Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/fmc/sermons/94014/hope-has-a-name-zechariah-69-15/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] If you're a guest with us today, we are in the book of Zechariah. I encourage you to turn there. Zechariah chapter 6. Zechariah is located in the Old Testament.

[0:10] So if you want to turn to book of Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, and turn left two books, you will find the book of Zechariah. Zechariah is a prophet of God who lived about 500 years prior to Christ coming.

[0:26] He is one of the later prophets for the nation of Israel. Israel is in a place where they have been taken into captivity to Babylon and have now since returned.

[0:38] And Zechariah is sent to invigorate God's people to rebuild the temple of the Lord. And so he is a prophet speaking to Israel. Babylon has destroyed the temple. It is about 80 years since that period of time.

[0:58] And now, I'm sorry, more like 90 years. And now Israel is back in their land after being in captivity and are instructed to rebuild this temple. Zechariah the prophet, we have finished all eight visions that we saw that Zechariah had in one night.

[1:17] Let me just quickly review those visions. We had the horsemen among the myrtle trees. Vision number two was the four horns and the four craftsmen. We looked at that. We saw the surveyor and the measuring line. We saw the vision of Joshua, the high priest, and Satan accusing him.

[1:35] We saw the golden lampstands and the two olive trees. We saw the flying scrolls. We saw the woman in the basket. That was riveting. And then we saw the four chariots pulled by four colored horses last week.

[1:50] So imagine, Zechariah, you just have seen all eight of these visions. You wake up in the next morning and the Lord is going to have you do something. He's going to instruct him to do something.

[2:02] And I'm going to call this instruction to do something a prophetic drama. You may have played the game in your life, charades. Charades is you get a word and it's your job to act out this word that I know to get you to say the word that I see.

[2:21] And I cannot talk. I can only act it out. I can be like an airplane or whatever. Just try to get you to guess. I can only use hand motions and gestures and facial expressions to get you to guess who am I or what am I.

[2:35] If you will, what Zechariah is instructed to do is to do something like charades. I will call it a prophetic drama.

[2:46] He's supposed to go do something. There are supposed to be some actors in the scene. And it is as if the question is being asked, who is this person that these eight visions pertain to?

[2:59] If you remember the eight visions, what were they about? They were about, largely speaking, there's going to be someone who is going to come to both judge and to bless Israel and the nations.

[3:13] And so he wakes up from seeing these visions. And then who is it that he's supposed to look for that is going to be this one who is going to judge and bless?

[3:24] And so then let's get into, and by the way, in the game of charades, usually extroverts enjoy that and the introverts try to find another room to talk amongst themselves.

[3:34] But let's enjoy this prophetic drama that Zechariah is instructed to observe. Zechariah 6, verse 9.

[3:47] And the word of the Lord came to me. Take from the exiles Heldeh, Tobijah, and Jedeah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah, and take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehoshedek, the high priest.

[4:12] Well, doesn't that make sense? So what is he supposed to do? So, Zechariah wakes up, and he hears from the Lord, and he says, find these three guys.

[4:23] I'm going to spare us from the names. Find three guys. And they're named. And he says, they have arrived back from Babylon, and they have gold and silver.

[4:34] Take the gold and silver. When you take those three guys, go to another guy's house, Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. Go to Josiah's house.

[4:46] He's going to bear witness to what these, and these three people who have the gold, who have returned from Babylon, they are going to bear witness to what you're about to do. And you are going to take the gold that these three who have returned from Babylon have, and make a crown, and place the crown on Joshua, the high priest's head.

[5:06] That's what you're supposed to do. That's what's being communicated. So he's, if you will, supposed to do this prophetic drama. Who is this one that is going to judge?

[5:18] Who is this one that is going to come and bless? Well, it may just be someone that is like a high priest who wears a crown like a king. That is the one you are to look for.

