In the passage we read earlier
in Ezekiel 34, the Lord God promised to establish in this world for
and among his people that which he calls a plant of renown, a
famous plant. This plant of renown is described
as that which is planted of God and grows into a stately cedar
under which his people find refuge and take shadow continually. This plant of renown is that
one which is planted so that his people should hunger no more
and fear no more. And this plant of renown, obviously,
is Jesus Christ our Savior. He grows as a tender plant and
as a root out of a dry ground. And this plant of renown, is
described in the Old Testament Scriptures seven times by a remarkable
word. The word by which he is described
seven times in the Old Testament is the branch. This plant of
renown, he is the branch. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Let's look at these seven places
where our Lord is called the branch, beginning in Zechariah
chapter 6. And we're going to look at them
in reverse order. I think you'll find a significant reason for
me doing it that way. Zechariah 6, verse 12. This is the last of the seven
distinct prophecies in the Old Testament identifying our Lord
Jesus Christ as the branch. Zechariah 6, verse 12. Speak
unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold
the man whose name is the branch. The Lord God here calls for us,
all who read this word, all who hear this word, through all the
ages of time, behold the man whose name is the branch. Behold him. This is a call to
faith. Look unto me, he says, and be
ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and beside
me there is none else. This call to faith is a call
from God himself, calling sinners such as you and me to see, to
look to, to believe on, to trust his darling Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the man who is the branch. Not only is this a call, it is
a command from God. God commands us to trust His
Son. This is His commandment that
you should believe on His Son whom He has sent. God commands
sinners to trust Christ. Sometimes Satan uses various
things to deceive men's souls. And when the Lord God calls his
people to himself, and you hear the word of the gospel, you are
tempted to think, well, that can't mean me. What right have
I to trust the Son of God? How dare I cast my soul's weight
on the Son of God? How dare I believe on Him? I
have no right. If God commands you to believe,
that gives you a right to believe. Look unto me. Behold me. And we recognize at the same
time, no man can see the Kingdom of God except he be born again. if you behold the man whose name
is the branch. If you look to Him, if you believe
Him, your believing Him is the evidence that you're born of
Him, else you could not see Him. You could not look to Him. You
could not behold Him. Oh, may God give us grace to
hear and heed this call and enable us to behold this wonderful man
whose name is the branch, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now you'll notice
in our text Zachariah is inspired of God to write this out in all
capital letters. Behold the man, the branch. I can't think of any reason for
that except to tell us this is of immense importance. This is
the man. And this one who is the man,
he is the branch, the only one there is. This is the branch
that God by His right hand has planted, and this is the branch
that God has raised up for us. And they who look to Him find
that the things written of this branch are fulfilled and accomplished
in no one except our Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's go over just
a few of the things that are stated right here in Zechariah
6 concerning this man. He is the man. He is the man
in whose image all men were made. He is that man who is the image
of God. He is our substitute and mediator
in whose image and likeness Adam was made in the Garden of Eden.
He is the man who is set forth as the seed of woman. The man
who is the seed of Abraham, that is the seed of God's covenant
promise. Indeed, God says, I will give
him, this man, for a covenant to you. And it is he who is all
the fullness of God's covenant. This is the man who is, according
to the flesh, of the seed of David. This is the man who is
God the Son, and this is the man who is man who is God. the God-man, our mediator. Only this man is able to save,
only this man is able to bring to us all the blessings of God's
grace by the full accomplishments of redemption and through the
infinite merit of his being. He shall grow up out of his place.
He shall grow up out of his place. What does that mean? A couple
of weeks ago I told you this has reference to our Lord's virgin
birth. There's no question that's the
case. But there's more here than just a prophecy of His virgin
birth. What is His place? You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ? How that though He was rich,
yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty
might be made rich. His place is the glory of heaven
itself. His place is eternity. His goings forth have been of
old, yes, from everlasting. His place, the place from which
He grows, is the eternal counsel of the triune God. Let me show
you. Turn back to Proverbs chapter 8. Hold your hands here in Zechariah
6 and turn back to Proverbs 8. When you read the book of Proverbs,
it is sad. that almost everyone interprets
the book of Proverbs, the book of wisdom, as a book about moral
wisdom, or even intellectual wisdom. That's not what it's about. This
book is about him who is made of God and to us, wisdom. This book is about him who is
wisdom. It is not a book teaching us
how to live well in this world. It is a book teaching us how
to live well to eternity, trusting Him who is the wisdom of God. And here in Proverbs chapter
8, just after describing the way of false religion, the Lord
Jesus speaks of Himself personified as wisdom. Look at what it says
in verse 23. I was set up from everlasting.
