All right, if you would take your copy of God's word and turn to Zechariah chapter 6, the Old Testament prophet Zechariah. We've been working through his book and all the minor prophets in one of our Sunday morning series. And a few weeks ago, we dealt with a text that I wanna follow up on this time, because it follows up on the text we dealt with a few weeks ago. Zechariah chapter six, we're gonna read the whole chapter, the 15 verses. It says, then I turned and raised my eyes and looked. And behold, four chariots were coming from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of bronze. With the first chariot were red horses, with the second chariot black horses, with the third chariot white horses, with the fourth chariot dappled horses, strong steeds. Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, what are these, my Lord? And the angel answered and said to me, these are four spirits of heaven who go out from their station before the Lord of all the earth. The one with the black horses is going to the north country and the white are going after them. And the dappled are going toward the south country. Then the strong steeds went out, eager to go, that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth. And he said, go, walk to and fro throughout the earth. So they walked to and fro throughout the earth. Then he called to me and spoke to me saying, see, those who go toward the north country have given rest to my spirit in the north country. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, receive the gift from the captives from Heldai, Tobiah, Judiah, who have come from Babylon and go the same day and enter the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah, take the silver and gold, make an elaborate crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehosadek, the high priest. Then speak to him saying, thus says the Lord of hosts saying, behold, the man whose name is the branch from his place, he shall branch out and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Yes, he shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule on his throne. So he shall be a priest on his throne and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. Now with the elaborate crown shall be for a memorial in the temple of the Lord for Halem, Tobiah, Judiah, and Hen, the son of Zephaniah. Even those from afar shall come and build the temple of the Lord, then you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. Let's pray. Lord, our Heavenly Father, we are thankful for this day. We're thankful, Lord, for the love that you've shown for us. We're thankful for your word which you've given and preserved for us. We ask your blessing on the reading and the explanation of it. We trust in your promise that it will never go out void. It will always return to you having accomplished your purpose. Please give us an understanding of this word and how it points us to our savior, the priest-king Jesus Christ, who will rule and reign forever. Help us to glorify him in all that we do. For it's in his name we pray, amen. Everybody knew Queen Elizabeth II was going to die eventually. Almost everyone knew what would happen next. When the queen finally passed at age 96, her son, Charles, who himself was almost 75 years old, immediately acceded to the throne on September 8th, 2022. Yet it would not be until May, nine months later, that Charles III would officially be crowned. Because apparently, It takes a while to throw a decent coronation party. And this had to be a big deal. On the morning of Saturday, May 6th, Charles joined a processional going from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. He was in a carriage drawn by six Windsor gray horses. He was anointed, crowned, and installed in a service that was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He officially became King of the United Kingdoms of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. And in addition, Charles III was anointed as monarch of 14 Commonwealth realms, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Antigua, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Belize, Grenada, St. Kitts, and Jamaica. That is quite a title to put on a business card. The expense of Charles' coronation day came at an estimated cost just to the government of somewhere between $100 million and $300 million. Other institutions besides the government also paid a price. The National Television Service, the BBC, utilized over 100 HD cameras and suspended its television license for the day so other TV channels could show the coronation royalty-free, so to speak. All around the world, according to the UK Department of Culture, Media, and Sports, the coronation of King Charles III reached an estimated audience of two billion people across 125 countries. This was a big deal. Except, of course, it wasn't. For all its pomp and circumstance, the coronation of Charles III is less than the smallest insignificant blip on the radar of human history. Most of y'all know that the king or queen of England is still referred to as the sovereign, yet the sovereign is anything but. He cannot make, pass, propose, alter, or enforce any law in his so-called realm. He is unable to declare war. He can't call up troops. He cannot order the defense of the country by any piece of the military. He does not serve any judicial function. No one brings disputes to the king or consults him on how the nation should be run. He is referred to as the head of state, but the reality is he is a figurehead of state. The monarchy exists simply to exist. They are there for a show. King Charles III's daily job is to be an expensive and attractive facade walking around, attending important funerals, and holding the big scissors at ribbon-cutting ceremonies. The sovereign is so not sovereign that my favorite aspect of his coronation day was that the temperature dropped into the 50s in May. They