Zechariah chapter 3 and I'd like
to begin reading with verse 8 We are have the name Joshua used
one more time here says here now. Oh Joshua the high priest
thou and thy fellows that sit before thee For they are men
wondered at for behold I will bring forth my servant the branch
and For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua, upon
one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the graving
thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I'll remove the iniquity
of that land in one day. In that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, shall you call every man his neighbor under the vine and
under the fig tree. Well, as we look at this and
as we find the book of Zechariah is often called, as well as the
book of Haggai and all of the other books of the Old Testament
except for the Psalms, and that includes the Song of Solomon
and other that were written in verse. And the Pentateuch, we
usually call the rest of those books prophecies, the prophets,
Isaiah the prophet. And I want to go over to the
book of Revelation for just a moment and read a passage there in chapter
19, something to be said about prophecy, any prophecy. Now, here in the book of Revelation,
we have these wonderful words about the Lord Jesus Christ as
it is spoken of, of him in the Old Testament. Now he is the
sum and substance of the Old Testament. He tells us that,
the prophets tell us that, the apostles tell us that, and here
in the book of Revelation in this last book of the great victory
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ over everything. What
a demonstration in this book of Revelation is Christ's victory
over everything. All that is false, all that is
sin, all that would be put in the way or the face
of the believer, he overcomes all of those things. And here
in chapter 19, we find written in verse 10, chapter 19 and verse
10, now John does something here and I think he felt like he was
bowing. He would not bow before a king
on this earth. He would not bow before any preacher.
He would not bow before any teacher. He would not do that. But here
in this scene, he bows before a being that identifies himself
just like John used to be. So this being was in such a character
and blessing that John says, I fell at his feet to worship
him. And he said unto me, see thou
do it not. I am thy fellow servant. So what
a statement is made about those in glory, and what a statement
is made about John when he sees that one in glory, but follow
the statement made by the one in glory when John did that.
Don't do that. I'm just being like you. And then it says here, see thou
do it not, I am thy fellow servant. and of thy brethren that have
the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Now when we go through the prophets
over here, Isaiah, Jeremiah, all the prophets in the Old Testament,
if we were given the grace by almighty God through his spirit
to remember these words when we go through there, that Jesus
is the spirit of prophecy. The worship of God for the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The design of the prophecy is
to bear testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the
prophets bring out And that's what the disciples that the Lord
had during his ministry brought out. And that's what we find
as we continue studying the New Testament, that this is brought
up. As we just heard recently, and
it has been put on sermon audio, that there in the many places
in the New Testament are direct quotes from the Old Testament.
And bringing out the truth of Jesus Christ that was brought
out there, and now here it is, one more time. So he is the spirit
of prophecy. Christ is the scope and the design
of the whole scripture. If there was no Christ, if there
was no Son, if there was no Savior, there would be no reason for
the entire Bible to be put together. It would be just as any other
book, but we find here the whole scripture is to him, give all
the prophets witness. They said to him, the Messiah
is coming. The promised one is coming. And
Moses brought that out. The Lord Jesus said, he wrote
of me. He talked to a bunch of Pharisees about that. He wrote
of me. You take the Jesus and his grace and his spirit and
the gospel out of the Bible, you have nothing left. And that religion does that,
the philosophers do that, they say there's nothing to it. But
Jesus Christ is the heart and core of the scriptures, and he's
the heart and core of the prophets of Old Testament. And he's the
heart and core of this passage of scripture that we'll be looking
at. Just back up a little bit there in the book of Acts, if
you would, the book of Acts chapter 10. The book of Acts chapter
10, we have this statement made that we find great comfort in
when we study the Old Testament. One of the glorious benefits
that I have had of going through the Old Testament is seeing Christ,
how he was declared in the Old Testament. And I've told you
this, we went through that passage of scripture in the book of Luke.
where it said in all things he declared himself in the Old Testament,
in all the scriptures. I made this statement, I wish
we could have been there. That night I woke up. I don't
know what time it was, and I says, we do have it. And that changed
my ministry, the Old Testament. We have that entire message of
Christ. Now, how long he spent doing
that, sharing that with his disciples. And after he ascended back to
the Father, he still revealed the things in the Old Testament
concerning himself. because that's all they had and
all they preached from. It was going to be some time
before we had what we know as the canon today, the Bible. Well,
here in the book of Acts chapter 10 and verse 43, Acts chapter
10 and verse 43, it shares with us here. To him, give all the prophets
witness that through his name, Whosoever believeth in him shall
receive the remission of sins. and we've already received the
forgiveness of sin. So belief is the wonderful fruit
of the spirit. If we truly believe the scriptures,
then God has revealed that to us in regeneration. And we say,
thank you, Lord, because I could have never got from here to there.
