Zechariah
Chapter Nine
The BRANCH and the Stone
We
know from history that the priesthood of Israel would ultimately fail regarding
the very warning given in Zechariah 3:6-7 to Joshua. Joshua’s sons would intermarry with
pagans. It would be Joshua’s descendants
who would plot with the lies and deceptions that had Jesus crucified to
manipulate the situation, so they might keep their power and prestigious
positions in Israel. Pilate immediately
saw through their lies and deception but gave them what they demanded anyway
washing his hands of their corruption (Matthew 27:24). It is sad when God’s appointed spiritual
leaders become traitors to the responsibilities given them as they rebel
against the God they swore to serve. It
is to this very issue of the betrayal of the Messiah by the priesthood of
Israel that the LORD addresses in Zechariah 3:8.
“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” (Zechariah 3:8).
The message to Joshua and his
“fellows,” the remnant priesthood of Israel, as he stands before the eternal
Son of God, continues in verses eight through ten of Zechariah chapter
three. The rest of Israel’s priesthood
had apostatized and abandoned their commission to serve God faithfully. The testimony of the faithfulness of men who
wait long and live faithfully in anticipation of the fulfilment of the
prophetic promises of God, amazes the unbelieving people of this world. These people of faith believe that all that
the Bible says the Messiah will do, He will do.
If these truths are believed, every believer lives in the shadow of
expectation of the fulfillment of these momentous events of future
history.
Jesus was born of a virgin just as the
Scriptures foretold. Jesus was
vicariously offered for the sins of the world to satisfy God’s wrath upon sin
and to justify believing sinners “by grace” and “through faith” just as Psalm
twenty-two and Isaiah chapter fifty-three said He would do. He rose from the dead on the third day just
as He said He would do. Just as sure as
all those things were fulfillments of prophetic announcements, all the things
prophecy says Jesus will do yet in the future, HE WILL DO!
People who believe these prophetic truths
about Jesus, live like they believe these things will happen. They also believe that all the promises to
the faithful connected to these fulfilled events will happen. The world may mock the idea of faith, but at
the same time they are amazed at the people who live by faith. They are amazed by the people who give their
lives to be ambassadors of these truths and ministers of the message of eternal
reconciliation with God (II Corinthians 5:17-21).
Zechariah 3:8 records the LORD saying,
“behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.” Zechariah 3:8-10 is obviously chronologically
Kingdom Age and beyond. God called Jesus forth from the grave to be
seated at His right hand in glory for the whole Church Age. However, God will “bring forth” Jesus to conquer Satan’s world and remove Satan as
the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). The Hebrew word translated “BRANCH” means a bud or new sprout. The intent is a
new eternal line of humanity created through faith in the death, burial,
resurrection, and glorification of Jesus.
The continuum of the New Creation
happens when believers begin to reproduce in others what Jesus produced in
their lives.
Salvation is not merely a gift to receive. Salvation is a message to share and
communicate with others. The gift of salvation comes with an obligation of communication. Believers are obligated to communicate the
Gospel because that is the only way people will hear and understand to become
part of this new eternal line of humanity by trusting in the substitutionary
work of Jesus to satisfy the wrath of God upon their sin and receive the gift
of His righteousness given to them in the Person of the indwelling Holy Spirit
(Romans 10:14). Therefore, believers are
“born again” into this unfolding New Genesis
offered “by grace” and received “through faith.”
The
“bud” or “sprout” (BRANCH) begins to grow like the mustard seed grows into a
tree (Matthew 13:31-32). The Vine bears
a branch (John 15:1-8) and the branch bears fruit, which continues the growth
of the New Genesis beginning with the
ONE growing into millions of millions. The
“BRANCH” represents the beginning of a new family
tree of “born again” humanity disconnected from the curse and connected to
the New Genesis in Christ, the “last
Adam” (I Corinthians 15:45).
The word “BRANCH” in Zechariah 3:8 is a
word that connects to many aspects of the character, nature, and purposes of
the Messiah in Jesus. When we think of
the “BRANCH,” we should see God connecting many truths together throughout Scripture. Theses many truths are all fulfilled in the
birth, death, burial, resurrection/glorification, and second coming of
Jesus. The 1917 Scofield Reference Bible
gives four different main connecting points throughout Scripture referring to
Jesus Christ. Each point connects to
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other portions of Scripture, which develop the
doctrine of Christology (the doctrine of Christ) throughout Scripture. The metaphor of the “BRANCH” are truths all
growing from the same source in the prophecies of Scripture by inspiration of
God.
