I invite you to turn back with
me now to the book of Zechariah. Zechariah chapter six and verses
12 through 13. It is the thought of many in our
day that the Old Testament is of little value to us now. I remember when I was a child,
They would give out, especially in the military, if you went
in the military, they'd give you what they called a New Testament. And I've told you that before.
That's half a Bible. That's half a Bible. The Old
Testament is not done away with. Its words are not of little value
to us now. But it's thought by many that
it is. They believe that it serves some
purpose. As to the history of the world,
if you want to talk about creation and the history of the world,
they'll go to the Old Testament and quote some verses. If you
want to talk about the Jews, they'll go to the Old Testament
and they'll show you some historic value concerning the Jews. Or
religion in general may go back and pick here and there a few
things to teach practical lessons. They'll use Samson, they'll use
different things in there and that'll teach you some practical
lessons. But for the most part, this religious
world could do away with the Old Testament altogether. And
no doubt, this explains the ignorance men have of its contents. Often
I've quoted something from the Old Testament and they say, well,
where does it say that? And I said, well, in the book
of Isaiah. Oh, that's the old Bible. Well, just one Bible. Just one Bible. But the scriptures themselves
tell us different. The book of God says all scripture,
all of it, is given by inspiration of God. Okay, well, we don't
have a problem with that. But that ain't all that he said.
And it's profitable. What's it profitable for? Doctrine. You mean, you mean I can go back
and read Moses and it's gonna be profitable
for my doctrine? That's what he said. You mean I can read the book
of Ruth and it's profitable for my doctrine? Absolutely. It's profitable. Actually at
this time, when he's talking about these things at this time,
there was no New Testament. He's talking about Malachi all
the way back to Genesis. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and it's profitable for doctrine. It's profitable for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
You mean to tell me I can go back and read the book of Isaiah
and be instructed in righteousness? Absolutely. We see it. We see
it. Paul says this. In Ephesians
chapter two, he said, we are built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets. New Testament, Old Testament. We're built upon the foundation.
It's what's gonna hold up that temple. It's what's gonna hold
up that building, that house of God. is this foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
cornerstone. And I've told you before, you
set that cornerstone. Here's the Old Testament, and
it's going clear back to eternity. And here's the New Testament,
it's going clear on to the second advent of Christ and eternity
that way. And to connect these two, there's
a cornerstone. And you stand behind that cornerstone,
and you can see both directions, this is clearly as can be. The cornerstone is what connects
them. We're built on that foundation, the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Listen to this. Peter said, we
have a more sure word of prophecy. What's he talking about? He's
talking about that day that him and James and John went up on
that mountain and saw the Lord transfigured before their eyes.
We saw it, he said, I was there, I saw it. But he said, we have
a more sure word of prophecy. What are you talking about, Old
Testament? We have a more sure word of prophecy. Whereunto ye do well that ye
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
the day dawn and the day star, what's that? That's Christ, arise
in your hearts. And these are just a few of the
many verses that state clearly that both Old and New Testaments
are one book and should be read and taught and received as the
word of God and the foundation of our faith. Well, what is the
book of Zechariah about? Well, the Jews had been taken
captive by Nebuchadnezzar. The temple had been torn down,
ravaged. All of its vessels, all of the
things of the temple, he hauled back to Babylon with him. They
drank wine from the holy vessels and all of these things. It was
just an abomination. And Jerusalem lay all but destroyed. There was very little of Jerusalem
left. And it was picked over. A storm hits a place. Everybody
leaves. What happens? People come in
and pick all over. They just pick, pick this, pick
that, pick this till there's nothing left. Nothing left. All that remained was total ruin. They stood in the ruins when
they walked into Jerusalem. They stood in the ruins. The
Lord now ready to show mercy, he sends his prophet Zechariah
with what he calls in chapter 1 verse 13, good and comfortable
words. Words of inspiration, words of
better times coming, words of blessing and Grace from God. A light concerning God's purpose
with Jerusalem. But I want you to understand
this. The Holy Scriptures, and I love this, old brother Barnard
used to say this all the time, are bifocal. They're bifocal. You can see what's going on immediately
And you can see what's going on way out yonder. They're bifocal. Zechariah's prophecies dealt
with the things of the day. But its main reason for being
written is to show the coming redeemer. To show who he is,
why he's coming, what he's gonna do, and where he's gonna go.