experienced a consistent downpour all day as our heavenly father opted to literally rain on their parade. This was no big deal. Our text this morning, Zechariah 6, includes a coronation that is a very big deal. It is a coronation of eternal significance. Listen, when Queen Elizabeth died, Charles was going to be crowned king. Everyone knew it. There was no suspense. There was no surprise. But I want you to put yourself into the sandals of Zechariah's audience. You have returned from captivity to Babylon after Babylon was overthrown by the Persian empire. The Persian King Cyrus the Great is king. In fact, Judah is just a little piece of his territory out there on the Western front, a little outpost. And yet the government being government, there are a couple of people there in charge. We've talked about both of them. Over here is Joshua, the high priest. He is the one who Zechariah saw in a vision in chapter three. He had been redeemed from God's wrath. He had been cleansed by God's grace. He'd been given clean priestly clothes. Joshua was the religious leader of the country. On the other hand, you had Zerubbabel who was the governor. Zerubbabel is the grandson of the old Jewish King Jehoiachin. In fact, he is a descendant of David. He is a descendant of King Solomon. He is the political ruler. But King, there's no King but Cyrus the Great. There's no royalty in Judah. All Judah had was hope. And so excitement rises in this chapter as Zachariah receives his final night vision. And then he is told to collect silver and gold, make an elaborate crown and take it out into the streets and put it onto the head of the high priest. Can that be right? It's certainly unexpected, but it's right. Zechariah 6 pictures a coronation day, which is a very big deal. I want to invite you into the text this morning and see first Zechariah's final night vision, verses one through eight. So then I turned and raised my eyes and looked, and behold, four chariots were coming between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of bronze. With the first chariot were red horses, with the second chariot black horses, with the third chariot white horses, with the fourth chariot dappled horses, strong steeds. Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, what are these, my Lord? And the angel answered and said to me, these are four spirits of heaven who go out from their station before the Lord of all the earth. The one with the black horses is going to the north country. The white are going after them. And the dappled are going toward the south country. Incidentally, if you wanna hear where the red horses were going, I don't know, it's not in the text. Verse seven, the strong steeds went out eager to go, that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth. And he said, go walk to and fro throughout the earth. So they walked to and fro throughout the earth. All of that echoes the first vision of Zachariah, which we'll talk about in a minute. And he called to me and spoke to me saying, see those who go toward the North country have given rest to my spirit in the North country. I want you to remember, always, the overall theme of Zachariah's prophetic ministry of his book always relates to the work of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. destroyed by the Babylonians when they took Judah into captivity. Now, many of the people had returned from captivity, and the Lord expects them to rebuild the temple and reestablish worship. He sent the prophet Haggai with that message, and to partner with Haggai, the Lord sends Zechariah. And Zechariah's ministry began with God giving him eight visions, all apparently happening in the same night. So just picture Zachariah coming onto the scene. He enters into public ministry and says, I had not one, but eight visions last night. And he goes through all eight of those visions and they are all connected. They are related to each other. In fact, this eighth vision, this final one, makes it clear that all of these are connected together. If you recall, the first vision began with Zachariah looking down into a ravine outside of Jerusalem and seeing a man on a red horse in a clearing under the myrtle trees, under evergreen trees. Other riders on other colored horses were coming to report to that man after they went to and fro throughout the earth. And so it says in chapter one, verse 10, these are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth. The vision was God's ultimate knowledge and sovereignty over all people in all places. He has his contacts. He has oversight. He sees everything that happens everywhere. This final vision clearly parallels the first. In fact, this first vision and this final vision kind of act as bookends to let us know, look, this is all connected. These are all together. This is a package deal. Now, instead of just riders on horses, in this final vision, Zachariah sees chariots coming and going, but the chariots are pulled by different colored horses. The narrating angel, whom Zachariah often calls the angel who talks with me, explains in verse five that these four chariots are the four spirits of heaven who go out from their station before the Lord of all the earth. So the similarities between the first and final vision are striking. Yet there are a couple of details to note. When Zachariah sees these chariots coming and going, they are, according to verse one, coming from between two mountains that are made of bronze. When you start looking at these visions, you go, okay, you've got these two mountains, and you've got the bronze, and you've got the colors of the horses as red and black and white and dappled. There's a lot of symbolism here that is not explicitly explained. The mountains are probably Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives. Mount Zion is where Jerusalem was built. The Mount of Olives was just to the east. It raises slightly higher. Those are the