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King And Priest On The Throne
King And Priest On The Throne
When the Babylonians destroyed the nation of Israel, they not only destroyed the physical city and temple but they destroyed the government and religious structure. God had decreed that there would be no more king until the righteous one would come. With the return from Babylon the people rebuilt the temple but reinstituted the priesthood. God had cleansed and sanctified the high priesthood.
Then the LORD makes a promise that must have seemed strange to the people of that time. "Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree" (Zechariah 3:8-10).
In chapter 6 the promise is enlarged: "Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the 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 royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both" (Zechariah 6:12-13).
Several things are promised in these two passages: 1) God's servant called 'the Branch' would come; 2) God would remove the iniquity of the land in 'one day'; 3) then every man would sit "under his vine and under his fig tree"; 4) He would build the temple of God; and 5) He would be both king and priest on His throne.
'The branch' has been spoken of several times by the prophets. Isaiah spoke of the branch that would come from the root of Jesse (Isa. 11:1). Jesse was David's father, and hence from the tribe of Judah. Later, Jeremiah had promised: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land" (Jeremiah 23:5). It was over 400 years later that Jesus was born: the son of Abraham, the son of David (Matt. 1:1).
Through this Branch God did remove the iniquity of the land. Jesus, with the one sacrifice of himself, forever took away sin. Through HIM is preached forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47, Acts 2:38). Peter could state: "God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31).
The third promise is an idiom of the people. 1 Kings 4:25 states that "Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon." Thus this is a picture of peace. Jesus is of course 'prince of Peace'. To Christians, He is our peace (Eph. 2:14). In Christ we have found peace (John 16:33). Such peace is not the absence of turmoil and strife for at the same time it can be said that 'in the world we tribulation'. The peace of Christ that surpasses understanding is the inner comfort, consolation and ease that come with knowing that we are right with God.
Jesus fulfilled the fourth promise and did build the new temple of God - the church (Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Cor. 3:16; 1 Pet. 2:5).
Concerning the fifth promise, He IS our High Priest (Heb. 8:1) and He IS King of King and Lord of Lords (Rev. 17:14). We are in His kingdom and he rules with all the authority of heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18; Col. 1:13). The interesting thing is that he is King out of the tribe of Judah and yet is also the Priest. To have a priest out of Judah is unthinkable under the Old covenant for only those from the tribe of Levi were authorized to be priests. Thus it is said: "when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests" (Hebrews 7:12-14). Along with Jesus being both our High Priest and our King, we now have been delivered from the Old Covenant and live under the New Covenant that He made.
Consider how great Jesus is: the Branch, the king, and our High Priest.
Hugh DeLong
