Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, the hosts methodically show how Scripture is one cohesive story. Critical Thinking with a little bit of theology and apologetics and you have what this podcast is about. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity today must address woke, deconstruction, and progressive Christianity, all topics that are addressed if we go purposefully through the Bible. Join Glenn and Steve weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S7 || Righteous Cleansing and Redemptive Transformation || Zechariah 3:3-9 || Session 7 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
Can the God truly cleanse and restore us from our deepest faults? Join us as we explore this profound question through the symbolic narrative of Zechariah 3. We focus on Joshua the high priest, whose transition from filthy to festal garments symbolizes Israel's journey from sin to redemption. This powerful transformation is orchestrated by the Angel of the Lord, whom we identify as the pre-incarnate Christ [Messiah]. By listening, you'll discover how this ancient story speaks to us today, offering timeless lessons on the authority of God's forgiveness and the promise of a purified state for believers. Join us for a rich, spiritually uplifting exploration of biblical themes, designed to inspire and deepen your journey of faith.
Hello and welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible. You have your copy of the Word of God. Open it to the Old Testament, book of Zechariah, chapter 3. And if you were with us last time, we learned that here we have the angel of the Lord. In the Old Testament, the angel of the Lord with the word the, is always the pre-incarnate Christ. It makes that quite clear in many passages. That's as contrasted with an angel of the Lord which is a messenger, a created being. Here we have the angel of the Lord speaking to Zechariah.
Speaker 1:In verse 2, the Lord speaks to Satan and says the Lord, rebuke you, satan. It says there the Lord has chosen Jerusalem. God is sovereign so he can choose Jerusalem if he wills. It also says that is this not a brand plucked from the fire, which just means a log that was not to be turned to ashes, and he pulls it out. We got through verse 2 last time, so he has chosen Jerusalem, pulled it out of the ashes and will now bless it again. Steve, if you could start with Zechariah 3.3 and read down through verse 7.
Speaker 2:Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 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. Then I said 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.
Speaker 1:The person being mentioned here is Joshua the high priest. Of course this is a different Joshua than the book of Joshua, very different time frame later in history. This Joshua is the high priest of Israel and as such, the high priest in the biblical sense is different than a priest today. Most people today view a priest as a representative of God to the people, and the priest in the Bible is exactly the opposite. A priest in the Bible is a representative of the people to God. Here, the priest and his friends down in verse 8 represented the people of Israel, the people of Jerusalem to God. As such, the church. Today, we can consider all Christians as priests because we are told in the New Testament that we can represent ourselves before God. We don't need an intermediary. In the book of Hebrews we're told we have the right as Christians to go directly into the throne room of God. We don't have to send in a representative as in the Old Testament, tabernacle ceremonies. With that, steve, how does it say here that the high priest is dressed as we opened?
Speaker 2:in verse 3? He is dressed in filthy garments and he's standing there before the angel.
Speaker 1:What are filthy garments symbolic of? That's not the only time in the Scriptures it talks about filthy garments. What were those considered?
Speaker 2:It's symbolic of the iniquities or the sin, the missing of the mark, In this case Joshua, since he's the high priest, he's a representative of the nation of Israel.
Speaker 1:In the Old Testament, levitical law, the high priest was supposed to be dressed. How, here he's in filthy garments. How was he supposed to be dressed?
Speaker 2:There was a whole regimen of garments that he was to wear. We went through that when we went through Exodus. It was a robe and there was an outer robe. There was an ephod that was on front that had the 12 stones that represented each tribe of Israel. There was also a turban on his head that had a nameplate on it that said Holy to Yahweh. That's what Zechariah refers to a little bit later when it says put the turban on his head. It was, to finish off, the way that the priest was supposed to be dressed.
