I invite you to open the Bible and in turn with me to the book of Zechariah. Zechariah Chapter 6 is our text together today. And as we open the Bible, I think it's important for us to think about what are we trying to accomplish right now, in this time, like, are you here to grow in your knowledge? Do you want to learn something? Are we just here because this is what we do? Are we going through the motions? Or are we actually trying to get somewhere in our understanding? And then what are we trying to understand? Because this is Israel after the exile? This is Jerusalem, and we’ve got prophets like Haggai and Zechariah. We’ve got a priest named Joshua. We’ve got a governor named Zerubbabel. Like, are you actually understanding what's going on in Zechariah? Are you learning the people, places, and things? Or like, if we study this again, in two years, will it be like learning it all over again because you didn't really get it this time? So, are we learning? And then I guess the question is, can we see past all the people, places, and things to like, what it is saying about God? See, I grew up going to church, I actually grew up a pastor's kid. So, a lot of times, it was even my dad was the guy preaching at church. And I heard so many sermons, I learned so many things. And I had to ask myself these kinds of questions like, am I actually understanding these things? Where does it go in one ear and out the other? And then I can remember, there was a choice I had to make, like in my heart, like, am I going to be a Bible nerd, who kind of thinks I've already heard this? I already know this. You can't teach me anything, where knowledge puffs me up. Or am I going to be somebody who I just want to know God, and I want to learn more about him? And so, if you’ve got something to say from the Scripture, that's going to teach me more about God, I'm ready to hear it. Because my desire is to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. So, I had to ask myself, like, am I even getting it up here? And then does it just stay here or does it actually get to my heart? And so, we're going to learn some people, places, and things that I hope you really will learn. But we're going to see something about God today, something that is meant to grow you in your love and knowledge of him. And so, I hope that you will pay close attention to Zechariah chapter 6, and I hope you'll pay attention. I know we’ve got people; can we give a round of applause for everybody in the overflow room right now? I know we’ve got people over there in the overflow. I know we’ve got moms in the mom's room. I know we’ve got people watching online Sunday. I'm looking forward to how we can all just do this together. But wherever you are right now, let's all stand up for the reading of Zechariah 6. Let's give this our full and undivided attention. Let's look at this like this is something I want to learn. I want to grow in my knowledge not only of what this is saying, but I want to know who God is today. Please follow along as I read Zechariah chapter 6.
Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses—all of them strong. Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” And the angel answered and said to me, “These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward the south country.” When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and patrol the earth. And he said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth. Then he cried to me, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country.” And the word of the Lord came to me: “Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And say to him, ‘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.”’ And the crown shall be in the temple of the Lord as a reminder to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah. “And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the Lord. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
That's the reading of Scripture. Please go ahead and have your seat. And in your bulletin, there is a handout there, if you want to pull that out and take some notes, and maybe you could just write at the top of your handout, am I here to grow in the knowledge of God? Well, let's talk through the people, places, and things, and then let's see what we can really see about what God is revealing about himself to us in this chapter. Now, this is the last of the night visions of Zechariah. So, some of you have been here, we've been doing this for six weeks, going through these different things that Zechariah sees. And it all happens in one night. If you are taking notes write down February 15, 519 BC, because he sees eight different things on that one night. And this is number eight that we're looking at right now. And this last one will kind of review some of the other ones. So, if you're just joining us, don't worry, you should be able to catch up. But for some of us who have heard all of these different sermons on these different night visions, there are some repeated themes that God really wants to impress upon our hearts.
So, even the opening line shows us that we're entering another thing that Zechariah saw, I don't know if you've ever woken up with an intense dream before and you couldn't go back to sleep, you wake up in a puddle of sweat. You're like, whoa, that was so intense. This is the eighth one of these that he's had in this one night. And he says here in Zechariah 6:1, “Again, I lifted my eyes and saw,” and that's kind of a queue line that we're now entering another one of these night visions. And in fact, go back to Zechariah 5:1, and you'll see that's the same exact way, Zechariah 5 began. “Again, I lifted my eyes and saw and behold,” and he's writing it so you can see what he saw. He actually saw it in a vision. We're just reading his writing about it. Look at Zechariah 5:9, “Then I lifted my eyes and saw and behold.” So, God's been showing him this whole series of visions that we've now been able to see through the Scripture and this one, if you go back to Zechariah 6:1, this is for chariots. So, we've got four chariots who come out between two mountains of bronze here, and these chariots, look at the different color horses. They're in verse 2, we've got first of all, red horses, black horses, white horses, and then the fourth chariot, it says here is dappled horses. And all of us city slickers from Southern California, we all know what dappled horses are, right? At least I didn't know what it was. Who does know what a dappled horse is? Shout it out. That's a spotted horse. Right? Dappled horses, spotted horse. Now we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief, those of us who are ignorant to this information, right? But hey, just because they're spotted doesn't mean they aren't strong. It says all of them are strong. So, we've got different colored horses. Now we've seen different colored horses back in the first night vision in Zechariah 1. And if you're taking notes, you might want to write down Revelation chapter 6, where it also has a vision of different colored horses. Maybe you've heard of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, where there's red and black and white and pale horses. So, but these horses are, they're different colors, and they're pulling chariots. Chariots are the war machine. Chariots are, we're going out to battle; we're going out to win a victory. And so, they're coming in between these two mountains. It seems like they've been presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. That's what it says in Zechariah 6 verse 5. He's always asking these great questions like, what is going on? What are these? And then we get the answer in Zechariah 6:5. They're going out to the four winds of heaven. They're presenting themselves; they’ve been presenting themselves; they went before the Lord. Now the Lord is sending them out to patrol the earth. And we want to pay careful attention. Zechariah 6:6, it doesn't tell us where the red horses go. But the black horses go towards the north country. The white ones also go to the North Country. And then the dappled horses are as we've now learned, the spotted horses. They're going to the south country and these horses, they're like stomping their hooves, they're breathing, and they're like, they're ready to go. They want to go patrol the earth, they're impatient to go and so, boom, they're off and they're getting sent out.
