Zechariah 3:4

I just want to express my gratitude for the brethren that have invited me and privileged to be amongst you in this conference. Now the reading that is before us of course is Zechariah chapter 3 and chapter 4 and I think it's not too many verses so we'll just take time to read. I'll read it fairly fast and I will assume that you have done your homework and you have read it at home and I think that's a fair thing to ask because I cannot see in any way you'll be able to understand all that has been discussed if you have not read it at least basically for yourselves before you come.

So I encourage you to do the reading. All the brethren used to tell us if you want to understand Zechariah chapter 3 you need to read Zechariah chapter 2. If you want to read chapter 3 you need to read chapter 4 to get the context. But once you read chapter 2 you need to go back to chapter 1 and then when you reach up to 4 to understand that you're going to go chapter 5 and by the time you know it you've got to read the whole book just to be able to understand and rightly expound one chapter and that's the way we should be reading a Bible's context as our brethren have reminded us and though time limits us to deal with the whole I think I trust that we will spend some time before we come to read the passages.

Zechariah chapter 3 and verse 1 and he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him and the Lord said unto Satan the Lord rebuked thee O Satan even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee is not this a brand plucked out of the fire now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel and he answered and speak unto those that stood before him saying take away the filthy garments from him and unto him he said before behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee and I will clothe thee with a change of raiment and I said let them set a fair mitre upon his head so they set a fair mitre upon his head and clothed him with garments and the angel of the Lord stood by and the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua saying thus say the Lord of hosts if thou will walk in my ways and if thou will keep my charge then thou shall also judge my house and shall also keep my courts and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by here 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 brunch and you can underline that expression there it's messianic for behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua upon one stone shall be seven eyes behold I will engrave the graving thereof say the Lord of hosts and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day in that day seer the Lord of hosts shall he call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the vine and under the fig tree chapter four and the angel that talked with me came again and wake me as a man that is wakened out of his sleep and said unto me what seers thou and I said I have looked and behold a candlestick or a lampstand all of gold with a bowl upon the top of it and his seven lambs thereon and seven pipes to the seven lambs which are upon the top thereof and two olive trees by it one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side thereof so I answered and speak to the angel that talked with me saying what are these my lord then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me knowest thou not that what these be and I said no my lord then he answered and speak unto me saying this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit seer the Lord of hosts who art thou oh great mountain before Zerubbabel thou shall become a plain and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings crying grace grace unto it moreover the word of the Lord came unto me saying the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house his hands shall also finish it and thou shall know that the Lord of hosts had sent me unto you for who hath despised the day of small things for they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven they are the eyes of the Lord which run to and through through the whole earth then answered I and said unto him what are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof and I answered again and said unto him what be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves and he answered me and said knowest thou not what these be and I said no my lord and you know you could tell the Lord the same thing this afternoon there are many things we don't understand and we looked at the Lord to help and I said no my lord then said he these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth I trust the Lord to bless the reading of his precious word you might have well either younger or older you you might have read a storybook and when you're reading through a storybook or a novel or something like that and what you usually do is you start from chapter one and you read page by page and page by page and it gets more and more engaging and perhaps more and more intense and exciting and then you come to the last few pages and that's the end now you usually don't go to the last page first that's a spoiler and unless you can't wait you're impatient and you want to find out what happens to the hero at the end he dies or he lives you jump to the rest and the end and oh all right that's the conclusion you close the book and you just put it aside you're done with it usually we don't do that but when we read the bible and especially prophecy God does not shy away from telling us the end first and that's a great thing do you know that a majority of your old testament is eschatological prophecy and the reason why God tells us the end often it's as if and i say this reverently that he cannot wait to tell you what will happen in the end he can't wait to tell us the glory that is waiting ahead for us and for israel and brother will it be just briefly mentioned because by telling us the glories that are ahead it would seem to make the present suffering lighter and by telling the glories ahead we can anticipate the greatness of what is coming and as a result of our knowledge of what is coming ahead in all its glory then it will perhaps affect our present life to live rightly for him knowing that there is reward ahead knowing there is a glorious bliss ahead and then it will seem that the present day will not only be lighter but will live and the good of trust and faith and dependence upon God a brother feel that help us very much last night as he brought to us the introduction of why are we reading prophecy and on top of all that i don't want to add more just one or two points perhaps from a personal perspective there is not only just to see what is ahead and how it affects our present life but as i read prophecy in the scripture one of the things that i feel is this i feel small in this day and age where there is so much of self and me and like and everything in this world is about what i like and what i want and it's in this self-centered universe the more we read the bible the more we engage ourselves in prophetic studies the more we realize how small we are and how we have a god that is just a huge macro glorious plant for the universe and when i get a view of all that god has in store for us and for me and for you i suddenly feel that i'm not so important and hopefully that self-centeredness would get less and less and a glimpse of the glory to come and the greatness of god will perhaps fill our hearts and ultimately an adoration for christ with the center of god's plan will deepen within our soul and so the richness the greatness of god and just to feel how just you read these chapters in fact we will come to that point when god will ask them and tell them despise not the day of small things that's a bit like those men there and they rebuilt the temple and the days came when the foundation was laid in ezra and you you know what happened there were those that shouted with joy and there were those who saw the former glory of the temple of solomon and they wept god is reminding them it might seem small to you but this is a stepping stone to something greater to come that was a transition period for a greater part of god's history that will be fulfilled we are a small microcosm of the