“branch
A name of Christ, used in fourfold way:
(1) ‘The Branch of Jehovah’ (Isa 4:2), that is, the ‘Immanuel’ character of Christ Isa 7:14 to be fully manifested to
restored and converted Israel after His return in divine glory Mt 25:31.
(2) the ‘Branch of David’ Isa 11:1; Jer 23:5;
33:15 that is, the Messiah, ‘of the seed of David according to the flesh’ Ro 1:3 revealed in His earthly glory
as King of kings, and Lord of lords;
(3) Jehovah’s ‘Servant, the Branch’ Zec 3:8 Messiah’s humiliation and obedience unto death according
to Isa 52:13-15; 53; Php 2:5-8.
(4) the ‘man whose name is the Branch’ Zec 6:12-13 that is His character as
Son of man, the ‘last Adam,’ the ‘second Man’ 1Co 15:45-47 reigning, as Priest-King, over the earth in the
dominion given to and lost by the first Adam. Matthew is the Gospel of the ‘Branch
of David’; Mark of ‘Jehovah's Servant, the Branch’; Luke of ‘the man whose name
is the Branch’; John of ‘the Branch of Jehovah.’”[1]
With the Scriptures being so redundant
with these connecting truths about the promised Messiah, why were the priests
of Israel ignorant and deceived about His coming? We know the people of Israel were ignorant
because the priests were ignorant, but why were the priests ignorant? Why didn’t Nicodemus, the “teacher of
Israel,” know that we all “must be born again” to even be able to “see” and
understand the “Kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
False doctrine is simply educated ignorance lacking the continuity of
the harmony of the Scriptures. False
doctrine is always the outcome of lazy, superficial, and often convoluted Bible
study. This is what happens when
spiritual leaders become disconnected to the big picture provided through
inductive Bible study (accurately putting all the pieces together).
Ignorance of Biblical prophecy is the
outcome of lazy Bible study. God does
not give us truths He does not intend for us to understand. “9 But as it is written, Eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath
revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God” (I Corinthians 2:9-10). Scripture
interprets Scripture. Yes, there
will always be details we will not be able to fully grasp about which we can
only speculate, but the big picture of prophecy is clearly presented. The term “BRANCH” is a term that connects our
understanding to hundreds, thousands, of verses of Scripture about Christ. Peter warns of the ignorance of prophecy in
the third chapter of his second epistle.
“11 Seeing then {through the prophecies of Scripture} that
all these things shall be dissolved {vs
10; ‘the heavens shall pass away with
a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also
and the works that are therein shall be burned up’}, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12
Looking for and hasting unto the
coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look
for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look
for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without
spot, and blameless. 15 And account that the longsuffering of
our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according
to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in
all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some
things hard to be understood, which they
that are unlearned {uneducated or
ignorant} and unstable {vacillating, or without foundations} wrest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own
destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also,
being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. 18
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen” (II Peter 3:11-18).
When Bible truths are lost or corrupted
among theological academia, these
corruptions are propagated and compounded because they are then taught to
people who trust their academic authorities.
These corruptions cannot be corrected without condemning the corrupted
authorities teaching them. People tend
to protect and defend their trusted authorities. This is what happened during the four-hundred
years of silence from God in the inter-testament period between Malachi and
John the Baptist.
The remnant of Israel, returning to
rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem under the direction of Ezra, Nehemiah, and
Haggai, were mostly faithful priests from the faithful line of Zadok. Joshua of Zechariah 3:1-8 is the son of the
High Priest Josedech (Haggai 1:1) taken into the Babylonian captivity by
Nebuchadnezzar. These were descendants
of the line of priesthood from Eleazer fulfilling God’s prophecy regarding the
casting away of the descendants of Eli as High Priests (I Samuel 2:22-33). Abiathar would be
the last High Priest from the line of Eli (I Kings 2:26-27) when Zadok was
appointed High Priest by king Solomon.
