Zechariah 3 says...Bible reading week 30 and day 5

Today’s devotional is the fourth night vision of Zechariah in chapter 3.  The first had a man among the myrtle trees.  The second introduced us to the four horns and four craftsmen.  The third had a man with a measuring line.  The fourth will be about the cleansing of the High Priest.

v.1 - 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.

We have a historical figure given to us in the night vision, Joshua who the right hand man of Moses and his successor.  Joshua is the one who led the people of Israel into the Promise Land after the Exodus from Egypt.  Now the exiled people of Israel are coming back to the Promise Land after being in Babylon.  Zerubbabel is the first of three that would identify with Joshua and his trek at leading the people of God to their homeland.  Joshua holds a spiritual position in the lives of the people but also in their midst is Satan, the adversary, who has come to accuse the one who is following God’s orders.

v.2 - The LORD 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?”

I love it when we have God speaking directly to Satan.  It gives us a picture of heaven and hell.  The existence of both are real.  What Satan receives from God is only rebuke.  We are all headed to the fire of hell but someone has plucked us from that fate.  God’s hand was upon Joshua and God’s hand was upon Zerubbabel to say that these would not burn under the reign of Satan.  This is a beautiful picture of salvation.  If you are saved, you were plucked by God from the fire to be with Him forever.  He rescued you from torment to experience the tremendous love of God.  Even though Satan accuses and inflicts pain upon the people who call Jesus Lord, they will not see the fire of hell because of what God has done.  Greater is God who is in us than Satan who is in the world.

v.3 - Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel.

The late R.C. Sproul has a great children’s book based on this night vision of Zechariah.  It is the titled, “The Priest With Dirty Clothes.”  You assume that he shouldn’t have dirty clothes when standing before the angel.  

v.4 - He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.”  Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.”

We see from this verse that the dirty garments are tied to iniquity also known as sin.  The clothes are taken away because God has taken the iniquity away.  We come to God with the dirty clothes of sin and He orders those clothes away because of what He has done.  He also provides festal robes, or those clothes saved for special occasions, to be put on in the place of the dirty clothes of sin.  God, through Jesus, took away our sin and replaced it with salvation.  You can hear Paul referring to this night vision when he speaks of the old being done away with and the new coming.

v.5 - Then 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, while the angel of the LORD was standing by.

The most noticeable part of the outfit is what is put on your head.  Many ladies used to wear elaborate hats to church.  Kings and queens put on their heads crowns of many jewels.  The military put upon their heads hard helmets for war and decorative hats for the parades.  The headgear of Joshua shows that something has happened that focuses on what is clean and holy.  The Apostle Paul’s rundown of the armor of God gives us the helmet of salvation.  Salvation makes us holy and clean because of Christ’s offering on the cross and the resurrection from an empty tomb.  

v.6, 7 - And the angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying, “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 these who are standing here.’”

I am so amazed at the salvation message embedded in this Old Testament passage.  After salvation comes a walking after Jesus.  My ways, My service, My house, My courts.  God states four times His sovereignty over our lives.  He is to rule over what we know.  He is to rule over what we do.  He is to rule over His house, the church, and our homes.  He is to rule over what is right and wrong.  We are to walk and perform before we will govern and have charge over.  God is granting those who live out their salvation free access to the place of the angels, heaven.  God is proclaiming that there is a world after this one for those who follow after Him and have been plucked from Satan’s grasp and his fire.

v.8 - “‘Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you--indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch.’”

Here we see that this night vision is projecting them into a future event and that is the first coming of the Messiah, the Branch.  God is bringing someone to the people of this world.  This person will be the servant of God and also the branch.  Both of these descriptions identify that this one will come humbly.  A servant is one who serves and the tree coming up from the ground first looks like a little branch.  Jesus came to serve and He came as a little branch as a little baby laid in a manger in the little town of Bethlehem.

v.9 - “‘For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes.  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.’”

The gospel is just emerging from this passage.  Jesus is described as the cornerstone that the builders rejected but Jesus is the chief cornerstone.  Seven in the Bible is a number signifying completeness or fulfillment, perfection and this stone has seven eyes on it.  Jesus would bring fulfillment to all the Law and the Prophets.  This stone will be engraved like a tombstone or a cornerstone of a building with something that will last forever.  Jesus hanging on the cross had an inscription over his head stating He was King of the Jews.  On that one day, the day of Calvary and the cross, the sin, the iniquity, was removed.  It was removed by this Servant, this Branch, this Stone.

v.10 - “‘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.’”

Wow!  And here is the Great Commission.  Jesus has died on the cross and risen from the grave to give a commission to His disciples and those who would follow after Him to make disciples, to invite his neighbor, and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you, to sit under God’s vine and God’s fig tree.  This is a call for the people of Israel to invite others to know of their God.  It was a call to be in fellowship with others under God’s vine and fig tree and not our our vine or fig tree.  We are not calling them to be like us but to be like God.  I am just blown away this morning at the gospel so clearly given to the people of God some 700 years before Christ would come.  May we take this passage this morning be overwhelmed by the love of God and His provision for our dirty garments to be thrown away and new ones to put on in their place.  May we see Christ as the Servant and Branch that came in humility to be the Stone that perfectly completes all with an act done in one day on that day.  Let us pray.

“Lord, I am amazed at Your preparation.  I am amazed at Your proclamation.  I am amazed that You speak to us from all corners of Your Scripture.  You jump out at us some 2700 years later out of a night vision given to one of Your prophets.  May we see how precious our salvation is and how important it is to invite our neighbors to sit under Your vine and Your fig tree.  Amen.”

Pastor Adam