CHRIST AS PRIEST ON HIS THRONE
[p. 55] CHRIST AS PRIEST ON HIS THRONE
Zechariah 3 and 4
My thought is to seek to show the connection between Jerusalem and the priesthood. Of old you will remember it was indicated in the typical books that the system introduced by Moses was made to depend for its continuance upon the priest; that is to say, the order of God in the created universe is made to depend upon the priest. You will remember the principle enunciated in chapter 1 of the epistle to the Hebrews that God made everything by the Son; everything was called into being and set in its order by the Son. Then following upon that we have the principle that He upholds what He created. Wonderful thought! As we look abroad on the vast expanse of the heavens and take account of the earth and its surrounding planets, let us remember that all that is upheld by the Son, “upholding all things by the word of his power”.
It is a principle you find in Scripture, that what the Lord establishes in the way of authority on the part of God He sustains and perpetuates. Moses on the mount with Jehovah received all instructions as to the tabernacle. Everything had to be made according to his direction. There was no communication to Aaron in regard of the tabernacle, but the upholding of the system was made to depend upon the priest. Therefore what we learn is, that the spiritual order of things which God has in His mind is established in the revelation of God; it is inaugurated by Christ coming out from God. The tabernacle has been pitched. We are told that Christ came by a greater and more perfect tabernacle.
Christ has pitched it, but what He has pitched He sustains, so that it is continuous. He sustains it as a priest.
Now when you come to Jerusalem you have another [p. 56] line of thought. Jerusalem refers to government. There are many thoughts connected with Jerusalem that one could dwell upon, but the leading thought is that it is the centre of government upon earth. Satan understands that. You often hear predictions in regard of certain happenings in the East, but they must all of necessity be wide of the mark. You shall have no prophetic happenings until God returns to Jerusalem, and whilst the saints are here who will form the heavenly city, you shall have no return to Jerusalem. Satan is not occupied with Jerusalem now; he is occupied with Jerusalem above, the heavenly city, and he would accuse those who form it. The hour is coming when he shall be occupied with Jerusalem on earth; that is, when God returns to it. You will not find Satan making a move until God makes a move; in other words, he always seeks to thwart the divine movements and the divine activities. Well now, what God has in His mind is that Jerusalem is not only to be influenced by a king, it is to be influenced by a priest.
In turning to Zechariah one feels particularly encouraged because his ministry had to do with the returned remnant; not with Jerusalem in its pristine days under David and Solomon, but with Jerusalem as rebuilt by the returned captives of Babylon. You will all remember that in association with Haggai, Zechariah stirred up Joshua and Zerubbabel, and the others who laboured at the city and the temple. He was a prophet raised up to stir up the energies of the people, therefore you can rightly draw a parallel with our own times. There was no king raised up after the captivity; kings came in, I admit, but not divinely appointed; but there was a priest. My object in referring to it in this way, is to point out that what we require, beloved brethren, is the priest. I quite admit that we must submit to the authority of the Lord, that is of all moment. I [p. 57] have not a doubt but that this has been raised amongst us and for a purpose. The Lord must rule, His will must prevail, but remember that the Ono whose will prevails and must prevail, is also priest. He sits upon His throne to rule, but if He does so He is a priest there. In other words, He supports us to do His will and to keep His commandments; such is the Lord, such is He with whom we have to do.
Now you will see in chapter 3, that the situation there is Jerusalem; there is Joshua, the high priest, he is the great object of attention; there is Satan, there is the Lord, and the angel of the Lord. How many far-reaching thoughts enter into all that. I do not propose to dwell upon the chapter save to point out the exact situation, and I am not speaking of it in the way of prophetic teaching as regards what is future, but as regards what is present. If anything has happened to us spiritually, we have been recovered from Babylon. What are we recovered to? We are recovered to first principles, and the first principle connected with Jerusalem is that it was God’s sovereign choice. He chose mount Zion, which He loved. He desired to dwell there, hence He selected it as a matter of sovereign choice. There is no principle more important to submit to than that. Our blessing is bound up with the recognition of it. Why have I been recovered, enlightened and blessed? It is a question of the sovereign rights of God; He delighted in it, and I submit, and my happiness is bound up in the submission. The next thing is, that that which God has desired and selected is to be the sphere and centre of rule and light on the earth, and Jerusalem was that; indeed it is intimately bound up with David. You will all remember that David took the head of Goliath to Jerusalem. It was the token of his triumph, when he led captivity captive. God has taken us up sovereignly, He has [p. 58] placed His light amongst us, and He has placed in the assembly a testimony to the exceeding greatness of His power, that is in the resurrection of Christ. That is what Jerusalem stands for; and Joshua is there. One might dwell with the greatest delight on the subject of Joshua; passing over certain features which have reference to him as a sinner, and speak of him as a type of Christ.
Now Satan is against Jerusalem and the priesthood.