mountains that Jewish people would have thought of if you said two mountains. And so it would be saying these chariots are coming to report of all their work throughout the earth and they're coming right here to report to the Lord. This is where the Lord is. Get the temple built right here. Bronze is often a symbol of judgment in scripture. It was a bronze altar that the atoning sacrifices were brought to. There was a bronze basin for the priests to wash in. There is a... The serpent in the wilderness that was raised up was made of bronze, right? So the symbolism of going through bronze mountains is probably saying these chariots are going out to execute God's judgment on the nations. The colors of the horses, we are not told what they mean. I will note they're very similar to the four horsemen in Revelation 6. But what they're pulling are not big, you know, Conestoga wagons. Like if you picture this, don't picture like the carriages that the people want to take you for a ride around the city in, right? These are chariots. Picture mighty horses chomping at the bit to move out into battle because chariots were a state-of-the-art weapon at this point in time. The modern equivalent would be to say I saw a vision with tanks coming down the highway. Now I do think it's interesting that the only chariots whose report Zachariah hears is in verse six, he sees a black chariot going to the north and a white chariot following it. And then later on we see in verse eight, see those who go to the north country have given rest to my spirit in the north country. I suspect the original audience probably would have thought about these chariots going to the north as going and reporting on the defeat of Babylon. Now, if you're picturing in your map, if you have a good Bible geography in your head, you know that Jerusalem is here and Babylon is... This direction for you guys, that's east, right? Okay, so these chariots are going north, but there's a big desert in between. To get back and forth, you had to loop up around. And so to get to Babylon, you would go to the north, and that's where these were going. And so this is representative of God's control throughout the earth. But instead of concentrating on speculative symbolism, Let's point out what is explicit and clear about this vision. The chariots go over all the earth because according to verse five, God is the Lord of all the earth. Right, so maybe the black horses symbolize death, and the red horses are bloodshed, and the white horses are victory, and the dappled horses are delivering pizza. Probably not delivering pizza, but it could be something like pestilence or plague. But my point is, whatever they mean, they mean to accomplish the sovereign purpose of God wherever they go. This becomes even more clear when we remember the Hebrew word for spirit and wind are actually the same. The word ruach in Hebrew means spirit or wind or breath, depending on the context. And so I think these chariots described as the Four spirits going out from their station before the Lord of all the earth is really a poetic device that's describing they're going out like the four winds over all the earth. The idea is this, these chariots carry God's divine will to all places and all people. whether it's pestilence or plague or death or defeat or victory, the toppling of nations, those things don't just happen. They are ordained and sent and directed by the divine Lord of all the earth. So just as the wind blows over all the earth, wherever the wind blows, the God of heaven and earth is the ultimate cause. Now, that's Zechariah's last vision and without meaning any insult to the prophet Zechariah and this eighth night vision, it's the text that follows it starting at verse nine is the exciting part of this chapter in my mind. Zechariah six, verse nine is a transitional point in the book of Zechariah. Up to this point, Zechariah had come onto the scene saying, look, I've received these night visions from the Lord. Those eight visions end in chapter 6 verse 8. And then Zechariah stops relaying visions and starts issuing orders. So let's see this prophetic coronation that starts in verse 9 through 15. But before reading that, I wanna just take a moment to explain what is about to happen here. When God speaks through his prophets, he can and does speak in a variety of ways. Hebrews 1 says, God spoke at various times in various ways. Or if you like the thundering diction of the King James Version, it says, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. In other words, God spoke many, different times in many different ways. In other words, the ministry of the Old Testament prophets is not a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all, they're-all-talking-to-us-the-same-way kind of deal. Some of the prophets hear God speak, literally, and deliver his message to the people verbatim. Some of the prophets, like Zachariah, get visions. Some, like Daniel, get dreams. Moses got tablets of stone that were written on by the finger of God. One prophet got God's message when he got swallowed by a whale. Some were given miraculous signs and others simply had their conscience stirred by the Holy Spirit. All that to say, one of the ways that God speaks through the prophets is occasionally there were a handful of prophets who were called upon to act out a real-life scenario that is then given spiritual significance. We could call these sign prophecies, or I'm going to refer to them this morning as prophetic dramas. God calls on them to act out a specific scene and then gives that scene meaning. So let me give you some examples that you're already familiar with. The prophet Hosea's entire life was a prophetic drama. Remember God told the prophet Hosea, I want you to go out and marry a habitual prostitute. Hosea, commit yourself to an unfaithful woman. Learn how it is then that God feels about Israel. Learn what it is to love