Speaker 1:The high priest was supposed to have all of these fancy, clean high priestly garments. It tells us that in Leviticus, 16.32 and following. So you're exactly right, steve. He was supposed to, before he went and did his priestly duties, an entire ritual and very, very elaborate clothing. Here the high priest is in filthy garments as a representative of the people. Now, the representative is in filthy garments as a representative of the people. Now the representative is in filthy garments. Therefore, what this is saying is that the people of Israel were appearing before God in clothed in sin. They were clothed in filthiness and in unrighteousness. That's the imagery here. The Jews had filthy garments of their own works and filthy garments of their sin. In the Bible we're told that all our righteousness are like filthy rags. All of our deeds look to God like filthy rags. That's the imagery here that's presented before God. Then, in verse 4, what is the angel? Who is Jesus saying? What's he telling them?
Speaker 2:He's telling them that he has taken away the iniquity from you Again. Joshua is representing the nation of Israel. Since he's the high priest, he says I will clothe you with festal robes. In other words, he's going to put the clean garments of the priest on him. It's key here that the angel says I will take away the iniquity from you, glenn. Who has authority to take away someone's iniquity? The only one?
Speaker 1:is the Lord. The Lord Jesus has the ability and the right and has done so. He is the one who has taken away. You're exactly right, stephen. In verse 4, he says there I will take away your iniquity and will clothe you with these new, fancy, rich robes. This is the Lord Jesus saying I am going to do these things, I'm going to take away your sin and clothe you with clean garments. Now, that is a great lesson, even for us today.
Speaker 2:Now he said here I will take away the iniquity from you. Was he just taking away the iniquity from Joshua?
Speaker 1:All the people. Again, the high priest was the representative of all the people to God. Again, his friends are picked up down in verse 8. That means that the entire people of Jerusalem and Judea are being chosen by God. God is telling them I'm going to take away your iniquity and I'm going to clothe you with clean clothes. I'm reminded of the parable that Jesus told in the New Testament of the prodigal son. Do you remember? The son wasted his inheritance, ended up feeding pigs. So he smelled like a pig and looked like a pig and acted like a pig. But when he decided to go back to the father's house, remember what the father did? He gave him new ropes, he gave him clean clothes, put a ring on his finger and called him son again. Therefore, that's the picture here. What does God do for us? He takes our filthy rags of our own deeds and takes them away and clothes us with Jesus's righteousness. That is a tremendous thing and it's all done by faith to people that are in.
Speaker 2:Christ. I just want to make a clarification here. This is a picture of Jesus restoring the nation. They had disobeyed Yahweh by not letting their land lay fertile and he had used the Babylonians and Assyrians to take them off into captivity for 70 years to recoup the 70 years that they didn't let the land lay fallow. Now they're coming back in this vision that is being shown to Zechariah. It's a vision of God through Jesus, restoring the nation to a right standing with God. So it's not talking about individual salvation. The iniquity that he's removing at this point is the restoration of Israel. Even though they disobeyed, he's called them back to themselves, called them back into the land to rebuild the temple. Later he's going to call them to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. That's recorded in Nehemiah. It's just a picture of him restoring the nation back into a relationship with him.
Speaker 1:Israel returns to faith in Christ, he will clean their sins and clothe them in righteousness. Same with us when we return to God and have faith in Christ, he will clean us and give us clothes of righteousness. Then, in verse 5, it says that he's going to put a clean turban on the high priest's head. Again, if we go back to the Levitical law, part of the high priest's festal garments the fancy, rich robes was a turban that he had to wear when he was doing his priestly duties. The turban had letters on it according to the commands, and the letters said Holiness to the Lord. Imagine the high priest with this turban. Holiness to the Lord. What this is saying? They're going to give him a new holiness to the Lord. They're going to give him a new turban, a clean one that is truly holy Over.
Speaker 1:In the New Testament, he picks up this similar theme in Ephesians 6.17, says there God is going to give us a helmet, a helmet of salvation. In Revelation 22.4,. Christians are going to have the Lord's name written on our foreheads. This idea of the head being a place of salvation, or the head being a place or a symbol of salvation and righteousness, it starts all the way back here in the Old Testament and all the way back into the high priestly garments, holiness to the Lord was on the head.
