9 of chapter
6. And what it seems is not so much
a vision from heaven, but a real scene with real people, an actual
scene. that they were told to act out
is not quite the right word, but I can't think of anything
better to say at the moment. A sort of a dramatic presentation
of the profound truth of the triumph of God's kingdom is what
is set before us in these verses 9 to 15. If the Lord will give
you ears to hear and a heart to believe the eternal truth
that this depicts, you will rest peacefully and thankfully in
the everlasting arms of God, assured that your blessed eternal
state is certain whatever happens in this world. That's the message
of this written two and a half thousand years, give or take
a few years ago. And you say, what has that got
to do with me today? Exactly that. If you see what
this is saying from God, you will see that you can rest in
everything that God has done for his people. We saw last time,
everything is outworking the purposes of God. From between
the brass mountains, solid, incorruptible mountains of his righteousness
and of his grace, of his unchanging will. And he now shows his people
the truth that underpins and that accomplishes that outworking
of his eternal will. That which takes his sinful people
out of this world, out from the curse of sin, out from the curse
of the law and secures their rightful place in the kingdom
of God. You see, The kingdom of God,
heaven, as it's depicted in the book of Revelation, nothing that
defiles shall enter in, and we are all by nature defiled. So what is it that gets us, who
are the people of God, by faith believing him, what is it that
qualifies us for that eternal kingdom of God? It is this, it
is the qualification that God himself has accomplished for
his people. So let's look at this in the
time that we have available. The word of the Lord came unto
me saying, this is God's word. This is the word of the Lord.
This is the word of Jehovah to his people. And this is what
he said in verse 10. Take of them of the captivity,
even of Heldai, and Tobijah, and of Jedei, which are come
from Babylon. And come thou the same day, and
go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, and take silver
and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua,
the son of Jehoshadak. Joshua is the one who's the high
priest. He's the son of Jehoshadak, but he, Joshua, is the high priest.
These, it looks like they've come back from Babylon. You know,
the people of the captivity, the Jews that were taken away
to Babylon, they came back over several years. And they came
in dribs and drabs. There was a big lump of them
came, and then dribs and drabs. And it seems that this was some
of the dribs and drabs coming along. These people, Heldai,
Tobija, and Jeddai. their names have significant
meaning. As in scripture, so often, the
name has a meaning. Heldi, Heldi, he's the same one
that down in verse 14 is called Helem. Why that is, I don't know. I honestly don't know. But we're
pretty sure that Heldi is Helem in verse 14. And what that name
means is this. It means worldly. It means led
through the world. This is somebody whose name means
of this world, of this world. Then there's Tobijah. Tobijah,
that name means Jehovah's goodness, the goodness of God. And then
Jedei means Jehovah knows, God knows all things. What do these
three people that have just come back from Babylon, what do they
picture? They picture the elect of God.
What do I mean by the elect of God? I mean that multitude which
no man can number that were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world by nothing other than the sovereign grace of God.
Why did God choose them? Because He's God and He's sovereign.
He says, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Why? Because
He's God. And he's sovereign. And you say
that's not fair. Well, you take it up with God.
Because that's the way it is. That's what his word tells us.
They picture, these three picture the elect of God. They picture
all the elect of God. Objects of God's foreknowledge. God knows. God knows. Jehovah
knows. Objects of God's goodness in
everlasting love. And yet, all of them, sinners,
bound up in the world. As we are, we're all sinners
bound up in the world, and as long as we're in this flesh,
we're never better than sinners bound up in this world, but for
the fact that in Christ we're made the righteousness of God
in him. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
As we are in this world, we're children of wrath, even as others.
but he by his grace calls and brings his people to himself.