So, turn with me back to Zechariah chapter 1. And let's just remind ourselves how these night visions began. And let's go back; I think there's a reason we're back to colored horses. They're kind of a bookends to the night vision. This is how it begins and this here's how it will now end. And you can see here in Zechariah 1:7, this is where we got the exact day that this was happening. So, we know this was all happening in one night, he had eight different visions, this guy Zechariah. And then it says in Zechariah 1:8, “I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse.” And this man, he was standing among the myrtle trees in the Glen. And then behind him, there were other horses, red horses, Sorrel horses, which is like that brownish red color of horse and then a white horse. So, we’ve got a bunch of different colored horses, but there was a man, and he had came in riding a red horse, and then he's like standing there. And the angel says, I mean, Zechariah 1:9, Zechariah, is asking that question, “What are these, my lord?” And the angel said, I'll show you what they are. And the man who's standing among the myrtle trees actually answered, these are they whom the Lord is sent to patrol the earth. So, angels, that's what we think these horses represent. Angels are God's messengers. And God sends them from heaven all over, patrolling the earth to do his will, to send his message. Well, the angels in this point, it's like they're gathering back together after patrolling the earth. And they say in Zechariah 1:11, to the one who's standing among the myrtle trees, they say, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, the earth remains at rest, like the nations of the earth are all at rest.” And when the angel of the Lord and when we were doing this study, we saw that this man among the myrtle trees, who's now called the angel of the Lord, we found that this is actually a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he, when he hears that all the nations are at rest, he's not at rest with that. And so, he gives this intercessory prayer here in Zechariah 1:12, “O, Lord of hosts, oh, God, who commands the armies of heaven, the armies of angels,” God who sends out his angels, that's what Lord of Hosts means. “How long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these 70 years?” Hey, how come all those nations are at rest? Why don't you come back and be with your people and restore your people, and then go and judge the other nations who are being wicked and are against your people. And so God actually answers this prayer from the angel of the Lord. Here's what he says in Zechariah 1:14, here's what we're supposed to cry out, the angel who talked with me said to me, cry out dust says the Lord of hosts, here's the God who commands angels, I'll tell you, I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion. And I'm exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease. For a while I was angry, but a little they further the disaster. “Therefore thus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy and My house shall be built in it declares the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.” So, God now in response to this cry from the angel of the Lord, he says, yes, I am angry with the other nations. And I am jealous for my people in Jerusalem. And so, I am now going to come back to Jerusalem, restore a right relationship with my people, the temple will be rebuilt, and I'm going to judge those other nations. That's what God says here in Zechariah 1. And then he's been showing Zechariah, all these visions of his glory in their midst in Jerusalem, of changing the high priests close to holy garments, showing that he has a right relationship, again with the people. He showed a vision of Zerubbabel, the governor putting in the last stone in the temple.
And if you were here, last week, we saw a basket of wilderness going out to Babylon. “To the land of Shinar so the wickedness could be complete, where it is going to be judged. And so, God is now saying what he's going to do, and then he's showing and all these visions, and so go back to Zechariah 6, and look, and now we've got horses being sent out of all different colors here. They're pulling chariots. So, they're going out to war, they're going out to do something. And look back at Zechariah 6 with a chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country. Okay, so the idea here is the black horses. What does that represent? And they're going to the north country. Where is that? First of all, it doesn't tell us where the red horses go. And in Zechariah 1, the man who got off the red horse, that we believe was Jesus, so maybe the red horse is still represents the angel of the Lord and maybe the red horse is our stand right there in Jerusalem, but it doesn't tell us where the red horses are going. It just says the black ones are going and the black ones represent famine in Revelation 6 and then the white one, they represent some kind of victory. So, it's almost like we're going to go bring destruction and victory to the north country.
