INTRODUCTION.
We are now in the third month in our exploration of the prophecies of Zechariah. So far we have looked at the first two chapters. Last month we looked at the first three visions. This month we are looking at the fourth vision: The Removal of the High Priest’s Dirty Clothing and Replacement with Rich Garments.
In the first 8 chapters of Zechariah we see God giving His Jewish people 7 messages about His power, love, wisdom and holiness, so that they can be prepared for the most momentous event in the whole of creation, the coming of the Messiah. Sadly, many missed the event and many Jews are still preparing themselves for it, because they did miss it.
The aspect of God that I still find hard to comprehend, is that, even if we reject Him, we disobey Him, we sin against Him, God still loves us. We call it ‘grace’, unmerited love from God to His rebellious creation. The people of Israel were a very rebellious people, though probably no more rebellious than any other people would be, but God still wanted His people to be spiritually ready for the coming of the Messiah when He finally appeared. He did not want them to miss Him; He wanted them ready so that they could respond to Him in the right way.
The first three visions we categorised under ‘Our God Reigns’. It does not matter what men or women may try to do, the will of God will prevail, even to the extent of using kings and nations that do not accept Him as God. God now shows His unconditional love for His people in this fourth vision. To understand this vision a little better, we need to investigate the subject of the vision, Joshua, a little.
Joshua was the high priest who returned from exile in Babylon with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:2; Neh 7:7) He helped to rebuild the altar (Ezra 3:2, 8) and the house of God (4:3; 5:2).
We also see references to Joshua, the high priest, in Haggai.
In Haggai we see Joshua as someone who becomes transformed and obedient to God. Haggai emphasizes the positive aspects of Joshua.
In Zechariah he is used as a symbol of a rebellious nation. He is used to warn of the danger of rebelling against God, but also as an encouragement to repent and turn back to God.
In this fourth vision, God showed the Jewish people that even though their sins had made them unfit to function as a "kingdom of priests", they remained the objects of His unconditional love. (Ex 19:5, 6) “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The nation would therefore be cleansed and made fit to be with God one day.
1. The High Priest Accused.
(v1) Joshua is standing before the ‘angel of the LORD’ ministering on behalf of the people of Israel, as one would expect of a priest. Satan stands on his right side to accuse him. The Hebrew word for ‘accuser’ has the same root as that for Satan. Satan is the accuser of the people of the nations. He accuses us before God. He reminds us of our own sinfulness, our own wrong doing, trying to make us feel guilty.
The LORD God rebuked Satan, twice; Joshua represented the people of Israel, God’s chosen people. (v2)“burning stick snatched from the fire” Satan’s accusations were futile! God in His unconditional love had snatched these people from the fire of captivity in Babylon to carry out God’s future purpose for them.
In the same way, when Satan accuses us in the presence of God, He will rebuke Satan as He sees our names written in the Lambs Book of Life. We will be the remnant of the people of this world who have been snatched from the fire of the materialism and sin of this age. Do we have a right to be in that book? No! We have done nothing to give us that right; it is the grace of God, the Unconditional Love of God, which has put our names in that book, the Lamb’s Book of Life.
2. The High Priest Stripped.
Joshua was standing there dressed in filthy clothes. (v3) “Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.” Joshua represented the Jews, the filthy clothes the sin of the Jews.
The garments of the high priest were filthy, symbolizing the sinfulness of the nation. The devil was laying the charge that the nation’s spiritual condition disqualified her from becoming a nation of priests. (See Ex 19:5, 6 above). This, in Satan’s mind, prevented God from fulfilling His promise to Moses.
The scene that followed gives us a visual demonstration of the way God will qualify the Israelites for their calling. The angel of the Lord told bystanders to take off Joshua’s filthy clothes, saying, "See, I have taken away your sin …” (v.4).
The removal of the filthy clothes did two things;
(a) It symbolized the removal of the sin of the nation, by God;
(b) It meant that Joshua was no longer able to act as high priest, as he was not wearing his official robes.
When we repent, God will remove the sin from our lives, but we must come to Him without any pretensions. We have no rights before God. We have no position of authority before God. We come to the foot of the Cross of Calvary with absolutely nothing.
As Augustus Toplady puts it in v3 of ‘Rock of Ages’:
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
We come to the Cross with empty hands. There is nothing that we can give to God in return for the immense gift of love that He has given to us. Nothing in the whole of creation can ever equal the value of that gift. We cannot bargain our forgiveness and salvation.
But we also come as Joshua did, naked, our filthy garments stripped from us. All our sin is taken away. Just as Joshua had his clothes taken from him, so we cannot do it by ourselves. It is the Blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin and guilt, as Toplady says in v1
Be of sin the double cure,
Cleanse me from its guilt and power.
3. The High Priest Clothed in Rich Garments.
"See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you" (v.4). Joshua was then clothed in clean high-priestly garments. Since Joshua represented the priesthood of the nation, this transaction symbolized the future cleansing of the Israelites and their reinstatement as a nation of priests.
Isaiah 1:18, 19 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;”
Scarlet … crimson Refers to the blood that has stained the hands of murderers. white as snow. A powerful figurative description of the result of forgiveness (see Ps 51:7 “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”). This offer of forgiveness is conditional on the change in our life called for in v. 19. “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;”
4. The High Priest has a Clean Turban on his Head.
“Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by. “ (v5)
The people of Israel are fully reinstated as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”. The turban had a golden plate on it on which were engraved the words, "holy to the Lord" (Ex. 28:36; 39:30). This turban carried the message that this was a holy nation, set apart for God.
Through the Blood of Christ we become part of that holy nation. Rom 8:17 “Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Heirs: those who have already entered, at least partially, into the possession of their inheritance. Co-heirs with Christ.: everything really belongs to Christ, but by grace we share in what is his. If indeed we share in his sufferings. The original Greek makes a statement of fact which means that there is no doubt about sharing Christ’s glory; we are assured a future entrance into our inheritance.
Gal 3:29 “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Therefore, we can say that Christians are Abraham’s true, spiritual descendants.
[Gal 4:4-7 “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”]
Eph 3:6 “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” That Gentiles would turn to the God of Israel and be saved was prophesied in the OT (see Ro 15:9-12); that they would come into an organic unity with believing Jews on an equal footing was unexpected.
However, this was a promise right from the beginning (Gen 12:3) where God says to Abram “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
We, as Christians, are a part of the New Israel, the Holy Nation of God. This is not something we can boast about, because it is not something that we have done, it is something that God has done. He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Saviour, so that we might become co-heirs, with Him.
Jesus Christ submitted to His suffering on the Cross of Calvary in complete obedience to His Father’s will, so that we might be saved, so that we might have eternal life in the New Israel of God’s Kingdom.
CONCLUSION.
Here is the mystery of creation, encapsulated in Rom 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
We were strangers to God, through our sin and disobedience. God, in His Unconditional Love, provided the way for us to return to Him, through the promise that He had made to Abram. We can become one in the Holy Nation of Israel, clothed in clean and white garments and stand before His throne in the last days knowing that we have been forgiven.