Religious belief is not belief. God-given belief is belief. There's
yards, there's miles, there's centuries between the two. And
then one other place here in the book of Acts, would you read
with me? In Acts chapter 13, and there in verse 27. As we
think about the prophecy in Zachariah. Zechariah the prophet, Zechariah
the preacher, Zechariah the minister, Zechariah the missionary, Zechariah
the evangelist. Zechariah covers all of those
things when he brings that wonderful message. God moved upon him to
give us that book. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit. So God gave him that message
and he was so pleased to write it down and to leave it for us.
And God was pleased that that would be a book written by inspiration.
He gave it to Zechariah. And here in Acts chapter 13 and
verse 27, we read this, for, Acts chapter 13 verse 27, for
they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they
knew him not, nor the voices of the prophets, They didn't
know him, but they claimed to know the Old Testament. But they
didn't know the voice of the prophet. They couldn't hear it.
It was in a spiritual language. They quickly, like so often today,
they quickly jumped to conclusions about God having a kingdom and
that he's going to set up a kingdom. And we can read about that. But
they jumped to conclusions and said, he's going to get rid of
the Romans. Even the disciples for a short
time was caught into that thought, he's gonna get rid of the Romans.
But he showed, this is a spiritual kingdom. This is spiritual salvation. The flesh will not be saved in
this life. It will be saved when he gives us a new body. Going
on here, it says, knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets,
which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them
in condemning him. They heard every Sabbath day. I wonder who would have read
the scriptures that day when Jesus Christ sat down, they gave
him the scroll of Isaiah, and he read it. Who would have read
it if it hadn't been for him? Well, we know that he was there
by divine appointment, but somebody would have read the scriptures
that day, and then went out and said, well, we heard it again
today, let's go fishing. it meant nothing to so many,
but those who he moved upon, revealed the scriptures to, it
meant everything. This is the ministry of Christ. And then, if you back up just
a little bit more, in chapter 15 of John, John chapter 15,
John chapter 15 and verse 26, when the Holy Spirit, There's
some things about the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit coming that
I haven't all put together yet. Because I know the Holy Spirit
was here when God created the heavens and the earth. And I
know the Holy Spirit moved in the days of old, in the Old Testament
era. But here the Lord Jesus says
when he leaves, the Holy Spirit's gonna come in this capacity.
the capacity will be to testify of me. All right, tells us right
here in John chapter 15 verse 26, but when the comforter has
come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit
of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me. So that's the ministry of the
Holy Spirit, The reason for the prophets was to preach Christ.
The reasons of the prophecies, Christ is the spirit of all the
prophecies. So as we go back over here in
the book of Zechariah, we'll find in chapter 3 that there
is this spiritual blessing that is couched in these words. and
those who knew something, those who knew the gospel in the Old
Testament era, they also understood that this far beyond just some
physical declarations about Joshua and about a branch. There is
more meaning here. What was it that Eve even said
when she named her first child? They had been promised that there
would be a Messiah come. And when she gave birth to her
first child, she believed that this child was him. That just
gives some clarity to the understanding that people had in the Old Testament
concerning the Messiah, concerning Christ. That they saw him in
scriptures, and Moses saw him in the scriptures, and other
believers saw him in scriptures. Just as those who would bring
sacrifices in the book of Leviticus, those that brought sacrifices
for sin. Though I've said this many times,
there were probably very few of those sacrifices took place.
But those who brought them, they understood this is not my Messiah. This is not my deliverer. This
is not my savior. This is a picture of him. No
more do we see that in that sacrifice than we do when we take the cup
and we take the bread or when we go down to the river and witness
the baptism. It's just a picture type of the
shadow and there's no efficacy in that. Those people believe
the same thing in the Old Testament. So as we go back to the book
of Zechariah chapter 3, We find here that the Lord brings out
to Zachariah. He shares with Zachariah some
very pertinent things about this Joshua and about the fellows
that are around him. Notice with me in Zachariah chapter
3 and there in verse 8, O Joshua the high priest, Now, Joshua,
this high priest, is a representation, a picture, a type, and a shadow
of the true Joshua, the true Savior, who is truly the high
priest. This high priest would die. The
true high priest ever liveth to make intercession for us.
He is the high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
There was no line from Levi down to Jesus. The line comes through
Judah, and that line is an order of a priesthood after the order
of Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God.