From the beginning, or ever the earth was. Now that's not talking
about Him in His eternal, essential Godhood. He's not set up at any
time. Not even from everlasting. He
everlastingly is. But it's talking about Him in
His covenant relationship as the God-Man or Mediator. He said,
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the
earth was. Look at verse 30. Then was I
by Him, as one brought up with Him. And I was daily His delight,
rejoicing always before Him." Well, Mother Dawn, that's a contradiction. You talk about this being eternal,
and He says He was daily the Father's delight. Can I tell
you one more time? God condescends to speak to us
about Himself in terms we can get a handle on. The Lord Jesus
is saying, I was everlastingly His delight. Rejoicing always
before Him. Rejoicing for the joy that was
set before Him. For which He in time endured
the cross, despising the shame, the joy of our salvation. Rejoicing
in the habitable part of the earth. And my delights way back
yonder were with the sons of men. It is Zechariah. Behold, there he is. The man! His name is the branch. Now watch that which is his delight. The psalmist said, who shall
declare his generation? This one who is for everlasting. He is, yes, a rod out of the
stem of Jesse as a man and a branch out of his roots. But this man
is himself the root from which Jesse sprang, planted in God's
eternal purpose of grace as our mediator, the branch. And he
comes forth. budding forth in His incarnation,
in His death, in His resurrection, in His ascension, in His glory,
and in the gifts of His grace to His people. Back here in Zechariah
6 again. This eternally perennial branch,
we're told, He shall build the temple of the Lord. Now just
in case you missed that, even He shall build the temple of
the Lord. What a sweet word of assurance.
God's church throughout the Old Testament was typified by the
temple. In fact, if you read 1 Corinthians
3, for one example in the New Testament, verses 16 and 17,
the Apostle Paul writes by inspiration to a local church, just like
Grace Baptist Church gathered right here in Danville, just
like this gathered assembly this morning. And he said, don't you
know, you are the temple of the living God. And the spirit of
God dwells in you. The church of God is compared
to his temple. His temple. The place where he
resides. If you read Exodus 25, you remember
when he commanded Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant, put
the mercy seat on it? He said to Moses, there will
I meet with you. Right here in the holy place
in my house. There I'll reveal myself to you. There I'll make myself known
to you. And our Lord Jesus said, where
two or three are gathered in my name. There may be two or
three thousand gathered, but if there are just two or three
who gather in my name. Two or three have gathered to worship
me, gathered trusting me, gathered looking to me for everything.
Or there may just be two or three meeting together somewhere in
a secret place in the darkest of jungles, hiding for fear. Two or three who gather together
in my name, there. Not, I may be. There am I in
the midst of them. He's here. Sometimes He hides
His face. Sometimes He shows Himself through
the lattices. Sometimes He descends with brilliant
glory. But He is always in the midst
of them. This is where God dwells and
abides with his people and reveals himself. Now, let's go backwards. Zechariah chapter 3. He builds
his house. And because he builds his house,
he bears the glory of his house. The building of God's house is
not the business of men. Not mine, and not yours. Churches start to call a pastor,
look for a pastor. They want to find one who can
build a church. Find me a preacher who can build
a church, and I'll find you one who doesn't know God from a gourd.
It's exactly right. It's exactly right. Oh, well,
what's the preacher do? Why are we here but not to build
the church? To preach the Savior! That's all. That's all. That's
it. He builds his house. He builds
it. If we start trying to build it,
now you listen to your pastor. If we start trying to build it,
we will compromise. Because we will do what it takes
to get the job done. And if it means compromising
everything, we'll compromise everything. If it means compromising
a little, we'll compromise a little. Shave off this, shave off that,
start doing this, start doing that. Folks quit telling me,
they find out I'm hard of hearing. You say to me, you need to do
this, you need to do that. This works. I don't give a flip
what works. I don't care what works. This
is what God sends us to do to proclaim our Redeemer. He builds
His house. Alright, Zechariah 3, verse 8.
Hear now, O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows
that sit before thee, for they are men wondered at. How come? What makes such worthless
things as we are? Wondrous trophies of His grace.
