1.03. The Branch, or Four Aspects of Messiah's Character

        “In that day shall the Branch¹ 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.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I shall raise unto David a righteous Branch,¹ 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.

“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.”¹—Zechariah 3:8.

“Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the Man Whose name is the Branch—¹; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the Temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and He 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.”—Zechariah 6:12-13.

¹ These, with the exception of Jeremiah 33:15, which in a repetition of Jeremiah 23:5-6, are the only four instances in the Hebrew Scriptures where the Messiah is designated by the title צֶ֣מַח (Branch), and in the connections which will be pointed out farther on. (See Appendix, Note 4.)

CHAPTER III. THE BRANCH, OR FOUR ASPECTS OF MESSIAH’S CHARACTER.

There are four different aspects in which the Messiah is introduced to us under the above title in the Old Testament Scriptures, answering to what are generally believed to be the four different aspects in which the Lord Jesus is presented to us in the four Gospels.²

² “Just as a gifted painter, who wished to immortalise for a family the complete likeness of the father who had been its glory, would avoid any attempt at combining in a single portrait the insignia of all the various offices he had filled—at representing him in the same picture as general and as magistrate, as man of science and as father of a family—but would prefer to paint four distinct portraits, each of which should represent him in one of these characters, so has the Holy Spirit, in order to preserve for mankind the perfect likeness of Him Who was its chosen Representative, God in man, used means to impress upon the minds of the writers whom He has made His organs four different images—the King of Israel (Matthew); the Saviour of the world (Luke); the Son Who, as man, mounts the steps of the Divine throne (Mark); and the Son Who descends into humanity to sanctify the world (John).”—GODET’S “BIBLICAL STUDIES.” In Jeremiah 23:5-6, He is called the Branch of David, answering to the description given of Him in the Gospel of Matthew, which was written for Jews, and where our blessed Lord is represented to them as the Son of David, the Messiah promised to the fathers. For this reason the genealogies in this Gospel are only traced to Abraham. In Zechariah 3:8, He is represented to us as the “Branch” Who is Jehovah’s Servant, answering to the Gospel of Mark, wherein, in a particular manner, is sketched the career of Him Who, although He was God, “made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant.” This Gospel is a record, not so much of the words of Jesus as of His acts; hence it follows more minutely than do the others the services of Jehovah’s righteous Servant, of Whom it was written in the volume of the book, “I come to do Thy will, O God” (Psalms 40:7-8). Mark gives no genealogies of Jesus because a servant needs not such recommendations, he being judged by his work alone. In the Gospel of Luke the most prominent feature of our Lord’s character is that of the “Son of man,” which in the Scriptures means the Man par excellence, the true Man, both the ideal and Representative of the race, the second Adam and the Saviour of men. The chief characteristic of this Gospel is its universality. It is a message which ignores all differences of race and class, and appeals to all the children of Adam, who are embraced in the one fallen family of man, to whom it proclaims a common Saviour Who should arise from their midst; and hence the Lord Jesus is presented here, not, as in Matthew, as the Son of David, the Messiah of Israel merely, but as the long-looked-for “Seed of the woman,” Who, by conquering Satan, should redeem from his power men of all nations, and become the “Light of the Gentiles” as well as “the glory of His people Israel” (Luke 2:32). This is the reason why the Evangelist took upon him the laborious task of tracing the genealogies of Jesus to Adam. In this Gospel “behold the Man Whose name is the Branch,” spoken of in Zechariah 6:12. But just as in Matthew the most prominent feature of our Lord is His descent from David and Messiahship, and in Mark that of “Jehovah’s righteous Servant,” and in Luke that of the Son of man, so, in the Gospel of John, the light that shines most transcendently throughout is His Divine Sonship, that glory which He had with the Father from all eternity; hence His genealogy is not, as in Matthew, taken back to Abraham, for He of Whom it speaks was before Abraham (John 8:58), nor yet, as in Luke, to Adam, because John deals not here with the Son of Adam, but with the Son of God in Whose image Adam was created. He therefore traces not His human, but Divine pedigree, and shows us that, although He “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), He that did thus tabernacle with the children of men was none other than “the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth;” and that, although “the Light” had only then just shone upon the darkness of this world, He that in grace and mercy had thus become the Light and Life of this dark and dead world was none other than He “Whose goings forth have been from of old, even from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2), “Who in the very beginning was with God and Himself was God” (John 1:1). Here then is the “Branch of Jehovah,”³ Whose glory and beauty Isaiah sang (Isaiah 4:2), and Whose Divine fruit has since refreshed and satisfied many hungry and thirsty souls from John until now.

³ It is universally admitted that the word צֶ֣מַח (branch) in Jeremiah 23:5 means “son” in its literal and natural sense; in fact, this is the verse most generally quoted by Jews as a proof that the Messiah is to be the Son of David. This interpretation is just, but, on the same ground, is there any reason why the word צֶ֣מַח in Isaiah 4:2 should not be interpreted in the same way? And if we admit that דׇּוִ֖ד צֶ֣מַח means the Son of David, why not also admit that יְהו֔ה צֶמַח means the Son of God? See my little book, “What think ye of Christ?” p. 24. But just as in each of the Gospels, though one feature of our Lord’s character is brought more prominently to the fore, His twofold nature is always steadily kept in view, so it is also in each of the four different prophecies to which we have referred. Jeremiah, in this passage, speaks of Him as the Son of David, thus dwelling more particularly on His human nature; but he also declares Him to be God, by applying to Him, the Divine title of Jehovah, “for this is His name whereby He shall be called, צִדְקֵֽנוּ יְהוׇ֥ה, the Lord our Righteousness;” and, though Isaiah, in this instance, speaks of Him more particularly as the Son of God, he also by designating Him הׇאׇ֑רֶץ פְּרִ֣י (Fruit of the earth) declares Him to be an offspring of this earth—human. He is styled Servant in Zechariah 3:8, but it is the Branch Who is introduced as the Servant, and by this title we at once recognise, not only the Son of David, but the Son of God. Lastly, in Zechariah 6:12-13, we are told to “behold the Man,” but it goes on to tell us that this Man shall not only rule and be Counsellor of peace, but that He shall be a “Priest upon His throne.” He must, therefore, to say the least, be a most extraordinary man, yea something more even than mere priest or king, to have combined both these functions, which belonged not only to two different persons, but to two utterly distinct tribes, in Himself.⁴ Now we will turn back successively to each one of the four passages referred to; and, with our Bibles before us, let us see how sublimely appropriate to the context is that particular feature of our Lord’s character which is emphasised variously in each case.

⁴ Perhaps in no other single book in the Old Testament Scriptures is Messiah’s Divinity so clearly taught as in Zechariah. In the second chapter (Zechariah 2:8-11) the prophet calls Him Who is to come and dwell in the midst of the daughter of Zion, Whom the Jews always understood to be the Messiah, by the name Jehovah. This passage must be a very difficult one to Jew or Unitarian, for here the prophet represents two Persons, both of Whom he calls by the Divine title Jehovah, though One is sent by the Other to accomplish some mission on the earth. In the third chapter he speaks of the Jehovah-Angel, Who, as we shall see farther on (see footnote 20), is none other than the Messiah, as having power to forgive sin, and “who can forgive sin but God?” In Zechariah 12:10. he declares that He Who was pierced is none other than He Who will pour out His Spirit upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem—“Jehovah, Which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.” Again, in Zechariah 13:7 he proclaims that He against Whom the sword of justice was to awake in our stead is none other than the “Fellow of Jehovah of hosts.” And finally in Zechariah 14:3-4 he says that it is Jehovah “Whose feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and Who shall go forth and fight against the nations” who shall gather against Jerusalem. THE BRANCH OF DAVID.