Speaker 1:He's going to take off these filthy rags and put on clean robes the ones that are proper for a high priest and he's going to give them a new turban that says holiness to the Lord. And the only way that God can see holiness to us is when we are clothed with Christ's righteousness, when we have no more nor less than faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. No more nor less than faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He looks at us and he sees holiness to the Lord, even though we are not actually holy, until he comes back and regenerates our body. Right now, he has credited holiness to our account, and that's just a tremendous lesson. That is the picture of what Jesus does for us in the New Testament, is it not, Steve?
Speaker 2:It is and in Exodus 28, verses 36 and 38, that describes this turban that goes on the high priest. It says there that Aaron shall take away the iniquity of the holy things which Israel consecrates. Aaron was the high priest and from his line were the high priests supposed to be. Those were the ones who were allowed to go into the Holy of Holy on the one day to sprinkle the sacrifice on the mercy seat. That was there, intermediary between the people and God, Yahweh as a representative, taking away the iniquity of what the people consecrate to Yahweh. So, as you're pointing out, our high priest is Jesus Christ himself and he is the one that has taken away our iniquity. He is the one who is our intermediary now and through him we have individual salvation, because he is the one that has taken away our iniquity, Just as this high priest in the vision cannot stand before a holy God with his filthy garments.
Speaker 1:we cannot stand before a holy God clothed in our works. Again, all our works are like filthy rags, so we have to have new garments before we are allowed to go in to see the king. In our day you wouldn't go see a high official, even a judge or a president of a corporation. You wouldn't go unless you were wearing your best clothes. So what were the parables that Jesus told about the marriage supper? Right, he would invite people to come but then say, wait a minute, you don't have the wedding clothes on, so you have to be cast out. That's the tremendous lesson here. It's all the way back here in Zechariah.
Speaker 1:The lesson in this vision is really clear. A lot of times, Steve, people wave a hand and say, oh well, that's all symbolic. They think that means we don't have to really deal with what the symbol means. But the symbol here is very clear. The high priest, representative of the people, was clothed in sin. He was clothed in dirty rags. God says I will come and take away your sin, take away your iniquity, clothe you in righteousness, put you holiness to the Lord. That's the vision and it's very clear what it means. He says in there I've chosen Jerusalem, so it's only fulfilled in the time of Jesus paying for our sins. There's no other time in history that that could have happened, that this fulfillment was in Christ. So Jesus was the one who took away our iniquity once and for all.
Speaker 1:Now let's look at verse 7 again. In verse 7, it 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. I will grant you free access amongst those who are standing here. Steve, that verse, there's a lot there. What's he really saying?
Speaker 2:The temple area was made up of a series of courts. There was an outer court called the Court of the Gentiles. There was another court that was called the Court of Women, then there was another court inside of that. Then you got into the area where the bronze altar was, where the sacrifices were made. From there you went into the temple itself, where you had the holy place, where the lampstand was and the table to show bread, then the curtain, then behind that, the Holy of Holies. There's a description here saying Joshua, you're the high priest and you're in charge of representing the people, people. You're in charge of doing all of the priestly duties that have been laid out in the statutes from Exodus and Leviticus to do. If you continue in these ways, then I will give you the charge of all of these courts. It's just a way of saying you have a duty to do, joshua. If you do the duty well, you'll have the ability to be able to be in charge of all this whole temple complex area, including the Holy of Holies.
Speaker 1:Exactly. He's speaking to the high priest, saying literally if you do my commands, if you obey me, then I'm going to give you rule over God's house and you'll be in charge of all the courts and give you access to the divine heavenly being, the Lord. The question then arises can we, as Christians, claim this today? Are we in a position that if we obey, then we might be put in charge of something and given certain rights in God? Is this something that would also apply to salvation today? We saw in the previous verses yeah, we're clothed in filthy rags of our own good works, but God's going to come along through Jesus and take those away. This one says to the high priest, the same high priest saying if you keep my commands, you will be in charge of my courts and you'll be able to have access to the heavenly being. Is that a promise that we could claim today?
