THE BRANCH BUILDS THE HOUSE
Notes
Transcript
THE BRANCH BUILDS THE HOUSE
Zechariah 6
Claim: In Zechariah 6, God crowns a priest as a sign of the coming Branch — the King-Priest who will build God’s true temple and bring near all who were far away.
Focus: God’s purposes cannot be stopped, his King-Priest has come, and his house is open to all who will trust and obey.
Function: That the congregation would rest their confidence in Christ’s completed, unstoppable kingdom-building work — and feel the weight of the global invitation of verse 15.
PRAY
There is a question that sits underneath the whole book of Zechariah. You might remember it from chapter one.
Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘Lord Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?’
It is the question of a people who have been waiting a long time.
Waiting for God to act.
Waiting for the promises to land.
They are back from exile — yes. The temple is being rebuilt — slowly, painfully.
But the glory hasn’t returned.
The nations around them, the enemies of God,
still show off their relative peace and REST.
And the question hangs in the air:
How long Lord - are your purpose stuck?
Chapter 6 answers that question.
with horses, chariots, a crown, and a name that changes everything.
We’ve been working through these extraordinary night visions that Zechariah received.
IN chapter 3 we saw Joshua the high priest — filthy robes, Satan accusing, and then the miracle of clean garments,
and a hint was given as to the solution of human sin and rebelion against God,
We heard the name ‘the Branch’ for the first time.
The High preist is symbolic of a branch to come who will interecede between sinners and a Holy God.
‘ “Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.
In chapt 4 - we saw the governor, or King, Zerubbebel and that between the high Preist and the King - these 2 characters would restore the dwelling of God amoung thier people despite their sin,
So he said, ‘These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.’
The OT Israelietes were to await the ultimate Hight Preist, and the ulitmate King to bring God’s blessing and dwelling, His glory to his people.
Today, chapter 6 brings those visions to its climax.
The night visions end.
The name ‘the Branch’ is spoken again — and this time her receives a crown.
This chapter will answer 3 important questions for both them, and us.
The first
1. CAN GOD’S PURPOSES BE STOPPED?
1. CAN GOD’S PURPOSES BE STOPPED?
2. WHO CAN WEAR THIS CROWN?
2. WHO CAN WEAR THIS CROWN?
3. WHO WILL BE PART OF IT?
3. WHO WILL BE PART OF IT?
1. CAN GOD’S PURPOSES BE STOPPED?
1. CAN GOD’S PURPOSES BE STOPPED?
Look at verses 1 to 3.
I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black, the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful.
Mountains of bronze. Immovable. Unshakable, Un defeatbale.
And from between them, chariots.
Four of them, with horses of different colours, straining to go. - powerful.
Zechariah asks the obvious question: v4 what are these?
And the angel tells him — verse 5 —
The angel answered me, ‘These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world.
These are not decorative objects to hang on your Christmas tree.
These are not symbolic in some vague, general sense.
These are agents of God’s government, despatched from the throne room, going out into every corner (all 4) of the created order.
Importantly even the north is not ignored.
The black horses go north - Asia. The white go west - Europe. The dappled go south - Africa. The Red we’re not told.
But North — that’s the direction of Babylon.
That’s the direction from which every catastrophe came.
That’s where the exile began.
And verse 8, look what’s going on in the north in this vision:
Then he called to me, ‘Look, those going towards the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.’
Given my Spirit rest in the Hebrew, carries the sense of satisfying, of settling, of a thing being finally dealt with.
In other words, The threat from the north — the long shadow of Babylon — has been addressed. God’s Spirit is satisfied - at rest. - perhaps picking up on the idea of sin and evil having been locked away in a permanent house in the vision last week in chapter 5..
This is the vision of of “How long, LORD Almighty, will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and Judah?” Being answered.
In fact if you remember there were similar horse of similar colours sent out in chapter 1,
During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.
And they went out to gather intelligence and the report came back
And they reported to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, ‘We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.’
The rest the world was enjoying was the casue of God’s angle to cry out - How long Lord?
How can this be!
