The Priest-King

For he shall reign upon his throne! And he who shall reign will be a priest upon his throne.

So it must be; it cannot be otherwise. God’s house certainly shall be built. His house—high in the highest heavens, in all its glory and grandness, and encompassing all things in heaven and on earth—shall be built. When that house is completed, the priest of the Most High shall stand at the pinnacle of all things, and the servant of Jehovah shall sit upon the throne forever!

That is God’s answer to the question posed by the children of men and by the nations: Who shall be the greatest?

The lives of the sinful world, of sinful society, and of the sinful nations center upon that question. To that question people constantly seek to provide an answer—an answer in concrete reality, an answer in the tangible form of a king. This king, the man-king, seeks to rule not merely in the name of the people or of a democratic majority but in the name of man. Humanity—the world that has fallen away from God and turned apostate—seeks the kingdom of man by man and for man. There is an irresistible urge in human blood for a king, for the king over all. That urge manifests itself time and again and cannot be suppressed—not even by the slogan about making the world safe for democracy or by the revolutionary cry, “Ni Dieu ni maître [Neither God nor master]!”

Who will be the greatest?

Who will rule on the throne of the world as king?

To this question the world’s answer is, the red rebel against God and against his anointed!

The insurrectionist.

The servant of the devil.

That has been the world’s answer ever since the great revolution in paradise, where the first man Adam stood originally as the servant of the Lord and as the ally of the Most High. God had placed his servant in paradise at the pinnacle of creation here below and given to Adam dominion over all things. All things were to serve Adam, so that he might serve his God. Adam was the priest-king, the servant of God, upon the throne of creation. Then the great revolution broke out—the world revolution, incited by the prince of darkness, that would henceforth throughout the ages dominate the life and striving of the world. The servant of the Lord and the ally of God became the devil’s slave and Satan’s friend. Since that day, the striving for world dominion in opposition to God has continued. Man seeks to realize his own answer to the question, who shall be king in the world? And man’s answer is, the red revolutionary man, the rebel against God, the antichrist, Satan’s ally!

But God also has an answer to the world’s age-old question.

And God’s answer is, “My servant shall sit upon the throne!”

That answer is embodied in Zechariah 6:9–15 as the word of the Lord to Zechariah and as the command of the Lord to Zechariah that he must perform the symbolic act of crowning the high priest.

Josiah, the son of Zephaniah, receives three male visitors: Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah. They were among the exiles who had been carried away captive. Thus they come from Babylon. They had not returned with those who loved Zion and who, at the word of Cyrus, had set out from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. They come to Jerusalem now, but not with the intention of staying there; they are merely visiting. They belong to the exiles who voluntarily still live in Babylon, for from an earthly perspective as businessmen they consider it unadvisable to change their place of residence. They are doing well in Babylon; their business ventures are prospering. And Jerusalem—burnt and lying in ruins—is hardly an inviting place to live. Nevertheless, the men still take an interest in the cause of the Lord, in the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple of God. Undoubtedly, to support the good cause materially and to hearten those who have returned from exile, these men bring gold and silver and are visiting for a few days with Josiah.

Let us not judge these men too harshly. After all, they mean well. Deep down they understand that Jerusalem truly represents God’s cause, that they belong there, and that Babylon cannot be their true home. So, while keeping the good cause at a distance—and without wanting to share personally in the scorn, shame, and hardship for God’s sake—they are willing to support the cause with their gold and silver.

There are many such people, even today, who are friends of Zion at a distance in Babylon.

Perhaps the three men are surprised when Zechariah, the prophet of the Lord, visits them at Josiah’s house to demand their gold and silver. From that gold and silver the prophet intends to fashion a crown for Joshua the high priest.

Although the word “crowns” appears in the King James Version and the plural form is also in the original Hebrew text, Zechariah is ordered to make a single crown. The plural form must be understood as referring to the constituent parts of the one crown. That crown was to be placed only upon Joshua’s head.

The well-meaning visitors initially may have raised some objections to such a squandering of their funds. They certainly are committed to the cause. Indeed, they have brought the money specifically to support the rebuilding of the temple. But to part with their gold and silver for the making of a crown—and a crown for the high priest, at that, which crown is destined merely to hang in the temple as a memorial—seems like a waste of their offerings.

Yet the Lord has spoken: “Take silver and gold from these men!” And when the Lord speaks, who can turn his word aside?

The word of the Lord shall stand.

Joshua the high priest must be crowned!

For God indeed will give his answer to the world’s age-old question: Who shall be king? Who is the greatest? And God’s answer is, “I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion! My servant shall forever be the greatest. He shall be king over all my works.”

The Christ.

For such is the word of the Lord to the three men at the house of Josiah: “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.”

The Christ of God.

For his name is The Branch. He shall sprout from his place—from the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Judah, the house of David, and the womb of Mary. He will sprout from his place; he will also sprout, spring up, and rise on high through his death and resurrection into his glorification at the right hand of the Father.

And he builds the temple of the Lord.