Speaker 2:It is a promise. In the area of sanctification, you have a time of belief. God counts it as righteousness, just as he did with Abraham. That's what's called justification. At that time, we are justified to be righteous before God by God himself. Then, after that, there's a period of sanctification. This is where you yield yourself to the Holy Spirit and you yield yourself to live a Christian life, which is to love the Lord, god, with all your heart, soul and might, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker 2:That's the law of Christ that we talked about just recently when we went through Galatians, and it's spoken about other areas in the New Testament as well. Through that process, we're then promised to receive different crowns whenever we receive our rewards for the things that we have done. So that, yes, I believe that by following and heeding the Holy Spirit and becoming mature and living a Christ-like life, which Paul described as putting on Christ every day, I do believe that we will have some rewards whenever we are at the end of our life and that through those rewards, we will be able to assist with Jesus in the millennial kingdom.
Speaker 1:God will always bless those who have faith in Him and obey Him. In this part of the prophecy, god approaches a very dirty, very sinful high priest, which represents all the people, and he takes away his iniquity, clothes him with righteousness and says if you have faith in me, then now you're going to be put in charge of things and you're going to have access into me. That same whole picture is for us. We do no more nor less than have faith in Jesus Christ. We get clothed in his righteousness and we are given rights and authorities of a son, as an adopted son, as a person that is owned by the king.
Speaker 1:Jesus, remember, told the parables that if I'm going to leave you with some things and I'm going to go away, and when I come back, oh good and faithful servant, you've been faithful in a few things I'm going to put you in charge of many things. Christians, if we are but faithful with the little bit he's given us now, then he will give us larger things in the kingdom that we can be in charge of. He will give us rights and authorities and responsibilities and give us the right to be able to go directly into the throne room and appeal to our loving Father, such a tremendous, tremendous lesson. It's buried all the way back here in Zechariah. It's no mystery what the symbol means if we just think of a few minutes. Such a great, great lesson. Steve, can you pick the next verses and read verses 8 through 10?
Speaker 2: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, 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. 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.
Speaker 1:This vision has several main symbols in it. There's something or someone called the branch, there is a stone, and then there is a day of peace where people invite the neighbors to come and sit. Those were the parts of the passage. Now, in verse 8, god speaks to Joshua, the high priest, and his friends. Now, the high priest, his friends would be other priests, he would be the Jewish people. As a representative of the people, his friends would be the people. Now, remember, the high priest has just had his filthy garments removed and given new, righteous garments. Now, god says that these are symbolic of things to come. In verse 8, he's going to bring the branch. Well, now, of course, steve, who is the?
Speaker 2:branch. The branch is the Messiah, and the Messiah is Jesus Christ. Christ is from the Greek word Christos, which just means the anointed one. Whenever we refer to Jesus Christ, we're really saying Jesus, the anointed one. That's what the Messiah is. He was the anointed one that was going to come.
Speaker 1:This isn't the first place that this word, the branch, arrives, that this word, the branch, arrives. When someone in Zechariah's day would use the branch, the hearers that were familiar with the other prophets would know exactly what he means. I have a few of them here just to drive home the point. Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. That's in Isaiah 11.1. Of course, Jesse was the father of David. Now Jesus was the descendant of David. That's Jeremiah 23, verses 5 and 6.
Speaker 1:One more righteous branch of David to spring forth and he shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. In those days, judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety. This is the name by which shall he be called. The Lord is our righteousness. That's Jeremiah 33, verses 15 and 16. Then, to wrap it up, jesus in Revelation 22, 6,. I am the root and offspring of David. It's very clear that this branch of David is the Lord, jesus Christ. It's mentioned many times here. In Zechariah, god is saying I'm going to raise up this branch and he's going to be very important in your lives, very important in your lives.
Speaker 2:In that cross-reference in Isaiah, chapter 11, when it describes that he will come from the root of Jesse, it says there that the spirit of Yahweh will be on him and he will restore wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, fear of the Lord. It's referenced here as being the seven spirits, or the spirit of the lord that is on him. In that whole isaiah passage there's talking about him as being a ruler and, of course, being a root from jesse, who was david's. That speaks of him this branch, as being a king figure.
