The High Priest Joshua, With Fellow Priests-- A Sign Of Things To Come (Zechariah 3:1-10) Series

Today, we continue our Zechariah series by entering into Zechariah's fourth vision. Before we dive in, let me offer you a quick recap of the message of the three visions we've studied so far. These visions have been visions that gave hope to God's people at a very difficult time in history-- a time when some of God's people had returned from being scattered across the Babylonian empire, to cities that lay in ruins. It's to this people, and to these cities, that God gave Zechariah visions, to encourage him and his people. Up to this point, the message of the visions is this: God is very shortly going to have compassion on Jerusalem, and the towns of Judah. God will fill these cities with people, and animals, and prosperity. They will once again thrive. God will dwell in their midst, in the newly rebuilt temple. And He will be wall of fire all around it, protecting them.

God is also going to be at work among the nations, and Babylon, in particular. All the nations who harmed God's people-- and Babylon is at the top of that list-- will be plundered (Zechariah 2:9). They will have their horns of power cut off, so that they lose their ability to hurt God's people again (Zechariah 1:18-21). But what we also saw, surprisingly maybe, was that God has a positive plan for the nations as well. Part of the reason Jerusalem will be filled with people, is that many nations will be joined to Yahweh, and will become part of God's people (Zechariah 2:11). What God envisions, is a future where He lives among his people, and his people are made up of both ethnic Jews and ethnic Gentiles. In the end, that is the group of people called "Israel" (Galatians 6:16).

Our fourth vision-- the one we will encounter this morning-- might seem disconnected from all of this. But what we see today, is that, potentially, there is a giant fly in the ointment to God's plan.

Let's read verses 1:

(1) And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Yahweh,

while The Adversary [was] standing at his right hand to accuse ("to satan") him, [Psalm 109:6]

There's a lot going on here. Right? Verse 1 begins with someone showing Zechariah his friend, and coworker, Joshua. These are people who know each other, and who are committed to restoring Judah together.

Who shows him this? It's debated. Some say it's God in heaven, who shows Zechariah this vision. My vote, is that it's the interpreting angel. It's not something that's a big deal, either way, probably.

Now, we see in this verse that there's a new character in this movie clip-- The Adversary. In Hebrew, it's ha-satan. Some of your Bibles will simply translate this as "satan." But this is a title, not a name. It's "the satan." A "satan" in the OT is someone who opposes, or accuses, someone else of something. The angel of Yahweh is called a "satan" in Numbers (Numbers 22:22, 32). The Philistines called King David a potential "satan" in 1 Samuel 29:4-- they were worried that he and his men would turn against them in battle, and reveal themselves to actually be their "adversaries."

The "satan" we see in this verse might or might not be the "satan" of the NT (and George Klein, a conservative Baptist, points out that it's not necessarily an easy question here). But what we see about this satan, is something we see about every satan in the Bible. He's working as an adversary. In this case, he's an adversary who is pushing back against God's plan, and against the angel of Yahweh. The adversary points out an uncomfortable truth, that would be far easier to sweep under the rug (didn't quite fit this in, but when politicians like Ron Paul, Rand Paul, and Thomas Massie highlight flawed things that the ruling party is doing, they are acting as valuable "satans"-- they are pointing out uncomfortable truths, and asking probing difficult questions, that need to be asked. Rand Paul asking, "Is the U.S. going to do drone strikes on Americans, on American soil," and no one wanting to give a straightforward answer." Or Thomas Massie, pointing out that a naval blockade on Venezuela is unquestionably an act of war, and Congress is the only one who can declare war. Someone needs to ask the hard questions, and point out the hard truths.)

What's the hard truth? We haven't quite been told yet (not cheating!). But the adversary stands at Joshua's right hand to accuse Joshua. And this language, of "standing at the right hand of someone to accuse," is legal imagery (Psalm 109:6). This is a heavenly courtroom scene. Everyone else might be willing to ignore this flaw in Joshua, but the adversary is going to say what needs to be said.