Zacharias_(Michelangelo) – Zechariah as depicted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

“… I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH … 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:. “ – Zechariah 3:8,6:12

From behind the curtain of Old Testament typology emerges a glimpse at a coming Messiah built upon a recurring and persistent messianic hope.

It is a deep urge for redemption and yearning for deliverance. It burns within the bosom of a captive people.

What child is this in the manger?

He is the very extension of the life of the Father. He is God reaching down to us. He expresses the life of God because he is God Incarnate.

Jesus would teach us that He is the vine and we are His branches drawing the essence of our life from Him.

While that does not make us Him, it does mean that we are His Body on earth.

The Father’s Branch is a servant.

Jesus came to serve.

He became the servant of all. He is the very demonstration and personification of servanthood who gave His life as a ransom for many. In everything, He served the Father’s purposes even as He served people.

So He impresses upon our hearts the call to a lifestyle of service.

The Father’s Branch is also the Builder of the Temple.

The Old Testament types of a coming Christ built temples made with hands, but Jesus came to build a temple of people that He might indwell by His Spirit.

He who lay in a manger desires to come and live in us and make our hearts His house.

"On that day, says the LORD of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree."

Zechariah 3:1-10 (NRSV)

Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?"

Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes."

And to him he said, "See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel."

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 the apparel; and the angel of the LORD was standing by.

Then the angel of the LORD assured Joshua, saying "Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, 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.

Now listen, Joshua, high priest, you and your colleagues who sit before you! For they are an omen of things to come:

I am going to bring my servant the Branch.

For on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day.

On that day, says the LORD of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree."

 

It is a joyous thing!