Now, I don't know if you can see Israel on a map in your mind. But if you were looking at the country of Israel, to the west, you’ve got the Mediterranean Sea, and to the east, you’ve got this vast wilderness. So that's why I think the chariots only go to the north or to the south, because those are the two ways you really go from Israel. And they would regularly say that Babylon was to the north, where the people who invaded them took them over and exiled them. That's what's up to the north, and then down to the south, well, down to the south is usually referring to Egypt. And so, we’ve got the black and white chariots going to the north, like gods sending out his angels to go judge, maybe the people who have been wrong to his people, they're going to go get judged. And then the dappled horses, the spotted ones, they're going down to the south. And then look what happens in Zechariah 6:8, then he cried to me, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my spirit at rest in the north country.” So, we just read back in Zechariah 1, that all the earth was at rest, all the nations were at rest. Well, now it seems like God's sending out his angels to go judge the nations. And as the angels go to judge the nations now God is the one who is at rest with his people. And so, we've really kind of come a long way from the first vision until this eighth vision where God said what he was going to do. But now he's been showing us behind the scenes, glimpses of what God's doing with the angels in the spiritual realm, and we see them as horses taking chariots to judge the nations of the earth.
So, let's get this down. Here's what I think we need to learn from the night visions. If you are taking notes: “God will show what he tells.” God will show what he tells. This is just like saying, God's going to do what he says, If God prophesied something, if God promises something, whatever God says, that is what is going to happen, God's just not going to say something and then forget about it, he's not going to tell you to do something and then not follow through. God is always show-and-tell. If he says he's going to do it, at some point, you're going to see him do it. God will always be true to his word. Can I get an Amen from anybody in the congregation here today? So, this is what we're supposed to see, we see these prophecies. And then as we keep going through the story of Zechariah, or even into Ezra and Nehemiah, God is going to rebuild the temple, God is going to be there with his people. And in fact, this time and post-exilic Israel, where the people come back to Jerusalem is one of the best times that God ever has with his people in the nation of Israel, and he does a lot to restore his relationship with them. And so God is telling them what he's going to do. He's showing them what he's going to do, and God actually does it. And really, the idea here in this vision is like God is on the move, like, look at Zechariah 6:5, where it says, “And the angel answered and said to me, these are going out.” If we were reading this in Hebrew, we would see one word getting used over and over again. And it's this word, Yasa. As this idea of going out, or coming toward like something that's moving, it's moving away from you, it's moving towards you. And so, we are seeing here in Zechariah 6:5, that these angels, these horses with these chariots, they're going out. Look at Zechariah 6:6, the chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country. And then Zechariah 6:7, the strong horses, when they go out, they're impatient, and they want to go patrol the horn. So, you see movement here, like, wow, look at those chariots, go look at those different colored horses. They're moving like God's got a plan, and he's sending out his angels. To accomplish it. This was the same idea. If you were here last week, this basket of wickedness. Do you remember that weird basket with a woman who was in it, and then were the other women who were like flying away with the basket and the basket is going out to Babylon, to the land of Shiner to the north country. And once the wickedness is complete there, it's going to be judged? Well, now look, there goes the basket and one vision to go be wicked. Well, now here come the angels in the next vision, and they are going out to bring the judgment upon the wickedness of the basket. So, God is letting everybody know, hey, I am actually doing things, things that you can't normally see. But I'll show them to you in this vision. If I tell you, I'm going to judge the world, let it be known I'm going out to judge the world. In fact, these two mountains, that these chariots come out from between two mountains, to turn with me to chapter 14 of Zechariah because this could be a preview of this prophecy that is still yet to come. Kind of the climax of the whole book of Zechariah even as we're ending the night visions, this could I'm not sure what the tomorrow countenance exactly means I mean, we know that Jerusalem is a city on a hill, there's multiple mounts Moriah, Zion, the Mount of Olives that make up the area of Jerusalem. But look what it says in Zechariah 14 For you might remember some of us that we talked about this on Easter on that day, the day that Jesus returns to judge the nations of the earth, on that day, he's going to come down the same way as he went up, and his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, that lies before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley so that one half of the mount shall move northward. And the other half southward, Jesus is going to come back and split the Mount of Olives into on the day that he brings judgment upon the nations. Well, are those the two mounts that these angels are going forward to bring his judgment all over the earth? I'm not sure if that's what it's saying. That could be a preview. But the point clearly is that God is going to be at rest, because the nations are no longer at rest. The nations are being judged as God sends out his chariots. And so there is coming a day when the world is going to be judged. This is something that prophecy is pointing to. This is something that God is telling you, you don't need to live your life, like you don't know how the world is going to end or what the end of the story is. No, you know that God is sending his Son Jesus back to make everything right. But that's not the end of Zechariah 6, because look what happens.
