In the return from Israel’s Babylonian captivity, at first things were going very slowly. The people were concentrating on their own affairs, and were neglecting the service of God. Then the Lord God stirred up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, and they began preaching, and soon work on a new temple was resumed, Ezra 5:1-2. The date given in Hag 1:1 and Zech 1:1 works out to be our year 520 BC. A series of visions follow in Zechariah. Some of this concerned,

Joshua the High Priest.

In Zechariah 3 Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, is pictured first as in filthy garments, and then is cleansed and is given fresh garments, and promises of a good service, Zech 3:7. Then he is told he is a type, a symbol, a sign,

“Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you; for they are men who are a sign: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant, the Branch.”
Zech 3:8

God’s servant the Branch is big subject in Scripture. Isaiah said way before captivity,

“There shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit.”
Isa 11:1

It goes on to say that the Spirit of Yahweh will rest on this “root” or “branch” of Jesse, and of course Jesse was the father of ancient King David. Also there are other links, including: the name “Joshua” in Hebrew is Yehoshua, and in the second century BC Jewish translation of the Old Testament into Greek, it is translated as “Iesous,” which in the New Testament is translated into English as “Jesus.” So it seems that Joshua the High Priest in Zech 3:8 is symbolic of Jesus the Christ, the true Branch of David, even by name.

Other visions follow in the book of Zechariah.

Some of them seem to generally parallel some of the visions in the nearly 600 years later book of Revelation, but that is another story. Then in Zechariah 6 the High Priest Joshua is brought up again

A crown of gold and silver is made for Joshua,
“the Branch,” Zech 6:9-12

Evidently this is symbolic of not only religious authority, but also of royal / civil authority! Then it says of Joshua / Yehoshua / Branch / Jesus,

“even he shall build the temple of Yahweh; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on his throne; and he shall be a priest on his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”
Zech 6:13

Jesus is now building the ultimate temple of the Lord, made of people, of which Christians are living stones, 1Pe 2:4-5. And Jesus is NOW both our high priest (Heb 3:1) and our king (Rev 1:5, 1Cor 15:24-25, etc.). Further, Jesus has received ALL authority already.

“…“All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.”
Mtt 28:18

Jesus resolves the government vs religion controversy,

Because in One Absolutely Good Man is both the head of all government and the head of all religion.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible WEB, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901.