EASTER 2024
MINOR PROPHETS MAJOR MESSAGE: JESUS THE BRANCH
Zechariah 3:1-10
ILLUSTRATION… 1000 Names Lyrics, genius.com/Phil-wickham-1000-names-lyrics
Phil Wickham is an American contemporary Christian singer, musician, and songwriter from San Diego and has released ten worship albums. His album in 2021 has a song on it called ‘1000 Names’ and I told Kelly one day that I did not like the song for some ridiculous reason and so she makes sure that it plays every time I am in her car. I don’t know if she does it on purpose, but it plays every… single… time… I am in her car. The song has grown on me and I now appreciate it. The lyrics at the beginning of the song are:
I call You Maker, You give life an eternal spark
I call You Healer, You can mend any broken heart
I call You Faithful Father, You finish everything You start
My soul was made, To respond
I know You by a thousand names, And You deserve every single one
You've given me a million ways, To be amazed at what You've done
Your love is boundless, Beyond what I could dream
Your grace is patient, You're never giving up on me
I call You Bondage-Breaker, 'Cause You're handing out the prison keys
My soul was made, To be free
I know You by a thousand names, And You deserve every single one
You've given me a million ways, To be amazed at what You've done.
SERIES INTRODUCTION/REVIEW
For the past 12 weeks, we have been traveling through the last 12 books of the Old Testament called “the Minor Prophets” and we started with Hosea long ago and ended with Malachi last week. These are 12 books that are shorter in length than books like Isaiah and Jeremiah which is why they are called “minor” prophets. These are passages in the Bible that are at times hard to understand because the prophets write in poems and symbols and songs and prayers and not all of their meaning is obvious when reading. Sometimes it takes a little bit of study to figure out what these prophets are saying to get God’s people’s attention.
In the Bible, when God wanted to get His people’s attention He would often do something demonstrative like speak from a burning bush or lead by a pillar of cloud or shake the ground or do a miracle in nature. God did all of those things, but He also spoke through these prophets that we have been studying. God uses His prophets to encourage our faithfulness and warns us that faithlessness will have dire consequences. That was their message then and it is their message now.
My initial thought for our fantastic Easter Morning was to go through all 12 books very briefly and show you how each prophet looked forward to Jesus Christ as our Savior. You see Jesus’ life was not an accident! His death was not happenstance! Jesus’ resurrection was a foregone conclusion to a plan that had been in the works since before time began! You can see the spiritual kingdom and many times Jesus predicted in each book. It might have been a good sermon, but not exactly where we are headed this morning.
JESUS IN THE MINOR PROPHETS
There are definitely good thoughts predicted about Jesus in the Minor Prophets and they help us see a clear picture of Who Jesus would be:
In Hosea, we see Jesus predicted as a loving husband who buys back his adulterous wife.
In Joel, we see Jesus as the bringer of the Holy Spirit and the founder of the Church.
In Amos, we see Jesus as the repairer of the broken.
In Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament, Jesus is the Deliverer.
In Jonah, Jesus Christ is the source of grace that made Jonah so upset and angry.
In Micah, Jesus is the Mighty Ruler Who shepherds His people and comes from a wee little town.
In Nahum, Jesus is refuge in times of trouble and cares for those who trust in Him.
In Habakkuk, Jesus is the Anointed One Who crushes the head of Satan to save His people.
In Zephaniah, Jesus is the purifier of lips of all who call on the Name of the Lord.
In Haggai, Jesus is the shaker of nations.
In Zechariah, Jesus is the anointed priest and king.
In Malachi, Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness Who brings healing.
It was at this point that Phil Wickham’s song started drumming in my head… again… because I am describing what the prophets of God saw as they looked forward and predicted what the promised savior of God would do and how He would be.