Next, go back to Zechariah chapter 6, and look at verse 9. And notice how it goes right to “and the Word of the Lord came to me.” So, the thought here, I don't know how you would feel if you had eight visions like this, and then you woke up, right? I mean, I'd probably need a day, I'd probably take a personal day after that right there. But the idea is like, boom, he gets a word of the Lord. And there's no like, well, in three days, he got a word from the Lord or in two years, he got a word from the Lord. Look at Zechariah 7:1, where if you come back next week, we're going to look at chapter seven, and it jumps ahead and it gives us a timestamp. We go from the second year of King Darius to the fourth year of King Darius, boom, two years later, when we go into Zechariah chapter 7. Well, if you notice here at Zechariah 6:9, there is no timestamp. So, it's like all night long he's having these visions. Now it's morning time and boom, the word of the Lord came to me take from the exiles. And they mentioned three different ones here three different guys who apparently maybe have just arrived back in Jerusalem from Babylon, Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, and you’ve got to get these guys and take from them and then go to Josiah the son of Zephaniah. So, you're going to take from these guys who just got back into town, and then you're going to go to this other guy's house, and you're taking from them silver and gold, and you're going to this other guy's place to make a crown. So, I've given you visions, I've shown you things in the night that only you can see. Well, now I want to give you a visual that everybody in Jerusalem is going to be able to see. And so, I want you to get the silver and gold that these guys just brought to town and take it over here where this guy can fashion that silver and gold into a crown. And then here's kind of the plot twist. It's really meant to get the attention of everyone in Jerusalem and set that crown on the head of Joshua, the son of Jozadak, the high priest. Now do high priests usually wear crowns? No, in fact, if you've been here for Zachariah, what do high priests usually wear on their heads? Turbans, and they've got a sign that says, Holy to the Lord on that term, and it's a part of their high priestly garments. So, this fact that now Zechariah, who's had quite a night is scurrying about town. And the Lord says, give me your silver and gold. Hey, you over here, the Lord says, fashion it into a crown, and then we're going to run and everybody's like, hey, what was that? Zechariah running down the street? Where's he going? He's taken this crowd. And people would think well, yeah, here we go. The nation is coming back. Go put that crown on. Zerubbabel is the governor. He's in the line of David. Let's make him king. Let's bring back the glory of Israel. But then when he takes the crown, and he puts it on high priest said he's not wearing a turban. Now, he's wearing a crown. Every little boy and girl in Jerusalem. Daddy, why is the high priest wearing a crown? What is Zechariah trying to say to us? So, this is interesting before he can even probably writes down his night visions before the word can even spread of all that he's seen, God's already given him another visual. We're going to take a crown and, instead of crowning a king at some coronation ceremony, we're going to go put the crown on the high priest’s head. Wow, that would have got everybody in Jerusalem talking. What's the point? Well, it says right here in Zechariah 6:12, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, this is for us to see the man whose name is the branch.’ And when I say the branch, everybody's like, yeah, right, is that everybody's response? Ooh, ah, I love it when we talk about the branch, right? That's not how we are most of us don't even know who the branch is. Right? Now we learned a little bit about him. this branch, and notice what it says about him. He's going to branch out from his place, and he's going to build the temple, he's going to bear royal honor, he's going to sit and rule on his throne.
So, we already had a reference to the branch back in Zechariah 3:8, if everybody could turn back to Zechariah 3:8. And it was also when we were talking about Joshua, the high priest. And it said here now Oh, Joshua, the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, you and the other priests who serve with you, they are men who are a sign you priests are just a picture. You guys are just a type of what is to come, Behold, I will bring my servant on the branch. And whenever it says the branch, we're all supposed to be like, yeah, the branch is coming. I love that. I'm rooting for the branch, I'm ready to write him in on the next ballot, I want the branch to reign over us. See, this is something we're supposed to know, this is something that's already been a prophecy before it's ever referred to here in Zechariah.
In fact, let me just throw up some branch prophecy verses up here on the screen, if you want to write them down. When we studied the branch in Zechariah 3, we looked up these prophecies in Isaiah, and Jeremiah. And we found that the branch is going back to the stump of Jesse, it's meant to be the line of King David, the family tree of King David. God made a promise to David that he would have a king on his throne, a son, a descendant on his throne, who would reign forever and ever. Amen. But then King Nebuchadnezzar came in, and he chopped the whole family line of David down, he chopped the line of David down and he ended the kingly line of Judah there in Jerusalem. And so now from the stump of Jesse going back to the root of the line of King David, when we thought the kingdom was over, and Israel had no future, no, out of the roots, out of the stump in the ground is going to come a branch, and there's going to be another king reigning over Israel, and this king, he is awesome. He reigns in righteousness; he does everything that is right. He actually cares about people who are poor, and oppressed and downtrodden. When this king reigns, everybody has peace with one another, even the animals and people have peace. When this king reigns, the kids are playing in the snake pits, basically, because they're not afraid of the snakes coming at him and biting them, because we're all getting along because the branch is here now. Everybody, in fact, in Jeremiah and both of those references in chapter 23, there you can see and in chapter 33. And in both of them it says, YHWH is our righteousness. See, this branch, he's not like any king. Not only does he do what is right, but he actually makes people right with God. What kind of a king can make people right with God, Oh, see, it's a priest, kind of a king, a king like Israel has never had before. And so now we're going to take the crown, and usually the crown, we fit it for the king, but this crown, it's fit for a priest, because when the branch comes, he will be both the ruler with all authority, and he will reign as the king, but he will also be the priest, and as the priest, he will bring people into the presence of God. A king who does righteousness, and a priest who makes people right with God at the same time. Someday there will no longer be a separation of church and state. When the man the branch shows up, who am I talking about, everybody? What is his name? This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who will be the priest king there in Jerusalem.