What a statement is made about that person in the Old Testament,
and it appears so clearly that Abraham went and did Obesence,
he bowed before the pre-incarnate Savior. This one Melchizedek,
without father, without mother, without beginning of days or
end of years. Wow, he saw something there. He saw something. Well,
here in the book of Zechariah it says, O Joshua, the high priest,
thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they are men
wondered at. They are wondered at. Now turn
with me back to the book of Jeremiah, if you would. Jeremiah chapter
eight. Jeremiah chapter eight. Now, when I was looking at this
passage in Jeremiah, it helped me with a passage in the book
of Acts. Because in the book of Acts,
there's a quotation from the book of Joel about what was going
on that day. And there's been a lot of mystery
around that. And people want to apply, oh,
that, oh, what's the word, that revelation, the apocalyptic view
of those things. And they want to jump ahead.
When that preacher said, this is what Joel was writing about,
not some future apocalyptic, So here in the book of Jeremiah
chapter eight, Jeremiah chapter eight, I know this. The scriptures
teach this very plainly, that the last sheep is saved, then
this whole thing will be wrapped up. There will be no longer any
need for the earth as we have it. It's gonna be cleansed and
God's gonna do his eternal purpose. but the last one isn't saved
yet, and that might be our children, our grandchildren, might be our
neighbor. I had some strong thoughts about
a fellow that I saw the other day in a Zoom meeting, and I
said, maybe, today I apologize, I said, maybe he's just another
Saul of Tarsus, and I don't know it yet. God can work a miracle. Well, here in the book of Jeremiah,
chapter eight and verse 18, notice this with me, Jeremiah, Oh my goodness. I have written down the wrong
one and I cannot go any further without it. This is so good. Why would I do that? Such a man. The scriptures say, behold, I
and the children whom the Lord hath given me 818, was I looking at it and didn't
recognize it? Well, I'll have to give the verse. But it says, behold, I and the
children whom the Lord hath given me, now notice this, are for
signs and for wonders. Isaiah 818. Thank you so much. That's only one book off. Isaiah. Well, that's what I wrote
down here too and looked at Jeremiah. Okay. Isaiah 818. There we go. All right. It says here, behold, I and the
children whom the Lord hath given me. Now, what are the children? are for signs and for wonders
in Israel, for the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion. Now, as I was thinking about
that, a believer is a wonder. A believer is a wonder. It doesn't
come by nature. We're not born that way. A believer,
like the one believed, is a wonder. Christ a wonder of grace and
a believer is a wonder of graciousness. So as we look at this passage
of scripture here in Isaiah 8 and verse 18, that the children are
like wonders and the Lord Jesus Christ is a great wonder. My goodness, he would go into
a crowd and nobody knew him. And then he revealed himself
and he was able to say, thou art the Christ, the son of the
living God. What a wonder that is for anybody
to recognize that character, that characteristic, that prestige
about this man, Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. So every believer
is a wonder. in this world, and the Lord Jesus
Christ is a wonder in this world. To the church, he's so much more
than just a prophet. To the church, he is so much
more than just a moral reflection. To the church, he is much more
than just someone who knew about the Bible or knew some scriptures
from the Bible. To the church, he is the savior. He is a wonder. The wonder of
the star that pointed him out, the wonder of those magi. I heard the other day and I never
thought about this, but those magi, the only thing we can connect
with them is Daniel preaching to them. came from the same place. They're kind of the carryover
of the preaching of the gospel there in Babylon. And these folks,
they understood the scriptures and God revealed that there in
Palestine is the Savior's born. And they traveled all that distance
to get there. So what a wonder it is to have
one believer. What a wonder to have the church.
And what a wonder it is to the church to have the Savior. The
Savior that took care of all the sins of all His people and
that we will stand clean before Him. This wonder. Now turn with me to the book
of Acts again. Keep your finger back there in Zachariah but turn
with me to the book of Acts again. Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter
2. Now this is the passage of scripture
that we have the events of Pentecost. And in this passage of scripture,
it shares who was there to hear the word, and it shares that
all the disciples preached the gospel, and everybody heard the
word of God in their own language while they were there. And Peter
is preaching to probably the Hebrews, I don't know. But he
certainly is preaching to us, because that's the record we
have. Now the rest of the preaching didn't contradict what Peter
had to say, and Peter didn't contradict them, because they
were all preaching the same thing. They were preaching Christ and
Him crucified, And then if we look here in verse 14, but Peter
standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice and said unto them,
ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, for this
know unto you and hearken to my words. For these are not drunken,
as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But
this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Now what
was Joel's ministry? The spirit of prophecy is Christ. All of this has something to
do about Christ and his ministry and the ones he saves. They are
wonders. They are wonders of grace. They are wonders that are placed
in this earth. And you know what that says about
those wonders? They are the salt of the earth.
