Zechariah 6:13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on his throne… This is a prophecy of the Messiah. The prophet puts two crowns on the head of Joshua the high priest, and then speaks to him, not only as the raiser up of the desolated temple, but as a type of an enthroned Saviour, the builder of a spiritual and far more glorious structure. "Behold the man whose name is the Branch," etc. I. THE CHURCH IS GOD'S TEMPLE. By the Church is meant all that the word imports in its highest and its widest sense — all God's real servants, all His believing and pardoned and sanctified people of all ages and places. When God builds, His habitation shall have a name and character of its own — it is a temple. View the Church simply as God's house, then we look on it as something which God dwells in, and rests in, and delights in. View it as God's temple, then a sacredness comes over it. The house becomes — 1. A consecrated place, a place appropriated and set apart for holy purposes. 2. The idea of worship and devotion is connected with this term. It implies not only that God designs His people to show forth His praise in heaven, but that they do show it forth there; they answer there the end for which they are taken there: God is served, and worshipped, and magnified by them. II. THE LORD JESUS IS THE BUILDER OF THIS TEMPLE. Elsewhere spoken of as the foundation or chief cornerstone, He is here described as the great Builder. No one figure can suffice to set forth His importance. Therefore they apply figure after figure to Him. They do not heed what we deem incongruities and contradictions. Three things the builder of a temple has to do. 1. To form the plan of it. He has to settle in his mind what its form and size shall be, and of what materials it shall consist. 2. A builder has to prepare his materials. At least the builder of a temple has. He does not find them prepared for him by nature, the wrought stone in the quarry, and the carved beam in the forest. Nor can they prepare themselves. And we, brethren, are not naturally fit for heaven, nor can we make ourselves or one another fit for it. 3. A builder has to join his materials together, to put each one of them into the place for which it is prepared. And this also is the work of Christ. III. THE TEXT BEARS US OUT IN ASSERTING THAT IT REALLY IS A VERY GLORIOUS BUILDING. It does not expressly say this, but it implies it. There is to be a glory result to Christ from it, and this glory is doubtless to proceed in part from something excellent and magnificent in the building itself. What a subject opens itself to us here! Does beauty make a building glorious, a noble plan and excellent workmanship? Oh, what so beautiful as the Church of the firstborn? Bear in mind two facts in reference to the glory of this temple. 1. It is such that it satisfies Christ Himself. 2. This temple has occupied the Mighty Jehovah far longer than any of His works. From this fact also we infer its gloriousness. IV. THE LORD JESUS WILL HAVE ALL GLORY OF THIS TEMPLE. Two reasons why Christ is so little honoured on earth as the author of His people's salvation. The greatness of the salvation is not known, and we do not see how entirely the work is His. God's design in this building was His own honour. Is Christ the Builder of God's temple? Then this text calls on all of us really to regard Him as such. And if the Church is the temple of the Lord, then we should cherish in our minds a high reverence and love for it. (C. Bradley, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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