Zechariah 3

CHAPTER 3

Clean Garments for the High Priest (3:1–10)

1–2 This vision shows how the surviving remnant of ISRAEL will be made RIGHTEOUS in the Messianic age. Zechariah sees Joshua the high priest⁶ standing before the angel of the LORD (God Himself or the Messiah). In the vision, Joshua represents the sinful nation of Israel. Joshua (Israel) is being accused by Satan.⁷ SATAN’S accusation is partly true—Israel is sinful—but instead of condemning Israel God is planning to cleanse it.

Therefore the LORD rebukes Satan; Satan wants to destroy God’s people and frustrate God’s plan to save the world. But God has already saved the remnant of Israel, here described as a burning stick; God has snatched it from the fire⁸—from exile in Babylon (verse 2). God has saved Israel both because He is faithful to His COVENANT and also because He has a future purpose for Israel. This is why God rejects Satan’s accusation.

3–4 In the vision, Joshua (Israel) was initially dressed in filthy clothes, symbolic of Israel’s sins (verse 3). The angel (the Lord) instructed some other angels to take off Joshua’s filthy clothes, which represented the removal of Israel’s sin. Then Joshua was to be dressed in rich garments, symbolizing RIGHTEOUSNESS. In this way—through God’s GRACE and forgiveness—Joshua (Israel) would be made fit to serve God; in this way Israel would become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, in accordance with God’s original plan for His people (Exodus 19:6).

5–7 Zechariah (in the vision) reminded the angels to put on Joshua’s turban, the symbol of his priestly authority (verse 5). When Joshua was dressed, the Lord exhorted him to follow His ways and keep His requirements; if he did so, he would be given authority and power and a place among the angels (verse 7). The Lord had given similar exhortations to Israel’s earlier leaders (see 1 Kings 9:4–5), but most of them had failed to obey the Lord.

8–9 The Lord then said that Joshua and his associates (fellow priests) were men symbolic of things to come (verse 8); they were the forerunners or “types” of a new Israel which would be led by the Branch, God’s servant the Messiah (see Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5–6; Zechariah 6:12; General Article: Types and Predictive Events).

This Messiah, says the Lord, will be like a stone (verse 9); He will be the capstone or chief cornerstone of God’s new community, the Church (Mark 12:10–11; Ephesians 2:19–22; 1 Peter 2:6–8). The stone will have seven eyes representing complete knowledge. (The number seven represents completeness.) And through this “stone,” through the Messiah, God will remove the sin of believing Israel in a single day—on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion.

10 In that day—the day when Jesus comes again to establish His kingdom, each of God’s people will sit under his vine and fig tree; that is, they will enjoy peace, prosperity and security—the covenant blessings of the Lord.