For behold, I will bring forth my servant the branch. Now remember the context. Here
the Lord God promises that He will send our Savior to perform
His great purpose of grace in saving His people, making all
His elect to be men wondered at, saying, I will bring forth
my servant. I'm going to show out my servant
to branch, the fruitful branch, by whom Satan is spoiled, as
he's portrayed here. Spoiled. He takes the serpent,
binds him and casts him into the pit and spoils his house.
He comes to chosen sinners in the day of his grace. Folks say
Jesus comes and knocks at your heart's door. He does, I agree. He knocks it
plumb down and he enters in. And the first time you know he's
around, he's on the inside casting Satan out. He spoils the devil. God's elect, by him, this man
who is the branch, are plucked as brands out of the fire. His
chosen ones are washed by this branch. Our filthy garments by
Him are taken away at His command. Our iniquities are made to pass
from us. And He clothes poor sinners with
the change of raiment, even with the garments of salvation. And
then sits the fair miter of the priesthood upon the head of His
saints. Do you remember what the priest
wore? God commanded that they have
a mitre put on their head. Not just the high priest, all
the priests. Remember what the mitre said?
There was an insignia put right across there. As they went in
and out doing business in the holy place, it was called holiness
to the Lord. Because they go in and make atonement
for the iniquity of the holy things, representing the people
of God. Now, we who believe, as the Lord
Jesus comes and sets up His kingdom in our hearts, ruling over us
by His grace, makes us kings and priests under God, accepted
of God by Him, having access by Him as priests into the holy
place, and this is our access, holiness to the Lord. He made
us holy in Him. It is He, our great Savior, the
Branch, who removed the iniquity of Israel, all His elect, in
one day by the sacrifice of Himself. Now, let's look at two of these
texts together. Jeremiah 33 and verse 15. Jeremiah
33 and verse 15. And then go to Jeremiah 23 and
verse 5. Let's look at 33, 15 first. 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. In those days shall
Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this
is the name whereby she, let's read that again, did I
say she? Whereby she, his church, Judah,
and Jerusalem, his elect, his people, This is the name whereby
she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. Let me give
you an exact translation. Jehovah-seeking you. How dare you put that name on
a man? I wouldn't dare. But God did. That's the name he puts on his
church. That's the name he puts on his
people. This is the name whereby she
shall be called. Called by who? Called by God. The Lord, our righteousness. Look at chapter 23 now, verse
5. Because Christ executes righteousness
and judgment. Because he executes righteousness
by his obedience unto death, and the verdict of righteousness
by his sacrifice of himself, declaring us now to be the righteousness
of God in him, we are called the Lord our righteousness. Now
here in Jeremiah 23 verse 5, Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. Slight
difference. And a king shall reign, and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his
days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And
this is the name whereby he... It's not a mistranslation. This is the name whereby he shall
be called. Jehovah Sikinya, the Lord Our
Righteousness. But here, there are slight differences. But the slight differences are
of tremendous significance. In chapter 33, the name the Lord
Our Righteousness is written out just as you expect it to
be. In chapter 23, Inspired of God, Jeremiah says, this is the
primary point. His name is the Lord our righteousness. And he writes it out in capitals,
just as Zechariah wrote out the name Branch. In chapter 33, he's
called the Branch of Righteousness. That is, he is that one who brings
forth righteousness. Here he is called the Righteous
Branch. He's both. He is himself altogether
righteous, and he is the one from whom alone righteousness
flows to sinners. In chapter 33, we're told he
shall grow up unto David. Here he says, I will raise unto
David. In chapter 33, he's talking about
himself as the mediator in his accomplishments and works, as
the God-man, our substitute. Here he's talking about the work
of God, the triune God raising him up in chapter 33. He says
he shall execute judgment and righteousness. Here he says he
shall execute judgment and justice. Really, those two phrases are
exactly the same in the original. Both places, he is saying he
shall execute judgment and righteousness, or judgment and justice. And
the words justice or righteousness are accurate either way. They're
talking about the declaration, the verdict of righteousness. So that now by his obedience,
he executes. That which is the just verdict
of heaven, God in glory calls us by the just verdict of heaven
through His satisfaction, through His obedience. The Lord, our righteousness, will is it written, the Lord
hath not beheld iniquity in Israel, neither hath he beheld transgression
in Jacob, because God hath made his Son to be unto us righteousness. So really and truly are Christ
and his church one. I've been trying to tell you
this for Twenty-five years, and I haven't begun to state it clearly
yet, not clearly enough to satisfy me. You who believe on the Son of
God are not just part of His body, but one with Him. Really, one with Him. grafted
into this branch drawing the sap of life from this branch
which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost living
in this branch so much, so thoroughly, so completely
grafted into the branch that you cannot be severed from the
branch, and the branch cannot be severed from you without both
dying. And it ain't gonna happen. All the fruit trees we used to
have out here, every one of them. We didn't have a wild one on
the place. Every one of them had been raised by a graft. But you know what you could do
after they'd grown? You go out there and cut the thing, cut
the stems off of it, limbs off of it. As long as you didn't
get down below the graft, you weren't going to hurt the tree.