ILLUSTRATION… 1000 Names Lyrics, genius.com/Phil-wickham-1000-names-lyrics
The song lyrics continue:
You are Rock of Ages, You're the Great I Am
You are King Forever, The Beginning and The End
You are Lord and Servant, You're the Son of Man
You're the Lion of Judah, You're the Risen Lamb
You're the Second Adam, Here to lead us home
You are Yahweh's Glory, Now revealed in flesh and bone
You are Ocean-Parter, You will make a way
You are Death Defeater, You have risen from the grave
You are full of mercy, You are rich in love
You are Jesus, Messiah, The One True God
So I had all of these descriptions of Jesus floating around in my head from the last 12 books of the Bible and then every time I got in the car with Kelly all of Phil Wickham’s poetic and musical descriptions of God would come to my attention… and I realized that I really cannot express to you in one sitting all that Jesus is, all that He means, all that God has done.
TRANSITION
Amid all of the wonderful descriptions of Jesus that I read over and listened to, one came to the top as most important to me and so that is what we will focus on today. We are going to be in the Book of Zechariah in the Old Testament. Zechariah is a little bit different than some of the other prophets because God gives Zechariah waking symbolic visions of what He will do and what He wants from His people. Over and over again in Zechariah the words “I lifted my eyes and saw” (1:18, 2:1, 5:1, 5:5, 5:9, 6:1) describe what happened to Zechariah. Even in 4:1-2, the Prophet Zechariah shares with us that an angel woke him up so he could physically see the next vision. He is not ill in any way, but rather God is physically showing him symbols of what will take place.
His vision of Jesus is not to be missed and worthy of our time this Easter Morning.
READ ZECHARIAH 3:1-10 (ESV)
“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord Who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” 5 And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by. 6 And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua, 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring My Servant the Branch. 9 For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”
TRANSITION
What do we find in this passage? In the first five verses, we have the condition and cleansing of Joshua the High Priest.
THE CONDITION AND CLEANSING AND COMMISSIONING OF JOSHUA (VERSES 1-7)
Zechariah’s vision begins with a bit of spiritual conflict which involved Joshua the high priest. Joshua, who was the high priest of God during Zechariah’s day, is standing in the presence of God and Satan is right next to Him accusing him. The word we see in this verse is that Satan is attacking Joshua and wanted to resist and attack and mess up anything he would do as a priest of God. Satan is the opponent and the arch-enemy of anything good and Godly. He wants to derail anything Joshua does to lead the people of God to God.
In Zechariah’s vision which continues, the angel of the Lord speaks for God and rebukes Satan. To summarize, God tells Satan to ‘hush and sit down.’ God states that He has chosen Jerusalem to be a place where His people will be and He even says that He brought Joshua to Jerusalem to serve Him. Joshua is the stick plucked out of the fire in verse 2. God has purpose for Joshua and God would not let Satan mess with His will and His plan so He sits Satan down in a corner.
The condition of Joshua is then described as a bit of a mess. Verse 3 says he is in “filthy” garments which means his clothes are covered in… poop. The adjective to describe his state of being is: excrementitious (ex-cre-men-tish-us). The word used in verse 3 specifically means he is covered and smells like a sewer and is covered in everything one might find in a sewer. That’s nasty, but we are meant to note and maybe even be surprised by the extreme condition of Joshua.
The cleansing of Joshua is then described in verses 4-5. Zechariah sees the Lord remove the filthy clothes from Joshua and then clothes him with clean fresh garments. Joshua goes from filthy rags to pure priestly vestments and even ends up with a clean turban at Zechariah’s request. The key words of “pure” and “clean” as well as the phrase “taken your iniquity away” let us know that what we are seeing is not just some action, but there are spiritual things going on here. “Iniquity” is a Bible word that means sin and wrongdoing and the whole sinful disposition we have that leads to distress and guilt.
* The filthy sewer clothes were symbols of Joshua’s sinfulness.
* The pure priestly clothes were symbols of God’s holiness and purpose.
* The changing of the clothes was the symbol of forgiveness and redemption and peace.
* We note that Joshua did nothing to earn the changing of clothes, but it was the grace of God.