someone who will not commit to you in return. The prophet Isaiah was told stunningly that he was to go out walking and preaching while he was naked and barefoot for about three years. That was a prophetic sign to the nations that Assyria was going to lead people away just like he was. The prophet Ezekiel was told to pack a small bag for a quick trip to dig through the wall of his house. Don't go out the front door. Dig through the wall of your house and when night comes, sneak out that hole and get out of the city is a sign that people are gonna be trying to escape Jerusalem that way. This continues into the New Testament. If you remember as we went through the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 21, there is a man named Agabus who is a prophet who's sent by God to warn and prepare Paul for being arrested at Jerusalem. And when he comes into Paul's presence, he takes the belt off of Paul's robe and he ties his own hands and his feet and he says, this is what the people in Jerusalem are gonna do to the owner of this belt. Right? It is acting out a scene. It is a prophetic drama. What we're about to read in Zachariah is just like that. It is a sign prophecy. It is a prophetic drama. It is a command to act out a specific scene with specific instructions and then contemplate the prophetic meaning of what the people just saw happen in front of them. Y'all, this is so awesome. They act out this prophetic scene in verses 9 through 11. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Receive the gift from the captives, from Heldi, Tobiah, Judiah, who have come from Babylon, and go the same day and enter the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. Take the silver and the gold, make an elaborate crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehoshaddek, the high priest. Now keep in mind, none of this initial work is happening in the public eye, yet. Zechariah is directed to four faithful men, all of whom have returned from captivity in Babylon, from three of these men named Heldi, Tobiah, and Judiah, The prophet is to receive a gift, it says, and that gift is apparently, based on verse 11, an offering of silver and gold. Zachariah then, likely accompanied by those three men, is to go into the house of a fourth man named Josiah, the son of Zephaniah, and use that silver and gold to make an elaborate crown. Now, if you're reading in the King James Version, it says to make crowns, plural. Now, I wanna just talk about that for a second because the language is plural in the original language. It is crowns, but a couple of quick explanations. Ancient crowns were often made of multiple circlets of metal that connected to each other. So you would make these circles of metal that would be able to get stacked and locked together. So a crown, could be many crowns. does not have what's called a superlative form. Superlative form in English is taking the word nice and turning it into nicest or the word pretty and turning it into prettiest. You can't do that in Hebrew. So what they would do is they would either repeat words or use the plural form of a word to get to that idea. So the idea of making crowns here is something like make the crowniest crown. Or as the new King James puts it, make an elaborate crown. Whether this is one crown, multiple crowns, or a bunch of ringlets of metal to make one crown, the text is going to be clear that this gets put on one person's head. Now, can you just accept that as possible? Because I dare say everyone who just sang, crown him with many crowns, should not have a problem with this. Nor will we have a problem with agreeing with Revelation 19, 12, when Jesus returns and it says, his eyes are as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. I just want you to join me in your imagination for a second. at this scene in Josiah's house. The prophet Zechariah receives this grateful and freewill offering of silver and gold from these three faithful men listed in verse 10. And as they gather at the home of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah, because apparently he had the forging apparatus necessary to do this, they craft the silver and gold into the most elaborate crown they can make. And then they leave the house and they set off into the city to find the head that will wear the crown. And what follows is so unlikely, and yet it is just like our God to design something like this. I don't know if anybody other than Zachariah knew where they were going, but I'm sure everybody who saw it thought they knew where they were going. Zerubbabel, the man is the grandson of a king. He is a descendant of David. He's a descendant of Solomon. He's the governor of Judah. He's the political head of the region. He's a good man. He's a faithful man. In the minds of the people, he represents the restoration of our country. Zachariah just walks by him. He is under orders and crowning Zerubbabel is not part of God's game plan. And so what had to be the consternation and confusion of everybody who was watching, they see this new prophet Zachariah, along with his four fellow workers, walking through the streets of Jerusalem, carrying a new gold and silver crown. And he takes this elaborate royal crown and he places it on the head of Joshua, the high priest. Even Joshua was probably confused by this. Priests don't get crowns. They get a special turban, but they don't get a crown, right? Zachariah acts out this prophetic drama, but it requires some explanation, because like I said, even Joshua was probably confused and uneasy with what just happened. Just put yourself in Joshua's sandals for a second. It was probably just the day before, just yesterday, that this new prophet Zechariah comes walking down the street saying, I've received visions from the Lord and Joshua has to stand there as Zechariah describes publicly one of those visions was I saw that guy standing before the Lord covered from