God’s eternal house, of which the temple in Jerusalem was but a shadow; the house of God’s covenant, the eternal dwelling together of God and his people in a heavenly, perfect bond of friendship within the new creation; the house of God founded by The Branch in the eternal righteousness of God through his blood, realized by his Spirit, and to be revealed in all its glory at his return.

In that house The Branch shall be the high priest!

And the high priest shall be king forever!

For the priest is the servant of the Lord! And only the servant of the Lord may reign over all things.

God’s answer that he may be all in all!

The priest-king of God!

Peace on earth!

For this priest-king is the Prince of Peace. The revolutionary man-king is a prince of war, and he can never become a prince of peace because as king he refuses to be a priest, a servant of the Lord. He is anti-God and the antichrist. Through his kingship he seeks to destroy the priesthood of God. There is war between his kingship and God’s priesthood. What this king of the revolution desires stands in direct opposition to what the priest of the Lord desires—and must desire—and is in conflict with the will of God. Therefore, the king of the revolution is and must remain to the very end a prince of war.

No matter how much he speaks of peace, he does not know the way of peace, nor will he ever be able to find it. In the kingdom of this revolutionary king, everyone wants to be the greatest, and no one wants to be a priest. So hatred and envy and war and destruction will always remain.

But the priest-king is the Prince of Peace!

“For the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”

It is abundantly clear that dogmatics has made improper use of this word of scripture by appealing to it in support of the doctrine of the counsel of peace. In a dogmatic sense “counsel of peace” would refer to an eternal decree of God—an agreement between the Father and the Son for the redemption of the elect. Yet Zechariah 6:13 is not about an eternal decree or the eternal counsel of God, nor does the verse involve a relationship or an agreement between the Father and the Son. Consequently, the doctrine of the counsel of peace cannot appeal to this scriptural text.¹

For “both” in the text refers to the priest and to the king in the one Christ—or, if you will, Christ as priest in the house of the Lord and Christ as king over Zion, the mountain of God’s holiness. And these two take counsel together. Never does the one do anything without consulting the other. The priest takes counsel with the king; the king eternally consults the priest. And the counsel between these two, united in the one Christ, is always a counsel of peace. There is perfect harmony of will, thought, and purpose. The king always rules according to the will of the priest; the priest always ministers to the king. The king sits upon the throne as priest; the priest ministers as king in God’s house. What the king wills, the priest also wills; the king never wills anything that the priest does not will.

The counsel of peace is between them both.

Christ is the perfect servant-king.

Therefore, the king is eternally in perfect harmony with the will of God. He is the Prince of Peace!

Peace is established; the counsel of peace exists between them both in the incarnation of the Word—for there, indeed, both priest and king were united in the person of the Son of God. There is peace—perfect peace—between them both along the deep path of humiliation that led even into hell. The counsel of peace is held between them both in the quiet of the garden of Gethsemane, where both prayed, “Not my will!” Not for a moment was the counsel of peace hindered at the dreadful cross. And the counsel of peace between them both finds its crowning and fulfillment in the resurrection and exaltation at the right hand of the Most High.

Therefore, he is the Prince of Peace!

Therefore, he also makes peace—peace with God and peace on the earth.

For as the Prince of Peace, he stands at the head of his church; he sends forth the Spirit of peace into the hearts of his own; he applies his peace—peace with God, peace grounded in God’s righteousness—to the hearts of his own; and he removes from those hearts the discord between kingship and priesthood, the spirit of revolution!

He makes his own a royal priesthood!

He causes the counsel of peace to reign within them too!

Here, in principle. And later perfectly when he has cast into hell all the godless disturbers of the peace.

Then he shall eternally subject himself and all things to the Father, so as to reign eternally, in that submission, together with his own over all the works of God’s hands.

Eternally, according to the counsel of peace.

Between them both.

Do not remain in Babylon then!

For there is not the crown.

The crown of Babylon is a revolutionary crown—one that can never endure because God’s word endures.

Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah—and all well-meaning visitors in the house of Josiah—depart from his house! Behold, let the crown that was first pressed upon Joshua’s temples be a sign to you: It is kept in the temple, in God’s house, as a memorial for you! A sign that The Branch, God’s servant, shall soon be king forever!

Come, then—not merely as visitors, not merely with your gold and silver, but as builders of the temple of the Lord—to dwell forevermore with the king in that house! For even strangers shall come from the East and the West and the North and the South and shall build in the temple of the Lord. They are drawn by the sign of this eternal crown! They are impelled by the counsel of peace. Therefore, they listen diligently to the voice of the Lord their God, to the word of the Lord, in order to do it. And then they come and build in the temple. Only then. For, after all, they do not build God’s house. They cannot build God’s house. That is the work of the high priest-king alone. Yet he builds through them as well. They may be laborers together; they are deemed worthy to labor with him, to strive with him, to suffer with him, to triumph with him, and to be glorified with him.

Come, then, and build in the temple of the Lord!

Diligently heeding the voice of the Lord your God.

There Christ builds God’s house!