Zechariah Vision 9
CROWNS OF MEMORIAL
This is the ninth vision given to Zechariah or, rather, a special command after the eight visions.
It is the crowning revelation of a twofold sense.
It is to give great faith in the certainty of the Messiah’s coming and peculiar honours to be conferred upon him.
To watch the video link: http://youtu.be/DwrFoIRiARQ
Zec 6:9-15 KJV
(9) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
(10) Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah;
(11) Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;
(12) And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
(13) Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
(14) And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the LORD.
(15) And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.
It indicates the intense desire that God manifested to show Israel that the coming of the Messiah was near; that the temple construction was secondary in importance, although necessary, to hasten that event and how Joshua the high priest was a REPRESENTATIVE character.
He is crowned as King to show that the future Messianic office will unite both the priestly with the kingly.
This powerfully supports the teaching of Hebrews, only he approaches from the Levitical side as representative, rather than from the Melchisedek side which was typical.
Melchisedek was king and priest. Joshua was a priest and could not be King because he was not of David’s line, but he is crowned representatively of the coming priest – King – the BRANCH.
Isa 11:1-10 KJV
(1) And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
(2) And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
(3) And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
(4) But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
(5) And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
(6) The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
(7) And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
(8) And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.
(9) They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
(10) And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
[KJV] Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
~The Branch
[KJV] Zechariah 3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
WORD REPLACES ANGEL
Zechariah is now brought under a new operation. The angelic interpreter is not mentioned. The extreme importance of the message is such that the WORD of the Lord is mentioned as coming to the prophet. All agencies are obliterated as unimportant – the word alone being exalted. The coming revelation, dealing so effectively with the coming of the word made flesh, was hence presented in a seemly manner.
~The Word Made Flesh
[KJV] John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The last sentence in this revelation speaks of obedience to the voice of God and hence supplants the introductory verse.
The word, “hear his voice” is to be obeyed and, in its new dispensation with the setting the crowning of Jesus as priest in King, is to be the major act of obedience, if he is to make us kings and priests to God
EXALTING THE BUILDING ABOVE THE BUILDER
Three men had come from Babylon and were evidently guests in the house of a priest called Josiah. These men had brought gifts of silver and gold to go towards the temple construction. It was a noble, generous and highly ideal and the impulse reminds us of that of David who decided to build a house for God.
However, as is often the case, God overreached man’s highest ambition with something of far superior worth, indicating the truth of the word, thoughts are not your thoughts.
[KJV] Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
God took advantage of David’s impulse and promised to build him a house and that his seed, that is Christ, was to be more worthy than any outward building.
So the builder of the house is greater than the building, for God himself was the builder and he should be crowned supreme as such.
[KJV] Hebrews 3:3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
In case the glory of the temple took a great a hold on the imagination of the donors of the gifts, God steps in and claims that the gifts be used for a special purpose, relative to the priesthood rather than to the temple.
God commands that the gifts are to be used to make crowns, to crown Joshua, the high priest with all that as representative in the name of the priestly office of the Christ, so that he might show in what direction he was going to be pleased to bestow honour.
You remember that when Peter talked about building the Tabernacles when on the Mount, that the voice of the father interrupted by drawing attention to the Son. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
Mat 17:1-9 KJV
(1) And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
(2) And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
(3) And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
(4) Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
(5) While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
(6) And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
(7) And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
(8) And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
(9) And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
Hence God forestalled a future failing of Israel; to exalt the temple above the Christ. This spirit was responsible to some extent for the death of Stephen, and was rebuked by Christ himself when he said that in this place is someone greater than the temple.
[KJV] Matthew 12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
[KJV] Acts 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
The tendency to exalt building above the builder is shown today in the sectarian spirit. We must be continually reminded that our gifts are for the crowning of Christ, and the putting him in his rightful place. A lot is said in the New Testament about the support of men and ministry, Christ anointed servants, but the Scripture is silent about funds for church building. When Scripture is silent on the thing it pays to be silent too.
The changing of Joshua’s name to The BRANCH
Haste – the same day
Zachariah was commanded to make the crowns on the same day. The work was not to be delayed. Today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts.
[KJV] Hebrews 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
The ceremony as taught in this passage in Zechariah 6 points so clearly to Christ twofold office of King and priest is naturally rich in reference to the of book of Hebrews.
God was urgent in that the glory of the latter house be realised by the prophecies first and later by the presence of the Son in the temple itself. As it was unknown in the priesthood line of Aaron that the high priest be crowned king we see Joshua purely advanced as a representative character.
BEHOLD THE MAN
[KJV] John 19:5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!
Pilot use this same words before the Jewish mob. Jesus was crowned then but with thorns and the flowing blood spoke of redemption and the priestly work his purple robe spoke of his royalty. This man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses.
[KJV] Hebrews 3:3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
The text means this, behold the man Joshua is a remarkable foreshadowing of the Christ. It is not for his own sake that the Crown is placed upon him but as a type of Messiah, about to be at once both King and priest.
The branch & the glory.
Secure and permanent, the Council of peace sits between both the King & the Priest. Christ unites the religious and the civil office. Christ is the head of his own church state. The link between the church and state is shown today in the worldly setups. This is only an imitation and the counterfeit of the real spiritual rule of our priest king. The concurrence of the two offices in Christ results in peace being purchased. The priestly office being sustained by the kingly. Justice and mercy are harnessed in Christ the councillor. Peace be unto thee. Justice is met and mercy has triumphed.
Remembrance
The crowns were kept as a memorial of the donors who have come from afar. This indicates that the Gentiles would come and build under Christ in the true temple.
These crowns were a reminder to those building that the Christ would indeed come and his glory would be seen in the temple.
So sanctified souls who crown Jesus is king and priest are
1 always remembered before God
2 are those building with the vision of his return to glorify himself in his saints.
3 the sanctified walk itself is a guarantee that he is coming. (Those that have this hope in them and purify themselves even as he is pure)
[KJV] 1 John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Thus people are prepared and made ready for his return.
The true building then can be measured by one thing and one thing alone…..
People are getting saved and walking in holiness and separation from the world.
This can only happen if we diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord and to the one now speaking from heaven.
~The Unshaken Kingdom
[KJV] Hebrews 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
If we do not enter into this experience of true building – the obedience of the word – then another believing generation will be raised up to take our place.
Rom 11:13-36 KJV
(13) For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
(14) If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
(15) For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
(16) For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
(17) And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
(18) Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
(19) Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
(20) Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
(21) For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
(22) Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
(23) And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
(24) For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
(25) For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
(26) And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
(27) For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
(28) As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
(29) For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
(30) For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
(31) Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
(32) For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
(33) O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
(34) For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
(35) Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
(36) For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
I have always found this passage humbling. We have been given the gift of faith so we can walk in holiness & separation from the world before the Lord Jesus. We now have the power to do only those things that please him. The question remains; do we really want to do only those things that please him? The history of the future will tell.
I hope that you have seen and understood the gravity of our times, through looking at these visions, given so long ago to stir God’s people to press towards the mark of our high calling.
[KJV] Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
To watch the video link: http://youtu.be/DwrFoIRiARQ