Let us look then first at Jeremiah 23:5-6.⁵ And why does the prophet here introduce Messiah as the Son of David? It is because he speaks of Him as the King Who shall reign in Mount Zion and before His ancients gloriously (Isaiah 24:23), in “Whose days Judah shall be saved and Israel dwell safely.” And who else can sit and reign in Judah on the throne of David but a Son of David? for has not God made an everlasting covenant (2 Samuel 23:5) with David, “ordered in all things and sure,” saying, “I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish His kingdom . . . and . . . the throne of His kingdom for ever”? (2 Samuel 7:12-13; Psalms 132:11). Does anyone ask if I mean to imply that Jesus will literally reign in Zion over the Jewish nation? Yes, that is exactly what I do mean to say, and in doing this I only repeat the words of the angel Gabriel, who said that “the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end”⁶ (Luke 1:32-33), and the words of my blessed Lord Himself, Who said, “Sing and rejoice, oh daughter of Zion, for lo I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. . . . And the Lord shall inherit Judah His portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again” (Zechariah 2:10, Zechariah 2:12).

⁵ There is scarcely any contrary opinion among ancient and also modem Jews but that this is a Messianic prophecy. Even Kimchi says,—“By the righteous Branch is meant Messiah,” and Jonathan has introduced Messiah by name in this passage.

⁶ “The title ‘root and offspring of David’ as well as that of ‘Son of David’ refers to the Kingdom of which Christ is Heir, as we learn from the words of the angel to Mary—‘He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David.’ According to the commonly received view, there is indeed no importance in the title ‘Son of David’ as belonging to Christ, except perhaps as proving that He was descended from David and enabling us to trace His genealogy. But it is evident that the announcement of the angel attaches to it far greater importance than this, inasmuch as it asserts for Him as Son of David ‘the throne of His father David.’ And what throne is that? Not the throne of heaven, nor yet the throne of God’s spiritual kingdom, for neither of these ever was or could have been occupied by David or could be inherited by Christ as ‘Son of David.’ The throne intended, then, must be the throne of the kingdom of Israel, and that it is so, the words of the angel testify; for having said, ‘The Lord God shall give to Him the throne of His father David,’ he adds, ‘And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever.’”—REV. W. BURGH. But have not these statements already been fulfilled? for does not the “throne of David” mean the throne on which Jesus now sits “exalted at the right hand of the Father,” and the “daughter of Zion” the Church, in each particular member of which Jesus dwells? No, I do not so understand it. After careful and prayerful examination I can only find one throne of David, and that was in Jerusalem, not in heaven; and on this throne Jesus the Son of David never yet sat; and believing that the word of the living God cannot be broken, I verily believe that He will yet sit upon it.⁷ And as for Zion being the Church, I have, among others, this objection against it. I am told here that Jehovah shall again choose Jerusalem, which is here used interchangeably with “the daughter of Zion.” Now, though we have no difficulty if we refer it to literal Israel, it cannot at all be applied to the Church; for the Church cannot be said ever to have lost God’s presence and favour.

⁷ “The Jews object that many prophecies, and those such as especially concern themselves, have not been fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth, and that therefore He cannot be the Messiah promised by the prophets. To this many Christian writers have replied, that such declarations are figurative, and that under earthly emblems, heavenly things are intended—that the Jews are never to be restored to their own land, nor the Messiah to have a kingdom over Israel; that the only blessings which they have to expect are adoption into the Christian family here and admission into the heavenly Canaan hereafter. But to this the Jew objects, that a mode of interpretation which is based upon two contradictory principles is necessarily false. ‘You prove that Jesus is the Messiah,’ he says, ‘by the grammatical principle—you evade difficulties by the adoption of the figurative. Choose one of the two. Carry through the figurative exposition, and then there is no suffering Messiah; carry through the literal, and a large portion of the prophecies are not yet fulfilled.’ The Jew’s demand is reasonable, and his objection to this expository inconsistency valid; . . . to receive those prophecies which foretell Messiah’s humiliation and atoning death in their plain and literal sense, and seek to allegorise those which deal with His glorious reign on the earth and over restored and blessed Israel, is to place an insurmountable stumbling-block before every Jew of common sense, and to hold up prophecy to the scorn of the infidel.”3ed

I cannot find one single passage in the whole Scriptures from which I could even infer that the Lord Jesus is now in the possession of His throne⁸—that one which is peculiarly His by right, not only as the Son of David, but as the promised reward of His suffering and death; but, on the contrary, it would not be difficult to adduce many passages to prove that He is only now waiting to take possession of that throne.

⁸ The only passage in which it would on the surface appear that Jesus is now exalted on the throne of David is Acts 2:29-36, where Peter quotes a prophecy of David concerning two events, viz., that the Messiah should be raised from the dead and sit on his (David’s) throne, and then goes on to show that “this Jesus hath God raised up” (Acts 2:32), and that He is ascended into heaven and exalted to the right hand of God, by which exaltation some have thought that Peter meant to prove that the second part of David’s prophecy received its fulfilment, but, on a careful examination of the passage and a comparison of it with others, it is, I think, clear, that Peter does not mean to imply anything of the kind. He uses here the prophecy that the Messiah shall reign on the throne of David merely as an argument that He must rise from the dead after “He is cut off, but not for Himself.” If Christ had not risen from the dead, He could neither immediately nor ultimately take possession of the throne of David. That He is now in possession of that throne is another thing, and Peter himself tells us that He is now at the right hand of God waiting for it “until His enemies be made His footstool” (Acts 2:35). That Christ’s exaltation to the right hand of God is only temporary, until He takes possession of His throne, is proved further on.

Take, for instance, Revelation 3:21, and these are the words of the blessed Saviour Himself, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne!” Now here we are told that the throne on which He now sits is not His, but the Father’s, Who invited Him to share it with Him as a token of His perfect satisfaction with the finished work of His beloved Son; and that He only occupies this place until He takes possession of His own throne, on which He will grant the glorious privilege of sitting to all those who have been faithful to Him when all the world was in rebellion against Him, and who, although persecuted and tried, would still own no other king but Him. Then, in Hebrews 10:12-13, we have it stated, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool.” Here again we are expressly told that the place Christ now occupies at the right hand of God is not a permanent one, but only until His expectation—that of His enemies becoming His footstool—be fulfilled, and then, as the apostle tells us in the last verse of the preceding chapter, “He will appear the second time without sin unto salvation” to, and for, those whom, in His condescending grace, He is pleased to call, not His servants, or even subjects, but friends, Whom He is going to honour by making them share His government. Then, if Christ’s throne is now established, who are they over whom He rules? It cannot be the Church, for we are distinctly told that when Christ’s throne is established the Church, instead of being reigned over, shall then reign; (2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 5:10; Revelation 20:6, Revelation 22:5); and if, as is the opinion of some, before Christ’s return all men, Israel included will be brought to acknowledge Him as Lord and Saviour, they, of course, all consequently become members of the Church, whether Jews or Gentiles; then who, I ask, will be those over whom the Church, together with Christ, will reign? Then again, it would be easy to prove from Scripture, that Christ’s reign on the throne of David does not commence until after He leaves His Father’s right hand, and until after the Church, whatever may be understood by that term, is complete;⁹ how then can that reign on the throne of David mean His present exaltation “at the right hand of the Majesty on high” and His heavenly ministrations over the Church on earth?

