Zechariah chapter 6 now we have
much to cover on the first 10 verses of this chapter But we're
not going to go there tonight. I wanted to pick up verse 11. We've been looking at verse 11
for the last couple of Wednesday night services, and I would like
to continue with verse 11 because verse 11 is 10 and 11 have much
to do with regard to our savior, the Lord Jesus. He's the branch
that's mentioned in here. And there is a person that is
mentioned as the high priest. His name is Joshua. Now we've
looked in the scriptures the last couple weeks about the Joshua's
of the scripture. There are two of them, main characters.
One of them we might say is a more main character than this Joshua.
He's only mentioned two or three times here in the book of Zechariah,
but he's also mentioned in the book of Haggai, and there's another
one of the minor prophets that he's mentioned as the high priest.
I just felt it very valuable for me, at least, to look at
those two Joshuas as they represent our Savior, as they're a type
and a shadow and a picture. The things that we find in their
lives that God saw fit to record in our Bible, the Holy Spirit,
spoke to those who were writing and said, holy men of God speak
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And all that he spoke,
all that he moved upon these men to write the scriptures,
there was value in it. It was important. And so often
we find that the value is these men pointing to Christ. These
illustrations pointing to Christ. As John the Baptist did, behold
the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. And
he moves in that direction. He moved his disciples towards
the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's our goal as we look
here tonight. In Zechariah chapter 6, and there
in verse 11, we have Joshua the son of Josedek. The High Priest. Now, there are two Joshuas and
we've looked at the other Joshua, the one that's more well known,
Joshua the son of Nun. He is mentioned in the book of
Exodus. He's mentioned in the book of
Deuteronomy, the book of Numbers he's mentioned. And he's mentioned
many times in the book of Joshua and a few more times throughout
the scriptures. Then we get to the New Testament, he's also
numbered and mentioned. But he is a beautiful picture
of our Savior The prince, the one who is in charge of our
salvation. This one, Joshua the son of Nun,
as the scriptures point out with regard to him, he stands before
the prince, the captain of our salvation. Now we looked last
week there in Joshua chapter 5 verses 13, 14, and 15 when
he met the captain. Are you for us or are you against
us? And the one said, I am captain of the Lord's host. Now we saw
there the captain of the host of Israel bow before the captain. He bent his knee, his head in
reverence to this one who was his captain. The captain met
his captain. So Joshua, the son of Nun, is
a small sea captain, and this captain is a large sea captain. Joshua, the son of Joshadech,
stands out in the scriptures as a picture of Christ, our great
high priest. Now we looked at a little bit
about Eliezer, the priest there, the son of Aaron. And I should
have known. I've read it before, but it never
dawned on me that Eliezer also got to go into the land, the
promised land, with Joshua and Caleb. He was the high priest,
and he performed his duties. He performed them with Joshua,
the son of Nun. And this Joshua, the son of Josedek,
is mentioned in chapter 3. And we looked at that just a
little bit last week. And I just want to read those
first five verses of chapter 3. Because this high priest started
life in dirty garments. Aaron, that high priest. started life in dirty garments.
And we find that the Lord shows us in here that there must be
a change of garments. And now this is spiritual. Changed
his garments quite a bit because he had blood all over him all
the time. And probably this Joshua, the son of Joshedek, did the
same thing. But it tells us here Verse 1 of chapter 3 and he showed
me Joshua the high priest Standing before the angel of the Lord
and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him and here we
find that that that Satan is used To illustrate a point that
God's people are protected even in dirty garments God's people
are protected. He has his mark on them. He has
his love about them. He is protecting them As heirs
of salvation, I think if we took a little time tonight, we'd find
out that many of us, if it was left to ourself, wouldn't have
survived to this moment. Wouldn't have survived to the
time we got to hear the gospel, if it was left up to us. We'd
have been dead in some tragedy. Our parents would have mourned
our passing. But God protected us in that. So there are those
who are heirs of salvation. They are protected. They are
watched over. And it's not by some guardian
angel. God Almighty watches over His sheep. Lost sheep and found
sheep. The Holy Spirit watches over
the lost sheep and the found sheep. And Jesus Christ knows
exactly who they are. He died for them. And He will
have them all to the full. He will. So Satan buffeted him,
Satan brought up this accusation against him, and yet as we look
in the book of Job, Satan there is God's Satan, he's not God,
he's not equal with God, he's not even semi-equal with God,
he's not the brother of Jesus, he is the adversary. And he's God's adversary, and
God uses him for his glory. He uses him for his very personal
glory. And he can do only what God permits
him to do, as he's illustrated in the book of Job. He is not
omniscient, he's not omnipresent, and he's not omnipotent. I've
had people tell me that he can get into our mind. I'm sorry. He's not that able. The Holy
Spirit can lead us and direct us according to the scriptures,
but Satan doesn't have that power and he's not given that power.