head to toe with filth. And now the next day, here he comes again. Oh, and he's got a crown. He's putting a crown on this guy's head? Okay, press pause for a second. Sorry, I'm making this complicated. When we preach through books, we should start seeing there's interrelated messages through those books. If our trip through Zachariah was a television series, this episode would have been opening with previously on the prophet Zachariah. And it would have jumped back to chapter three and reminded us, look at Zachariah chapter three. where Zechariah saw a vision of this man, Joshua the high priest, standing before God, utterly filthy from head to toe. He's saved from God's wrath, if you remember, like a burning stick pulled from a fire. He's given clean clothes, he's cleansed. Then Zechariah says this in Zechariah 3 verse 8. Hear, O Joshua the high priest, you and your companions who sit before you, for they are a wondrous sign. For behold, I am bringing forth my servant, the branch. You see here, you, Joshua, you are just a sign, you are symbolic for now. But what is coming, God says, is someday I'm going to bring forth my servant, the branch. That's the message that Zechariah had delivered just the day before. And now the next day, right? There was your previously on. You need that because it's coming back again. In addition to putting the crown on Joshua's head, Zachariah delivers a message to Joshua's heart, pulling from what he had said the day before. Look at our text in chapter six, verse 12. After crowning him, then speak to him saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, saying, behold, the man whose name is the branch, from his place he shall branch out. He shall build the temple of the Lord. Yes, he shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory. He shall sit and rule on his throne. So he shall be a priest on his throne and the council of peace shall be between them both. So just yesterday, Zachariah outed Joshua the high priest's filthiness before all the people and said the answer to Joshua's salvation and his cleansing was in the coming servant of the Lord named the branch. And then the next day, here comes Zachariah with his crown, puts it on Joshua's head, and then gives another message that says there is a man coming whose name is the branch, this prophetic drama that's playing out on the streets of Jerusalem, it is not about Joshua. He is playing a part of a bigger drama that's coming. This coronation scene is about the coming man named the branch. Now, if your Bible has that in all caps, it's because the translators wanted you to see this is a title for the coming Messiah. Several times in the Old Testament, especially the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah used this term for the coming Messiah. In this case, the promised Messiah, Zechariah says he's gonna accomplish several goals. The branch will, in verse 12, branch out from his place. And you can see the play on words there. The idea of this word branch comes from a tree or a plant. It literally means a shoot. And so he says a branch is gonna branch out. A shoot is going to shoot out. Even though the time's coming where David's family tree looks like it's been cut down, the Messiah, the son of David, is going to grow up from his roots. Isaiah 53 verse two describes Jesus as a tender plant, a root growing out of dry ground. In other words, someday he is just gonna shoot up. The end of verse 12 gets repeated in verse 13 for emphasis. It says, he shall build the temple of the Lord. Always remember how the people in Zechariah's day would hear this stuff. How would they have heard that message? Because the message of Haggai and Zechariah was to encourage them to rebuild the temple of the Lord and reestablish worship. Even in this book, Zechariah says, Joshua will finish the temple. He says, Zerubbabel will finish the temple. And now he's saying, the coming man whose name is the branch, he's gonna be the one who finishes the temple. That obviously doesn't mean stop working and wait for him to show up. That would be completely contrary to what Zechariah is saying. Clearly, Zechariah here is talking about a different temple. This temple that they're called to build, the people in Zachariah's day, they're called to build this temple, but even it is a prophetic sign of a greater temple to come. I believe this promise will be fulfilled at the second coming of the Lord Jesus in glory when he rules and reigns on the earth. The prophet Ezekiel describes a temple at that point, unlike anything we have ever seen. This man is also going to be priest and king. Look at verse 13. Yes, he shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule on his throne. So he shall be a priest on his throne and the council of peace shall be between them both. Here's this explanation of why this prophetic drama plays out the way it does. Even though it is unthinkable in the minds of the people in Zachariah's day that you would put a king's crown on the high priest, Zachariah is saying, as he puts that crown on the high priest Joshua, this is not about you, this is about a greater high priest who is gonna come after you. Joshua understood the priests served as mediators between God and his people, but never did the priests rule over the people. That is not how it should be. In fact, there were no chairs described in all the furniture in the temple and the tabernacle. There were no chairs for the priests to sit in, symbolizing the work of the priests were never done. But Jesus, our great high priest, when he had offered one sacrifice for sin for all time, it says he sat down at the right hand of God. Jesus is the only high priest who brought a sacrifice that could actually atone for sin. And the sacrifice he brought was his own life's blood at the cross. Look at verse 13, the end of verse 13 again. And he shall sit and rule on his throne. He shall be a priest on