⁹ See the 12th paragraph, post, beginning: “Now I turn to the New Testament Scriptures...,” and sentence beginning: “Nor is it final as to destination for it is limited by an ‘until.’ Until what?...(reading to the end of the paragraph, further on.)” In Christ’s parable of the nobleman who went into a far country “to receive for himself a kingdom and to return” (Luke 19:12-27), we have at once the reason of His present absence and a declaration that He only commences the actual administration of that kingdom after He returns to the earth. He tells us there that the object of His journey into the “far country,” His ascension into heaven, was in order to be invested with the Kingdom; and of this investiture we get a glimpse in Daniel 7:13, where the prophet finishes the picture which the few favoured disciples who witnessed the ascension commenced, and tells us how this Jesus, the glorified Son of man,¹⁰ after that He disappeared on a cloud from the longing gaze of those who watched Him in Bethany, continued His journey until, attended by hosts of heaven, He reached the Eternal One, the Ancient of days, Who invested Him with dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. This glimpse of what was going on in heaven was a glorious sight to the prophet, but when he turned his gaze back to the earth the vision that he got there was quite different, and such that “grieved his spirit and troubled his head!” He beheld that while the King, Whom he had just seen invested with the Kingdom, tarried in heaven, usurpation was going on on the earth, and the subjects of the “Prince of princes” were prevailed against by the usurper, who was exceeding dreadful, “whose teeth were of iron, and his nails brass,” and who devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped with his feet the saints of the Most High. But the prophet looked on, and presently he saw Him Whom he had before seen in heaven come back to the earth, to take possession of that kingdom with which he saw Him before invested. We see then, from these and other passages, that, first, the object of Christ’s ascension into heaven was not to remain there, but merely to be invested with the Kingdom and to return. He tarries there, but it is not because, being occupied with the joys of heaven, He is insensible to the suffering of this groaning earth, but because He is longsuffering and willing to give the opportunity to as many as possible of those who rebelled against Him to make their peace with Him, ere yet He is obliged to assume the character of judge and destroy all those who would not be saved; but when the time of grace shall be accomplished, when even the longsuffering of God shall be exhausted, He will descend again “in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:8). Then world-power shall be at an end, and the government of the beast, which well describes the character of the rule of the various monarchies that have succeeded each other, will be superseded by the government of the Son of man, Whose reign will be in justice, righteousness, and “abundance of peace.”

¹⁰ “The title ‘Son of man’ is always associated with His coming again, because the Kingdom that then awaits Him is that which belongs to Him as the Saviour of man, the Restorer of the lost inheritance. ‘Son of man’ expresses His visible state, formerly in His humiliation, hereafter in His exaltation. He comes to the Ancient of days to be invested with the Kingdom (Psalms 110:2). This investiture was at His ascension ‘with the clouds of heaven’ (Acts 1:9), which is a pledge of His return ‘in like manner’ ‘in the clouds’ (Acts 1:11; Matthew 26:64) and ‘with the clouds’ (Revelation 1:7). The Kingdom then was given Him in title and invisible exercise; at His second coming it shall be in visible administration.”—A. R. FAUSSET.

Secondly—to turn back to our original starting-point, from which we have strayed somewhat in order to clear the way before us—when Christ will so return, He will, in a special and peculiar sense, bless Israel as a nation, and reign over them in Mount Zion, and through them over the whole earth, from the throne of His father David. The present state of the Jews is pictured by the prophet Hosea in the third chapter of his prophecy, where they are described principally as “abiding many days without a king and without a prince,” but they will not continue so much longer, for “thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land; . . . and David My Servant shall be King over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in My statutes and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they and their children and their children’s children, for ever, and My Servant David shall be their Prince for ever” (Ezekiel 37:21-25). It is exceedingly interesting to note the two different terms applied to the Messiah in this passage, answering exactly to the third of Hosea. He is not only the “King,” but the “Prince.”

Now the Hebrew word for Prince here is נָשִׂ֥יא (nossi), which is generally applied, more particularly, not to an hereditary prince, but to one who is exalted, or borne up,¹¹ by the free choice of the people; and this leads our thoughts to the time when, on Christ’s manifestation to Israel as a nation, He will not only be recognised as Him “Whose right it is to reign” (Ezekiel 21:27), as the hereditary Heir to the throne of David, but He will, of the free-will of the people, be elected their Chief. Instead of “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” “We will not have this Man to reign over us!” they will cry, “Hosanna! Blessed be He that cometh in the name of Jehovah!” (Psalms 118:26). “This is our God; we have waited for Him: we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation” (Isaiah 25:9). Thus the stone which some “builders refused” will by others be made the “chief stone of the corner.” Even this shall be the Lord’s doing, although “it is marvellous in our eyes.”

¹¹ The word also means to bear, to take away, and thus it is used in Psalms 32:1, where the verse may rather be rendered, “Blessed is he whose transgression is carried away, whose sin is covered.” The reference is no doubt, to the figure in the Psalmist’s mind of the scape-goat who was to bear, or carry away, upon him all the iniquities of the congregation of Israel (Leviticus 16:21-22).

Finally, we notice, in concluding these remarks, that Israel’s King will be Israel’s Shepherd too; and because “He will keep them as a shepherd keepeth his flock,” Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and the promise of God to Israel will be fulfilled, “And He will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My Servant David; He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, and My Servant David a Prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it.” Here again we observe the Divine character of Israel’s Messiah as taught in the Old Testament Scriptures, for we are distinctly told that the Shepherd for Whom Israel is waiting, and Who will “save” them (compare Psalms 80:1-2, with Jeremiah 23:6, Heb.), is none other than He Who of old dwelt between the cherubim and spoke to Moses from off the mercy-seat (Psalms 80:1; Exodus 25:20-22). “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! be glad and rejoice with all thine heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! the King of Israel, even Jehovah, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more.” “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, Jehovah our Righteousness,” (Jeremiah 23:5-6). THE BRANCH OF JEHOVAH.

We next come to Isaiah 4.¹² And why does the prophet here particularly speak of Messiah as the Branch of Jehovah? It is because he speaks of the time when Israel shall not only be restored to Palestine, but when, after being “purged” and “washed” from their sin, which made them appear filthy¹³ in sight of Jehovah, Who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, so that He had to remove them from Him as an unclean woman (Ezekiel 36:17), they shall again be remarried¹⁴ to Jehovah, and shall have even greater favours lavished upon them than they had before; and to accomplish this He must be the Branch of Jehovah, for though the Son of David may be sufficient to reign in Mount Zion on the throne of David, the Son of God can alone forgive sin. Just now the Jews object to the doctrine of the Messiah’s Divinity, but it is mostly because they have not yet learned the real object of the Messiah’s mission on the earth. When once they are brought by the Spirit of God fully to learn and believe that Messiah’s work on earth is nothing less than the deliverance of mankind from the bondage of sin and Satan they will be convinced that if He is to be the Redeemer at all, He must needs be Divine; for if He were mere man, He could not possibly turn away “ungodliness from Jacob” (Isaiah 59:20), or “redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Psalms 130:8), seeing every man, even the righteous, appears sinful in the sight of God, so that He would Himself need redemption. Has not God Himself declared (Jeremiah 30:15), that, because of the multitude of his iniquity, and because his sins are increased, Israel’s wound is absolutely “incurable” as far as any human means is concerned? (Jeremiah 2:22; Jeremiah 3:22-23; Isaiah 1:5-6; Isaiah 64:6-7; Isaiah 59:16-17). Must He not, therefore, Who was promised to Israel as He Who should bring health and cure (Jeremiah 33:6-8) by cleansing them from all iniquity and giving them abundance of peace and truth, be Divine?

¹² The passage commences properly with Isaiah 4:2. Here again there is scarcely any controversy as to the Messianic application of this prophecy. Rashi, indeed, says that by the Branch of Jehovah is signified “the righteous” that are left in Israel, and the wise—the students of the law; but Kimchi says: “The explanation of the Branch of Jehovah” is Messiah ben David, as it is written, ‘Behold, I will raise unto David a righteous Branch.’ ” Yonathan, in his Targum, has paraphrased the “Branch of Jehovah” into “the Messiah of God,” and this also is the opinion of most Jews who believe in a personal Messiah.

¹³ The word צֵאָה used here is the strongest in the Hebrew language to describe filth, and it suggests to us how horribly filthy sin is in God’s sight.