[5:31] That is the one who will be the Messiah. That is the one who will come to bless and to judge. That is what is being communicated. Now, if you're a thoughtful Jew at the time, you are thinking to yourself, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[5:45] We don't do that. And what is it that you don't do? Bad things happen when this kind of thing happens. What is happening is you have the high priest who is being inaugurated as a king.

[5:58] Joshua, the high priest, should not wear a crown. That's the role of a king. And he is the high priest. You are to keep those roles separate. Bad things happen in Israel's past when you conflate those two roles.

[6:11] If you remember Uzziah, King Uzziah was a righteous king, king of Judah in Israel's past. He was a pretty righteous king. He was blessed by the Lord. But we read in 2 Chronicles 26, 16, we read this about King Uzziah.

[6:27] We read this. But when he was strong, he grew proud to his own destruction. King Uzziah was blessed by the Lord. And he became a very strong king.

[6:38] And later in his life, he became proud. And if you will, what happens when we get strong and we become proud? We think rules do not apply to us.

[6:50] And so what does King Uzziah do? This is like the employee who breaks company policy because his talent and his success, he offers too much to the company for them to touch him.

[7:02] He can break, the rules don't apply to him. Well, that pride, it was in King Uzziah. And he took a censer, which is something the priest did, to offer incense on the altar of the Lord in the temple.

[7:18] Think with me. The only person who had a right to enter the temple were priests. You had to be of the tribe of Levi.

[7:30] And Uzziah, the king of Israel, does something that only priests are supposed to do. And he takes this incense and offers it on the altar of incense. And he does this act.

[7:42] And as a result, he breaks out with leprosy on his forehead. And he becomes a leper for the rest of his life. And ceremonially, he becomes clean and has to rule Israel on the outskirts of town.

[7:54] And his son in his place is the one who basically is the king, acting as the king, because the king is a leper outside the community. And the high priest at the time, Azariah, and 80 courageous priests confront the king of this scandalous deed.

[8:12] But so don't you see with me, you don't inaugurate a high priest as king. That would have been highly disruptive. That doesn't, you're not to conflate high priest and the king's role in one.

[8:28] But, but Zechariah is told to do that very thing. Take these guys who have returned from Babylon. They have gold and silver. Ask them for the silver.

[8:40] Make a crown. Put that crown on the high priest and that is the one you're looking for. A king priest will be your Messiah who will both bless and come to judge.

[8:55] And that is the prophetic drama that is being played out. So let me just be real clear. Here. The Messiah we know, we have the advantage of looking back in history.

[9:07] We know that Jesus is the great high priest. We know that Jesus will come as king. And so today we're going to look at three things that are in this text and we will see them.

[9:20] Jesus will be the priest, Jesus will be the king, and Jesus will build his temple. That's the outline for the sermon. So let us take another quick look at verses now in Zechariah 6, verse 11-14 and let's look at Jesus is going to come as a priest.

[9:40] Verse 11 one more time. And take the silver and gold and make a crown. That's something of royalty. King. And set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadek, the high priest.

[9:53] And say to him, And thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for he shall branch out from his place and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear the royal honor and shall sit and rule on his throne.

[10:09] And there shall be a priest on his throne. And the council of peace shall be between them both. Verse 14.

[10:20] And the crown shall be in the temple of the Lord as a reminder to Helim, Jedediah, Jedediah, Jedediah, Jed, okay, Jedediah, and him, the son of Zephaniah.

[10:33] By the way, two of the names have been changed, but it's the same four people that we met earlier. And there's a reason for that, but that's a different sermon. But it's the same four people. So, notice, Jesus is going to come as a high priest.

[10:52] What's something interesting, and so what is the priest's job? The priest's job is to be a mediator between God and man.

[11:03] And so we look at Hebrews 2, verse 17. Therefore he, and we're speaking of Jesus, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God.

[11:19] Who is Jesus? He is the high priest in the service of God. To make propitiation for sins of the people. Jesus, in his sacrificial death, appeased God's wrath.

[11:31] Propitiation means to appease. To appease God's wrath for sin. And we know that he did that in his death. We know that Jesus did, took God's wrath when he died on the cross on our behalf.