That's why it was written. But it served the purpose of
the day. In Acts 10.43 it says to him, talking about Christ,
give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. In the book of Zechariah, some
16 times, I challenge you, you go through, maybe you'll find
18. One writer I read said there was 18. I could only find 16.
But 16 times he uses these words in that day. In that day. In that day. He just keeps saying
it. Zechariah 2.11, many nations
shall be joined to the Lord in that day. Talking about the Gentiles. Zechariah 9.16, the Lord their
God shall save them in that day as a flock of his people. He
got some sheep and he's gonna save them. Zechariah 13, one,
in that day there shall be a fountain opened in the house of David
unto the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. A fountain's
gonna be in that day and it's gonna wash away sin. It's gonna
take away sin. Zechariah 14, six, it shall come
to pass in that day The light shall not be clear in the dark,
but it shall be, now watch this, one day. One day. Is he talking about a single
day? No, he's talking about the gospel day. He's talking about
from the time he appeared in that manger to the end of time. Not a single day or a certain
time, but a gospel day, a time when the coming Messiah shall
appear and accomplish his redemption. Ascend back into glory and reign
till the end of the day. Listen to how the apostles spoke
about this day. The night is far spent, the day
is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. We
walk, how do we walk? As children of the day. Exhort one another daily while
it's called today. Night cometh when no man's gonna
do anything. Everything from the appearance
of Christ till the second advent is called the day. Actually,
Job, one of the oldest books in the Bible, the book of Job,
this is what he calls Christ. Do you remember? The day's man. The day's man, oh my soul. Peter called him the day star,
the sun, the sun. And if you'll think on these
things as we read these verses, I think you'll be comforted as
they were with this wonderful prophecy. You and I are in the
same condition now. God has a church, but his church
is in total ruin. It's in total ruin. The enemy
has come in, and he's destroyed it. There's nothing there but
ruin. I look at a man, he may be one
of God's elect, and I look at him and all I can see is ruin.
I have hope that I'm one of God's elect, but when I first looked
inside, all I could find was total ruin. Total ruin. That's what these men saw. Ruin,
ruin, ruin. We're in the same condition they
were. We fell in Adam, and antichrist
religion has left this world in ruin. None that understandeth,
Paul said, none that seeketh after God. All gone astray. Destruction and misery in the
way of peace they've not known. All you and I have ever known
is captivity. This is 70 years after this all
took place. And so a lot of these people
who are standing here were born in captivity. That's all they
ever knew. That's all they ever knew. And
all you and I have ever known is captivity. But in spite of
their affliction and the world that contributed to it, God says
in Zechariah 1.16, thus saith the Lord, I'm returned to Jerusalem
with mercies. And my house is gonna be built
in it. I'm gonna build my house. Sayeth
the Lord of Hosts. And I'm gonna draw a line. I'm
gonna begin and stretch out my ruler on the new Jerusalem. On the new Jerusalem. You remember
what John said on the Isle of Patmos? He said, I saw that holy
city, Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. We ain't
talking about some place over in the holy land. We're talking about his city.
Abraham searched for a city, a city that had foundations whose
builder and maker is God. In spite of their afflictions,
And the world that contributed to it, God says, I've returned,
and I've returned in mercies. Now listen to our text. Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, behold the man. Do you remember John
the Baptist appeared? He's the forerunner of Christ.
And he's preaching, and he's out here in the middle of nowhere.
Little stream that run off of the River Jordan, and right there
at the mouth of it, he was baptizing. a good place to baptize. And
he was out there preaching and baptizing on that river, day
after day after day, preaching to the people. Everybody, who
was anybody, come out to hear him preach. He was God's man. And one day he looked up and
here come Jesus of Nazareth walking down the path. You know what
John said? Behold the man. The Lamb of God, the Lamb of
God. Oh my soul. And this is what
he's telling us back here in Zechariah. Behold the man, the
man whose name is the branch. Behold the man, the man, not
any man, but the man whose name is the branch. Now the branch
goes clear back to the beginning. Later on, every time you see
that word branch, like in Jeremiah and so on, every time you see
that word branch, it's capitalized, it's talking about Christ. But
the branch goes back to the beginning. Did you know the branch is what
they called the stems on the candlestick that sat in the tabernacle? It's called the branch. It's
what held up the light. There are six of them. What's
six? That's the number of a man. Here's
the God man. He's holding them bowls of light
inside that tabernacle. The only light the tabernacle
had inside, the only source of light in it, the candlestick.