¹⁴ This idea that Israel shall be remarried to Jehovah is beautifully brought out in this chapter, where, in the fifth verse (Isaiah 4:5), the prophet says חֻפָּֽה כָּב֖וֹד כָּל עַל כִּ֥י, which, to translate literally, is, not, as rendered in the English version, “upon all the glory shall be a defence,” but “upon all the glory,” or “beyond all this glory,” “shall be the marriage canopy.” Under the חֻפָּֽה (marriage canopy) every Jewish wedding is solemnised even at the present day. This leads our minds to Isaiah 62:5., where God is represented as remarrying Israel, “as a young man marrieth a virgin,” and rejoicing over them “as the bridegroom rejoiceth over his bride.” The prophet Hosea declares that Israel has “fallen by his iniquity” (Hosea 14:1), and Jeremiah asks, “Having fallen, shall they not rise again?” (Jeremiah 8:4); but he leaves Isaiah to answer this question, and he says, Yes, the tribes of Jacob shall rise again, but not in their own strength, for they are diseased from the sole of the foot even unto the head—that there is no soundness left in them, so that they could not raise themselves even if they would, but the Messiah, Jehovah’s righteous Servant, He Who shall be the Light of the Gentiles and the Salvation of God unto the ends of the earth, He shall “raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved of Israel.” But surely if He is to raise those who have fallen (and all men have fallen, Proverbs 20:9; 2 Chronicles 6:36), He must Himself be something more than mere man. This, then, is the reason why Isaiah in this chapter speaks of Him as the Branch of Jehovah, because he introduces Him as He Who will purge and wash Israel from their sin, so that “they that remain in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even every one that is written to life” (Isaiah 4:3, Heb.)

Hitherto I have ventured upon ground that is undisputed, for most who receive the Scriptures as the inspired Word of the living God, believe that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, is also the Son of God and David’s Lord; they believe also that “Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation,” and that “in Him shall all Israel be saved and shall glory” (Isaiah 45:17; Isaiah 45:25; Romans 11:26); but now we come to the question, When will the Son of God, this Divine Branch of Jehovah, thus manifest Himself for the national salvation of Israel? To this question a great many different answers are given. There are some Christian teachers who teach that Israel’s conversion to Christ will he effected gradually before His return to our earth, which event they postpone to the end of the world, and without any special manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Again, there are others who believe that at some period towards the end of the world God will pour out His Spirit in a special manner upon the house of Israel, and that then the conversion of the entire Jewish nation will be a simultaneous act. Even among those who believe in the personal and premillennial advent of our blessed Lord, there are some who believe that before they are restored to their own land, where the Messiah will appear to reign over them, they will be converted; while others proclaim their belief that their restoration will take place before their conversion, and that the latter event will only be accomplished when, with their bodily eyes, they look upon Him Whom they have pierced.

Now, without comparing and dwelling on any or all of these and many other notions on this subject held by different classes of Christians, I ask permission to produce a few passages of the Word of God, both in the Old and New Testaments, which, if taken in their obvious sense, will set us right on this subject if our hearts be open to receive the truth. The Holy Spirit, through the prophet Ezekiel, says (Ezekiel 36:24-28), “I will take you from among all the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and I will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh, and I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.” Now here the order of events in connection with Israel’s future is given to us, and that which is put first is their restoration: “I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.” Then next in order we have judgment; that, no doubt, is what is meant by the sprinkling of clean water in Ezekiel 36:25, it cannot mean sanctification, because it takes place prior to conversion, the bestowal of a new heart and of the Spirit, which surely occurs at conversion, being spoken of as taking place subsequent to the sprinkling of the water by which they are purged from all their “filthiness.” Besides, the prophet Isaiah tells us clearly that the washing of the daughter of Zion from her filth will be effected “by the Spirit of judgment and the Spirit of burning” (Isaiah 4:4).¹⁵

¹⁵ I know I shall be met with the objection that the judgment that awaits Israel is generally represented by the figure of fire. But in Isaiah 4:4 the purging judgment is certainly represented by the figure of water also, or else how could רׇחַ֣ץ (rockhatz)—“washing”—be applied to it?

Whatever view, however, be taken of Ezekiel 36:25—and I would not dogmatically say that the application I have made of it is the right one, though I believe it is—there can be no doubt that the immediate prospect of Israel after their restoration to Palestine is a baptism of judgment, the like of which they have never yet experienced. Take, for instance, Jeremiah 30:3-7., which is quoted further on, and there, in the chronological order of events, that which is named after their restoration (Jeremiah 30:3) and before their conversion, when they shall serve the Lord God and David their King (Jeremiah 30:9), is the “time of Jacob’s trouble,” which will be “so great that none is like it,” the acuteness of which is described by the pains of a woman in travail (Jeremiah 30:5-7).