We're drawn away of our own lusts and enticed of our own. Don't blame it on Satan. He's not the culprit. We are. We're the problem. We're thankful
that we have the problem solver. He maketh us both to will and
to do of his good pleasure. We're thankful for that loving
care that he has over us. All right, verse two, the Lord
rebuketh thee. Hallelujah. I just love that statement. The
Lord rebuketh thee and is taken care of. The Lord, O Satan, even
the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee. I've chosen my people.
I've chosen this man. I've chosen him to be one of
my children. I've chosen him to be my high
priest. You're not going to touch him.
He's mine. Rebuke thee as a bran plucked
out of the fire. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments. This Joshua, though he is the
high priest, is born like everybody else with dirty garments. Well,
there's an illustration. Where is it in the book of Isaiah,
is it? Had not been swaddled, had not been cleansed, been cast
out into the field. Talking about Israel, but natural
man is just in that condition. We've just not been taken care
of. And the only one that can is God Almighty, and he does
take care of it. And he answered and spake unto
thee that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments
from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with a change of raiment. Now, when will this
Joshua ever have to deal with that problem again? When will
he deal with it? Never. His iniquity was taken from him. Now we sin, Joshua would be the
first to admit, every time he took that bowl of blood into
the Holy of Holies, he sinned enough to send him to a devil's
hell ten times over. But that's not what keeps us,
is our own ability. We have no righteousness of our
own, we need his righteousness. We need that new clothing, we
need that new garment, we need his righteousness. And that's
exactly what was given to him, I'll clothe you with a change
of raiment. Joshua didn't have anything to do with putting that
on God took care of it. Just as he does with us I'm reminded
again of what it says in the book of Genesis we we bring forth
after our kind and God brings forth after his kind a spiritual
living being and he's the only one that can We can only produce
after our kind we cannot produce after God's kind We must be born
again. And that's God giving us that
very relationship of what the Lord said, Nicodemus, you need,
but didn't give him any hows because there are no hows. It's
God's doing his work. He's the one. All right. Then
it says there in verse five, and I said, let them set a Fair
miter upon his head, so they set a fair miter upon his head
and clothed him with goodbye. And we just say thank you because
you're illustrating to us the necessity we have of having the
same thing happen. We'll not ever become a king
priest or a priest to the most high God without you doing that.
Now this Zechariah, or excuse me, this high priest, this Joshua
is mentioned over here in the 11th verse of chapter 6. Then
take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the
head of Joshua, the son of Joseph the High Priest." Now there's
going to be much said about Joshua. We probably will never run out
of things to say about this Joshua as a type and a shadow and a
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, because it goes on to say that
this man, and I also think that that first Joshua, Joshua the
son of Nun, are an illustration of him whose name is the branch.
They are a picture. and a type and a shadow. I was
reading in some notes today that I made 11 years ago. Every Old
Testament prophet shot at the mark Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. Every Old Testament prophet,
every Old Testament prophecy is about this one, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now this, he is required to have
a change of garments and we find that he is the high priest. We
find out that there's only one true high priest. There's only
one that can actually do the job that is illustrated by Joshua
the high priest or Aaron or Eliezer or any of the following priests.
There's only one. Now there's a great limit on
these high priests. The limit is they're human, and
they cannot continue their high priesthood. Turn with me, if
you would, over to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter
7 shares with us the necessity of the true high priest, the
necessity of having a high priest that is not of the lineage of
Aaron, not of the lineage of Abraham, not of the lineage of
Abel. Abel, in a sense, was a priest.
He offered that offering. By faith, he offered a more acceptable
offering than his brother did. We move down through time, we
see that Moses offered an offering, and Abraham offered an offering.
And then it comes down to the time when Israel is released
from Egypt, and they go off into the wilderness there, and they're
set up a true picture of, his name is Aaron. And we read all
about how they set him aside and covered him with different
coverings. And all of them were symbolic of the graces of Jesus
Christ the Lord. Well, here in the book of Hebrews,
we find out that's not enough. There's not enough in all of
that. There's not enough in the clothing. There's not enough
in the miter. There's not enough in the decoration. There's not
enough in the service. There's not enough in all the
things that they did. Because it tells us in Hebrews
chapter 7, And verse 23, and they all truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. And all of those Old Testament
priests and high priests never offered an acceptable sacrifice. They offered animal sacrifices. Typical pictorial. but never
offered the true sacrifice. They never offered a sacrifice
that was acceptable. It is not the blood of bulls
and goats that take away sins. We need someone to represent
us who is like us, and those animals are not like us. They
do not have eternal life. They don't have eternal existence.