Candlestick, that's Christ. You remember when They'd wandered
around out in the wilderness for a little while and they came
up to the promised land and they said, well, let's send some spies
over and get some evidence. Get some evidence, bring it back,
see what's over there. God promised us. And they went
over there and it said they cut down a branch, a branch, one
branch, and the grapes on that branch, which was the evidence
of the promised land, Here's the evidence. It's on a branch,
and the grapes are so big that two men had to bear them to bring
them back. Huh? Who's that branch? That's
Christ. That's Christ. The father's the
husband, man, he tells us over in the book of John. And he planted
a vine. What's that vine? That's Christ,
that's the branch. And we're grafted into him. David cried, return, we beseech
thee, O God of hosts. Look down from heaven and behold
and visit this vine and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted
and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. Who's he talking about? He's
talking about Christ, talking about Christ. And then in Isaiah
11-1, and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the Spirit of
the Lord shall rest upon him, and the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding, and the Spirit of counsel and might. And again,
he's talking about Christ. Behold the man whose name is
the branch. And that's my message to you
this morning, behold. the man. There can be little
doubt that there were before us all these things that are
before us are talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. So if I can
by faith see myself gazing upon the ruin of God's holy city,
his church, what does God the Holy Ghost tell me about this
man whose name is the branch? How is that to comfort me? this
man who is the branch. Well, let me give you six things
about this man, this God-man, this righteous branch. First
of all, he tells us in Zechariah 6.12 that he shall grow up out
of his place. What on earth is he talking about? He grew up out of his place. Well, what is the primary place
of the prophesied Redeemer? In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word, where was the Word? He was with God, and the Word
was God. That's his place. That's his
place. Heaven itself. John 6, 38, I
came down from heaven, Christ said. I didn't come from the seed of
Joseph, I came down from heaven. That was my place. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. Listen to this over in Philippians
chapter 2, verse 6. He's talking about Christ and
us having the mind of Christ. And he said, who being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation and took upon him the likeness of
men. And then Paul said he took not
on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. When
the fullness of the time was come, Paul said, God sent forth
His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Why? To redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. He grew up out of His place. His place is in the Godhead,
but He grew up out of His place. And he must, as our representative
and substitute, come into this world and accomplish our redemption. It's absolutely necessary. To
show mercy to Jerusalem, he must condescend to take upon himself
permanently our flesh and bones. I love what that preacher from
Winston-Salem preached in that Bible conference that year. There's
a man in glory. One mediator between God and
me and the man, Christ Jesus. There's a man sitting at the
right hand of God. He shall grow up out of his place,
all right? Secondly, Zechariah 6, 12. He
shall build the temple of the Lord. Matthew 16, having heard Peter's
confession of him as the Christ, our Lord said to him upon this
rock, shall I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. And Christ is that rock. He's
the rock. I love what he told those Jews.
They come to get him, and he said, tear down this temple. He said, I'll build it again
in three days. They thought he was talking about that old stone
building there in Jerusalem. He was talking about himself.
I'm the temple. Tear it down. Kill it. Bury it
in the ground. He said, I'll build it again
in three days. Three days. Christ and his people are one.
And God dwells with his people in his temple. We come to Christ,
Peter said, is unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men
but chosen of God and precious, and you also, as living stones,
are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, accepted to God through Jesus Christ. Our part in this building is,
as Paul describes it, we're just fellow laborers with God. Jesus Christ shall build the
temple of the Lord. And then thirdly, Zechariah 6,
13. Even he shall build the temple
of the Lord and he shall bear the glory. If he's the builder, who gets the most glory, the
building or the builder? He said the builder. He's gonna
build the temple and he's gonna bear the glory, all the glory,
all the glory. You know, in the book of Zechariah,
as it goes on, and he's talking about these things in these spiritual
terms, and the temple's almost done. And here they come, and
they're bringing out the top stone to the temple, and they
lay it on. You know what they say? Grace,
grace unto it. He gives all the glory. All the
glory. In Isaiah 22, 23, he said, I'll
fashion him as a nail in a sure place. And he shall be for a
glorious throne to his father's house. And they shall hang upon
him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the
issue and all the vessels of small quantity from the vessels
of cups even to the vessels of flagons. That's either a cup
with a handle or a cup with a stem. I'm not sure which, but that's
what a flagon is. In that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, shall the nail fastened in a sure place be removed and
cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon it shall be cut
off, for the Lord has spoken it. What's he talking about there? Well, he was cut off to secure
everything that was hung on him. That's why he was cut off. He
shall bear the glory of this temple This glorious house of
God, he's gonna bear all the glory. He's not gonna share his
glory. God's jealous over his glory.
And then fourthly, Zechariah 6, 13. He's gonna sit and rule
upon his throne. Staring into the ruin of God's
holy city, the work before those people must have seemed utterly
impossible. Impossible. This little band
of men granted permission to go down there and see what had
to be done to get this city built and this temple rebuilt. And
they just stood there and looked at it. They worked a few days
and threw their hands up. And I tell you, those of us who
know what has to happen to save a soul feel the same way. I'm
looking out here at total ruin. Total ruin. There's nothing for
me to build on. All I can do is speak. All I
can do is give you words of comfort. All I can do is point you to
Christ. But if he don't supply the power, nothing's gonna get
done. That rich young ruler walked
away and the disciples looked at each other and said, who then
can be saved? God said, with man it's impossible. That's what
they were looking at, utter impossibility. And indeed, the work of salvation
is impossible with men. But Jesus Christ is no mere man. He is man, but he's also God. And he's not lying in some unknown
tomb in the holy lands, he's risen. He was delivered for our
offenses, raised again for our justification. Bible said he
was seen of over 500 brethren at one time. Walked this earth
nearly a month, after his resurrection. He rose from the dead and ascended
back into glory where he now sits at the right hand of God.