[11:50] He became sin and we, in an exchange, we received his righteousness. So Jesus is the high priest. We look also in, in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 20, we read this.

[12:04] Where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf having become the high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Now let's look at this verse for a little bit. If you're a thoughtful Jew, by the way, we're in the book of Hebrews here.

[12:18] We're quoting from the book of Hebrews. Hebrews is the New Testament book that has the most Old Testament allusions and references, has the most.

[12:28] Next is the book of Matthew. So the writer of Hebrews is writing to believing Jewish people in the first century who have come to faith in Christ because they understand the Old Testament enough.

[12:42] So he's alluding and referencing the Old Testament a lot because they understand it. And he says, hey, Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf and he is the high priest not just once.

[12:53] He is the high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now if you're thinking as a Jewish person, you may be thinking in the first century, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I have a little bit of a problem with Melchizedek.

[13:05] Why? Because Melchizedek was not the first high priest of Israel. We go back, I'm a timeline guy so bear with me.

[13:15] We're going back in history, not to scale. We're going back in history and we see Moses leading the people out of Egypt and then the Mosaic law is given and Aaron is the first high priest of Israel.

[13:36] That is the first high priest and so you read this verse and you say, but wait, Jesus is coming in the order of Melchizedek and you think, well, who's Melchizedek? I'm glad you asked.

[13:49] Melchizedek is a gentleman who we read in Genesis. Genesis. We read something about him. Before we get to Genesis though, let me share with you who Melchizedek is.

[14:02] Prior to Moses, we have Abraham, Abram, the first person God has called out of all of humanity to say, I'm going to make a people for myself out of you and out of you all the nations will be blessed.

[14:16] So Abram, I choose you. Well, Abram had a troubled nephew whose name was Lot. Lot was living in Sodom and you know Sodom was not known for righteousness but Lot chose to reside in Sodom and then the kings of the east came from like modern day Jordan, came from the east and took all the valley kings and so they took the king of Sodom and they took the residents of Sodom and took the wealth of Sodom and all the communities that were around what is now today the modern Dead Sea area, this Jordanian valley and they took them and they fled.

[14:59] Abraham takes, hears word, my nephew has just been taken because he was residing in Sodom and so Abram rallies 318 mighty men that have been trained for war and he takes after these to rescue his nephew Lot and so they chase him north.

[15:18] They go through the Jordanian valley, they get to the Sea of Galilee so from the Dead Sea to the Sea of Galilee is 70 miles. Then they push further north to Dan, they pass Dan, more miles.

[15:30] We always hear Dan to Beersheba so Dan is the northernmost city or town in the nation of Israel that we often reference. Then they push further even toward Damascus and finally Abraham catches up with the raiders who took, and so he travels about 100 miles just to rescue his nephew Lot.

[15:51] On his return, he comes back with the king of Sodom, he comes back with Lot, he comes back with a lot of other community people and a lot of wealth has been taken and now he's returning and out as they approach Jerusalem, out from this city, walks out this gentleman with Melchizedek and now let's read about Melchizedek in Genesis 14.

[16:12] Genesis 14, 18 through 24. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine.

[16:23] He was the priest of God Most High and he blessed him and said, that is Abram, blessed be Abram by God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth and blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hand and Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

[16:43] And we read in Hebrews an account of this. Now we're going back to Hebrews and it says, Hebrews 20 verses 7 through chapter 7 verse 2, it says, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf having become the high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek and Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God met Abram returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him and Abram apportioned a tenth of everything he had and he is first by translation his name king of righteousness then also the king of Salem that is king of peace.

[17:19] What? Do you see this? Why did Jesus come in the order of Melchizedek and not Aaron? Because Melchizedek was the king of Salem which is probably a precursor to the ancient name of Jerusalem.

[17:35] So he is the king of Jerusalem and he is the king of righteousness and he is the king of peace. Melchizedek is. And he just happens to also be the high priest of God.