And so, we're supposed to take this crown and put it and then to give away everybody if you know the languages. We're putting it on Joshua, the high priest. Well, if you know the name, Joshua, it's the Hebrew name that means the Lord is salvation. What is the Greek name that means the Lord is salvation, Jesus. So, Joshua and Jesus are the same name in two different languages. Is that making sense to everybody? Right. So, the fact that we're putting a crown on a priest whose name is Jesus And we're saying behold the man who is the branch. This is a preview of coming attractions. And there is some debate in the Hebrew here. If you look back at Zechariah 6:11, there is some debate when it says, Make a crown, as if that is singular or plural. Does it say make a crown? Or do we make crowns. And you can see here, they decided to say one crown that got put on Joshua, some people think it's two crowns and Zerubbabel gets one as the guy who's ruling as the governor. And Joshua also gets one as the guy who's the priest. And the reason people may think there are two crowns, is because it says we're going to have a ruler who sits on a throne, and a priest who sits on the throne, and the priest and the ruler, the king, they take counsel together, and they're at peace with one another. But if we have one throne that has both a king and a priest, it's quite possible that the king and the priest are actually one person who's sitting on the throne. And so, in the Jewish mindset, there were always priests from the tribe of Levi. And there were always kings in the line of David, and the fact that they would someday come together and be one, and they would behold the man who is the branch. I mean, this is just a mind-blowing kind of reality that's being revealed here, that Joshua, the high priest, not so lovable, who's in the line of David in the genealogy of Jesus, but Joshua, the high priest, he's actually the one we're putting the crown on, because he's the one pointing us to Jesus.
And so, the point here is you will behold the man, the branch, let's get that down for our crown visual, the purpose of this crown being made and being put on Joshua with a high priest is “You will behold the man.” The branch is coming. And he's going to be the priest-king of Israel. And this is something that is going to happen, and you need to be ready for it to happen. And so, let's give everybody a visual so they can learn and start to think what's going to take place. In fact, go with me to Zechariah 6:14, and look what it says they were going to do with this crown. After Joshua wore it for a little bit, I'm sure and everybody got everybody talking high priest, he's wearing a crown. What's going down in here in Jerusalem town, I've never heard of this before. Well, then it says in Zechariah 6:14, and the Crown shall be in the temple of the Lord. And it refers to these three guys, we’ve got the silver and gold from the son of Zephaniah that built the crown, but it is going to be in the temple of the Lord as a reminder, we're rebuilding the temple, we're going to put this crown in it, and so that everybody will remember that there's coming a priest-king known as the branch, who will both rule in righteousness, and as a priest, bring people into God's righteousness. And so, the crown in the temple is a reminder. Now the Hebrew word therefore, reminder, in Zechariah 6:14 is Zecharion or Zechariah. If you remember the name Zechariah means “YHWH remembers,” or the LORD remember. So, the whole point of Zechariah is God is remembering his people after the exile. That's what the name Zechariah means, “the Lord remembers,” well, now God wants his people to remember something that he is going to send them a priest-king in the future, and that is the one that we should all be looking to behold. So, this is a word from God for his people at this time for his people of all time. Are you looking forward to beholding the man whose name is the branch the priest, king of Israel?
Turn with me to Psalm 110. There are so many prophecies we could go and look up right now. I'm just going to focus our time on this one prophecy, because this Psalm 110, everybody turn there with me, find it with me, who just finished reading the Psalms with us this summer? Anybody read the Psalms this summer? Psalm 110 is the most quoted Scripture in all of Scripture. All right. This is the most quoted Hebrew part of the Bible and what we call the Old Testament, and his most quoted in the Greek part of the Bible that we call the New Testament. So, Jesus, the Apostles, they refer to Psalm 110, more than any other scripture. And so there is a prophecy here that they thought was very relevant. They thought everybody needed to know about it. And I'm actually going to ask if we would all stand up once again for the public reading of Scripture, because I want everybody to give Psalm 110 your full and of undivided attention.
The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.
That's the reading of God's word, please go ahead and have your seat. And so, this is a prophecy. Now, remember, at the time of Jesus, the chief priests, the religious leaders, they were always trying to stump Jesus, asking questions that would discredit his teaching. Well, Jesus at one time, he asked them a question and he said, if David, if the Messiah is the son of David, but David says, “The LORD said to my Lord,” how is he the son of David, but also the lord of David? He asked that question, and then nobody ever asked Jesus questions again after this. And so, it went from stumped Jesus to Jesus just stumped everybody. And see, Jesus was pointing out that there was a prophecy that they weren't getting, they were not prepared for that they were missing. They weren't ready to see who he was because the Jews in the day of Jesus, they were totally looking for a king, but they weren't expecting a priest-king, even though we fashioned a crown of silver and gold and put it in the temple as a reminder, it's like it went right over their heads. And so, Jesus even brought up this prophecy. And notice where it says, “The LORD says to my Lord, so if you're taking notes, this is something I want everybody to write down about Psalm 110, it's YHWH says to Adonai. Those are the two Hebrew words there. YHWH says to Adonai, okay. So, I know it says Lord in English, and it talks to us. It can kind of sound the same, but do you notice that the first LORD is all capital letters can everybody see that we call that the tetragrammaton. Whenever you see LORD, all capital letters, it means it's God's Name YHWH. Okay. And it is not exactly Lord, the Hebrew word for Lord is Adonai. Adonai means sovereign ruler. Adonai means one with all authority. So, this is like your way says to Adonai. It's not just it's not the LORD talking to himself here. It's the Father speaking to the Son. It's God as we think of him on his throne, and Jesus as we think of him at his right and exalted to the name that is above every name, the name of LORD.