That is the situation, and what we find is this, that the Lord is against Satan, and, Satan is outmatched: I want you to take that in. You remember Joshua at Jericho; he assumed that he had to overthrow and dislodge the Canaanitish nations, but there was a Man with a drawn sword in his hand standing before him, and Joshua said to him, “Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” The man with a drawn sword answered, “Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come”. He was against the Canaanitish nations, and they were outmatched, and it was for Joshua to recognise that, and he did. It was, as it were, the Lord saying to him, ‘It is a question of you being with me, for I am against them’. So here, the Lord is against Satan, and he is therefore outmatched. The battle is won at the outset; if the Lord is against the adversary it is victory, it cannot be otherwise. “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee”. What rest of heart that would impart to Joshua, and what rest of heart it should impart to us! The conflict is the Lord’s; His testimony was bound up with Jerusalem, and He is bound to defend it. Satan is silenced. Then we get the clothing of the high priest. He is mitred and robed. Satan has no more to say, for the Lord has rebuked him, and that is what we should look for. Opposition there will be, but let us remember that the Lord rebukes the adversary, and if the adversary is [p. 59] silent, we shall have the priest. Joshua is now set up in dignity in Jerusalem. Now what an influence you have! God intends it to extend from Jerusalem. He intends that there should be light and rule amongst His people, and so the centre whence it issues is under the direct influence of the Priest.
Now I turn to Zechariah 6. You will see there that there are two distinct classes of agencies used in the government of God; there are four chariots issuing from between two mountains of brass and drawn by certain coloured horses. It is well to remember how extensive God’s rule is and how varied the instruments of it are. There are two mountains of brass. I do not suppose that there is a right minded Christian here, or anywhere, who is not affected by the conditions which prevail in the world. We cannot be with God without feeling them. We, forget too much the divine sensibilities as to what prevails in the world; the world is lawless in every possible way. Well now, in this chapter, we have what may be called the indirect instruments of His government and the direct instruments of His government. We should pray for both. One knows it in one’s self and one notices it in others, how little we enter into the divine mind as to the conditions in the world, and yet we are enjoined to pray for the powers that be. They are the indirect instruments of the divine government upon earth, and we should be thankful for them.
We read that the chariots issue forth from between two mountains of brass, and I have not a doubt that they allude to the four great empires that God was pleased to use for maintaining the order of the world; but what I would point out is this, that whilst they mitigate to a certain degree the lawlessness in the world, yet their energy is that of horses. If they were simply beasts, they would not be under divine control. In themselves that is what the [p. 60] empires were, wild beasts, utterly conscienceless but a horse is within control. In His indirect govern went God saw to it that these powers were under control and useful, but they are not God’s people God’s people are not horses, they are all priests, and priests are not held in by bit and bridle, they are governed through the mind and heart. The Lord set forth the idea here upon earth and taught it to His disciples. Priests are controlled through their affections, and their influence is through the affections. Horses are not regarded as having affection or sensibilities at all that are in accord with God; they are controlled by external influence. In the Psalms we are exhorted not to be like them; alas we are often like them. If our wills are at work, we become as horses, having to be held in by the bit and bridle. The Psalmist, having been in the sanctuary, says, “I was as a beast before thee”.
In these four chariots and horses we have what we may call the providential instruments of God’s government, and alongside these we have the priest, and that is what I desire, dear brethren, might be clearly before our minds. There are crowns made of gold and of silver, and the crowns were placed upon Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest; that was for a testimony. God was calling attention to the great contrast between the empires that He used in His government upon the earth, and His precious Son as King and Priest, for Joshua was a type of Christ. That is the testimony of the book of Zechariah. Luke specially presents to us that blessed Man; he traces His history back to Adam, but the truth that He is a divine Person is ever asserted. As born unto this world it is said “that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”. His uniqueness is carefully guarded at the outset, but He is a Man, hence He is taken from among men to be a Priest.
[p. 61] Now what is said of Him here in Zechariah 6 is, “he shall grow up out of his place”. That could not be said of any of the great emperors of the world, for they sought their own glory and their own fame; they disregarded God. But look at Christ! He grew up out of His place; there was no effort to alter His circumstances, He was perfect as a Boy, and perfect as a Man in every respect; He was subject to the divine will. Not only did He abide in righteousness, He loved it, and He is the One who is to rule. In fact, one might say He is the divine Emperor. I think you will understand me. You will remember in Revelation 12 it is said, that the Man-child was caught up to God and to God’s throne, and that He was to rule the nations; that is imperialism. The nations are to be ruled by a Man who loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, and in Revelation 19 He comes out of heaven as the Emperor, “King of kings and Lord of lords”. That indicates the mind of God as to the government of the earth, that the nations are to come under His righteous, holy sway.
The scripture goes on to say, “he shall grow up out of his place, and shall build the temple of the Lord: even 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”. That is Christ. What a contrast you have there to the great rulers of the world! There was the entire absence of the divine glory in their rule, but in Christ you have it; He bears the glory. I want to point out that He shall be a Priest upon His throne; and that the counsel of peace shall be between them both. That is to say, rule and priesthood are united in the counsel of peace, and that is what we need, dear brethren, the counsel of peace. There is no surrender of principle; we never should admit the principle of agreement to differ, which is contrary to the divine mind. “The counsel of peace shall be between them both”. There is a righteous ruler, One who grew up out of His place without any will of His own, He was a Branch, He was dependent. He reached the throne, and He rules there, and He bears the glory, and He is there a Priest. There is a righteous rule combined with the sympathy of a Priest, and hence you have the counsel of peace. That is what the Lord’s people require.
Now that is what the Lord Jesus brings in; we recognise His rule and His priesthood, and, as a consequence, we have a counsel of peace. He is there on His throne, and all the weight of the divine glory is supported by Him. He thinks of us, and hence the counsel of peace is there. It is not agreement to differ, it is a counsel of peace based upon a righteous, discriminating rule. The sympathies of the Priest are allied to a righteous rule, and that counsel shall stand. There are counsels that do not stand, but that counsel shall stand; that is the counsel of peace. May the Lord grant it to us!