And very few in comparison have ever entered into the glorious
comfort of knowing that our Savior's ruling from his throne in glory.
He ruling in the ease of omnipotence. You think about that. He can
do anything he wants. Anything he wants. Nothing beyond
his reach. What a comfort that ought to
be to us. Having accomplished all he came to do, our Lord ascended
back into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God.
Now listen, he sat down, expecting till his enemies become his footstool. Not worried about it, not pacing
the floor. He sat down, he sat down. Jesus Christ is Lord. He's Lord
of the dead and the living, Lord of creation, providence, and
salvation. And somebody said, if he's Lord,
then why is his will frustrated by some? My answer is his will ain't frustrated. His will ain't frustrated. He
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. The
rejection of unbelievers is not the frustration of the will of
God. It's the judgment of God on them. He told his disciples, he said,
it's given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
It's not given to them. It's not given to them. Thou hast hid these things, our
Lord prayed and thanked the Father, that thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. Even
so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. Whose will was done
in that? God's will. God's will. There are some who receive not
the love of the truth, And he tells us over in 2 Thessalonians
chapter two, for this cause, God said, I will send them strong
delusion. Who's gonna send it? God is. To believe a lie and be damned
for believing it. Now you think about what I'm
telling you. The rejection of men, of Christ, is not the frustration
of the will of God. Jesus Christ said, I come down
from heaven, now listen, not to do my own will, but the will
of him that sent me, and this is the will of him that sent
me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again the last day. You reckon he's gonna do
that? That's exactly what he's gonna do. Exactly what he's going
to do. Paul quotes Habakkuk 1.5 to the
Jews at Antioch. They were upset. He preached
that Sunday and they got upset with him. And he said, through this man
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And here's the very
next thing he told them. He said, behold, you despisers,
and wander and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you. And you may sit here and mumble
to yourselves and think you're frustrating the rule of Christ.
You're not frustrating his rule. You're doing his will. But his
will on you is judgment. Judgment. He that believeth not Christ
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Our Lord said, this is condemnation.
Light come into the world, and men love darkness rather than
light. And then fifthly, the man whose
name is the Branch shall be a priest upon his throne. Jesus Christ is a king priest.
He's not after the order of Aaron. But after the order of Melchizedek,
Paul goes to great lengths in the book of Hebrews to tell us
that the priesthood of Christ is after the order of Melchizedek
and not after the order of Abram. He has neither beginning of days
or end of life, and because he has an eternal priesthood, he's
able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him. He's a priest right now on his
throne. John said, I write these things
to you, brethren, beloved, that you sin not. But if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father. We have a great high
priest sitting at the right hand of God. And then, sixly, he tells
us that the counsel of peace shall be between them both, not
between two individuals. but between the priesthood of
Christ and the lordship of Christ. Both are necessary. Both offices
are necessary and the peace is gonna be between them both. Salvation
is not just a matter of sin being put away, but a matter of willing
submission to the Lord. God done a work for us and he's
gonna do a work in us. He will never Listen to me, he
will never do one without the other. God's not gonna save your soul
and say, okay, go do whatever you want to. No, no, you're gonna
submit to him. You're gonna bow to him. He never
does the first without the second. And what God begins, he finishes. Let me show you this over in
Romans chapter six. Romans chapter six and verse
16. Paul said, know you not that
to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants
you are to whom you obey. Who you obeying? You obeying
Christ or the flesh? Satan or Christ? Who you subservient
to? To whom you yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey, whether
of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. But God be
thanked, you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Now
watch this, being then made free from sin, What's that talking
about? You ain't got any sin anymore?
No, that's not what that's talking about. He's talking about free
from the power and servitude of it. That's what he's talking
about. Free from sin as a master. You have a new master. One stronger
than him. The strong man arm kept his palace
and kept his goods. But one stronger than he came
upon him and he took him down and he spoiled all his goods. Being then made free from sin,
you become the servants of righteousness. So when is a man or a woman free
from the power and reign of sin? When they, by the grace of God,
can submit theirselves to Him. His servants you are. And the
counsel of peace shall be between the priest and the king, the
king-priest. He not only atones for our sin,
but he abolished death and brought life and immortality to life
through the gospel. And here's what Paul said, he
must reign. He must reign. How long? Till
he hath put all enemies under his feet. And the last enemy
that he gonna put under his feet is death, death. And I think
he's talking about that plague of sin that he gonna do away
with sin altogether. Altogether, he gonna put it away.
All right, thank you.