And I think what these three did, I think they came to Babylon
at this time, and I think they brought silver and gold from
Babylon, and I think it was probably the silver and gold that was
taken from the temple when Solomon's temple was destroyed, and Nebuchadnezzar
took all of the treasures of Jerusalem to Babylon, and I think
they brought it back. Now, I know I'm speculating,
but it's a good speculation, isn't it? That this is the silver
and gold that was in that original Solomon temple, and they're bringing
it back, because it's going back in that temple. And this is what
he has to do with it, in verse 11. Take the silver and the gold
and make crowns. Make crowns. Make a crown of
silver and a crown of gold. And set the crowns upon the head
of Joshua. You sort of think, When you watch
the coronation of the king, there's an awful lot of fussing around
making sure that this great big heavy crown sits on the king's
head and doesn't fall off. It must be a concern to them
that this is going to fit properly and it's not going to fall on
the floor. But they sit two crowns on the head of Joshua. is the
high priest. He's the high priest that's come
back from Babylon with Zerubbabel, who is the rightful prince of
Judah. They've come back with these
people to re-establish the temple in Jerusalem. And the silver
crown that he's to wear speaks of the office of the priesthood. The priesthood is that which
bridges the gap, can I put it that way? Bridges the gap between
a holy God and his sinful people. intercession, intercession. The
priest intercedes. The priest goes between. The priest goes between the holy
God who dwells in unapproachable light and the people. And he
was pictured by the Old Testament Levitical priesthood. He was
pictured, but in truth, the one priest, the one high priest that
we have is our Lord Jesus Christ. And the priestly office is symbolized
by silver things. It's the silver that symbolizes
the priestly office. If we haven't time now, but you
could read in Exodus chapter 26, Exodus chapter 27, in Leviticus
27, in Numbers 7, you read about the silver and the priestly office. And then the gold, the gold,
the crown that's made of gold is signifying the kingly office. Here is a priest, the high priest,
Joshua, and he's to have a silver crown, which symbolizes priesthood,
and a golden crown, which symbolizes royalty, the king, the kingly
office. In Revelation 14 and verse 14,
pictured there in the vision that John saw is the son of man
having on his head a golden crown. Why? Because he's king. He's
king of kings and lord of lords. Well, here, in this drama, in
this dramatic presentation before these people, Joshua is to be... he's the high priest. He's to
have these crowns made and put upon his head. Put them on Joshua's
head. He is the high priest. Put it
on his head. What does Joshua mean, the name
Joshua? He's not the Joshua of the exodus,
Moses, with Moses who came out, you know, Joshua and Caleb, they
were the faithful men who didn't side with the spies who said
we can't go into the land because the people are too big. Joshua
was the one that led them into the promised land after Moses
was gone. It's not that Joshua. This is a Joshua several, many,
many years later, 1,500 years later, something like that. In
the Acts of the Apostles, when you get to Acts chapter 7, one
of the apostles is preaching in Acts 7, 45, it talks about
Jesus, if Jesus had been able to take them in. Jesus is not
the Lord Jesus Christ there. Jesus is Joshua, because Jesus
is the Greek equivalent of Joshua. Joshua and Jesus are interchangeable. They're the same names. And what
do they mean? They mean Savior. Savior. You shall call his name Jesus,
said the angel to Joseph when It was discovered that Mary was
with child and without a man being involved. This one is conceived
of the Holy Ghost. And you shall call his name Jesus. You shall call his name Joshua.
Why? Because he shall save his people
from their sins. When he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, appeared to that first
Joshua when they were at Jericho, before the people went into the
Promised Land, He appeared and Joshua was afraid and he said
to him, this man stood there with a sword drawn and he said,
are you for us or against us? Are you for our enemies or are
you for us? And it was the Lord Jesus Christ
and he said, as the captain of the host of the Lord, I am come
to you. I am with you. As the captain
of the host of the Lord. In Hebrews 2 and verse 10, we
see him as the captain of his people's salvation. his people,
he's the captain of their salvation, the one who has accomplished
it, the one who has achieved everything that he set out to
do. Well likewise, this Joshua, this Joshua typified the Lord
Jesus Christ, the king of his people, and their priest, the
one who intercedes. Because as we know from the scripture,
from the epistles, there is one God and there is one mediator
between God and man. The man, Christ Jesus. This man,
Joshua, here the high priest, a sinner, fallen, needing to
be motivated all of the time, weak in so many ways, yet here
he's dramatically portraying the Lord Jesus Christ, our God,
in all of his glory, the one God and one mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is the priest of his people, not a Levitical priest, but a
priest after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek, what was he? He
was king of Salem, king of peace, king of Salem, and priest of
the Most High God. In that one man, Melchizedek,
consider how great he was. In that one man, the offices
of king and priest were combined. And I believe that that cannot
be anybody other than the Lord Jesus Christ. This man, Joshua
the high priest, pictured, typified God in flesh. The law of God
forbids graven images. Don't make unto yourselves a
graven image. But at the word of the Lord,
because the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, at the word
of the Lord, this man and him alone at this time alone was
