Behold The Man Whose Name Is The Branch...Zechariah pt 9

And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 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; Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; 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: 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. 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. 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.(Zechariah 6:9-15)

The previous eight visions, given to Zechariah in sequence in one night, reveal the ultimate purpose of the God of Israel, Judah and Jerusalem. God has a purpose which will not be thwarted by Israel’s sin and apostasy.He will bring Israel back into the Land, destroy those Gentile powers which have scattered her, and He will restore the city of Jerusalem, and glorify it by dwelling once again in the midst of it.

Furthermore in spite of the judgment which she has endured and of the buss and persecution from her enemies, Israel will fulfill her ultimate ministry as the Lord’s Candlestick, shining in a darkened world, and revealing the glory of God to all nations.

The sins of Jerusalem and Judah would be born by a High Priest Jeshua, until the wrath of the Holy God is satisfied, and the adversary is rebuked.

Even the meaning of the name of the Prophet proclaims this, for Zechariah means “Jahweh has remembered”.God has not forgotten his people or the city where He put his name, indeed they are the very “Apple of His eye”.

Judgment begins in the house of God, but ultimately the flying scroll which proclaims a commandment from each of the two tables of the Law of Moses enters into the house of the entire world, bringing complete judgment upon all of the houses of the ungodly. The sin which corrupted Israel, will in the end be removed, carried away to Babylon and the welcoming house the Kings of the earth have prepared for it.These events ultimately lead to Armeggedon, the final battle.

Now that these visions have been discussed, Zechariah is led, to call for three prominent Jews who had come from Babylon bearing gifts of silver and gold for the temple which Zerubabbel was building. They were to take those offerings to a craftsman, who would fashion silver and gold crowns to set them on the head of the current high Priest, Joshua.

There stood God’s High Priest, the same one seen in the vision of chapter three, now crowned with a crown composed of silver and Gold. High Priests did not wear crowns, they wore Mitres, a special turban. Kings wore crowns. The two metals are holy , both are prominent in the temple. Gold represents deity, and the glory of God, whereas silver is the precious metal which represents redemption.

What we are seeing here is a prophetic/symbolic picture of an event which will occur at the very acme of the events Zechariah saw in his visions, the crowning of King Messiah, the Priestly King!

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(Phillipians 2:9-11)

*Behold the Man…Whatever Joshua the High Priest thought, he must have known that this prophecy could not have been referring to Him, but must have looked long past him in prophetic time to another. Joshua was Priest, he was not a King also and couldn’t be said to “sit on his throne and rule”. How could a Priest also be a King? The only scriptural idea for this combination was in the story of Melchizedek, a King/Priest of another order.

The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.(Psalm 110)

*Whose name is the Branch…lit,”The Branch is His name”… The Messiah has already been reffered to as “the Branch” in an earlier vision of Zechariah, (Zech 3:8). Remember that in the vision of chapter three, Zechariah and the Priests of Israel are reffered to as “Signs”, pointing to an ultimate reality to come, a servant called “The Branch”.

Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at(SIGNS): for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch.(Zechariah 3:8)

The Branch, is the title for Messiah given in Isaiah 4, in reference to the glorification of Messiah after the Day of the LORD.

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.(Isaiah 4:2)

Jeremiah refers to the Branch of David, the one coming to shoot out of the severed trunk of David’s tree, and who will fulfill all of the promises made to the house of David.

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. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.(Jeremiah 23:5-6)

The Kings of Judah, during the time of Jeremiah, were all sons of David, but they led the nation into such decline, it began to look like the promise would fail, as the last sons of David were led into Captivity in Babylon. At the time of the prophecy of Jeremiah 23, the King was named Zedekiah, “Jahweh is Righteous” but this “son of David” was totally unrighteous.

But Jahweh promised a “Shoot” , a Righteous Tsamach(Branch) to arise and truly be called “The LORD our Righteousness”. In His day Judah would be saved and Israel would finally rest in Jahweh.

* He shall grow up out of His place, David Baron is helpful here, with the Hebrew, “He shall Branch up from under Him…”. The Messiah comes from both regal and lowly origin, but He shall shoot out of lowliness to the highest places, as Isaiah observed, “Who has believed our message and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed , for he grew up before him as a tender shoot, and as a dry root out of parched ground…”(Isiah 53) He shall build the Temple of the LORD and shall bear the Glory of it…Remember that between the two of them, Joshua the High Priest, and Zerubabbel the Governor (and descendant of David), were engaged in the rebuilding of the temple. But this vision makes plain that the “King” and Priest were but foreshadows of a superior KING?PRiest and anointed one who would come and build an ultimate temple to God, and glorify it and rule from it. * …and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both... Between the two Divinely ordained offices, King and Priest of God, Shalom for all men will come to pass , for the council that brings men into Peace with God, shall come to mankind through his work and in his temple. What is the temple of the LORD, but a God ordained symbol of the ongoing communion between God and His people! This man “the Branch” will combine in himself the offices of KING and Priest and through his work, men will come from near and far and enter into an eternal and blessed communion with God forever.The Crowns were to be a sign and the other sign would be that foreigners would come and participate in the building of the present temple being constructed by Joshua and Zerubabbel.

The prophet Zechariah is the source of my understanding for the actual name of our Messiah.

The name “Joshua” in the underlying text is actually “Yahusha.” It comprises the Hebrew letters, in order of pronunciation, as follows: Yod, He, Waw, Shin, Ayin.

This is consistent with what the Bible says about Yahusha being named after his father, Yahuah.

The name “Yahuah” comprises the Hebrew letters, in order of pronunciation, as follows: Yod, He, Waw, He.

The Father and his Son have names where the first three Hebrew letters (in pronunciation order) are the same.

Yahuah (the Father): Yod, He, Waw, He.
Yahusha (the Son): Yod, He, Waw, Shin, Ayin.

Yahusha’s name is a message to the world.

“Yahusha” means “Yahuah saves” or “Yahuah is salvation.”

Here are pronunciation guides for both of the names:

http://october-5-2017.com/#theNameOfTheFather

http://october-5-2017.com/#theNameOfTheSon

Also, see my tag line.

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