Just take care of it. But if you cut below the graft,
you may as well forget eating anything from off that tree.
Now listen to me, listen to me. We're not just branches in this
vine. We're one with the vine. One with the vine. That means
His obedience is our obedience. His death to the satisfaction
of justice under the law of God at Calvary was our death. His
payment is our payment. His release from debt is our
release from debt. His justification in the Spirit
is our justification in the Spirit. When He arose, we arose. When
He sat down, we sat down. His acceptance with God is our
acceptance with God. Oh, Richard, that's glorious. It
sure is, isn't it? Let's turn back to Isaiah chapter
11. Isaiah chapter 11. Now here, as I've told you several
times in recent months, the word branch is different. Everywhere
else where the word is used, the word that is translated branch
is a word which means sprout. Something that springs forth
from the ground and grows into a stately tree. Here, a different
word is used. This is the word from which we
get the word Nazarene, or Nazirite, or Nazareth. In fact, it is almost
always translated Nazarene, Nazirite, or Nazareth. Well, Brother Don,
why didn't they translate it that way here in Isaiah 11-1?
Because it would have been a wrong translation in Isaiah 11-1. It
wouldn't have made any sense. There shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse, and the Nazarite shall grow up out
of his roots. That doesn't read very well,
does it? No, it's properly translated, and the branch shall grow up
out of his roots. Because this word, whose name
is the branch, who is the righteous branch, and the branch of righteousness,
he is that branch who gives the fruit of peace described in the
rest of this 11th chapter of Isaiah by virtue of his obedience
to God as the only true Nazarite who ever lived. Come back to
Numbers chapter 6. Let me show you. Numbers chapter
6. Hold your hands here in Isaiah
11. Now you read the rest of this 11th chapter of Isaiah?
You see, the prophet is talking about this gospel age in which
we live when God gives grace and peace and life to sinners,
converts men, works wonders of grace in them. And he says all
this comes from the branch. It flows like fruit from the
branch. This branch who is the Nazarite. Now, beginning in chapter 6 of
Numbers, verse 1, going all the way through this chapter, You
have a description of what God gave as the law of the Nazarite
in Israel. Now, this Nazarite was a man
who was required to give utter consecration to God. Complete
consecration to God. That's what Christ did. Not for
himself, Lindsay, but for us. And then, When you get to the
end of the laws of Nazareth, all things required of him, all
the sacrifices made by him and made on his behalf, God gives
a special word to Moses. Look at it, verse 22. Upon the
basis of the Nazareth's obedience, because he is the branch of grace
from whom we get all, God commands Moses. He commands Moses. Did you hear me? He commanded
Moses. The law. The law that cursed and condemned. The law that says the soul that
sinneth it shall die. The Lord God commands Moses to
bless his people. And just to make sure we get
it, he promises he will. Watch this. And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, speak unto Aaron and unto his son, saying,
O this wise shall ye bless the children of Israel, saying unto
them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his
face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord
lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And
then he said, Now Moses, when Aaron goes up, raises his hands
on the basis of the sacrifice made, and blesses the people,
Be dead sure of this, and I will bless them. And I will bless
them. Yes, everyone for whom Jesus
Christ the Nazarene rendered total obedience to God, bringing
in everlasting righteousness, and rendered total satisfaction
to divine justice by the sacrifice of himself, everyone shall be
everlastingly blessed of God with his salvation. Now, look
at Isaiah chapter 4, verse 2. In that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall
be excellent and comely. for them that are escaped of
Israel. And it shall come to pass that
he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall
be called holy, even every one that is written among the living
in Jerusalem. I don't want you to miss anything.
Let me just give you a brief summary of what this is saying.
