Zechariah’s prophetic vision of Jesus is not to be missed and worthy of our time this Easter!

ZECHARIAH 3:1-10 (ESV): “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord Who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” 5 And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.  6 And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua, 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring My Servant the Branch. 9 For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”

What do we find in this passage?

Zechariah’s vision begins with a bit of spiritual conflict which involves Joshua the high priest.  Joshua, who was the high priest of God during Zechariah’s day, is standing in the presence of God and Satan is right next to Him accusing him.  The word we see in this verse is that Satan is attacking Joshua and wants to resist and attack and mess up anything he would do as a priest of God.  Satan is the opponent and the arch-enemy of anything good and Godly.  He wants to derail anything Joshua does to lead the people of God to God. In Zechariah’s vision, which continues, the angel of the Lord speaks for God and rebukes Satan.  To summarize, God tells Satan to ‘hush and sit down.’ 

The condition of Joshua is then described as a bit of a mess.  Verse 3 says he is in “filthy” garments which means his clothes are covered in… poop.  The adjective to describe his state of being is: excrementitious (ex-cre-men-tish-us).  The word used in verse 3 specifically means he is covered and smells like a sewer and is covered in everything one might find in a sewer.  That’s nasty, but we are meant to note and maybe even be surprised by the extreme condition of Joshua.

The cleansing of Joshua is then described in verses 4-5.  Zechariah sees the Lord remove the filthy clothes from Joshua and then clothes him with clean fresh garments.  Joshua goes from filthy rags to pure priestly vestments and even ends up with a clean turban at Zechariah’s request.  The keywords of “pure” and “clean” as well as the phrase “taken your iniquity away” let us know that what we are seeing is not just some action, but spiritual things are going on here.  “Iniquity” is a Bible word that means sin and wrongdoing and the whole sinful disposition we have that leads to distress and guilt.

* The filthy sewer clothes were symbols of Joshua’s sinfulness.

* The pure priestly clothes were symbols of God’s holiness and purpose.

* The changing of the clothes was the symbol of forgiveness and redemption and peace.

* We note that Joshua did nothing to earn the changing of clothes, but it was the grace of God.

The commissioning of Joshua then happens in verses 6-7 where Joshua is given a job to do by God and for God.  Grace upon grace is given and then God reinstates Joshua as priest.  There is quite a lot in this job actually.  His job was to walk in the ways of God and be faithful to Him.  His job was to lead the people of God to God and help them understand faith.  His job was also to pray and offer sacrifices to God for the people and to enter into His presence for them along the spiritual path described in His Word.  He could do all of this now that he had been cleansed from his filth and been renewed and refreshed and redeemed.

The vision of Zechariah is not over.  We have this symbolic action of God cleansing and giving the high priest a spiritual and sin-squashing makeover.  This is a picture of redemption and forgiveness.  This is a picture of grace and God’s will.  The old is gone the new has come.  Zechariah sees God and then addresses Joshua as though he is now ready to hear something very important. 

HERE COMES THE MESSIAH

Twice in verse 8 God tells Joshua and the other priests to listen up.  “Hear now” and “behold” are the equivalent of a huge neon sign from God pointing at a huge Truth. God says, “I will bring My Servant the Branch.”  That statement doesn’t make much sense unless we have a view of what the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah have said because this statement borrows from them.

ISAIAH 4:2-4 (ESV): In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.

ISAIAH 11:1-3a (ESV): There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

JEREMIAH 23:5-6 (ESV) (repeated in Jeremiah 33:15): “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the Name by which He will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

This servant of the Lord which gets the nickname ‘The Branch’ will be the One, according to Isaiah, Who will wash people clean from their sins that are excrementitious in nature and He has wisdom and understanding and counsel and might and knowledge about God and will draw people to believe and fear the Lord.  This ‘Branch’ is the One, according to Jeremiah, will be the One Who is a wise King and will bring justice and righteousness to God’s people.  Salvation comes by way of ‘The Branch.’  Spiritual security comes by way of ‘The Branch.’ 

This is the same ‘Servant the Branch’ in Zechariah’s vision.  This King Who washes people’s sins away and brings them knowledge of God is ‘The Branch’ and we see Him predicted in Isaiah and Jeremiah and now Zechariah all with the same wording.  God is talking to Joshua and the priests about this One Who would come.  Zechariah sees a seven-sided carved stone set before Joshua which is a symbol of the perfect wisdom and knowledge of this One Who is coming.

And then the most awesome statement in the whole vision happens.  Zechariah sees a redeemed priest hearing about this ‘Servant the Branch’ that will come and the promise is made in verse 9: “I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.”

THE MESSIAH

what Zechariah saw in this vision came true with Jesus!  I hope you believe this!  It is what we celebrate at Easter!

Jesus is the Branch Who washes away the filth of our sin!

Jesus is the Branch Who brings judgment and grace and wrath and mercy all at the same time.

Jesus is the Branch Who is the King that deals wisely and leads us to God.

Jesus is the Branch Who is ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

Jesus is the Branch Who removed our sins in a single day.

READ 1 CORINTHIANS 15:20-22 (ESV)

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a Man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

TMB