“Joshua Branch”
What do the words "Joshua Branch" mean? As you'll see in this study, "who is Joshua Branch?" is a better question.
Joshua
Let's start with the name "Joshua". This word has the same essential meaning and can be substituted with Hosea (salvation), Hoshea (save), Jehoshuah, Jeshua (Yahweh is salvation), Joshuah (Yahweh is salvation), Jesus (God is salvation), Osea, and Oshea. One of those names should have jumped out at you.
It is often represented in the Hebrew as Yeshua, meaning, "Yahweh is Salvation." Yeshua is also the Hebrew name for Jesus.
The Old Testament is written in Hebrew. In the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Joshua, which can only be found in the Old Testament, is indexed in the Hebrew dictionary as word #3091.
Jesus, as we know His name in English, is derived from the Greek rendering, which is what most of the New Testament was written in. Jesus, in Greek, is Iesous (eeyay-soos). It was transliterated from the Hebrew name Yeshua', which is a later form of "Joshua", meaning, "God is salvation." The name "Jesus" can only be found in the New Testament since it is the Greek representation of the name. The Strong's Concordance indexes His name in the Greek dictionary as #2424, where it says immediately after the pronunciation, "of Heb. or. [3091]" (of Hebrew origin, #3091), denoting that it originated from the Hebrew name for Joshua.
So, in short, Joshua is Jesus' name in the Hebrew Old Testament!
The BRANCH
To understand the BRANCH, read Zechariah chapter 3 as well as chapter 6 verses 9-15. In the New American Standard Bible verses 12 and 13 say:
12Then say to him, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, «Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the LORD.
13«Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the LORD, and He who will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices.»
If you go through the scriptures noted, and pull all the roles that Joshua fulfills, you'll have a list something like the following:
-High Priest (v. 3:1,
6:13)
-Judge of God's house (v. 3:7)
-God's Authority ("charge in My courts", v. 3:7)
-King (v. 6:11,
13)
-Builder of the temple of the Lord (v. 6:12-13)
-Savior (by virtue of His name and v. 3:9-10)
-Takes away the sin of the land (v. 3:9)
The BRANCH is a reference to the Anointed One... Christ, himself!
A Prophetic Word
It's obvious that the Joshua Branch refers to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, as a King, Righteous Judge and Ruler, as well as High Priest. Where is it written that Jesus fulfilled these roles?
-High Priest (Hebrews
4:14)
-Judge of living and dead (Acts
10:42)
-God's Authority (I
Peter 3:21-22)
-King of kings (I
Timothy 6:14-15)
-Builder of the temple of the Lord (John
2:19-21)
-Savior (I
John 4:14)
-Takes away the sin of the world (John
1:29, Hebrews
1:2,3, I
Corinthians 15:3)
God makes it clear, that while the high priest Joshua in Zechariah's time was merely a symbol of one to come. In the first five verses of Zechariah chapter 3, Zechariah is seeing things in the spirit realm. Nevertheless, speaking to the Joshua of that time, the Lord of hosts says in verse 8,
8Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the BRANCH.
So, it is clear that God was prophesying through Zechariah of one to come.