to picture Christ, was to picture God manifest in his kingly and
his priestly offices. He's wearing more than one crown. And in Revelation 19 verse 12,
on the Savior's head are many crowns. It's not for anyone since
then to attempt this portrayal. It's not for apostles to attempt
this portrayal. Never do we read of an apostle
attempting to portray the Lord Jesus Christ as king and priest
of his people. It's never for preachers to attempt
this portrayal. This was a once for all. Joshua
set these crowns on his head, set these crowns on his head
and show what the truth of eternity is. It's not at all for the priests
of religion today to attempt it, not in any way whatsoever. But there he is with his crowns
of silver and gold upon his head and This is what he says in verse
12. Speak unto him, saying, Thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is
The Branch. Capital letters. and he shall
grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of
the Lord. Even he shall build the temple
of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and
rule upon his throne, and shall be a priest upon his throne,
and the council of peace shall be between them both. God says
to his people this. God says to his people, as you
look at Joshua with his crowns, See by faith the heavenly reality
of God making his kingdom to triumph. You're here, you people,
two and a half thousand years ago, struggling to build this
temple. Well look, here, this is the
reality. This is the eternal reality that
you are picturing on earth, that our God is king and priest of
his people, that his temple will be completed because his temple
It's his church. It's his eternal kingdom. It
will be completed. See by faith that what is pictured
here is the reality of God making his kingdom to triumph. Is it
not interesting, the words here? He's told to say, behold the
man. Here's Joshua. portraying that
which no man should ever portray, but at the behest of God, for
this purpose only, he's portraying the Lord Jesus Christ. He's portraying
God, God manifest, the man Christ Jesus. Behold the man whose name
is the branch. Look at him, look at him, look
at him. Does it not remind us of John
19 and verse 5, when Jesus was there stripped and in shame before
Pilate and the Jews, screaming for his crucifixion. And Pilate
didn't want to do it, or so it seems. And he brings him out
and seems totally at a loss as to what to say. And he says,
behold the man. Behold the man. What depth there
is in those words. Behold the man. He represented,
Joshua, he represented Almighty God, manifest as a man. God made man in his own image. In the beginning, God made man
in his own image. There's such a depth to this,
I'm sure I don't get close to it. But when God tells us in
Genesis about creation and the making of man, he made man in
his own image. There's a depth to that which
is profound indeed. Here is God displayed as a man. Here is God displayed as a man.
You know, he says, behold the man, behold the man. God himself
says in Isaiah, who would doubt that in Isaiah 45 and verse 22,
it is God that is speaking. And God says there in Isaiah
45 verse 22, look unto me. and be ye saved, all ye ends
of the earth, for I am God, and there is none other. Look unto
me, behold the man, behold the man, whose name is the branch. We've seen this before in Zechariah
in chapter 3, the branch, the man whose name is the branch.
The name means the Messiah, because One of the old versions translate
this as, behold the man, Messiah is his name. That's in the Talmud
and the Targum. They say, behold the man, Messiah
is his name. This is the branch, the Messiah,
the Christ, the second person of the Trinity, the one in whom
it says, again, profound words, in him dwelt the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. You know, when it comes to the
weight of meaning provided by just a few words, are there any
words that are more profound? In him, in the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ, in him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead in a
human body. in a body. He is the Netzar,
or the Nazarite, or the separated one, or, as God says in Isaiah,
behold mine elect, his elect, his Messiah, of which all the
elect, the multitude, are what they are because of what they
are in him, in him. He is the sprout from an obscure
root, is what it says. In Isaiah 11, if you turn over
to Isaiah chapter 11, And I'm sure we've looked at it before.
But in Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 1, there shall come forth
a rod, a branch, out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall
grow out of his roots. Jesse was the father of David. obscure little place Bethlehem
in Judea, a poor shepherd family and out of him shall come a branch
growing out of his roots. Verse 10, in that day there shall
be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek
and his rest shall be glorious. Is that not true? Just think,
the Gentiles seek to Him, His church. The Gentiles seek to
Him and His rest, the rest that we have in Him shall be glorious. In Isaiah 53 and verse 2, speaking
of Christ, speaking of the Messiah, speaking of God made man, He
shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of a
dry ground, out of the most unlikely place, out of the most unlikely
circumstance. He shall grow up, it says here,
out of his place. Verse 12, he shall grow up out
of his place and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Grow
up out of his place? What could that be? Well, it
could be Bethlehem, for Micah chapter five and verse two says,
oh, you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, in Judah, you, although you're
the least of the little towns of Judah, yet out of you shall
come one whose goings forth have been from everlasting. It could
be, could be that. Could be David's son, because
David's son is David's Lord. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
at my right hand until I make your enemy's your footstool.
