Zechariah 6:9-15 A Crown
Zechariah is instructed to bring some of the recent exiles and the resources they brought with them to make a crown. A symbol of God’s promise to keep in the Temple.
The crown to be made is FIRST to be placed on the head of the current high priest; Joshua. But he doesn’t continue to wear the crown or pass it on to those who follow him in this office. This crown is to be kept in the Temple as a symbol of God’s promise to send them a king and high priest who will deliver them. “And the counsel of peace shall be between them both” (verse 13c). This crown will wait for that king.
I’m curious to know if the crown took the place in the Holy of Holies of the Ark that was in the exile. I don’t recall seeing it mentioned anywhere else in scripture. Where is it today? Was it lost when the second Temple was destroyed by the Romans? It would make sense as they didn’t leave even one stone upon another in its destruction.
My bible helps doesn’t speak to this other question/observation that I have. We know that Jesus is our High Priest. He makes intercession for us with the Father. We also know that He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He will sit on the throne and rule for 1,000 years. So, He is both King and Priest. Is the reason there is “peace between the two” because He is BOTH?
As God, He would have no need of outside counsel in making decisions for His kingdom. He would not need another to intercede on behalf of the people before Him. Will He, however, be ‘confined’ to the physical constraints that come with the human form? I have trouble imagining Him being present with ANYONE who requests and audience with Him at any given moment. We know from seeing His activities after His resurrection that He is not confined to where His feet can take Him. He is able to appear in an area where He wasn’t just a short time before. He is able to walk through walls. He is also able to see/know the actions of others with whom He was not in contact with at the time, as in Nathaniel under the fig tree. Will there be “two” then; or One who has the authority and ability to be both?
For my life, Jesus is both. In the form of the Trinity, ALL roles and ‘responsibilities’ of God are met in my life. God the Father, who is my heavenly Father who takes me as His own. Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior who cleansed me from sin, brought me to His Father, and intercedes on my behalf. The Holy Spirit who comforts and resides with me every day; growing me into the person God created me to be. ALL THREE acting in concert and as one. They have no need to consult with one another as to the best approach to use with me. They already KNOW what, when, and how to accomplish God’s will in my life. They are ALL ONE, while being three.
I don’t know if I have shared with you my understanding of the Trinity. It is simplistic and I will NOT pretend that it fits everyone’s expectation. This understanding started with my granddaughter from my youngest son. She had lost her maternal grandfather when she wasn’t quite a year old. She remembered him quite well though. She would speak of him and towards heaven to him frequently. She understood that she couldn’t see him but that we all told her that he was ‘watching over her’.
One day she saw our old dog die right in front of her. I has picked him up to put him on the bed and he simply breathed his last. He had been acting ‘off’ that morning and I was concerned that something was up with him. Right after I laid him down I told my husband, who was on the bed, that Grizzly had died. My granddaughter was standing right beside me at the time. She was around a year and a half at the time.
My husband didn’t believe that he had died and asked me to put him in his arms. He started talking to him to see if he could get a response out of him. He was also slightly rocking his arm that was holding Grizzly and saying that he was moving. I told him that it was his own arm moving and he held still. He then acknowledged that our dog was dead.
I now had a young child to explain death to. I have NO doubt that it was the Holy Spirit who gave me this explanation for my grandchild. I told her that the important part of Grizzly had left, just like it had done with her grandfather and what was left was like an egg shell. Our bodies are only the “shell” for the precious pieces inside. She was able to understand this. We had to take Grizzly’s body for cremation and she was ok with that, so long as she didn’t have to see him; his shell.
Later, I began thinking more deeply of the “egg shell” analysis. The Holy Spirit helped me see more deeply into that analogy. I won’t label which portion of the egg represents “Who”, but I will share what I received.
When we see an egg, we call it ONE name; egg. But it is made up of three (major) distinct parts. It has a shell, a yolk, and a white. When saying each of these names we usually put the word “egg” in their description; “egg shell”, “egg yolk”, and “egg white” denoting that they ALL are part of the whole. Each part has a distinct ‘function’ and no egg is complete without ALL parts. They can each be used individually for different purposes. Even the “egg shell” is not without function after it has been broken. It is nutrient for plants and even can be fed back to the chicken to help if healthy formation of future eggs. It requires ALL three to bring life. Absent of even one of the elements, there is NO life.
God ‘separated’ Himself into three ‘parts’ for our understanding but He NEVER lost the Oneness that is Himself in the process. His “egg shell” ‘opens and closes’ as His work demands. He is ALWAYS one, while also being ALWAYS three. For me, this is how He was able to be in the water with John the Baptist, speaking from above, and descending as a dove onto Jesus all at the same time.
This is just my analogy. Take it for what it is worth in your life. And, as a keeper of chickens, I get to see His wonder in that simple for every day. I’m even watching as one of my chickens brings life from that amazing reminder of God’s wonderful being.
Father God, THANK YOU for speaking to my heart. Thank You for showing me just a peek into the amazing mysteries that are You. THANK YOU for Your promise of Jesus; my Savior, Lord, High Priest, and King. I, and the whole world, would be lost without Him.
And watch over my chicken mamma and her babies (one that might hatch and those coming). You have already shown me that You can do WONDERS with my sweet animals. I never thought I would raise chickens, and yet, here I am.