Yes, Israel has a baptism of suffering to undergo such as even they have never yet experienced in all the long catalogue of the inexpressible sufferings they have endured for ages, for hitherto the furnace in which they have been has been heated by the wrath of man, but what is this compared to the furnace, seven times heated by the wrath of the Almighty, which yet awaits them in Zion? Hear what Ezekiel says in another place (Ezekiel 22:18-22): “Thus saith the Lord God, Because ye are all become dross, behold therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace to blow the fire upon it, to melt it, so will I gather you in Mine anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. Yea, I will gather you and blow upon you in the fire of My wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof, and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out My fury upon you.” With this agree also the words of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 30:3-7), who, after recording in a book by special command of God the fact that Jehovah will bring again the captivity of His people Israel and Judah and cause them to return to the land that He gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it, goes on to say, “And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord, We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now and see whether man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.” This is the immediate prospect after restoration to Palestine of the people who rebelled against the Most High and rejected His Son and always resisted the Holy Spirit—a furnace seven times heated and anguish as acute as are the pangs of a woman in travail. Alas! poor Israel who “desire the day of the Lord, to what end is it for you? Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, even very dark and no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:18-20). But, blessed be God, His anger will not endure for ever, and, “though He may endure for a night, joy will come in the morning,” and even when Israel sits in darkness, a deeper darkness than they have ever been in yet, “the Lord shall be a light unto them” (Micah 7:8); and, although their tribulation and anguish shall be so great that there has been none like it (Jeremiah 30:7), in the midst of wrath God will remember mercy, and, according to His promise, He will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob (Amos 9:8). Suddenly, when the cloud will be thickest, and the anguish most acute: when even the small remnant that shall be left of Israel shall despair of hope, and Israel’s enemies be most certain in their own minds of accomplishing their purpose of utterly exterminating that people whom they will think has been given over to them as a prey; when the proud spirit of the haughty Jew shall be broken, and humility and penitence take the place of stubbornness and pride; when the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, saying, “Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach!” and the whole people, brought to such extremities that they will be willing to receive help from whatsoever quarter it may come, cry, “Oh that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, that Thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence. . . . Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever. Behold, see, we beseech Thee, we are all Thy people!” (Isaiah 64:1; Isaiah 64:9)—then, suddenly, with the speed of lightning, and attended by all His saints and hosts of angels, shall the same Jesus, Who ascended bodily and visibly on a cloud from the Mount of Olivet, so, and in like manner, be revealed again, but this time in a special and peculiar manner, as Israel’s King and Deliverer. “And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east;” and from thence He shall “go forth and fight against those nations” (Israel’s enemies) “as in the day of battle” (Zechariah 14:3-4). “And the Lord shall utter His voice before His army,” and He will go forth “with fire and with His chariots like a whirlwind to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and sword will the Lord plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many” (Joel 2:11; Isaiah 66:15-16). Just as that shepherd of Bethlehem, himself one of the most perfect and beautiful types of Him Who is his great Son as well as Lord, “slew both the lion and the bear,” and saved from their jaws the lamb which was taken possession of by them as their prey, so will the Shepherd of Israel “save” the remnant of His people from the hands and jaws of those who are stronger than they and slay them who devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped with their feet His chosen with a fierceness exceeding even that of the bear and the lion. Now the tables will be turned: Jerusalem, so long trodden down of the Gentiles, shall become again a praise in the earth (Micah 4:8; Isaiah 62:6-7.); and the sons of Zion, whose name has been for ages a proverb and a by-word among all nations, shall “get praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame” (Zephaniah 3:19). But along with Israel’s national deliverance comes also their eternal salvation; hence the next thing we read of in the chapter to which we have referred (Ezekiel 36:25-28) is, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.” Their national deliverance effected, Israel will gather round their Deliverer, and, saluting Him with “Hosannah! Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord,” will ask, “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in His apparel, bearing Himself majestically in the greatness of His strength?” (Isaiah 63:1). “And what are these wounds in Thine hands?” (Zechariah 13:6). Who can describe the scene which will take place when the Lord of glory, the greater than Joseph, will reveal Himself to His brethren? Think of the awful amount of hatred to the person of Jesus of Nazareth accumulated in the Jewish heart! Think of the wrongs they have inflicted upon Him when on earth and on His Church ever since; think of their surprise when He Whom they thought was dead and done with suddenly appears alive, and as their Deliverer! “This is Jesus,” they will say, “Whom we pierced; and these are the same wounds with which He was wounded in the house of His friends,” and this discovery will break their stony hearts. “They shall look upon Him Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn every family apart: the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Shimei, apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.” But the great Comforter will be in their midst, and He will comfort them with all the consolation of the gospel of His love. “As one whom his mother comforteth,” so, He says, “will I comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (Isaiah 66:13). He will say, “Jehovah My Father has sent Me to bind up your broken hearts, . . . ‘to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto you beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness’ (Isaiah 61:1-3). Weep not, nor let your hearts be troubled; God has turned ‘the curse into blessing.’ Because I have died once, you may now live for ever; because you reckoned Me among the transgressors, you may all now be reckoned among the righteous. Arise! shine! I want you to assist Me in My gracious purpose to this earth, and to spread abroad the knowledge of your Messiah’s Name among all nations, so that the residue of men may seek after the Lord.” “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (Zechariah 13:1). “And out of them shall proceed confession¹⁶ and the voice of them that make merry” (Jeremiah 30:19). “O Lord!” they will say, “we will praise Thee: though Thou wast angry with us, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst us. Behold, God is our salvation; we will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is our strength and our song; He also is become our salvation” (Isaiah 12:1-2). “The stone which the builders have rejected has become the chief stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes” (Psalms 118:22-23). “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgression, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6). And these songs of praises and confessions will be heard far and wide, so that what has happened to Israel will at once become known in all the earth (Isaiah 12:5); and, as a consequence of this, “there shall come people and the inhabitants of many cities. And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, In those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you” (Zechariah 8:20-23). And for the fact that Israel will be so enthusiastic and loud in their praises of the Messiah Whom they have for so long despised and rejected, and also for the fact that Satan being chained, there will be nothing to hinder the heathen from believing their testimony; it will not be long before the knowledge and the glory of the Messiah will cover this earth as the waters cover the sea (Revelation 20:1-3; Habakkuk 2:14).

¹⁶ The word תּוֹדׇ֖ה in Jeremiah 30:19, translated “thanksgiving,” should more properly be rendered “confession.”

Now I turn to the New Testament Scriptures to see if we can confirm the principle which we have laid down on the authority of the Old. I go to that epistle first of all which is perhaps more than any other book a compendium of Christian doctrines—I refer to the Epistle to the Romans—and what do I find taught there concerning the time of Israel’s national salvation and the manner of its accomplishment? In the eleventh chapter, which was dictated by the Holy Spirit for the express purpose of enlightening Gentile Christians concerning God’s purpose in Israel’s past, present, and future, Paul says, “For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is My covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins” (Romans 11:25-27). Here we are told that Israel’s present state is that of blindness, and I need scarcely say that the most marked symptom of that blindness is that they see not Him Who is the “Light of the world.” We are further told that there is a limit to that blindness both as to its extent and duration. It is not total as to its extent, for there is “a remnant according to the election of grace” from Israel even now who are, by the free grace of God, made partakers of the blessings of the gospel of Christ, and who, together with the people “taken out for His Name” from among the Gentiles, are made one in the Church which is the fulness of Him Who filleth all in all (Ephesians 1:23). Nor is it final as to duration, for it is limited by an “until.” Until what? Well, there are two landmarks which I beg you to notice with all attention, because on the right understanding of them will depend the verdict which you are called upon to give as to whether this passage teaches that Israel’s national conversion will take place before or after the return of Christ. The two landmarks are these:—the “fulness of the Gentiles” and the Redeemer’s return unto Zion. Now as to the first, it is not so much a question as to what is meant by the term “fulness of the Gentiles,” although it is clear from the context that it cannot mean the conversion of the whole world, since it is completed before the blindness is removed from Israel, and the apostle tells us in Romans 11:15, that the conversion of the world will not be effected until after the receiving again of Israel. It must mean therefore the completion of that number who are now, by the mercy of God, called from among the Gentiles to fellowship with His dear Son, or, in the words of James, “the people taken out for His Name” who constitute the Gentile portion of the bride of Christ; but the point is, whatever is meant by that term, that we have it here stated on the authority of the Holy Spirit that Israel nationally will remain blind, and in their blindness reject the Son of God, until after the “fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” so that we have no warrant, to expect the Jews brought nationally to accept Christ through the efforts of the Christian Church. And I may add that since, as has been stated, the conversion of the world will only be effected after Israel is received again to favour with God, and only through their active instrumentality, as we know from other parts of Scripture (Zechariah 8:20-23; Isaiah 2:2-3), there is even less warrant to expect that the Gentile nations, as such, will be converted by the efforts of the Church. How can the world be converted as long as they who are to convert the world are themselves in blindness?

Then the second landmark is the Redeemer’s return unto Zion, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; and this is My covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins.” Now this is a parallel passage to Acts 15:14-18, where James says that after God’s present visitation of the Gentiles “to take out of them a people for His name” is accomplished, Jesus will return, and only then build again the tabernacle of David, which until then will remain in its fallen condition. By the “tabernacle of David” is doubtless meant the throne of David and the restoration of Israel, which, as we have seen, takes place prior to their national conversion; for it is in Jerusalem that “they look upon Him Whom they have pierced.” I might go on and indefinitely multiply passages both from the Old as well as the New Testament Scriptures in support of what has been stated, but I trust that enough has been said to convince any candid reader that Israel’s national conversion will only take place simultaneously with the return of Jesus Christ, Who is the glorious and beautiful Branch of Jehovah, as well as the Fruit of the earth. THE SERVANT THE BRANCH.¹⁷

Now we are to consider Zechariah 3. and contemplate our adorable Lord in the character of Servant: “Behold, I will bring forth My Servant the Branch.”

¹⁷ Kimchi and Rashi interpret, “My Servant the Branch,” of Zerubbabel, but they themselves acknowledge that the older interpretation among the Jews was of the Messiah, and they give no good reason for departing from the received interpretation. Here again the Targum Yonathan introduces Messiah by name. To apply the title Branch to any other person but Messiah would contradict the analogy of the prophetic language, for in Isaiah 4:2 and Jeremiah 23:6, Kimchi himself acknowledges that “Branch” means the Messiah.

Moreover, the words do not agree with the character or circumstances of Zerubbabel. God says, “I will bring My Servant the Branch;” but Zerubbabel had come long before, and was already a prince among them, and, as Abarbanel says (see footnote 19), after this prophecy Zerubbabel attained to neither royalty, dominion, or other dignity more than he already possessed.

