Fellowship Bible Church - Mullica, Hill N.J.

Zechariah Overview
● Zechariah was a post-captivity prophet, contemporary of Haggai
● While Haggai’s mission was to rouse the people to action, Zechariah’s was to bring messages of encouragement so the discouraged people would look for the power of the coming Glory of God.
● While the LORD had been very angry with the generations of the exile, the people in the Zechariah’s time would know the Lord’s favor and blessing by His presence if they would return to Him
● Zechariah addressed discouragement in the covenant community by reminding his hearers that, though hidden, God’s envoys were watching everything, and that when the time was right, he would act to reorder the universe (1.8-11)
● Structure: 8 visions, 4 messages, 2 burdens

Vision four (3.1-10): Joshua the High Priest -- the reclothing of Joshua
● The Adversary (3.1)
○ In Hebrew, “Satan” = “accuser” or “adversary”
○ Satan is the ancient adversary who has contended with God and oppressed His people (Job 1.6-7; 1 Chr 21.1; Rev 12.10)
○ Uncomfortable truth: Satan has a very strong case…
■ Joshua’s robes are soiled with excrement -- making him truly defiled
■ This creates a problem for the people, who need the High Priest to be able to offer sacrifices for them on the Day of Atonement
■ As the High Priest, Joshua represents the entire Jewish remnant before the throne; his condition is theirs (RE: Ezra 9.6; Isa 1.5-6; Dan 9)
■ An unclean priest was to be cut off from the Lord’s presence (Lev 22.3)
■ Satan is right -- justice would mean judgment for Joshua & the people
○ Satan has a very strong case… [but he] cannot belabor a single charge against those whom God’s grace covers.[1]
○ Since the filthy garments represent iniquity, these “pure vestments” represent a new righteousness imputed to Joshua.[2]
■ The High Priest’s turban inscribed with “Holy to the Lord” (3.5; Ex 28.36)
■ This radical removal of iniquity symbolizes justification by grace through faith in Christ (Rom 3.23-26; 5.1)
■ Even when a people are repenting and trying to do what is right, the persistence of sin remains the obstacle: only God can make us clean
■ Isaiah correlates this truth/image (Isa 64.6)
■ The entire legal assembly attests to Joshua’s righteousness (3.2, 4, 5)


[1]Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1755). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
[2]Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1755). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

● Three commands for faithful priests (3.7)
○ “Walk in my ways”-- Joshua is charged to keep the Law from the heart
■ Metaphor for obedience to the Lord -- faithful behavior within a covenant context (Deut 10.12; 1 Kings 3.14; Prov 2.20)
■ God Himself “walks” in the sense of relationally disposed toward mankind -- He “walks” opposed to the wicked but with the righteous
■ The Law -- the sum of God’s “ways” -- can be encapsulated by loving God and loving others (Mark 12.30-31)
■ Are we “walking” with the Spirit? (Gal 5.16)
○ “Keep my charge” -- Joshua is charged to maintain the Lord’s priorities in the community (7.9-10; 8.16-17, 19b)
■ Presiding over and deciding legal disputes for the covenant community (Deut 17.9)
■ Are we instruments for / examples of justice, fairness, and self-sacrifice?
■ Do we look like our culture in legal / political matters, or do we stand out as a community devoted to truth, integrity, humility, and servanthood?
○ “Rule my house” / “have charge of my courts” -- Joshua is charged to lead the assembly in pure worship
■ The high priest was the only person authorized to enter the holiest part of the temple; this access was permitted once a year on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16.29-33)[1]
■ Maintaining the ritual purity of the temple[2] and ensuring that the worship in the temple was undefiled by idolatry[3] (Ezek 44.23-24)
■ The believer is part of a modern-day priesthood, ourselves having been brought near by our once-and-for-all High Priest, charged with bringing near the lost of the world (1 Pet 2.9)
■ Jewish tradition holds that Zechariah was martyred by the Jews (Matt 23.34-35)
● Encouragement isn’t always a “feel-good” message
● While Zechariah reminded the people that God had forgiven them and was removing the shame of their transgressions, he also reminded them of the Lord’s priorities (7.8-14; 8.14-19)
○ Keeping this threefold charge would mean “right of access” (3.7)
■ The Lord would not be silent or distant from his people any longer
■ Fellowship with God would be unbroken
[1]Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Zec 3:7). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[2]Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Zec 3:7). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3]Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1755). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

● The Branch (3.8; 6.12-13)
○ This terminology would have been understood to refer to the Davidic Covenant, and recalls the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah (Isa 11.1; Jer 23.5-6)
○ Zechariah taught that the Messiah, the Branch, would combine the offices of priest and king in one person and that He would be the Lord Himself.[1]
■ This isn’t the first place the Old Testament foreshadowed a replacement of the Levitical priesthood with another Order (Psa 110 // Heb 7.11-14)

The Old Testament indicates that it would be appropriate for a descendant of Judah to be priest. David ate the showbread reserved only for the priests (1 Sam. 21:1–6), and he led worship through his composition of many Psalms. And if it were appropriate for David to perform these priestly functions, how much more so is it for Christ, His greater Son?[2]

■ Joshua’s dirty rags identify him with us, but his role identifies him as a prefigure (type) of Christ
● The promise of the Branch is a promise of future glory and peace (3.9-10)
○ The engraved stone was probably part of the high priest’s clothing, a gemstone with seven “facets” fastened to the turban and inscribed with an inscription[3]
○ The “single day” -- the Day of Atonement, fulfilled in the crucifixion, but with future-reaching implications as well (RE: “that day”)
○ As at the height of Solomon’s reign, each man would invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree (1 Kings 4.25; Mic 4.4)
○ All the benefits of salvation in Christ are available to the Christian NOW (Eph 1.3-14), but will one day be fully realized in the New Heavens and New Earth (Zech 14)

[1]Cabal, T., Brand, C. O., Clendenen, E. R., Copan, P., Moreland, J. P., & Powell, D. (2007). The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith (p. 1380). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2]https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/priest-judah/
[3]Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1756). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.