VISION #4 – THE GREAT HIGH PRIEST (Zechariah 3:1-5
INTRODUCTION:
The first three visions that we looked at focused on Israel’s future restoration and transformation and the judgment that is reserved for Israel’s enemies, the nations that had oppressed and afflicted her. This morning, we will begin to look at the fourth vision, this vision and the next are the mid-point to the eight night visions and are central to what the LORD revealed to Zechariah. The eight night visions all together showed that God remembered His word, His promises, including His present plan for His people, His purpose for the nations, and His promises to Israel. But these two middle visions specifically focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, and God’s promises concerning the work of the Messiah.
In this fourth vision the prophet witnessed a heavenly courtroom where Satan was attempting to accuse elect Israel represented by Joshua the High Priest. In this scene there is only One who is able to intercede for God’s elect: the Lord Jesus Christ. We will learn that Israel has only one great High Priest and Advocate: the Angel of Yahweh, God the Son. This vision emphasizes two aspects of the Messiah’s priestly ministry on behalf of His people: His ministry of intercession and His ministry of imputation.
Though this vision was given specifically for the nation of Israel, we should deeply appreciate the truth it reveals about Christ’s work of intercession and imputation. In this vision we are given an in-depth look at the power, effectiveness, and intensity of the priestly work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament make it clear that this priestly ministry of Christ is not just for Israel but for all of God’s people. He is not only Israel’s Great High Priest but ours as well. Let’s pray and then get into today’s passage.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Zechariah 3:1-5. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word, and follow along as I read.
Zechariah 3:1-5,
“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. 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?’ 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, ‘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.” (Zechariah 3:1–5, NASB95)[1]
THE MINISTRY OF INTERCESSION (Zechariah 3:1-2)
Unlike the visions before this where Zechariah saw or lifted up his eyes to see what God would reveal, this vision begins with, “Then he showed me.” (Zechariah 3:1a, NASB95)[2] The language of “showed” means to cause one to see. God had to open Zechariah’s eyes to see the glorious truths in this vision that were far beyond anything he had seen up to this point.
The first person that appeared in this vision was Joshua the high priest. This Joshua was the high priest during the lifetime of Zechariah. Joshua along with the governor Zerubbabel had led the first group back to Israel after Cyrus had decreed they could return. The role of the high priest in this vision is very important. A priest’s ministry was to mediate the relationship between God and man. The Lord had called the whole nation of Israel a kingdom of priests as they mediated His relationship with the world. The Levitical priesthood with Israel led the nation in this effort. The Levitical priests mediated Israel’s relationship with God as they carried out offerings of worship and made sacrifices for sin. At the center of this, the High Priest led the other priests in this sacred ministry. Once a year, the High Priest would both offer sacrifices and sprinkle the blood of those sacrifices on the mercy seat inside the Holy of Holies. This would symbolically atone for sin and reset the Levitical system for another year. In that elevated role, from a human perspective, the High Priest had the greater responsibility for God’s fellowship with His people. If the High Priest carried out His role in an acceptable manner, the Lord would continue to commune with Israel. If he failed, the relationship would rapidly deteriorate. The fact that Joshua the High Priest appeared in this vision raised an important issue, especially after decades of exile: Would the Lord continue to have a positive relationship with His people?
As Joshua the High Priest stood there, representing the nation, God made it clear that Israel’s blessings did not depend on Joshua. Rather, they depended on the One before whom Joshua was standing. Joshua was standing before the angel of Yahweh or the angel of the LORD. This phrase “standing before” carries the idea of being involved in priestly service and intercession. That Joshua was serving before and praying to the angel of Yahweh is solid evidence that the Angel of Yahweh is Yahweh Himself, since only God alone can be worshiped. This is confirmed in the larger context, in which the Angel of Yahweh is repeatedly called Yahweh.
In Zechariah’s first vision we saw the high priestly ministry of the Angel of Yahweh as He interceded for Jerusalem. In the third vision we saw the atoning work of the Angel of Yahweh who was prophesied to be the sacrifice for His people. Joshua, by ministering before the Angel of Yahweh, was standing before the Lord Himself. Joshua was making his appeal to the great High Priest, the One who is both Yahweh and the great intercessor for His people. If Israel were to be acceptable to God, a merely human High Priest would not be enough. Only the Angel of Yahweh, the second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, could accomplish that for His people.
