I. A priest upon His throne in the temple of the Lord. Such is the vision upon which the gaze of Zechariah was fixed, and which gave joy to his heart in that cloudy and dark day. The great ideal of which Hebrew psalmists have sung and Hebrew prophets spoken shall be realised. The promised Son of David shall be seen seated as a priest upon His throne in the temple, bearing glory and ruling.
II. Five hundred weary years passed by, and as the prophecy of Isaiah and Zechariah awaited fulfilment the sons of Zion mourned. But at length the time appointed came. Jesus is born of Mary, and He is the man whose name is The Branch, growing out of the roots of Jesse. He comes (1) to build the temple of the Lord. That is His great work during His ministry on earth. (2) To be enthroned in it, and to rule over it as King. The ascension of Jesus is His entrance as man into heaven, and His enthronement in our nature on the throne of God. As the enthroned King, Jesus reigns over His Church as the Vicegerent of God.
III. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews repeats the revelation of Jesus as the enthroned Priest, and teaches us its practical effect on Christian conduct. He tells us that we have a great High Priest who is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. He teaches us to recognise His sympathy because of His experimental knowledge of the conditions of our life. He reveals Him to us as enthroned on the throne of grace, in the fulness of power, and with the tenderness of a perfect sympathy, and bids us "come with boldness to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
G. Body, Anglican Pulpit of To-Day,p. 258.
References: Zechariah 6:12; Zechariah 6:13. Bishop Moorhouse, The Expectation of the Christ,p. 80.