Zechariah Chapter 3

In Zechariah chapter three we have a bit of a movie scene with the shot panning out and around. It starts in tight with Joshua - a figure of Jerusalem, then it pans out to include angelic beings, and his friends, and ultimately...the stone with seven eyes. Jerusalem is made clean, the Branch is brought in, and all is at peace.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the X242 Podcast. I'm Alex, and today we're going to talk about Zechariah chapter 3. Zechariah 3 is very um I think of it a little bit like a movie scene. You know, sometimes you have these, especially in older movies, where uh you start in like tight, like maybe you're maybe it's like a wedding scene or something like that, and you're in with this really tight shot, and you just see the ring on the the say the lady's hand. And then slowly throughout the course of the of the of the of the you know shot, if you will, it's just backing off and backing off, and and pretty soon you can see the bride and the groom standing there, and it backs a little further off, and now you see the oh, the minister or whoever is you know supposed to be marrying them, and then you can see, you know, the bridal party, and then pretty soon you can see the whole uh you know crowd that's that's there clapping or whatever else, and you see the scenery, and it's kind of this pull out shot that starts in Titan and pulls out, and that's a little bit what I think of with Zechariah chapter 3, and that's because it starts with just Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. So you think, well, you know, that that's the people in the scene, and of course you have the angel that's guiding him through this as well. But then kind of as it's only, you know, a 10-verse long chapter, but as we go through the 10 verses, pretty soon you find out that there's a bunch of people sitting around in front of Joshua, and you also find that there is um this stone that he says, I've set before you. In any case, it's kind of like throughout the scene you start to see more and more. But um, what does it all mean? And and to kind of try to lay it out, let's go back to chapter one and two and just see again what the Lord is doing with this prophet. I mean, I think we've said enough times that um, you know, the people of Israel have been away, they've been in the land of Babylon, they've been taken there by Nebuchadnezzar. It had now been 70 years. And it's time, the Lord is saying, it's time for you, the people, to return. You need to come back now and um come back to the land of Israel and rebuild everything and start living here. And in order to some degree, if I can put it this way, to entice the people to come back, the Lord is promising to them all of these blessings. And he's saying, Look, come back. I have these blessings in store for you. And so he begins to answer several of the objections that people had to coming back. And the first one was, you know, well, is the Lord even for us? He says, Yes, you know, I'm very jealous for you. That's kind of his first message to them. And then he says, you know, people will say, Well, I mean, look at all these people that have wiped us out. You got the Assyrians, you've got the Babylonians. He says, Look, I'm gonna raise up these four craftsmen. You're gonna be, you know, built again. It's it's gonna be good times, if you will, or a good future for you that I have in mind. And um, then he presents them this vision. He kind of goes forward in the future and he shows them this vision of, he said, Here's my plans, you know, for you. Remember the measuring line, the surveyor, the measuring rod. Here's my plans. I'm envisioning a city that's huge and that's uh doesn't even have walls because I'm its walls. And this is clearly going on to a future day, a day we've never seen before, um, but a day that was very much within their um, I don't know how to put it exactly, they could have had that day, or their descendants could have had that day if they had accepted the Lord Jesus when he came on the donkey. And so then you have in the end of chapter two a very direct command. He's saying, flee from the land of the north. Essentially, my judgment is going to fall on these nations. So if you think that staying in Babylon is safe, then don't, because I'm going to judge Babylon. You need to get out of Babylon, come back to the land. It's a very direct command. And now in chapter three, he's going to present this scene, kind of like I said, where I think one of the major issues that anybody who was thinking about coming back would probably observe is that they would think, well, um, so we go back, right? And uh we're going to uh probably sin again. I mean, we we always have, and we're no better than our fathers, so we're gonna sin too, and then the Lord's gonna be angry with us, and then it's gonna be really, really bad for us, right? And interestingly, this is exactly what happened. It was very, very bad for them. And the Lord somewhat presents that or presents that possibility here and here. He doesn't sugarcoat things, and we're gonna see in a couple of in the future chapters that he um actually tells them of the bad things that are going to come because he's honest and he's truthful, and he's not going to, you know, tell one side of the story, if you will. But this is a true uh possibility, if you will, for them if they would accept Christ and if they would be faithful. Well, in any case, as we look towards the future and we see this millennial kingdom, he's already talked about it with the kingdom without or the city without walls and etc. And he's basically answering the question of how is this problem going to be addressed? And this is very helpful for us as we think about the millennium and also as we think about our own condition. How does the Lord address the problem of our sin? So we start. He showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, Kelly, I think it is, that says this is Jehovah or Yahweh, you know, the Lord acting through the agency, if you will, of one that represented him. I like that. It just means this angel of the Lord was someone who represented the Lord here in this in this scene. And Satan, which just literally means the accuser, um, that's what the word means, and we take him to be actually Satan, because Satan is the accuser of the brethren, as always been. Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. It's kind of like a law scene. This is, I don't know, I guess apparently I've read some things, and apparently in a courtroom in those days, they didn't have courtrooms like we have, you know, but this was the right hand was the place of accusation, apparently. So, anyways, here Satan is, and he is, we don't know what he's saying, but apparently he is laying all these accusations against this person, Joshua. I mean, undoubtedly pointing out, look, he was unfaithful here, and he lied here, and you know, I'm I'm sure it's those sort of things. And then the Lord, which would be this angel, said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, Satan. Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is this not a brand plucked from the fire? Now, like this is part of that pulling back, if you will. We see that Joshua is standing there, but he is clearly representative, not of just himself, but of Jerusalem, because he says, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you, is this not a brand plucked from the fire? Now we can take that as Joshua was a brand plucked from the fire, and certainly I, praise the Lord, am a brand plucked from the fire, and so are you if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus. But the real thought of this is that Joshua is standing as a representative. I mean, how would you show Jerusalem in a figure like this, in a in a vision? I mean, how would you actually do it? The best way, um, and the way that's done is to use a person to symbolize Jerusalem. And in this case, it's Joshua. So Joshua is used, and the Lord says, I have chosen Jerusalem. So Satan, the Lord rebuke you, Satan. Stop accusing the one whom the Lord chooses. Now, this doesn't this just remind you a little bit of Romans chapter 8, um, when he says, Um, who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies, who is the one who condemns, etc. Now that's talking about you and I. And it's really the same in terms of Jerusalem. Satan does not have a right to go and accuse Jerusalem, even though they're very, you know, open to accusation from all the wicked things that they've done, in the same way that Satan has no right to come and accuse you or I of wickedness. Why? Because we're not wicked? No. But because God has chosen us and he is the one who justifies. And Satan would be controverting what God has done to accuse. So that's the end of Satan in this scene. Um, he is rebuked, and that's he's just done. He's out of the scene from this point forward. Now we find Joshua is clothed with these filthy garments. So it's again, we're kind of seeing a little bit more of the scene. I guess this is maybe more detail of the scene, but he's clothed in these filthy garments, and he's standing before the angel. This is again the angel of the Lord. And so I take it that it's the angel, uh, which is the Lord, said to him, or the, I'm sorry, the representative of the Lord said to him, Um, sorry, said to those who were standing before him, remove the filthy garments from him. So again, we've pulled back a little bit. Now I take it we've got some attendants, if you will, or angels, maybe we could say, or somebody who's, you know, has to uh respond to what the Lord is saying here. And the Lord is telling him, you need to remove those filthy garments. And he turns, if you will, to Joshua and he says, See, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with festal robes. This is one of the passages, and there's many others, that show us that clothing is a reference to our works and to righteousness. I shouldn't say our works per se, but that's maybe a poor way to put it. But it's it's a reference to our works. So if I have dirty clothes, it's iniquity. I mean, that's what it says here. If I have clean clothes, it's righteousness. And so we find in the you know, Revelation that we're clothed in the righteousnesses of the saints. Well, here Jerusalem and Joshua figuring Jerusalem is clothed in all of these dirty, dirty clothes. Yeah, taken away, they're put on beautiful clothes, and they're not just clean, but it's beautiful to see that they're actually festal. This is for feasting. In other words, the Lord has taken away all these things, and he says, it's the time to rejoice, it's the time to feast. It brings to mind the prodigal son, doesn't it? And this is what the Lord has done for us. He has taken away our dirty clothes, shall we say. He has made us white as snow, made us clean, and invited us to his feast. All right, so this is what the Lord is going to do. This is all prophetic, and this is what he's going to do for Jerusalem. All right, so, and then I said, that's the prophet, I take it, let them put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And it's in the um NASB, which is what I'm reading, it says, and while the angel of the Lord was standing by, most translations have it that way. Kelly suggests, which I kind of like this suggestion, that this phrase, the angel of the Lord was standing by, belongs with the next verse. Okay, and and let me just read it that way. So it says, Um, so they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. The angel of the Lord stood up, and the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, Personally, that flows a little bit better to me. But regardless of which it is, the angel of the Lord, in other words, the Lord, his representative, commands that iniquity be removed, and Jerusalem is now seen as righteous. His iniquities are gone. And then the angel admonishes Joshua and says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, if you will walk in my ways, and if you will perform my service, then you will also govern my house, and also have charge of my courts, and I will grant you free access among those who are standing here. Now, the ones that are standing here, we've