So, I just want to make sure everybody at our church understands that the Jewish people, they were so concerned about using God's name in vain that they would just never use God's name. And that still even kind of shows up that we don't say your way here. We say, LORD, but I want to ask you this question to think about. Does YHWH actually mean LORD? Let's think about this. Like, it's like me asking, is Christa my wife? If you know me, the answer to that is, yes, she is my wife. But I don't always walk through my house saying, wife, how is your day going? Hello, wife. I greet you. You know, I feel like if I was calling her wife, I would speak in a very formal way. Wife, can you help me with this right now? I don't usually say wife. In fact, I don't even always say Christa, I usually say babe or other names that I'm not going to mention here. If I can get an Amen from the congregation if you know what I'm talking about. All right.
So, let's see, this is the thing. Yes, yes, he is the LORD. YHWH is the LORD. Christa is my wife. Yes. But YHWH does not mean LORD. That's not the actual like translation definition. Your God actually said when he said to Moses from the burning bush, you should go and tell my people that I've sent you to them. And he's like, well, who do I say that you are? You're sending me to them. And he says, YHWH, which means I am I Am that I Am. That's what YHWH means. YHWH means I am God. He is the one who was the one who is and the one who is to come. God is eternal. He's outside of space and time; he was there before the beginning. God is. He's always been the one. He's always been the same. He's immutable. He's eternal. That's what YHWH means. There is no other God. There is one YHWH I am, that's what it means. We’ve got to make sure we understand who God really is. And so, the one on the throne YHWH is saying to the Lord Sit at my right hand, because I'm about to send you out. And we're going to be reigning over those enemies, you're going to go judge all those nations. So, this is now not just the vision of the chariots going out, or the vision of the crown going on the high priest. We’re now being brought into the conversation in the throne room of heaven, where YHWH the Father is saying to the Lord, his son, that we know is Jesus. And he's saying to them, hey, the moment is going to come, when you're going to go and make your enemies a footstool, you're going to go and you're going to rule all over all of them, and your people that are going to be behind you in white robes, they're going to be wearing holy garments. You're going to go establish righteousness, and you are going to reign. And then God says, The Father to Jesus, look at verse 4 with me, everybody, look at the emphasis that is put on this right here. The Lord has sworn; the Lord will not change his mind. Look, everything God says, is true. Everything God says, is going to happen. So, when it's drawing this attention, like the LORD is making an oath, the LORD is making a promise, the LORD has said something and he's not going to change his mind. You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. So this point, that a king is coming to judge the nation's, but that king will be a priest, who can bring the people into the presence of God and give them a righteousness, not their own a righteousness from God, a righteousness where people will have a good relationship a right standing before a holy God. This idea that a king is coming to reign, but he's going to be a priest who makes people righteous. This is something the Bible is really trying to tell every single one of us, like, don't just see Jesus coming back to judge everybody, see him coming back to establish righteousness with his people forevermore. And it's a priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
See, this just proves that when the Bible tells you something, it expects you to actually know what it's talking about. It mentioned Melchizedek one time in Genesis 14:18, and now like hundreds of years later, we're going to bring up Melchizedek again, and we're expecting everybody to know what we're talking about. Go back with me to Genesis 14:18, and let's get who is this Melchizedek that we're supposed to know about. You know Genesis, this part of Genesis is about Abraham, Father, Abraham, the man who was Abraham, who became Abraham. And at this point, he wins like this battle that he's in, and he's talking to some kings about his victory that he just won. He's talking to the king of Sodom, actually. And then all of a sudden, look at Genesis 14:18, like out of nowhere, here, we got this guy coming in. And Melchizedek, king of Salem brought out bread and wine, he was priest of God Most High. Now, so let's think about this. Hopefully, after today, you're not saying Melchizedek. What? But you know who Melchizedek is? All right. He is the king of Salem. And when you read that, you're like Salem, where is that? Is that Oregon? Is that Washington? Is that a capital city that I was supposed to learn in fifth grade? What is it? Let me help you out. Where is Salem? Try this, put Jeru in front of it. Okay. Jeru + Salem. Salem, perhaps referring to the Hebrew word shalom, meaning, peace. All of a sudden, the king shows up, guess where he's from the place where Jerusalem is going to be? Guess what he brings with him? Bread and wine, symbolic much to everybody right here. I mean, this is like God providing for his people. Ultimately, this is the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ultimately, these are the elements of communion right here. So, we’ve got a king from the place Jerusalem is going to be bringing bread and wine to acknowledge this victory of Abraham. And then oh, by the way, this king, he's a priest of God Most High. Yeah, like the God. In fact, he blesses Abram. And he says, 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. So, you're telling me there was an ancient king priest who just happened to live in Jerusalem who celebrated whenever God gave victory over enemies? Yeah. And that's the way that the branch is going to be. That's the way where it's going to be when we behold the man, Jesus. When Jesus comes back, he is going to be a priest, King, who will show us the glories of God most high. A priests