Here we have the picture of the high-priest Joshua, who represents Jerusalem (Zechariah 3:1-3), standing before the Lord, ministering before the altar, in filthy garments, typical of inward defilement by sin, and Satan (the Hebrew term meaning adversary in a law-court) standing at his right hand, the usual position of the prosecutor, to accuse him. We are not told what these accusations were, but I think we get a clue to them in Zechariah 3:3, “Joshua was clothed in filthy garments,” and Satan may have said, “Lord, Thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. How canst Thou suffer to approach, and to receive the service of, those who are so defiled by sin and who have rebelled against Thee? They are fit only as chaff for the flames.” The adversary may also have whispered into the heart of the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “How dare you take it upon yourself to approach the Holy One? Know ye not that even the heavens are not pure in His sight?” Thus was the evil one contending against Israel, seeking their destruction on account of their defilement, which he used as a pretence, for he is not the one really to hate evil, seeing he is the originator of it; but again, as when he contended for the literal body of Moses¹⁸ (Jude 1:9), this arch-enemy of the Church of the living God was rebuked and silenced. Not that his accusations were in themselves false, for even this father of lies dare not utter pure falsehood to the face of the God of truth and righteousness. “Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan; even Jehovah, that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked from the burning?” was the reply of the great Advocate—the Jehovah-Angel, He of Whom it was said, “He shall make intercession for the transgressors.” It is true that, in herself, the daughter of Jerusalem is defiled, filthy on account of her manifold transgressions, having lost all her original beauty and comeliness, so that all that is left of her may fitly be described by the smouldering remains of a log of wood; but has not Jehovah set His love upon her and chosen her from all eternity? and have not I endured the scorching flames in the act of rescuing this smouldering brand from the burning? Thinkest thou that those for whom I have tasted the fiery ordeal of Divine justice shall yet be condemned? No, “they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, Which hath given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand” (John 10:28). Satan is silenced on the sole ground of God’s choice; and the daughter of Zion, through her representative, Joshua, may well have sung, “He is near that justifieth me: who shall contend with me? let us stand together. Who seeks judgment against me? let him come near to me” (Isaiah 50:8, Heb.). But to justify the really guilty would mean a partaking of his crime; how then could God be just in giving sentence in favour of Jerusalem, since by neither party was it denied that she was really filthy? Here is the reply: “Behold, I will bring forth My Servant the Branch.” This is how the righteous God can be both “the Just and the justifier” of all who are chosen of Him in Christ; His Servant the Branch solves the mystery. From the person of Messiah the justice, as well as the grace of Jehovah, shine forth in transcendent beauty, and blend in splendid harmony. Look at the spectacle of Gethsemane and Calvary, which was long before minutely described in Isaiah 53:1 &c., Psalms 22:1 &c., and Daniel 9:26, and behold His wrath poured out in all its fierceness upon His righteous Servant, Who was the delight of His soul, as soon as He came into contact with sin by taking it upon Himself, and who will dare lay to God’s charge any moral complicity with sin except to condemn it?

¹⁸ It is believed by some that the reference in Jude 1:9 is to this passage, “the body of Moses” being the Jewish Church, for which Satan was contending by reason of its sins, just as the body of Christ is the Christian Church. However, Jude 1:9 plainly speaks of the literal body of Moses, the resurrection of which, at the Transfiguration, Satan seems to have opposed, on the ground of Moses’ error at Meribah. “The Lord rebuke thee” checked Satan in contending for judgment against Moses’ body, as also it checked him when demanding judgment against the Jewish Church, to which Moses’ body corresponds.—See FAUSSET on Zechariah 3:1-10.

Then again, where can we go for a full manifestation of God’s tenderness, sympathy, and love? Come with me to Calvary again. Contemplate the scene amid the throng of invisible and astonished angels, weeping disciples, and the mocking multitudes, and remember that He Who thus suffers is none other than the Only-begotten and Well-beloved Son of God, and when you have failed in all attempts to measure the greatness of God’s love to us, in that He spared not even His Son, then you will exclaim, “Truly God is love! Herein is love, not that we loved Him, but that He loved us and gave Himself for us!” The Messiah must be Son of David, else He could not sit upon the throne of His father David; He must be the Son of God, else His death would not suffice for our atonement; but, for man’s justification, He must also be the Servant Who should for us pay a perfect obedience to the Father, else even His death would not benefit us, for we would morally still be left in a condition unfit for fellowship with God, for “can two walk together except they be agreed?” A notorious criminal might for some cause obtain his pardon, but he would be no fit object to associate with his judge who openly denounced him as being fit only for the gallows; and so the sinner may have obtained pardon in virtue of Christ’s death, but, being still a sinner, and not a saint, he would be no fit object to sit down and sup with the Holy One Who Himself banished him from His presence (Genesis 3:24) as fit only to associate with the disobedient angels in the regions of darkness. It is clear, therefore, that, if the sinner is to be admitted to the banqueting table of the righteous God, it cannot be in his own righteousness, for, first, his moral condition is in such a helpless state that he is absolutely incapable of doing good so as to please God (Job 15:14-16; Job 9:20; Proverbs 20:9), and secondly, supposing, even now, after being pardoned for his past offences, man could and would do God’s will, there would still be no merit in his services to God now to blot out his past disobedience, for the very idea of merit is utterly inconsistent with the idea of his relation to God as his Creator. Man, as creature, is bound by the very fact of his creation to love God with all his heart and soul and mind and strength, and to do all His will. Whatever, therefore, he might do now, he could not exceed his present duty, and this would in no wise alter his condition in the presence of God as regards the past. He would still, as criminal, although as pardoned criminal, be unfit to hold communion with God, still be a stranger to the fulness of joy which is in His presence and the pleasures which are at His right hand. Let this be clearly understood, for I fear that there are many Christians even who are confused on this point, and seem to think that, although they depend exclusively on Christ’s finished work for pardon, yet it is their own good works which can fit them and merit for them the enjoyment of God’s presence here and hereafter, forgetting the words of their blessed Master, Who said, “When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants” (δουλοι, slaves); “we have done that which it was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10). This surely does away with all merit. We are unprofitable, for it is no gain to Him that we make our way perfect (Job 22:3); and besides, we are slaves, and what slave speaks of wages to his master? Think ye a slave would be entitled to sit down at the table of his master and to intimate intercourse with him, even if he did ever such a good day’s work? Yet this is what the believer in Christ is privileged to do. He is called to fellowship with God; to sit down at the table and partake of “the feast of fat things” which was not only provided by God, but at which He Himself presides; but we do not do so in our own names, nor is even the garment in which we appear our own. If we are bidden to sit among princes, it is only in virtue of our oneness with the Prince of princes, our fitness being, not in ourselves, but in Jehovah Tsidkenu, and the garment is the robe of His righteousness, with which He clothes us. In this connection how precious is that statement in Isaiah 53:11, “By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant make many righteous” (לׇֽרַבִּ֑ים עַבְדִּ֖י צַדִּ֛יק יַצְדִּ֥יק בְּדַעְתּׄוֹ). By His perfect obedience to the Father even unto death, Christ acquired so much righteousness that it is sufficient to make “many”—as many as will appropriate it by faith—righteous in the presence of God, just as the pouring out of His one soul unto death is sufficient for the propitiation of the sin of the whole world. I have said before that there is no possibility for man to lay any claim to merit, because, to speak of merit, he must be on equal terms with Him from Whom he claims it, for something which he conferred which the other had no right to expect, but the Messiah was on equal terms with God, for He Who becomes our Righteousness is none other than Jehovah, Who, instead of being a creature, is the Creator of all things (Zechariah 12:1-10; John 1:1-3). The law of God was for servants, not for His own Son, but the Son voluntarily took upon Himself the form of a servant and perfectly obeyed it. God’s justice only denounced death on the sinner, but here is the Holy One, Who stoops to a death the most ignominious; He can therefore speak of merit, and, on account of His exalted character and the magnitude of the work accomplished by Him, can claim so much of it as is sufficient for all who are united to Him by faith.