That day is the day when God comes in grace to accomplish
salvation to you. The day when God works in you,
be it any day or may it be today. In that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious. Some of you, I can look in your
faces and I can see that you don't have a clue what I've been
talking about. Put a calf in a field, shut the
gate, he'll stand there and look at it and say, what's that? That's
look on your faces. Some of you, look on your faces, yes, he's
glorious. He's glorious. Oh, what a Savior. Unto you therefore which believe
he is precious and the fruit of the earth. Righteousness shall look down
from heaven and truth shall spring from the earth is the way the
psalmist prophesied of the coming of our Savior and his resurrection
from the death. This branch of righteousness,
this branch from whom righteousness comes, is risen from the dead,
having fully accomplished redemption as the fruit of the earth. The
fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely, watch this, for them. Excellent and comely in the eyes
of God in heaven for you who are escaped of Israel. or excellent
and comely to them who are escaped of Israel. Oh, may God escape you today. To them that are left in Zion,
When sinners have been saved by God's free grace, they are
left by Him in the good fold of His church where He causes
them to lie down in good pasture and to feed and find rest. He
remaineth in Jerusalem and shall be called holy. Who shall be? even everyone that
is written among the living in Jerusalem, in the city of God,
in his church. Do you have a marginal reference
in your Bible? Usually when you have a marginal
translation, a translation given in the margin of the text, the
marginal translation is written there to give you the most accurate
translation. indicating that the translators
simply wrote this translation the way they did because it seems
to read more smoothly in their opinion. Look at the marginal
translation. To them who are written among
the living in Jerusalem. Read it like this. This is the
way it most accurately reads. To them who are written to life. in Jerusalem. Written where? Who is it that
shall escape? Who is it that shall be called
holiness to the Lord? Who is it that shall be called
the Lord, our righteousness? Who is it that shall stand before
God holy and without blame? Who? Those whose names were written
in the book of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world
in Jerusalem. In the city of God before ever
the world began. Read the scriptures. I'm not
guessing about that. I'm not guessing about that.
Revelation 20 means you'll be judged out of the books and another
book, the book of life. And whosoever, chapter 21, whose
service name is not found written in the book of life of the Lamb,
shall perish in everlasting fire. Who enters in? They whose names
are in the book of the Lamb. The book of life, written to
life. No wonder our Savior said, Rejoice,
not that the devils are subject to you, but rather rejoice. Because your names are written
to life. Written in heaven. Well, how can you know that your
name is written in the land book of life before the world began?
Let me give you a good illustration. Years ago, there was a Scotchman
who lived in the Scotch Highlands. True story. A retired veteran
soldier. An old man. And God saved him
in his old age. And he was teaching some Sunday
school children about this thing of God's eternal covenant, the
book of life. And one of them asked just that
question, how can you know that your name is written in heaven?
And the old man said, children, you know, I'm told that there is a registry
somewhere in London with my name in it. And I have never seen
the registry. In fact, I've never been to London. And I have never known anyone
who's ever seen the registry. But I know my name is written
in that registry. Well, how can that be, sir? Because
every month I receive a pension because my name is written in
that registry. And I have for years been living
upon that picture because my name is written in that registry. Don Fortner, how can you dare
imagine that you have been written unto life from eternity? Because I live every day upon
the provision of my Savior's bounteous house, because my name
was written there before the world began. That's all. This is the evidence. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Is that right? That's it. Now look at one more text. Psalm
85. Psalm 80, rather. I'll send you
home with a prayer. I hope a prayer on your heart,
a prayer on the lips of your hearts that I trust God will
answer. Psalm 80, verse 15. The psalm is a prayer to God
our Savior, the shepherd of Israel, desiring him to make his face
shine, to visit us in grace, to visit his church divine that
he has planted. Now look at the language of the
prayer, verse 14. And you'll find out that every
believer has reason to confidently expect God to visit his people. Return, we beseech thee, O Lord
God of hosts. Look down from heaven and behold
and visit this vine. God come visit us. And the vineyard which thy right
hand has planted, Rex, you reckon we can fit in that? I believe
we can fit in that. God, come visit this vine, this
vineyard you have planted. Now, here's the reason we can
expect Him to do so. And the branch that thou made
is strong for thyself. You reckon God will visit His
Son You reckon God will bless his
son? You reckon God will accept his
son? You reckon God will approve of
his son? You reckon he'll do good for
his son? I'm sure he will. I'm sure he will. I'm sure he
will. And we're one with his son. Oh yes, He will visit us and
make His face to shine and accept us and approve of us in His darling
Son. God grant it today for the everlasting
good of our souls. Amen.