We need someone to represent us who is in the council halls
of eternity. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit determined that there must be someone who would represent
us as a faithful high priest that was like us. And that's
why he must come born in the flesh. He must be like his brethren. He must be like us in that capacity. He must be God, but he must be
man. at the same time and we know
his name as Emmanuel God with us we know him as that very term
and that we know him as the savior he shall save his people from
their sins we know him as that so all the old testament saints
were looking forward to one who was like unto them not a lamb
now we get close to critters don't we I remember my dad telling
us, don't make pets of those steers. But we did. And then we wept. And then we ate them. Don't make pets. We get attached
to them. We like them. Some become part
of our family almost. But there is nothing about them
that represent us. We need someone that will represent
us. Someone who can represent us
to someone who needs to have us represented to. We need a
high priest that knows the offended party personally. We, even Aaron,
couldn't know that. Eliezer couldn't know that. Joshua,
the son of Josedek, could not know that in his reality. We
needed someone who knew the offended party on good terms, face-to-face. And that's the son that sat with
the Father and the Holy Spirit and the Council Halls of Eternity
and determined the covenant of grace. He is the everlasting
High Priest. He is the eternal High Priest.
He was a priest in eternity past. He's never not been the priest
for his people in the covenant of grace. He's never not been
the savior of his people. He's never not been the Lamb
of God. He's never not been any of those wonderful terms that
we remember the Lord Jesus Christ by. He is the eternal Son of
God. He is the eternal God the Son.
So as we look at him as the high priest, we find out he's always
had that representation for us. Aaron came along in time. Eliezer
came along in time. But they didn't continue. Aaron
died before he went into the promised land. I use that term
figuratively, please. God promised that land. They'd
already left it. Now they're going back. But he
let Eliezer go in. But you know what? Eliezer died
there, just as Joshua and Caleb died there. They didn't have
no, they were not a continuing city. They didn't continue. Why? Because of death. Adam's sin
brought death upon all men, all women, all children. That is just reality. But this everlasting high priest
has determined in the covenant of grace to represent the fallen
creature before they fell to the offended party, God the Father,
who commanded not to partake of that fruit. Now, God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit had the same command to
Adam and to Eve in the Garden of Eden. So they were all three
spoken out against by Adam. The true high priest must be
both God and man. That's something that Joshua
the son of Joshedek was not. And Joshua the son of Nun was
not. They were not, they represented
men to God, but even in that apacity, they never prevented
anybody from dying. They never prevented anybody
from sinning. They were not able to take care of anybody's sin.
It didn't matter how many people came and said, here's some lambs,
I need you to go take care of them for me. Never took care
of one sin. Now those people did what was
required, but if you look in the book of Leviticus chapter
1 verse 1, it says, of their own voluntary will, they brought
these and they admitted before the priest, and they admitted
before the sacrifice, and they admitted to themselves and to
God, I'm a sinner, in need of a substitute. They knew that,
and how did they know that? By revelation. God had revealed
that truth to them. He must be able to deal with
the root of the problem. Now Aaron, nor Eliezer, nor Joshua
the son of Joshadeck, and all the priests in between, Could
not take care of the root problem and that was sin they were they
couldn't take care of their own not alone someone else's They
could not take care of sin They pictured what could take care
of sin, but not one sin was taken care of all those sacrifices
What were people saved in the old testament? absolutely God
says they were Abel was saved Adam and Eve were saved how by
the same grace that God uses to save us today, and by the
same manner, and that is Jesus Christ the righteous. Same manner. The great high priest must have
the proper line. Since the sons of Levi died,
we need somebody that doesn't die. Naturally, someone who would
voluntarily die Someone who would say, I take death. But Aaron
had no choice. He says, I'm taking you up into
a mountain, and you're going to put your clothes on your son
Eliezer, and you're going to die there. And Eliezer, how old he was,
I don't know. And where he was in his life,
I don't know. But when it came time, there was nothing to do
but die. It is appointed unto man once
to die, and after that, the judgment. So when it comes to the Lord
Jesus Christ, he voluntarily said, I will lay down my life,
a ransom for many. I will give my life a ransom
for me. I'll pay the price. He is truly
the great high priest. Now turn with me if you would
over to the Ephesians chapter 11. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
11. In Ephesians chapter 1, in the book of Joshua chapter
51, it tells about Eliezer and Joshua setting up all the inheritances
for the rest of the people of the land. Different tribes got
certain parts, both of them were involved in it. And I thought
that that was very interesting because it is our Joshua who
is the captain of our salvation, and it is our Joshua who is our
great high priest that sets up the inheritance for all his people. And here in the book of Ephesians
chapter one, verse 11, it says, in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance. Who is involved in this? Our
great high priest and the captain of our salvation has given us
an inheritance according, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after his own. Is our
inheritance? Our high priest and our captain
of our salvation is our inheritance. We're not looking for anything
else. There's nothing else. that God
is going to give to His people except His Son and every spiritual
blessing that goes with Him. Now, one other verse along this
line, 1 Peter 1 and verse 4. 1 Peter 1 and verse 4, it says
here, verse 3 and 4, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope. Now, what does that word,
hath begotten, we can look at that and we find out it's used
many ways. Different word choices are used
throughout the scriptures, but Jesus told Nicodemus, you must
be born again. You must be begotten of the Father.
