Daily Thoughts from Zechariah: The Temple, the Priest and the King (Zechariah 6:9-15)

And the word of the LORD came to me: “Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ And the crown shall be in the temple of the LORD as a reminder to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah.

“And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the LORD. And you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.” (Zechariah 6:9-15, ESV)

Much is made in our day of “early adopters,” those who catch a vision for a new technology or new process or new anything and adopt it before others do, only to find that it then captures the hearts of many, many more.  These early adopters spur others to action.  Yahweh is asking these men who have returned to Israel from exile to invest in a crown, a symbolic crown that signifies the financial and people resources that are going to come for the building of the Temple.

The crown is to be set temporarily on the head of Joshua the high priest, who, though a priest and not a king, symbolizes how Yahweh’s king from the line of Judah will be at peace with the priest from the line of Levi.  These are the two clans who have been given leadership responsibilities in Israel and a sort of separation of power has always existed between them, though they are meant to act in harmony.

The “Branch” is the Messiah, predicted by both Isaiah (4:2; 11:1) and Jeremiah (23:5; 33:15), the royal son of David, who will rule on his throne as Yahweh promised.  He is the one who will oversee the building of the Temple.  God’s priest will sit with him in a counsel of peace.  But in the meantime, this crown of silver and gold will remain within the current Temple, a temple that does not come near to matching the magnificence of Solomon’s Temple, to remind these early adopters of what is coming.

Jesus has been building a temple, with his people as the brick and mortar.  It is debated, but I think he will also build a Temple in the Millennium, that thousand year part of his reign described in Revelation 20.  This is the temple described in Ezekiel 40-48.  A temple will be built previously to this one, during the time right before Jesus’ return, the time we sometimes call the Great Tribulation.  Daniel 9 describes this and it will be defiled by the antichrist.  No doubt Jesus’ temple will replace this one.

In the meantime, we are the early adopters who have seen the future and know he is coming to set all things right.  What is our reminder of things to come?  Perhaps it is the people we see coming to Christ by our testimony.  They are becoming part of the present form of the Temple, indwelt by God’s Spirit.  It is their voices combined with ours that are praying, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  It is their voices combined with ours that will one day be lifted in praise as the King comes into his kingdom and we join him as his loving subjects.