They are the only reason that this earth hasn't been wrapped
up before is because they're not all brought into the fold
yet. They're preserving this world
until a day of judgment. Well, it goes on to tell us here
in Acts, for it says here in verse 17, and it shall come to
pass in the last days. And he said, here it is right
here. saith God, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young
men shall see visions. And you know, immediately, religion
jumps ahead to an apocalyptic view of this and will not listen
to Peter's words. It's happening before our very
eyes. Old men shall dream dreams, verse
18, and on my servants and on my handmaids I'll pour out in
those days my spirit saith, and they shall prophesy, now notice
verse 19, and I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in
the earth beneath. What does that mean? It means
I'm gonna save my people from their sins. They're gonna be
a wonder. Those who are in heaven are already
a wonder. John bowed down before one of
them and said, You look like God. And that wonder said, don't
worship me, worship Christ. Because I'm a wonder here, but
he is the wonder here. It tells us there, signs in earth
beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. These all have some
spiritual application to what was going on then and up to this
very point when The Lord of Hosts mentioned about Joshua and his
folks, his men being with him, a wonder. He's speaking about
the church is a wonder before God and to the church God The
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is the greatest
wonder they have ever seen. And that comes by revelation.
So I will show you wonders in heaven and signs in the earth
beneath. Here we have it. God will save his people. And
that Saul of Tarsus to many people, he was more than a wonder they
didn't want to believe. The man that baptized him didn't
want to believe that. When he went to Jerusalem, they
didn't want to believe that. This is a true wonder of grace
that God would save such a man as this. And when we get down
to it, that man was in exactly the same position, condition
that everyone else that has ever been saved, sinners. saved by
grace is a wonder before God and a wonder before each other. We all at the city of refuge
are in wonderment that we're here. So, going back there to
the book of Zechariah chapter three, he says, for they are
men wondered at. Well, This is not the first time
men and women, boys and girls, have been wondered at. They were
wondered at in the book of Isaiah. They're wondered at in the book
of Acts. Every believer is a wonder. And as it's brought out with
regard to Abraham, he looked for a city whose builder and
maker was God. And to most of the world, he
said, he is a fool. Noah, he's a fool, but in the
eyes of God, he is a wonder of grace. And he went ahead and
built that ark. Abraham went out and looked for
a city whose builder and maker was God. He was moved to be a
wonder to those folks when he headed up on the mount with his
son and told him, we'll be back. What a wonder. And then we look
at the Lord Jesus Christ himself as the great wonder of all times. all those shepherds came and
wondered at him. Everybody that ever saw him and
knew him as Savior, they wondered at him. What compassion he has,
how he loveth those that are his. Well, it goes on to tell
us in this verse of scripture, in verse eight, for they that
are men wondered at, for behold, I will bring forth my servant,
and I like the translation, Great big letters. Now if it wasn't
for great big letters, we'd still understand this is speaking about
someone else besides Joshua. This is speaking about the branch.
The translators put this in the branch. Great big letters. We're
talking about someone very important. Now he is like a branch out of
dry ground. But let's go over to read two
or three verses of scripture in the book of Jeremiah that
have to do with this. Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah
chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 5. Behold the days come Jeremiah
chapter 23 verse 5 behold the days come saith the Lord that
I will raise unto David a righteous branch and a king shall reign
and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth
in his days Judah shall be saved and and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Now did you notice
in there, he's a righteous branch. He is a righteous branch. This
branch, this one of God's giving, this righteous branch that we
read about over here in the book of Zechariah, my servant the
branch, and over here he is called the righteous branch, I will
raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign
and prosper. We have here these wonderful
words spoken about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, Christ the
Messiah. Same words, different languages,
Christ the Messiah. He is the anointed one. And David,
he's raising up to David. Now David had some sons that
were just, Hmm, you read about some of those, even Solomon. What a, Lord loved him. Absalom, Absalom, oh Absalom. And yet here, it says, I will
raise unto David a righteous branch. What satisfaction will
be in this son, the righteous branch, and a king shall reign. Well, we look into the scriptures
and we find that this king has never not reigned. This king
has always reigned. He has reigned in heaven before
the foundation of the world. He reigned in creation. He reigned
with Adam. He reigned with Eve. He reigned
over all the tragedy that went on there. It wasn't that he came
down and tried to correct it. He knew what was going to happen
and he had the solution. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, he covered them with his covering and that was
the only covering that would be acceptable. And that's the
way it has been all the way down through time. So he is called
the Lord, our righteousness, but he's called the righteous
branch. And then if you look with me in Jeremiah 33, Jeremiah
33 and verse 15, Jeremiah 33 and verse 15. It says here, in those days and
at that time will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow
up unto David. And he shall execute judgment
and righteousness in the land. And in those days shall Judah
be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the
name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. I
never noticed before the precursor to that name for the church and
that name for the Lord. And that is, he's the branch,
he's the righteous branch, and he shall be raised up. Now, to
Jeremiah, who is living in a time of great catastrophic events
in Israel, to be able to say this, there's a day coming when
a savior will come. There's a day coming when the
savior that was promised shall come. This is the righteous branch
that he shall be raised up. Now, he's gonna have the similarities
to man, to the children that he's gonna save, and yet he speaks
with authority because he's almighty God, and he can speak to the
Father, and the Father can completely understand what he has to say.