Church of the firstborn, elect of God! to thee no less than to Israel does the Divine voice come. “Behold My Servant! Behold in Him thy fitness to approach God and to enjoy His blessed fellowship. Behold in His righteousness the wedding garment without which thou hast no right at the feast. Behold Him!” It was through faith in Him that Abraham was accounted righteous; a vision of the same righteous Servant of Jehovah made Isaiah to burst forth into song: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom maketh himself a priestly headdress and as a bride adorneth herself with ornaments. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations” (Isaiah 61:10-11).

After beholding Him, Paul, too, could sing, “What things were gain to me, those I count loss for Christ: yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Php 3:7-9).

Behold Him, then, even though as yet the vision may be “as through a glass dimly;” contemplate Him as He humbles Himself for thy sake and takes upon Him the form of a servant; direct thy gaze upwards and behold Him Who is thy Righteousness now exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high as an assurance that Jehovah is well pleased with thee for His righteousness’ sake (Romans 4:25; Isaiah 42:21); and exclaim, “Blessed indeed am I, unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity” (2 Corinthians 5:19), “and in whose spirit He finds no guile!” THE MAN THE BRANCH.¹⁹

We finally come to consider the Messiah as He is represented to us in Zechariah 1:1-15, in the character of Man—“Behold the Man Whose name is the Branch!”

¹⁹ Here again Rashi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi, assert that “the Man the Branch” is Zerubbabel, but again they have, for obvious controversial reasons, departed from the older received interpretation, as is seen from Targum Yonathan, where the passage (Zechariah 6:12) is paraphrased thus—“Behold the Man; Messiah is His Name. He will be revealed, and He will become great and build the Temple of God.” The Messianic interpretation is also defended with great force by the bigoted antagonist of Christianity Abarbanel, who thus decisively refutes the interpretation adopted by the great trio of Jewish commentators Rashi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi. He says, “Rashi has written that the words, ‘Behold the Man Whose name is the Branch,’ have by some been interpreted of the Messiah. He here means Yonathan, whose interpretation he did not receive, for he adds that the building here spoken of refers altogether to the second Temple. But I wish that I could ask them, if this prophecy refers to the second Temple and Zerubbabel, why it is said, ‘The Man Whose name is the Branch,’ ‘And He shall grow up from beneath Him’? Surely we know that every man grows up to manhood, and even to old age and hoary hairs. Rashi, perceiving this objection, has interpreted this to mean that He shall be of the royal seed, but this is not correct, for the word מִתַּחְתָּ֣יו (from beneath Him) teaches nothing about the royal family. . . . But, at all events, I should like to ask them, if these words be spoken of Zerubbabel, why does the prophet add that ‘He shall build the Temple of the Lord; even He shall build the Temple of the Lord’? Why this repetition to express one single event? The commentators have got no answer but this, ‘It is to confirm the matter.’

“But, if this be the case, it would be better to repeat the words three or four times, for then the confirmation would have been greater still. I should farther ask them how they can interpret of Zerubbabel those words ‘He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne’? for he (Zerubbabel) never ruled in Jerusalem and never sat upon the throne of the kingdom, but only occupied himself in building the Temple and afterwards returned to Babylon.”—ABARBANEL, Comment. in loc.

Dr. Alexander McCaul says on this passage, “The prophecy promises these particulars: first, ‘He shall be a Priest upon His throne;’ secondly, ‘He shall build the Temple of the Lord;’ thirdly, ‘He shall bear the glory’ (ה֔וֹד, the majesty, Hengstenberg), ‘and shall sit and rule upon His throne, and they that are far off shall come and build the Temple of the Lord.’ It is not necessary to point out the well-known passages which prove that these four particulars are all features of Messiah’s character and in that of no one else. It is also easy to identify these features in the character of Jesus of Nazareth. He is represented in the New Testament as a High-priest, as a King; and it is certain that the Gentiles, who were then afar off, have acknowledged His dignity; and, as for building a temple, He did this also (see John 2:19; Ephesians 2:22).” That the Messiah was to be man I need not stay to prove. It is implied by His birth, which, though miraculous, was yet of a Jewish virgin²⁰ (Isaiah 9:6). He Who should gather scattered Israel and keep them as a shepherd keepeth his flock was to be “a Man compassed by a woman” (Jeremiah 31:22). It is also implied by the nature of the work He should accomplish for us upon the earth, for though, for instance, His Divine nature could impart infinite value to the blood which He shed for us, it was only as man that He could shed it; and it was only as man, and One made under the law, that He could render to God a perfect obedience for us, and by His suffering and death redeem us from the curse of the law by “being made a curse for us.” Then the Messiah was to come to reveal to man the character of God and to teach them His law. Now, although as the Son of God alone could He know God perfectly—“for no man knoweth the Father save the Son” (Matthew 11:27)—yet only as the Son of man could He communicate that knowledge to the children of men. Thus we see that even in the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations, before the Son of God became real man, in order to make God known to the sons of Adam, He again and again appeared in the form of man. “Art Thou the Man that speakest unto the woman?” was the question of Manoah (Judges 13:11). “And He said, I am.” And yet He Who thus appeared in the form of man was none other than the Jehovah-Angel (Judges 13:3),²¹ the Angel of His presence, “Who was the Saviour of Israel even in the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9), and the Divine Lord for Whose advent the Jews were waiting, and the Angel of His covenant Who was suddenly to appear in His Temple (Malachi 3:1).

²⁰ “According to our Gospel narrations, Jesus was not born in the ordinary course of nature. Have we not here then at the very outset of our undertaking a rock upon which the thesis we have to maintain comes to shipwreck? If Jesus Christ is truly man, must He not have been born in the same manner as every other man? This objection, however, it is easy to see, proves too much, for it would oblige us to deny true humanity to the first man, upon the ground that he came into existence by a different process from that of ordinary human filiation. Now, would it not be a strange proceeding to deny real humanity to that being from whom all that bears the name of man has sprung? This instance proves that the quality of manhood does not depend upon the manner in which the individual being came into existence, but upon the possession of certain attributes which constitute humanity.”—GODET’S “New Testament Series, Biblical Studies.”

²¹ Genesis 18:2; Genesis 18:13; Joshua 5:14-15; Judges 6:11, Judges 6:12-22. A remarkable proof that the Angel of Jehovah (or Jehovah-Angel) that appeared in the Old Testament dispensation in the form of man is the same as He Who in fulness of time became real man, and tabernacled among us, is to be found in Judges 13:17-18, where we read thus, “And Manoah said unto the Angel of Jehovah, What is Thy Name, that when Thy words come to pass we may do Thee honour? And the Angel of Jehovah said unto him, Wherefore askest thou after My Name? It is פֶֽלִאי” (Pele), Wonderful (not Secret, as in the Authorised Version). Now read Isaiah 9:6, which is indisputably Messianic, “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His Name shall be called ֩פֶּלֶא (Pele), Wonderful (the very word used in Judges 13:19), Counsellor, the Mighty God, Father of eternity, Prince of peace.” The Jehovah-Angel then is none other than the Messiah of the Old Testament. And who is the Jesus of the New Testament but the Messiah of the Old Testament?

