“And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he 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” (Zech. 6:12-13).
The above two verses tell us that Christ is the Branch, and as both Priest and King He shall build the temple of the Lord. According to Isaiah 4:2 and 11:1, Christ is both the Branch of Jehovah and the Branch of David. In His humanity He is the Branch of David, and in His divinity He is the Branch of God. By this we can see that the Branch refers to His incarnation, that is, His divinity mingled with humanity. This One who is called the Branch has both the divine and human natures in Him. He is the Branch out of God and the Branch out of man.
It is as the Branch that He will build the temple of the Lord bearing two ministries. One is the priesthood, and the other is the kingship. “He...shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne.” He is both Priest and King for the purpose of building the temple of God. In order to build up God’s temple properly, the Branch needs to bear the priesthood and the kingship.
John 15 tells us that we are branches of the Branch. The Branch is the true Vine, and we are the branches of this Branch. We are branches of the incarnated One. This is very basic, for the building up of the church is a matter of incarnation. The church is not merely a group of human believers; it is a group of people who are peculiar, strange, and wonderful because they are mingled with God.
We are all familiar with the word “hybrid.” There is a certain kind of fruit in China. It is rather hard to tell whether it is a peach or an apple. This is the result of the peach and the apple being mingled by grafting. This is a hybrid.
The word “hybrid” may not be the best word, yet it gives a picture of two lives mingled together. Therefore, a Christian is the highest hybrid. We are not only an apple or a peach, but we are a peach-apple! We are a peculiar people yet so marvelous and wonderful because we are a mingling of God with man. We are branches of the Branch.
If we live simply as a man, we are not in reality a member of the church. We must be a hybrid. Others should find it rather hard to tell what we are! All the members of the Body of Christ are a peculiar people because they are a mingling of God with man. They are branches of the Branch, and they must also bear the two-fold ministry of the priesthood and the kingship.
We now need to read a few more verses from Zechariah. “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH. For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts” (3:8-9).
Here we see that Joshua, the high priest, is related to the building of the temple with Christ as the Branch and as the one stone which has seven eyes.
We also need to read Zechariah 4:7-9, “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.”
In chapter three, Joshua, the high priest, is related to the building of the temple, and in chapter four, Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, is also related to the building of the temple.
Now let us read Haggai 1:1-2. “In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built.”
Several times in these verses the governor and the high priest are mentioned together. The high priest represents the priesthood, and the governor represents the kingship. Again, the priesthood and the kingship are both directly related to the building of the temple of God.