You must be begotten of the Father. He says, according to his abundant
mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance. So our Joshua,
the son of Nun, and our Joshua, the son of Joshua, all summed
up in one, one person, Jesus Christ, the salvation, and our
great high priest has given us an inheritance, incorruptible
and undefiled, and fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you. Now, what is that? That is salvation
and all that goes with it. And none of it have we worked
for. It's an inheritance. It is an inheritance, as it says
there, that's incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away. It's just as good today as yesterday. And I have to say, when I see
him face to face, it will seem to get better. We have this inheritance by this
one who is our faithful high priest and the captain of our
salvation and many other things too. Our king, our lord, our
savior, our master. We have many other titles, but
we're just looking at those two right now. All right, now in
Psalm 110 in verse four, it is mentioned here that there's going
to be a priest, a high priest, after the order of another priest psalm 110 of verse 4 The Lord
has sworn psalm 110 in verse 4 The Lord has sworn and will
not change his mind on this matter And will not repent Thou art
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy
right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now there is only one person
that this passage of scripture is speaking about and we find
that this passage of scripture is mentioned way over in the
book of Hebrews. So let's go over there for just
a moment. Thou art a priest forever an
eternal priest having an eternal priesthood providing eternal
salvation For all of his sheep that he loved in eternity past
and had their names written down in the Lamb's Book of Life in
eternity past It is an eternal provision that changes not it's
eternal salvation that changes not because God changes not All
of his provisions changed not. So the security that God has
promised every one of his lost sheep, that when he finds them
and lets them know about the gospel, one of the promises that
he has made to them in everlasting behind this time, that's not
a proper way of putting it, is it? Old eternity, those promises. are factual and firm because
God have spoken them. And not only that, he has power
to keep them. That's the glorious thing about
the God of heaven. Not only can he say something,
but he has the power to keep what he says. Well, here in the
book of Hebrews, we're going to read A few verses here in
the book of Hebrews that have to do with Melchizedek. Now Melchizedek,
we're going to find out, he did not have beginning of the days
or end of years. He had neither father or mother.
He's an interesting individual that is spoken of in the book
of Genesis. And Abraham dealt with him after
the slaughter of the kings. And he paid tithes to Melchizedek,
who is king of Salem and priest of the Most High God. He is the
king of peace, king of Salem, and priest of the Most High God. What does that mean? He is the
ambassador. He is the high priest. He is the mediator. He is the go-between. He is. Christ in the Old Testament. And we find him brought up here
in the book of Hebrews. And we're just going to read
a few verses here in the book of Hebrews. We have a little time
left. And let's read here in the book
of Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. Verses 6 and 10 Hebrews chapter
5 or 6 as he saith also in another place Now you know this is just
a sidelight, but sometimes it comforts me To have this said like this because
I can say in another place it says if I can't remember the
address Sometimes it says in the second
psalm that And we can go right there to the second Psalm. Or
it says, or one of the prophets said. But here it says, in another
place, thank you. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek, in this Greek form,
means king of righteousness. king of righteousness now he
has a righteousness that we must have if we're ever going to see
God our righteousness will not do even if our righteousness
exceeded the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisee it will
not do we must have his righteousness then drop down there if you will
in verse 10 called of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek
now we have the Lord Jesus is called of God and high priest
after the order of Melchizedek. Why do we have Melchizedek representing
here instead of Aaron? We never have a record of Melchizedek's
death. We do have a record of Aaron's
death. We never have a record of Melchizedek
dying, but we do have a record that Eliezer the priest died
because his son took the place. And down to Joshua. We would
not have Joshua the son of Joshedek as high priest if those guys
had not died. We'd still have Aaron or Eliezer
won. Well, we have one after the order
of Melchizedek who had neither beginning of days or end of years.
The Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of here that we must have a different
line of High Priest. We cannot have Aaron. Aaron is,
for all intents and purposes, a failure. He's only a man. He's not God-man. Jesus Christ
the God-man is not going to fail on this point. Chapter 6 and
verse 20, read that with me. The forerunner is for us entered
even Jesus now we have him identified Our high priest is identified
whether the forerunner for us entered even Jesus made an high
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek even Abraham paid
tithes to this Melchizedek And you know what it says about Levi? Levi had his tithes paid in Abraham. Substitution. Turn with me to chapter 7 and
verse 1. Says, for this Melchizedek, king
of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning
from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also
Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation
king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which
is king of peace. You can't get any better than
that. This high priest, you just can't get any better than this.
This is the high priest. This is the one that Joshua,
the son of Joshua was representing. He had to have a clean up before
he could be called a child of God. God had promised him that
clean up. But this one never had to have
that clean up. He never had to have a change
of clothes. He didn't need our righteousness. He had his own
righteousness. And then in verse 10 of that
chapter, for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek
met him. Let's back up there. It says
in verse 9, and as I may say so, Levi also, who receiveth
tithes, paid tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of
his father when he met him. Wonderful statements about our
security, our salvation, taken care of before we were even born. You know, the interesting thing
that I got to bring up to a friend of mine is if Jesus Christ died
for everybody on the cross, then how in the world can people
in the Old Testament go to hell? He died for them on the cross
after they were all born. What justice is this? How could
Pharaoh go to hell? I've come to this conclusion
that religion has no logic. There is no logic in religion.
Statements are made, but no thinking process. You have to have the
Spirit of God to look at these subjects and say, it's got to
be this way. Well, let's move on here in verse
15. It says, and it is yet far more
evident for that after the similitude, of Melchizedek, there ariseth
another priest who is made not after the law of carnal commandment."
They didn't put all these decorations on him and say, we're going to
make you a high priest and all this stuff. It was an honor for
Aaron to be chosen for that office, no doubt. And yet it was a burden
placed upon him. And it goes on to tell us here,
who is made not after the law of carnal commandment, but after
the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is
verily a disknowing of the commandment going before, for the weakness
and unprofitableness thereof. Oh, to find out that the law
is unprofitable. Unprofitable. And then in verse,
21 of that chapter says for these those priests were made without
an oath But this with an oath by him that saith unto him the
Lord swear And will not repent thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek chapter 8 in verse 1 It says there, now
of these things which we have spoken of, this is the sum. We
have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the
throne of the majesty in heavens. Now what does that signify to
us? He was a successful high priest. He's sitting at the right
hand of the father. All that he did was satisfactory. God could say, I am well pleased,
not only with him at the Mount of Transfiguration, but on Mount
Sinai. I am well pleased. The right hand of the throne
of majesty. We mentioned a number of times. Aaron never got to
sit down. Eliezer never got to sit down.
Joshua, the son of Joshua, never got to sit down. But Jesus Christ,
the high priest, after the order of Melchizedek, is sitting down. Successful high priest. And then
chapter nine, verse 11, and with this we'll close. Chapter nine,
verse 11, but Christ being come, and high priest of good things,
to come by a greater, more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building, Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Aaron, Eliezer,
Joshua the son of Josedek, they never could do what Jesus Christ
did. They dealt with animal sacrifices
that could not take away sin. They're going to die in time.
This one gave a ransom for his people by himself. He gave himself
as a sacrifice. The atoning sacrifice that God
required that we might have the righteousness of God in Christ
Jesus. He required this and that is
the high priest make a good sacrifice. This sacrifice over here from
the outward appearances without spot and blemish. Yes, typical,
yes, but it's an animal. And Jesus Christ is the God man. God come in the flesh to offer
a more excellent sacrifice, and that was the sacrifice of himself. And you know what? God was well
pleased, and he said, all my folks have been saved, are being
saved, and will continue to be saved on the merits of the blood
of this great high priest.