"Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, behold the man!" [Jn 19:5]
On a certain occasion, when The LORD spoke to the prophet Zechariah in times past, He told him to “take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest.” [Zech 6:11] After that, The LORD instructed further,
“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]
Herein we see a prophecy of The Messiah, that is, “The Branch;” whose title Jeremiah also prophetically uttered, writing by The LORD’s inspiration,
“Behold, the days come, saith The LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, The LORD Our Righteousness.” [Jer 23:5-6]
We can also see Zechariah’s words as prophetic of the coming Messiah, Jesus, in that God says, “[he] shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne.” In regard to the kingly line, The LORD had said, “the sceptre shall not depart from Judah;” [Gen 49:10] and, “Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler;” [1 Ch 5:2] and again, “Judah is my lawgiver.” [Psa 60:7] Further, regarding the priesthood, it is written, “and thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel;” and, “Aaron shall offer the Levites before The LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of The LORD.” [Num 3:9; 8:11; 18:6-7] We can see through these scriptures that the kings were to come from Judah and the priests from Levi: there was to be no mixing.
The office of a priest and that of a king where to be distinct and separate in Israel. And yet, The LORD speaks about Joshua, whose name in Greek is translated Jesus, as holding a ministry which includes both kingship and priesthood. And in this, we see a hinting from God of a future covenant, of a time yet future during Zechariah’s life, where, like Melchizedek, a ministration would exist, where a man could be both king and priest. For “Melchizedek [was] king of Salem…and he was the priest of The Most High God;” [Gen 14:18] and unto Jesus it is written, “thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” [Psa 110:4] And for this, we do praise God; for we require not only a priest, to interpose between us and God, but a king to lead us and defend us, to snatch us from satan’s rule as it is written, “[God] delivered us from the authority of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of The Son of His Love.” [Col 1:13]
Therefore, seeing that Jesus is ultimately in mind when The LORD commands Zechariah to speak on His behalf, saying, “behold the man,” we are reminded of our verse for today, wherein Pilate said, “behold the man!” But whereas for Joshua, The LORD had told Zechariah, “take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon [his] head,” Jesus stepped out from Pilate’s chambers with “a crown of thorns…and…a purple robe,” [Jn 19:2] being in appearance as is written by Isaiah the prophet, “His appearance was disfigured beyond that of a man, and the outline of His body beyond the sons of men.” [Isa 52:14] As it related to the flesh, what only the eyes could see, Jesus was presented before the crowd smitten of God and disfigured: hardly what most men would deem fit to be a priest and a king, and hardly accurate to Pilate’s description: “the man.” For Jesus, Isaiah writes, was so marred that He did not even appear to be a man, broken to pieces, beyond the appearance of a human being. And yet, though Jesus’ flesh was under severe affliction, in spirit Jesus was marching unto victory, as Psalms gloriously adorns Him, saying, “who is this King of Glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle;” [Psa 24:8] and as Hebrews says, “for the joy that was set before Him [He] endured the cross.” [Heb 12:2] Jesus stood there, as “The BRANCH,” and yet, “they cried out, saying crucify Him, crucify Him.” [Jn 19:6] Jesus stood there, King of kings and Lord of lords, triumphant and joyful: a courageous General marching into battle to cut the head off Goliath. He, our Prince and our Savior, God of all flesh, “the man,” and “The Branch;” and though He was rejected and discarded in exchange for a murderer, through this very act of sacrifice and love Jesus conquered mightily. For it is written that Jesus, “having stripped the principalities and powers of their armaments…exposed them openly, leading them in [a] triumphal procession [because of His death on the cross].” [Col 2:15] Through the cross, that very means by which satan sought to slay Jesus, (but only indeed doing as was written, “thou shalt bruise His heel.” [Gen 3:15]), Jesus utterly decapitated all the powers of darkness, of sin, of death, and of the law, rising again from the dead in glorious victory.
May God be praised, for as it says in Zechariah, this is the man, Jesus Christ, who shall “build the temple of The LORD; and…bear the glory [of it].” [Zech 6:13] It is Jesus, our priest and king, who shall build the church, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it;” [Mt 16:18] and that, not because of our strength, (no, for “by strength shall no man prevail.” [1 Sam 2:9]), but because of Jesus Christ, the “Chief Cornerstone.” [Psa 118:22, Acts 4:11] And it is Jesus who shall get the glory of it all, for He is the victorious Prince and we are but His servants and followers, as Psalms cries out, “not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.” [Psa 115:1] Yes, may we ever behold Jesus, the man who bore our sins upon the tree. May we behold the beaten and bloodied man upon the cross; may we see Him, our King in battle, slaying the dragon and slaying our sins. May we behold the man who died for our rebellion, who bore the brunt of God’s wrath in our place so that we might live. May we behold The One who bears all the glory and fall at His feet in submission.
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