And now, we don’t have horses with rider gathering information, we now have great chariots with horses pulling them powerfully,
Not making a report. They are going out with a commission.
From between the mountains of bronze — from the very gates of God’s presence — his purposes are being deployed into the earth.
They v5
The angel answered me, ‘These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world.
and now the world is not at rest and in peace -
God’s Spirit is at rest
Sin and evil as according to chapter 5 - has been locked away.
How long o Lord?
Can God’s purposes be stopped?
Look at the bronze mountains.
Look at the four spirits.
Listen to the Spirit given rest in the north.
No. God’s purposes cannot be stopped.
You may be living through a season where God’s purposes look stuck.
The church cutlure looks tiny and the culture outside looks enormous.
The prayers you’ve prayed for years seem to have gone nowhere.
The kingdom you’re told is advancing looks, from where you sit, like it’s retreating.
Zechariah 6 says: look again. The chariots have gone out. The commission has been given. From the throne room of the Lord of the whole earth, his purposes are moving.
God does not work in our timings or our ways, not for our wills but his.
So, align yourselves to his purposes, and know he will not fail.
But, a vision is one thing,
How will it actually happen the Israelites - we, want to know?
Who is going to make God’s plans happen?
Who will be his anointed King?
2. WHO CAN WEAR THIS CROWN?
2. WHO CAN WEAR THIS CROWN?
In vv.9–14 The night visions end and we’re back in normal life.
And something strange happens.
The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak.
Joshua the high priest - who represent the people of God before their Holy God.
in chapter 3, he is standing before the angel of the LORD in filthy garments,
and then is reclothed in clean linen.
And now here he is again, with a crown on his head.
But watch what happens next.
Because the prophesy that follows immediately — verse 12 — pivots away from Joshua almost before the crown has touched his head:
Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.”
Joshua wears the crown - temporarily. But the prophesy is about someone else. The Branch.
The one who will build the temple.
The one who will be priest and king at the same time — with harmony between the two offices. Preist and King.
Joshua cannot ultimately wear this crown.
He is a priest. In Israel, you could be a priest or a king — but not both.
The two offices were separated by law, by tribe, by calling.
King Saul tried to be both and was judged for it.
He made a sacrifice instad of waiting for Samuel the priest and
Is told:
“You have done a foolish thing... your kingdom will not endure.” (1 Sam 13:13–14)
Uzziah - and another king tried to do the same in
They confronted King Uzziah and said, ‘It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honoured by the Lord God.’
The offices were kept apart because no human being could hold both without corruption.
And yet, here is a promise of someone in whom the two offices will sit together — not in tension, not illegally, but in harmony.
A priest on his throne.
A king who intercedes.
Someone who stands before God on our behalf and who rules the world on God’s behalf
— at the same time, in one person.
Who can wear this crown?
Not Joshua. Joshua is the sign.
The crown is placed on his head as a prophetic gesture — ‘this is what it will look like’ — and then, verse 14, the crown is taken off and
The crown will be given to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord.
A memorial, A placeholder. A promise. the crown sits in the temple and waits.
It waits for the Branch.
Isaiah spoke of a shoot from the stump of Jesse.
Jeremiah promised a righteous Branch raised up for David.
The image is of something growing from what looks dead
— a dynasty that appeared dead, a line that seemed cut off, sending up new life from the root.
And the Branch will build the temple.
Not the stone-and-cedar temple Zerubbabel is constructing.
Something greater. The real dwelling of God among his people.
They had to wait to find out,
But we know who he is:
He is Jesus of Nazareth, son of David, son of Abraham.
He is the one in whom priest and king finally come together without contradiction
— because he is the only human being in history
who is both without sin and as son of God, is sovereign over all things.
He intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father
and he rules the nations with a rod of iron.
Both. At once. In harmony.
The book of Hebrews in the NT makes this explicit
- showing in much more detail and depth than we have time for now,
that Jesus is preist and King.
But here is the concludion after 7 chapters of careful explanation:.
