Zechariah 6:12-13

I. A priest upon His throne in the temple of the Lord. Such is the vision upon which the gaze of Zechariah was fixed, and which gave joy to his heart in that cloudy and dark day. The great ideal of which Hebrew psalmists have sung and Hebrew prophets spoken shall be realised. The promised Son of David shall be seen seated as a priest upon His throne in the temple, bearing glory and ruling.

II. Five hundred weary years passed by, and as the prophecy of Isaiah and Zechariah awaited fulfilment the sons of Zion mourned. But at length the time appointed came. Jesus is born of Mary, and He is the man whose name is The Branch, growing out of the roots of Jesse. He comes (1) to build the temple of the Lord. That is His great work during His ministry on earth. (2) To be enthroned in it, and to rule over it as King. The ascension of Jesus is His entrance as man into heaven, and His enthronement in our nature on the throne of God. As the enthroned King, Jesus reigns over His Church as the Vicegerent of God.

III. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews repeats the revelation of Jesus as the enthroned Priest, and teaches us its practical effect on Christian conduct. He tells us that we have a great High Priest who is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. He teaches us to recognise His sympathy because of His experimental knowledge of the conditions of our life. He reveals Him to us as enthroned on the throne of grace, in the fulness of power, and with the tenderness of a perfect sympathy, and bids us "come with boldness to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

G. Body, Anglican Pulpit of To-Day, p. 258.

References: Zechariah 6:12, Zechariah 6:13.—Bishop Moorhouse, The Expectation of the Christ, p. 80.

Zechariah 6:13.

I. The true hope of the world is a Priest. The idea of priesthood is universal. It has been distorted and abused; it has been made the foundation of spiritual tyranny. The priest has not been the teacher nor the elevator of the people. All over the world he has been the ally of oppression and darkness; he has hindered and cramped social and intellectual progress. And yet, in spite of all this, there the office stands, and wherever men go, by some strange perversity, they take with them this idea, and choose from among themselves those who, being endowed with some sort of ceremonial and symbolic purity, shall discharge for their brethren the double office of representing them before God and of representing God to them. That is what the world means, with absolute and entire unanimity, by a priest—one who shall be sacrificer, intercessor, representative, bearer of man's worship, channel of God's blessing.

What is the Priest whom men crave? (1) The first requisite is oneness with those whom He represents. We have a Priest who "in all things is made like unto His brethren." (2) As in nature and character, so in function, Christ corresponds to the widely expressed wants of men, as shown in their priesthoods.

II. The priest of the world is the King of men. (1) He does rule. "The kingdom of Christ" is no fanciful phrase. (2) The foundation of His rule is His sacrifice. (3) His rule is wielded in gentleness.

III. The Priest-King of men builds among men the temple of God. (1) Christ is Himself the true temple of God. (2) Christ builds the temple. By faith the individual soul becomes the abode of God, and into our desecrated spirits there comes the King of Glory. (3) Christ builds this temple because He is the temple. By His incarnation and work He makes our communion with God and God's dwelling in us possible. By His death and sacrifice He draws men to Himself, and blends them in a living unity. By the gift of His Spirit and His life He hallows their wills, and makes them partakers of His own likeness; so that, coming to Him, we also are built up a spiritual house. (4) Christ builds the temple, and uses us as His servants in the work.

A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester; 2nd series, p. 310.

References: Zechariah 6:13.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 191; vol. xxv., No. 1495; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 174. Zechariah 7:1-14.—W. Lindsay Alexander, Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 105. Zechariah 7:3.—A. Mursell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 353. Zechariah 7:5, Zechariah 7:6.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii.. No. 438; Ibid., My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiates to Malachi, p. 368. Zech 7, Zech 8—Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iv., p, 216.