The point of the warning of Zechariah
3:8 is that even though Joshua was a faithful High Priest to Israel, his
faithfulness did not guarantee the faithfulness of his progeny. Children MUST be trained to know the
Scriptures and live the Scriptures. The
prophecies of Ezekiel confirm this faithful line of priests will be restored during
the Kingdom Age. The Zadokean priesthood
if the Kingdom Age will be Church Age believers.
“13 And
they {vs.10; ‘the Levites that are gone
away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after
their idols’} shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest
unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in the most holy place:
but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have
committed. 14 But I will make them keepers of the charge of the
house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. 15
But the priests the Levites, the sons of
Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went
astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they
shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord
GOD: 16 They {the Zadokites}
shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to
minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge” (Ezekiel 44:13-16).
The application of these truths is very
apparent. Every believer will be
rewarded for his/her faithfulness in obedience to the commands of
Scripture. However, the only way to
ensure our children and grandchildren are faithful is consistency in studying
the Scriptures, teaching them the Scriptures, and living the Scriptures before
them just like we live them before
God. The thousands of little inconsistencies,
hypocrisies, and duplicities in our lives will be the ropes that bind our next
generations in spiritual death. This
truth has been prevalent throughout thousands of years of recorded history from
the beginning of time.
“7 But
when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said
unto them, O generation of vipers,
who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for
repentance {context implies
repentance of ‘dead works’ that precedes salvation; in other words, they needed
to get saved first}: 9 And think not to say within yourselves,
We have Abraham to our father {belief
that they were saved because of their genetic connection to Abraham rather than
their faith connection to Abraham; Galatians 3:126}: for I say unto you,
that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10
And now {right now the prophecies about the casting away of the apostate
priesthood of Israel was being fulfilled in that generation} also the axe
is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore
every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the
fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance {sanctificationally}: but he that cometh
after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12 Whose fan {a tool to separate chaff from wheat} is
in his hand, and he will throughly purge {cleanse
or purify} his floor {the nation of
Israel at His second coming}, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he
will burn up the chaff {lost Christ
rejecting Jews; especially the apostate priests} with unquenchable fire” (Matthew
3:7-12).
“9 For behold the stone that I have laid before
Joshua; upon one stone shall be
seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of
hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of
that land in one day {the purging
with the fire of God descending from heaven at the end of the Kingdom Age}.
10 In that day, saith the
LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under
the fig tree” (Zechariah 3:9-10).
This is a remarkable text that looks
beyond this creation to the New Genesis “in Christ.” The Kingdom Age is but a small representation
of the ultimate living Temple of God where all the redeemed become one with the
Lord in perfect harmony of eternal existence.
The text is difficult to understand because the truths to which it
speaks are unfathomable to the human mind.
The fact that this prophecy is future
should be evident by the twice repeated “I will” words of “the LORD of
hosts.” The “one stone” is Jesus
Christ. He is the “cornerstone” upon
which all aspects of the New Genesis rests.
Every “born again” believer is created to be a living stone at present
is built upon this Cornerstone. However,
in “one day” every believer will literally and spiritually become part of this
“one stone” in the living Temple of the New Genesis in the new Heaven/Earth
created after the Kingdom Age.
“Him that
overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no
more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the
city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven
from my God: and I will write upon him my new name” (Revelation 3:12).
At the dissolution of the first creation
after the Kingdom Age, the redeemed of God will experience for the first time a
cohabitation with God hitherto never imagined, nor could it be because it is
unfathomable. This is the fulfillment of
what I Corinthians 2:9 speaks; “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him.” The
fact that this engraved stone with seven eyes is God and the New Genesis in
Christ is revealed by Zechariah 4:10 representing the omniscience of the all-seeing
and all-knowing God; “For who hath despised the day of small things? for they
shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of
the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” The “stone is a metaphor for God representing
His unchanging eternality. However, the
living stone metaphor that we find elsewhere speaks of a union of the redeem
with their Redeemer in the New Genesis, which will ultimately be joined with
the Father in the New Genesis.
Zechariah 3:9-10 is speaking of the
“consuming fire” of God’s presence returning to His first creation to purify it
and destroy. This is the context of
Isaiah 64:1-5 from Which Paul quotes in I Corinthians 2:9. The material first creation will literally
melt away at the coming of God at the end of the Kingdom Age.