Now the main point of what we are saying is this: we do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
I encourage you to read Hebrews this week - it’s a facniating book explaing the fulfilment of all things in Christ Jesus, our preist, King.
But so what - Where do I fit in all of this? The chariots going out, the crown on the Branch’s head, the temple being built — what has any of this got to do with me?
3. WHO WILL BE PART OF IT?
3. WHO WILL BE PART OF IT?
Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.’
“Those who are far away will come and help to build.”
In one sense, the meaning is straightforward. Zechariah is speaking about people scattered far from Jerusalem — exiles returning from distant lands to share in the rebuilding of God’s house.
But the language stretches beyond that immediate moment.
“
Those who are far away” becomes
the language of those outside the covenant blessings of God
— outsiders, the nations, Gentiles who seemed to have no place among the people of God.
And the apostle Paul deliberately picks up this exact language in Ephesians chapter 2. Writing to Gentile Christians, he says:
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Paul is telling us that promises like Zechariah 6 are reaching their true fulfilment in Jesus.
The Branch really has built the temple of the Lord
— but not ultimately a building of stone.
He is building a living temple made of people.
Jews and Gentiles together.
Former outsiders brought near.
Sinners like you and me,
reconciled to God, and to one another through the blood of Christ.
Those who were once far away now come and help build
because they themselves have become part of the temple in which God lives by his Spirit.
Think about what that means for this room.
If you are not from a Jewish background
— if your family has no history in the synagogue,
no heritage in the covenant community of Israel
— then you are, in the language of Zechariah 6, someone who was far away.
Both in race and in sin.
And the promise of this verse is that the Branch builds his temple by bringing the far ones near.
You are not an afterthought. You are not a plan B.
You are the fulfilment of this prophecy spoken six centuries before the birth of Jesus,
in a city still picking itself up from the rubble of exile.
The temple the Branch builds has always required you to be part of it - so long as you repent and follow the Preist King - branch - Jesus - for the forgiveness of sins.
As v15 says:
New International Version: Anglicised Edition (2011) Chapter 6
This will happen if
This can sound alarming.
Does the fulfilment of the promise depend on our obedience?
Does the Branch only build the temple if we hold up our end?
No. That is not what this is saying.
The Branch will build his temple. That is not in doubt.
The Spirit has been given rest in the north. The chariots have gone out.
The purposes of God are not reliant on our co-operation.
remeber they cannot be stopped.
But the question this verse puts to you is not ‘will it happen?’
But: will you be part of it?
This is an invitation with an edge.
The temple is being built. The Branch is building it.
Jesus is interceding and on his throne…
Those who are far off are being brought in.
And the condition is simply this: the way you get to be part of it is through trust and obedience.
Through taking God at his word.
IN other words not only believeing that Jesus is the one promised,
who will firgive our sin as he sacrifices his own life on the cross as preist in our place,
but
but also by letting God’s word, the gospel reshape your life from the inside out.
In short -
We cannot just believe Jesus is our High preist whose sacrifce saves us,
we must also bow to Jesus as our King!
We show our Trust in his pormises of forgiveness, and furture return in glory.
by obeying his Word in the Bible whist we wait.
Jesus saves freely as preist, but those saved will gladly bow and obey Him as King.
The ISrealietes are to now jump back to work in obedice to God, to Joshua the Preist and Zerubeble the Goverenor to fiinsh the temple.
We, are to jump back to work in obedice to God, to Jesus our high preist and King to finish his temple, the peopel of God, the church until Jesus returns again.
If you have no desire to obey Jesus as King - albeit imperator - then it’s likely you have not realised he is your saviour priest.
So, Will you be part of God’s unstoppable plan to build a temple,
a
people of God who will enjoy him forever?
The door is open becasue of the work of Jesus, if you believe that
- then we can joyfully respond in committing our lives to Him also as King - for that is what he is.
It is not a burden to obey Jesus,
He The Branch has built the temple of God’s people, and there is room for you inside.
I’m going to leave a minute of quiet now for us to reflect,
Which side of Jesus do you naturally emphasise more: Saviour/Priest or Lord/King?
Why do we need both?
AMEN
