The Servant Of Restoration Series

The blessings which are granted to those walking in His way and performing His work are truly supernatural. Access to talk to God as your intimate friend and beloved Lord. What a privilege is ours--free access and what responsibility is ours also to prove our faithfulness!

[See Maclaren, Vol. 6. pp. 290-293]

II. THE FORESHADOWED MESSIAH, 8-10.

This section presents four different images of Jesus Christ: as the Priest, the Servant, the Branch, and the Stone. Verse 8 is a remarkable announcement of the coming of the Messiah. "Now listen, Joshua the high priest you and your friends who are sitting in front of you--indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My Servant, the Branch."

The Messianic content and thus, the climax of the vision begins to unfold. Not just an critical behold, but an even more emphatic address is used, "Now listen"--Shema 'na.

The High Priest designates Joshua as official representative of the people. The announcement is addressed to not only "the high priest" but to all the priests that wait upon the Lord. Israel was to be a kingdom of priests and a Holy nation (Exodus 19:6). The announcing of the Messiah should arouse not only the high priest but also all priests to a realization of their significance and importance.

The church also is intended to be a kingdom of priests and a Holy nation. 1 Peter 2:9 states, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you might proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." This passage thus can have a parallel meaning of speaking to the church as a kingdom of priests.

The men before the high priest are a divine sign not because of who they are but because God has ordained them to be a sign of a future event. They are not a sign by virtue of anything that they shall achieve or produce but by virtue of what God will achieve through them. They will walk in the way and in obedience.

Thus, these men are not a simple sign but a marvelous sign (symbol Epheth originally meant "a wonder, a marvel"). Something that leads men to marvel at what God is doing.

These men are those who are becoming personally righteous because of their life and their service. They are preforming their God-given ministries under the ecclesiastical structure that God has ordained and thus have such access to the high priest, become symbols of what God will do when He brings forth His Servant--the Branch. [Whatever blessing they would enjoy was not for their own sake, and should not give them an inflated sense of their own importance. The key to the LORD's blessing was the One to come, and it was their weighty responsibility to carry out their tasks as fitting representatives of Him." John Mackay, Focus on the Bible, Zechariah, E-4 Group, Vol. 2. 2003]

My Servant, in the Old Testament (Isa. 42:1, 49:3,5, 50:10, 52:13, 53:11, Eze. 34:23,24) is associated with someone to come. It designates the One who in a pre-eminent way serves God perfectly and fulfills God's will in the work of redemption. The one who obeys in perfect righteousness is His Servant. He is called God's Servant because He is laboring in His work, obedient to His will and entirely devoted to His honor and glory.