Again, it was necessary for the Messiah to be man, else He could not, as our Advocate and Mediator, efficiently represent man’s case before God. “It behoved Him,” says the apostle, “in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High-priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For we have not an High-priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, but” (One Who was) “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 4:15). Then also both the Old and New Testament Scriptures represent the Messiah as the Head of mankind and of all creation; the Progenitor (Isaiah 53:10; Psalms 22:30) of all those who are born into the Kingdom of God; the second Man (1 Corinthians 15:47), Who should have all things put under His feet and resume the supremacy over all creation which Adam had lost by the fall, but, inasmuch as those who become His “children” are partakers of flesh and blood (Hebrews 2:13-14), and supremacy over creation was originally promised by God to man (Genesis 1:27, Genesis 1:31; Hebrews 1:6), it was necessary that He too should partake of flesh and blood and become real man. This, and the fact that the promise of God to Abraham was, that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed (Genesis 12:3), is the reason why the Messiah took not on Him the nature of angels or of any other being, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16). But in the text before us (Zechariah 6:12-13) “the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5) is introduced in another connection from those I have already mentioned. “He,” we are told, “shall grow up out of His place” (or “shall branch up from under Him,” יִצְמָ֔ח וּמִתַּחְתָּ֣יו). “And He shall build the Temple of Jehovah;” and, to emphasise what His work shall be, the prophet again repeats, “He shall build the Temple of Jehovah.” Originally God created man to be a temple to contain His perfection and fulness. Having formed his body from the dust of the earth, God “breathed into it the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” But soon Satan, through sin, defiled that temple and made it no longer possible for God to dwell therein, for “what communion can light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). But the heart of God yearned for man, and, though He could no longer dwell in them, He yet did dwell with them. He chose Israel, whom He suffered to approach to Him through the sprinkling of blood, which in His mind pointed to the blood of the everlasting covenant which the Messiah, Who was to be “led as a lamb to the slaughter,” was to shed as an atonement for sin; and to them His proclamation went forth, “Make Me a tabernacle that I may dwell among you!” The tabernacle was built, and then the Temple on Mount Moriah, but soon, alas! this temple too was defiled, and sin in its progress made such rapid strides that it penetrated even into the holy of holies, and God was obliged entirely to withdraw His manifest presence even from His chosen dwelling-place. After the destruction of the first Temple by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:1-30) the Jews built another one after their restoration from Babylon, but the manifest presence of Jehovah no more returned to it; for Rabbi Samuel Bar Juni in the Talmud (Yoma, fol. 21, c. 2), and Rabbis Solomon and Kimchi in their comments on Haggai 1:8, all agree that five things that were in the first Temple were wanting in the second—i.e., the ark, wherein were the tables of the covenant, and the cherubim that covered it; the fire that used to come down from heaven to devour the sacrifices; the Shekinah glory; the gift of prophecy, or the Holy Ghost; and the miraculous Urim and Thummim. But just then another Temple, not built by the hands of man, arose, and in it dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). One came, and in the sight of the magnificent structure which had then become more a “den of thieves” than a “house of prayer,” proclaimed, “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up again,” and this He spake “of the Temple of His body.” Who was this Who spoke so but the promised Messiah, with Whose advent the presence of Jehovah should again return to His people, and in the anticipation of Whose appearance Isaiah exclaimed “אֵֽל עִמָּ֥נוּ” (Immanuel), God with us?” “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men” once more, “and He doth dwell with them,” “for the God Who said, Light shall arise out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Secondly: But if anyone think that this is not the Temple which was predicted by Zechariah in our text, which “the Man Whose name is the Branch” was to build, I can tell him of another temple—a temple of which the Son of man is not only the foundation (Isaiah 28:16; 1 Corinthians 3:11) and the top stone of the corner (Psalms 118:22; Ephesians 2:20), but the Builder.

“Thou art Peter” were the words of Jesus on one occasion, “and upon this rock” (i.e., the confession, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”) I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” and what is the Church but the Temple of the living God? (2 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Corinthians 3:16). “Now therefore,” says Paul (Ephesians 2:19; Ephesians 2:22), “ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone: in Whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. In Whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” How glorious is this temple which the Branch is now building! He has created one temple which is now filling the minds of men with wonder and astonishment. I refer to the material temple of the universe. What a spectacle do the starry heavens present to us! The more we contemplate it the more we are lost in wonder at its immeasurable immensity, and the more our hearts go up in reverent adoration to the God Whose eternity, glory, power, and wisdom they ceaselessly declare in language intelligible to every heart, but oh! the Temple which He is now building, when complete, will astonish even the admiring angels, and will demonstrate even more than the material temple does to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10). But there are still two other temples to one or other of which some may think the words in our text may rather apply. One is that which Daniel predicts in the ninth chapter of his prophecy and the twenty-fourth verse (Daniel 9:24). Speaking of the time of Messiah’s advent, he states that one of the things that will accompany that event shall be the anointing of a most holy place.²² Now, I believe of this we have an explanation and fulfilment in the fourth chapter of John’s Gospel. There, in the recorded conversation of our Saviour with the woman of Samaria, a blessed announcement is made by Him, an announcement which marked an epoch in the spiritual history of the world, and was a revolution in all previous ideas of the relation of man to his Maker. Before this the worship of God was always associated with some particular place: “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” But Jesus, though claming for Jerusalem precedence when compared with Mount Gerizim and declaring the Jews alone to be possessed of the true knowledge of God, and that they are the channel through whom the salvation of God must proceed, announced the time when neither Mount Gerizim nor yet Jerusalem shall be the only place to worship the Father: “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Thus “the veil of the Temple was first rent at Jacob’s well,”²³ and from within the veil of His Father’s house in Jerusalem came forth the Saviour of the world to consecrate all the earth as one vast Holy of Holies.

²² The expression “Kodesh Kodoshim” הַקֳּדָשִֽׁים קֹ֥דֶשׁ is exactly the same term always applied to the holy of holies in the tabernacle and Temple.

²³ “The Life and Words of Christ,” by Cunningham Geikie, vol. 1., p. 529. The other is the Temple foretold and described by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 40:1-49, Ezekiel 41:1-26, Ezekiel 42:1-20, Ezekiel 43:1-27, Ezekiel 44:1-31), which I verily believe shall he built under Messiah’s superintendence on His second advent. But to whichever temple above mentioned our text refers, we see the sublime appropriateness that the Messiah, Who was to build it, should be introduced as the Son of man, for in each case the gates of the Temple stand open not only to one particular class, no more even exclusively to favoured Israel, but to all the children of men, Jew or Gentile without distinction. Is it Messiah’s person which is meant? The Seed of David is also “the Seed of the woman,” and He from Whom emanates “the glory of Israel” emanates also the Light of the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6). Is it the Church? The live stones which are built upon the one foundation, Jesus Christ, and together with which it is “growing into an holy temple in the Lord,” are not hewn from the Jewish²⁴ quarry alone, but they belong to all “nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues.” Is it the Temple described by Ezekiel? Over the gates thereof shall no more be found the inscription בו יבא לא זר כל (“No stranger shall enter into it”), as was written over the former Temple; but many nations shall say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths, for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.” And, finally, is it the consecration of the whole earth into an holy of holies, wherein was to dwell the presence and fulness of God? That work the Messiah could only accomplish as the Son of man, for as the Son of David He is more particularly connected with Palestine and with the literal Temple of Jerusalem. “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; 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 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 6:12-15).

²⁴ There is no fear in these days of anyone thinking that the Church is exclusively Jewish in its composition; but there is danger lest it should be thought that it is entirely Gentile. The Gentiles have not been called to monopolise, but to partake (share) with the Jews the root and fatness of the olive tree, and they were not grafted by the power of God into the vine to the exclusion of the Jews, but among them (Romans 11:17). Let not then the “wild olive branches” boast against the “natural branches,” but let them together enjoy the fat things which have been provided in abundance by the grace and mercy of God and be thankful. “For He is our peace, Who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; and came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone—in Whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in Whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:14-22).

Blessed be God, there has always been a Jewish element in the Church of Christ from its commencement hitherto; and I am thankful to believe that at the present day that element is stronger than ever it has been. “Even at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”