[17:46] So who is Melchizedek? He is both serving in the roles of high priest and king of... And he comes out and he blesses Abraham. So why does Jesus come in the order of Melchizedek and not Aaron?

[18:02] Because Aaron was only a high priest. Melchizedek was a king and a priest. And Zechariah takes Joshua the high priest and he says anoint him with a crown.

[18:17] The one who is going to come and bless and judge is someone who is going to fulfill the role of both king and priest. That's the one you are looking for. And this prophetic drama takes place in the house.

[18:33] But the second role that Jesus is going to play or... I'm sorry. The second role that Jesus possesses as he's playing he comes and possesses the role of the king.

[18:45] We read in Zechariah this is important. Zechariah verse 12 says and say to him thus says the Lord of hosts again behold the man whose name is Branch he shall branch out from his place and he shall build the temple of the Lord and he shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor and shall sit on his throne.

[19:09] So notice by the way let's stay on verse 12 for a moment. I find it interesting this phrase behold the man.

[19:24] There's someone else in world history that said behold the man and had no idea what he was doing. His name was Pilate. After he had Jesus scourged Jesus' flesh on his back is ripped open.

[19:40] He puts a royal purple robe on Jesus. The crowd outside the palace is saying crucify him crucify him. He puts a crown of thorns on his head and Pilate takes him out to a porch and with a crowd below who's shouting crucify him and crucify him and Pilate says behold the man.

[20:10] I know what Pilate meant behold here is the accused. I know that that's what he meant but it's interesting that he chose to say behold the man and Zechariah says the king priest that you're looking for behold the man.

[20:24] anyway that's just a little rabbit trail that I found interesting. Thank you Pilate for pointing out to us who the man is Jesus.

[20:43] Jeremiah the reason why I say he is a king is because there's a royal name that he's going to bear he says behold the man whose name is the branch. Branch is more of a title because we read in Jeremiah this behold in the days are coming declares the Lord when I will raise up a David a righteous branch and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice righteousness in the land.

[21:07] So about a hundred years before Zechariah Zechariah I'm sorry before a hundred years before Zechariah Jeremiah was also a prophet in Israel and he foretells of this man who says he will be the branch.

[21:24] Around that time a little earlier in fact we have Isaiah who also says this in Isaiah 11 1 he says there shall come forth a shoot or you could translate the word branch like a shoot that comes up out of the ground from the stump of Jesse a branch from his root shall bear who is Jesse?

[21:43] Jesse is David's father so if you will the metaphor that is looking is like if you cut down a tree and there lies the stump and the stump is Jesse David's father Jesse and it looks dead and that stump of Jesse sat dormant for 600 years there had never been a king in Israel for 600 years before Christ the stump of Jesse looked lifeless until an insignificant virgin whose name was Mary miraculously conceived a child and that child would be born in an insignificant town of Bethlehem and he would be born in an insignificant place a place where you keep livestock and then there was a shoot that came up out of the branch or the stump of Jesse the branch that we were all looking for out of the line of David there came the branch and they were to name his name

[22:50] Jesus and until then not until then the stump of Jesse did not produce a shoot the branch would obey the father's will die for sin and become a mighty tree whose fruit would reach the ends of the world and so we read in Zechariah hey this one who's going to go both bless and judge he is going to serve in the title of both priest and king and then secondly we also know that Jesus will build a temple if we read in verse 12 look with me in verse 12 and 13 in Zechariah Zechariah 6 verses 12 13 it says this and say to him thus says the Lord behold the man whose name is the branch he shall branch out from his place and he shall build the temple of the

[23:53] Lord and it and it is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and then it goes on he shall bear royal honor so here's my point we're looking for someone who will serve as both a king and a priest and what is it that he will do he will build a temple and on in that temple so some let me be clear there could be two applications of this temple that is built we could be referring to the millennial kingdom in which the Lord will be sitting on his throne and in that temple and he will sit with royal honor and all those things could be true speaking of that time I also though want you to go with me to Ephesians 2 verses 19 and 20 19 through 22 and we're going to conclude the message here Ephesians 2 19 through 22 let's look at this house that the Lord will build so then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God built on the foundations of the apostles and the prophets