his throne. And the council of peace shall be between them both. Jesus is going to rule as king. Jesus is going to rule as priest. And there is, Zachariah describes, a council of peace between those two offices. This should stun us because if you have ever seen a political leader struggle with upholding their religious beliefs, or if you have ever experienced as a religious person how faith conflicts with political practicalities, the priest King Jesus puts an end to all of that. He will rule as king, he will rule as priest. And Zacharias says, look, there's not gonna be a tug of war going on between those two offices. Those are going to find their resolution in one person. This is great news for the believer. Because you need a priest who's gonna reconcile you to God. No priest can do that but Jesus. And you need a king to serve, to rule over your life in righteousness. No king but Jesus is worth serving. But listen here, you don't get to pick and choose the part of that that you like. A lot of people today have the idea they can accept Jesus in pieces, right? I want the priest who reconciles me to God, but I don't want the king who has authority over my life. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot appeal to priest Jesus for salvation while demanding somehow that King Jesus would abdicate his authority over you. He is both. He is always both. You can't take little parts of Jesus's work and not take him as a whole. He is priest and king, and he is so much more than that. He's the light of the world. He's the bread of life. He's the prince of peace. He's a wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father. He's the cornerstone, the Lord of the Sabbath, the good shepherd, the true vine. He's the way, the truth, and the life. And I could go on for another 15 minutes. You cannot even dream about making a claim on some little part of Jesus and ignore the fullness of his perfection. You cannot reduce the Son of God and limit him to your narrow personal objectives. This branch, the Messiah. Zechariah said he's going to come, he's gonna rule and reign, he's gonna be priest and king, and he alone is gonna be worshiped. The final two verses of the text, we find this prophetic drama on the streets of Jerusalem was not permanent. Listen, Joshua was not gonna get to strut around with this crown on his head for the rest of his life. Look at verse 14. Now the elaborate crown shall be for a memorial in the temple of the Lord for Halem, Tobiah, Judiah, and Hen, the son of Zephaniah. Incidentally, those are probably the same four men mentioned in verse 10 with nicknames or proper names for a couple of them. It's not just them though, because verse 15, even those from afar shall come "'and build the temple of the Lord, "'and they shall know the Lord of hosts has sent me to you, "'and this shall come to pass "'if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.'" The day is coming when according to verse 15, those from afar, all kinds of people from all kinds of places are going to stream into Jerusalem and pay homage to Messiah King Jesus. And this will happen because in the plan of the Lord Jesus, He has sent his people out to proclaim the gospel to every creature. Go out into all the world, teach all nations. And those who repent of their sins and trust in him as savior, they become his people. He saves them, he cleanses them as their priest. He rules over their life as the king. This crown Zachariah fashioned. As soon as this prophetic drama on this day was over, it was taken off the head of Joshua. It's gonna be placed in the temple of the Lord. Joshua didn't get to wear it around. Zerubbabel didn't get to resize it for himself. When that temple was finished, the crown was to be in it as a permanent reminder to the people that there is a priest king coming to whom that crown belongs. It belongs to Him and He's going to take it. The prophetic drama of this text, it points us to the climactic moment of human history. The Lord Jesus Christ will return in glory, and in that day, a coronation is going to take place. Revelation 11, 15 describes the day when Christ returns, saying, there will be loud voices in heaven, singing, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever. for the original audience in Zachariah's day, this prophetic drama was an important message. They do, like Zachariah's people, they do need to get to work on that temple project. But they also have to keep in mind that the climactic moment of God's plan for human history is not going to be a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a building. God's plan for history culminates in the coming of a person, Jesus Christ. Listen, I don't care how many viewers and how many countries tuned in to see the waterlogged coronation of King Chuck III of England. I know when the Lord Jesus comes and returns as King in glory, He will rule and reign over the earth, and Scripture tells us, every eye will see Him. And King Jesus is not going to be any feeble figurehead with empty grasp of a handful of nations. He is going to assume the throne over all creation and He will rule and reign in righteousness as the true sovereign with unimpeachable authority. Jesus will not only, will he be king, Jesus is king. This is what all history is working toward. The righteous reign of Messiah King Jesus is the centerpiece of human civilization. You might not know him as king this morning, you might not recognize that he's king this morning, but this great high priest, he is your king. He is the divine king over the atheist. Jesus is the true king over the skeptic. He is the just king over the wicked. He is the righteous king over the good. He is the priest king. He is the king of ages. He is the king of the Jews. He is king of heaven and earth. He is king of kings and Lord of lords. And the prophetic drama of our text promises that king is coming. and He will reign forever.