Speaker 1:When Zechariah says I'm going to bring the branch, he didn't really have to say any more than that, because the people would know exactly who he's talking about. This was the descendant of David. This was the branch of David. This was the Messiah that was going to come and bring Israel into a glorious time. Of course, that was the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in verse 9, it says there that God sets before the high priest a stone with seven eyes. Now, who is the stone, according to the New Testament?
Speaker 2:The stone in the New Testament is Jesus. It's referred to him as being a living stone in 1 Peter. 1 Peter, 2, 4, 8 says if we come to Jesus as a living stone which has been rejected by man, and then it's also referred in other parts of the New Testament, as he is the chief cornerstone that has been laid, which is a reference back to an Old Testament passage. He is a stumbling block to those Jewish people who don't see him as being the Messiah.
Speaker 1:In Matthew 15, 16, he spoke to Peter and when Peter realized who Jesus was, you are the Messiah. That's when he realized who he was talking about, the Messiah. Then Jesus made the statement you are Peter, the little rock, but upon this rock, this great stone pointing to himself, my church will be built. All these passages about the stone is very clearly pointing to the Lord, jesus Christ. It says in here it had seven eyes. Now the Hebrew word for eyes could also mean facets or qualities.
Speaker 1:I think some of the English translations say seven facets, seven qualities or area. The same word is used in phrases like God's eye will have no pity, or my eye will not spare them, or things like that. It really doesn't matter, because really what it's just saying is that there's seven things in the stone that God will see. Eyes are the ability to see. He's going to see everything. He's going to have qualities about it. Seven is also a number of completion. There's an idea here that this stone is going to have seven areas of knowledge, seven abilities to know everything. Seven is the number of perfection. Jesus is the one. That is the stone. I'm also reminded Steve of Daniel. Daniel describes a stone cut without hands that destroys the world system and grows to fill the whole earth. That's in Daniel 2, verses 34 and 35. It's saying here in Zechariah that the branch and the stone are going to be brought in. Of course, that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:In Revelation 5, 6, John says that he saw seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth. And those spirits of God you can refer back to what I just mentioned in Isaiah, chapter 11, that described the spirit of the Lord and all those attributes there. Then also over in Chronicles, to back up what you're saying is it represents God knowing and wisdom and knowing what's going on? You're saying is it represents God knowing and wisdom and knowing what's going on? In 2 Chronicles 16.9, it says for the eyes of the Lord, Yahweh moved to and fro throughout the earth that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his. Again, we have these terms here and from the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament, that the people would know what's being referred to as Zechariah seeing these visions.
Speaker 1:They would know exactly what he's talking about when he talks about the branch and the stone. It'd be very, very clear. The other thing I think would come to mind is they were about to restart construction of a temple. The stone there, of course, was used in the temple. Restart construction of a temple. The stone there, of course, was used in the temple. The inscription it says in this verse that there's an inscription on the stone. He doesn't give us an interpretation of that, but cornerstones usually have inscriptions on them, as you pointed out, steve.
Speaker 1:Who is the cornerstone? Well, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2.20 says that Jesus is the cornerstone. With this we have here that God, through Zechariah, is promising to bring the Messiah, and he's promising to bring the branch, the one that is going to clothe the people in righteousness and bless them, because he had chosen them as his people. He's once again promising all of these things. We quote all these verses, steve. It just drives home. One of the values of this book, in Zechariah, is that there's so many references. It's like a train station or an airport, where you've got things coming in from all directions and going out to all directions and they all tie together in these prophecies, and it's just so wonderful.
Speaker 2:Through these visions, God is giving the people encouragement that the temple that they are building is leading to something else Again, one of the promises to Abraham is that through your seed, all the other nations were going to be blessed.
Speaker 1:We're going to stop there for today because of time. Such a rich, wonderful passage that applies to our lives today and what the Lord has done for us. We trust that you'll be back here with us next time, reasoning through the book of.
Speaker 2:Zechariah, thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.