In Matthew 22, Jesus asked the Jews, he said, how can it be
that David's son is David's Lord and they couldn't answer him
a word? It's because of this, because of Isaiah 7 and verse
14, God gives a sign, behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and shall call his name. Immanuel. A son shall be born
of a virgin, and you will call his name Immanuel. What does
that mean? You have to look at Matthew 1
verse 23. It tells us there Immanuel means
God with us. A man shall be God with us. A man shall be born. A child
shall be born. Unto us a child is born. Unto
us a son is given. This is the one, God. made manifest,
God, the branch. Behold the man who is the branch. In Psalm 139, verse 14, we read
there, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And we think, yes, that's
true of us. I'm a complicated bag of biological bits and pieces.
Yes, I am indeed fearfully and wonderfully made. You know, I
think the real meaning of that, as with all the scriptures, is
Christ. It is Christ the man who was
fearfully and wonderfully made. God, when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman. made under the law to redeem
those who are under the law. I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. God sent forth his son made of a woman. Fearfully and
wonderfully made. God contracted to a span. You
who have believed God, what gives you the full assurance of faith? As it says in Hebrews, is it
Hebrews 10? The full assurance of faith. What is it that gives
you the full assurance of faith? It's looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. Looking unto Jesus, behold the
man whose name is the branch. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. And truly, as Paul says to Timothy,
On Timothy 3.16, great is the mystery of godliness. God was
manifest in the flesh. Consider how great this man was. Only he could qualify the beloved
multitude for his kingdom. Only he could pay their sin debt
as a man for men. Only he, God becoming man, could
pay their sin debt. to satisfy offended divine justice
by paying the price of sin in his own precious blood. For it
is as Paul said to the elders on the beach at Miletus, the
Ephesian elders, he said to them, look after the church of God
because God has purchased that church. How? With his own blood. How can God do that? As God,
he can't because God does not have blood with which to pay
the price, but as man, as man he could and as man he did. Behold
the man whose name is the branch, and behold his work. In verses
12 and 13, he shall build the temple of the Lord. In picture,
Zerubbabel and Joshua shall finish the restoration of the temple
500 years or so before Christ. But the eternal reality is Christ
shall build his church. Who do people say that I am?
He said to the disciples. Oh, some say you're John the
Baptist, some say you're Elijah or one of the prophets, but who
do you say that I am? And Peter says, you are the Christ,
the son of the living God. Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah,
for flesh and blood hasn't revealed this to you, but my father, which
is in heaven. He will build his church, and
the gates of hell will not prevent its advance. He will build the
church, which is, as Paul tells the Corinthians, you, church.
You, church, with all of your sinful people, with all of your
errors, with all of the things that are wrong with you as fallen
people, you are the temple of the living God. He will build
his temple. He will build his church. The
church, the temple, is the place where God dwells with his people. It's the place where he dwells
with his people. There's two or three of us here,
maybe just a bit more than that we're glad to see this morning.
But we have that promise, don't we? That he's with us, where
two or three are gathered together in his name. I am there in the
midst. And he's building his church.
Out of what? They built it out of stones cut
from the quarry. He builds it out of living stones.