“1 Oh
that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the
mountains might flow down at thy presence, 2 As when the
melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name
known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
3 When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for,
thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. 4 For
since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by
the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath
prepared for him that waiteth for him. 5 Thou meetest him that
rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy
ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and
we shall be saved” (Isaiah 64:1-5).
II Peter chapter three gives us
considerable expansion upon our understanding of what Isaiah 64:1-5
speaks. The interpretation of Scripture
is corrupted if we do not understand the inductive methodology. Inductive simply means the whole is equal to
the sum of its parts. In other words, we
must gather all the parts and put them together to understand the whole. This is tedious and laborious work that few
will take the time to do. It is often
the outcome of a lifetime of diligent Bible study. God has given us the prophetic pieces of a
gigantic puzzle and He expects we will be curious enough to work at putting it
all together. This is a labor of
love.
The second coming of Jesus is the “day of
the Lord.” The “day of the LORD” is the
day of JEHOVAH. Jehovah is the Name of
God the Redeemer. This is Jesus the
eternal Son of God as the second person of the Trinity. Jesus came to redeem lost souls and
humanity’s dominion lost to Satan in the fall into sin. Satan will be bound for the one-thousand-year
Kingdom Age period. The earth will be
restored ecologically, and topographically to the way it was prior to the great
flood. The people entering the Kingdom
Age will live for the whole one-thousand-year period. Death and disease will be eliminated. The earth will experience peace with King
Jesus ruling the world.
However,
the Kingdom Age is not the ultimate utopia.
Although Satan and his fallen demons will be bound, the Earth will still
be filled with unglorified sinners. They
will marry and give birth to children needing to repent and be “born
again.” Many of those born into the
Kingdom Age will reject Jesus as their Saviour and when Satan is loosed for a
“little season” at the end of the Kingdom Age, they will join Satan in an
attack against the Lord Jesus. Then they
will experience the “day of God.” The
ultimate utopia will be created in “one day” called the “day of God.” In that
same day, the whole of the first creation will be “dissolved with fervent heat”
at the very presence of Elohim.
“3
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking
after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his
coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are
ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth
standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that
then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens
and the earth, which are now, by the
same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment
and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of
this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be
dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
conversation and godliness, 12 Looking
for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat? 13 Nevertheless we,
according to his promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (II Peter 3:3-13).
On
the “day of Pentecost” the New Covenant began to unfold. Every believer was indwelled by the Holy
Spirit of God creating a theanthropic union with every believer. Those believers were sealed with the Holy
Spirit “unto the day of redemption” of their bodies (Ephesians 4:30). That union is an eternal union that will
never be broken (Hebrews 13:5). However,
that was just the beginning of our redemption; not its end. The next phase of “the regeneration” is the
glorification of the believer’s body when the believer is removed from his Sin
Nature and the “old man” is left behind in the resurrection/glorification.
The
next phase of “the regeneration” is the Kingdom Age when Jesus returns to Earth
with His glorified redeemed to restore dominion to humanity as He rules Earth
from Jerusalem through a worldwide network of glorified believers dispersed
into the cities through the world. We
can only imagine the extent of the theanthropic union of the glorified believer
with the heart and mind of Christ during this period of world history. Will we know what Christ knows? Will we see what Christ sees? Will we feel what Christ feels? Is the “filling of the Spirit” during the
Church Age intended to represent a small embryonic sense of the believer’s
glorification in the Kingdom Age? Can we
even imagine what it would be like to exist without the constant convolution of
the Sin Nature? Can we imagine
constantly being filled with the Spirit of God?
Yet, as wonderful as this new extension of “the regeneration’ will be,
it is not the end of our transfiguration.
There is a new last and eternal day dawning on the horizon of
eternity.
“1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth
were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw
the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be
his people, and God himself shall be
with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed
away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for
these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is
done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that
is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all
things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the
fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers,
and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation
21:1-8).
[1] C. I.
Scofield, Notes from the Scofield Reference Bible, 1917, Module file location: C:\Program Files
(x86)\SwordSearcher\Modules\Scofield.ss5cmty, Module file time: 7/31/2011
8:15:28 PM UTC.
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Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at: http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/
Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.
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