whole plan of god yet it's critical we are in that strategic part of the whole program of god the church that's where we are the dispensation of grace though small and humble though they despise and they rejected and yet we are part of god's plan you and i we are all part of god's great plan of redemptive history so as we read these things it might lift us up it might cause that self-centeredness to be reduced but ultimately it might give us a greater appreciation of the greatness of god the other thing i just briefly mentioned by zachariah is perhaps other than isaiah without exaggeration one of the most messianic books in the old testament we'll see that in a while but we will find that this man i just mentioned to underline and we read of of this my servant the brunch we come to chapter six we will find the man the brunch he shall be a priest upon his throne he shall build the temple of the lord that's christ as well as we come to the second part of zachariah we will find christ as well chapter nine behold thy king come that's that's the first advent we will find in uh those chapters we will find the smitten shepherd we'll find that they will behold him whom they have pierced that's calvary and we'll find all these pictures and images of calvary and then just in and out there is a mention something of calvary and we're back again to the future what zachariah doing he's telling us that god's prophetic program is hinged upon pivoted upon this one man without him none of this will come to fulfillment without him none of this would be relevant but because of the men whom they have peers and the brunch the servant the brunch the men the smitten shepherd and all that we'll read about christ whatever the opportunity arises god is trying to tell us that christ is the center of the whole universe and the center of all his prophetic program is it not great they were linked we're linked with him and we're told in a new testament through progressive revelation we shall reign with him i tell you dear saints of god there is great things in store for us this petty little life with all the mundane things that we think we think are worth a ton of gold they're just nothing they're fleeing away and they will vanish but what will what will last what will be eternal will be our reign with christ will be his presence with us and we with him and what is in store for us is just a read of this prophecy will also remind us of some of these things now quickly when we go through this chapters and there is a there is a a train of thought throughout the whole of zachariah our brother phil had just very effectively reminded us that god says i am returned to jerusalem he said i will come back again my presence will be known and it he says i know he had no time to just deal with it in chapter two but i'll just quickly mention that and you'll find that verse chapter two and verse number 10 it says i will dwell in the midst of thee and there verse 11 chapter 2 i will dwell in the midst of thee now that seems that seems to be one very important thought i am returned to jerusalem i'm dwelling in the midst of thee i will dwell in the midst of thee the presence of jehovah in all his glory when we come to chapter three and chapter four we will deal with the issues as we mentioned briefly how would that be possible how could the presence of god be experienced and realized if there is still uncleanness how would be the presence of god be realized if the temple is not fully built and chapter four will see the weakness and therefore it says be strong this in here guy and it says not by power not by might not by but by my spirit the spirit of god's and the presence of god will be the power for them so chapter three and chapter four will deal with how that might be made possible we have no time of course to go to the rest of the vision reports but we will find that god will also have to deal with wickedness we find a flying scroll and then we'll find a flying effort things are flying in the next two vision after that and the flying scroll seem to tell us tell us of god's righteous demand upon them none will escape thief or whatever it may be god's holy demands are upon them and then wickedness will be removed shinar will come up babylon will come up that's coming up in revelation a place a capital for evil in contrast to jerusalem the capital of holiness and righteousness and then we'll come to the the the last vision vision it will tell us how god at the end will gain control and he will be the ultimate victor and will be victorious in the whole thing and so we'll leave it at that that's the eight visions then the second half from chapter 9 to chapter 14 will tell us in specific events what it will be and it will give us the details with all the evil removed and all that what are they specifically we're told we're told that evil shepherds will be removed we're told that evil false prophets will be removed we're told that enemies will be defeated and removed and when false idols and false prophets and false shepherds and enemies they're all removed at the end chapter 14 the lord will be king over the whole earth and the righteousness and the glory of the lord will reign and is it not great that at the end in chapter 14 will come to that that the holiness of the lord will pervade through the whole entire plane so that's generally a train of thought throughout this whole entire great book now just quickly before i sit down there is a a a symmetrical structure of these eight visions don't know whether you realize that vision number one we heard the man in the myrtle trees in the red horse with all the different colors horses in the first vision if you go to vision number eight you'll see horses as well so horses in vision one horses in visual vision eight and then you realize that vision two and vision seven you see the bracketing coming in vision two and vision seven something to do with dealing with the nations we saw in vision two the four horns and the four carpenters god dealing with the nations we see vision seven you have the fr and the woman tuss into the thing and the lateral and taken to shinner wickedness remove god deals with evil and in relation to the nation and then vision three and vision six closing in vision three god says i will dwell in the midst of jerusalem there is there is the the man measuring the wall and measuring with a measuring line and in the message god says i will dwell in god the lord and his glory will come amongst them when you come to vision number six you have the flying scroll and i think the thought is this if the lord was going to come into their midst the law and the righteousness of god must be in their midst as well you can't have it one or the other could i put it very simple is simple you can't have the presence of the lord without the flying scroll they all go hand in hand when the lord comes his righteousness will rule the whole earth the law the principles the truth the word of god will be the predominant guide for every not just for christians not just for israel but throughout the whole earth they will come under the guidance the supervision a government of a righteous king and his word his law will reign supreme the reason why i show you this one eight two six one eight two seven three six that brings us to our chapters four and five so suddenly four and five are in the center of this whole parallel structure and what that means is whenever there's such a parallel symmetrical structure in the scripture it is the holy spirit's way of showing us the core of the matter so to some a great extent i believe dear brethren that chapter three and four in terms of dealing with filth in terms of weakness form the core of these eight visions and there are issues of great importance defilement and weakness how will god deal with this in relation to the people therefore these two chapters are quite vital practical i trust as well but most importantly we want to spend some time to just look at christ i don't want to miss out or spend some time behold my servant the brunch now i continue longer we have no more time so i'll just sit down and not labor on and i trust that the brethren will come in and you'll help us with all the the details of the chapter