This is that righteous branch that came down and became the
Savior of his people. What a glory it is. Now, over
there, When we look at the Lord Jesus Christ being the
spirit of prophecy, we're gonna find out, and I had to look up
that word, W-O-O-F, and warp and woof. I got it right here. It's the warp and the woof. And
I can't remember right now which goes this way and which goes
this way. But Christ is the warp and woof of the scriptures. And
there's a passage of scripture over the book of Leviticus that
talks about there being leprosy in the warp or the woof. Now
what he's talking about there is more than just having a mold
in your cloth. You're having either, if you
have leprosy in the warp and woof of the robe of righteousness,
it means you've added something to it. Now we can't add anything
to that warp and woof of the righteousness of Christ either
direction. Now one direction the strings
are held in place and the other direction the strings are put
in. Those going the direction that are supported by the weaving
thing We can just say that's God's glory, righteousness, sovereignty. But when we start adding negative
things to that, that cloth has leprosy. And when we try to make
Jesus Christ, take him out of the Old Testament or out of the
New Testament, we have a true problem because he is the spirit
of prophecy, he's the spirit of all prophecy. Going over to
the book of Zechariah one more time, would you go there twice
in this book do we have him called the branch. Here in Zechariah
chapter 3 and verse 8, he's my servant the branch. He's the
righteous branch. He's the branch of David. Here
he is my servant the branch. And then If you'll turn just
a little bit further in chapter six and verse 12. Chapter six
and verse 12, here we see this. And remember that Zachariah,
like the prophet Isaiah, and like the preachers on the day
of Pentecost, were decreed, told, enforce this in your preaching,
comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. Tell them that
your sins are forgiven and paid for. that they will not be brought
up again. Here, we find that he's comforting
the people. There are some people in Jerusalem
and Judah that understand what he's writing about. And he's
speaking to them, saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying,
behold, the man whose name is the branch. A man whose name
is the branch. This man. the man, a body prepared,
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 he shall be a priest unto his throne,
and a council of peace shall be between them both. What a
statement is made about what Jesus Christ the Savior will
do. This branch, the man, he is the man. Behold the man whose
name is the branch so he promised We've got salvation all taken
care of People were saved in the Old Testament by the promise
of this great salvation Jesus Christ came born of a virgin
he was the man Christ Jesus and he performed all that the covenant
of grace dictated to him and I was shared with this morning
that Jesus, when he said, let this cup pass from me, he could
have passed that back and not done it. And I says, don't go
there. Don't go there, that's not what he's saying. He's letting
us know he's the man, Christ Jesus. He's the man that hungered,
he's the man that thirsted, he's the man that grew weary, he's
the man, Christ Jesus. But never in all of history,
and before the foundation of the world either, did he ever
have the thought of changing his mind about redemption. He
set his face as a flint. And so the Old Testament prophesies
about this one, the Lord Jesus Christ, the branch. We're gonna
spend a little more time on this subject of the branch next time
we get together. But this spirit of prophecy,
the Old Testament, let's find Christ. Let's look at him. Let's
see what he's doing. And this branch is so significant
as we follow it through the Old Testament. as the testimony of
Jesus Christ by these, testified every Sabbath day, brought up,
preached, taught. just as Philip and the Ethiopian
eunuch began at the same place and preached unto him Jesus,
Zechariah is beginning at the same place and preaching Jesus
Christ as the branch of God, the righteous branch, David's
righteous branch, and the man who is the branch. So until next
time, we'll stop here and we'll look forward to coming again
to this passage of scripture in the book of Zechariah chapter
3, verse 8, 9, and 10.