There was a third figure in this vision that the prophet saw, standing in this heavenly courtroom at the right hand of Joshua was Satan. In Hebrew, the word “Satan” means “accuser” and that is why he was in this scene, to accuse. In keeping with his nature, Satan was hurling allegations against Joshua to condemn him and to argue that the people he represented were unworthy to receive God’s promises. Satan has always accused the saints. In Revelation 12:10 he is called the accuser of the brethren. Here in Zechariah 3, Satan proclaimed Joshua’s guilt and unworthiness to God. The situation was critical. If Joshua was cleared of Satan’s charges, then that would mean that Israel would be accepted by God. But if Joshua was condemned and cast off, then Israel would stand condemned and be cast off. However, the outcome was not dependent on Joshua. Joshua had entrusted these matters to the Angel of Yahweh. The question that had come before this heavenly courtroom was: Would Satan’s accusations against Joshua stand, or would the Messiah intercede for His people so that Joshua and the nation could continue to enjoy God’s favor and promised blessings? In response to that question concerning the destiny of Israel, the Angel of Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan!” (Zechariah 3:2b, NASB95)[3] We have seen this before in Zechariah, where Yahweh sends Yahweh, or Yahweh addresses Yahweh. We see it here again; the second Person of the Trinity (the Angel of Yahweh) appealed to the first Person of the Trinity (Yahweh) in order to rebuke Satan. In rebuking Satan, the Angel of Yahweh disputed Satan’s accusation and interceded for His people as their great High Priest. At this desperate time of need in Israel, the great High Priest of heaven, the eternal Son, directly and decisively defended His own.
The intercession made by the Angel of Yahweh in this vision was effective. This is seen in several ways. First, it came with God’s power. The Angel of Yahweh said, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan!” Christ’s intercession was directed to the infinite authority of Yahweh Himself, as Christ asked the Father to rebuke Satan. The idea of rebuke in Scripture was not simply to point out someone’s wrong, but to pronounce judgment. So, when the Angel of Yahweh appealed to Yahweh to rebuke the accuser, He was calling upon God to silence and negate any accusation Satan brought. The power of this is seen in its directness. The Angel of Yahweh confronted Satan directly, ready to counter and defeat every charge brought by Satan.
Second, the Messiah’s intercession was effective because it was grounded in God’s promise of election. The Angel of Yahweh declared, “Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!” (Zechariah 3:2b, NASB95)[4] The Lord reminded everyone that God will surely rebuke and silence Satan because He has chosen Jerusalem. This truth of God’s election of Jerusalem is repeated throughout the Old Testament just as it is repeated here. By declaring this shows that God had already made a promise regarding Jerusalem, and Satan’s accusations could not undermine what God had predetermined to do.
Third, the Messiah’s intercession was also effective because it was based on God’s purpose. Again, the Angel of Yahweh declared, “Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” (Zechariah 3:2c, NASB95)[5] This statement describes how a stick or a log in a fire might be plucked out and preserved. To do this might be risky to reach into the flames to retrieve a piece of wood, but one would take that risk if he had a purpose for that stick and wanted to preserve it before it burned up. Israel found itself surrounded by flames of persecution, judgment, and exile. The story of the Old Testament could have ended with God’s people being consumed among the nations. But God snatched them out of the flames of the nations, and brought them home, preserving them and promising to redeem them. This clearly shows that God was not done with Israel.
In making this statement, the Messiah declared that God’s purpose for Israel was still in place. Satan’s accusations would not provoke the Lord to destroy His chosen nation. To do so would go against God’s purposes and the covenants He had made with Israel. If God’s saving purposes were to fail, His name would be dishonored. For His own name’s sake, God would not abandon His people.
God will not go back on His promises. Satan will continue to constantly accuse the elect, pointing out their failures and unworthiness, but there is One who intercedes on their and our behalf. He is none other that the great High Priest, the Messiah. Where no sinner can stand, He will intercede before the judgment seat of God, triumphing over the accuser so that His people will be pardoned and declared righteous. In the courtroom of heaven, the Father remembers the sacrificial atoning work of His Son, by which the redeemed of the ages are justified.
THE MINISTRY OF IMPUTATION (Zechariah 3:3-5)
Sin is anything we think, say, or do that transgresses God’s law, sin is also to miss the mark of God’s righteous standard. Sin stains people and makes them guilty before God. Even before sin entered the world, the Lord made it clear that covering sinners required death. That truth is seen in the opening pages of Genesis when God kills an animal and uses the skin to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve. The sacrificial system which God instituted for the nation of Israel continued to illustrate both the necessity and the nature of the work God must do to deal with sin. Animals were slaughtered to show that death is required to satisfy God’s justice and wrath. Sin offerings demonstrated the price for forgiveness and the need for a substitute. Not only that, but the sacrificial system illustrated that any hint of sin made a person guilty and unacceptable in God’s sight. These truths are shown to us in this part of Zechariah’s fourth vision, including the need for positional righteousness, the imputation of righteousness, and the resulting change in a sinner’s status before God.