and the difficulty of some of the issues at hand now again our brother phil if you have anything to add on please feel free to come in as well as our brother william thank you for that further overview brother um perhaps just to look at the first verse it seems to me something of a puzzle that you can have a man like joshua and simultaneously he's standing in the presence of both christ the angel of the lord and satan how are we to understand that brother i simply take it brother feel as you do as this as a vision uh in a sense that uh here here is here is the issue is the issue of defilement and and and you have joshua standing before and satan standing at his right hand to resist him it is to discredit joshua but really to discredit the nation as a whole that they're not fit for what they are receiving from god they're not fit to be a nation and all this effort of rebuilding and all that perhaps the devil he says have you not thought of the most vital issue and he's right have you not thought the most vital issue the moral fitness of the people what are we doing with that and therefore i think that's basically the context have you have any other thing in mind no i what came to my mind was actually the words of the hymn writer when satan tempts me to despair telling of evil yet within upward i look and see him there who made an end of all my sin and so it's not a literal thing we haven't got christ and the devil in close proximity although that of course happened in the temptation in the wilderness but rather you've got the two sides involved in this you're quite right how can how can israel uh have all these wonderful promises to be fulfilled and yet not only have they not upheld god's standards but oftentimes they've behaved worse than the gentiles and when you come to chapter 12 which is your chapter how can a nation which crucify their own messiah to the cross yeah what fitness do they have at all at the end of the day you know when and they shall behold him whom they they have peers yes would it be a similar contrast maybe to today where the satan is the accuser of the brethren and then in chapter two you've got the lord rebuking him he's still accusing us before the father of our own fitness is there a parallel there yes yes i mean you could apply you could apply to us but i i would think brother that at the end here what what is beautiful is this a change of raymond is in parallel to our salvation theology of righteousness clothed upon us it's not anything we are but it is because of the work of christ right he has given to us righteousness so i think that's that's the picture here application yeah just something very simple but to bring everyone up to speed we have a man's name here joshua and then in the next chapter you read about zero bubble that's right just just tell us again refresh our minds who are these individuals so if you go to azra chapter one around there you'll find and chapter two you'll find that as well as the rubel and joshua they were the men who were instrumental in bringing the people back to jerusalem remnant and the first wave came back and they were about to rebuild the temple and of course as you know the historical background that brother phil had given that once they laid the foundation and the work got started the enemies came in and stopped the work but these are men one who is a priest high priest joshua and the other one who is the rubber ball he really is of a royal descent yes so he comes from the line of judah yes so up to this point there is a deliberate presentation of these two men side by side one is a priest the other is he's not a king because the nation was still a vassal nation of persia so they call him a governor but yet yet in the eyes of god he was of royal descent so you nearly have a priest and a king before us and yet in two different persons is it not until we come to chapter six you have the two that the whole thing is one christ is the priest king he is the priest upon his throne so a priest would not have a throne a king would not have a temple but he is a priest upon his throat he shall build the temple of the lord the lord jesus christ is the only one that is worthy of being priest great high priest and king himself but at this point we're having a priest we're having a judah royal descent as if it's presenting to us some kind of imperfect condition and yet it's before us so they are literal men they're individuals they're men that have come back from babylon yes right but now zechariah is seeing joshua in a vision so he knows it's joshua but there's something going on here spiritual energies we've entitled this um there's something going on here that indicates that it's not just joshua in view so joshua is representing the priesthood i would say that joshua is representing the priesthood and the nation and the nation because the priesthood represented the nation before god perhaps that that is brought up even clearer in haggai now if you just briefly quickly turn to haggai chapter 2 and that might become clear in haggai chapter 2 and verse 10 it says in the 4 and 20th day of the ninth month and the second year of darius came or darius as you call it yes yes there is came the word of the lord by haggai the prophet saying thus say the lord of hosts ask now the priest concerning the law saying if one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment and with his skirt do touch bread or pottage or wine or oil or any meat shall it be holy and the priest answered and said no then said haggai if one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these shall it be unclean and the priest answered and said it shall be unclean then answered haggai and said so is this people and so is this nation right before me so the defilement of the people defiles the priest right the defilement of the priest defiles the people and that is why in the day of atonement for the cleansing and forgiveness of the nation the blood is applied in the sanctuary on the altar because the sins and the uncleanness of the people defile the sanctuary of god that's a very practical solemn thing you know dear saints of god that's not not only old testament that's that's us as well we have to be very conscious it's not just when we come into the presence of the lord if there is defilement and sin in a life i always say i'm outside i'm not in the meeting what i do in my life that's my business but bear in mind when we defile outside we defile the assembly of god's people as well so for 70 years the nation has been moving and dwelling amongst the heathen yes and there's the influence of that that is rubbed off on them doubtless even the sin offering if i'm if one hears the voice of swearing they're deemed to be defiled right so then there's a need for cleansing and that's coming in now and on that line brother william i i take it as this is not this a brand pluck out of the fire i think there's sense of that what's the fire i think the fire is babylon that's right and they're just plucked out you know a brand pluck out of the fire so so they they they they were deserving of judgment and babylon was judgment for them but now they're just a brand a fire brand plucked out of the fire seems to perhaps to answer to an even longer problem with the nation uh after they were established in the land um they were under the rule of priests weren't they yes the priests were the ruling caste uh we know what the priesthood came to in the days of eli the monarchy was introduced they had some 490 years under priestly rule they failed they had 490 years under monarchy and they failed then when daniel's in babylon he gets this vision this revelation of another 490 years 70 weeks so-called uh the final week of years still to be fulfilled and that now involves a man who's both a king and a priest so it seems to extend right back over the history of the nation that they have been lawless they've been rebellious they've failed under priestly rule they've failed under kingly rule but there's a day coming when a man who's both a king and a priest they will submit to him very good so so our brother phil is gradually moving us down we want to speak more about that when we come when we come to the the second half of chapter three now