[25:05] Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit let's be reminded of the gospel it says in the verse 19 you are no longer what is the kind of house that he is building well it tells us in verse 19 that you are no longer strangers and aliens there was a time when we were apart from Christ when we were dead in our sins we were strangers outcasts foreigners alienated from God and then it says but you are now fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God for the souls who have believed in Jesus Christ's person and his work then you now have a heavenly citizenship you are now you have family membership and you are members of the household of God this house that he is building you are now it you are that house so he's going to serve as a king and a priest and he's going to build this house and let's keep looking though built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets so this church of Jesus

[26:22] Christ this house that he is building is going to be built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets this is so important what is it that made the canon of scripture why are there no other books and letters that are included in the canon of scripture because we cannot say with certainty they came from the apostles or the prophets this is why many books and letters are not included in this we know that these people were eyewitnesses especially in the New New Testament these people were eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus Christ James was Paul was so that's what's included in scripture why do I mention that there are many world religions that are built and have sacred scriptures that are not built on the apostles and the foundation of the apostles and the prophets because we we are in the northwest one such religion and there's many things but is is Mormons

[27:35] Joseph Smith was not an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ anyway but you are fellow citizens and saints and the members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ being the cornerstone Jesus Christ we take our he is that cornerstone that cornerstone is a major structural part of the ancient buildings and once that stone is laid all other stones take their cue from that cornerstone what is moral we take our cue from who is the cornerstone and so we take our cue and we are measured by that cornerstone to know how we fit Jesus Christ being the cornerstone being built together grows into what a holy temple in the Lord going back to Zechariah

[28:36] Zechariah I want you to crown Joshua with a crown and why because who you're looking for that's going to come to bless and judge is going to be fulfill the role of both priest and king and he's going to build a temple and we see here we're growing together into a holy temple unto the Lord so how did the Lord build his church he died for the church and so all those who come to faith in Christ are being added to that church that temple of the Lord and we ourselves are temples of the Holy Spirit and so we are fitted together and we are building this thing and we are part of the construction of this thing but how does the church grow what does the churches do we read in Acts that we are to be his witnesses in Jerusalem Judea Samaria the ends of the world I am heartened by your example and the ways you testify to Christ what do we do we proclaim

[29:37] Jesus Christ and him crucified we disciple those who come to Christ and we send those who have placed their faith in Christ so we all are proclaimers we're all disciple makers and we are all sent ones as the church that is who we are and so as we proclaim Christ the church grows people put their faith in Christ put faith in the gospel the church grows and that's how this church is growing and it is not to be attributed to us God is the one who draws people unto salvation but we our responsibility is simply to proclaim is to simply disciple and is to simply be senders so we go back to this metaphor Zechariah take Joshua the high priest take these three people who have gold and silver who have returned from

[30:40] Babylon make a crown put it on his head because because that one you're looking for is going to play the role of priest and king who Jesus does beautifully because he came in the order of Melchizedek who was a priest and a king and he is going to build his temple and I pray isn't this beautiful this prophetic drama that played out 400 500 years before Christ we now see we look back in history and we say oh Lord you are so kind and so today I pray that we would be we would be a people who would be unashamed to proclaim him be unashamed to disciple others and we would be unashamed to be sent ones may we be tremendous people who bear witnesses of Christ let me pray father father you are good lord I recognize that

[31:55]  I recognize that you are the head of the church we thank you for your sinless life your death for sin your resurrection overcoming sin and death by which we can be saved you are good lord thank you for Zechariah who enacted this prophetic drama that pointed to you so Israel would know who they were to look for and lord we can look back on history now and say oh lord you are so good one day lord we know that you will also return and the thing that is written on your thigh says king and kings and lord of lords you are so good lord thank you for making a way that we can have access to the father and I pray that we would live courageously bearing witness of you this week we love you lord and it's in your name we pray amen so that