forever after the order of Melchizedek. So Melchizedek is already this character we're supposed to relate to. Wow, that guy's really interesting. Where did that guy come from? I don't know his origin story. I don't know what he's all about. I just know he was a priest-king. That's how Jesus is going to be. Go back to Psalm 110. And let's just see the end of the prophecy here of what it says Jesus is going to do when he comes back to reign, when he comes back to be a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. Notice in verse 5, the tone kind of shifts here in Psalm 110. Because now it says here, the Lord Adonai, which is referring to Jesus, the Lord is at your right hand. So now you’re going back to YHWH. So, we're looking at it now you're always here, Adonai at his right hand, Jesus, and then it says he referring to Jesus, the priest-king is coming back, he is going to shatter kings on the day of his wrath. So, look at the basket going over to Babylon, where the wickedness is going to be completed. Look at the angels’ chariots going over to the north country, the wickedness is happening, the judgment is already being sent. And this Lord when he sent from the presence of God, he's going to shatter the Kings on that day of wrath, he will execute judgment among the nations, he's going to fill them with corpses and people who ally against him, he will shatter the chiefs, the rulers over the wide earth.
And then verse 7, this is like, as the kids would say, today, this is like a big flex here in verse 7, he will drink from the brook by the way, like when you're just sipping up from the riverbed right there, you're not afraid of any enemies. At that point, when you're lifting up your head, you have no one to be afraid of, you have no one left to fight, you are the conqueror, you are the hero, you are the ruler of all. Jesus is going to come back and from Jerusalem reign over all the nations, and he's going to judge those who are against God, and he's going to offer everybody else righteousness with God as a priest-king. In the future, there will be no separation between church and state, because Jesus will rule in righteousness overall. And he will bring us into the presence of God. And see, we're supposed to hear this, like, Behold, the man, the one whose name is the branch and we're supposed to be thinking, Yeah, I'm rooting for the branch. I'm getting sick and tired of what the nations of this world are doing. I'm getting sick and tired of the unrighteousness that is now getting legalized, and all the people that are getting taken advantage of in our country, and all the nations all the poor, who are being oppressed, and all these people seem to be in it for themselves not really caring about what is right, not really caring about other people. And where is the righteous person? Where are the people turning to God? I am ready for a ruler who does what is right, who cares for the people he rules over and brings in everybody in a massive revival into the presence of God to worship him in righteousness? Yes, I want the branch to come. That's what we're supposed to be thinking. Do we get so lost in the people, places, and things we don't even know the branches? We don't even know how the prophecies work that we don't even understand clearly what it's saying. But then, after we do understand what it's saying, There's supposed to be this like excitement in your heart. There's supposed to be this longing in your soul. You're supposed to be a person who lives your life by faith. And when the rest of the world is freaking out, because they don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, you're like, well, let me tell you what's going to happen tomorrow. They got a crown, and they put it on the priest. Oh, that doesn't make any sense to you. Well, let me break it down a little bit. Right. There's a there's a branch coming. Oh, well, that doesn't make any sense to you either. All right. Well, let me just tell you, Jesus is coming back. And he's going to reign, and all that all that things aren't right in the world feeling that we have, all that I'm not right in the world, and the guilt and shame that is within me, all of this longing within me that things should not be the way they are today. I should not be the way that I am today. Like something needs to be done about all of this. He's coming to do it. He's coming to make it right. We know how the world ends. We know the end of the story. We don't need to be freaking out based on what the breaking news is of the day, because we've got the good news of how the whole place fixes up, how the whole place ends right here.
See, I when I see my Christian brothers and sisters running around like chickens with their heads cut off just like everybody else. I'm like doing I believe his promises. Do we not believe his prophecies? Do you not believe that one day, every eye is going to see him riding on the clouds? And people will weep because they were not ready? Are you going to be one of the few? He says when the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on the earth? Are you going to be one of the few people when Jesus comes back, and you were one who was waiting for him the whole time? And you knew he was coming? And why did you know he was coming? Because he told you so. And he didn't just say it once or twice, he put layers upon layers. He gave you ancient kings and ancient priests and they're all just a setup job for this one who's the branch, which is all just some deep agricultural and now genealogies, which is all just setting up for you the epicness of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you should be living every day thinking, when is he coming? I want to behold the man whose name is the branch, you know, when he came, and he did come already, and they completely missed him. Like the chief priests, the guys who were supposed to know the prophecies, the guys who were supposed to remember, yeah, what was that crown that God put in the temple? Who do we put that on? We put it on the priest. Oh, yeah. The guys who were supposed to know this, when Jesus was right in front of their faces, they couldn't even see him. They couldn't even see the prophecies fulfilled when it happened right in front of their eyes.