could could we just move down to say verse number four and he answered and speak unto those that stood before him saying take away the filthy garments from him i take it brethren uh not to be overly dogmatic those that stood before him i take it those to be the angels and i don't know what you think but there are the angelic beings we've seen perhaps here in in the in a spiritual realm and there's satan and there's an angel of the lord and there's instruction to take away the filthy garments now notice this expression high priest standing before the angel of the lord verse one as well satan standing at his right hand verse number three joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel verse four verse three verse four and he answered and speak unto those that stood before him the angel of the lord saying take away the filthy garments from him and then at the end of verse number five and the angel of the lord stood by so they're standing by as a key phrase here and it has to do with something judicial i think perhaps a court scene yes and here is joshua convicted the verdict is is guilty it's clothed with filthy garments but here is the angel of the lord he says remove take away the filthy garments from him this word filthy is it's quite a strong word yes really it's just excrement yeah excrement you know he's just filled with excrement with them stinks yeah and and and and that's the position uh that is view but unto him he said behold i have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee and i will clothe thee with change of raiment so in that vision god gives him new change a change of women a new status a regenerated position before god that is a sense of it so like the prodigal he had his clothes changed yeah he was given a new position in restoration that's right maybe just a practical aspect if we can um our brother gideon has pointed out the fact that if there is sin in our life we are supposed to be aware of that and confess that so that we don't bring it into the assembly but there is also the aspect i think sometimes believers struggle with the fact that they have confessed sin but then the accuser of the brethren is there and he keeps bringing it before and we see here with satan when he brings it before the lord it has no power before the lord because the lord is the one that has cleansed and he understands where he's at right and so before god he isn't able to he isn't able to accuse us before god because god understands our standing but what he can do is accuse us individually and maybe accuse us one to another there's that aspect too that we have to be aware of understanding our position in christ that we are clothed in his righteousness and enjoying that truth as well can be important i think for us as believers so just an aspect in that regard just practically i trust our brethren the cities of god realize what our brother is saying really in this whole thing we could view in two aspects we have such a thing called positional righteousness we'll never lose the salvation but there is also the aspect of practical righteousness and and perhaps the parallel of what our brother had just said would be would be in first john if we sin if any man sin we have an advocate jesus christ the righteous and his blood cleanses us from everything so so we we do have one that is in heaven joshua here has the angel of the lord we have christ our great high priest same person but that's the new testament aspect of the same truth and there's a very practical outworking of that in our lives paul will develop that i'm thinking of ephesians 4 that you put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man now we are already a new creation but we are to act like it right take on that behavior put on the new man which after god has created in righteousness and true holiness so so joshua now not only has a change of raymond and to add to what our brother has said i don't i sometimes we don't realize how holy we are before the lord position yeah positionally mm-hmm lives might not reflect that but look at what is the next thing so and and and zachariah comes in and he says and i said let them set a fair mitre upon his head so they set a fair mitre upon his head and clothe him with garments and so not only did he have a change of raiment he had a mitre upon his head and if we understand that the high priest he has a mitre and what is it right on that mitre holiness and holiness unto the lord crown holiness unto the lord yes yeah so so this man not only has a change of raiment he has a mitre account and writes holiness unto the lord now i often wonder dear brethren when aaron or any of these high priests when they wear a mitre holiness unto the lord can they see it can't see it you know i don't know whether you played that game before uh right word and then paste it on your head and we try to guess what's on each of our heads and you can't see what's on your head but aaron when he constantly goes into the presence of god or joshua holiness unto the lord he can't see that word there who was it for who was it for who was looking at that who was it it was for the lord and the lord looks at that man holiness under the law it was for the people of god as well holiness unto the lord but aaron or this high priest they were to be conscious that they were holy and this man holiness under the lord not only a change of raiment but a status of holiness before god it seems a slight surprise to me brother gideon that it's zachariah who says that's right put the turban on his head yeah why do you think that might be because the lord is speaking at the time isn't he wasn't it all and then he almost seems to interrupt he was it was a bull bull thing to say it was like as if all right lord you put the raiment all right put the mitre upon i think this was a man in line in tune with the mind of god i think so because really the setting of that mitre is the man now with full authority to act in the office of high priest isn't it it's as though zachariah saying this is thrilling this is wonderful do it now yeah do it now he knew his scriptures he did he knew exactly what was the next thing to do and that's that's the important thing just to know what the word of god is and just know what the next thing to do if we don't know the word of god we would know the next thing to do but i think zachariah with a change of raiment on the high priest he looks at the man he says something is missing yeah put the mitre upon his head holiness unto the lord and he acted in line with the mind of god that expressed jehovah's claim upon him right that's right to serve him that's right and to move in holy courts ultimately when israel will be restored you do have revelation chapter 7 those tribulation saints they have the seal of the living god on their foreheads god's claim upon them and god will take up israel again in the future so it says and the angel of the lord stood by and the angel of the lord testified unto joshua saying so now he has a status before the lord holy righteous but now this is what's what what what what what is next is the the demands thus say the lord of hosts if thou will walk in my ways and if thou will keep my charge thou shall also judge my house and shall also keep my courts and i will give thee places to walk among these dead stand by now it's a little bit difficult i don't know what a brilliant thing but here is god saying giving him the privilege and the authority if he was faithful that we understand he will be in charge of his house his priestly privilege and service will continue but what is a little bit difficult i will give the places to walk among these that stand by now i i'll just stick out my neck i take it that those that stand by are the angelic being yes yes so here what it is is it's uh it's perhaps not so clear but it's an indication of joshua's future resurrection rain if he if he serves well it's faithful there is going to be a wider bigger position and a place for him and he will walk among these the angelic beings that stand by present day faithfulness yes will not only result in greater responsibility on earth but will result also in greater responsibilities and the future glory great are we okay with that yeah i i would