already seen those are the angels, those are the ones that are changing his clothes. The point here is that if Joshua, and therefore if Jerusalem would follow the Lord, then these blessings that he's just prophesied would come to them, will come to them. They will have this free access because they will be righteous. And it will be the new Jerusalem. And we know from Revelation what that will look like. It will be, you know, well, I'm not going to get into it, but we know what that will look like, and we know that it will be this interaction where heaven is on earth and earth is, you know, interconnected, if you will, and and there will be just this blessing, but it does depend upon the people being um faithful. So he says, if you will walk in my ways, you will perform my service. Um, and if you will perform my service, then you will also govern my house and have charge of my courts. A lot of times in our lives, we're like this where we want blessing, don't we? And so we cry and we we pray for blessing and we we want all of these things, but we don't, our heart is not to follow the Lord. We want to follow the Lord in so much as it will bring us blessings, but our heart is not, I want to follow the Lord and I want to do his service. But when our heart is adjusted, if you will, and the flesh is removed, and that is our our desire, is that we want to follow the Lord and we want to do his service, and we're not concerned about our blessings, shall we say, that is the point at which the Lord blesses us. Well, that's the principle that's presented here. The Lord says, Your object, Jerusalem, should be to worship and to serve me. And when you do, when that is your object, um, these blessings that I've spoken of will come in and you will have all of these blessings. And so we find here the honesty of the Lord that here is this promise that he's going to remove all of the iniquity, and it will just be gone and they'll be clean, but it will depend upon their faithfulness to God. And think of what the Lord Jesus said. He said, You will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Israel has not said that yet. Israel has not been faithful yet. They have desired the blessing, constantly have desired this blessing, have looked for it over and over and over. They thought John the Baptist was it, they thought the Lord Jesus uh was it, and he was, but not in the way they expected. And they've thought hundreds of other people have been the Messiah figure, you know, ever since, because they are looking for this blessing, but they're not looking to serve the Lord. Well, we can be the same way. All right, now we come to uh verse eight, and it says, Now listen, Joshua the the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you. So now we find that there's friends in front of Joshua now, and he and his friends together are um indeed they are men who are a symbol. Yes, indeed. This is Jerusalem that they are a symbol of. And he says, Before behold, I am going to bring in my servant, the branch. Now, the branch is a term that we all should know that speaks of the Lord Jesus. Um, it he's referenced that way in several places. It's it's more the thought of like a shoot, you know, poking out of out of the ground, if you will. And uh this is a reference to the Messiah. He says, I'm gonna bring in my the Messiah, my servant, the branch. And they says, For behold, the stone I have set before Joshua. So this stone, which now the scene includes, is a stone that represents the Messiah. So now we've got kind of the whole picture, if you will. The Messiah's there. He says, Take a look at this stone, if you will. Okay, so maybe it's more like a pan shot than it is a zoom out. But in any case, wherever the scene is now including this stone, and he says, Pay attention to it, look at this stone, because on the stone are seven eyes, and he says, Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. Now, the seven eyes on it is very interesting because we find, I'm going to read from Revelation chapter 5, verse 6, it says, Um, in the a very familiar passage, I saw, um, let's see that the throne, the the elder, in the midst of the elders, a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. I believe that these seven um, there's different thoughts on this, and I guess I should acknowledge that that um, you know, uh different ones see the the eyes as the all-knowingness of of of Christ and um and the these sort of things. But I think it's just very simply the uh the eyes, this the spirit seven spirits of God that are sent out into all the earth. That's revel that's referenced there in Revelation. And part of the reason I think that is because as we come to chapter four, we find those um uh spirits of God, the seven spirits of God, specifically called out and and talked about. And so I think that because this is directly in the context of that, it's explaining that these seven eyes are the seven spirits of God, and they are part of and and with, if you will, this person that's just been identified as the Messiah, which is seen as a stone. And a stone is a, again, a very common figure for crises, the cornerstone that the builders rejected, etc. So we find that in this day, when all of this is going to happen, it's going to happen through the Messiah. The Messiah is going to be on the scene. He's the one who's going to happen. And he says, I will remove the iniquity of the land in that day. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree. Again, just a picture of the harmony that will exist in that day. There will no longer be this um thought of maybe they're going to steal or kill me, or or and you're going to have your own vine tree. It's a very wonderful figure. Again, the Lord is calling his people, come back, come back to this land. I'm going to bring in the Messiah. The Messiah is going to remove all of the iniquity. You need to be faithful for this to work, for this to happen. But I will bring this in. This will happen eventually, and there will be this blessing. So it's another call, Zechariah 3 is another call to the people to return to the land of Israel.