Morning Light – December 22nd, 2017 – Zecheriah 3: The Fourth Vision of Zecheriah

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Today: [Zecheriah 3] The Fourth Vision of Zecheriah: In chapter 3 of Zecheriah the prophet sees a forth vision of Satan standing against the high priest whose name is Joshua. What transpires in this vision is a picture not just of the high priest at that time, but also of Jesus who would come and defeat Satan and come out of the grave victorious.
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[Zec 3:1-10 KJV] 1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: [is] not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. 4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. 5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by. 6 And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying, 7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they [are] men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH. 9 For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone [shall be] seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.
Chapter 3 of Zecheriah opens with a fourth vision the prophet receives as a message for the returnees from Babylon who are involved in the reconstruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

1. The first vision is of an angel astride a red horse in a stand of myrtle trees.
2. The second vision is of four horns defeated by four carpenters representing the purpose of God to defeat and remove Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Persia.
3. The third vision was of an angel being instructed not to measure the city of Jerusalem for it will be a city without walls, supernaturally protected by God Himself.
4. The fourth vision is that of the governor Zerubbabel’s counterpart, Joshua the high priest being resisted by Satan himself.

This is only the 3rd mention of Satan in the bible. The first was when Satan provoked David to number Israel, the second was Satan accusing Job before God and this mention of Satan coming against the Joshua the high priest.
In verse 2 “the Lord” probably a reference actually to the “angel of the Lord” that was with Zecheriah during his visions, this person tells Satan “the Lord rebuke thee…” Why would this be effective? The world we live in was created by the words of God. Words have creative power to change things and in this case Satan himself is vanquished because of a word of command issued through the mouth of an angel on assignment. After Satan is dispatched Zecheriah sees Joshua standing before the angel in filthy clothes. The angel commands these to be taken away from him as a sign that his iniquity is passed from him and in verse 5 he is clothed with a mitre, or crown and clean garments or vestments for his priestly service.
It is unlikely that this visions speaks of a personal failure on Joshua’s part. He is standing in for the sins of the nation and the sins of the priesthood from years past, just as Jesus Himself as our great high priest stands in for our disobediences and takes our sin from us. In verse 7 after dispatching Satan, and clothing him with a clean ephod the angel gives a command to Joshua with regard to the discharge of the order of the priesthood. The promise is if Joshua and the priests under him will walk in God’s ways and keep the commandments given to them, that they will sit in authority in temple affairs and be given a place among “those that stand by…”
Who are those that stand by? Remember that the angel on the red horse is speaking and behind him are more riders on red and speckled horses. These were identified as those that walk to and fro in the earth who come with reports back to the throne of God as to the affairs of men and nations. What the angels is telling Joshua is that his authority would extend far beyond the natural city of Jerusalem, but literally to judge nations and the world in the company of these angel watchers. This was fulfilled in Christ and speaks of the saints as kings and priests unto God ruling and reigning with him and sitting in judgment with him at the end of the age. Verse 8 confirms this with the promise of the coming forth of God’s servant THE BRANCH which speaks of Christ coming as Messiah to take away the sins of the world.
Then Zecheriah’s attention is directed toward a stone laid in front of Joshua with and engraving of seven eyes upon it. This speaks of the Cornerstone who is Jesus who will come. The seven eyes are the seven spirits of God because the New Testament tells us that Jesus receives the Holy Spirit without measure, and all the giftings and graces of God will reside in Him without limitation. In this wording, we see that the remarks of the angels and the vision Zecheriah sees apply in their fulfillment to Jesus and the high priest of our profession and the filthy garments represent the sins of the world that Jesus bore for us. In that perspective the picture of Satan standing in opposition is a foreshadowing of the death, burial and ultimate resurrection of Jesus coming forth out of hell with the key of the domain of darkness, leading captivity captive and establishing His kingdom upon the earth.