1 Peter 2, verse 5. You are living stones being built
in this temple. Ephesians 2, 20 to 22. Again,
we haven't time to read them now, but look at them again for
yourself. This is God, our Lord Jesus Christ,
the man whose name is the branch, our God in flesh. Come. And he's building his church
out of stones taken from the quarry of humanity. made alive
by redemption, made fitted by the cleansing from their sin,
qualified, made holiness unto the Lord. We saw in chapter three
this same Joshua dressed in his filthy garments. Take the filthy
garments off him. This is what Christ has done
for all of his elect. Clothe him with the garments
of salvation and set a fair mitre on his head. And all of his people,
as far as God is concerned, looking at you and me this morning, if
we're his people, if we believe him, If we're set apart by sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, He looks upon us and there's
a fair mitre on your head this morning. And what does it say
on it? Holiness to the Lord. Holiness to the Lord, fitted
for His eternal kingdom. He shall bear the glory, it says
there. He shall bear the glory. Nobody
else can bear that glory. God says, I will not share my
glory with another. In Isaiah, He says, I will not
share my glory with another. And in John 17 verse 5, the man
Christ Jesus, in that room with his disciples, before he goes
to the cross, he prays to his father, Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory that I had with thee
from before the beginning of time. Here he is, our priest
and our king, our sovereign ruler, our gracious intercessor. A king
and a priest, verse 13, he shall He shall be a priest upon his
throne, a king and a priest. Nobody could ever be both king
and priest. There was one who tried. King
Uzziah was a godly king who did so many things that were right,
but he tried. At the end of his life, he tried
to be both king and priest, and God struck him down with leprosy.
But here, in our God manifest, in our Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah
Jesus, both offices perfectly unite in, it says, a council
of peace. A council of peace shall be between
our God, our priest, and our God, our king. What else could
this council of peace be other than the everlasting covenant
of grace? Determined before the beginning
of time, between the persons of the Trinity, of a certainty,
he shall build the temple of the Lord and nothing can stop
it. It says that again, he shall
build the temple of the Lord and nothing can stop it. Nothing
can stop you, believer, from inheriting that glorious kingdom
prepared from the foundation of the world. What is it that
Jesus says, I will say to you, Come that day, come that day,
come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Verse 14. The crown shall be to Helem,
which is, we think, Heldi, the one in verse 10, and to Tobiah,
and to Jedi, and to Hen, the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial
in the temple of the Lord, crowns for a memorial, the crowns shall
be for a memorial, that's what I've called this message, crowns
for a memorial. Helem I think is Heldi, Hen,
that name means grace, the son of Zephaniah, and Zephaniah means
secreted. In Judges, we haven't time to
look at it, but the name Zephaniah means his name is secret. The
Lord's name is secret. It's speaking of a child of God
by grace. The crowns of priest and king
The priest upon his throne shall be to all of God's elect for
a memorial in the temple. Those crowns shall be for a memorial,
a reminder to all the people of God in his temple, which is
his church. We remember, we are reminded
always that our eternal destiny is secure. Our eternal destiny
is secure. We read it in 1 John chapter
4 and verse 13. Hereby know we, that we dwell
in him. Hereby know we that we dwell
in him, and he in us. Why? He's given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world,
the world of his elect. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
If you are a child of God, you cannot but confess that Jesus
is the Son of God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. And God is love, and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is
our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in that day
of judgment, because boldness in the day of judgment, oh my
sins, oh my sins, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my
sin not in part but the whole is nailed to his cross and I
bear it no more, that we may have confidence in the day of
judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. No fear
in love, perfect love casts out fear, because fear hath torment,
he that feareth is not made perfect in love, but we love him because
he first loved us. Does that not solidify the believer's
perception of the temporal nature of this seen world? The things
that are around us are passing away, but the eternal certainty
of that kingdom of God, which is unseen, which is our inheritance,
we're joint heirs with Christ. So then, verse 15, Verse 15,
and they that are far off shall come and build the temple of
the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me
unto you. And this shall come to pass if you will diligently
obey the voice of the Lord your God. Until the end of time, and
time will end, it says that in Revelation chapter 10. 10, until time be no more. Until
the end of time, God will gather his people from far and wide. They that are far off, they'll
come and build in that temple. Christ will build his church.
Are you among them? Are you among them? Will you
diligently obey the voice of the Lord? It says, look, those
who diligently obey the voice, oh, it's down to me and my works.
No, it's not. How do we diligently obey the
voice of the Lord? What is the work that we do?
That we do the work of God. This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent. Believe him. This is the
work of God. You say, perhaps somebody is,
say, I want to believe. Well, do as that man said. I
know we quote it often, but they're there for this purpose. These
examples are in scripture for this purpose, to give us courage.
He said, Jesus said, do you believe? He said, Lord, I believe. Help
thou mine unbelief. Oh, that God would help you if
you have unbelief, that he would help you to trust him and to
see your eternal destiny set clearly forth in the word of
his grace. So we pray that this will be
a blessing to us.