concur with that indeed my brother and i would take it that in principle we've got a lesson now it's not specific we know the church wasn't the subject of prophecy but i'm thinking of the tremendous statement of paul in ephesians chapter 3 to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers the angelic realm might be made known by means of the church the manifold wisdom of god and we today even as we sit here now we know that the covered head of the woman and the uncovered head of the man is because of the angels even as we sit here now observing godly order we are instructing and witnessing to this vast angelic throng who are involved here and one day dear saints we're going to judge them that in the sense of administer them paul says to the corinthians first corinthians 6 no you're not that the saints are going to administer the world you not know that you're going to judge angels and we're going to administer the angelic realm these angels included and we have to show that we are morally fit to do so by observing divine order down here so they're watching us and they're learning by means of the church we're living object lesson something of the manifold wisdom of god in reaching out in mercy and grace to fallen sinners what a wonderful truth it is isn't it very good so in this angelic realm he touches on the fact the lord rebukes satan the lord then the lord removes sin yes in relation to to joshua here then the lord requires service yep walk in my ways keep my charge judge my house keep my court and then the lord will reward faithfulness and that they'll be given a place yes to stand amongst those very good good now the next section in verse number eight going down now a different audience now it says here now oh joshua the high priest thou and thy fellows that sit before thee now there were those that stand by they were the angelic being i suspect now in the vision as well there are those that sit before before thee and it says thy fellows your friend your colleagues your associate so these are men that are of same rank as joshua as mortal beings and this would either be the levites or the fellow priests of joshua and then the lord says for they are men of sign or men wandered at so he's looking at joshua and his company of fellow levites and priests and he says that these are men wandered at or men of the sign then he says behold for behold i will bring forth my servant the brunch no doubt at all this is messianic this is referring to the lord jesus christ amen he has the title of the brunch i before we we work out some of these tricky parts i i hope you could trace the title of the lord as the brunch in the old testament and i'll briefly briefly give it to you you can work it out on your own uh we have we have uh in isaiah chapter four yes right four verse two the brunch of the lord he's the brunch of the lord we have in jeremiah 23 verse 5 and 33 verse 15 as well he is the brunch of righteousness from the line of david king the king and then we have here in zechariah chapter 6 verse 12 we won't touch on it but we'll refer to it he is the man the brunch and here specifically in a passage he is the servant the brunch my servant the brunch is it not beautiful they were looking at the four gospels in relation to the brunch title of the lord he is the brunch of the lord that's john's gospel he is the brunch of righteousness from david that's matthew's gospel he is my servant the brunch that's mark's gospel and we have he is the man the brunch that's luke's gospel it could be quite a simplistic way of looking at it but you know those are the things that older men have helped us remember so that we could just position these titles of the old testament of the samak or the brunch it's it's an agricultural term but it speaks of a sprouting it speaks of one that is coming and it speaks of one that will be fruitful for god now here my servant the brunch our brethren help us a bit of man of sign and how is it related to behold i will bring forth my servant the brunch any thoughts on this well these men would be as you say a sign they're signifying something they're a sample if you will of what god is going to do in the future in the restoration of the nation as cleansed before him and it will come through the instrumentation of the servant the branch all right good i was wondering as well brother william is there an aspect of here my servant the brunch in terms of its his priestly connection so there's a man wondered at the priests before them so here in the background of priesthood and joshua and he's trying to give us a hint that the servant the brunch there will be priestly character in him and of course when you come to the new testament he's a great high priest so so so he these men are assigned a sign of what a sign of the fact that the brunch will come with priestly privileges and credibility so my servant the brunch so he's the servant priest the brunch when you come to chapter six the man the brunch he is the man king and priest the brunch because there he will be the priest upon his throne and so he's the man the brunch he's a man the priest the king and here he is the priest the brunch so i was just wondering whether that's that's the sign behind it of the future priestly character of the lord jesus before is there room do you think brother gideon to see possibly also the idea of the apostles there all right because what's on my mind you know matthew 19 peter comes to the lord on behalf of the group what's in it for us you know we've left everything to follow you yes and the lord says in the regeneration the 12 apostles will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of israel so he has his fellows there's the thought that the rule that the lord jesus in his king priestly rule he's unique but he's not isolated he's got others who are working with him and for him uh ultimately in the heavenly jerusalem 12 gates above each one the name of a tribe a throne with each of the apostles there so these perhaps in that sense of the rule as the servant of jehovah his fellows who are assisting in millennial rule i could like so so you take it the fellows would more be the fellows of the men well joshua of course here is a picture of the brunch of course yeah so i could see what you what you mean why a branch particularly well tell me what you think sure okay no um i'm going back really to again the book of isaiah as i think zachariah is and isaiah pictures the nation as a proud tree doesn't he yeah in chapter six the tree is brought down i'm going to fell you god says and he brings down the tree the proud nation but he doesn't dig up the stump yes he leaves the root isaiah 11 i know it's a slightly different word the hebrew word netzer is used there but nevertheless out of the stump a branch comes he shall grow up before him as a tender plant as a root out of a dry ground there is a thought that out of the stump of the nation that has been felled in divine judgment there is one who will come who will be the recovery of it i'm happy with that so he's a branch coming out of the root the stump of the nation so that is very much it's very much a of isaiah 11 the stem of the root of jesse so so israel as a nation it's just like a dying tree yeah so is that 53 a root of a dry ground he's just unique and and he's just set apart so out of the midst of deadness comes life yes and so he's a branch that sprouts out and he will bring hope to the nature of his so christ is the fruitful bow of the nation and we're about to see that christ is the foundational base yes all right of the nation so thank you that brings us to the next one next verse for behold the stone now we have the move we have the thought of the stone and there is a stone i've laid before joshua upon one stone seven eyes behold i will engrave the graving thereof seeth the lord of hosts now significantly it says and i will remove the iniquity of the land in one day i have no doubt at all that took place at calvary when christ died and you know uh iniquity was removed uh in one day but israel will know the fullness of this and my brother will bring us there to chapter 12 and then we realize the fullness of what it means i will remove the iniquity of the land in one day and it cannot