Zechariah goes on to describe what he was shown. Immediately we see the reason Joshua depended entirely on the Angel of Yahweh for his intercession. The prophet tells us that “Joshua was clothed with filthy garments.” (Zechariah 3:3a, NASB95)[6] The clothes of the priest needed to be in a state of purity for him to intercede for himself and his people. Clean and immaculate attire was required because it symbolized his representative role for God before the people. Zechariah states that the garments of Joshua were filthy. This Hebrew term that is translated “filthy” comes from a root that refers to dung or excrement. This would not only be repulsive but especially problematic for a priest. Priests were forbidden to come into contact with anything that was unclean. To serve as the High Priest in a state of filthiness would result in being cut off from God and from Israel. At this moment, Joshua was completely disqualified to serve the Lord. In this point, Satan had a legitimate accusation to bring against him. Stained with sin, Joshua was unfit to enter the Lord’s presence. As a result, Israel had no qualified human priest to mediate between them and God. This scene provides a descriptive picture of the nature of sin, which is repulsive and vile before the divine Judge.
Because of sin and the fact that it stains and defiles sinners, no sinner is qualified to serve God, enter His presence, or enjoy fellowship with Him. Because of their guilt they deserve condemnation. But Zechariah informs us that even in his filthy state, Joshua was still standing before the angel, as he had been earlier. Just as Joshua had been fully and completely dependent on the Angel of Yahweh to intercede for him and his people Israel, so Joshua also depended on the Angel of Yahweh for his righteousness before the Lord. For God to fulfill the promises to His people—to commune with them and to dwell in their midst—they needed to be holy as the Lord is holy. This fourth night vision shows us that this cannot occur by the power of any sinful human priest, but that it is achieved only by the sinless Messiah’s priestly ministry of imputation. The high priest Joshua was standing before the Angel of Yahweh, trusting in Him to do what he could not do for himself.
The Angel of Yahweh is always ready to do what we cannot do for ourselves, He is always ready to act on behalf of those who depend on Him. Verse 4 says, “He spoke and said to those who were standing before Him, saying, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him.’ ” (Zechariah 3:4a, NASB95)[7] Those standing before Him were angels, heavenly hosts who do whatever God requests. God committed all of heaven to serve those who will inherit salvation. With sovereign authority, God commanded that the filthy garments be removed. For Joshua to be acceptable to God, putting new clothes on top of the filthy ones would not be enough. He would still be unclean, and the new clothes would become contaminated from the filthy ones underneath. So, it was required that the filthy garments be removed completely. Every scrap of filthy clothing had to be stripped away. That is why the Angel of Yahweh commanded that they be removed from him. If Joshua had simply discarded these garments to just put them on again later, it would have been self-defeating. These filthy garments were to be totally and permanently separated from the High Priest.
This complete and permanent removal was required not merely for Joshua’s filthy garments, but for the sin they symbolized. Because of this, the Angel of Yahweh said, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you.” (Zechariah 3:4b, NASB95)[8] In a judicial and positional sense, everything that happened to Joshua’s clothes happened to his sin, and this illustrates for us the wonderful nature of forgiveness and justification. The Angel of Yahweh made Joshua’s guilt pass away, He took it from him. Just like his filthy garments, the guilt of his sin was done away with completely and permanently. When the Lord graciously forgives a sinner, it is the same way, He does not partially remove the guilt of sin, it is removed completely. It is removed as far as the east is from the west Psalm 103:11-12 states. The Angel of Yahweh declared that He had fully dealt with Joshua’s sin, including its guilt. The Lord’s forgiveness is not partial or temporary, it does not fade or falter, leaving the sinner to make up for it on his own, as if the sinner ever could. Christ’s sacrifice is fully sufficient once and for all. The forgiveness God grants is both complete and final.
Notice that the Angel of Yahweh states that “I have taken your iniquity away from you.” (Zechariah 3:4b, NASB95)[9] The Angel of Yahweh was claiming personal responsibility for making Joshua’s sins pass away. It is a reminder that God alone has the authority and right to forgive sin, the work of atonement is entirely a work of God, to which neither Joshua nor any other sinner contributes. No self-righteous work plays a part in making a sinner right with God. Joshua was unworthy because of his sin. Yet, because of the work of the great High Priest, Joshua’s filthy garments were removed so that he might be pardoned by God.