The commissioning of Joshua then happens in verses 6-7 where Joshua is given a job to do by God and for God. Grace upon grace is given and then God reinstates Joshua as priest. There is quite a lot in this job actually. His job was to walk in the ways of God and be faithful to Him. His job was to lead the people of God to God and help them understand faith. His job was also to pray and offer sacrifices to God for the people and to enter into His presence for them along the spiritual path described in His Word. He could do all of this now that he had been cleansed from his filth and been renewed and refreshed and redeemed.
TRANSITION
The vision of Zechariah is not over. We have this symbolic action of God cleansing and giving the high priest a spiritual and sin-squashing makeover. This is a picture of redemption and forgiveness. This is a picture of grace and God’s will. The old is gone the new has come. Zechariah sees God then address Joshua as though he is now ready to hear something very important. I don’t want us to miss these very important words, so we will re-read verses 8-10.
RE-READ ZECHARIAH 3:8-10 (ESV)
“Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring My Servant the Branch. 9 For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”
HERE COMES THE MESSIAH
Twice in verse 8 God tells Joshua and the other priests to listen up. “Hear now” and “behold” are the equivalent of a huge neon sign from God pointing at a huge Truth.
God says, “I will bring My Servant the Branch.” That statement doesn’t make much sense unless we have a view of what the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah have said because this statement borrows from them.
READ ISAIAH 4:2-4 (ESV)
In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.
READ ISAIAH 11:1-3a (ESV)
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
READ JEREMIAH 23:5-6 (ESV) (repeated in Jeremiah 33:15)
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the Name by which He will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
This servant of the Lord which gets the nickname ‘The Branch’ will be the One, according to Isaiah, Who will wash people clean from their sins that are excrementitious in nature and He has wisdom and understanding and counsel and might and knowledge about God and will draw people to believe and fear the Lord. This ‘Branch’ is the One, according to Jeremiah, will be the One Who is a wise King and will bring justice and righteousness to God’s people. Salvation comes by way of ‘The Branch.’ Spiritual security comes by way of ‘The Branch.’
This is the same ‘Servant the Branch’ in Zechariah’s vision. This King Who washes people’s sins away and brings them knowledge of God is ‘The Branch’ and we see Him predicted in Isaiah and Jeremiah and now Zechariah all with the same wording. God is talking to Joshua and the priests about this One Who would come. Zechariah sees a seven-sided carved stone set before Joshua which is a symbol of the perfect wisdom and knowledge of this One Who is coming.
And then the most awesome statement in the whole vision happens. Zechariah sees a redeemed priest hearing about this ‘Servant the Branch’ that will come and the promise is made in verse 9: “I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.”
THE MESSIAH
My dear people, what Zechariah saw in this vision came true with Jesus! I hope you believe this! It is what we celebrate today!
Jesus is the Branch Who washes away the filth of our sin!
Jesus is the Branch Who brings judgment and grace and wrath and mercy all at the same time.
Jesus is the Branch Who is the King that deals wisely and leads us to God.
Jesus is the Branch Who is ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
Jesus is the Branch Who removed our sin in a single day.
READ 1 CORINTHIANS 15:20-22 (ESV)
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a Man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
ILLUSTRATION… 1000 Names Lyrics, genius.com/Phil-wickham-1000-names-lyrics, [added one phrase]
You are Rock of Ages, You're the Great I Am
You are King Forever, The Beginning and The End
You are Lord and Servant, You're the Son of Man
You're the Lion of Judah, You're the Risen Lamb
You're the Second Adam, Here to lead us home
You are Yahweh's Glory, Now revealed in flesh and bone
You are Ocean-Parter, You will make a way
You are Death Defeater, You have risen from the grave
You are full of mercy, You are rich in love
You are Servant the Branch, You are the Risen Savior
You are Jesus, Messiah, The One True God
PRAYER
INVITATION
Jesus Christ was the long-awaited Promised One of God. He came to bring judgment and grace. He came to draw people to God and to make a way for us to have our sins forgiven. He came to provide life for us and enables us to have faith in God and a relationship with Him. Jesus is it. Jesus is the way for forgiveness and a clean slate with God. He is it. If Jesus is NOT your savior, please choose Him today.