be outside of the death of christ no it must be on the basis of the redemptive work of christ now he is the stone as well and you can find the thought of the messianic subject of the stone we we find that in isaiah 28 he is a selected stone a precious stone a foundation stone he is the chosen one a selected stone and some 118 unfortunately he is the rejected stone he's a sight line stone and then when we come to uh isaiah chapter 8 he's the stumbling stone and of course here in zechariah chapter 3 verse 9 he's the seeing stone seven it tells us of the omniscience of divine persons here christ not literally seven eyes and the grotesque sense i think maybe some are thinking about that but i think it's a symbolical way of describing his omniscience and there is nothing that is kept from his eyes and that will come up in chapter four later right of the those seven they are the eyes of the lord which run to and throw through the whole earth there is nothing hidden from him but here it is in relation to the foundation stone so the foundation stone that they laid for the rebuilding temple that was a type of picture of christ the foundation stone yes now we have to move on and there is the future promise of peace and of abundance in verse number 10 under the vine under the fig tree and when christ comes for them that is what will be brought in and ushered in for the nation so we come to chapter four excuse me just before we do that brother i know you're fighting for time but the last verse here we've got this expression in that day yeah all right we're going to come across it we're going to come across it uh several more times in the course of the readings would you just say something about that please whenever you find this expression in that day and it will increase in frequency frequency as you move down the chapters especially coming to those last few chapters and that frequency shoots up in chapter 14 in that day and whenever you find expression like that it's most of the time i would say nearly always an eschatological view of the future that is to come right so either it's in the tribulation either it's in the millennial reign of christ and you're in that day every man shall he called every man his neighbor under the vine and under the victory here is the picture of abundance and rest and peace and fruitfulness and that will come not just figuratively but literally and completely for israel in the days of the reign of christ once the iniquity has been removed that's right yes yes yes so the one day iniquity removed end of verse nine in one day i take it that's fulfilled the fulfillment of the day of atonement which came in between trumpets regathering of israel and tabernacle yes yes dwelling before the lord rejoicing in the millennium yes so there's the day of atonement israel's conversion if you will in that day saith the lord i take it that's extending on into the millennium so it was initialized by the one day verse nine yep but then in that day it's the millennial day changes the character of it all very good that's very good so so what brother william is is telling us this expression in that day the word day might be singular but oftentimes it does not necessarily signal one single day it could be a characteristic or characterizing a period that is in view so in that day and we're talking about that day coming in of the millennial and the whole period of the millennial reign of christ and this will be true of that time now chapter four and uh quite i would say quite a difficult chapter but our brethren will help us we have the here the vision and and and this is the one with uh uh vision number five and it has to do with the lampstand and this strange looking lampstand i don't know i i don't know what our brethren my brethren think but there are many versions of the lamps and just go internet and check this five six ten different ways of drawing this out i i take it very simply uh dear brethren that there is a bowl and whether you think the bowl is part of the lampstand or not that's the thing i take it that perhaps the bowl is kind of separate separated from the lampstand which are seven lamps and there are two uh uh branches and two pipes from two big olive trees that are filling all into this big bowl and this bowl has seven pipes to the seven lamp yeah and and and that's how i i see it some of course think that that big bowl is part of the center brunch of the seven brunch lampstand but i take it that because it is filling uh into seven lamps so it would seem that the bowl is separate from the seven lamps so the seven lamps might look like the the usual lampstand of the sanctuary but the the uniqueness of this is there is a bowl on top and there's oil filling in and there are pipes filling into the seven lamps the brochure doesn't show the seven pipes but they're there oh yeah yeah so so the bush is wrong it's an inexhaustible supply isn't it that's that's it you know that that this is oil is one of the most consistent symbols in scripture of the spirit of god and where before in the sanctuary the lampstand was dependent different of course from a candlestick most of the mature believers will know that some might not the distinction is a candlestick simply holds a candle whereas a lampstand burns oil and uh the priests had to replenish the oil it was part of their ministry in the sanctuary but now we've got the thought of testimony for god yes and light being shed abroad and there's this inexhaustible supply that the olive oil is coming straight from the tree into a big cistern call it what you will and it is being fed through pipes to keep an inexhaustible supply going to the lampstand very good thank you so we will we will find in this chapter this whole vision of this lampstand that is filled by the two olive trees with oil through the bowl and as a brother phil that reminded us that's a symbol a picture of the testimony of the nation however later on the the questions and the answer the conversation between zachariah and angel we'll find that it has to do with the building of the temple as well and if we put it together i suggest what it means is this yes that this lampstand is really a picture of israel and the temple without the temple there is no testimony right and that is why the building rebuilding of the temple was crucial and of great necessity because the building of the temple was a testimony to the nation that it was the light of the world we find that isaiah 60 and we'll find that the dwelling place of god was the most important piece of the nation's history the moment the day when king nebuchadnezzar came and destroyed the temple that signaled the ultimate end he could come and level other things but the the temple was level that signaled the final end of the nation of israel or judah at that point of time so you could understand that when they came back the first thing they wanted to build was not the walls was not the houses even though they tried to build out their own houses it was not the military not weaponry but the first thing they had to do despite not having instruments and weapons to defend themselves it says that when they erected the altar they were afraid of the nations around but that was the first thing they had to do the altar and the temple and so it was the most important part of nation building for them and therefore here the testimony of the nation was of great tantamount importance so the the golden lamp stand um spoke of christ right um a testimony to to god and the lord jesus is the brightness of his glory yes right so the nation in that coming day under the rule of messiah will bear the light of testimony will be a blessing to others um but i was going to ask you about the the numbers two that occur you've two olive trees you have two olive branches you have two golden pipes two times grace grace grace and two anointed ones yes so is is that just for emphasis two is the number of witness i i would think so two is the number of testimony as you do right is that the thought here i i think so so testimony is going to be carried on for god and the light of testimony is going to be born and shine brightly it's by the spirit yes it's by his grace that's right so so the the greatest testimony