Turn with me to John, chapter 19. If you could just turn to one more passage in your Bible with me. And I want to show you a way this prophecy was already fulfilled in a way that God's people, the Jews, the chief priests, at that time, they completely missed this, and I just don't want you to miss who the man the branch really is. And here in John 19, this is the scene where Pilate is holding Jesus on trial. And Pilate hands Jesus over to the Roman soldiers, and the Roman soldiers flogged Jesus, which means they whipped his back up, and he's all bloody now in his back, then these Roman soldiers mocked Jesus, they pounded him in the face with their fists saying, prophesy, who hits you, they put a purple robe like a kingly color robe, which is now just like getting into his exposed back, which has got to be so painful for him. And then they get a crown for this king, and they pound this crown of thorns into his head. And then Pilate is now going to bring out Jesus and Pilate’s thinking one, he's going to mock the Jews here by calling Jesus the King of the Jews, and then to he's going to show them that he's already beat up Jesus. And that's enough for today, maybe, and let's just kind of all go home. And I want you to pay close attention to what Pilate says to the Jews, including the religious leaders, the chief priests, right there in front, look at what Pilate says in John 19:5. Everybody, if you could read this with me, Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, what does he say there everybody? Behold, the who? The man. That's a direct quote from Zechariah 6:12. Behold, the man whose name is the branch. That's literally what he's saying. He's saying, Behold, your King. And what is Jesus wearing? As he's saying to the Jews, Behold the man who is your king? He's wearing a crown. I don't know. But you think at least one of them, or a bunch of them should have been like, Am I seeing Zechariah 6:12 fulfilled right in front of my face right now? Is this the man whose name is the branch? Is he wearing a crown? I mean, do you see how he says the words? Behold, the man. I don't know if Pilate said that intentionally. Maybe he was just using that phrase. But that is the same phrase that it says in our passage, that you would behold the man and the Jews who should have known the prophecy, who should have been looking forward to the priests-king, when he was right there in front of them. What did they say about him, crucify him, crucified. Here's God sending his people the one they've been waiting for, only to find out they haven't been waiting for him at all. Because what their ideas of Jesus didn't match the actual prophecy of Jesus, that he was a priest-king. So, he wasn't just coming to reign. He was coming to make everybody right with God. And that's what they could be held, but they missed it, that he was the one who had eternal life died, why did he do that? To take our place, to pay for our sins. Here he is, being the priest and what an amazing priest, the priest is actually also the sacrifice. Who makes atonement for our sin, who dies in our place. Here he is offering his body and his righteous blood, and he's laying his life down to pay for all of our sin so that we can receive his righteousness. Behold, the man and they can't even see who's right in front of them. And they’ve got a crown of thorns on his head. And they can't even see who it is. They mocked him. Save yourself if you can, if you're really the Christ, save yourself. They mocked him when there's their long prophesied, promised priest-king making them righteous right there in front of their eyes.
See If God has been telling us, God has been showing us. So many people miss Jesus, make sure you're not one of those people, make sure you're living to behold the man whose name is the branch, the king who's coming, the priest, who's going to make us all right before God. Behold, the man upon the cross, my sin, upon his shoulders, ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers it was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished, his dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished. there was a time where they had a chance to behold the man, and they missed it. When we behold the man when he comes again, no one will miss it. Every eye will see. Some of us will be ready and cheering for the branch. Yay, the branch is here. Many people will not know who the branch is, and it will be too late for them on that day of judgment. Let me pray for us. And then we will respond in worship to who Jesus really is.
Father in heaven. We thank you for these prophecies that we could dive into together here today. We thank you for the persons, places, and things that you revealed yourself in. And we thank you mostly so that we could grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ, that we could see, when they were putting that crown on a guy named Joshua, the high priest in Jerusalem. That was really just a picture of the same name. Jesus, the Lord is salvation. The king-priest, who's going to come, and we're so thankful that Jesus came, and he paid for our sin. He brought us into your presence. We know that when Jesus cried out, it is finished, and he gave up his last breath, that veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, because now our high priests had brought us all into your presence through his blood, through his righteousness. So, we thank you that Jesus is our priest. We thank you that he's coming as king to reign. And we pray that we will be the people who are looking for Jesus, who are waiting for Jesus, that we will be the people when Jesus comes, he will find faith on Earth, because we will be the ones waiting for him to come. We believe your prophecies; we believe your promises. We think you're going to do everything that you say, you've already proven it so many times where your prophecies were fulfilled. Give us confidence that the best prophecies are yet to come. And we will see this man, we will behold the one whose name is the branch, and we will worship him. We will sing to him; we will give him glory and shout his praise to the King who's come to reign. The priest who's make us righteous, let every knee bow, let every tongue confess that Jesus is the Lord of heaven and earth. We look forward to that day. And we pray this in His name. Amen.