ZECHARIAH 6:11-15 Haggai and Zechariah were the two prophets sent by God to get the people back to work on rebuilding the temple. The fist return from Babylonian exile was to rebuild the temple, but the work stopped for 16 years due to opposition of the surrounding Samaritans. This study is about Zechariah 6:11-15. ¹¹ Also take silver and gold, make an ornate crown, and set it on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. ¹² Then say to him, ‘The Lord of armies says this: “Behold, there is a Man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord. ¹³ Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will bear the majesty and sit and rule on His throne. So He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices.”’ ¹⁴ Now the crown will become a reminder in the temple of the Lord to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah. ¹⁵ Those who are far away will come and build the temple of the Lord.” Then you will know that the Lord of armies has sent me to you. And it will take place if you completely obey the Lord your God.”

JESUS, HIGH PRIEST AND KING AT THE SAME TIME AND HE WOULD BUILD HIS CHURCH TEMPLE: This is an amazing Messianic prediction. It starts with God telling Zechariah to put a king’s crown on the high priest Joshua, which would be very unusual since a high priest could not also be a king. Kings came from the tribe of Judah and high priests from the tribe of Levi. But the next verses explain why God told him to do that. It was a symbol of Jesus (called the Branch as in Zechaariah 3:8; Isaiah 4:2;11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15) one day being both king and high priest at the same time. The book of Hebrews shows that Jesus is our high priest after the order of Melchizadek, replacing the high priesthood of Levi. Revelation 19:16: Explicitly states, “On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS”. Revelation 17:14: Mentions that the Lamb (Jesus) will conquer, as He is “Lord of lords and King of kings”. Revelation 11:“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” Zechariah 6:13 adds that the “counsel of peace will be between the two offices”. “The “counsel of peace” refers to the harmonious union of the kingly and priestly offices within one person, the Messianic “Branch” (Jesus Christ). This signifies a divine, eternal plan to reconcile humanity with God, uniting the atonement of the Priest with the ruling power of the King.” (AI) Zechariah adds that the Branch Jesus will “build the temple of the Lord”. This is a prediction of Jesus building His chuch, a spiritual temple. Ephesians 2:¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, ²⁰ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” He did not come to build a physical temple, as discussed in the next paragraph. The church is Jesus’ temple.Zechariah 6:15 also adds that “those who are far away will come and build the temple of the Lord.” That would either be Jews who were scattered over the Roman Empire who would preach the gospel in the book of Acts, thus helping build the church temple that Jesus would build (6:12-13), or maybe even the Gentiles who were far off (Ephessians 2:12ff) who would help build the church temple. I lean toward the first interpretation.

JESUS DID BUILD HIS CHUCH TEMPLE AND ESTABLISH A SPIRITUAL KINGDOM IN THE FIRST CENTURY: Jesus is both our high priest and king at the same time. The Hebrews letter says that Jesus is our high priest in heaven, having entered the Holy of Holies in heaven into the very presence of God to offer his blood for the sins of the world once for all time. No one would dispute that. But did He establish His kingdom already and is He reigning as King over that kingdom already, or is He coming back some day to. set up an earthly kingdom? This is where the nature of Jesus’ kingdom comes in. Jesus taught “the kingdom is at hand” (Mark 1:15). “At hand” means soon, shortly in. the time frame of those Jesus was talking to. Jesus said in Matthew 16:²⁸ “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Jesus is a false prophet if he did not return in His established kingdom while some of those he was talking to were still alive. Paul wrote in Colossians 1:¹³ For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Paul is saying that the Colossian Christians were in Jesus’ kingdom. Jesus told Peter, Matthew 16:¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” This verse shows that the church is the kingdom that Jesus planned to build. When did Peter use those keys to allow saved sinners to enter that church kingdom? When he preached the first “gospel” sermon in Acts 2 and 3,000 were baptized and became Jesus’ first church of the saved. Peter used those keys to the kingdom to open the doors into the kingdom. Jesus said in John 18:³⁶ Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Jesus did not come to establish a physical earthly kingdom. He established a spiritual kingdom, the church. He is not coming back to establish an earthly kingdom some day as most teach.

HEBREWS 8: JESUS CANNOT BE A KING ON EARTH Next I want to go to Hebrews 8 to show that Jesus cannot be a king on earth. Hebrews 8:1 Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, ² a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord set up, not man. ³ For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. ⁴ Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law.” Now remember from Zechariah 6 that Jesus is both high priest and king at the same time. He is high priest in heaven, so he must be king in heaven also. If he were on earth, he could not be high priest (at the time of writing of Hebrews when the high priest was still active in the Holy of Holies) b/c He was not of the tribe of Levi (at the time of writing a high priest on earth would have to be from the tribe of Levi but Jesus was from the tribe of Judah). So, since he must be king and high priest at the same time, and since He can’t be high priest on earth, then He can’t be king on earth of some earthly kingdom. So, those who teach that Jesus will one day come back and establish an earthly kingdom over which He will be king will have a major problem: i.e. if he did that, He could no longer be our high priest. This is one of those syllogistic logic arguments. a) Jesus could not be our high priest on earth (Hebrews 8) b) Jesus is both king and high priest at the same time (Zechariah 6) in heaven c) Therefore, Jesus cannot be both high priest and king on earth.

WHY I THIS SO OFTEN MISUNDERSTOOD? I really don’t know why this concept of Jesus’ kingdom being a spiritual kingdom, not physical, is so misunderstood by Bible teachers who say that Jesus is going to come back some day to set up an earthly kingdom. That false expectation of Jesus returning to set up an earthly kingdom is the basis of many other false teachings. The spiritual kingdom of Jesus was set up during the transition period from the beginning of the church in AD 30 to the confirmation and final consummation of the kingdom in 70 AD after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple.Very similar to our change of government when we elect a new president. There is the election and then a transition period until the inauguration a few months later. That is why you will find passages like Colossians 1:13 where the Christians are “already” in the kingdom, the church, but also passages like Acts 14:22 which talks about the Christians entering the kingdom in their future; so “already, not yet”. Are people just so bent on getting physical blessings that they can’t accept the spiritual blessings?