to a local assembly and the house of god is the evidence that god is there that's right the lord is there that's right not the activity not even the numbers good even numbers but the greatest proof and blessing of testimony is the evidence when people come in when visitors visitors come in we believe it's coming and they are convinced that this is the place where the lord is yes and that is the ultimate expression of testimony jehovah shama yeah that's right it's an interesting point that when the lampstand was first put into the tabernacle the scripture says or moses was instructed that the lampstand its purpose was to throw light over against itself that's right it's a bit unusual isn't it you know normally you'd have a the the purpose of the lampstand was not to illuminate the sanctuary the purpose of the lampstand was to cast light over against itself the person of christ presented in all the power of the spirit of god and so again christ is at the forefront of these things that and of course the application is very clear there in local assembly witness as well that a testimony for christ in the power of the holy spirit very good gideon just to go back a second when the temple was destroyed and we talk about israel being carried away but on a greater spiritual level the dwelling house of god was gone right as far as the world was concerned nebuchadnezzar this god of israel is done that's right there's no testimony there's no testimony for god and so this rebuilding of the temple is of monumental importance yeah and therefore it's linked with the lampstand at this point so now we come to this uh of course in verse number five uh the question is us what what what what is or verse number four what are these my lord and of course the angel that talked with me says knowest thou not what these be and he said no my lord and verse 6 the answer comes this is the word of the lord unto zerubbabel saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit the explanation of the vision only comes at the end yes so the answer is not yet given but the most important part of the answer is given which is this that this represents this is a symbol of of what of this very truth not by my nor by power but by my spirit it is the spirit of god that is the most important element and the testimony and the rebuilding of the house of god yeah interesting that when uh zacharias says what are these and the angel almost looks at him to himself he says don't you know this do you not know this and the sad thing is zachariah had never seen it exactly in his short lifetimes a young man he'd never seen the nation as a testimony for god and and maybe though it would sadden us to say it maybe there's a growing generation and they haven't seen enough of that amongst god's people today they've seen a kind of a formalism they've seen rules and regulations and we have we older ones must challenge ourselves as to whether we have and are rightly putting christ at the forefront of everything and presenting christ to these younger believers to bring them on it's a sad thing when they can get older and they may ask questions you say do you not know that no i don't know it for i've never seen it i've never witnessed it we should feel the challenge of that very good now the next thing that the angel said who are thou oh great mountain before the ruble thou shall become a plane wow so ruble says i'm a small i'm a small fry i how am i gonna face all these enemies and build this great temple and now bear in mind that the rebuilding work has already started so this reflect for us the psyche the psychology the emotions of these people and the thinking the mind the thinking the thinking the thoughts of these men even though while the rebuilding commenced and the work was progressing you know they must have felt the obscurity the insecurity the smallness the weakness and the dangerous and the threats that were always around and here is the encouragement of god to this man he says before the ruble thou shall become a plane or great mountain there is nothing that is impossible for you as a ruble as long as you have the presence and the power and the help of god and he says and he shall bring forth the mountains will be level that's a bit of a rhetorical picture nothing is too great for god and he says he shall bring forth the headstone with shoutings crying grace grace unto it i i take it reverend that this is the capstone the headstone that is at the top something that this is the headstone that is same as the foundation stone i i understand the line of thinking that but i i prefer to think that there was a foundation stone that's chapter three that's a start but this is the final piece the headstone that's it so so what god is saying is this you might have laid the foundation and i know the word the work stopped for a little while but i will ensure that the work will reach till the very final bit and even the final stone will go to the top and then the work will finish and i will and and by the time when it's done you remember in as much of the three when they laid the foundation there was shoutings and rejoicing but he says the moment the headstone goes to the top of the building there will be shouting and rejoicing and this time it will be grace grace yes unto it it will be only by the grace of god by the favor of god that all these things will be accomplished so so is this the grace grace is this spoken to the mountain or to the capstone i think to the capstone or to both in other words the obstacles will be overcome by grace yes and the capstone will be laid by grace i have no problem with that all right i i if you want to um if you want a typical teaching of this thing i i think the foundation stone is christ and the headstone is sure sure sure in terms of type of picture he is the beginning he's the ending in that sense and is it not true that all that is of christ for us is on the grounds and basis of grace i think we can apply that in our current situation now verse number nine the hands of zarubabal have laid the foundation and this is the proof of what we just said hands of zarubabal have laid the foundation of this house his hands also shall also finish it and when that is done thou singular shall know that the lord of hosts had sent me unto you plural yes so not only just zarubabal but the whole nation they will know that when the temple is finished and completed that the lord has sent me unto you and that is what the lord of us said now just to add and to add to to to this expression we we find that in chapter two didn't we chapter two and verse number nine and you shall know that the lord of hosts had sent me and then in chapter chapter two verse 11 in the middle at the end and thou shall know that the lord of hosts had sent me unto thee and now again here in chapter four and thou shall know that the lord of hosts has sent me unto you now just just give me a little bit of time i don't want to transgress on what our brother phil had already covered but i think for the lack of time you see in chapter two it says there in verse number eight for thus saith the lord of hosts now he says apple of his eye and all that and verse nine and you shall know that the lord of hosts had sent me the lord of hosts said that the lord of hosts had sent me does it even make sense the lord of hosts said the lord of hosts had sent me who says there is no plurality of persons in the godhead in the old testament exactly thank god for old testament scriptures people say you can't see the trinity in the bible in the old testament only in the new testament here and the jews are probably scratching their heads and wondering what is this the lord of hosts said the lord of hosts has sent me and now we have no doubt that all this sent me is referring to christ yes so likewise here and thou shall know that the lord of course had sent me unto you the pre-incarnate christ is personally involved also at the time in helping and empowering the work of the temple now verse 10 as we move on for who had despised the day of small things for they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of zerubbabel with those seven they are the eyes of the lord which run to and through through the whole earth who had despised