The removal of sin and guilt is only half of what must be done. To be clean, dirty clothes must not only be removed, but clean clothes must also be put on. This points to the nature of justification: the guilt of sin is not only taken away from the sinner, but the sinner is clothed in the imputed righteousness of Christ. So, the Angel of Yahweh told Joshua that He would clothe him with festal robes. It is important to note that it was the Angel of Yahweh who clothed Joshua in these festal robes. The verb is causative, which stresses that the Angel of Yahweh placed these new clothes on the High Priest, as opposed to Joshua doing it himself. The picture is similar to what took place in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve tried to make their own garments but failed, God, in His grace, clothed them in garments of His own making. Just as Joshua could not remove his own filth and sin, so also he could not obtain or put on his own righteous garments.
Though in practice Joshua was still a sinner, in position he was now righteous, having been clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ. The way God declares people righteous is by covering them in the righteousness of His Son. Paul explained it this way in 2nd Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB95)[10] Only when people are made right with God by being clothed in Christ’s righteousness, can they enjoy fellowship with Him. Since Joshua had been given such garments there was a future not only for Joshua, but also for those he represented. Through His work of substitutionary atonement, the Messiah would not only strip away the filth that corrupted His people, but He would also clothe them with His own righteousness, a righteousness they could never achieve on their own.
As we come to verse five, there is a surprising turn, Zechariah is so caught up in this vision that he speaks and participates in the vision. “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.” (Zechariah 3:5, NASB95)[11] The Lord prompted Zechariah to urge the angels to put a clean turban on Joshua’s head. The turban was the last piece of clothing the priest would put on at his ordination. By asking for this, Zechariah expressed his desire to see the high priest’s consecration completed. This enthusiasm by Zechariah prefigured that of the people when they would one day unite with the priest in following God. This scene anticipates a future time when all Israel will be saved, being justified by God on account of the Messiah’s work.
The clean turban is starkly contrasted with the filth Joshua had previously been wearing. It was a vivid reminder that he was now clothed in a righteousness not his own, but that which comes from the Lord. The high priest’s turban had a gold plate attached to it which had engraved on it “Holy to Yahweh,” designating that the high priest was set apart, consecrated, and dedicated to Yahweh, and totally belonging to Him. Putting the turban on Joshua’s head showed that he was officially consecrated for the work of leading the people in worship. By being stripped of his filthy garments and clothed from head to toe in clean garments, in this way, Joshua was justified in the courtroom of heaven and commissioned for service to the Lord.
There is one other thing I want to point out in this passage. The word that is used here and translated turban is not the usual Hebrew word used when speaking of the high priest’s turban. In other usages, it refers to a royal diadem or crown, indicating that it was not only priestly but also royal. Because of this, the vision portrayed Joshua as a Priest-King, which is a surprising image since no Israelite priest could also be a king. Priests and kings were from two different tribes. But this depiction of Joshua as a Priest-King is critical. It is the first time this dual role appears in the book of Zechariah, but it is not the last. The Lord intended this image of a priest and a king to show that, while no mere man could assume both offices, the Messiah could and in fact did. The Messiah is the culmination of these combined roles. He is the King who sits at the right hand of His Father and He is the great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. At this point in Zechariah’s vision, Joshua was not merely presented as a recipient of Christ’s work; he was also recast to prefigure Christ. Joshua pointed to the Messiah as the only One who as both King and High Priest, can accomplish the salvation that His people need. As the author of Hebrews later wrote, that those in the line of Levi could never achieve forgiveness for sin. Only the great High Priest and King is able to do so.
This explains why verse 5 concludes by saying, “while the angel of Yahweh was standing by.” Joshua stood before the Angel of Yahweh for both intercession and imputed righteousness. Now the Angel of Yahweh was standing by as a reminder that He was the One who accomplished all of this for Joshua and for His people. Although Joshua is a major figure in this fourth vision, he is not the central figure. The central figure is the Angel of Yahweh, the Messiah. God showed Zechariah that He had not forgotten His promises about the Messiah, the ultimate High Priest and King. He is the one who intercedes for his own, clothing them in His righteousness so they might offer acceptable worship and service to God.
CONCLUSION:
Within this vision we have a beautiful picture of our salvation. How we come to God agreeing that we are sinners, helpless to make ourselves acceptable to God. Then the work of salvation begins as we call on our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He commands that our filthy garments be removed from us, He makes our sins pass away from us, removing the sin and the guilt of sin. Then He put clean clothes on us, with the robes of His own righteousness He clothes us so that we can stand before God justified through the Lord Jesus Christ. What a beautiful picture of our salvation. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed it with these words in Isaiah 61:10, “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10, NASB95)[12]
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.