the day of small things that was what happened in ezra chapter 3 there were those who had witnessed the older generation witnessed the grandeur and glory of the temple of solomon that's gone now and when they laid the foundation of this rebuilt temple it was inferior in the eyes compared to that of solomon's temple those that came out from babylon and were born in babylon and they came back and they were rejoicing and they were happy to come back to their home and to see the temple rebuilt but those that have seen the former glory they wept so that ezra tells us that you can't they couldn't tell the voice of weeping and the voice of rejoicing there was sadness and joy mixed together i don't know whether you should take that passage as positive or negative or neutral and that's the the whole thing the problem so there is a thinking in that day oh this temple so inferior so small and nothing compared to the whole temple of solomon when we go to hear guy no time and we compare to this god is really going to tell them and teach them and say don't you despise this small temple because though it's smaller in foundation this is part of god's redemptive history it's a stepping stone to something greater to come in other words if i could put it a bit simpler if you don't build this temple here we'll never reach the end this has to be done now it's inevitable it has to be done now you say that this is a small temple the days will come when this same foundation that though will be enlarged and expanded by herod the great will be frequented and visited by christ himself lord jesus himself how can it be small thing despise not the day of small thing isn't there a principle here in terms of in the times of the gentiles testimony for god really by definition is small in character so the day of small things throughout the period of the times of the gen we're still in it but listen we read on for they shall rejoice and see the plummet in the hand of the rubberball an instrument for building the work of god is going on even in this day of small things caused for rejoicing yeah it's nice to see that when it comes to the extent and the layout of the thing the measuring line was in the hand of the surveyor the angel of the lord when it comes to the straightness of what's built upon it the responsibility sits with rubble so you have your tape measure for laying the thing out you have your plummet your plum line to see that the thing is straight and and it's that's the responsibility that fell upon this man within the confines of what god had designed to see that you're building it straight and we can talk about the day of small things today and and you know we can fall into the trap we think well conferences might have been bigger and the preachers were great and they were characters and there's nothing like them today and and we talk ourselves down and we must recognize god raises up men and he raises them up to serve their generation and when that's done they fall on sleep and and let's enjoy before god what he's given us to do today and uh you can look through rose tinted specks it wasn't all wonderful in the past but let's work with our might for what god has given us to do today as far as the assembly in the times of the gentiles there's no temple for god the house of god is in the assembly yeah and this is a day of small things it is not the local assembly is a tremendous place there's never two places that god dwells on earth at the same time now the temple and the assembly weren't they would never overlap and the church is gone the temple comes in they never overlap god has one house and in the day and age in which we live it is the house of god not a small thing yeah very good on that point our brothers just mentioned can i encourage you dear brethren especially younger men and women what do you say in the days of the old testament when they had the shekinah glory when they had the pillar of fire pillar of cloud and when they saw manna come down from heaven when they saw the red sea parted when they saw jordan parted those were great days you say well those were miraculous days look at those days when they spoke in tongues and there were prophetic gifts and the dead were raised and all that you said those were great days nothing today nothing today all we have is just men with ties and suits and they're just sitting down here doing bible readings and even the lights don't look like the glory of god what do we have today can i impress upon you that we're more privileged than those men in those days you know why yeah you know why yeah because the local assembly the house of god though it's not the temple of the old i was just speaking there and and a brother in chicago the local assembly there is no place on earth nearer to heaven than the local church there might be great men in great places and social gatherings and government gatherings and all that but whenever the sins of god are gathered unto his name when they're there that's the closest place to heaven on earth they say well we don't have miracles and they had the the the god with the shekinah glory we are more privileged than them you know why because we are nearer to god than ever can be how can that be well because we have the holy spirit indwelling in us they didn't have that they kept the distance from god and god from them but god is nearer to us than ever we have the indwelling holy spirit we are more privileged and we have the whole bible in our hands they only had some scriptures and the new testament says they only had old testament scriptures we have 66 books we live in more privilege and greater times than those they might have seen all those great things but we have greater things today so don't you despise the day of small things can i ask a question brother please all right go ahead what are these two olives all right i was trying to finish without doing that you see you saw the trick i was going so so so i was hoping that i'll just tell you what i i think and and that will fill up the last two or three minutes many will say that they are zerubbabel and joshua yeah in the first instance i i think brethren i would prefer that they are haggai and zechariah just in context of what ezra tells us that through the encouragement of haggai and zechariah the work continued why do i say that because they are the two powerhouse pouring oil that started the work going and that big bowl if you want me to say what it is i think that's zerubbabel and through him he led the people of god and the oil flowed down to the lamb stands and the work got going and the temple was built so i i take it that the two olive trees are the two prophetic men that were instrumental and vital in bringing the word of god and divine revelation that is pictured and the oil pouring into the big bowl and the big bowl received that oil and that likely was a rubble and maybe joshua as well and the work of god continued as the oil flowed down to the seventh branch of the lamb stand which is the temple and the testimony of israel now tell me what do you think brother no i i'm i must admit i'm not settled in my own mind brother very ready to be taught on it because they're not identified for us these two you know there must have been something within zachariah's view could it have been the priestly office and the kingly office perhaps you know there's there's great thoughts in a lot of these things but we cannot be dogmatic as to whether it is zerubbabel and joshua whether it is zachariah and haggai and so on they are the two anointed ones there is anointed so it's anointed office last point so it's anointed prophets or priests or kings two is the number of witness yes and the lord jesus is the faithful and true witness witness very good and of course you have the parallel in revelation 11 of the two witnesses as well and i'll just only say it's parallel not fulfillment yes we're happy with that yeah and and that if it is the prophet and the priest then coming into the one tank they're working together yes you know the the combined ministry of these is the means by which the spirit of god enables his people to build okay very good thank you very much dear brethren for all your help and assistance okay these difficult chapters